Mowing Down on the Sunday Chow

From the title you might think that the Sunday chow is some slow-cooked home style feast like pot roast or Sunday gravy. But really it's just some tasty stuff I had today that I want to share with you, my readers. (Do I have readers?)

Anyways, first up is a simple, easy and tasty sandwich that I made myself for lunch.

It's a super-tasty grilled cheese with Havarti, tomato, and basil. I made it by grilling a sandwich of cheese, tomato, and basil and mustard in a pan with a little olive oil. I adore the crunchy bread, gooey cheese and moist tomatoes. It was excellent from start to finish. There are few things as easy and tasty as a good grilled cheese.

I got my dinner at the Cariwest Caribbean Arts Festival in Churchill Square after an appetite-building afternoon of shopping. The festival had lots of Caribbean flavour in the entertainment. I heard steel drums, saw dancers, and heard other festive music as well. But, the main thing on my mind was getting some food 'cause I was hungry. There was a bit of a mish-mash of food on offer from Italian sausage to ginger beef to enchiladas. But, I only had eyes for the Caribbean food because isn't that what the festival is all about.

I lined up at the tent set up by the Sit and Chat Caribbean Restaurant. I wanted to get the oxtail but it was not available (at least for me). So, I went with the choice of the Caribbean guy in front of me in line and went with the colossal curried goat roti for $10. Here it is in its entirety:

I was also a bit thirsty and curious what an authentic Jamaican ginger beer would taste like, so I got one for $3:

First, what's in a roti? What is a roti? I'd say it's like a Caribbean burrito with a flaky wrapper and a filling of curried potato, chickpea, and goat. Here are the insides because you know you wanted to see them:This was a rib sticking tasty concoction. The potatoes and chickpeas offered up their tender starchy goodness and the goat was flavourful and on the bone. I ate it mainly with a fork. I don't see how you could really pick it up without it falling apart. Especially since you have to gnaw meat off the bone, an activity that I increasingly enjoy. The curry flavour was tasty but not overly spicy. Overall, I enjoyed eating my roti while soaking up the sights and sounds of the festival.

The ginger beer was much sweeter than I would have thought with over 40 grams of sugar in 300mL. But I drank it all because of the intriguing strength of the ginger flavour that was sort of in the background. So, those are the highlights of my tasty Sunday chow.

Can I Call This A Frittata?

I decided to try something new for dinner on Monday night, something oven baked with eggs, fritatta like. It would utilize some prime pattypan squash from the garden as well as squash blossoms, new nugget potatoes, basil, and tarragon. This is what I created, ahahaha:Looks pretty good, eh?

I've looked at many frittata recipes and most start cooking the eggs on the stove and transfer to the oven to broil. But, I don't think I have the right skillet for that. So, inspired by the Fava Bean and Mint Frittata in the Chocolate and Zucchini Cookbook, I baked mine in a cake pan. Here's what I did:

I got two frying pans going on the stove (for speed) with a little olive oil in each. In one pan I cooked thin slices of patty pan in a single layer seasoned with salt and pepper until tender and slightly brown flipping them once. I took about three batches to cook the rather large squash I had on hand. I layered the squash slices in the bottom of a greased 8-inch round cake pan. You could also use another type of summer squash like zucchini in place of the patty-pan, which is a bit unusual but very delicious.

In the second frying pan, I pan fried thin slices of nugget potato (about 150g) with salt and pepper until they were lightly browned and tender. I layered these over the squash in the cake pan. I also added about 1/8 of a yellow onion sauteed on top of the potatos and 3 squash blossoms also sauteed for a very short time.

In a bowl, I beat 2 eggs with 2 or 3 tablespoons of milk, some grated Parmesan, coarsely chopped basil and tarragon, salt and pepper. I poured the egg mixture over the veggies in the pan and popped it in the oven for 16 minutes until the egg was set and beginning to brown. I cut it into quarters and ate the whole thing with a nice sliced tomato.

Here's one splendiferous slice: It was good. What's not to like out of eggs, potato, and summer squash. I loooove summer squash. Actually, I quite like winter squash as well. It was my first time eating squash blossoms and they were. . . kind of unremarkable in this form. They looked pretty but the dish would still be tasty without them. I guess they'd be good deep fried, but I don't deep fry at home. The squash itself was silky and slightly sweet while the potatoes provided their satisfying starchy goodness, amped up by the pan frying.

It was quite a special little supper for me and I'll probably make something similar again.

My Zucchini Carpaccio

Before I get to the carpaccio utilizing zucchini from the garden, I bring you a freak from the garden. A Siamese-twin type green bean. I found this one and somebody else found another. Take a gander: Now, the carpaccio:
I was inspired by the recipe for Zucchini Carpaccio with Raspberry Vinegar in the Chocolate and Zucchini Cookbook by Clotilde Dusoulier. But, I think I strayed far enough with the basic concept to call it my own. To her, I owe the idea of arranging thin slices of zucchini, sprinkling them with an herb, salt, pepper, olive oil, vinegar and cheese.

The addition of sliced tomato was entirely my own. While her recipe calls for thyme and I could have gotten some, I was using tomato so why not put basil on it. I think it worked. Tomato, basil, and zucchini are all summertime flavours. They should work together and to my mind they did.

The original recipe calls for raspberry vinegar, but I wasn't about to buy some (and it really wouldn't go so well with tomato). So, I subbed in some red wine vinegar and it tasted good to me. The Amateur Gourmet made the recipe truer to Clotilde's vision with balsamic vinegar and liked it, actually she recommends balsamic as a variation in the book. (Looking at his photo, I'd say my knife skills were better than his. Those are some thick slices. Too bad I'm not such a good writer.)

As for the cheese I sprinkled on top, it's Parmesan, nice and Italian to go with tomatoes and basil. Clotilde recommends the use of Parmesan in variations on this dish. So, I guess I didn't stray too far. Basically, you layer up the ingredients, put on the oil and vinegar dressing, and sprinkle some salt and pepper. Then, you cover it with plastic and let it stand at room temperature for 10 minutes. This is what you get:

What you're probably wondering about is how it is to eat raw zucchini. It's important to use fairly small and very fresh zucchini, mine was cut that day. It's crispy and slightly sweet, really enjoyable and totally different from cooked. I love the idea of eating things in an unconventional state, like raw zucchini or perhaps conversely cooked cucumber.

So, if you're confronted with a glut of zucchini right now as many gardeners are, consider cutting some young and tender ones and experiencing them raw. As a bonus, you don't have to turn on the stove on a hot day to make this. I made it on a very hot day and appreciated the dish's coolness.