Monday, July 6, 2009

it can't rain all the time...

But it certainly will if it's the fourth of July and you have plans for grilling.
cheating nature

Luckily, Michael and I have this lovely little electric grill (bequeathed to me by my parents) that works just fine in a pinch.  Which is good, because we had some major grill plans.
zucchini/summer squash/seitan kabobs

We'd gone to the farmers market that morning (absolutely no sign of rain at that point, mind you), and bought loads of veggies (see end of post for the haul).  I made a quick half batch of seitan and we kabobed (kabobbed?  can I make that a verb, please?) the hell outta some fresh squash and zucchini with it.  Michael is the official grillmaster because I have ladyhands and tend to get burned.  He probably gets burned too, but whines less about it afterwards.
beautiful spring onions

Hey, guess what?  Spring onions are totally rad when you grill them.  The only bad part is that we ate without knives and you can't really bite them at this point, so be ready to have an entire onion in your mouth for a bit.  Unless you care to use a knife, that is.  (wuss.) 
land of forgotten watermelon

We also grilled watermelon, but were too full afterwards to eat it.  FYI: fresh off the grill, it just tasted like hot watermelon.  
combofabulous

That all combined into this monster plate: steamed green beans with dill and lemon, new potato salad, kabobs, corn on the cob (just...corn), grilled onions, and a fresh white cucumber.  Thinking back, here's what's local from the market: beans, potatoes, squash, zucchini, corn, the onions, and the cucumber.  Not bad, eh?  It was all delicious and I just have to say that we do a pretty darned awesome holiday spread, even when it's just the two of us for dinner.

Oh, almost forgot!  Michael whipped up this lovely antipasta style salad for lunch earlier in the day.
my talented boy :)

Red and yellow tomatoes, yellow beets, white cucumber, green chili, artichokes, and basil with a nice balsamic vinaigrette drizzled on top.  All local except for the artichokes.

As for the market, here's what we got:
squash, zucchini, yellow beets, corn, jalepenos, hot green chilis, spring onions, rhubarb, red tomatoes, yellow tomatoes, cherry tomatoes, green bell peppers, and white cucumbers.

All for $20 on the dot.  I felt a bit nervous about our abundance of tomatoes and peppers and such yesterday (plus was being a lazy bum on the sofa most of the day and didn't feel like cooking anything too involved)...so I asked my good friends of the PPK for suggestions on just what to do with all that veg.  The perfect reply came for...gazpacho!  Honestly, I've never really liked gazpacho (salsa soup, anyone?), but Michael loves it and I needed to use up stuff, so I made it. 
yellow gazpacho

And you know what?  It was awesome!  As a confirmed gazpacho hater, I must say that my gazpacho kicked ass.  So easy too...here's what I did:

Yellow Gazpacho That Is Better Than All Other Gazpachos

3 medium yellow tomatoes
1 medium red tomato
1/4 of a large white onion
1/2 green bell pepper
3 green chilis
1 small cucumber (mine was white)
3 cloves garlic
1/2 -1 tsp cumin (to taste, really)
about 1/2 cup water
2 tsp olive oil
3 or more Tbsp red wine vinegar
juice of 3 limes
salt to taste

Roughly chop your veggies (seed the peppers), put them in the blender with everything else, and blend it.  Yeah, that's it.  Refrigerate it if you want it cold (I did and it ruled).  For a nice chunky garnish (chunks are good, friends), dice up some more tomatoes, onions, bell pepper, cucumber, and a jalepeno, drizzle with lime juice, and add it to your soup.  Mine was mega spicy, but that's the way we do shit around here.

As for the rest of those chilis?  What to do, what to do....
this'll work for now.

12 comments:

Anonymous said...

"It can't rain all the time", I have that song in my head now!
I will indeed try that recipe, though I'll probably have to use red maters, since I can't find yeller ones.
I think your little grill is super-cute.

Tami said...

What an awesome market haul! So much goodness! That antipasti salad really looks delicious.

Jes said...

What a cute electric grill! Your farmers market haul is insane and insanely delicious looking :)

Anonymous said...

The mini-grill is SO CUTE! haha

sarahrahh said...

thats a ton of veggies!
i havent really tried gazpacho yet but im thinking the same thing as you: salsa soup. but if i make ill def use your recipe.
your blog is great. the sandwhich post has got me thinking about sandwhichs all week. and showing me i need a lil grill.

veggievixen said...

i LOVE grilled spring onions. and gazpacho...awesome. your little grill is so adorable.

Sal - AlienOnToast said...

I'm a gazpacho hater too! Maybe i need to try your recipe!

Sucks about the rain but the little grill is cool. The kabobs look tasty!

I laughed at your comment about hot watermelon. what did you think they would taste like?? hahahaha!

aTxVegn said...

I've never seen a little grill like that - it's so cute! You certainly had a great haul of veggies. Thanks for the gazpacho recipe. I don't really like it either, but yours looks quite yummy.

I figured grilled fruit just tasted like hot fruit.

Michelle said...

Yum! I make faces at gazpacho, but maybe I'll try your version when my csa starts giving me a gazillion tomatoes a bit later on in the summer (it's fun to see what is in season at your market compared to mine. You get the good stuff so much earlier!)

and Kabobing is one of the best things ever.

jessy said...

we were lucky in that the rain surprisingly held off for us on the 4th! hooray for the electric grill saving the day! the kabobs & spring onions look most yummy! totally gonna try spring onions on the grill! you know me – i love some watermelon awesomeness! mmmmmmmm! that’s one plate of fabulousness, fo ‘sho! sweet shit i need some antipasta awesomeness in my life! mostly local rocks socks, too! hot damn! i can’t believe i have yet to try rhubarb – need to find me some @ my market as well! $20 bucks even is what i’m talk’n about – and awesomesauce on the delicious gazpacho. i’m not the biggest gazpacho fan either, but i want to try yours since you loved it the most! w00t!

Erin said...

Total bummer that it rained on the 4th! At least you got your grilling in. Kebabs are the best!

Love your farmers market haul too, that's a lot for $20, for sure.

MorganfromWV said...

I'm definately going to have to hit up the farmers market soon! All these veggies look so yummy ;)