Zucchini

Chicken thighs are marinaded in a Korean sauce spiked with The Black Grouse scotch.  Serve with kimchi, grilled veggies, and rice. And more scotch.

A perfect end of summer pasta dish with a sauce of fresh tomatoes, zucchini, and mussels.

There is always something great about making that first dish in your new kitchen. Learning the new space, finding out things that are great and not so great about it. Realizing things that you forgot to move or get at the store and making quick changes to the dish based on that. I made these bacon coconut noodles as the first dish at the place I moved into a few days ago and I am absolutely loving it. The kitchen and the noodles.

September is the time when I crave chili the most. I love a veggie packed chili, but this time of the year it is a shame to cook your veggies too long because they are so fresh and tasty! I decided to try and make this chili sort of backwards by letting the meat and spices simmer away in the crock pot all day and then adding the veggies at the last minute. The resulting dish was super tasty with a nice juxtaposition of deep slow cooked flavors and fresh light crunchy veggies.

I had some leftover pesto but it was only basil hazelnut and garlic, there was no cheese in it. I was brainstorming on how to repurpose the pesto, and because of the lack of cheese I was thinking of going Asian with it. Basil with a nut made me think that a vaguely Thai dish would work. I was thinking of mixing the pesto with some rice noodles at first and maybe popping some pork I had in the freezer on top, but when I was at the store, I was persuaded by the fresh summer corn and zucchini, and some really tasty looking potatoes. I ended up mixing the pesto in with mashed potato, and topping it with a mixture of the pork, corn, and zucchini dressed with some sriracha and fish sauce. It all came out fantastic, summery, and bright, and somehow light yet hearty and filling.

As with most families these days, I have some vegetarians in mine. Being the conscious cook, I decided to try and make a vegetarian version of baked beans that would be so delicious that no one would miss the pork or even realize something was different. I based the beans off a hearty Italian tomato sauce, and added every non-meat based version of umami I could think of. Within 5 minutes of getting to the annual 4th of July party, my vegetarian aunt reminded me that she hates beans. Oh well! These beans were worth it anyways.

A deep flavored korean soup with beef, mushrooms, and tofu.

A hearty rice and avocado salad that is great for a healthy weeknight dinner in the summer.

Mac and cheese loaded with a bounty of summertime veggies and herbs.

A fresh summertime pizza with chicken, zucchini, and corn all in a tomatillo sauce and topped with cojita cheese.

Deep savory flavors are developed in this pork, corn, and habanero chili