Moussaka for Two

Moussaka ! Ground lamb, eggplant, onions, oregano, mint, tomato sauce, and a Bechamel sauce and cheese topping. Oh my ! This is a bit labor intensive during prep, but the payoff is oh, so good. It's prepared in three separate steps and then assembled and finished in the oven to a gooey, bubbling finish. Enjoy !

Stewed Summertime Veg - Pisto

Summertime vegetables are starting to come into the supermarkets and soon they'll be mounded up at the local farmer's markets too! That makes this tapas dish perfect for using the best of the best fresh veg! I love the color and flavour that a bit of smoked paprika gives this particular pan of Pisto. 

Baba Ghannouj with Black Olives

Okay. So this is the next starter dip that I will prepare when next we have guests come through the door. So smooth and warm, so full of smoky, lemony, garlicky flavors ... perfect scooped onto plain pita chips or slices of cucumber or radish. My God. Could it be semi-healthy also !?!

Can I Hear It For the Casserole ?

Under all those juicy tomato slices there sits a bubbling mass of orzo and vegetables - eggplant, carrots, celery, onions, garlic. I do believe that I got my five vegetables in one sitting this evening. Not to mention fresh oregano and lemon zest that filled the kitchen with the most wonderful smell, as this casserole did its magic in the oven!

Hot and Sweet Roasted Mediterranean Veg ... IHCC

For the next six months, the I Heart Cooking Club will be concentrating efforts and investigations on Diana Henry, an Irish food writer and cook with a wonderfully eclectic body of work. For this first week of celebration, we were to choose any old recipe that struck the fancy.

Well, the options were wide open, as Diana Henry has put out cook books on preserved goods, simple home cooking, healthy foods that seem far more decadent than they are, gastropub fare that makes it to the finest of pub menus, deadly baked goods, etc, etc, but ...

Pasta Ottolenghi - IHCC Uses the Noodles

Chef Ottolenghi calls this pasta bake 'luxurious' - the semi-fried carrots, celery, and eggplant give the pasta a nice edge. Ottolenghi's recipe calls for orzo pasta, but I prefer a bit more bite to my pasta so I opted for ditalini, little short tubes of macaroni. The neat thing about this recipe is that the pasta is rinsed and then cooked in the baking dish with olive oil, broth, the vegetables and their juices, and tomato paste. This process does make the flavour silky and yes, luxurious! Must be the starch from the pasta that makes the resulting sauce around the pasta and vegetables so silky! Put some cheese into the blend, oregano and thyme sprinkles on the tomato slices atop it all and you have one jazzy pasta and vegetable casserole!

Versatile Caponata

This is one of the most delicious vegetable sides that the Italians have ever created ... a suitable side dish with a plate of pasta and chicken piccata, a tangy starter with a glass of good red wine and some good Ciabatta toasts, or a topper for a plate of sauteed zucchini and summer squash. We had it as a contribution to the hors d'oeurves buffet that my sister-in-law hosted for New Years Eve and I am knoshing the leftovers for a light lunch today.

Pisto Castellano ...

 Pistou, Pisto Castellano, Pisto con Gambas ... by any other name is ratatouille. Ratatouille with stuff added gets a 'Pisto con ....' handle. In any language , you can't get more seasonal! Pisto and ratatouille are really the same dish ... one French and the other Spanish ... I daresay the tomatoes, zucchini, eggplant, peppers and onions know nothing of political borders or languages. They grow and ripen under the same hot summer sun and when they offer themselves up ... it all comes together to make the ultimate seasonal vegetable dish. Different regions of cooks add few different touches and herbs; the dish morphs to meet the needs of the different hungry bellies!

As the layers of tomatoes ripen on the back porch, I take my pick and head to the herb garden for fresh parsley. Within an hour, there is a soft satisfying dish of traditional Pisto Castellano - plain and simple ratatouille sitting on the dinner table for our Meatless Monday fare.

Sprinkled with a bit of cheese and served with some black olive and rosemary bread and a wedge of goat cheese pressed in Herbs de Provence, it makes for a wonderful seasonal supper. If ever there was a directive to crack a bottle of red wine, this is the time for that directive. Open a full-bodied red, plate some olive oil and herbs, black olives, have on hand a big loaf of crusty artisan bread, and enjoy some Pisto/Ratatouille!

Judith Jones ... and Cooking For One ... Errr, Two!

Judith Jones is living proof that foodies are not 'natural born'. They evolve. Her various Yankee relatives influenced her attitudes toward food and dining - from her mother's frugality and somewhat strict dietary mandates to her aunt's more lax and fun kitchen. While she recounts wonderful memories of foods from her youth, she also remarks on the strict set of rules for preparing foods adhered to in her family household. Certain food items were never used, cooking smells were masked or shut out from the general living quarters and there was a 'hemmed in' atmosphere around the family dining experience. Her father, however, gave her an exposure to restaurant fare at a young age and fostered her food curiosity. Their trips to various restaurants around New York City fueled that curiosity and sense of adventure. Her travels to France after her college graduation awakened her appetite for world cuisines. Of course, working for a publishing house also helped her gain exposure to some of the great writers and reviewers of the times - and ideas.