Chai-Spiced Roast Squash

Well, here comes the squash. It was bound to happen sooner or later.  Spiced squash is a staple around here; it is so easy to prepare and yields such good results. This version is inspired by the flavours of chai. 

3 to 4 servings
1 hour to 1 hour 10 minutes - 10 minutes prep time

1/2 of a large butternut squash (600 to 800 grams; 1 1/2 to 2 pounds)
1/2 teaspoon allspice berries
3 to 4 pods of green cardamom
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon ground cloves
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
1/8 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
2 to 3 tablespoons mild vegetable oil

Preheat the oven to 350°F. Cut the squash, remove the seeds, and peel it. Cut it into large bite-sized chunks. Place them in a shallow baking tray, where they are mostly only one piece deep.

Toast the allspice lightly in a dry skillet if you like. Crush the cardamom to remove the green, papery hull, then grind the seeds with the allspice. Mix them with the ginger, cinnamon, cloves, salt, and pepper.

Toss the squash pieces with the oil, then again with the spice mixture. Make sure they are evenly coated and spread out in the pan. Bake for 45 minutes to an hour, stirring once in the middle of cooking, until browned and tender.

Eggplant with Anchovies

It's plainly time for some slow-baked dishes around here (brr!) so here is a good one. You do have to like both eggplants and anchovies, but then we all do. You can adjust the quantity of anchovies to suit yourself - anywhere between a mere whisper of them to frequent salty little nuggets. I've aimed for somewhere in the middle; about half a small tin of them, or perhaps a little less.

6 servings
1 hour 30 minutes - 30 minutes prep time

700 grams (1 1/2pounds) eggplant
3 to 4 shallots
1/3 cup sunflower seed or olive oil
1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley
8 to 12 small anchovy fillets
freshly ground black pepper
1/3 cup unsalted chicken, beef or vegetable broth

Wash and trim the eggplants; peel them if you like. I didn't, but I suspect that next time I would, for a smoother textured dish. Slice the eggplants a scant centimetre thick. Peel and chop the shallots.

Heat a couple of tablespoons of oil in a skillet, and fry the eggplant slices on both sides until they are softened and slightly browned. You will need to do this in batches, adding more oil as needed. Set the fried eggplants aside on a plate as they are done.

In the same skillet, fry the shallots in a little oil until they too are softened and slightly browned. Scrape them into a small bowl, and mix them with the minced fresh parsley, and the anchovy fillets, which should also be minced quite fine.

Preheat the oven to 350°F. Line a small casserole dish with 1/3 of the eggplant slices, then sprinkle 1/2 of the shallot, parsley and anchovy mixture over them. Top them with another 1/3 of the eggplant slices, the remaining chopped anchovy mixture, and finally the last of the eggplant slices. Pour the broth over the casserole, and cover it with a lid or with a snuggly fitted layer of aluminum foil. Bake for 45 minutes to an hour, until very tender.

Mushroom & Cauliflower Macaroni & Cheese

Hey! I'm back. Life has been very busy lately, what with the end of the gardening season being upon us, and family life continuing to be as busy and complicated as ever. Still, I've managed to have a little outburst of cooking lately, so I have a few things to post.

As for this dish; well, it's macaroni and cheese! With mushrooms and cauliflower! How could you go wrong? You couldn't! This was very much enjoyed, and so I should think. The vegetables cut down the amount of pasta in this dish compared to my usual Macaroni and Cheese, but it's still thoroughly rich. The crumb topping is not absolutely required, but I thought it added a delightful crispy texture. The Colby cheese is also a change from my usual Cheddar cheese, and it worked very well, providing a good cheesy texture and flavour, but not so strong as to overwhelm the vegetables.

6 to 8 servings
2 hours - 1 hour prep time

Make the Sauce:
500 grams (1 pound) Colby cheese
2 tablespoons butter
3 tablespoons flour
2 cups milk

Cut the cheese into slices and set aside. 

Melt the butter and flour together in a large saucepan, and cook for 3 or 4 minutes over medium heat, until the flour browns slightly. Stir frequently. Slowly mix in the milk, a few tablespoons at a time, to make a smooth paste. Once it is thin enough to flow easily mix in the remainder of the milk. Continue to cook the sauce, stirring constantly, until it thickens. Stir in the cheese, a few slices at a time, until melted. Once they are all in remove the pot from the stove and set it aside until needed.

Sauté the Mushrooms:
225-250 grams (1/2 pound) oyster or button mushrooms
1 medium onion
1/4 cup minced chives
1/4 cup minced parsley
a sprig each of dill and mint (optional)
2 tablespoons butter

Clean and trim the mushrooms, and chop them into bite-sized pieces. Peel and chop the onion. Wash, drain well, and mince the herbs.

Heat the butter in a large skillet, and cook the mushrooms over medium-high heat until softened and lightly browned in spots. Add the onion about halfway through the cooking process, and the herbs at the end to be cooked for just a minute or two. Add the mushrooms to the pot of cheese sauce.

Finish the Dish:
3 cups cauliflower florets (1/2 smallish cauliflower)
225 to 250 grams (1/2 pound) macaroni or other short, stubby pasta
1/4 cup finely grated Parmesan cheese
1/4 cup fine bread crumbs

Wash, trim and chop the cauliflower into fairly small florets. (I do this just before I do the mushrooms, so that the macaroni and cauliflower can cook at the same time as the mushrooms.) Put a large pot of salted water on to boil, in which to cook the macaroni and cauliflower.

Preheat the oven to 350°F

When the water boils, cook the macaroni for about 2/3 of the time recommended on the package. Add the cauliflower to it when it has 5 or 6 minutes more to cook.

Drain the macaroni and cauliflower well, and toss them with the sauce and mushrooms in a 2.5 to 2 quart shallow baking pan - a 9" x 13" lasagne pan would work well. Mix the grated Parmesan and breadcrumbs and sprinkle them evenly over the top of the macaroni and cheese.

Bake the macaroni and cheese at 350°F, for about 1 hour, until golden brown and bubbling.

Squash Harvest

"So, Ferdzy, what's for dinner tonight?"

"Squash."

"What's for dinner tomorrow?"

"Squash."

"What's for dinner on Wednesday?"

"Squash."

"Thusday?"

"Squash."

"...Uh... Friday?"

"I TOLD YOU ALREADY - SQUASH!*"

Well, since we planted our squash about a month later than earlier this year, and since we planted them in the dry upper garden instead of the lower wet one, and since we had enormous swarms of squash bugs and cucumber beetles, I wasn't expecting much from the squash. However, we had generous (!) amounts of rain this year, and somehow they all came through. Quality is not high; some of them, especially the Thelma Sanders, are deformed from the sheer quantity of bugs sucking at them, plus we harvested them after we were caught unaware by a light but early frost so some have a little damage on the rinds. Pity there is no room in the freezer.

Let them eat squash.




*And wait until they hear what's for breakfast, lunch, and snacks!

Peppers Stuffed with Lamb & Feta

If this is September, it must be time for stuffed peppers! And it is September, so here they are. I was a bit surprised at how mild a dish this was, what with the garlic and the feta and the mint and all, but it was delicious and well received so no complaints. I didn't actually put in any basil or oregano, but I think next time I will.

These were very easy to make. I made the filling and stuffed them in advance, because the afternoon was dedicated to the never-ending production of tomato sauce. They just had to be stuck into the oven at the appropriate time, and lo! There was dinner, and it was good.

4 servings
1 1/2 hours - 30 minutes prep time

1 medium onion, with the greens if possible
2 to 3 cloves of garlic
2 cups finely chopped cauliflower florets
1 tablespoon mild vegetable oil
2 large Red Shepherd peppers
500 grams (1 pound) lean ground lamb
1/4 cup finely minced fresh mint
1 teaspoon rubbed basil and/or oregano, optional
freshly ground black pepper to taste
1/2 cup crumbled feta cheese
1 large egg
1 cup tomato sauce

Peel and mince the onion, including the greens, providing they are fresh and in good condition. You could also use one regular onion and a green onion or two. Peel and mince the garlic. Chop the cauliflower.

Heat the oil in a large skillet, and add the onions and cauliflower, along with a couple tablespoons of water. Cook, stirring constantly, until the water has evaporated - the cauliflower should have softened noticably - and the onions and cauliflower begin to brown slightly. Add the garlic, and continue cooking for a minute or two more. Turn the vegetables out into a mixing bowl and let them cool.

Cut the peppers lengthwise in half, and remove the cores and stems. Place them in a shallow, flat-bottomed  baking pan, into which they fit fairly snuggly. Yes, it's my 8" x 11" lasagne pan again. So handy. Preheat the oven to 375°F.

Add the ground lamb, the mint, basil or oregano if using, black pepper, crumbled feta cheese, and the large egg to the vegetables in the mixing bowl, and mix well. Divide the mixture evenly into quarters, and fill each half pepper with one quarter of the mixture, pressing it firmly into the peppers, and mounding it slightly as needed.

Add a little water to the baking pan, just enough to cover the bottom. Bake the stuffed peppers for 40 minutes. Take them out of the oven, and pour the sauce evenly over the tops of them. Return to the oven and bake them for another 20 minutes. Let sit for 5 to 10 minutes before serving.




Last year at this time I made Fresh Corn Pancakes.

Late Summer Garden Update

Well, there is no getting around it: things are winding down. The powdery mildew hit early and hard this year, when August took a turn towards the cooler. Cooler? It's been downright chilly! Sweet potatoes and peanuts are still looking good, but that's because they basically spent the summer under cover. The squash are definitely heading for the finish line.

These are beans, supposedly dried beans. They should have been planted June 1st and got planted July 1st instead. Mathematically, they should be able to make it - in practice we shall see. I am a little nervous about how far along they aren't. Especially since this is pretty much all my seed from the cross between Cherokee Trail of Tears and Dolloff that I found last year. On the other hand, even though the regular green beans went in just as late, we are going to have a freezer full of them, no problem.

Our carrot crop looks to be amazing, which is, well, amazing. They had to be seeded 3 times before they managed to achieve any sort of critical mass, and then they looked so frail and pathetic for months, not to mention how massively they were infested with purslane this year... I'm glad we didn't give up on them. We thought about it, I have to say!

The vines look terrible now, no thanks to our perpetual problem with septoria leaf spot, but I am very pleased with these tomatoes. They are now an F4 grow-out of a cross that showed up in our Jaune Flammé tomatoes, uh, 4 years ago. I liked it so much I've been growing it ever since, and it seems pretty stable. The cross seemed to be between Jaune Flammé and an unknown red beefsteak type tomato, and it has the flavour of a large, late beefsteak tomato in an early, small salad sized tomato that, like Jaune Flammé, produces prolifically all season.

In general, all the tomatoes look pretty bad. As I've said before, it seems the only way to have tomatoes survive septoria leaf spot is for them to grow faster than it can kill them. We've been picking tomatoes by the bushel every week and making litres of sauce, but I'd say that's winding down. One or two more batches, then it'll be time for chow-chow and garden clean up. Once the tomatoes come out, we can plant garlic in their place, at least in one of the beds.

I'm still hoping for a few ripe watermelons. Not so much to eat, as to have seed to continue my mass watermelon crossing project next year. They went in so very late, and the weather has been so unfriendly to watermelons, that if I achieve any ripe seed I will count it as a win. Some watermelons would have been nice too, but ho hum.

The sunflowers are funny. Normally they all line up and face the sun, but this year they were facing all over in random directions. I was perplexed, until I remembered that I did not plant them directly but put in a row of transplanted sunflowers that came up in spots where we had added compost. Apparently they are oriented as to which direction they will face to bloom before they are 6" high!

Another couple of seed projects. We did not attempt to grow any veggies in the wet bed this year, but we did leave the Turkish celeriac from last year to go to seed. Behind them, we planted a trellis full of 4 kinds of peas and 2 kinds of beans which are being grown out strictly for seed. They too went in a month late, so we will see how much we actually get. I expect a lifetime supply of celeriac seed, though.

Also down in the wet beds, we left the Turkish leeks from last year to go to seed. They are not entirely happy here, but they survived the winter surprisingly well, even though they looked pretty limp and mushy in the spring. They have their flaws: besides not being in an edible condition in the spring, they are amazingly attractive to slugs and snails, nor did any of mine achieve the impressive heft of the ones we saw in the Turkish markets. Still, they have such wonderfully long shanks that I intend to save seed and let them cross with my more hardy varieties, specifically Giant Musselburgh and Bandit, just to see what happens. The flowers were really lovely too, in surprisingly varied shades of cream and lilac.

As you can probably tell, I get more and more interested in saving seeds and crossing different varieties. It's a good thing we are getting more efficient with the amount of vegetables we get out of each bed - quite a few of them are now being set aside for seed saving. It's been a rather cool summer, and it doesn't look like it's going to warm up for autumn, so it will be a bit of a race to see if I can get everything ripe on time. Most things are going to make it though!

Fish & Eggplant Casserole

Well, that was a busy week. Far too much interfacing with the medical system to get much cooking done, but I did make this. It was also peak tomato harvest last week, so in between times we have been making vats of tomato sauce.

Dad has now had his second cataract operation done, which seemed to go well, and everyone else seems to be doing okay too. I'm hoping the next few weeks may be calm enough for us to start cleaning up the garden.

We've had a bumper harvest of eggplants this year for some reason, so here are some more of them. This is based on a popular Chinese dish but simplified quite a bit, particularly by not deep-frying the eggplants then stir-frying them with the other ingredients. Stir-fry first, then bake - much less greasy but just as tasty, and no last minute hanging around the stove.

4 servings
1 hour - 40 minutes prep time

Make the Sauce:
2 tablespoons Sucanat or dark brown sugar
2 tablespoons arrowroot or cornstarch
4 tablespoons apple cider or rice vinegar
3 tablespoons soy sauce
1 cup water

Mix the brown sugar, cornstarch, vinegar, soy sauce, and water in a small bowl, and set aside.

Finish the Casserole:
500 grams (1 pound) long, narrow Japanese eggplants
1 large mild red or green pepper
1 or 2 Jalapeno peppers or other fresh mildly hot peppers (optional)
4 stalks of celery
2 medium onions
3 tablespoons vegetable oil
400 grams (scant pound) boneless whitefish fillets
1 tablespoon finely minced ginger
1 tablespoon toasted sesame oil

Preheat the oven to 400°F. Cut the eggplants into 1/2" slices and the remaining vegetables into slightly smaller pieces.

In a large skillet, sauté the eggplant slices in 2 tablespoons of the oil until soft and slightly browned on both sides. Place them in a shallow baking (lasagne) pan with the fish, cut into large bite-sized chunks, and the finely minced ginger. Sauté the remaining vegetables in the remaining oil until soft, and add them to the casserole.

Mix the sauce up well and pour it evenly over the casserole. Drizzle with the sesame oil and stir gently to mix everything up. (I don't so much stir, as lift and turn gently with the spatula used to sauté the vegetables.)

 Bake at 400°F for 20 to 30 minutes, until the fish is done to your liking. Serve with rice.




Last year at this time I made Pot-Roasted Chicken with Tomato-Sage Gravy, and Apple & Blackberry Pie.

Blueberry & Apple Salad with Nuts & Blue Cheese

We went out to celebrate my birthday at a local restaurant about a week ago, and my mom ordered this salad. Well, not this salad, but one that had lettuce, blueberries, apples, nuts, and blue cheese. So mighty like this salad, in fact. I know I've mentioned that all my favourite salads have fruit, nuts, and cheese so this was one I definitely had to do at home. The only reason I didn't order it at the restaurant myself was that they had Kolapore trout!.

With the cheese, this is pretty much a meal in itself; if you want to serve it with other things you may wish to omit the blue cheese. Or not; it's awfully good.

4 to 6 servings
30 minutes prep time

Make the Dressing:
3 tablespoons apple butter
3 tablespoons apple cider or raspberry vinegar
3 tablespoons sunflower seed oil
salt & freshly ground black pepper to taste
a little very finely grated lemon zest

Stir or shake the dressing ingredients together in a small bowl or jar. 

Make the Salad:
8 to 12 cups mixed salad greens
OR 1 large head of lettuce
2 cups (1 pint) blueberries
2 medium apples
the juice of 1/2 small lemon
1 cup chopped hazelnuts, walnuts, or other nuts
125 grams (1/4 pound) blue cheese (optional)

Wash the greens (lettuce) and cut or tear up into bite sized pieces. Rinse it well again and dry it thoroughly. Rinse and pick over the blueberries, and wash the apples. Cut them in quarters and remove the cores, then cut them into dice about the size of the blueberries. Toss them in the salad bowl with the lemon juice while you work, to prevent them turning brown.

Toss the salad greens, blueberries, nuts and crumbled bluecheese into the apples, and then toss again with the dressing. Serve promptly!




Last year at this time I made Minty Watermelon Agua Fresca and Peach Upside-Down Cake.

Swiss Chard Strata

An awful lot of strata recipes get a bit too precise. It's true that this is a rather rich and impressive dish, but really, it's the perfect vehicle for using up odds and ends.

Don't have leeks? Use shallots or onions. Don't have Swiss chard? Use spinach or kale. Cheese? Use whatever seems appropriate and/or you have on hand. I used the dog end of a roll of soft chevre that was alarming me with how long it had been living in my fridge (and which I thought was particularly good here), and bulked it out with my good old stand-by old Cheddar. Finish up that last half-litre of milk that really has to be used today, some bread that got a bit stale, and there you go. (Eggs, I hope, are always on hand! It's urgent panic shopping time for me if they are not.)

6 to 8 servings
1 hour 30 minutes - 30 minutes prep time

3 to 4 cloves of garlic
3 large leeks
1 bunch Swiss chard (6 cups chopped)
1 tablespoon mild vegetable oil
freshly ground black pepper to taste
1 teaspoon rubbed basil, oregano, or savory
1 to 2 teaspoons Dijon mustard
300 grams (10 ounces) cheese
5 large eggs
2 cups milk
1 tablespoon butter
2/3 to 3/4 of a 450 gram (1 pound) loaf of bread, preferably rather stale
1/4 cup finely grated bread crumbs (optional)
1/4 cup finely grated Parmesan cheese (optional)

Peel and mince the garlic. Trim, wash, and chop the leeks. Give them another rinse and drain them well. Wash the Swiss chard. Separate the leaves from the stems of the Swiss chard, and chop them finely. If you wish to use the stems, chop them finely as well - I find them a bit too prominent and use about half of them.

Heat the oil in a large skillet, and cook the leeks and chard stems gently until softened and considerably reduced in volume; about 5 minutes. Add the seasonings during this process. Add the garlic and cook for another minute or so, then add the Swiss chard leaves. Stir constantly until they are well wilted down, then turn off the heat and set the pan aside.

Grate, crumble, or cut in small cubes the cheese, depending on the type. Beat the eggs and whisk in the milk. 

Preheat the oven to 350°F. Butter a 2 1/2 to 3 quart shallow baking pan (3 litre), and line the bottom with slices of the bread, cut into quarters or torn into large pieces. Spread about 1/3 of the vegetable mixture evenly over the pieces of bread, then top with about 1/3 of the cheese also evenly distributed. Add another layer of bread, and continue in the same way, finishing with a final layer of bread. Pour the eggs and milk evenly over the mixture and let it sit for 5 minutes or so to be sure the bread has soaked up all the liquid. Press the top down gently for a minute or two if it seems to need assistance.

Sprinkle the top with the Parmesan and bread crumbs mixed together - this is not strictly necessary, but gives the top a nice texture. Bake at 350°F. for about 1 hour, until puffed and nicely browned around the edges. Let the strata rest for 10 to 15 minutes before serving.




Last year at this time I made Broccoli & Tortellini Salad.

Golden Yellow Cake

As ever, late August brings a flurry of family birthdays, and as ever, that means it's time for some cake. 

Here is a classic cake recipe; it comes from the The Canadian Woman's Cookbook, which dates from the 1930's. My edition does at least; it may be rather older as a book.  I have improved the instructions and corrected the baking time, which was frankly fantasy (18 minutes!) in the original. I may have meddled with the amount of sugar; in fact that's a fairly safe bet.

The result is a very fine cake; a little on the plain side in these days of death-by-chocolate cake extravaganzas, but in my opinion none the worse for that. Use the icing to dress it up, pass it with ice-cream and/or fruit, and enjoy. 

The only drawback to this cake is that it will leave you with 5 orphaned egg whites. You could make a double recipe of Seven Minute Frosting, or Maple Syrup Boiled Frosting, and apply it to the cake. You would then have 3 egg whites left, with which you could make a batch of Meringues. Or perhaps you will just have to come up with your own nefarious plan.

I do wonder how this cake would do with the the grated zest of an orange added, and the milk replaced with orange juice. I will have to try it some time. 

8 servings
1 hour - 30 minutes prep time

1/2 cup unsalted butter
3/4 cup sugar
5 large egg yolks
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 2/3 cups soft unbleached flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup milk

Line the bottoms of 2 9" round cake pans with parchment paper, and butter the parchment paper and the sides of the pans. Preheat the oven to 350°F.

Put the softened butter into a mixing bowl with the sugar, and beat them together with an electric mixer, for 3 or 4 minutes,  until very light and fluffy. Beat in the egg yolks one at a time. Once they are all in, beat in the vanilla extract. Scrape off the beaters and put the electric mixer aside; it is time to switch to a spoon.

Measure the flour and mix the baking powder and salt into it well. Mix the flour and the milk alternately into the butter and egg yolk mixture, using a broad spoon or spatula. Divide the batter evenly into the two prepared pans, spreading out the batter to be as evenly flat as possible. Looking at my photo, it occurs to me that the old advice to run a knife through your cake batter once it was in the pans to remove large air bubbles might well be applied here.

Bake the cakes for 25 to 28 minutes, until they spring back from light pressure on top, or pass the old toothpick test. Let them cool in the pan for 10 minutes, then turn them out to finish cooling.

Put them together with the frosting of your choice. In spite of my suggestion of a boiled frosting, I am not convinced that something chocolate, or at least creamy, isn't a better option; perhaps one of these: Chocolate Custard Frosting, Chocolate Ganache Frosting, or even a simple Cocoa Buttercream Frosting.

Cauliflower Fried with Garlic

Oo, it's my favourite kind of recipe - a quick and simple vegetable that's just delicious. We are working hard to finish up last years garlic, as this years is presently curing in the garage. I did not think one head was at all too much though...

4 servings
20 minutes prep time

4 cups cauliflower florets (1/2 medium cauliflower)
1 head garlic
1 tablespoon mild vegetable oil
1 tablespoon unsalted butter
salt & freshly ground black pepper to taste
a sprig of parsley or cilantro to garnish

Put a pot of water on to boil, sufficient to hold the cauliflower, perhaps with a steamer above it. Wash and trim the cauliflower, and break or cut it into florets. Peel and mince the garlic.

When the water boils, steam or boil the cauliflower florets for 3 to 6 minutes, until just shy of done to your liking. Just before it is done, heat the oil and butter in a large skillet. Drain the cauliflower well, and transfer it to the skillet. Cook, stirring regularly, until any lingering water is evaporated, and the cauliflower is nicely browned in spots. Season with the salt and pepper.

Add the garlic and continue cooking and stirring for another minute or so, until it is very fragrant and shows slight signs of browning. Remove the cauliflower to its serving dish at once, and garnish it with a sprinkling of parsley or cilantro, if you like.




Last year at this time I made Zucchini & Cucumber Salad with Sweet Onion & Parsley.

Quesadillas de Flor de Calabacita

My Mexican zucchini (Tatume) is pumping out the male blossoms, as well as the little calabacitas, so I thought I would put some of them to use.  Normally the herb used in these is epazote, but good luck finding that here. Cilantro fits in very nicely.

These are greasy and delicious little treat, serve them with a simple vinaigrette coleslaw to restore the balance, as well as some salsa to dip them in.

6 quesadillas
20 minutes prep time

12 fresh (frozen) corn tortillas
12 male zucchini blossoms
1 Jalapeño pepper
1 small onion
1 clove of garlic
a few sprigs of cilantro
1 teaspoon mild vegetable oil
200 grams (6 to 7 ounces) mild, melty cheese
         - such as mozzerella, Colby, or halloumi
4 tablespoons mild vegetable oil
tomatillo salsa to serve

If you are using frozen tortillas (the best way to buy them, in my opinion - look for ones with no preservatives) make sure they are thawed. If you are making your own, follow the instructions on the package of masa harina. I tend to make them in a big batch and freeze most of them, because they are a fair bit of work, so I usually start with frozen tortillas anyway.

Trim off the bulb at the base of each blossom, and discard the anthers as well. Rinse and drain the petals well, and chop them coarsely. Trim and chop the Jalapeño pepper. Peel and chop the onion and mince the garlic. Chop the cilantro. Thinly slice or coarsely grate the cheese.

Heat the teaspoon of oil in a large skillet, and cook the onion and Jalapeño until just soft and slightly browned. Add the garlic and cook for just a minute more. Add the squash blossoms and cook until just wilted, turning to mix them in. Remove the vegetable mixture to a plate at once.

Lay out 6 of the tortillas, and divide the cheese evenly between them. Spoon the vegetable mixture evenly over the cheese. Top each tortilla with one of the remaining tortillas.

Wipe out the large skillet gently with a paper towel if there is any remaining vegetable residue in. Heat one tablespoon of the oil in the skillet, over medium-high heat. Place 3 of the prepared quesadillas, (or 2, or 4; whatever fits) into the pan and cook for about 5 minutes on each side, until lightly browned and crisped. You will likely need to add another tablespoon of oil to the pan when you turn them.

Keep the first batch warm in the oven while you cook the remaining quesadillas in the remaining oil. Serve them with tomatillo salsa.




Last year at this time I made Smörgåstartå to celebrate the posting of my 1,000th recipe on this blog.