After going out to dinner on Friday (Rasika, amazing!) and to a bbq on Saturday, we had to make yesterday count as far as using up a lot of the vegetables we have accumulated this week. Since the bulk of our stash was zucchini, we thought some sort of ratatouille or ragout would be good. We found several different versions in various cookbooks but we were feeling lazy and didn’t want to run to the grocery store so we found one to use as a jumping off point and made many substitutions and additions. The result = delicious.
We think this could be made with a wide variety of vegetables so it will definitely remain in our arsenal as a good ‘kitchen sink’ recipe when we want to use up what we have and be healthy to boot. For yesterday’s version (which made more than enough for dinner and today’s lunch), first, we satueed some sweet italian sausage from Smith Meadow Farms (Del Ray Farmer’s Market) in a pot (took out of the casing). When that was done, we put the sausage in a bowl and then cut up 3 carrots, 2 of the giant, light purple/green squash/zucchini we got in the CSA, a big purple onion, and the long beans from the CSA two weeks ago all into tiny, bite-sized pieces and cooked them in the same pot. The sausage was so lean that there wasn’t any fat or oil to drain. Nice.
While the vegetables were cooking, we got some pasta going in another pot. After vegetables have gone for around 10 minutes, we added 2 ½ cups of vegetable stock, 3 chopped tomatoes and a handful of basil leaves, both from the CSA. We also added some corn we cut off of the cob, just to use it up. When the pasta was almost finished, we drained and threw into the vegetable/broth mixture so it could absorb some of the liquid. Then we added the cooked sausage and two cubes of garlic scape pesto (from CSA's 'In the Bag') and mixed everything up.
The original recipe called for mushrooms and white beans in the ragout and it wasn’t served with pasta. Instead of basil pesto, it had you make a marjoram one. Our version was pretty delicious and it used up a lot of our vegetables. Tonight we are going to make shrimp tacos with roasted jalepeno quinoa (will use up cabbage for taco topping) and tomorrow we are going to roast some chicken and vegetables to use up the beets, potatoes and chard we have left. Then we should be cleared out and ready for Wednesday’s delivery to start over again. :)
Anyone else have some good recipes that use a lot of vegetables at once?
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2 comments:
Your posts make me want to show up at your house at supper time and knock until you let me in :-)
Won't help you in the height of summer, but my brother got us a clay pot, a Schlemmer Topf, and they are awesome for a bunch of fall or winter veggies. He made us one where he put chicken breasts in the bottom and then added garlic, olive oil, red wine and potatoes, sweet potatoes, parsnips, carrots, and several other roots, I think, and it was awesome.
OMG - how have you kept your blog from me! I have some catching up to do.
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