The Summer Casserole

This has got to stop! The produce coming from my CSA and from the weekly trips to the local farmers’ market where eggplant and bouquets of basil are stacked in bountiful piles that I just can’t leave there have me inundated with vegetables.

This week, I made a dish that I make at least a couple of times every summer when I have these feelings of being buried in zucchini. It’s not really a recipe, per se, and the beauty of it is that you can use whatever you hand. There are no set amounts of anything to put in this dish, so if you don’t like eggplant or you you’ve got fresh thyme, but no basil, this will still turn out to be delicious.

Here’s what you do:

Pull out all the vegetables that you need to use. This can be tomatoes, eggplant, yellow squash, zucchini, bell peppers, onions, garlic, and any kind of herb. Cut the vegetables up into slices or chunks, mince the garlic and a handful of whatever herbs you have, and put them in a big bowl. Drizzle the whole thing with olive oil (not much, 2 tablespoons will do for a huge, huge, batch), sprinkle with kosher salt and freshly ground pepper and toss everything together. Put the vegetables in a baking dish, cover, and bake at 350F until the vegetables are tender, about 1 hour. You don’t need to add water or liquid to the dish, the vegetables will give off their own juices. This is not one of those crisp-tender preparations, so don’t expect crunchy vegetables. They all sort of meld together and some of the eggplant and tomatoes will fall apart, but it’s a very good thing.

What to do with it now? Serve the vegetables over pasta (as in the photo above), polenta, or grits; coarsely chop the vegetables and put them in an omelette or a frittata; or just serve them as a side dish, sprinkled with a little Parmesan cheese along with whatever you’re grilling this week. It’s a healthy, easy, delicious, low-carb way to use up whatever you’ve hauled out of your garden or home from your local market.

Great Find: Whole Wheat Pearl Couscous

I’ve seen whole wheat pearl couscous at my local supermarket, but just got around to trying it this weekend. I’m sold on it. It’s delicious, is a good source of fiber, and cooks in boiling water in less than 10 minutes.

This is my first experiment, but the couscous would be good not only in springtime salads such as this one, but in soups, too. It would make an easy side dish on its own tossed with a little olive oil, salt, and pepper, or you could fancy it up with sautéed onions and garlic and some fresh herbs. A great find for making healthy meals in a hurry!

Pearl Couscous and Cucumber Salad

Makes 4 servings

3/4 cup whole wheat pearl couscous

1 medium lemon

1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

Pinch of freshly ground pepper

1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil

2 radishes, diced

1 thin scallion, thinly sliced

1/2 of a hothouse cucumber, peeled and diced

1/4 cup chopped fresh Italian parsley

Bring a medium saucepan of water to a boil and stir in the couscous. Return to a boil, reduce the heat, and simmer until the couscous is tender, 8 to 10 minutes. Drain in a colander and rinse under cold running water until cool. Drain well.

While the couscous cooks, grate the zest from the lemon and place it in a medium bowl. Squeeze the juice from the lemon and add to the zest. Add the salt and pepper, then slowly whisk in the olive oil. Add the radishes, scallion, cucumber, and parsley. Add the couscous and toss to coat. Serve at once or cover and refrigerate up to 2 days.

Each serving: 23 g carbohydrate, 149 calories, 4 g fat, 1 g saturated fat, 0 mg cholesterol, 4 g fiber, 5 g protein, 150 mg sodium

Carb Choices: 1 1/2; Exchanges: 1 1/2 starch, 1 fat

Note: Use your imagination and what’s on hand to vary this easy salad. Add canned garbanzo or cannellini beans; canned tuna or salmon; diced chicken or shrimp; diced bell pepper, fresh fennel, or summer squash; or crumbled feta cheese.

Roasted Vegetables with Charmoula Sauce



I love it when I find a recipe for a sauce that turns ordinary ingredients into a special meal without a lot of fat or calories. Carrmoula, a simple Moroccan sauce that’s made with fresh parsley and cilantro and ground spices, is just such a recipe. I’ve paired it here with a combination of roasted vegetables (use whatever vegetables you have on hand), but you can serve it with fish or roasted chicken too. It’s best not to make it too far ahead, since the herbs will lose their bright green color after a couple of hours.

Roasted Vegetables with Charmoula Sauce

Makes 6 servings

6 ounces fingerling potatoes or small baby potatoes, scrubbed and cut in half

4 carrots, peeled, cut in half lengthwise, and cut into 2-inch pieces

1 red onion, cut into wedges

1 red bell pepper, cut into 1-inch strips

1 small acorn squash, cut into wedges and seeded

3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil, divided

3/4 teaspoon kosher salt, divided

1/4 cup fresh Italian parsley leaves

1/4 cup fresh cilantro leaves

3 tablespoons reduced-sodium chicken broth or vegetable broth or water

2 tablespoons lemon juice

1 clove garlic, minced

1 teaspoon ground cumin

1 teaspoon paprika

Generous pinch of cayenne pepper

Preheat the oven to 400°F. Combine the potatoes, carrots, onion, bell pepper, and squash in a large bowl. Drizzle with 1 tablespoon of the oil and 1/2 teaspoon of the salt and toss to coat. Arrange the vegetables in a single layer on two large rimmed baking sheets. Bake, turning the vegetables once, until tender and well browned, about 45 minutes.

Meanwhile, to make the sauce, combine the remaining 2 tablespoons oil, the remaining 1/4 teaspoon salt, the parsley, cilantro, broth, lemon juice, garlic, cumin, paprika, and cayenne in a blender and process until pureed. (the sauce makes about 1/2 cup)

To serve, arrange the vegetables on a serving platter and drizzle evenly with the sauce. Serve hot or warm.

Each serving: 20 g carbohydrate, 146 calories, 7 g fat, 1 g saturated fat, 0 mg cholesterol, 4 g fiber, 2 g protein, 179 mg sodium

Carb Choices: 1; Exchanges: 1 starch, 1 vegetable

What To Do With Rutabagas

My husband and I belong to a CSA. Let me describe that a little more accurately. We belong to Farm Spot, the Community Supported Agriculture program in our neighborhood of Jackson Heights in Queens, NY. He sometimes picks up the fruit and vegetable deliveries about five blocks from where we live and I eat 99 percent of the produce myself. The vegetables come from Golden Earthworm Farm, an organic farm on the North Fork of Long Island. Fruits come from Briermere Farms located close to Golden Earthworm in Riverhead, NY.

A few weeks ago, he picked up a 30-pound granny cart load of root vegetables, greenhouse grown kale and spinach, and storage apples. Some woman in front of him said she didn’t like rutabagas, or Swedes, as they are sometimes called.

He said, “Oh, I’ll take them, my wife loves them.” Never mind that I have 6 rutabagas in the refrigerator that we—or, more precisely, I—have not eaten since our last CSA delivery 3 weeks ago. Now, we have 18 rutabagas. Here’s the simplest and one of the best ways I’ve prepared them. The lemon gives me hope of spring, the rosemary adds a piney note, and the honey softens the slight bitterness that rutabagas can have.

Note: If you don’t know what a granny cart is, it is a wire frame fold-up cart that elderly ladies and people who buy groceries fifty pounds at a time use in NYC to carry home their haul. It is very uncool to use a granny cart at any age (I use mine almost daily)!

Rosemary-Lemon Glazed Rutabagas   

Makes 4 servings

2 large rutabagas, peeled and cut into 1-inch pieces (about 2 pounds)

1 tablespoon olive oil

2 teaspoons minced fresh rosemary or crumbled dried rosemary

1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

1/8 teaspoon freshly ground pepper

1 tablespoon honey

1/2 teaspoon grated lemon zest

1 tablespoon lemon juice

Preheat the oven to 400°F.

Place the rutabagas in a large rimmed baking pan. Drizzle with the olive oil, sprinkle with the rosemary, salt, and pepper and toss to coat. Arrange the rutabagas in the pan in a single layer.

Bake, stirring once, until tender and well browned, 45 to 50 minutes.

Whisk together the honey, lemon zest, and lemon juice in a serving bowl. Add the hot rutabagas and toss to coat. Serve hot or warm.

Each serving: 20 g carbohydrate, 118 calories, 4 g fat, 1 g saturated fat, 0 mg cholesterol, 5 g fiber, 2 g protein, 179 mg sodium

Carb Choices: 1; Exchanges: 1 starch, 1 fat