Zucchini and Peppers with Feta

It is so easy to make yummy and visually appealing vegetable side dishes during harvest season.

Last night I reheated a bean and rice casserole for dinner. While it was warming in the toaster oven, I made this colorful vegetable sauté.

While a little olive oil warmed in a small skillet, I chopped a small red onion and slivered a half an orange pepper I found in the salad drawer of the fridge. I added these to the oil with a sprinkle of salt and pepper and let them sauté while I chopped a zucchini and diced a half tomato left over from lunch. These went in too with a little more salt and pepper. Then I cooked it over medium heat until the zucchini skin was tender. (Late season zucchini often has tougher skin, I find.)

As a finishing touch, I sprinkled some feta over the vegetables, turned off the heat and covered the pan. I let it sit while I took the casserole from the toaster oven and set the table.

It was a colorful companion to a delicious but brown rice and bean casserole.

Heirloom Tomato Risotto

The risotto is almost cooked.

With this excessive heat, the leaves on our tomato plants are turning brown and crumbling, the eggplants are wilting and the zucchini have stopped flowering. I head out in the evening to spray water on their leaves, but it evaporates almost as soon as it lands.

Last night I picked all our remaining tomatoes — ripe and almost ripe — and made this risotto. It's one of our favorites, and I only make it in late summer when the tomatoes are rich and lush. I add some less ripe ones to get a little acid in the mix. It's truly scrumptious.

Usually I peel the tomatoes, which is easy — see how I do it here. But I'd just gone outside in 100° temperatures to pick the tomatoes. I had no desire to stand over a pot of boiling water. So we had barely noticeable little rolled up pieces of tomato peel in our risotto.

Of course, as with all risottos, an excellent stock is necessary. My favorite is one I make in the slow cooker — first roasting the vegetables to create a wonderful deep flavor. You can find my recipe for it here. I always have a few cups stashed in the freezer. It's so deeply concentrated that I use half stock and half water in risotto, and an even smaller proportion of stock in soup.

Heirloom Tomato Risotto
1 lb 8 oz heirloom tomatoes
2 tbsp olive oil, divided use
1/2 tbsp butter
1/2 onion, chopped
3 - 4 cups stock (or combination of water and stock)
1 1/4 cups Arborio rice
1/2 cup white wine
1 clove garlic, chopped
2 tbsp chopped basil
1/4 cup parmesan

Heat 1 tbsp olive oil and 1/2 tbsp butter in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the onion and a dash of salt and cook until the onion starts to turn golden, 5-6 minutes, stirring occasionally.

In a separate saucepan, bring the stock to a gentle simmer.

Add the rice to the onion, stirring until each grain is coated with oil. Pour in the wine, stir, and let simmer until the wine is absorbed. Then start adding stock, 1/2 cup at a time, letting it absorb before adding more. Stir a little, but not constantly.

Meanwhile, peel the tomatoes if desired. Then core and chop them into 1 1/2 inch chunks, saving the juice. Heat 1 tbsp oil in a small skillet. Cook the garlic a minute until fragrant, then add the tomatoes and their juice along with some salt. Simmer for about 5 minutes, stirring only a couple of times. Set aside until you're ready to use it.

About 15 minutes after adding the rice to the skillet, pour in the cooked tomatoes and their juices. Stir and let cook until the rice is tender and the risotto is moist and loose.

Remove from the heat and stir in the basil and parmesan.

Serve with extra parmesan and freshly ground black pepper.

Serves 2-3

Greek Salad

Our tomatoes are starting to really produce. I used them in this Greek style salad the other night. Sadly our cucumbers are suffering from drought. Fortunately the organic farmers at the Hollywood Farmers Market have my back.

The key to a good Greek salad is crunchy vegetables to offset the soft tomatoes, feta and olives. I vary them depending on what's available. This is my standard recipe. If you have mint in the garden, it makes a great addition.

Greek Salad
1/2 red onion
1 tsp white vinegar
3 medium or large tomatoes
1 cucumber
1/2 green pepper
romaine lettuce
3 tbsp red wine vinegar
5 tbsp olive oil
2-3 oz feta, crumbled
2-3 tbsp chopped fresh mint
12 kalamata olives, pitted if desired

Cut onion in slivers. Place in a bowl and cover with cold water. Add the white vinegar. Let sit at least 10 minutes.

Chop the tomatoes. Peel and seed the cucumber. Cut in bite-sized pieces. Cut pepper in slivers.

Drain the onion.

Chop the lettuce and put in a large bowl. Add the drained onion, cucumbers, tomatoes and peppers. Whisk together the red wine vinegar and olive oil. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Add a little more oil if desired, but it should be a sharp dressing. Toss the dressing with the vegetables.

Put the vegetables on a platter. Sprinkle the feta, mint and olives over top.

Serves 3-4

Peeling Tomatoes

Peeled tomatoes ready to be chopped and
added to a sumptuous sauce

When I made fresh tomato sauce last Sunday, I took the time to peel the tomatoes. Each time I start to do this, I wonder if it's worth it. But it really is. Little rolls of tomato peel would take away from the soft sultriness of this tomato sauce.

And really, peeling a few tomatoes takes but a minute.

First, bring a pot of water to the boil. Cut an "x" in the bottom of each tomato. Put the tomatoes in the boiling water.

Cook the tomatoes for 3 minutes until the skin

starts to peel back at the "x".

Scoop out the tomatoes and put them in a bowl of ice water

When they're cool enough to handle (30 seconds or so), take them from the water and pull the skin off with your fingers.

Grilled Corn and Tomato Salad

The first few weeks of organic corn season, we simply cook it and munch it straight off the cob. I eat it plain. Larry uses butter, salt and pepper. Nothing fancy. We revel in sweet summer corn.

A couple of weeks in, I'm ready to start using corn in fancier preparations like this salad adapted from Elizabeth Orsini's book Garden to Grill.

I served this grilled corn and tomato salad with homemade black bean burgers on Friday night. It was a great combo — the salad was a juicy sweet contrast to the dense burgers — and the leftovers of the salad were great in my lunch the next day.

Larry grilled the corn and tomatoes, and I stirred them together with onions and lemon from the garden, romaine lettuce and feta.You can't go wrong with that.

Grilled Corn and Tomato Salad
2 medium plum tomatoes
2 ears corn
1-2 tbsp olive oil
1 Egyptian walking onion stalk or scallion
1 clove garlic, minced
1/2 tsp lemon zest
1 tsp lemon juice
2 tbsp feta, crumbled into small dice
3-4 cups romaine lettuce, cut in bite-size pieces

Slice the tomatoes crosswise 1/2 inch thick. Shuck the corn. Brush all with olive oil, sprinkle with salt and pepper, and grill over medium heat (hand held 6 seconds over grate). The tomatoes will take a couple of minutes on each side. The corn will take about 10 minutes — turn it occasionally.

Remove the vegetables from the grill and let cool slightly. Chop the tomatoes in bite-size pieces and put in a serving dish. Cut the kernels from the cobs and add as well.

Snip the Egyptian walking onion stalk into a small bowl. Add the garlic, lemon zest and lemon juice with a little more olive oil. Whisk well and pour over the tomatoes and corn. Toss well. Add the lettuce and feta, toss again and serve.

Serves 4

Summer Eggs

When we got home from the Hollywood Farmers Market on Sunday, Larry started squeezing oranges for juice while I headed into the garden to pick basil and tomatoes for this brunch dish that is only as good as the tomatoes it's made with.

I poached eggs in a simple sauce of tomatoes and basil, then served it with fresh baguette and butter to sop up the sauce.

Summer on a plate.

Poached Eggs in Tomato Sauce
1 tbsp olive oil
1 clove garlic, peeled and chopped
1 lb ripe tomatoes, peeled and chopped
1/4 cup thick kefir or Greek yogurt or crème fraîche
1/4 cup chopped basil
4 eggs

Warm the oil in a small skillet. (I use an 8-inch stainless steel skillet.) Sauté the garlic until fragrant, then add the tomatoes. Cook over medium heat for about 10 minutes until the tomatoes have broken down and are juicy. Add the kefir and cook another 3 minutes or so until thickened. (Kefir and yogurt might crack but they still look and taste delicious.) Stir in the basil and season with salt and pepper.

Spread the sauce evenly in the pan, make 4 slight indentations, and crack the eggs into them. Cover and cook until the whites are set but the yolk is still runny, about 5 minutes.

Serve the eggs with lots of sauce and baguette and butter on the side.

Serves 2

(Make sure to eat all of it at one sitting — that won't be difficult. It does not keep well because the egg white moves through the sauce — fine for breakfast but weird to pour over spaghetti later.  You can reserve some of the sauce before putting the eggs in. It's great over pasta or rice. Or on bruschetta. Or eaten with a spoon. Simple is so often the best.)

Eggs with Green Chiles

I'm busy using the roasted poblanos from my freezer before this year's crop comes to market.

On Sunday, I added one to our scrambled eggs. Yum — spicy eggs are great with sourdough toast and breakfast potatoes.

Eggs with Green Chiles
2 tbsp chopped onion
1 clove garlic
2 tbsp butter
1 poblano, roasted and peeled
1 tomato, seeded and diced
6 eggs
1/2 tsp salt

Sauté the onion and garlic in butter until tender. Add the diced poblano and tomato and let cook until warmed through.

Beat the eggs with the salt until creamy. Add to the pan and cook, stirring regularly, until the eggs are cooked through.

Serves 2-3

Tomato and Avocado Salad

Tomatoes and avocado go surprisingly well together.

The other day I diced an avocado and two tomatoes and served them with some vinaigrette I had left over from the tomato and arugula salad I served when Tracie was visiting.

It was a great side salad to a meal of beans and rice.

Oftentimes, simple is best.

Heirloom Tomato Salad

The tomatoes on the plants in our garden are still green, but Tutti Frutti has been selling beautiful heirloom tomatoes for a couple of weeks. I assume they're greenhouse grown, but they're still ripe and juicy.

However, since they don't have the acidity of field-grown tomatoes, I tossed them with a mustardy dressing and our spicy homegrown arugula to make an assertive side to our barley salad on Sunday.

Tracie thought they were the best dish of the day and kept spooning them onto her plate. She was sure there was balsamic vinegar on them, but there wasn't.

Here's the recipe so she (and you) can reproduce it at home. It will be good with non-heirloom tomatoes and less-fiery store-bought arugula as well. (Although it's worth growing arugula just to have its pretty peppery flowers as a garnish.)

Heirloom Tomato Salad

1 tsp dijon mustard

3 tbsp red wine vinegar

1 tbsp minced shallot

1 tbsp minced chives or Egyptian Walking Onion leaves

3 tbsp olive oil

1 lb heirloom tomatoes

1 cup arugula leaves

sprinkle of fleur de sel

Whisk together the mustard, vinegar, shallot, chives and olive oil. Season with salt and pepper to taste. This will make extra dressing that is great on romaine lettuce. It will last a couple of weeks in the fridge.

Cut the tomatoes in chunks. Add the arugula leaves, torn in pieces if large.

Sprinkle about a third of the dressing over the vegetables and toss gently. Put in a serving dish, sprinkle with some fleur de sel, and garnish with arugula flowers.

Serves 4

Arugula Salad with Balsamic Dressing

What greens are in this salad, Larry asked. Homegrown arugula, I said. Yes, but what other greens are in it, he persisted. Just arugula, I replied. Wow, he said in a surprised tone of voice, it's really good.

I understood his amazement because our arugula is exceptionally peppery. I usually add a few leaves to a green salad as a flavor boost or cook it with other greens.

But for our Memorial Day barbecue, I tossed handfuls of the leaves with a hearty balsamic vinaigrette that complemented their heat without overpowering it. With the sweetness of tomato and grilled red onion and the salty umami of a little shaved parmesan, the salad was a huge success.

The extra dressing lasts well in the fridge, ready to be poured over grilled vegetables or hearty grain salads.

Arugula Salad with Balsamic Dressing
3 slices red onion
olive oil
1 tomato
2-3 cups arugula leaves, tough stems removed
wedge of parmesan

Push toothpicks into the slices of onion so they hold together on the grill. Brush them with olive oil and grill over a medium-hot fire until they are soft and well-browned (not black and crispy), 3-4 minutes per side. Remove from heat, remove toothpicks, and cut in quarters.

Cut the tomato into bite-sized pieces.

Toss the arugula, onion and tomato together with just enough dressing to lightly moisten. Use a potato peeler to shave a few pieces of parmesan over the salad. Serve with extra dressing on the side.

Serves 2-3


Balsamic Dressing
1/4 cup pitted kalamata olives
1/4 cup mustard
2 cloves garlic, minced
3/4 cup olive oil
1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
1/4 cup basil leaves, coarsely chopped

Purée olives, mustard and garlic in blender. With the rotors running, gradually add the olive oil until it emulsifies. Add the balsamic and basil. Purée until mixed. Add salt and pepper to taste.

Makes about 1 1/4 cups

Fusilli with Arugula and Tomatoes and Feta

Our arugula is starting to flower, so I harvested a bunch of the leaves and flowers the other night to try to encourage it to get bushy again. Once I discarded the tough stems, I had about 3 cups of peppery leaves and flowers. I tossed them with hot pasta, tomatoes and feta for a quick flavorful dinner.

It's a simple dish that can be varied in many ways. Cherry or grape tomatoes can substitute for the plum tomatoes. I used leaves from our homegrown Egyptian walking onions, but scallions are a good substitute.

This is fresh fast food at its best.

Fusilli with Tomatoes and Feta
8 oz fusilli or other pasta
3 tbsp olive oil plus more to drizzle
1 shallot, peeled and diced
3 Egyptian walking onion leaves, chopped
3 large cloves garlic, peeled and minced
1 3/4 lb roma tomatoes
3 cups chopped arugula leaves
4 oz feta, diced

Cook the pasta in plenty of salted boiling water until it's al dente.

Meanwhile, warm the olive oil in a large skillet over high heat. Add the shallot, onion leaves, garlic and tomatoes. Sauté about 7 minutes until the tomatoes soften. Sprinkle with salt and pepper.

Drain the pasta and return it to its pot. Stir in the tomato mixture and arugula. Drizzle in a little extra olive oil to make it all meld together. Stir in the feta and serve.

Serves 2-4

Fava Beans and Tomatoes

We have been eating wonderful fava beans this spring, another example of how the farmers at the Hollywood Farmers Market bail me out of my dilemmas. You see, I forgot to plant our fava bean seeds last fall. I don't know why. I had carefully saved the seeds from the end of last year's crop, but somehow I forgot about them until February, when it was far to late to plant them.

I'll try again this fall. In the meantime, I'm happy the professionals are on top of things.

The other night I served left-over sweet potato-chipotle chili and brown rice. One of the great things about left-overs is that while they reheat I am able to spend more time messing around with the accompanying vegetables.

First I cooked a quick tomato sauce. Then I briefly cooked the fava beans but did not do the second peel that makes them bright green. I decided this was an evening for texture — the tangy pop of the fava bean skin against the soft green of the inner bean. After they were cooked, I sautéed them in olive oil. I was going to cook them until they were golden — which I hear is excellent — but I wimped out and just cooked them until the outer skin was taut but still green. Then I stirred in the tomato sauce and a little basil.

It was a wonderful combination of textures and tastes — the slight bitterness of the fava bean skins contrasted with the sweetness of the tomatoes and basil. However, I think it would also have been great without the fava bean skins. (See here for instructions on peeling fava beans.)

Fava Beans and Tomatoes
1 1/2 lbs fava beans (shelled equals 2 cups)
2 tbsp olive oil, divided use
1 shallot, peeled and minced, about 2 tbsp
2 tomatoes, chopped
1 tbsp chopped basil

Take the fava beans out of their pods. Cook them in boiling salted water for 5 minutes. Drain and set aside.

Warm half the olive oil over medium heat. When it shimmers, add the shallot and let cook until aromatic. Stir in the tomatoes. Cover and cook for about 10 minutes, stirring occasionally, until they're broken down. Scrape them into a bowl, and add the remaining olive oil to the pan. Put in the fava beans and cook until golden, or at least until the skins are taut, about 3 minutes. Add the tomato sauce and basil. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Let warm through and serve.

Serves 2-3

Fava beans in their pods 

Warm Quinoa Salad with Black Beans and Lime

It's rare for me to buy fresh tomatoes out of season. Cherry tomatoes seem to travel better so I buy organic cherry tomatoes (grown in Mexico) for Larry's lunch salads all winter. They seem to taste okay, especially when dowsed in honey-balsamic salad dressing.

But the other day my local grocery store had organic vine-ripened tomatoes and I bought a few to stir into this warm salad of quinoa and black beans. The zest of the limes made the dish interesting, and the tomatoes added juiciness and color. I then went outside to encourage my tomato seedlings to grow faster — I'm ready for homegrown tomatoes.

Quinoa is a much-hyped high-protein grain. It's also really bitter, which is why I rinse it three times — the first time with boiling water. There's melted butter in the vinaigrette, which also helps soften the taste.

I came in from the garden and threw some black beans in the pressure cooker. While they were cooking (15 minutes once up to pressure), I cooked asparagus for our side dish, started the quinoa cooking, and whisked together the vinaigrettes for the asparagus and the quinoa salad. It took a little over 30 minutes to put dinner on the table, not too bad for a healthy meal made from scratch.

Warm Quinoa Salad with Black Beans and Lime
1/3 cup dry black beans (or 1 can)
1 cup quinoa
2 limes
2 tbsp unsalted butter, melted and cooled
1 tbsp vegetable oil
2 medium tomatoes, chopped
1 shallot, minced
1/4 cup chopped cilantro

Pick over the beans to remove any stones or debris. Rinse them, then cook in boiling water until tender (about 2 hours) or pressure cook for 15 minutes. (If they're still a little hard when you reduce the pressure, put the lid back on and let them simmer until they're tender. Don't overcook them — you want them to hold their shape.) Drain the beans and set aside. (Or open the can of beans, rinse well and drain.)

Put the quinoa in a sieve and pour boiling water over it. Drain well, then pour cold water over it twice. This thorough rinsing will wash off the bitter saponins. Cook the quinoa in a pot of lightly salted water for about 10 minutes until tender but not soft — al dente if you will. Drain it, return it to the pot, and leave it covered, off the heat, to rest 5 minutes or so until you're ready to use it. It will absorb any remaining water and become fluffy and dry.

Grate the limes to make 2 tsp of zest. Squeeze 2 tbsp of lime juice into a large bowl. Add the zest, melted butter and vegetable oil. Whisk in 1/2 tsp salt and 1/4 tsp pepper.

Add the black beans and stir well. If necessary, let the beans rest in the vinaigrette until the remaining ingredients are ready. Then toss in the quinoa, tomatoes, shallot and cilantro. Season with extra salt and pepper if needed.

Serves 4

Grilled Zucchini Sandwich

Continuing the theme of thank goodness there are farmers to grow my food for me, I planted zucchini seeds in our vegetable garden this afternoon and then served a simple supper of grilled vegetable sandwiches made with zucchini from Finley Farms. I am optimistic that in a couple of months I will be serving home-grown zucchini, but in the meantime we won't starve.

These sandwiches taste of summer - tomato, basil, arugula for kick, and the grilled zucchini adding substance. It's best to serve these on whole wheat sandwich bread that you can squeeze together so the filling doesn't slide out. I have used Whole Foods rosemary boule before, which adds more flavor but also more difficulty in handling the finished sandwich. Toothpicks are helpful.

I was happy to find first-of-the-season organic tomatoes at the Givens Farmstand. While the arugula adds enough interest that flavorful midsummer tomatoes are not necessary, this sandwich won't taste good with a flavorless winter tomato.

I served the sandwich with potato salad and iced tea - a true summer meal in mid-May. Kind of amazing.

Grilled Zucchini Sandwich
1/2 cup mayonnaise
1 tbsp minced basil
1/2 tsp grated lemon zest
2 small zucchini, cut lengthwise into 1/4 inch slices
2 slices red onion, about 1/4 inch thick
4 slices bread
1 cup arugula, thick stems removed
1 tomato, thinly sliced

Combine mayonnaise, basil and lemon zest. Set aside. (This is more than you will need for the sandwiches, but it's good on pretty much anything you would use mayonnaise for.)

Warm a grill pan over high heat. Brush zucchini and onion with oil and grill until tender but still slightly crunchy, 3-4 minutes per side.

To assemble the sandwiches, spread mayonnaise on the slices of bread. Top two with zucchini, onion, arugula then tomato. Season with salt and pepper. Top with the the remaining bread slices.

Makes 2 sandwiches

White Beans with Fennel and Chard

Just after adding the chard

There are so many varieties of greens and colors of beans that I'm sure I could eat them every day for a month and never have the same combination twice.

The other night, I combined white beans, fennel and red-stemmed chard into this simple yet satisfying stew. The fennel adds crunch and a little anise flavor, the beans add texture, and the chard reminds me I'm eating healthy food. Plus it all looks very pretty together.

I could have served this over rice or with bread on the side, but we enjoyed it as is in shallow bowls, using a fork not a spoon.

Fennel bulbs, also known as anise, arrive at the farmers market with long fronds attached. The fronds can be used as garnish, but otherwise end up in the compost. The bulb is the part that goes into this dish.

I've also made this stew with black-eyed peas. Chickpeas would be good. Use whatever bean you like. If you want you can use a 14-oz can of beans instead of cooking your own. Be sure to rinse them really well to get rid of any metal flavor.

The chard cooks down to nothing

White Beans with Fennel and Chard
1/3 cup white beans
2 fennel bulbs
2 tbsp olive oil
1 large onion, finely chopped
1 bunch (about 3/4 lb) Swiss chard
2 medium tomatoes, cored and diced
1 1/2 cups water

Pick over beans and remove any stones. Rinse them off, then cook in plenty of simmering water until tender, about 90 minutes depending on the age of the bean. Drain and set aside.

Prepare the fennel by removing the fronds. Cut off the thick bottom, and discard any discolored or dried-out layers of the bulb. Cut the bulb in half from top to bottom, and cut out the tough triangular core at the bottom. Slice the remaining pieces of the bulb thinly crosswise. Set aside.

Cut the stems off the chard leaves - save for another use or compost them. Wash the leaves well, shake off the excess water, then stack them and cut them in 1/2 inch ribbons. Set aside.

Warm the olive oil over moderate heat, and sauté the fennel and onion, stirring occasionally, until lightly browned, about 15 minutes. Add the cooked beans, chard, tomatoes and water. Season with salt and pepper. Partially cover the pan and let it simmer over moderately-low heat, stirring occasionally, until the fennel is tender and the greens have shrunk to almost nothing, about 25 minutes.

Serve in shallow bowls with salt and pepper on the side. Olive oil can be drizzled over or parmesan sprinkled if desired, but we enjoyed it straight.

Serves 4

Apple and Spinach Salad

I love winter for the thick soups that make meals easy. Soup and salad has always eluded me though. I don't know how to eat from a soup bowl and a salad bowl at the same time.

However, it's important to eat raw food as well as cooked, so when I served Thick Bean and Tomato Soup this week, I started the meal with a plate of this Apple and Spinach Salad.

Usually I just toss the ingredients together in a bowl and we serve ourselves, but layered on small plates they looked very pretty. We ate our plates of salad and then bowls of awesome soup. Quite the satisfying meal.

The dressing is slightly sweet and very good on all green salads. There will be more than is necessary for this meal - save it for other salads in the week. It will last a few weeks in the fridge.

Apple and Spinach Salad
4 large handfuls of spinach
1 apple (I used cameo)
1 small carrot
1/2 cup thinly sliced red onion
3/4 cup halved cherry or pear tomatoes
2 tbsp crumbled blue cheese
1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
2 tbsp honey
1/2 cup olive oil

Wash spinach well. Dry and remove any large stems. Tear into bite-sized pieces and spread on 2 small plates.

Slice apple and carrot into bite-sized pieces. Place on spinach, along with onion and tomatoes. Sprinkle blue cheese on top.

Whisk together the vinegar, honey and olive oil. Serve on the side. (Or toss the spinach with some of the dressing before placing on the plate. Serve the extra dressing on the side.)

Serves 2

Thick Bean and Tomato Soup

The weather is cooling off in the evenings (down to the 50s), making soup a welcome meal.

A good vegetable stock and some vegetables and grains or beans makes a great soup.

This Bean and Tomato soup is a little more complicated than I usually make, but it's worth the extra time. First I made a thick tomato soup and puréed it. Then I added cooked beans and more chopped vegetables for texture. When they were tender, dinner was served. (For my simpler creamy tomato soup, see here.)

We ate this delicious soup three times this week, and I've frozen the rest to eat in future weeks. It makes a lot, which is a plus in my book.

I love good soup.

Thick Bean and Tomato Soup
3 tbsp butter or olive oil
2 lbs potatoes, peeled and diced 1/2 inch
1 leek, white only, halved and sliced
3 onions, peeled and diced, divided use
3 cups diced celery, divided use
28 oz can tomatoes
1 lb tomatoes, quartered and stem removed
1 tbsp dried Mexican oregano
3 cups vegetable stock and 5 cups water (or some combination)
4 carrots, diced (about 2 cups)
2 fennel bulbs, diced (about 2 cups)
1 1/3 cups white beans, cooked (or 2 cans, drained)

Melt butter in large soup kettle and sauté potato, leek, 1 onion and 1 cup diced celery, stirring frequently, until onion just starts to brown, about 10 minutes.

Add canned tomatoes and fresh tomatoes; stir well, scraping any onion off bottom of pan. Add oregano, water and stock. Bring to a boil, lower to a simmer, and cook, loosely covered, until soup begins to thicken, about 45 minutes.

Remove from heat and purée with an immersion blender (or in batches in a blender). Season with a teaspoon of salt and a few grindings of pepper. Depending on the saltiness of the stock you used, you'll need to add more salt. I added close to a tablespoon. (Still very little salt compared to packaged soups.)

Stir in carrot, fennel, remaining onion and celery, and simmer gently until they are almost tender. Stir in the cooked beans, and keep cooking until all is warm and tender, stirring regularly, about 25 minutes total.

Taste and season to taste.

Serves 10-16

Lasts a week in the fridge. Freezes well too.

Bean Salad with Rooster Sauce

This was a pretty salad for Halloween week - black beans, orange cherry tomatoes, red peppers, and rooster sauce (Sriracha) to give it a kick.

Bean salads are great to eat daily - they are low in calories and high in fiber and antioxidants - and if you make a batch of bean salad you can easily scoop it into containers for the lunch box. (I take mine along with a green salad, then mix the two together to get a very healthy meal that, along with an apple, sustains me through my busy day.)

Bean Salad with Rooster Sauce
1 cup black beans
2 tbsp white wine vinegar
1 tsp rooster sauce
1/2 cup orange cherry tomatoes, halved
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup chopped red pepper
juice of 1 lime

Cook the black beans in plenty of simmering water until tender. Drain. Put in a bowl and stir in the vinegar and rooster sauce. Let cool to room temperature.

Stir in the remaining ingredients.

At this point it can be refrigerated for up to 5 days. Before serving, stir in extra lime juice if desired.

Serves 4

Heirloom Tomatoes

It is not often that I buy heirloom tomatoes. They look pretty, but I'm not convinced the taste appeal is worth the hefty price tag. I put cherry tomatoes in our salads; otherwise I tend to cook tomatoes, and the regular red organic ones are fine.

This week, however, I decided to serve heirloom tomatoes as a side salad. I sprinkled them with olive oil, salt and pepper and lime juice. They went beautifully with a simple dinner of tofu and rice.

Tomato Chili Pickle

A few weeks ago I planned to cook ratatouille. I bought peppers and tomatoes but couldn't find any eggplant at the Hollywood Farmers Market. I was thwarted in my plan.

So instead I turned the tomatoes into this tomato chili pickle. This is not pickle like Americans understand it. It's a form of British chutney, like lime pickle, a spicy relish to serve with curries or meats.

It's similar to sambal oelek, although a little less hot.

I'm giving you the recipe I used, but I have to warn you that in order to be completely food safe you should cook the full jars in a hot water bath for 20 minutes - I describe that in our salsa recipe.

I didn't do that, because I was feeling British. My grandmother made all sorts of preserves and put them in sterilized jars with a layer of greaseproof paper on top. No one died. This chili pickle has so much vinegar and chilies in it that I felt fine not boiling it, but the food safety police would be on me if I recommended such recklessness to you. It should be fine poured into a sterilized jar and refrigerated for a few months (if you can keep your family away from it).

I recommend serving it on with grain dishes or squash or veggie burgers - anything that might need a little zip. It rescued our Canadian Thanksgiving dinner from blandness.

The heat will vary depending on your peppers. I used jalapeños from my droughty garden - extra hot.

Yum. It disappears quickly. I should have made more.

Tomato Chili Pickle
10 jalapeños, stemmed
1 oz fresh ginger root, peeled
1 tsp tumeric
3 tsp cumin seeds
3 tbsp organic canola oil
5 cloves garlic
1/4 cup sugar
1 tbsp salt
3/4 cup red wine vinegar
2 1/4 lbs tomatoes, cored and cut in 8ths

Grind the jalapeños, ginger root, turmeric and cumin together in a small food processor or blender with a little oil.

Warm the rest of the oil over medium-high heat until quite hot. Stir in the puréed peppers and cook 2-3 minutes, stirring. Lower the heat and add the garlic, sugar, salt and vinegar. Keep stirring. When the sugar has dissolved, stir in the tomatoes and cook down until it's pulpy.

Pour into sterilized jars, cover and refrigerate until ready to eat.

Makes about a pint.