Filet of Flounder with chimichuri sauce, roasted cauliflower and haricort vert(fancy french word for string beans)

Cut up about 2 cups of cauliflower florets. Toss them with 2 tablespoons of Olive oil, salt and pepper and roast for 20-30 minutes in a 400 degree oven turning once midway.

Steam two cups(or two handfuls) of haricort vert until just tender, drain and set aside in a covered dish.

Cut up a small onion, 3 cloves of garlic, a cup of parsley and a quarter cup of cilantro and add to your food processor. Add 1/4 cup of olive oil and two tablespoons wine vinegar, 1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes. Process until pureed.

 

 Set chimuchuri aside.

Roasted Cauliflower

Place your filets in a shallow baking dish where you've put 1 tablespoon of olive oil

Spoon the chimichuri over the filets and smooth it with the back of your spoon. Place in a preheated 400 degree oven for 15 minutes.

 Serve the fish alongside the roasted cauliflower and steamed haricort vert. 

 

Enjoy!

 

Maria

Tuscan Bean Soup

When the colors of fall are vivid, there's nothing like a hearty bean soup to warm the soul

 

Tuscan Bean Soup and a slice of Stelios' multigrain bread 

Carrots, onion, jalapeno and garlic

Dice a medium onion, two carrots, a jalapeno pepper and two celery stalks.

Sauté two spicy chickens sausages in a deep soup pot and set them aside

Add a tablespoon of olive oil and sauté the diced carrot, onion, celery and seeded and diced jalapeno pepper until they are soft. If you want it super hot leave the seeds in.

Add three cloves of minced garlic and1/2 teaspoon of red pepper flakes and sauté for a minute until fragrant. Add a quart of low sodium, fat free chicken broth, 2 bay leaves and the twig from a sprig of rosemary. Reserve the rosemary leaves to garnish the soup when served.

Add two cans of cannellini beans

Roughly chop about 2-3 cups of Swiss chard and add to the pot.

Bring to a boil, cover and simmer for 15 minutes.

Remove the bay leaves and rosemary twig. Blend the soup with an immersion blender so that only some of the beans are pureed.

Slice the sausages and add them to the soup. Add salt and pepper to taste.

Accompany the soup with yellow beets with goat cheese and a dressing of(what else?) Greek extra virgin olive oil and balsamic vinegar.

Ladle the soup and garnish with some olive oil and the reserved chopped rosemary leaves.

Enjoy!

Maria

Skylands Botanical Gardens- A Walk

Buddha in the Park

Skylands Botanical Gardens is a true treasure of a park in Northern New Jersey. On the grounds of an old Manor, the Gardens have a diverse array of sections that satisfy every plant lover.

 

The Statuary in the Gardens is magnificent and statues are set in different niches in the garden where they can be enjoyed by the visitors.

The Annual Gardens

The perennial Gardens in late fall

Every season here is beautiful and worth a visit.

Sit for awhile!

Fawn with a flute

On this particular walk, my friend West and I enjoyed watching a pileated woodpecker pecking away on a tree trunk too high for a photograph. West said that she'd seen one up close and what impressed her was that these birds have amazingly developed neck muscles that help them in their relentless pecking!

Enjoy!

Maria

Stuffed Peppers

Stuffed vegetables make such a hardy meal all in one. I love to make stuffed peppers, preferably red ones, because they become sweet when baked. I can stuff them with a meat filling or a rice/herb filling which is what I did this time around.

The garden has given all it had to give, and I collected my herbs, squash blossoms, squash and jalapenos. The red peppers came from the Farmer's Market in town.

Ingredients

 

9 peppers

1 cup finely chopped onion

1/2 cup chopped mint or parsley

6-7 squash blossoms(optional)

11/4 cup whole grain rice

2 1/2 cups water

1 14oz. can chopped tomatoes

1 cup extra virgin Greek olive oil

1 teaspoon salt
1/2  teaspoon pepper

Filling

Trim the ends off the blossoms, chop your mint or parsley and finely chop your onion. Sauté the onion with 1 tablespoon olive oil until it turns translucent. Add the rice and mix well. Add the water, bring to a boil. Lower heat to simmer, cover and cook for about 30 minutes if using whole grain. If using regular rice, cook until almost done. Mix in the herbs, salt and pepper, half the tomatoes and half the oil.

Cut the tops off the peppers and clean out the spines and seeds.

Place your peppers in the pan. Heat the oven to 350 degrees.When I make them, I like to make a big pan because they make great leftovers. Heated up the next day, the flavors are more intense and blended. 

Spoon the rice mixture into the peppers and blossoms and add a little to each of the remaining oil. Replace the caps on the peppers and pour the remaining tomatoes around the pan. Add about a cup of water and place in the oven.

 

 Cook for about an hour or until the peppers are soft. Add more water while they are baking if the pan becomes dry. If the tops get burned, cover lightly with aluminum foil.

Serve the stuffed peppers with a salad and some Greek yogurt on the side, feta cheese or steamed beets like I did here, for a well rounded dinner.
Enjoy!

Maria

When the garden gives you jalapenos make Mexican tortilla soup

Just before the first frost I went outside and collected all the jalapeno peppers on my one plant. I can't believe how prolific this plant has been. I must've picked at least two hundred peppers since I've been home. I don't know how many my friends picked during the summer while I was away but it's still an impressive yield for just one plant.

I froze about 50 of those hot puppies to add to soups and stews in the winter months. Mike, next door, was a beneficiary of a bunch of them and the rest became jalapeno pickles. Easy and delicious! It's so nice to crack open a jar in the winter and savor the pickled heat.

 

 One of my favorite fall dishes is a Mexican tortilla soup with butternut squash and garbanzo beans. One whole roasted jalapeno goes in it, among a long list of other ingredients, that make for a complex, hearty vegetarian soup. I know what you're thinking. What's Greek about this dish? Nothing! Only that this Greek woman loves flavors from all over the world, and sometimes I think I may have been a Latina in another life or a Middle Easterner in another, or a French woman, an Indian or a Russian. You get the picture. 

 

  

 

 

 
 

So, on with the Mexican tortilla soup adapted from Epicurious.com

Spicy Roasted Vegetable Soup with Toasted Tortillas

Makes 4 main-course servings

This is known as chilpachol in Mexico.

Ingredients

Aromatic soup base
2 pounds large plum tomatoes (about 10)(I used2a 14.5 cans of chopped tomatoes)

2 medium onions (about 14 ounces), peeled, halved

1 1/2x3-inch strip from Mexican cinnamon stick or 1 1/2-inch piece regular cinnamon stick6 whole black peppercorns
4 large garlic cloves, unpeeled
1 large jalapeño chili

2 5 1/2-inch corn tortillas, cut in half

To finish soup

3 tablespoons olive oil
1 1/4 teaspoons dried oregano

1 teaspoon ground cumin

5 cups water

1 1 1/2-pound butternut squash, peeled, halved, seeded, cut into 1/2- to 3/4-inch cubes

3/4 pound red-skinned potatoes, peeled, cut into 1/2- to 3/4-inch cubes

1 teaspoon (or more) salt

1 15- to 16-ounce can garbanzo beans (chickpeas), undrained

1/4 pound green beans, trimmed, cut into 1-inch pieces

1 cup corn kernels, cut from 1 large ear (step 3) or frozen

1/3 cup (packed) chopped fresh cilantro

• Additional 5 1/2-inch corn tortillas

Lime wedges

Preparation

Make soup base:
Preheat broiler. Line baking sheet with heavy-duty foil. sheet. Place onion halves close together on sheet. Broil until surfaces are charred, turning once with tongs, about 4 minutes per side. Set aside and cool.

Heat cast-iron skillet over medium-high heat 2 minutes. Using tongs, place cinnamon strip, peppercorns, garlic cloves, and jalapeño chili in hot skillet, preferably cast iron. Toast until fragrant and charred, turning and stirring occasionally, about 2 minutes for cinnamon and peppercorns and 8 minutes for garlic and jalapeño. Transfer all to plate. Place tortilla halves in same hot skillet. Toast until browned in spots and crisp, pressing often with spatula, about 3 minutes per side. Transfer tortillas to plate; cool, then break into very small pieces.

After the onions have cooled, cut away most of charred surface from broiled onions and then chop. Peel garlic cloves. Stem, quarter, seed and devein jalapeño chili. Place tomatoes, onions, garlic, jalapeño chili, and chipotle chilies in processor. Finely grind cinnamon, peppercorns, and toasted tortillas in spice mill or coffee grinder; add to processor. Blend soup base until smooth, about 5 minutes.

Finish soup:
Heat oil in heavy large pot over medium-high heat 2 minutes. Add soup base from processor, oregano, and cumin. Cook (sear) until base thickens enough to leave path when spoon is drawn through, stirring occasionally, about 10 minutes. Add 5 cups water, squash, potatoes, and 1 teaspoon salt; bring soup to boil. Reduce heat to medium, cover, and simmer until vegetables are almost tender, about 15 minutes. Add garbanzo beans with liquid, green beans, and corn. Cover; simmer until all vegetables are tender, about 5 minutes longer. Mix in cilantro; season with pepper and more salt, if desired.

Toast tortillas directly over gas flame or electric burner until browned in spots but still soft, about 40 seconds per side. Wrap in foil; keep warm.

Ladle soup into bowls. Serve with lime wedges and warm tortillas.

It may seem time consuming but it's sooo good! Worth the time to make and it tastes even better the next day.
Enjoy!

Maria