Help, I’m Drowning In Summer Squash (AKA, here’s a great Curried Squash Soup Recipe!)

  I was desperately looking through recipes trying to find something to do with all of this extra squash I suddenly have on hand. Normally, I have tons of zucchini and have found ways to use it up BUT for some reason none of my zucchini plants were happy this year. May have something to do with being on bed rest, ya think?

No luck on something sounding like a recipe my overly finicky tastebuds would like right about now. Yellow squash is, well, slimy if not handled correctly. Most of the recipes seemed like they just encouraged that in the final dish.

Unlike most normal people, I actually enjoy a nice soup when the weather is hot. Simple to prepare, light and not too heavy on the calories. An added plus is finding yet another way to get more vegetables into my diet. So I looked at some ideas from other peoples recipes and decided to use a trick I learned when I came up with my cream of asparagus soup- add potato for richness and to balance out the slippery mouth feel that pureed squash is known for.

I liked the idea of adding curry and ginger to give the soup an oriental twist. Sure enough, the recipe works for me. You may feel the need to adjust the amount of curry, even adding more chicken broth if you feel the need- go ahead, it’s your soup after all!

Curried Yellow Squash & Potato Soup

• 1 onion, minced
• 1 potato, diced
• 2 medium yellow squash, diced
• 1 Tbsp olive oil
• 1 Tbsp Fresh Ginger, minced
• 1 clove Garlic, minced
• ¼ tsp red pepper flakes
• 1 Tbsp Curry Paste or Powder (add more to taste)
• 4 cups chicken stock
• ½ tsp salt (or to taste)
• 1 Tbsp Fresh parsley, finely minced

1. Heat the olive oil in a large saucepan and sauté the onion, potato and the squash until golden brown, about 10 minutes over medium heat.
2. Add the ginger, garlic and red pepper flakes and continue cooking for a couple more minutes to allow the fragrance of the ginger and garlic to come out.
3. Add the curry and stir in well. Now add in the stock and salt to taste. You may want to add a little more curry depending on how it tastes to you.
   Allow the soup to cool and using a stick blender, puree (or just pour into a regular blender if that’s what you have)
4. Reheat and place the soup into 2 soup bowls and sprinkle with the fresh parsley.

Serve with fresh, crusty rolls or flour tortillas that have been grilled  over high heat until brown spots appear.

Related articles

• Soups For The Summertime (jovinacooksitalian.com)
• Summer Squash Fritters from Aggie’s Kitchen (blogher.com)

Tangy Fresh Tomato Salad Dressing Recipe

We are being optimistic here- hopefully we will have early tomatoes. All these unseasonable storms keep knocking the fruit off our plants, but things are changing weather wise around here anyways- fresh tomatoes arriving soon!

We keep little baggies of poached chicken in the freezer for quick meals. During hot weather we love garden fresh salads, and a vegetable salad topped with tender moist chicken is a favorite.

Making your own salad dressings can be quick, economical and very healthy as well. This one takes a few more minutes to pan roast some garlic cloves but is so worth it in terms of fresh flavor.

You can zip this dressing up with some horseradish or even dijon mustard for a delightful seafood salad if you like:

• 6 cloves garlic, roasted then peeled ( I throw them in a frying pan with a cover on low heat while I prepare the other ingredients)
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 2 medium Clerici Ranch tomatoes, chopped
• 2 tablespoons lemon juice
• 1/4 cup onions, finely chopped
• 3 tablespoons Clerici Ranch Lemon Vinegar
• 1/3 cup Clerici Ranch basil, finely chopped

Throw all the ingredients in a blender and process until smooth.
Keep refrigerated if not using right away.

Enjoy!

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Clerici Chicken Ranch’s Lemon Rosemary Polenta Cakes (With Lavender Finishing Syrup)

We grind our own polenta here on the ranch and lucky for us the byproduct of coarse polenta is fine polenta (aka cornmeal). The difference in taste is immediate: it still tastes like fresh corn and has a softer texture than the stuff you find in the store. Because we use the whole kernel, it does still have the oils in the meal, so it is best frozen or used in a reasonably short period of time.

There are so many uses for this delicious grain, but here is our all time favorite polenta cake!

• 1/2 cup olive oil
• 2 large eggs
• 1 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup leftover white wine
• 1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup polenta
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 lemon, zest of, finely grated
• 1/2 teaspoon rosemary (fresh and finely chopped)

Lavender Finishing Syrup

• 1/2 cup water
• 1/3 cup sugar
• 2 tablespoons lavender flowers (crushed-may use lemon zest instead for a lemony syrup!)

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Prepare an 8? cake pan for baking by cutting a parchment circle for the bottom. Next spray the inside of the pan with cooking spray, add the circle and spray the top of the circle so that all parts that the cake will touch are covered with a thin layer of cooking spray.

1. In a large bowl, whisk together the oil, eggs, 1 cup sugar, and wine until smooth.
2. In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, polenta, baking powder, salt, lemon zest and rosemary until well combined. Pour in the liquid mixture and stir until just combined.
3. Pour the batter into the cake pan. Bake until cake begins to pull away from sides of pan and a toothpick inserted in center comes out clean, 35 to 40 minutes.
4. While the cake is cooking, make the lavender syrup. Heat the sugar and the water together in a small saucepan. Let this come to a low boil with a minimum of stirring and cook for about 5 minutes until it thickens slightly. Set aside.
5. Cool in pan 20 minutes. Run a knife around edge of cake; place a cake plate on the top of the cake pan. Holding both securely, turn both over at once so that the cake is now lying on the cake plate on your counter. Remove the pan & the parchment paper.
6. Take a toothpick & poke little holes all over the top of  cake. Slowly pour the syrup into these holes so that it seeps into the cake.
7. Serve and enjoy!

No Flu Soup! Great idea if you’re under the weather- and tastes so good on a cold day

Image by Ewan McIntosh via Flickr

Thyme, onions, garlic and ginger are all supposed to have anti bacterial properties and have been used for centuries to bolster the family immune system during winter. If you sprinkle a layer of cheese on top before serving it can become a special version of French Onion Soup. At the very least it should help keep the vampires away!

No Flu Soup (Serves 4):

2 tbsp olive oil
6 medium-sized onions, sliced thin
1 Tablespoon Clerici Ranch Fresh Thyme, chopped
4 cloves of garlic, chopped
1 inch piece fresh ginger, minced
6 cups chicken broth made from bones of Clerici Ranch chickens
Salt and pepper to taste
Dash of hot sauce if desired
White cheese such as gruyere if desired

Thick slices of toasted bread to serve

Heat the olive oil in a stock pot and saute the onions slowly until lightly browned.
Add in the thyme, garlic and ginger and stir for a few minutes to release their aromas.
Add the broth and salt and pepper then splash in some hot sauce if desired.
Simmer for about 20 minutes stirring occasionally.

Place a slice of toasted bread in the bottom of your soup bowl, cover with soup.
Top with some of your favorite cheese if you like to round out the meal and enjoy!

Related Articles

• Chicken soup (independent.co.uk)
• French Onion Soup with Authentic French Baquette (leberpr.com)
• Italian Tomato Soup (notecook.com)

Lemon Balm Pesto Pasta (Use for our herbs #5)

Lemon balm is a delightful mint herb that has a lemony fragrance and taste. In fact, it is often used in recipes in place of citrus zest.

I started growing lemon balm when it was listed in an AARP magazine article on how certain herbs can help you stay sharp as you get older. It seems that some herbs such as lemon balm have been proven to help improve mood and mental performance in older persons.

According to Wikipedia, it also has anti-bacterial and anti-viral properties. I think I am going to add this to my citrus sage tea for yet another tasty boost of flu prevention!

BTW- if you don’t have lemon balm handy, use basil- it will still be great!

If you love pesto, you will love Lemon Balm Pesto Pasta for 2:

• 1/3 cup Napa olive oil
• 1 cup freshly picked lemon balm leaves (discard the stems)
• 2 cloves garlic, halved
• 2 T fresh parmesan cheese, grated
• 1 t lemon zest
• 4 T Walnuts (about 2 whole walnuts will do)
• salt and pepper to taste

Place the olive oil in the bottom of your food processor.
Add all ingredients except salt and pepper.
Add the salt and pepper a little at a time until it tastes right to you!

If you don’t have a food processor, finely chop the above ingredients and blend well.
Toss with your favorite pasta.

More Great Uses:

Poach some tilapia fillets and serve them over a bed of sauted spinach.
Top the fish with the pesto and serve.

Make Pesto BLTs using: crispy bacon, heirloom tomatoes, lettuce, whole barley bread.
Butter the bread well with the pesto and layer on the goodies- guaranteed to be a favorite!

Wine Suggestion: Try a Sauvignon Blanc with this one.

Related Articles

• Taking Basil Beyond Pesto (well.blogs.nytimes.com)
• Make it Yourself Monday: Pesto (momblognetwork.com)
• Recipes for Health: Beyond Pesto: New Ideas for Basil (nytimes.com)

Quick Marinated Feta Cheese (Use for our herbs #3)

Image via Wikipedia

If you want a quick but elegant appetizer try some oregano scented feta cheese:

1. Slice off about /12 inch of a good feta cheese.

2. Drizzle with that great olive oil you picked up in Napa while wine tasting.

3. Sprinkle some finely chopped fresh Napa oregano (from our ranch of course) on top.

This being Napa, we have to give you a couple of wine pairings for this dish (I always make my final choice depending on the menu that follows).

Our favorite wine to compliment the salty cheese would be a Pinot Grigio for white wine but surprisingly enough, a Pinot Noir is also a great choice.

Enjoy!

Our Favorite BBQ Sauce Recipe now available at no extra charge!

Image by Mike Saechang via Flickr

I hope that everyone had a great weekend. We sure did!

Saturday we had company over so we bbq’d a flank steak using a yummy marinade recipe that we found in Sunset Magazine, Best Grilling Marinades.

It was truly wonderful, so if you get a chance read the article and try the Anchovy and Herb Marinade. BTW- I used anchovy paste that comes in a tube as I didn’t want to open a can of expensive anchovies and have half of them go to waste).

The next night we grilled a half chicken (It was bbq weather here- can you tell?). I didn’t marinade it as I really wanted the flavor of our fresh ranger chicken to come through. But…..I did serve it with our favorite sauce, recipe below!

The highlight was a bbq party yesterday a friend’s new house. We had planned on smoking a couple racks of pork ribs anyway, so we brought those along.

Here at the ranch, we really enjoy our dipping sauces. Nothing beats dipping slightly charred bbq meats into a thick and slightly sweet/spicy sauce so I thought I would share the recipe as everyone always asks for it anyway.

That Chicken Ranch BBQ Sauce

2 Tablespoons olive oil
1 large onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced

2 Tablespoons brown sugar
4 Tablespoons molasses
1/3 cup apple cider vinegar
1 cup ketchup

1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon chili powder
1 teaspoon italian seasoning mix
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon black pepper

1½ cups water

Heat the olive oil in a heavy pot (I use my enameled dutch oven).

Carmelize the onions by cooking them over medium-low heat, stirring frequently until they turn a dark golden color (this takes about 30-40 minutes. You can cheat a little and add a teaspoon of sugar at the beginning to speed this up).

Add the garlic and saute for a minute to infuse the flavor into the onions.

Carefully stir in the remaining ingredients, including the water. Bring the sauce back up to a boil, reduce the heat to low, and simmer, stirring occasionally, until thick, about 30 minutes.

Enjoy!

Related Articles

• Preseason Tailgating Preview II: BBQ Sauce (chicagonow.com)
• it’s all about the sauce (gothamgal.com)
• Frugal, healthy eating: making your own barbecue marinade, sauce and meat rub (thismamacooks.com)
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