This recipe is a lot of work to make but is well worth the effort. Makes a nice summer meal with a salad & fresh fruit.

Ingredients:

• 1/4 cup butter
• 1/4 cup flour
• 1 1/3 cups milk
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• pepper
• 1-2 tablespoons minced onion
• 1 1/4 cups grated zucchini
• 5 eggs separated
• 1 tablespoon cream on tartar
• 1/2 cup shredded sharp cheddar cheese

Method:

Cut 2 pieces of foil to fit around a 1 1/2 quart souffle dish allowing for 1 inch overlap. Fold foil lengthwise into thirds. Lightly butter one side of foil & bottom of dish. Wrap the foil around the dish allowing it to extend about 3 inches above, set aside.

Melt butter in a saucepan over low heat, add flour stirring until smooth. Cook 1 minute stirring & gradually add milk. Cook over medium heat until mixture is thickened & bubbly. Stir in salt & pepper & onion, remove from heat & let cool. Squeeze grated zucchini to remove liquid & stir into sauce.

Beat egg yolk until thick & lemon colored, add to mixture & stir well. Beat egg whites & cream of tartar until stiff & fold into mixture. Pour into dish & bake in a 350 oven for 1 hour & 5 minutes. Sprinkle with cheese and bake another 5 minutes.

Ingredients:

• 2 packs frozen chopped broccoli
• 3 cups shredded cheddar cheese
• 1 chopped onion
• 3 or 4 large eggs
• 1 1/3 cups milk
• 1 cup bisquick
• 3/4 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp pepper

Method:

heat oven to 400 degrees

grease a oven proof dish beat the eggs & milk with a hand mixer & salt & pepper combine broccoli & cheese & all ingredients & put in a large casserole dish bake 25 to 35 minutes

Artichokes is one type of vegetable which really is best served simple. Its unique taste and lovely texture really shows well when boiled or steamed. One of our favorite ways to serve artichokes is to make a very simple dipping sauce where you combine good quality mayonnaise (home made would be excellent but a good store bought version also works well) with some lemon zest and juice, or with some good quality balsamic vinegar. Finish the sauce off with some salt and pepper and you're ready to dip. Another alternative would be to melt a few tablespoons of butter and add some fresh lemon juice.

And that's it! Boil or steam the artichokes, let cool for at least 10 minutes since they carry a lot of heat, and then serve with this sauce. Either display in the center of the table, or give each person their own artichoke and small bowl of sauce. This is best served with a cool glass of white wine or maybe a martini.

Farmer's Market had a wonderful selection of zucchini that I couldn't resist buying the other day since they were large, fresh and very inexpensive. At first I toyed with the idea of making a zucchini bread but then I just made a banana bread and I wanted something a little bit different. So then I looked at the Food Network site and Ina Garten had a recipe that looked easy and interesting. I guess I should have been alterted right there - there is no such thing as quick and easy. Well the side dish turned out absolutely delicious nevermind the cleanup ... and it did take a little bit longer than I would have thought. I guess they have someone to do all the dishes. But it does make a tasty and great addition for any meal and I certainly would make this again.

Ingredients

• 6 tablespoons butter
• 1 lb yellow onions (3 large) sliced 1/2 inch
• 2 lbs zucchini (4 small) sliced 1/4 inch
• 2 teaspoons kosher salt
• 1 teasppon pepper
• 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
• 2 tablespoons flour
• 1 cup hot milk
• 3/4 cup bread crumbs
• 3/4 grated gruyere cheese

• 1 tablespoon of vinegar – we used a combination of red wine and cherry vinegar
• 1 teaspoon of dijon mustard
• 1 garlic clove, whole but smashed
• salt & pepper
• 2 tablespoons of olive oil
• 1 orange, zested first, then cut the peel of the fruit until no white is visible, and chop up the orange
• 2 large carrots, grated
• ¼ red onion, sliced thinly
• ½ head of red cabbage, sliced thinly
• 2 tablespoons of shelled pistachios, roughly chopped

Flavorful, hearty and yet light; these fried vegetable and lentil cakes (or fritters) are so tasty and would be an interesting alternative to fried potato cakes (also known as platskis). Since these little cakes contain both protein as well as vegetables, they can really be considered a complete meal and would be perfect to bring in the lunch box, munch on as a snack, or of course have for dinner with a salad on the side. Cumin, curry powder and smoked paprika add plenty of flavor here, but the spices don't overpower the dish. We choose to use red lentils, however mashed up chickpeas would also be great. As for the vegetable part, we used onion, sweet potato, parsnips, zucchini and red pepper, but of course the choice in vegetables is not written in stone either (finely chopped up greens, leeks, fennel or why not cauliflower also comes to mind...)

One interesting method used here is grating the vegetables first, then sauteing them in a pan for a few minutes. Once they are a bit soft, then add the cooked lentils, egg and flour, mix the batter and fry the cakes. That way you don't have to worry about cooking the cakes long enough to completely cook through the vegetables.

All in all, this is a very simple recipe to make. We had it with some nice greens and garlicky tsatski which was wonderful, however any cold sour cream sauce would be great, or perhaps something a tad sweet such as mango chutney. These are great warm, room temperature as well as cold, so no matter whether you eat them for dinner or as a snack, these patties are filling as well as flavorful.

Fried Vegetable & Lentil Cakes Spiced with Cumin and Curry

Makes lots of cakes (enough for 8 servings or 4 dinner servings and leftovers!)

• 1 cup dried red lentils
• vegetable oil
• 1 tablespoon cumin
• 1 teaspoon curry
• 1 teaspoon paprika (ideally smoked, hot)
• 1 onion
• 1 sweet potato, peeled
• 2 parsnips, peeled
• 2 green zucchinis
• 1 red pepper
• 3 garlic cloves
• 1 egg
• ½ cup flour
• salt and pepper

Method:

Cook the lentils in salted water. Drain when they become done and set aside. Grate all the vegetables (if you use a food processor it will be quickly). Using a large pan (ideally a cast iron pan) heat up about 2 tablespoons of oil and add the spices (cumin, curry and paprika). Cook until fragrant; a minute or two. Add the grated onion, sweet potato and parsnips as well as some salt. Let cook for about 5 minutes and be sure to scrape the pan frequently as it tends to stick with grated vegetables. At this point add the grated zucchinis, red pepper, garlic and some more salt. Cook for another few minutes.

Now add all the vegetables in a big bowl and add the cooked lentils. Stir and taste, possibly add some more salt if needed as well as some pepper. Now add the egg and the flour and mix well.

Using the same pan as before, add about an inch of vegetable oil and heat up. When a bit of batter splatters in the oil, start spooning out the mixture into nice size cakes. Let cook for a minute or two on each side until nice and brown. Then transfer the cakes to a sheet pan lined with newspapers or paper towels and keep in a 200 degree oven to stay warm. Repeat until all the batter is used up.

Serve with tzatziki and a green salad.

This is an excellent way to cook zucchini: it makes it flavorful and very versatile. If you happen to have a couple of extra zucchinis left over, either from the Summer harvest or perhaps from the Farmer's Market, then this is one of the easiest and most flavorful dishes you can make with it. By slicing the zucchini thinly and flavoring it with olive oil, garlic, salt and pepper you concentrate the flavors which in turn makes it even more delicious.

These thin zucchini slices are great to serve as a side dish, on sandwiches or as part of a pasta salad for example. The method couldn't be simpler and it's a great thing to make if you have a little too much zucchini on hand which don't know what to do with.

Method:

Start with washing the zucchini(s), cut of the ends, then with a cheese slicer or mandolin, slice long thin slices lengthwise. Place these slices on a sheet pan, drizzle a liberal amount of olive oil and add minced garlic (don't use pressed garlic here, it doesn't provide as sweet a flavor) along with salt and freshly ground pepper. Bake in a 350 degree oven for about 15 minutes or until slightly brown on top.

Tip! If you have extra vegetables on hand such as tomatoes, onions and peppers, then you could easily add to this dish: slice the vegetables thinly (however cherry tomatoes can be left whole), and cook it all together on the sheet pan. This is a perfect side dish, or simply add some freshly cooked pasta and cheese for a nice meal.

With fresh corn still available at the markets, it can be nice to make a corn salad instead of serving corn on the cob which tends to get a bit boring after time. This sauteed corn salad has a nice fresh flavor of lime and a bit of heat coupled with the smooth green addition of avocado. It's pretty quick to do and is an excellent way to use fresh corn.

When you make this salad you want to keep the pan hot, nothing cooks for that long and you still want a bit of a bite to the vegetables. This is an excellent side dish which goes very well with some grilled chicken, flank steak, ribs or why not pork. In other words, it's quite versatile and very flavorful!

Sauteed Fresh Corn Salad with Lime & Avocado

• vegetable oil
• 1 small red onion
• 5 husks of corn
• 1 green chili pepper
• 4 cloves of garlic
• 1 lime
• 2 teaspoon soy sauce
• ½ teaspoon Chinese five spice
• 1 avocado
• 1 bunch of parsley

Method:

Chop up the onion and cut of the corn from the husks. Finely mince the chili pepper and the garlic. Zest the lime and juice it, gather the zest and the juice in a small bowl.

Utilizing either a wok or a larger sautee pan, put the heat on high, add some oil and sautee the onion for a few minutes. Put the sauteed onions in a bowl, add some more oil to the pan and sautee the corn for a few minutes on high heat. (if you have the patience do this in batches it turns out better, it's not a good idea to overcrowd the pan).

Put the cooked corn in the same bowl as the onions. Now put some more vegetable oil in the hot pan and sautee the garlic and chili pepper for a minute, at which point you add the sauteed corn and onions back into the pan. Add the Chinese five spice powder and pour in the soy sauce and the juice and zest of a lemon. Chop up the avocado and the parsley and add this to the hot pan as well. Serve immediately.

This is a very simple dish made with just zucchini and squash, a little olive oil, salt, pepper, bread crumbs and some flavorful hard cheese.

Preheat your oven to 350° F.

With a sharp knife or food processor evenly slice 2 medium zucchini and 2 medium squash. In a 7 or 8 inch spring form pan layer the two vegetables and add a little salt and pepper to each layer. Add some shredded asiago cheese, bread crumbs and olive oil to the top and bake for 45 minutes at 350° F.

A lot of water will come out of the vegetables so it is best to bake the springform on a sheet pan.

Let rest for 10-15 minutes and then slice with a sharp knife.

Glazed Carrots are a great side dish to make – it’s easy, fast and goes well with a variety of dishes. We like to take a simple approach to glazed carrots: brown sugar, butter, some spices and occasionally some ginger ale. Once they are done they should be soft but not mushy with some resistance.

Side dish (4 people)

• 4 carrots, cut in about one inch pieces
• 2 tablespoons butter
• ½ cup brown sugar
• pinch of cinnamon, nutmeg and cayenne
• salt

Method:

Place the carrots, the butter and the brown sugar in a pan. Let the carrots, the butter and the sugar come together, cover and cook for a few minutes. Stir and add spices and salt, cover again and cook for a few more minutes until “al-dente soft.” For a garnish, add some chopped parsley and some freshly ground pepper.