Zucchini Cakes

Raise your hand if you buy an ingredient w/ grand ideas of making something fabulous recipe you saw somewhere only to allow the ingredient get shoved behind the mountains of other things in your fridge and find it several days (or weeks if I'm being real) later with spots of mold and rot forming?  

*hand sheepishly raises*

I ended up using FIVE eggs instead so they're pretty hearty.
Could be used on top of salad as a light dinner or as a healthy breakfast.

That was the exact story of these beautiful zucchini I saw at the store after I was inspired by the award winning zucchini bread I posted about a while ago.  Um, yeah..  I read the recipe through and realized I'd only be using ONE freaking zucchini.  Plus, there were so many steps with the streusel, and choices between muffins or cakes, etc., etc., etc. I abandoned that and remembered about zucchini cakes.  

Zucchini Cakes

I did a little research and found several different versions and came up with my own mish-mash (that's a technical term) of several different versions out there using what I had on hand. 

Love the texture on these.

Zucchini Cakes

makes roughly a dozen 3" cakes

2-3 med/large zucchinis, grated and wring dry in a clean dish towel
1 c panko breadcrumbs (I'm sure regular breadcrumbs would work well too)
1/2 c grated parmigiano reggiano
5 eggs
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp fresh black pepper
1/2 tsp garlic powder (you can also use fresh)
1/2 tsp onion powder (optional)
light oil for frying

As with most cooking (NOT baking), this recipe's pretty forgiving so if you don't have exactly what's written here, don't worry - they should still turn out ok.  If you have more zucchini, add a little more egg, less, subtract and so on.

Grate zucchini on the large shred side of your box grater, should yield about 4 to 4.5 cups.  Next in a clean dish towel or cheese cloth, wring out the excess moisture of the grated zucchini in batches.  You'll want the shreds as dry as possible so they don't end up a soggy mess when you're frying them in the pan.  What's left should be about 3.5 cups of shreds that should be mostly dry to the touch.  Mix eggs, salt, pepper, garlic and onion powders together.  Fold grated cheese and breadcrumbs in to eggs then transfer the egg mixture into the zucchini and incorporate.  Let the mix stand for a few minutes.

In the meantime, preheat your oven to 350 degrees.  Heat a frying pan or cast iron skillet on medium heat.  When the pan is radiating heat (not yet smoking), heat 1/4" of oil in the pan until the oil starts to shimmer.  Drop in 3" heaps of the cakes and fry for a few (3-4) minutes until golden, flip and fry for another minute or two on the other side.  This will vary depending on how hot your stove is - I ended up having to turn down to low heat, they're a lot like cooking breakfast pancakes, first batch may or may not be sacrificial.

It's important not to crowd the pan or else you won't get a nice crispy texture on the outside of your cakes.  Transfer to a wire rack and finish frying the remaining batches.  When the cakes are done frying, put them in the oven for 5-10 minutes to set the middle of the cakes.  

Make ahead tips: you can actually freeze these after you've pan fried them and bake from frozen instead of finishing off or split the batch and only stick what you plan on eating in the oven, freeze the rest.  Just bake at 350 degrees for about 10-15 minutes until they're warmed through.

These are great w/ ranch or some tzatziki (thx Karen!) for dipping.   

Lemon Thyme Garlic

Ok, where do I start.. Lets start with the basics: garlic is awesome.  I don't know how many times I've seen articles about the various health benefits of garlic but they are many.  We've been on a huge shrimp kick lately after I discovered how much we all love beer boiled shrimp and I decided to make garlic, lemon thyme butter as a dipping sauce. It didn't dawn on me I could/should make an entire dish out of it until I made the shrimp for my mom and we ended up fighting over the garlic which Gabe definitely doesn't care for.

I was home alone when I started peeling three heads of garlic but I couldn't help but hear Gabe in the back of my head warning (maybe pleading?) that I should perhaps rethink what I was doing. True to self, I forged ahead undeterred.  Yes, subjecting one's loved ones to the effects of garlic over consumption can be cruel.  I, however, shop at Costco and in order to use up the warehouse size portions, I resort to drastic measures to avoid waste at all cost.

Doesn't it just make you wanna swim in it?

I ended up making this sauce and spooning it over toasted English muffin rounds, arugula and two soft boiled eggs for lunch.  AH-MAZING!  I didn't even remember to take a photo I inhaled it so quickly.

Lemon Thyme Garlic

Makes 4-6 servings

1/2 c. Unsalted butter (1 stick)

3 heads of garlic, cloves peeled (roughly 40 cloves)

3-4 sprigs of fresh thyme*

1/4 c. Lemon juice

1/2 tsp. salt (or adjust to your taste)

Pepper

In a saucepan, melt butter on low to medium low heat. Add garlic cloves and slowly cook until butter is foaming slightly, should take about 3-5 minutes.  Add salt and thyme sprigs (you can either leave whole or take the leaves off the stems and mince for a stronger thyme flavor).  Once garlic is slightly golden, test a larger clove for doneness by inserting a fork - they should be tender like potatoes).  Take the pan off the heat and add the juice of a lemon.

* if you don't have fresh, try 1/4 tsp dried and let me know how it works out - dried thyme can be pretty strong

___________________________________

I used this sauce when sautéing zucchini one night, tossed with pasta another night, melted over steaks and as already mentioned, as a dressing on soft eggs over arugula salad.  It's great with shrimp or a mild fish would be awesome too.

The garlic gets nice and sweet, super mellow compared to when they're fresh.  Just make everyone else in the house eat it and then nobody can single anyone else out for garlic breath or that infamous  garlic coming through the pores phenomenon.

Like.

The Family Dressing & My Salad Diatribe

I've gotta be honest, salads are NOT my thing. Now, grits...grits are my thing. Bacon, yes please. Anything w/ cheese? Where do I sign? Yes. Salads? Eeh [shiver]..salad. It may as well be a four letter word in my book. No. No likey the salads.

That is until I married into this family and they introduced me to The Family Dressing. I feel like I'm referring to a big Italian family when I say that. But they're not Italian.

All kidding aside, I really had to change my mindset about salads.

• First, I cannot stand iceberg lettuce. It has absolutely NO nutritional value and it's flavorless. Well, until you dump some ranch dressing and a heap of bacon. Then I'll eat the hell out of some iceberg lettuce. But that just defeats the whole purpose of salads. It took me a long time to convince myself that salads don't need to include iceberg lettuce. In fact, they don't need to have any lettuce at all. I can tolerate spinach or arugula as a leafy base - but most of the time, I make chunky veggie salads (and I add an obscene about of homemade garlic sourdough croutons to the point that you can almost call it a panzanella but in my mind, it still counts as a salad).
• Second, I really only started eating salads to make myself feel less guilty about this pizza I tried of PW's. The pizza has changed my life. Seriously. We've had it for about a week straight and nobody's complaining. I'll blog about my own personal spin on it some time, but for now - stick w/ me on this salad stuff. Whenever I make this pizza, I make a huge salad. While I'm at work, I look forward to it when I'm thinking about what I'm going to be eating for dinner, it's sick. The pizza. It consumes me.
• Third (and skip to the next bullet point if you're squeamish), if you're anything thing like me, sometimes my erratic eating habits throw my..system into disarray. You people know what I'm talking about. The pipes. The pipes..they get upset. And I was watching this segment about colon health on the Rachael Ray Show. Bottom line - most of us (yours truly included) don't get enough fiber. And don't front - we all want a clean and healthy colon. I told Gabe I want his colon to be a picture of health. Ours will be the colons of 'healthy' people those posters in the doctor's office next to the 'unhealthy' colons. This bullet is especially poignant to me since unhealthy colons run in my family.
• Forth, well. There is no forth. To sum up bullet #3 in case you skipped it, eat more fiber!

Needless to say, this dressing is the only way you'll get me to eat a salad. I always have all six of these ingredients in stock so I never really have an excuse to not make my own dressing. That and this dressing is gooooooood.

Here's all you'll need:
Set up my little station over here..
Grate the garlic. Add more if you like just make sure you grate or mash into a paste. I love a strong garlic flavor as much as the next person, I don't, however, enjoy biting into raw garlic pieces.
There we go.

Adding the salt.

Love kosher salt.

Dijon mustard has definitely grown on me since I was a kid. It's a strong flavor too but such a small amount in this dressing means you can barely taste it. I like it now though so some days if I get a wild hair, I throw in an extra tsp.

10 or so cracks of freshly ground black pepper, about 1/2 a tsp. or so.

Doesn't this look like a tangerine? I know. I thought about adjusting the color but it truly is an orange-ish yellow. They're Meyer lemons and the difference is, they've cross a regular lemon with a mandarin orange. The result is a less acidic lemon with all the lemon flavor. But even when I squeeze these things, they smell like mandarin oranges to me, it's the strangest thing.

They're SUPER juicy too - they yield much more juice than a regular lemon. Downside? The zest. As I mentioned before, the true lemon essence is gone - this thing smells like a mandarin orange. I can't use the zest to make lemon simple syrup anymore. Regardless, I still love them.

Are you weirded out by the color as much as I am? I'm having to focus on the mustard to gauge the true color of the lemon.

This is the juice of only 1/2 the lemon.

I like to go full tilt with the acid. Focus on the mustard. It's just my crappy camera. I'm not squeezing an orange.

Glad that's behind us.

Baby whisk.

Then I looked over at my little garbage bag I keep while I'm cooking and thought of how great it would be if I had a little compost bin... Then I started thinking of all those worms and how I'm afraid of worms. And slugs. How am I going to grow those tomato plants I promised myself I would last year after visiting Momma Sally & Sarah and seeing all their gorgeous produce?

Back to the dressing. Focus, Ng.

Extra virgin olive oil. Has to be EV. First cold pressed. Then your dressing will taste nice and fruity..NOT oily.

Whisk, whisk, whisk.

Looks good. Check for seasoning now..

I personally like a little extra salt in mine. I like salt.

Another 1/2 tsp. should do.

5 more cracks of pepper too.

Top your favorite SALAD with this and thank me later.

And I couldn't resist. Here's that damn pizza I'm obsessed with.. Eggplant, fresh garlic, prosciutto & fresh basil. That's right folks. I have access to fresh, cheap BASIL in February. Take THAT old man winter!

The Family Dressing

makes about 1 cup of dressing

2 cloves garlic
1 1/2 tsp. kosher salt
1/2 tsp. fresh pepper
1 tsp. Dijon mustard
juice of 1 lemon (about 1/4 c., I prefer Meyer lemons)
2/3 c. extra virgin olive oil

With a microplane, finely grate 2 cloves of garlic or mashed into a paste with chef's knife. You can definitely add more garlic if you like, sometimes if I feel like vampires are following me, I'll grate in an extra clove. Add in salt, pepper mustard and lemon juice, whisk until combined. Slowly drizzle olive oil while whisking vigorously until blended. Enjoy!

Cranberry Almond Couscous

Do you know who Giada de Laurentiis is?


She's a celebrity chef - on Food Network. I DVR her shows Everyday Italian and Giada at Home everyday. Not only is she gorgeous, she's TINY. So much for that Italian spread. I have this love/hate thing for her. I looove Italian food so I have to watch her show. I also love her props. These measuring cups she sometimes uses on her show:


I love them. They're from Anthropologie (which her husband works for, curious) but they're discontinued (arg). I know, I know..they're not practical. But I love them. And yes, I've looked for them on Ebay - no dice. No worries, I'll find them someday.

I have these measuring spoons which I first saw on her show years and years ago, which I love. I found them at Anthropologie too.

And her nails are always done w/ this pretty light pink color that I absolutely love.

Then there's the hate. How she pares produce drives me absolutely insane. She almost always discards too much usable produce when she's paring. She doesn't just take off the outer paper of an onion and maybe the first tough layer, she digs in 2 or 3 layers. Same w/ fennel. And when she's cutting bell peppers, forget it. I have to change the channel or fast forward. She uses NONE of the flesh near the stem or any of the bottom.

Giada, if you're listening (b/c I'm sure you know about my food blog), maybe there are no starving children in Italy, but there are several starving children all over the place that wouldn't mind noshing on the outer layers of your freaking fennel.

On to more petty things. First, she gets waaaaaaaaaay too excited about tasting her food. I have to admit, her cooking style is super clean and fresh. I almost always want to try the recipes she cooks on her show, but I can definitely always do without the squealing.

Second, she has a disproportionately large head. Gabe has nicknamed her 'Big Head'. It doesn't help that she's super thin so she looks like an orange on a toothpick.

Third, she had a baby a few years ago and two seconds later, she's just as skinny as she every was. She's what I would call a freak of nature.

Last, that necklace. Ok, this isn't something I hate, I just want that necklace. After a little research online, it's apparently a bunch of Tiffany necklaces worn together. Drooling. I knew there was a reason why I loved them. Damn her. Wish list, honey. Wish list.


Anyways, this dish is neither inspired by or has any associate with Giada. It turned out to be a super simple and elegant side. I just had 1/2 an onion left over from this other dish and didn't want to waste it (I'm sure she would've just thrown it away - eek!). I'm just using it as a vehicle for delivering my strong feelings about Miss Giada (and her Tiffany necklace).



Cranberry Almond Couscous

Makes 6-8 servings so this recipe can definitely be scaled down, but leftovers are wonderful.

1/2 large onion, diced
1 clove garlic, chopped
3 c. chicken stock **can substitute veg. stock or water for vegetarian version
1.5 c. couscous
1/4 c. dried cranberries
3 tbsp. slivered almonds, toasted
1/3 c. Italian parsley, chopped
EV Olive oil, salt & pepper

In a medium heavy bottom pot (with lid), heat olive oil until it ripples. Throw in diced onion first - then garlic - and about 1/2 tsp kosher salt and 1/4 tsp pepper. Sweat the onion on medium heat until translucent, 7 minutes. I add water to deglaze the pan if it gets too hot. Save the stock for last because you don't want too much liquid or else the couscous will be mushy.

After the whole thing comes to a boil, season the broth (you'll have to use your own measurements since your chicken stock will vary in sodium levels, just check for seasoning at this point) whisk in couscous and cover with lid immediately.

Off the heat, the couscous will soak up all the liquid in about 5-7 minutes. Just don't peak under that lid. Leave it alone for Pete's sake. Just set a timer or something.

After the couscous is done, fluff with a fork and add toasted almonds, dried cranberries and parsley.

I made this as a bed for Winter Only Chicken but it's yummy for whenever. Bon appetit!