Parmesan Roasted Zucchini

My daughter is not a big fan of vegetables.  She prefers fruit - peaches, plums, berries and apples.  In our house we all eat vegetables.  However, she really liked this zucchini side dish, so I had to share.  It is from Ina!

And late summer is zucchini season in New England.

6 medium zucchini (about three pounds) - washed
Olive Oil
Kosher salt and ground black pepper
3 garlic cloves, minced
2 T minced fresh parsley
2 T julienned fresh basil
1/2 c freshly granted Parmesan cheese (NOT from the can)
3/4 c Panko

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees

Trim the stems off the zucchini.  Cut them in half lengthwise and scoop out the seeds using a spoon (I use a regular small spoon).  Take a baking sheet and cover with tin foil.  Put the zucchini in one play on the pan and brush the scooped out side with olive oil.  Turn over the zucchini so the cut side is down.  Sprinkle with 1 teaspoon of kosher salt and then some ground pepper.

Roast for 14 minutes.

While roasting, make the stuffing by placing the garlic, parsley, basil, Parmesan, 1 teaspoon regular salt, ground pepper, panko and 3 T of olive oil.  Mix well.

When the zucchini is ready, please about a tablespoon of panko in each zucchini.  Bake for 8 more minutes.  Serve hot.

Enjoy

Three out of Four Isn't Bad

Last night, I made another new dish, which three out of four us really liked.  I am learning you can't please everyone every night.  However, I made a wide variety of foods, so if you don't like something one night, there is always tomorrow.

The recipe for Basmati and Wild Rice with Chickpeas, Currants and Herbs appears later in the post.  I served it with homemade hummus, carrots and cooked asparagus.

Over my coffee this morning, I was reading the Boston Sunday Globe, including the magazine section, which included this article.  When people hear what I cook for dinner, I get the typical "My kids would never eat that."  After reading the article, I hear what some people are saying - their kids are picky.  And in order to make dinner life more pleasant, parents cook what the kids want to eat, typically chicken nuggets, mac and cheese, pizza, etc.  When my kids were young (under five), I cooked two meals - an adult meal and a kid meal.  As the kids got older, and were exposed to more and more food, I stopped.  I declared in my own house, once the little one started kindergarten we were done with kid food (yes, no chicken nuggets for dinner) at the daily dinner.  Of course, if I served chicken or fish, I would make a vegetarian dish for my husband, however it was very similar to the meat based dish.  When designing meals, I tried to include one element that each kid liked (my daughter didn't like rice for a long time).  But you were expected to put a little of everything on the plate.  As they got older, you were expected to try a little of everything on the plate. And now, at ages 9 and 13, they are expected to eat what is on the plate.  Sure, it creates some "I don't like X" however they know they can either eat, or not eat.  However, if the kids decide not to eat, dinner is over.  After five years of doing this, each kid has skipped dinner less than five times.  Of course if the new recipe is horrible (both parents deem it horrible), then there is ice cream for all!

I also want to share one other experience before I post the recipe.  Back when my oldest attended preschool birthday parties the standard party food was pizza, fruit and cake.  My son did not eat pizza.  I did not bring another food with me.  He just ate the fruit (or veggies) and didn't say anything.  (He didnt' eat the cake either but that is another story).  One day in first grade he attended a soccer party after school.  At 5 PM, I picked him up and he said "How come you never serve pizza?  It is sooooooooo yummy."  Turns out he was so hungry from playing soccer for an hour, he didn't care what he ate, so he accepted the slice of pizza.  You never know.

Here is the recipe that I promised, adapted from Yotam Ottolenghi's Jerusalem cookbook.

1/3 cup wild rice
2 1/2 T olive oil
1 cup basmatic rice
1 1/2 cups boiling water
2 tsp cumin seeds
1 1/2 tsp curry powder
one 15 oz can chickpeas, rinsed
3/4 cup sunflower oil
1 medium onion thinly sliced
1 1/2 tsp flour
2/3 cup currants
2 T fresh chopped dill
salt and pepper

In a small pot, put the wild rice with two cups of water.  Bring to a boil, and then simmer for 40 minutes.  Drain and set aside.

In other pot, put 1 T olive oil and heat on high.  Add rice and some salt, and stir for 2 minutes.  Then carefully add boiling water and salt and stir.  Cover and turn to low and simmer for 15 minutes.  Then remove the pot from the heat, cover the lid with a clean towel and cover and let sit for 10 minutes.

Put the onion and flour in a small bowl together and toss.

Heat the 1.5 T of olive oil in a saucepan over high.  Add cumin seeds and curry powder and stir.  Then add chickpeas and salt.  Stir quickly and remove from heat.

Put the chickpeas in a large mixing bowl, add the wild rice and basmati rice.  Clean saucepan, and then put sunflower oil and heat over high heat.  When hot, add 1/3 of the onions and watch.  After 4-5 minutes take out the onions and put on a paper towel on a drying rack to drain.  Continue with another 1/3 of the onion, and then finish the last third.  Sprinkle onion with a small amount of salt.

Put the onions and currants in the bowl with the chopped dill.  Stir and serve!

Family Dinner

Over the last month I have had several people comment to me that it is impressive that we have a family dinner together most nights.  Not only that, but I cook the family meal.  I wanted to break down both of those statements.

First, family dinner is important to me and Adam.  Both of us grew up having family dinner most every night.  In my family, my dad worked full time and my mom worked part time.  But we had family dinner, except on Thursday nights when my dad worked late.  In Adam’s family both of his parents worked full time, and family dinner was served a bit later, but the whole family ate together.

 In our family, we eat family dinner most nights (Sundays, Mondays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays and most Saturdays).  Most of those nights I cook something, but even when I don’t cook, we eat a frozen pizza together or breakfast for dinner or vegetarian burgers, burgers and hot dogs, but we are at the same table at the same time.  We have made this a priority in our family, however Adam and I are lucky, that we can leave work and be home for dinner, and if need be, we can log back into the workplace from home and work if we need to work.  We have tried to pick activities that don’t have practice during the week day dinner hour (and during the years of Mark playing baseball we skipped family dinner).  It is getting harder and harder to do that as both kids get involved in different activities, however I hope that we continue to have family meals.

 The other part of this equation is that I cook.  I enjoy cooking and I am organized.  I go grocery shopping once a week with my master list broken down by categories (produce, grocery, dairy, deli and frozen).  On most Thursday nights, I sit on the sofa after dinner with my calendar, a piece of paper marked with the days of the week on the left.  I then write on the paper any activities that are happening.  I then sit with my cookbooks and create the menu on the paper with the days of the week.  I write what I am going to cook next to the day of the week (tofu, with a side of asparagus and rice).  Every time I add an item to the menu, I add the ingredients to the grocery list.  How do I decide what to make for dinner?  If it is a Sunday, I can make something that can take over an hour.  On Mondays, Mark must be done with dinner by 7 for his trombone lesson.  Many of my pasta recipes take 30 minutes or less to cook!  I determine what is for dinner by the evening activities. 

I also have many cookbooks, and every time I try a new recipe, I write next to the recipe comments, such as “Delicious” or “DO NOT MAKE AGAIN” or “Adults liked.”  I also have two three ring binders for every recipe that I print out, cut out or am given by someone.  One binder is the “Not Tried” and the other binder is the “Tried and good.”    My rule of thumb is you never need to make a bad dinner twice.  And, it might not be the cook’s fault.  The recipe might not be right for your family. 

 

The other key to family dinner is that the cook doesn't clean up. Adam cleans the dishes and the pots.  He also puts everything in Tupperware. 

Sunday

We spent a few hours with friends at their house.

Mark & Adam are at the Lowell Spinners. Naomi & I went to Johnny's for dinner - just us girls. We had fun! Naomi ate her grilled cheese and part of my crunchy french toast.

We spent $150 yesterday (m)

and had TWO very tired children. It was fabulous!!! We spent from 11 AM to 8 something PM at the amusement park. We paid for admission, lunch, ice cream and dinner. We played at Castaway Island and had a blast.

Too bad I am so tired today.