Menu for One

Summer Vegetable Tian - "Act Now! While Supplies Last!"

With the end of summer upon us, I'm dedicating the next few posts to summer produce so that we can all enjoy one last hurrah.

Do you remember this moment from the end of Disney's Ratatouille when the snobbish food critic Anton Ego sits down to a rustic ratatouille? The smell alone is enough to melt away his ego (get it? Anton EGO?), but one bite transports him back to the dinner table of his childhood, where he remembers his favorite dish prepared lovingly by his maman. Food can be powerful, and whether you're seated at the family table or dining solo like Anton Ego, a meal can be more than just the means to keep you going throughout the day.

I've enjoyed this dish twice this month, and each time it takes me back to the semester I spent studying in Paris. It was the first meal my host family served. I wish I could say that moment was as magical for me as it was for Anton, but alas, it was not. After a long day of traveling, I sat down at the table feeling awkward and self-conscious, trying to think of something, not even intelligent - just coherent, to say. As she would do every night, my host mother served a table red wine, a simple salad, three cheeses, and an entree. That night: ratatouille, the rustic stew of tomatoes, yellow squash, and zucchini. I remembered thinking, "Oh no! I HATE SQUASH! But I'm so hungry! I'm going to have to eat this and look like I like it.  If this is how it's going to be every night, it is going to be a LONG semester." [Ungrateful guest that I was, I ate every bite. My host mother turned out to be a wonderful cook (although she was too modest to agree) and I looked forward to every meal that she served.]

Unfortunately, I did not get this recipe from her. She often served a wonderful tomato tart (which I am still trying to recreate), and when I asked her for the recipe, she was genuinely surprised that I'd want it, because to her, these meals were nothing special. Alas, she did not cook with recipes, and so I have only my memories to go on.

A word to the Haters out there. If you don't like squash, or mushrooms, or green beans, whatever - I get it, believe me, I do. There is no rule that when you become an adult you have to like every food on the planet. However, it would behoove you (as my mother would say) to figure out what it is exactly that you hate. Is it a flavor or a texture thing? Or was it just the fact that your mother cooked it until it was limp and army green, and you haven't wanted to try it since? For me, with squash it's a total texture thing. So slicing the squash and zucchini very, very thin works for me. They get a little crispy. Plus, parmesan cheese makes everything taste better.

Vegetable Tian
adapted from Barefoot in Paris, by Ina Garten

Note: This recipe is very flexible, and can easily be adjusted to serve 1 or 30, using any rimmed, oven-safe baking dish.  I used a 7x10 inch baking dish (although I just got a 5x7 inch Le Crueset baking dish for my birthday - thanks Emily!) which would be even better when making this dish for one.  Try to cut the vegetables the same thickness for even cooking time.  I used a mandoline (take it from me and my bandaged finger, use the hand guard or a nifty kevlar glove like this one to protect your hand).  For the prettiest results, try to pick vegetables that are about the same size.

Olive Oil
1/2 to 1 whole yellow onion, cut in half and sliced
1 garlic clove, minced
3-4 gorgeous summer tomatoes
1 large or 2 small zuchinis
1 large or 2 small yellow squash
2-3 yukon gold or red potatoes (no need to peel)
kosher salt
freshly ground pepper
1/2 tsp fresh thyme leaves or chopped chives
handful grated Parmesan or Gruyere cheeese

Preheat the oven to 375F degrees and grease the baking dish (see Note above).  In a tablespoon of olive oil, sautee the onions for 8-10 minutes, until they become soft and translucent.  Add the garlic and cook for another minute.  Spread the onion mixture on the bottom of the baking dish.

Here comes the fun part.  While the onions are cooking, slice the vegetables into thin slices.  Ina sliced hers about 1/4 inch think, but I used the 3 mm setting on my mandoline.  Layer the vegetables tightly on top of the onions, alternating the tomatoes, potatoes, and squash in whatever order you like (one layer only, please).  Sprinkle with salt and pepper, drizzle with a little olive oil, and cover with foil.  Bake for 35 to 40 minutes.  Pierce a slice of potato with a fork - it should be tender.  Sprinkle the dish with the cheese, and cook uncovered for another 30 minutes to allow the cheese to melt and brown.

If (and I do mean IF) there's any leftover, spoon some of the onions and the vegetable mixture on top of a baguette for a great sandwich.  Bon appetit!

Sweet Potato and Black Bean Salad with Lime Vinaigrette

There were times during college where money was tight, usually at the end of the semester.  And even though I had a meal plan at the school dining hall, by the end of the year, I couldn't bear the thought of eating another cafeteria meal.  

What to do?  I had a microwave, and sometimes had access to a hot plate and a two-quart pot.  I didn't have a car, and there wasn't a grocery store within walking distance, but there was a CVS nearby.  I created all sorts of odd meals with convenience items, notably a breakfast burrito made with scrambled eggs, packaged deli ham, cheese, and jarred salsa wrapped in a tortilla.  But the uniting characteristic of most of these drug store purchases (other than the fact they were cheap) was that they were ORANGE.  And although I still have a fondness for orange food, such as orange juice and goldfish, orange food always reminds me of those low-budget, make-shift dinners. 

That's why when I read Mark Bittman's recipe in the New York Times for a roasted sweet potato salad a few weeks ago, I decided to revisit orange food again to see if it could really be good eats.  The sweet, orange sweet potatoes are combined with black beans, crunchy red onion, bright red bell pepper, and flecked with green cilantro.  A light lime-jalepeno vinaigrette ties all the elements together.  As an added bonus, it's a warm salad, perfect on an autumn day like today.

Here's the recipe and a short Mark Bittman video showing how to make this absolutely delicious meal that doesn't require a lot of hands-on cooking time.  It can easily be cut in half for a menu for one, but honestly, I don't think you would mind making and eating the whole recipe over a couple of days.  It would make a great side dish next to spicy, roasted pork tenderloin or steak, but I can testify it's great on its own.  It's got a little zip to it from the lime and jalapeno, but if you'd like it a little spicier, I'd double the jalapeno or pick a smaller, spicier pepper.  [note: if you taste the vinaigrette before you add it to the sweet potatoes it will be very tart and spicy.  Don't be alarmed, it'll all mellow out].  Enjoy!

Oven-baked French Fries (or Kathryn gets schooled)

A bounty of sweet potatoes sat in a basket in my kitchen last week.  In an effort to make good use of them, and to satisfy a late night craving, I decided to transform them into fries.  I chopped them up, tossed in a little olive oil, and hit them with a dash of salt and pepper.  I spread them out evenly on a baking sheet, and put them in a 425 degree oven for, oh, I don't know how many minutes.  Lots of them.  20 minutes: not ready.  25: soft on the inside, but not crispy.  Long story short, they never got to the crispy stage.

My roommate's verdict: they tasted like great roasted sweet potatoes, but they weren't fries.  She was right.  Later, she schooled me, and made sure it was fully documented so I could set the record straight here :)  (As you'll see below, she used regular potatoes, which I still contend played a large part in her success).

To have success with oven-baked fries, one key technique is cutting THIN fries (my first error).  

As you can see here, my roommate's fries are about a 1/4 inch wide.  She also brushed them with a lot of olive oil, sprinkled with garlic salt (nice touch) and baked them at 375 degrees for about 30 minutes.  

Et voila!  CRISPY fries.  Lesson learned.  They were just what I needed that night.  Unfortunately, they were not enough to console me when Syracuse lost to Oklahoma in the Sweet Sixteen.  Better luck next year.