Stuffed Summer Vegetables

Tonight I made more good (in fact, delicious) use of the summer vegetables I bought the other day at the farm. The recipe I used is from Alain Ducasse, and the concept is to stuff a variety of vegetables with several meats, mushrooms and cheese, along with a small amount of the vegetable that is being stuffed.

Chef Ducasse suggests that the stuffed vegetables may include: tomatoes, zucchini, eggplant, bell peppers, and onions. For this meal I used just tomatoes and zucchini. When you are stuffing the eggplant and the tomatoes, the vegetables that go into the filling are supposed to be pre-roasted. I did not have time to do this step, so for the tomatoes I used the filling straight, omitting the tomato confit that was called for in the recipe. Otherwise I followed the instructions more or less as written. The quantity made by the recipe is enough to serve 4-6 people.

First, mince 4 small shallots, 1 clove of garlic, and 1/4 lb mushrooms. Saute the shallots for a minute in a little olive oil and butter over medium heat . Add the garlic, and saute for another minute.

Next add the mushrooms, and saute for an additional minute, then add an extra tablespoonful of olive oil. Optionally, add 2 tablespoons of chopped black truffles to the mixture along with a tablespoonful of truffle oil in place of the olive oil. I added the truffles and they were wonderful!

Set the mushroom and shallot mixture aside.

Next chop 3/4 lb chicken breasts and 2/3 lb boneless leg of lamb into 2-inch chunks, and saute in olive oil over medium-high heat. Season with salt, and cook until golden brown on all sides, about 4 minutes. Alain Ducasse advises to leave the meat a little undercooked to avoid drying it out, as it will finish cooking inside the vegetables later on.

Add 1/2 lb of chopped boiled ham to the mixture, then finely mince the meats.
Add the minced meats to the mushroom/shallot mixture, along with 3/4 cup Parmesan cheese and 1/2 cup fresh chopped parsley. Add salt and pepper to taste and mix well.

Next scoop out the flesh of the vegetables you want to use, and leave the shell to be stuffed with the filling. You can reserve the flesh of the tomatoes, as I did, for a later use. (I will probably use them in a sauce.)

Stuff the vegetables, topping them with their reserved "caps" if desired, as I did with the zucchini below.

Drizzle the vegetables with a little olive oil, and bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes or until the edges of the vegetables are browned. I put mine under the broiler for a few minutes at the end for extra browning.

Compose a simple salad by drizzling a mesclun mix with lemon and olive oil and sprinkling with a little salt, then mound the salad on a plate and top with the vegetables.

Bon appetit!

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.

Tart of Young Lettuces and Tomato Confit

Here is a recipe that I made for my sister last week. It is a savory tart that really showcases the deep, pure flavors of the few main ingredients, in the signature style of Alain Ducasse. This recipe comes from his cookbook, Flavors of France. It is basically a composed salad served atop a rich, buttery crust.

To start you will need to slow-bake 4 1/2 pounds large plum tomatoes for the Tomato Confit. To do this, preheat the oven to the lowest setting, then peel and quarter the tomatoes, removing the seeds and membranes, then arrange them in a single layer on a baking sheet greased with olive oil. Scatter 8 branches of fresh thyme and 6 medium unpeeled garlic cloves over the tomatoes, then drizzle them with 1/4 cup olive oil and 2 teaspoons course sea salt. Bake 2-3 hours, turning once halfway through the baking process. Prepare the tomatoes several hours or up to 3 days ahead of the following instructions. Preserve all of the cooked ingredients in a jar in the refrigerator until ready to use.

Next, make the pastry. You will need:

1 3/4 cups plus 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour

12 tablespoons (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, cut into bits

1 teaspoon fine sea salt

2 large egg yolks

1 large egg yolk beaten with 1 teaspoon water, for egg wash

Combine the flour, butter and salt in a food processor or medium bowl. Mix until the dough resembles coarse meal. Add the egg yolks and mix just until the dough comes together. Knead the dough for about 2 minutes between the palms of your hands and form it into a ball. Press into a disk, wrap in plastic wrap, and refrigerate for at least 2 hours, or overnight.

When ready, bring the crust to room temperature and roll out into a circle 11 inches across and 1/8 inch thick. Transfer to a parchment-lined baking sheet, prick with a fork in several places, and bake at 375 degrees for 20 minutes. Then brush the egg wash over the surface of the crust and bake for an additional 5 minutes. Let the crust cool on a wire rack, then transfer very gently to a serving plate, sliding the crust off of the parchment.

For the topping you will need:

1/4 pound mixed arugula, mesclun, and frisee

1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil

1 teaspoon fine sea salt

Tomato Confit (that you prepared earlier)

1/2 small zucchini, skin sliced off in wide 1/8-inch-thick strips and cut into 1 1/2 inch lengths

5 or 6 fresh basil leaves

2 ounces Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese, sliced with a peeler into shavings

Small fresh thyme sprigs for garnish

Toss the lettuces together with 2 tablespoons of the olive oil and the sea salt. Top the cooled crust with this salad, then arrange the tomatoes, cut side down and slightly overlapping, in concentric circles from the outer edge in.

In a skillet, cook the zucchini strips in the remaining 2 tablespoons of olive oil over medium heat for about 1 minute. Arrange the zucchini on top of the tart with the basil and cheese, garnishing with thyme and a few pieces of garlic from the confit if desired. Serve immediately. The tart yields 6 servings as a first course, or as a featured component in a light lunch. We had ours for lunch along with a Spanish-style potato salad.