Sunday Dinner - A Cuban influence and some fresh garden dishes

Hi, folks!

Sundays at our house are always cooking extravaganzas. And yesteday, like most, was no exception.

I worked in the garden all day, rototilling, cutting brush and overgrown trees, planting fall peas and beans, and weeding. Then I picked like crazy and started cooking around 4:30, a little late, but hey. I had lots to do outside! I'd already made my Amish friendship bread early in the morning, so that was out of the way. It's on a ten day cycle, and I made it from frozen starter. Worked great!

It took 2.5 hours to prepare everything, but we will be eating from this fresh and delicious meal all week long. Well worth it, and a real treat.

Did you catch Sonia Martinez's article about cooking from scratch last week? She said everything I always preach to my colleagues, family, and friends about the goodness of taking the time to do it from scratch, the intangible benefits to family, and the value, too. Amen!And in the end, it really is a time saver.

Also, thanks to Sonia  for the Fricase de Pollo Estilo Cubano . With it, I made tabouli, beet salad, beet greens, wax and purple beans, fried green tomatoes, and crispy zucchini. Thanks to Kevin Weeks for the Fried Green Tomatoes, Katrina Hall for reminding me how much I love tabouli, and my dad for inspiring me to be the kind of gardener and cook he was. ;o)

Following are some photos and a few words about how they were made.

Some of the veggies after picking: beet, tomatoes, squash, herbs, etc.

My daughter, Allison, helped me pick these wax beans and novelty purple beans. The purple ones turn green when you cook them, but they're fun to grow. I gave two huge bags to two of my daughters, then steamed the rest.

When I rototilled, I accidentally knocked over a volunteer dill plant, so just took the whole thing inside. Usually I just pick the tender frilly parts for cooking.

Some of the prep work. Here I had just juiced a bunch of limes and chopped tomatoes for the tabouli. Next came the chopped parsley - I picked a huge bunch from the garden and mixed it in with everything. Sooooo good and crispy.

To this Tabouli (I just used two boxes from the health food section of our Wegmans), I added the juice of four limes (I love it tangy!), a giant handful of parsely chopped up, fresh yellow and red tomatoes, and EVOO. I usually add black olives, but we were out. I see now from Katrina's recipe that I could easily have used up some of my cukes. We have a zillion right now. Diced cukes would be a delicious addition. She also added fresh mint. Should've tried that!

Beets, boiling.

Diced beets, red onions, fresh mint.

After adding a fresh vinaigrette of sorts - I dashed in EVOO, vinegar, sugar, salt, and pepper to make a sweet and tangy dressing. I crumbled feta cheese on top. It could have taken walnuts, and perhaps a gorgonzola or blue cheese, too. ;o)

I didn't get a photo, but I also steamed the beet greens in the microwave. Easy and quick.

This dish was way too small, but one of our favorite ways to make zucchini or summer squash is to slice them lengthwise (the smaller the squash, the better), score them deeply with a fork, add butter or EVOO, sprinkle paremesan on top and anything else you like. (I used paprika yesterday)

While the rest of your stove is busy, you can pop these babies in the microwave and actually BROWN them to a cheesy crisp. It's so easy. This took about a half hour or so.

Getting ready to make the fried green tomatoes. Usually I don't even THINK of picking my green tomatoes until I've eaten and frozen hundreds over the season. When Sept/Oct comes and I worry about them turning red or orange, I then start to think of this. But Kevin weeks made me think about it ahead of time, and since I have ninety tomato plants (yep, 90!), I figured, what difference would it make? I forgot to buy the buttermilk to soak them in, so I used a milk and egg mixture. I also cut down on the 2 tbs of salt and pepper I think the recipe called for, just 'cause my wife and I have to watch our BP.

The cornstarch coating made them so crispy. Yum.

Last, but not least, the piece de la resistance. Sonia's chicken fricasee. I used this electric dish to give me more cooking room, and it was a perfect size. Just drumsticks (I cut off the skins) were used this time around. The potatoes were yukon gold. I used a giant red onion (more than was called for in the recipe) and also ten (10) cloves of my fresh garlic. Yep. We love garlic and I'd just harvested 120 feet of garlic plants a few weeks ago. I also don't like dried oregano when I have fresh herbs growing, so I substituted basil and winter savory. I might have added a little more water than was requested, I was going so fast. This cooked while I worked on all the other stuff. Oh - and Sonia said her mom used to add raisins to this. Since I didn't have any, I picked a few out of the Raisin bran box. LOL. I also used an olive mixture from our Mediterranean bar at Wegmans - a combo of green, kalimata, etc. with a bit of spice to them.

This was another keeper. The sensually seasoned meat just fell of the bones, and I can't WAIT to get home tonight to have more.

Note - I also saved time and money by taking a container of beet salad and another of beans with Zesty Italian dressing dribbled over them for my lunch at work today. ;o)

I was a little disappointed, because I ran out of time to make Sonia's fresh stove top custard pudding. I had picked pink gooseberries to go with it. Instead, we heated up the Amish friendship bread (actually more of a cake) and topped it with pineapple icecream. Not too shabby.

Well, that's it. Thanks for sharing in my cooking adventures. And now, for a little blatant self-promotion. (LOL!)

If you like the idea of this kind of cooking, perhaps neatly merged with a good old fashioned mystery, check out the LeGarde Mystery Series at www.legardemysteries.com, where you can listen to me read, see my photos, and read excerpts from the books. Gus cooks what I cook. ;o)