Zucchini Fritter

On a recent trip to my local farmer's market, I was eyeing the zucchini. It looked wonderful, beautifully green and fresh. Just perfect for zucchini fritters. As I mentally read through the recipe, the sales person asked if I was ready to pay. I said no and explained that I was debating whether or not to buy some zucchini for fritters. A conversation about this recipe ensued.

This recipe came to me via my girlfriend, Sally, who is always a great source of culinary innovation and feedback. In this recipe a fritter is a small mass of fried or sauteed batter not a small piece of food coated in a mixture or flour and egg and fried, which is the more accepted definition of a fritter.

These fritters can be refrigerated and re-heated in either a microwave or oven.

The goal with pressing the zucchini is to squeeze out as much moisture as possible. Depending upon my mood and the amount zucchini, I do this multiple ways,--squeezing shredded handfuls in my fist over the kitchen sink and then pacing the pressed lumps on two paper towels, putting the shredded zucchini in a colander in the kitchen since and pressing down with my hands. In short, there are multiple ways to do this and no right or wrong way. Removing as much moisture as possible from the zucchini is key to a successful fritter.

Shredded and pressed zucchini can be stored overnight in an airtight container in the back of the refrigerator prior to use.  Zucchini shredded and pressed should be used within 24 hours for best results. 

Zucchini Fritters

2 cups shredded zucchini, pressed

2 eggs

½ cup flour or cornmeal

2 cloves garlic, pressed or 2 teaspoons minced garlic

1 medium onion, chopped

2 tablespoons milk,--dairy, soy or rice

1-2 tablespoons canola oil

salt and pepper to taste (optional)

1 tablespoon fresh basil, chopped (optional)

½ grated parmesean cheese (optional)

In large bowl, beat eggs with milk. Add zucchini, flour or cornmeal, garlic, onion, salt, pepper, basil and cheese. Mix until well blended.

Coat a medium to large skillet with canola oil. Heat oil to medium/medium-hot. Spoon batter to slightly larger than silver-dollar pancake size into hot skillet. Cook 2-7 minutes on one side, then flip, cooking 2-7 minutes or more to complete cooking/browning. Remove from skillet and drain on paper towels. Serve warm, refrigerating any unused portion.

Black Bean Sloppy Joe

Several years ago, I was advised to incorporate more black beans into my diet to help with some health issues I was having. In looking for ways to accomplish this, I ended up making the following Black Bean Sloppy Joe recipe which is a variation of the Sloppy Veg-Head Joe recipe from Rachel Ray's BigOrange Book Cookbook.

This is a versatile recipe. It's dairy-free, egg-free, gluten free and vegan. Dice the onion and peppers and served chilled with tortilla chips as variety of black bean dip for a summer appetizer. As an entree, top with cheese, serve warm with avocado. Corn or rice to make a hearty meal.

1 tablespoon canola or olive oil

¾ teaspoon minced garlic or 2 large garlic cloves, chopped

1 green bell pepper, seeded and chopped

1 small to medium onion, chopped

2 cups or 1 19 – 21 ounce can black beans, drained and rinsed

1 teaspoon ground cumin

1 teaspoon ground coriander

¼ teaspoon black pepper or more to taste 

salt

1 ½ cups tomatoes, chopped, or 1 – 15 ounce can diced tomatoes

1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar

Heat the oil in large skillet over medium-high heat. Add garlic, onion and pepper, stir once to coat with oil, cover and cook for 8 minutes. Fold in the black beans, cumin, coriander, black pepper. Add salt or more pepper to taste. Stir in tomatoes and vinegar. Lower heat to simmer and let simmer for five minutes. 

Black Bean Sloppy Joe 

Ready to Serve

Melting Chocolate in the Microwave

I recently made Duncan Hines' Red andWhite Velvet Cookies as one my twelve new recipes to try for 2014.

While the recipe calls for a combination of white chocolate premium baking bars (in pieces) and vegetable shortening, melted for dipping half of the cookie into, I chose to take a different path. I chose to melt white chocolate chips in the microwave.

Melting chocolate in the microwave can be a bit tricky as I have learned from doing this time and time again. Heat the chocolate too high too quickly and it will seize. Don't heat the chocolate high enough and you may not be able to finish dipping or drizzling before the chocolate solidifies.

To melt chocolate in a microwave, start with a clean and dry glass bowl. Make certain the pieces of chocolate to be melted are of a small, uniform size, especially if you're not melting baking chips.

Microwave chocolate at 50% power (or medium power) for half of the time instructed by the recipe. Where all microwaves run differently, it's better to melt too little versus too much. Remove bowl from microwave and examine the chocolate. If approximately half of the chocolate looks glossy, stir with a dry spoon or spatula to finish the melting process. If less than half of the chocolate doesn't look glossy, return to microwave and microwave at 50% power (or medium power) for quarter of the time instructed by the recipe.

Once chocolate has completely melted, dip or drizzle as instructed by recipe.

If you need to melt chocolate multiple times for a recipe, such as with my Ginger Nut Clusters recipe, each subsequent melting will take less time as the bowl being used to melt and the melted chocolate already in the bowl will facilitate the melting of subsequent amounts of chocolate.

Oh, and the Red and White Velvet Cookies were a hit even though I changed step 2 in recipe. Instead of forming the dough into a log and refrigerating, I rolled 1” pieces of the dough into a ball, placed them on a non-stick cookie sheet and flattened the ball with the bottom of a drinking glass. The recipe is a keeper.

Freezing apples for pies and crisps

Those who know me know my penchant for locally grown fruits and vegetables, including apples. Several years ago by accident, I found a combination of local grown Melrouge and Cortland apples makes a nice base for the apple pie filling I make for my apple pie recipe. Firm and soft with all the flavor local grown apples provide, I wanted nothing more than to be able to freeze these apples for making apple pie during January and February when a pie made from these apples would be a great winter treat.

I needed to look no further than my copy of “Brooksby Apple Bake Cook Book” by the Peabody Historical Society which I purchased over a decade ago. Chock full of apple related muffins, breads, cakes, cookies, desserts, sauces, marmalades, page 21 contained the following on freezing apples for pie:

“Freezing Apples for Pie: Peel, halve, core, and slice apples quickly. Put in freezer bag and put in freezer as quickly as possible. Do only enough apples for one pie at a time; in this way the apples do not have time to discolor. When you are ready to use the apples for pie, you do not need to thaw them. Put them wile still frozen in your pastry shell, add sugar, spices, flour and bits of butter, top with top crust, flute edges and bake as you would a fresh apple pie.”

I started with enough apples for one pie,--two Melrouge and four Cortland apples. I peeled, halved, cored and sliced the apples shortly after buying them. I placed them immediately in a ziploc freezer bag and placed in freezer. Several months later, I made my pie crust for apple pie, lined a pie plate with half the crust, mixed the sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg and flour. I then retrieved the apples from the freezer and immediately hit a stumbling block.

The apples were frozen solid into a rectangular shape. The pie crust lined a circular pie plate. I did manage to get the rectangular block of apples into the circular pie plate along with the sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, flour and butter as well as get the top crust over this misshapen middle. The end result was a pie which tasted great but where the apples closest to the edge of the crust had no season.

Rectangular block of apples

waiting to be made into apple pie

Determined to improve upon this, I developed the following guidelines for freezing apples for pies and crisps:

• Pre-measure the apples. In other words, make sure your freezing enough for one pie, crisp, etc.
• Freeze apples which work well with the recipe you are freezing them for. For example, I freeze a combination of Melrouge and Cortland apples for apple pie.
• Plan to use the apples within six months.
• Use Ziploc freezer bags especially if you don't plan to pre-freeze the apples. This will make a partial thaw (see last bullet point below) when using apples easier.
• You can pre-freeze apples individually on a plate or baking sheet lined with parchment paper to keep them from clumping or forming a solid mass during the freezing process. If you're like me, you don't have any room your freezer for this pre-freeze step.
• When using apples for pie or crisp which were not pre-frozen and are a solid block, make your first step in the recipe filling a large bowl with medium-hot water and placing the apples in the water. As you go forward with your recipe, the apples will begin to thaw. Thaw apples enough to where the solid block can be easily broken by hand into chunks small enough to be used in your recipe. Apples should be cold to the touch, they do not need to be completely thawed.

Melrouge and Cortland apples, previously frozen,

baked into an apple pie.

Oven Roasted Eggplant

Over the years, my palate has become accustomed to local grown eggplant. When it appears at my local farmer's markets, I will buy, buy and buy more as I have found cooked eggplant freezes well and works nicely in a pizza, a pasta or bean dish or as the eggplant portion of my Eggplant, Meat and Tomato with Spices recipe.

By the time October rolls around, my freezer is stocked with bags of frozen oven roasted eggplant. During the cold days of winter and damp days of spring, the supply slowly dwindles. With only one bag remaining in my freezer at this time, I am reminded that at some point summer will return with its long days and bounty of local eggplant which I will buy roast and freeze for the upcoming winter. 

Oven Roasted Eggplant 
ready to be put in freezer for winter

Oven Roasted Eggplant

6 – 8 cups globe eggplant washed and diced

1 cup olive oil or canola oil

2 tsp onion powder

2 tsp garlic powder

1. Place oven rack on middle rung. Preheat oven to broiler setting.

2. In a large bowl, combine eggplant, olive oil, onion powder and garlic powder.

3. Line a large cookie sheet with aluminum foil, tucking in ends.

4. Place eggplant on cookie sheet, close together but no higher than one layer deep. 

Eggplant ready to be put

in oven for roasting

5. Place eggplant in oven on middle rack. Cook for 7 – 13 minutes or until largest pieces are easily split with fork. Serve or cool and store in airtight container in refrigerator for up to 2 weeks.

6. Repeat steps 4 and 5 as many times as needed.

If freezing, place cooled eggplant in freezer-safe bags or containers. I use quart size freezer-safe ziploc bags. When ready to use, remove from freezer and thaw on plate on kitchen counter top or in refrigerator for slower thaw. For quicker thaw, immerse three-quarters of eggplant in warm water. Once thawed, add to pizza as you would any other topping, heat to warm or hot if adding to pasta or bean dish. Use as bottom layer in my Eggplant, Meat and Tomato with Spices recipe.

Carrot Cake

I recently picked up carrots from Winter Moon Roots Farm with the objective of making a carrot cake for my mother’s upcoming birthday.  While this recipe calls for only 2 cups of grated carrots, which is approximately ½ pound, it’s a safe bet I’ll always end up with more than this amount.  When the carrots come in a pre-weighed 1 pound bag, I just make a double batch.  Thankfully, this recipe freezes well and is a favorite amongst friends and family and not just my mom.

For some reason, though, this time I purchased the exact amount of carrots without asking the clerk the weight of the carrots prior to purchase.  Truly amazed was I.    

Like my Whole Wheat Pumpkin Bread recipe, I prefer to make mini-loaves as this cake freezes well and the small mini-loaf size guarantees a quick defrost when company drops by.  And, yes, as with the Pumpkin Bread, there have been times when slices have been cut from frozen loaves and immediately deposited into the toaster oven with no complaint and complete satisfaction.  For freezing, I suggest wrapping each loaf in plastic wrap and then placing the loaves in a freezer safe ziploc bag.  

I like this recipe because it does not require pineapple, shredded coconut, raisins or walnuts to make a decent cake.  The carrots can be grated 1 – 2 days before baking and then stored in the refrigerator in an air tight container until ready to use.  Outside of grating the carrots this recipe is quick to put together using just one large mixing bowl and less than 30 minutes of prep time.    

While I’ve included the recipe for cream cheese frosting that came with this recipe which I received from my step-Aunt, Debbie, it’s rare this cake is served with frosting or cream cheese. 

Mini-loaf carrot cake 
wrapped in plastic wrap
and ready to be frozen for
later enjoyment 

Carrot Cake   yield - two 8" round cakes, 5 mini-loaves, 12 – 30 muffins

1 1/2 cups canola oil

2 cups sugar

4 eggs

1 tsp. vanilla extract

2 cups flour

2 tsp baking powder

1 tsp. baking soda

2 tsp. cinnamon

1/2 tsp. salt

2 cups grated carrots (approx. 1/2 lb. carrots)

1/2 cup raisins (optional)

1 cup chopped walnuts  (optional)

non-stick cooking spray

Place oven rack in middle position.  Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray cake pans with no-stick cooking spray.  If making muffins, line muffin tins. 

In a large bowl, mix sugar, oil and vanilla extract with beaten eggs.

Add flour, baking soda, baking powder, and cinnamon.  Mix until stiff batter thickens. 

Add Carrots and mix.  Batter will thin as you mix. 

Add nuts and raisins (optional).  Mix.

For cake or loaves, pour equal amounts of batter into cake pans or loaf pans.  Bake 35-70 minutes or until toothpick/cake tester comes out clean.  Remove from oven and cool on cooling rack for 5-10 minutes. Remove from pan and cool completely before frosting, serving or storing.  

For muffins, fill bake cups ½ - 1/3 full with batter.  Bake 25-45 minutes or until toothpick/cake tester inserted in center muffins comes out clean.  Remove from oven and cool on cooling rack for 5-10 minutes.  Remove from pan and cool completely before frosting, serving or storing.  

Cream cheese frosting:  6 oz. cream cheese softened mixed with 3 cups confectioner's sugar.  Add a few drops of milk as needed. 

Almond Biscotti or “Can't they get these in New York?”

As an adult, I developed an allergy to dairy. Now, before you say, “Can't you take a pill?”, “What about lactaid?” it's not that type of allergy. For me consumption of dairy results in sinus congestion, sinus headaches, wheezing, throat congestion. You get the picture.

Therefore when my girlfriend, Sally, developed a dairy free recipe for biscotti and fed me the results, I immediately asked for the recipe.

I would be a liar if I said I didn't approach this recipe with trepidation. Drop cookies and bar cookies are my forte. Where biscotti all seem to have a uniform shape, making these for the first time was a bit nerve-racking for me. The second time was much easier as the mystery of getting these cookies into the right shape was solved.

This has become a beloved recipe amongst friends, family and colleagues from as far as away as New York City. Thankfully, this cookie travels well even if the clerk at the local post office quizzically asks, “Can't they get these in New York?” “Yes,” I reply. “However, they're not as good.”

Almond Biscotti

Almond Biscotti - yield: approximately 18 cookies.

¾ cup sugar

3 eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 cups flour

¼ teaspoon cinnamon

1/8 teaspoon cloves

1/8 teaspoon nutmeg

1 cup almond slivers (I recommend Trader Joe's unsalted, dry toasted slivered almonds)

Place oven rack on middle setting. Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees farenheit.

Cover 15” x 10” or larger cookie sheet with aluminum foil. Dust foiled cookie sheet with flour. Set aside.

In a medium size bowl, combine sugar, eggs and vanilla extract. Add flour, cinnamon, cloves and nutmeg. When partially mixed, add almond slivers. Continue mixing. Batter should become very stiff.

Halve batter while still in bowl. Roll or shape dough into two logs, approximately 10” long and 1” thick on prepared cookie sheet.

Two logs of biscotti batter, 

ready for baking

Bake in pre-heated oven for 20 minutes. Remove from oven and cool for up to 10 minutes. Cut logs into ¾-inch diagonal slices, setting each slice on its side. Bake for 10 minutes. Remove biscotti from oven. Turn each cookie on its other side. Bake for another 10 minutes. Remove from oven. Cool, serve and store.

Cutting log on diagonal 

 Biscotti ready for more baking