Zucchini Anyone?

Janet here: It's August, which means zucchini the size of small blimps are invading many gardens. Yes, you can make zucchini bread — and I have nothing against zucchini bread — but if you want something a little different, something with a little versatility, I heartily endorse this dip/spread. I served it as dip one night to friends and Peter used it as a tasty sandwich spread after that. Two meals in one!

Zucchini Dip/Spread

ingredients
2 medium zucchini
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 cup plain yogurt
1/2 cup bread crumbs or panko
1/3 cup ground walnuts
1 tablespoon minced scallion
2 1/2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon minced garlic
pepper and cayenne pepper to taste

method

Grate the zucchini and then place it on a double thickness of paper towel and squeeze out all the moisture. This is critical.

In a medium frying pan, warm the olive oil and then add the zucchini and saute lightly, stirring regularly. Basically this is to get out additional moisture. Transfer to a cutting board and chop further. Let cool

In a medium bowl, mix together the yogurt, cooled zucchini, bread crumbs, walnuts, shallot, lemon juice, salt, garlic and peppers. Taste and adjust the seasoning. Serve immediately.

Hot Wing Chicken Salad...Or, Unfathomable Failure

Rachel here.

The other night John made hot wings. Deeeelicious as they were, he made enough for an army larger than two and so we found ourselves not with a few leftover, but a ton. While we both have a thing for hot wings (this may be the secret to our successful partnership), this leftovers thing was a new problem.

No joke. We have never not eaten all of our hot wings. Never.

We entertained the idea of just continuing to eat them for days on end, but both felt intrigued by the idea of trying to innovate a little with our leftovers. And so we concocted hot wing chicken salad.

We peeled the chicken from the bones (umm...this was tedious), diced up some celery and then mashed it all together with blue cheese dressing. Piling mountains onto squishy buns, we sat down certain that we had just created the greatest thing since chocolate ice cream (ok, I thought it was the greatest thing since chocolate ice cream...John probably was thinking of some other food, though, since he is simply unable to do the things to ice cream that I effortlessly endeavor).

We hadn't.

Everything was fine except that we both found ourselves feeling like we were eating these giant piles of mush. Maybe it was the buns (these were like, I don't know, little fluffy buttery clouds), or maybe we should have made the celery crunch more prominent. Maybe we needed another flavor--onions came to mind for both of us independently. While we maintain that the idea is certainly not at fault, the missing piece eludes us.

I guess we'll just have to give it another go around the next time there's a giant tupperware of leftover chicken wings in the fridge...you know, if that ever happens again in our lives.

Meatless Mondays: Open-faced Eggplant Parmesan Sandwiches

Rachel here: I am obsessed with eggplant (I know-it's a picture of a tomato, not an eggplant, but more on that in a bit). Until recently, I counted it as a food I didn't particularly care for. Our dear friend N came to visit and help us out right after M was born, though, and she put eggplant in lasagnas that she made us. Ever since then I've had a hankering. While my mom hates the texture, that's precisely the thing that I'm so gaga for these days. Anyway, after making stir-fry the other night I found myself with half an eggplant leftover. What to do? Simple. Buy the prettiest heirloom tomato I could find, a delicious loaf of bread and make open-faced eggplant parmesan sandwiches for dinner.


I know, I know. There should be a picture of eggplant and a sandwich in this blog post somewhere. The photos I took, though, fall into the category of epic failure, so instead I'm keeping you hungry with pictures of tomatoes and bread (personally, they're two of my favorite things). This was a really simple and delicious dinner and I don't want to turn you off with unappetizing pictures.



ingredients
loaf of your favorite bread (I bought a loaf of rustic whole wheat sourdough made by the local Acme bakery...so so good)
tomato (heirlooms just came into season here and I won't by a different kind of tomato until they go out)
basil
parmesan cheese
olive oil
eggplant
salt and pepper

method
Slice the eggplant in 1/2-inch slices. Rub with salt, pepper and olive oil. Grill. Place bread under broiler and toast (don't toast too much as you will be placing bread back under broiler later). On top of toasted bread, stack basil leaves, slices of tomato, and piece of grilled eggplant. Shred parmesan cheese generously over the top before placing sandwiches under the broiler. Broil until cheese is good and melted. Devour!