Grated Zucchini with Shaved Parmesan

Zucchini with Parmesan

I was taught this recipe years ago by a San Franciscan chef.  A friend of mine bought this cooking class at a school auction and I cook a number of the recipes he taught us all the time.  Too bad I forgot who he was, I would love to thank him.  I could eat this dish as an entree with a bit of tomato sauce.  This recipe makes me plant more zucchini in my yard.

Serves 6

• 
  
  3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
• 
  
  4 zucchini, grate in a food processor creating a thick long shread
• 
  
  1 cup shaved parmesan cheese, shaved with a grater

Heat a saute pan over high heat for three minutes.  Turn off heat and add olive oil quickly.  Immediately add zucchini and with your hand (if you are brave) turn the zucchini in the pan until it is warmed.  Add the parmesan and again quickly stir to slightly melt the cheese.  The zucchini will be just warm but not hot enough to allow the zucchini to release its water.  If you feel it is not hot enough, turn the heat on quickly.  The beauty about this zucchini is its fresh taste.  Salt to taste and serve immediately. 

Broccolini with Olive Oil

Broccolini with Olive Oil

This is the standard way I cook many vegetables.  Blanched in copious amounts of heavily salted water, Thomas Keller style.  This is my husband's favorite.  Simple but good.

Serves 6

• 
  
  Two bunches broccolini, trimmed
• 
  
  Olive oil
• 
  
  Salt

Bring a large pot of water to a boil.  Add enough salt to taste like the sea.  Make a water bath with about 6 cups of water and 6 cups of ice.  Add the broccolini to the boiling water and cook until done, about three minutes.  Take one out, cut off a bit of the stem and check to see if it's cooked.  Pull the stems out of the water and plunge into the ice bath.

Once cooked, drain and dry well.  I sometimes place them into a salad spinner to spin the water out of the heads then dry completely in a tea towel.  Place them in a microwaveable dish and season with salt and olive oil.  Toss to distribute evenly.  Taste to check seasoning.  When ready to serve heat in your microwave oven for two minutes or until hot.  Easy peasy.

Day One

I went to bed last night with my home smelling like vinegar. Hard to sleep. I ended up using apple cider vinegar to can my pickled vegetables instead of my normal good quality white wine I get at my local well stock supermarket. I was picking up a prescription for "TriLyte" (only people over 50 know what THAT is for) at my neighborhood chain grocery store and that was the only option besides the $12.99 for 12 ounces type. I needed 8 cups. So I bought apple cider vinegar. I HOPE I did not make a bad decision, not spending 10 more minutes to run to my well stocked supermarket to get the right kind of vinegar. I am making gifts for Christmas. Sick of the spending too much time in malls during Christmas so have decided to make gifts instead. MUCH rather spend time in the kitchen than in shopping centers!

I also canned all the apples off two prolific apple trees in our yard. I boiled for 10 minutes the 16, two quart canning jars, set them in a warm oven to keep dry and hot and began prepping the apples. After two hours of peeling and worming all our beautiful, organic apples (yes the worms LOVE them, as I do) I filled up my gigantic All Clad pot and began making apple sauce. I make apple sauce ALL the time (remember two prolific trees) but NEVER realized how much they reduce in volume!! After all that time prepping the jars, cleaning those beautiful apples, I came up with four jars of applesauce. Should have done pint jars!

Also made plum jam. Again prolific trees. My husband loves to garden and thankfully, I love to cook. These were somewhat sour plums that dropped all at once. Now what do you do with a load of sour plums, but make jam! Oh my, that batch was the most unbelievably flavorful jam I have EVER made. Too bad it was too runny. I marked it as "Plum Syrup", no one will ever know. It will be UNBELIEVABLE on French toast!

Okay, I figured if I was going to win Food and Wine's best home chef contest I would have to work a bit. You know, learn how to blog, take a picture or two and THEN download them on my computer and then transfer that file onto this profile (hey, did you notice my homepage, you CAN teach an old dog new tricks!). I have always WANTED to do a food blog, just never had the motivation. Thank you Food and Wine. So I guess for the next 15 days, you will learn a bit about what a true home American home chef does. AND during Christmas no less. Too bad I did not start early. Would have had more time!