Mexicana Salad

This salad is delicious and fun! Plan for an overnight bean soak if you're using dry beans. Prep and cooking time is about 60-90 minutes. Serves 10-12.

You'll need:
8 oz dry black-eyed peas
8 oz dry red kidney beans
1 large sweet potato
1 large red onion, chopped
1 large green bell pepper, chopped
3 ripe tomatoes, chopped
1/4 chopped fresh basil
3 flour tortillas
1 Tbsp oil
2 Tbsp grated Parmesan
1/4 cup sour cream or Greek-style yogurt

For the dressing:
1 clove garlic, crushed
1 Tbsp fresh lime juice
2 Tbsp olive oil

For the guacamole, use your favorite homemade or store-bought recipe.

Steps:
1. Soak the beans in a large bowl of cold water overnight. Drain and cook in a LARGE pan of rapidly boiling water for 30 minutes, or until just tender (taste test occasionally to check). Skim any scum that appears on the surface during cooking. DO NOT overcook or the beans will become mushy. Drain and set aside to cool.

2. Chop the sweet potato into large pieces and cook in boiling water until tender. Drain and combine with the onion, bell pepper, tomato and beans. Stir in the basil.

3. To make the dressing, shake the ingredients in a container until combined. Pour over the salad and toss to coat.

4. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Using a small, sharp knife, cut cactus shapes or large triangles out of the tortillas, brush lightly with oil and sprinkle with Parmesan. Bake for 5-10 minutes, or until they are crisp and golden.

5. Grab or make your guacamole.

6. Pile the guacamole in the center of the salad, top with sour cream or yogurt and arrange the cactus shapes on top.

Enjoy!

Trofie with Zucchini, Pesto and Walnuts

Tonight I made a meal that felt like a celebration of summer both in its fresh, seasonal ingredients as well as in its simplicity of preparation, important on those days when all you've done is play outside under the beautiful blue sky!

I stopped by a local farm at the end of the day today without a shopping list or any idea at all in my mind of what I would prepare for dinner. Inside, I was met with the sight of so many varieties of wonderful produce - the bounty of summer! - and I filled my cart with all the things that looked best. While in the dry goods section, I noticed a pasta I had never tried before, called trofie. Trofie is a pasta from the Italian region of Liguria, and I learned once I got home that it is most commonly served with a pesto sauce.

I had bought a basket of zucchini while at the market, and as I was flipping through cookbooks for ideas I serendipitously found Alice Waters' recipe that combines zucchini with toasted walnuts and pesto to be served over a pasta, and it seemed all too perfect that I had purchased the trofie to go along with it all.

The first step was making a simple pesto sauce. I combined about a quarter cup of toasted pine nuts with two cloves of garlic and mashed them into a paste with my mortar and pestle.

Next I took a heaping handful of basil leaves from my garden, processed them lightly in my food processor, and mixed them into the pine nuts and garlic along with some salt and pepper, 1/4 cup of olive oil and 1/2 cup of freshly grated Parmigiano Reggiano.

Then I julienned one very large zucchini to approximately match the length of the pasta.

Next I put a small amount of olive oil in a pan over medium heat, and toasted some walnuts until they became medium brown.

I immediately added the zucchini at this point to stop further browning of the walnuts, and sauteed it until it became just limp, adding a touch of salt.

I boiled the trofie, then just before draining it I added a ladleful of its cooking water to the zucchini mixture, then mixed in the drained pasta along with the pesto sauce and served immediately.

It was very good! It was light but flavorful and took only about 25 minutes from start to finish.