Tag Archives: seasonal

A Mid-Winter Feast

The Magic of Meatloaf – A Mid-Winter Feast

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by Lisa Broughton

by Lisa Broughton

A few years ago, during a particularly dreary January, I decided that we should create a personal family holiday, and after some thought, I picked Ground Hogs Day.  I didn’t realize at the time that lots of other people throughout history had the same thought: Embolc, St. Brigit’s Day, Candlemas and a lot of others I can’t pronounce.  But in our house, February 2 is the Mid-Winter Feast and it has some of it’s own very peculiar customs starting with the food. We also invented a game: Pin the Shadow on the Ground Hog.  And we enjoy best of winter dishes starting with the main course of meatloaf that has been shaped into a fairly recognizable groundhog, covered with pastry complete with little ears, eyes, a nose and tail.  I’ve enclosed a picture of the most recent example.

Ground Hogs Feast

My brother brings his famous mac-n-cheez.  The recipe is a jealously guarded secret that I haven’t been able to duplicate.  There’s winter sun cake (a rich yellow cake with coconut frosting), yummy spice bread from my daughter, crunchy cucumber-radish salad, deviled eggs, mulled white wine with pears, and this year wonderful ground-from-beans coffee from a new friend.

The Mid-Winter Feast is a statement of faith that spring really will come and it’s a chance to give thanks that we’re surviving the winter.  Believe me, a week or two of -20 to – 30 windchills can seriously shake your confidence in the power of down jackets, and you’re grateful for all your blessings.  So we get together, share our favorite wintertime dishes and talk about seed catalogs and gardening and what we’re going to do this summer.  It makes the Long Dark seem a little less endless, even if we do still have to get through the annual Tournament Blizzard.  I love you guys!

More Adventures with Zucchini!

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It’s the peak of zucchini season and I wanted to find some yummy new ways to use zucchini that don’t involve turning on the oven.  These long, hot days make salad an appealing way to not heat up the kitchen.  This deliciously crunchy zucchini salad is a new favorite of mine, easy to prepare and keeps in the fridge for snacks and lunches.  No zucchini should go to waste, so get chopping.

Zucchini Salad

 Ingredients

2 cups of sliced zucchini julienned or whatever style you like (unpeeled please)

1 cup cherry tomatoes, halved

1 cup thinly sliced red onion

½ teaspoon minced garlic

4 teaspoons rice wine vinegar (it will be enough)

Freshly ground black pepper

Salt (optional)

½ cup chopped parsley and/or cilantro (my personal favorite)

Directions

Add all of the ingredients in a serving bowl and put in the fridge to chill.   It doesn’t get much easier than this.  Makes about 3-4 servings, so if you have more hungry mouths to feed, just make the quantities larger.   For a 1 cup serving it’s about 55 calories and less than a gram of total fat.

 

 

The Best of the Summer Garden!

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The farmer’s markets are bursting with fresh delicious fruits and vegetables, and it’s hard to  know where to begin.  The most generous of the vegies, of course, is zucchini, and as usual the big question is what to do with all that bounty.  Here are a couple of ideas that my family has always loved, and yes, we call it “hot dish.”

Zucchini Hot Dish with Goat Cheese

Ingredients:

4 small to medium zucchini, tops trimmed and sliced 1/4 inch thick (I slice them is rounds, but slicing them length-wise like lasagna noodles works too).

1 medium to large onion, sliced into thin rings

2 to 3 ripe tomatoes thinly sliced (Romas work best because they are meatier and have less juice)

goat cheese or feta crumbles

1/2 cup pesto

1/2 cup parmesan cheese

Bread cumbs

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.

Lightly oil a baking dish and lay down a layer of zucchini slices.  Next, scatter a third of the onion slices.  Drop some dollops of pesto on top of the onions. Sprinkle chunks of goat cheese on top of the pesto and then finish with third of the tomato slices.  Do a second layer of zucchini, onion slices, pesto and goat cheese followed by tomato slices.  Make a third layer, and put the last of the goat cheese on top.  Sprinkle with  bread crumbs and some parmesan cheese (gives it a nice crust).  Bake until the zucchini is tender and the bread crumbs are brown and crispy (about 35 minutes).  Let it rest and set for a few minutes before serving.

I usually serve this as a meatless main dish, but it would also work well as a side dish.  Try it and let me know what you think.