Serves 6
3 tablespoons shredded coconut
3 teaspoons sesame seeds
3 bananas
1/4 cup sweet butter
1 tablespoon fresh grated ginger root
grated rind of 1 orange
1/4 cup sugar
2 tablespoons fresh lime juice
3 tablespoons Cointreau
lime slices, to decorate
Heat a small nonstick skillet until hot. Add the coconut and cook, stirring constantly for about 1 minute, until lightly colored. Remove from skillet and allow to cool.
Repeat process with sesame seeds. Peel and slice the bananas lengthwise (and halve if they are very large).
Place butter, ginger, orange rind, sugar and lime juice in Reynolds hot bag. Place hot bag on grill until mixture becomes hot and bubbly. Add bananas cut-side down into the mixture and seal bag. Return to grill for about 2 minutes, flip the bag and cook another 2 minutes.
Open bag, pour in Cointreau and flambe. Transfer to blender and liquefy. Sprinkle with coconut and sesame seeds. Garnish with lime slices.
Note: Sauce can be served over ice cream, too. If serving as dessert, after flambe, sprinkle with the toasted coconut and sesame seeds and spoon over ice cream.
Serves 4 as a side dish
1 bunch red or green scallions
1/2 pound yellow summer squash: Gold Bar, Sunburst, Zephyr, etc.
4 ears sweet corn
3 (about 3/4 pound) yellow tomatoes such as Taxi
1 1/2 tablespoons unsalted butter or olive oil
sea salt and freshly ground pepper
1/2 jalapeno chile, seeded and finely diced
several sprigs green or purple basil
10 Sun Gold tomatoes
Cut the scallions, including the firm greens, into 1/2 -inch lengths. Cut the squash lengthwise into quarters or sixths, then into 1/3 -inch dice. Shuck the corn, then slice off the top two-thirds of the kernels with a sharp knife. Reversing your blade, press out the corn milk.
Peel and seed the yellow tomatoes, squeezing the seeds and juice into a strainer placed over a bowl. Cut the flesh into 1/2 -inch pieces and set aside.
Melt the butter in a wide skillet over medium heat. When bubbling, add the scallions and cook for about 30 seconds. Add the squash, season with 1/2 teaspoon salt and stir. Cook about 2 minutes, then add 1/4 cup water.
Lay the tomato pieces over the squash, add the strained juice and cover with the corn and half the chile. Bury 2 large sprigs basil into the vegetables, then cover the skillet. Reduce the heat to low and cook 15 minutes.
Meanwhile, slice the Sun Gold tomatoes in half and set them in a bowl. Add 2 tablespoons torn basil leaves and the remaining chile. When the vegetables are finished cooking, taste for salt and season with pepper. Strew with Sun Gold tomatoes and serve.
--Adapted from "Local Flavors" by Deborah Madison
The flavor and elegance of this salad depend on the elements being thinly sliced. For the cauliflower and carrots, a mandoline or Japanese benrinner will do the job nicely. If you can't find chicory and dandelion greens, substitute a mesclun mix.
Serves 4
10 1/2 ounces cauliflower
4 carrots
3 tablespoons thinly sliced green onions
1 1/2 ounces yellow curly chicory
3/4 ounces dandelion greens
15 sprigs flat-leaf parsley
1 ounce black olives
4 slices prosciutto, paper-thin
1 3/4 -ounce wedge of Parmesan cheese
1/4 cup olive oil
2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
salt
freshly ground pepper
Separate the cauliflower into florets and thinly slice. Set aside any buds that fall off. Peel and thinly slice the carrots. Sort, wash and spin-dry the salad greens and parsley. Pit and dice the olives. Preheat the oven to 300 degrees.
Place the prosciutto between two baking sheets and bake for 10 minutes. The slices must be crispy. With a vegetable peeler, slice the Parmesan into thin shavings.
Alternate slices of cauliflower, prosciutto and Parmesan around the edges of the plates. Place the salads and vegetables at center. Make an attractive presentation. Coat the carpaccio with a dressing made with the olive oil, vinegar, salt and pepper. Scatter the diced olives, reserved cauliflower buds and parsley leaves on top to finish.
--Adapted from "Vegetables" by Guy Martin
Makes 4 small loaves
1 package or cake of yeast
1 cup lukewarm water
9 1/2 cups bread flour
2 teaspoons salt
1/4 cup sugar
2 cups milk
13 1/2 ounces sharp Cheddar cheese, grated
2 1/4 tablespoons each margarine and butter
Dissolve the yeast in the lukewarm water. Add the rest of the ingredients and mix well. Knead the dough, cover with a dish towel and set aside to rise until double in bulk, about 2 hours.
Grease four 4-inch-by-8-inch bread pans. Divide dough in four parts and tuck dough into bread pans. Cover with towel and let rise again. Bake in a preheated 300-degree oven for 1 hour.
Tester Laura Reiley's comments: "In order to incorporate all the ingredients well, I would add the salt, sugar, milk, cheese, butter and margarine to the water-and-yeast mixture, and then slowly, one cup at a time, begin to incorporate the flour. You want the dough to be rather soft, so begin assessing it once you've added 8 cups of flour; you may not need all the flour.
"The resulting bread has a soft, doughy center and not a tough crust, great for sandwiches or served warm with just a bit of butter (it even makes delicious toast). Once they're cool, wrap up each loaf in plastic wrap and then in foil to keep them moist and prevent them from getting stale."
Makes 1 serving
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice (see note)
1 tablespoon fresh lime juice
1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons apple (or other) juice concentrate, thawed
3 ice cubes
1 cup soda water
Squeeze juice from a lemon and measure 2 tablespoons into a glass. Squeeze juice from a lime and add 1 tablespoon to the glass. Add everything else and stir. Drink with a straw or slurp from a spoon.
Note: If you don't like citrus pulp, strain the lemon and lime juice before adding them to the glass.
Lucas was my boyfriend the first of two summers I worked on an organic vegetable farm in Virginia. He was a beautiful, impish little long-haired hippie boy, and the sight of him, shirtless, hefting hay bales from the back of a pickup truck, his Army shorts hanging low off his hips, never failed to make my knees go weak. ...
My absolute favorite Virginia tomato dish was Lucas' gazpacho. It's honestly out of this world. The fact that I have this recipe almost makes up for the fact that when he left at the end of the summer to travel in Nepal, I only got one postcard and then never heard from him again.
1 garlic clove
3 to 4 ripe tomatoes, quartered
1/2 green pepper, cut into chunks
1/2 small onion, cut into chunks
1 cucumber, peeled and cut into chunks
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
2 tablespoons olive oil
3 tablespoons red-wine vinegar
1/2 cup iced water
Blend all the ingredients a very short time. Do not pulverize; leave some chunks of vegetables. Refrigerate before serving.