here's luck cooks at home
Most of the recipes I post here are, well, recipes - fairly formal things, really. Those posts obscure the extent to which my normal m.o. in the kitchen is to open the fridge, say "oh, I bet I can cook all of those together," throw it all in a pot or pan, and cook until it's hot - an approach that works because one of the many advantages of eating local seasonal produce is that, as a rule, things that are in season together taste good together.
The following can't-really-call-it-a-recipe is something I threw together last week, and is pretty typical. All amounts are approximate reconstructions; all ingredients are subject to substitution (see below).
1 small fresh sweet onion (or 1/2 a large onion), chopped
3 cloves fresh garlic, sliced
1 large handful mushrooms, sliced
1 handful green beans, trimmed
1 small zucchini, sliced
1 small yellow squash, sliced
1 ear corn, kernels sliced off
1 cup cooked quinoa *
butter or olive oil
salt
lots of fresh-ground pepper
cayenne pepper (optional)
Heat the oil or butter in a large skillet (preferably well-seasoned cast-iron, but nonstick will do) over medium heat. When hot (after about 2 minutes), add the onion and stir. When the onion starts to go translucent, add garlic and salt. Stir a few times; add mushrooms and green beans, stir for a minute, and add the rest of the vegetables and the quinoa.
Cook until everything's tender and heated through - anywhere from 5-10 minutes, depending on the size of the pieces and the vagaries of the stove. Add plenty of pepper (and a healthy sprinkle of cayenne, if you like) while it's cooking. Dump into a bowl and eat. Serves two, or (better yet) serves one with leftovers for lunch the next day. (Or for breakfast; you could easily fold some of this into an omelet.)
This is the sort of saute that's infinitely variable: I could use more or less summer squash, skip the mushrooms, add chard, lacinato kale, leftover roasted beets, tomatoes, peppers (sweet or hot), eggplant; I could include parsley, or basil, or cilantro (in which case a dollop of sour cream on top would be good), or tarragon, or sage; I could add a splash of wine or a little beer or some chicken stock; I could use barley instead of quinoa, add black beans or kidney beans or garbanzo beans; I could include almost any kind of cheese (fresh mozzarella would be particularly good); and so on and so forth.
* Quinoa is a nifty little grain that includes a complete protein. It's easily available in natural foods stores, and increasingly available elsewhere as well. I often make large batches of it and keep the leftovers in the fridge so I have it handy to add to soups and sautes like this one. It cooks exactly like rice: 1 cup quinoa to 1 1/2 cups water (wash the quinoa well first or it'll have a bitter, slightly soapy taste), put in a pot, bring to a boil, cover, turn the heat to low, simmer for 15 minutes, turn off heat, stir, re-cover, and let sit for 5 more minutes.
The following can't-really-call-it-a-recipe is something I threw together last week, and is pretty typical. All amounts are approximate reconstructions; all ingredients are subject to substitution (see below).
1 small fresh sweet onion (or 1/2 a large onion), chopped
3 cloves fresh garlic, sliced
1 large handful mushrooms, sliced
1 handful green beans, trimmed
1 small zucchini, sliced
1 small yellow squash, sliced
1 ear corn, kernels sliced off
1 cup cooked quinoa *
butter or olive oil
salt
lots of fresh-ground pepper
cayenne pepper (optional)
Heat the oil or butter in a large skillet (preferably well-seasoned cast-iron, but nonstick will do) over medium heat. When hot (after about 2 minutes), add the onion and stir. When the onion starts to go translucent, add garlic and salt. Stir a few times; add mushrooms and green beans, stir for a minute, and add the rest of the vegetables and the quinoa.
Cook until everything's tender and heated through - anywhere from 5-10 minutes, depending on the size of the pieces and the vagaries of the stove. Add plenty of pepper (and a healthy sprinkle of cayenne, if you like) while it's cooking. Dump into a bowl and eat. Serves two, or (better yet) serves one with leftovers for lunch the next day. (Or for breakfast; you could easily fold some of this into an omelet.)
This is the sort of saute that's infinitely variable: I could use more or less summer squash, skip the mushrooms, add chard, lacinato kale, leftover roasted beets, tomatoes, peppers (sweet or hot), eggplant; I could include parsley, or basil, or cilantro (in which case a dollop of sour cream on top would be good), or tarragon, or sage; I could add a splash of wine or a little beer or some chicken stock; I could use barley instead of quinoa, add black beans or kidney beans or garbanzo beans; I could include almost any kind of cheese (fresh mozzarella would be particularly good); and so on and so forth.
* Quinoa is a nifty little grain that includes a complete protein. It's easily available in natural foods stores, and increasingly available elsewhere as well. I often make large batches of it and keep the leftovers in the fridge so I have it handy to add to soups and sautes like this one. It cooks exactly like rice: 1 cup quinoa to 1 1/2 cups water (wash the quinoa well first or it'll have a bitter, slightly soapy taste), put in a pot, bring to a boil, cover, turn the heat to low, simmer for 15 minutes, turn off heat, stir, re-cover, and let sit for 5 more minutes.