Tag: zucchini

Ratatouille with Shrimp & Buttered Egg Noodles

 

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I truly love to garden. My father and my grandfathers always kept beautiful gardens.  More than the gardening itself though, I love the produce that comes out of the garden… But, I must confess since I have had my two little cherubs, I haven’t really found the time needed to keep up a good garden… I used to produce beautiful tomatoes, hearty cucumber plants, shiny purple egg plants, and squash that would last right through to Thanksgiving! That was pre-kids though…  I have had a couple of half-hearted attempts since then, but there is something about being 7,8 and 9 months pregnant in the summer heat that does not really endorse the sweat that goes into maintaining a good garden.  And so that started it off… I will do little project with my kids, like planting peas or digging up potatoes, clipping fresh mint… but next year I am determined to have my full fledged garden once again!

Luckily, I live in an area where there is no shortage of farm stands or Farmer’s Markets! Yay me!  So, although it’s not quite as satisfying as growing something yourself and turning it into a delicious life-sustaining meal… it’s still pretty great and I get to support the local farming community along the way.  This meal is a prime example of how to turn gorgeous in season produce into something really quite amazing.  If you have never tried Ratatouille, I suggest you do!  Chock full of 5 different veggies that are all in season right now, Ratatouille is great way to either put those home grown goodies to good use or to support your local economy and eat a healthy and nutritious meal at the same time!

A traditional dish developed in the French country side, Ratatouille is meant to use up whatever vegetables a farmer might have on hand.  I prefer to limit that to these 5… eggplant, zucchini, pepper (bell), onions and tomatoes (EZ-POT).   It is great as a side dish or a main dish if you are a vegetarian, but my most favorite way to enjoy this dish is over a bed of buttered egg noodles and topped with some beautifully grilled shrimp.  Let me show you how I do it…

Start off by preparing your vegetables. I am chopping these onions pretty large, about the size of a half dollar... so you will either need one large onion as I have here or two medium.

Start off by preparing your vegetables. I am chopping these onions pretty large, about the size of a half-dollar… so you will either need one large onion as I have here or two medium.

One sweet bell pepper will do it and be sure to keep the size relatively the same as you did the onions.

Keeping the veggies all around the same size, chop your zucchini.

Aren’t these mini egg plants just beautiful? I found these at a local Farmer’s Market and I knew I needed to figure out some way to use them!

They are so small that most of them, I simply cut in half, but the larger ones, I quarter.

Grabbed these beautiful Roma tomatoes at the Farmer’s Market too.

That’s it for prepping your veggies, now let’s move on to the cooking… You will need one medium heavy bottom pot, I am using a enamel coated cast iron pot. You will also need a bowl used to keep the sautéed veggies as you go through each step.

Start with some olive oil in a nice heavy bottomed pot… You will continue to add in just a tablespoon or so of olive oil before each sauteing each vegetable.

Saute vegetables one at a time and remove from pot when through with each one, reserving them for the end. I start with my onions.

Next I move on to my zucchini. I have removed the perfectly cooked onions so they don’t get over cooked.

After removing my zucchini, I add in a bit more olive oil and saute my mini egg plants. I continue this process next with the peppers and the tomatoes.

Once the tomatoes have been sautéed, add in all the reserved veggies… Then add in the fresh herbs and taste for salt and pepper… add if needed. Simmer for 10 minutes and serve hot. (at this point you could also add 1 clove of garlic, minced)

Add in a couple sprigs of thyme. Mine is young thyme from a little plant I have in my kitchen, so no need to remove the leaves, if you have a heartier plant, just remove the leaves and chop a bit.

My Rosemary is also from a plant in my kitchen, but is a bit more hearty, so I removed the leaves from about half a sprig and chopped them before adding into my pot.

After simmering for 10 minutes, this should be your end result.

Now to get some quick shrimp going…

Simply sprinkle some Hungarian Paprika (if you don’t have the Hungarian variety, just add about a 1/4 tsp of cayenne pepper to 1 Tbs. of plain paprika). Add on a sprinkle of kosher salt and your prep is done. These are easy peel, deveined shrimp.

Lay them out on a hot grill pan that has been drizzled with a bit of olive oil.

When they start to get pink, after about a minute, flip each one and cook another minute or so.

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Recipe for Ratatouille with Shrimp & Buttered Egg Noodles:

(serves 6-8)

For the Ratatouille:

1 large onion, large diced

1 medium zucchini, sliced and halved

1 small eggplant (or 8 mini eggplants), large diced

2-3 Roma tomatoes, sliced and halved

1 sweet bell pepper, large diced

2 sprigs fresh Thyme, chopped

1/2 sprig Rosemary, chopped

kosher salt and fresh cracked black pepper

10 Tbs. olive oil

For the Shrimp:

1 dozen large shrimp, deveined and easy peel

2 tsp. Hungarian paprika

kosher salt to taste

1 Tbs. olive oil

For the Egg Noodles:

1/2 package broad egg noodles

6 cups salted water

1/4 stick butter

Kosher salt and fresh cracked black pepper

1 clove garlic, minced (optional)

Directions:

In a medium heavy bottomed pot set over medium heat, saute each vegetable in 2 Tbs. of olive oil separately keeping the tomatoes for last.  After each vegetable is sautéed, set aside and reserve.  After the last vegetable is sautéed, the tomatoes, add in all the reserved vegetables.  Add in herbs and salt and pepper and simmer for ten minutes.

Add Hungarian Paprika and salt to shrimp in a small bowl.  Then, in a hot grill pan drizzled with 1 Tbs. olive oil, grill shrimp on both sides until pink throughout.

Bring a pot of salted water to a boil.  Add in noodles.  Cook to package specifications.  Drain… Add in butter salt and pepper.

On a platter… Lay out egg noodles first, then layer on the Ratatouille and then top with shrimp.  Serve, enjoy!

*Note: Ratatouille itself along with the shrimp are gluten-free… use rice noodles in keeping with the set up of the dish or serve without noodles.

Low-Carb Grilled Veggies

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Summer time is a great time for vegetables and grilling!  I love taking advantage of all that summer has to offer, the fresh air, the sunshine and the fresh produce!  Low-carb veggies are a delicious way to replace the old winter stand-by of canned corn or peas.  I would so much rather have a healthy ear of corn which has 15-net carbs next my protein and fill the rest of my plate with delicious freshly grilled veggies and I especially love it when my veggies are being grilled over charcoal!

Today’s tutorial is super simple and you can tailor it to your families tastes and preferences like with most recipes.  If you love summer squash, but hate zucchini, then swap it.  If you love onions, but don’t care for tomatoes, then by all means add more onions! If you want to get your kids to eat more veggies, then take them to the store and let them pick which they like and add that! This recipe is more about being a guide on the method of cooking your vegetables.

I have a bunch of low-carb veggies on hand these days and am always trying new things with them to keep things interesting… This, however, is an old stand-by.  The weather has been so beautiful lately that I have decided to do all my cooking outside today, including prep, it’s a great way to let the kids play while getting dinner on the table.

Start with placing some grape tomatoes in a medium sized metal bowl. I like grape tomatoes because they are small, so no cutting required, and they are sweet.

Start with placing some grape tomatoes in a medium sized metal bowl. I like grape tomatoes because they are small, so no cutting required, and they are sweet.

Cut one medium onion into 1/8 chuncks. The goal here will be to cut things about the same size. You don't want tiny onions and big giant peppers etc.

Cut one medium onion into 1/8 chuncks. The goal here will be to cut things about the same size. You don’t want tiny onions and big giant peppers etc.

pepper

Cut your bell pepper in half, remove the seeds. I like the orange, yellow and red as I find them to be sweeter than the green. If you prefer green or that’s all you have on hand, use the green.

Cut it up to about the same size as your onions. (I am keeping my zucchini in sliced discs, so the zucchini is really driving how large to cut all the other veggies)

Slice up a zucchini. Since this is being grilled, you will want to cut them pretty thickly as you don’t want the fire to break them down too much. You want them to hold their body.

Mix all your cut veggies together in your bowl.

Mix all your cut veggies together in your bowl.

Add a couple tsp. of olive oil and a pinch of kosher salt.

I got this little pan at the dollar store of all places. So, I thought I would give it a try, and I love it!

Spray your pan with cooking spray before placing in veggies.

Pour your veggies in the pan.

Pour your veggies in the pan.

Place pan on over medium heat. You want the vegetables to char up a bit, but you don't want to burn.

Place pan on over medium heat. You want the vegetables to char up a bit, but you don’t want to burn.  You will want to tend to them every few minutes.

See the char they are getting? That's nice. Let it cook another 5-10 minutes once the reach this point.

See the char they are getting? That’s nice. Let it cook another 5-10 minutes once the reach this point.

Serve with your favorite low-carb dish. Here they are accompanying my Portuguese Grilled Chicken and an ear of corn.

Serve with your favorite low-carb dish. Here they are accompanying my Portuguese Grilled Chicken and an ear of corn.

Recipe for Low-carb Grilled Veggies:

(serves 4)

8-10 grape tomatoes

1 medium onion, chopped into 1/8 th chucks

1 orange bell pepper, chopped into similar sized chuncks as the onion

1 zucchini, thickly sliced

2 tsp. olive oil

1 tsp. kosher salt

Directions:

Mix all ingredients in a bowl.  In an outdoor grill veggie pan, add in the veggies coated in oil.  Tend to the veggies every few minutes as they cook so they may cook evenly.

Enjoy!

note: this recipe is gluten-free