Fresh Tart

Andrew Scrivani for The New York Times

I'm always looking for yummy zucchini recipes - I love zucchini, plus I end up with a boatload of it with my summer community-supported-agriculture (CSA) veggie share from La Finca Organic Farm in Willow River, Minnesota.  (I pick up my first share of the season later today, in fact; I'll have details over the weekend, although a preview email reveals my treasure will include salad greens, saute mix of dark leafy greens, garlic shoots, French breakfast radishes, and arugula - NICE!)  Although zucchini isn't showing up in my share, at the farmer's market, or in your gardens quite yet, it's worth checking out this NYTimes Recipes for Health dish, zucchini ragout with polenta.  Lightly simmered zucchini, tomatoes, onion, garlic, and fresh herbs, spooned over creamy polentaaah...  Looks simple, healthy, filling, and divine - good combo.

Other happenings this weekend include John's brother and his two children coming in for the weekend.  I'm planning on roasting a couple of whole chickens tomorrow night, on the grill, using my beloved Weber poultry roasters.  While the chickens rest up, more chapa vegetables (see below), this time a seared warm "salad" of Swiss chard, mushrooms, sweet onion, and tomatoes - a nice pairing with roasted chickens, I think. More to come, so stay tuned...

...and have a great weekend!

Happy Labor Day! Flew by, of course, as all holiday weekends do, but this one was particularly fun because my brother David was here. That meant extra hang time with Stacey and Cooper too, and as a group we had a grand old time. We pretty much just chatted, cooked, ate, and hung by the pool. Yeah, that pretty much covers it.

The foodie highlights:

• I made a tomato-goat cheese tart for a late din Friday night. Nothing more than a short-pastry crust, smeared with minced garlic, filled with tomato slices, a drizzle of olive oil, a sprinkle of salt, and dabs of soft goat cheese. I baked until golden brown and soft, served alongside a salad, in the dark on the deck, with a glass of crisp white, and it was nice.
• Scrambling for a brunch idea Saturday morning, I innovated crepes filled with softly scrambled eggs and a "sauce" of cherry tomatoes sauteed with onions and fresh herbs. With a few slices of Nueske's Canadian bacon on the side, we were well-fortified for a day of...lying around in the sun, listening to music, reading books, and chatting. Hey, what can I say?
• Saturday night we dined deliciously at 20.21. As usual, the star was the lobster risotto with crispy spinach, I'd say one of Minneapolis' top five restaurant dishes. It hits all the notes, baby - creamy, spicy, sweet, salty, chewy, crunchy. And it's gorgeous. And delicious. Oh yeah, I already said that.
• Last night I made not just shrimp saltimbocca, but scallops saltimbocca as well, due to a bit of a screw up in purchasing frozen shrimp at Whole Foods. A tasty mistake, turns out, since Stacey, David, and I all love scallops (while John and the kids opted for shrimp). With grilled bread, topped with ricotta cheese and grilled tomatoes, we had ourselves a summer feast.
• And the wrap up today, more tomato goodness, this time in the form of post-exercise BLTs at Stacey's. Garden-ripe tomatoes and Nueske's bacon. 'Nough said.

David (pictured at right with Etta, a couple of weeks ago in Wyoming) left around 5 pm this evening, unforch totally missing the chicken I roasted tonight, whole on the grill (with my Weber poultry roaster), this time with a Mexican spin - garlic, lime, and ancho chili powder. We ate the crispity slices in warm corn tortillas alongside potatoes roasted with jalapenos, onions, and green pepper.

The End to a lovely Labor Day weekend.

Moderate it: yeah, a pretty big food weekend. I biked in the wind, walked in the heat, and most surely didn't come close to working off that lobster risotto. Good thing the weekend is done and we're back to "normal" tomorrow. Uff.

Gosh, what a lovely weekend, huh? I can't remember a summer with nicer weather than we've had this year - warm, dry, I'm really trying to savor every minute of it. Man, when it so chooses, Minnesota quite RAWKS. Nice.

I opened the rawkness with an uncharacteristic bit of baking, motivated by my lovely CSA blueberries. Blueberry muffins, in fact, basically crazy-good. Yeah, warm muffins, plenty of French Roast (decaf, I'm a wuss), nice start to the day.

Post-muffin(s), it was high time for a lovely, sweaty walk, today 'round Lake of the Isles, through Lowry Hill, along Mount Curve, and through Kenwood Park. Just...gorgeous. (Mos def topped my buggy, humid walk through the usually lovely Clifton French Regional Park on Wednesday, OMG, I was flat-out attacked by gnats and biting flies, OUCH!)

My stinky self stopped off at Whole Foods on the way home and ran into Debbie and Stu The Wine Genius - they were picking up dinner ingredients after paddle-boarding on Lake Calhoun. (Dinner at their house next weekend, by the way, with Rudy& Ana, yays!)

But just a family dinner here at the hacienda tonight, so I picked up a roasting chicken, loads of naan (flat bread, the kids go crazy for it), and baba ganoush (the Whole Foods brand is particularly tasty). I roasted the chicken on the grill with my faboo Weber roaster, grilled the naan (spritzed with a bit of olive oil spray and sprinkled with a pinch of Kosher salt), grilled CSA veggie sharezucchini (sliced thin, same treatment as the naan), and tossed together a quick salad of tomatoes (from my own pots! Finally!), cukes, onions, artichoke hearts, and roasted red pepper. In other words - a Mediterranean feast, more than I had even planned. I didn't quite know where to start when I faced my plate - so many favorites, so little time!

Heck, not even bat guano could distract me from digging in (we have a couple of bats who've taken up residence in our oft-closed shade umbrellas - seriously gross when you pop the umbrella and guano showers down on the table. Uh, yuck. But that's what shopvacs are for - that and disinfectant kitchen sprays, shiver).

Post-Whole Foods, pre-cooking dinner, I snuck in a little time at the pool with John and Nathan. Hot sun, cool water, a spooky book (Ghostwalk, by Rebecca Stott), all good. And what is it about a pre-dinner shower on a hot day? So decadent. Best if warm-not-hot, fragrant (Molton Brown Energising Seamoss, smells like the ocean), quick, no fuss. Followed by a sun dress, swipe of Chanel Glossimer, spritz of Annik Goutal Les Nuits d'Hadrien, ready to cook! Little al fresco dining, blogging, call it a day...

G'night!

Moderate it: I think olive oil spray is one of the greatest inventions ever. I used it to grease the muffin tins for this morning's blueberry muffins and to oil the naan, chicken, and sliced zucchini before salting and roasting them this evening. Low-calorie, tasty, effective - virtually indispensable.