Cooking Outside the Box

Last Sunday was my final cooking demo for the season at the Marin farmers' market.  I wanted to go out with a bang, so I fixed one of my favorite creative dishes, a sauteed cantaloupe sauce served over quinoa pasta.

I've never been a big fan of cantaloupe; I think it's a texture thing.  But a year or so ago I saw a recipe for a sauce using cantaloupe that was so unique, I had to give it a try.  If you saute chopped cantaloupe in olive oil, it releases its juices and creates a velvety sauce.  It's fairly sweet, so the addition of tomato paste not only turns it a beautiful color and thicken it up a bit, but lends a nice savory balance to the sweetness.  It also ups the nutrient quotient nicely.  Tomatoes actually become more nutritious the more they are cooked, so tomato paste is one of the most concentrated sources of  lycopene, a powerful antioxidant and potential cancer fighter.  And combining olive oil with tomatoes helps the body better absorb the nutrients.

Take a note from Michael Pollan's Food Rules and get out of the supermarket on this one.  Hit your local farmers' market and take advantage of the gorgeous variety of heirloom tomatoes to add color and dimension to this sauce.

The first time I made this, I used a cantaloupe from the grocery store.  This time of year, however, there are some great melons available at the farmers' markets, and I've been using a Charlynne melon.  It's a little lighter in color and sweeter than a traditional cantaloupe. I'm glad I discovered a way to eat cantaloupe because, like tomatoes, it's a powerful antioxidant and helps to fight free radicals, but most compelling to me is that just one slice of cantaloupe has more beta-carotene (it's one of the richest sources) and Vitamin C than your body can even use in a day.

Just a word about the nutrition stuff:  we hear about antioxidants, vitamins, minerals, etc. and while I'm sure we all realize they're good for us and we should eat foods full of them, do we really know what they do for us?  So let me tell you about the two powerhouses of cantaloupe that I just mentioned.  Our bodies convert beta-carotene into Vitamin A, which is crucial in the production of cells that fight disease.  Vitamin C protects our immune system and helps protect us against heart disease, certain cancers, and the ever-annoying cold.

So now you know...

I also took advantage of another seasonal favorite, peppers, in this dish.  Larry at Triple T Farm in Santa Rosa first turned me on to padron peppers a couple months back.  LOVE them; small crumpled peppers that are mild and sweet, except for the 1 in 10 that's spicy.  I started putting them in everything I cooked.  Last month he introduced me to Shishito peppers (pictured above).  They are very similar to padrons in every way, except for the wayward spicy one.  Just sweet and delicious.  Seek them out and give them a try....

Sautéed Cantaloupe Sauce                                                                                                                         Serves 6

3 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil, divided

1 medium onion, thinly sliced

¼ cup chopped shishito or padron peppers

1 cantaloupe, peeled, seeded and cut into bite-sized pieces

2 tablespoon tomato paste

1/4 teaspoon smoked paprika

¼ cup milk or half & half

2 teaspoons lemon zest

Salt & pepper to taste

1 cup diced heirloom tomatoes

¼ cup grated Parmesan cheese (optional)

1 lb. cooked pasta of your choice

·         Heat 1 tablespoon olive oil in large skillet over medium high heat.

·         Add onion and peppers, and cook 3-5 minutes until onions start to soften.

·         Add remaining 2 tablespoons olive oil and cantaloupe.  Sauté 10 minutes until a chunky sauce starts to form.  (You can add some of the starchy pasta in lieu of the olive oil to cut the fat).

·         Add tomato paste and smoked paprika, and cook an additional 2-3 minutes.

·         Remove from heat and add milk or half and half and lemon zest, stirring to combine.

·         Season with salt & pepper

·         Toss with cooked pasta and top with chopped tomatoes, and cheese if desired.

P.S. I didn't add any cheese!  It doesn't need it, it's so good!!

Day One of Cheese-Free (Almost)

Yesterday was my first official day of trying to break up with cheese.  Easy enough at breakfast... a bowl of Trader Joe's Organic Honey Crunch n' Oats.  I had to look through A LOT of labels on boxes of cereal to find this one with only 6 grams of sugar; most cereals are more like dessert than a nutritious start to your day.

Then for lunch I made a loaded tuna salad: capers, pepperonccini, kalamata olives, celery, scallions and chopped walnuts with Greek yogurt, dijon and cider vinegar.

Feeling good; thinking "this isn't so hard."  I'm sure plenty of you go many days in a row with no cheese, and it's not even a thought or consideration..... but I have "a problem" when it comes to cheese (admitting it is the first step, they say), so for me it takes a lot of thought..

I was thankful that I was going to a party at my friend Jeannine's house that night, so I didn't need to think through another meal.  As long as it wasn't a fondue party, I'd be good.  And, lucky me, it was not a fondue party! The food was fabulous and plentiful...

It started with passed hors d'ouevres.  I was thrilled to partake of the tuna carpaccio and vegan samosas, and I did, with abandon!

...so far, so good.

When one of the lovely servers came by with a tray of interesting little bites, I let the description she gave go in one ear and out the other (not surprising for those who know me).  The tasty little nuggets were "grapes" (beautifully in season right now), "coated in chopped pistachios" (yum!) and "herbed....." - pop it in my mouth....swallow... savor - "goat cheese."  It  took three of them and about 20 minutes before I said, "Wait a minute.  What...did...she...say?   Darn you, cheese!  I told you to stay away from me."

Oh who cares; they were so creative, cute and yummy.

After that, I decided to play it safe with the one thing I recognized as being completely cheese-free.

Sure, it was just a one-night-stand, but I'm grateful to those peanut M&M's for making me forget about cheese for the rest of the night...

Loaded Tuna Salad

Serves 2

One 6.5 oz, can tuna in water

1/4 cup kalamata olives, chopped

1 tablespoon capers

1 tablespoon chopped pepperoncini

1 scallion, finely sliced

1 stalk celery, diced

2 tablespoons Greek yogurt

2 teaspoons dijon mustard (I love Trader Joe's brand - has a nice kick!)

2 teaspoons cider vinegar

pinch salt (to taste)

1 tablespoons chopped walnuts

Butter lettuce, cut into bite-sized pieces

• In a medium bowl use a fork to break up the tuna, adding olives, capers, pepperoncini, scallion, and celery
• Add yogurt, dijon and vinegar.  Stir to combine.
• Lay butter lettuce on each of two plates and top with tuna salad.
• Top each with chopped nuts.

Breaking Up Is Hard To Do

We've all been there at one point...you know he's not good for you, but you just can't stay away.  When you're together it's delicious and wonderful.  But afterward, you get that bad feeling in the pit of your stomach.  Well that's where I find myself these days.  And the "he" in my life is......cheese.

I love cheese;  always have.  It started when I was a little kid with that cheese spread that came in a jar (what the heck WAS that?  Cheese in a JAR?).  Then in college I met Velveeta, that yummy, perfectly meltable block of who-knows-what.  I've graduated to  real cheese (hello Cow Girl Creamery!), but my dependence on it has become an issue.

For one, I think it's a culinary cop-out that I add cheese to so many dishes.  "This dish could use a little something. What is it?.....Oh yeah, cheese!" has become an all too familiar sentence in my kitchen. 

Secondly, I recently read The China Study, and it makes a very compelling argument for eliminating dairy from our diets. 

So I've decided to try a cheese-free week.  I know I can't completely break up with cheese forever, but I do think we need to see less of each other.  So let's start with Stuffed Portobello Mushrooms, shall we?

Scrape out the gills from two portobellos.  Brush both sides with a little olive oil and either bake or grill them, cut side down for a 3-5 minutes.

While they're cooking, chop some onion, carrot, bell pepper, and celery.  I also added the mushrooms stems, a few extra cremini mushrooms and a couple cloves of garlic.

Saute all the chopped veggies in a little olive oil, add some panko (better than regular breadcrumbs) and smoked paprika.  The smoked paprika is key; it makes everything taste better.  Smoked paprika is going to help me get over my breakup with cheese.

When the veggies are still crisp-tender, fill the portobellos and grill or bake for another 5 minutes.  Make a little salad on the side, and you've got a fantastic vegetarian dinner.

Whoops, did you notice that little bit of Gorgonzola on top?  Shoot! Well, I said that breaking up was hard.  I'll start my cheese free week tomorrow.....