Zucchini-Onion Sautee

It doesn’t get simpler or easier than this side dish; there are just a couple of seasonings (spoiler alert: nutmeg, thyme, and lemon) that make all the difference in bringing out the flavor of the veggies.

Start by melting a pat of butter (or you could use olive oil) in a saucepan over medium heat, then throw in some sliced or diced onion and let it soften, stirring so it doesn’t over-brown or stick to the pan. Grate a bit of fresh nutmeg (like 1/4 tsp.) over it. Mince a few sprigs’ worth of thyme leaves with about 1 TBSP of kosher salt, scatter it over the onion, and add 1 small-to-medium zucchini, sliced coin-style. Spritz on the juice of half a lemon and toss everything together.

Summer Bounty: Easy Squash

Dear Readers,

With the small respite from the heat wave, I finally got back into the kitchen. Sometimes it's too hot to turn on the stove. You know what I'm saying.

Last night I was enjoying a lovely dinner with my co-blogger Kitty and the Rob. We were having a chuckle at my recent RAMPSCAPE debacle, discussing brisket injuries and trying to rediscover our enthusiasm for the proposed epic battle "Potato versus Rice" (now dinner is a write-off, right Kitty?) when our friend Hollister popped in to have a glass of wine with us while we were finishing up our meal. While we were chatting, she asked if we could write a post that is "really easy". Now readers, I want to apologize if we haven't been living up to our desired mission- "to make cooking easy fun and delicious", and assure you that most of what we post here, if we've tagged it as "easy" is stuff that you are all perfectly capable of doing.

Kale, Yeah!

This morning, I saw a commercial that may well earn a spot in the Annoying NY1 Ad Hall of Fame alongside Pillow Pets and the Sarah MacLachlan abused-animals-wondering-what-they-did-wrong ones. In it, a woman says something like, “Don’t you wish vegetables didn’t taste so vegetable-y?”

Whaaaaaaat?

Of course, my mind immediately went to Alyce’s “Veggie Rage” post expressing, well, rage at those who would make us feel vegetables are something to be endured rather than enjoyed. (I believe the ad went on to tout some product that made a mix of fruit and vegetable juices taste solely like fruit, but even if I did recall its name I certainly wouldn’t plug it.)

Now, I like a big hunk of meat as much as the next guy—and by "next guy" I mean Homer Simpson marveling at the “wonderful, magical animal” that makes pork, bacon, and ham. But I also appreciate the flavor and texture of veggies in their own right, not when disguised as meat or fruit or what have you. If I’m going to make vegetables, they’re damn well going to taste vegetable-y.

In that spirit, here’s a recipe for kale—much like Brussels sprouts, a super-nutritious green that is often unfairly maligned because people don’t know the simple ways to cut its bitterness and bring out its intense flavor ... which turns out to be a surprisingly great complement to a rich meat-driven dish.

The proportions of this recipe are easily multiplied. Tonight I was cooking for myself; I used half a bunch of kale, which as it turned out could have been two generous servings. Note: A bunch of raw kale looks like it could feed an army, but cooks down to a fraction of its size, so resist the urge to use far less than a recipe calls for.

Veggie Rage: Broccoli Rabe

Hi all!

As you may or may not know about me, I really like veggies. I like almost all veggies. In fact, as I sit here, trying to think about a vegetable I don't like, I am coming up... empty. I can't, at this moment, think of a vegetable that I won't eat. It is this love that I have for all things green (and red and yellow and white and orange) that is injured whenever I see these food corporations blithely, and with an ironic "wink wink", showing us how to choke down servings of vegetables in a quick tasty beverage, and sneak vegetables to our children. Heaven forbid anyone should prepare with excitement, and consume with enjoyment, a vegetable that actually resembles a vegetable.

I have called attention to some of the more egregious examples of this in a previous "Veggie Rage" post about brussels sprouts, but today I am turning my attention to another of my favorite bundles of green: Broccoli Rabe.

If you're not familiar with this delightful combination of floret and leafiness, it resembles kale (although not as curly) with smaller, looser, larger-sprouted broccoli florets.

Broccoli Rabe, also known as Rapini, is more bitter than your standard broccoli, but is just as, if not more, versatile than our old friend broccoli (which i would never disparage. I promise, broccoli, i have nothing but love for you and will definitely do a broccoli-focused post at some point). Broccoli Rabe makes a lovely side accompaniment, pasta dish, and I have been known to consume it as a main dish, which I happened to do this particular evening.

Veggie Rage

Hey everyone, did you know that Chef Boyardee has a full serving of vegetables?

Actually, Ragu does too!

Also providing alternative options for servings of fruits and vegetables are V8 and Fruit2Day.

Thank goodness our national nightmare of having to eat vegetables is over! It's hard to express what a nuisance it is to clean, prepare, cook, and then *actually chew* individual servings of vegetables. Overwhelming even.

Okay, maybe you are getting my sarcasm here, but I have a deep-seated rage against this new trend towards tricking people into consuming vegetables, "hiding" vegetables in other food vehicles, and designating fruit juice as a veggie allowance to get around the challenge of eating vegetables. What it comes down to is that I don't get it. Am I that much of a freak that I really enjoy vegetables? I like them raw, steamed, grilled, sauteed. I like them as a side dish, snack or main meal. I like them on a house and with a mouse... and okay, you get it.

But my point is that vegetables can be such an enormous pleasure precisely because of the variety of options that they afford (as opposed to pasta and sauce, pre-packaged by Ragu and Chef Boyardee, that scream bordeom and monotony to me).

So in order to tackle this "anti-veggie" rage, I will be posting about my veggie love affairs, and I figured why not tackle one of the most maligned veggies first?
Yes, I am talking about Brussels Sprouts!