summer squash sauté

now that the front yard squashazoid is going crazy, i'm searching for new squash-centric recipes. here's my favorite so far.

summer squash sauté

2 lbs summer squash and/or zucchini, cut into coins or slices
1 tsp salt plus more
1/4 cup sliced almonds
2 Tbsp olive oil
2 garlic cloves, sliced
1/4 tsp crushed red pepper flakes
1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese
black pepper
fresh herbs, including marjoram, parsley, and tarragon (optional)

1. place squash in a colander over a large bowl and add 1 tsp salt. mix gently. let stand for 10 minutes.

2. toast almonds in a large dry skillet over medium heat, teasing occasionally, until they are lightly browned, about 3 minutes. transfer to a plate and let cool.

3. heat oil in skillet. add garlic and red pepper flakes. cook, stirring often, until fragrant but not browned, about 2 minutes.

4. add squash and cook, tossing occasionally, until crisp and tender, about 5 minutes.

5. fold in parmesan and season with salt and pepper.

6. fold in almonds.

7. top off with fresh herbs (optional)

serve immediately. consider serving over fresh garlic bread or a baquette!

bake yer own bread - 9 delicious bread recipes from the students in green media

last week in green media, the students and professor baked bread. although the assignment included some readings on bread-making, it included no hands-on instructions. "bake bread," i told my students, "and if you don't know how, learn."

in class on friday, we broke bread. we sampled each other's creations and shared tips and suggestions.

(2nd pic: erin venables)

as usual, students were required to make and share their recipes. together, the students created an online cookbook. enjoy.

Marco Abellera's Making Bread: Focaccia
Daniele Dominguez's How to Make Sourdough Bread
Kate Greenspan & Sophia Lorenzi's Soph's Loaf of Chocolate Banana Bread
Christina Hammill's No-Knead Bread
Samuel Hernandez & Peter Thoene's rosemary rock salt focaccia
Michael Kao's Bread Noobie
Kelli McCloskey & Joseph Montana's Bread Making
Erin Venables' Rosemary Garlic Bread
Joel Weston's Mama D's Italian Bread

bake it: oatmeal buttermilk bread in 8 easy steps

ingredients:

1 1/2 cups rolled oats
1 cup boiling water
1/4 cup warm water
2 teaspoons dried yeast
1 1/2 cups buttermilk
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup canola oil
1 cup whole wheat flour
3 1/2 cups white flour
2 teaspoons salt


1. in a large mixing bowl, place 1 1/4 cups oats. pour 1 cup boiling water over the oats. gently mix, for about 10 seconds, with wooden spoon to moisten all the oats. let sit in bowl, gently stirring once or twice, for ten minutes.

2. in a small mixing bowl, place 2 teaspoons of yeast. add 1/4 cup of warm water. whisk it for ten seconds or until the yeast mixes into the water. let rest for 5 minutes.

3. return your attention to the large mixing bowl with (now) soaked oats. add: the yeast mixture, 1 1/2 cups buttermilk, 1/2 cup brown sugar, 1/2 cup canola oil, 1 cup whole wheat flour, 3 1/2 cups white flour, and 2 teaspoons salt. mix all the ingredients together with a wooden spoon for about 5-7 minutes or when the mixture falls off the side of the bowl and begins to converge as a manageable blob-like structure.


4. take the manageable blob-like structure from the mixing bowl and place it onto a clean, well floured surface. knead it for 10 - 12 minutes. while kneading, add about a 1/2 a cup, 1/8 cup at a time, of white flour. the dough is ready when it becomes ball-like. also: when poked with a finger, it bounces quickly back to shape.

5. place dough in oiled (lightly, either with butter or oil) medium bowl and cover with a towel. put the towel-covered bowl in a place where it's warm and not subject to sudden breezes. let the dough do its thing for 1 hour. go have fun.

6. transfer dough from bowl to floured surface. knead and coddle dough for 1-2 minutes, or until all the air bubbles are worked out of the dough. cut resulting dough into two same-sized chunks. gently smoosh and guide dough into bread-like loaves. place loaves into oiled bread pans. cover pans with a towel and place where it's warm for 35-45 minutes or when the dough has nearly doubled in size.

7. at some point during step 6, preheat oven to 385 F.


8. remove the towel from the bread pans. with your hands or a water sprayer, flick drops of water on the top of the loaves. with the flicked water serving as a glue, sprinkle about 1 tablespoon of oats on the top of each loaf. place into oven and cook at 385 F for 1 hour. remove loaves from oven and let sit, still in pans, for 30 minutes. run a knife along the sides of the pan to loosen and then flip the pan to remove loaf. let the loaves sit for at least 15 minutes (preferably) before diving into it.

bartering knowledge

sarah's in hawaii and i'm still on break so yesterday nene and i decided to drive down to santa cruz to hang out with mom. while there, i taught her how to use RSS and showed her a few tips about flickr. in return, mom taught me how to make her famous and extremely delicious homemade meat pie.