Sunday meal at the folks

This weekend I : kayaked with my dog for the first time (he knocked us both over and we had a good swim), went paddle boarding, explored a little in the El Dorado National forest, had a delicious home cooked meal at an actual rocket scientist's house, went wine tasting with one of my closest friends and her awesome family, hostessed a little cocktail party, went to an art opening....and cooked dinner for my folks. By the time Sunday night dinner rolled around, I was beat. So, I resorted to one of my favorite, simple, delicious and entirely seasonal recipes. I would have grabbed most of these items from my own garden had I been home, but it was a dervish of a weekend.

So, let's start at the end. Which when it comes to food, is the best part!

When I wound up at my folks house Sunday night, I knew they were also beat from a long week of work. I offered to cook dinner and my mom jumped at the offer. Saffroned rice, pan fried sardines in rosemary flour and my own take on a warm panzanella.

First up : Saffron rice. It sounds fancy, it looks great, it gussies up plain old rice and it tastes fantastic. Oh, and it is simple.

Saffroned Rice (serves 4)

2 cups of Jasmine rice (or in a pinch, white basmati. brown rice is not a good substitute)

3 1/2 cups of vegetable stock (or, water with bullion cubes)

1/2 a teaspoon of tumeric for color

1/2 a teaspoon of saffron threads

I just whipped this up in the rice cooker due to the heat. You can change this by sauteing pancetta and onions to add to it, adding currants or pine nuts, or going with some spicy red chili and lemon juice depending on what dish you'll be serving it with.

Fried Sardines in rosemary flour (serves 2-3)

One package of quality sardines in oil or water (my preference is water)

approx. 2 cups of multi purpose flour

2 stalks of fresh rosemary

your choice of oil for frying

Mix the flour and rosemary in a large bowl. Dredge the sardines in the flour/rosemary mix. Pan fry in oil until the flour is crisp.

You won't often see fried foods on this blog. I am, of course, a fan! But frying can be a real challenge at home, I don't really need the extra calories and it's not the most cost effective way to cook. However, I love sardines. Sure, they can be a bit fishy at times, so this recipe is a great introduction to sardines because, well, they're fried! Sardines a very inexpensive source of protein (2$ a can on sale for the good stuff!), store well in the pantry, are plentiful, and environmentally wise when it comes to fish. If you are going to give them a shot, I recommend plain sardines from Norway or Italy for the best quality.

Warm Panzanella (serves 6-7)
2 zucchini
1 crook neck squash

1 red pepper

1 onion (white or red depending on how sweet you want it)

two-three large handfuls of cherry tomatoes

one bag of croutons or half a loaf of stale bread cut into cubes
3 tablespoons of pesto

one large handful of pitted kalamata olives

feta for garnish

Slice cherry tomatoes in half and put on baking sheet. Salt and drizzle with a bit of olive oil. Slow roast for 30 minutes or until shriveled. If you saute the tomatoes, they will turn into little bombs of hot lava and burn the crap out of your mouth. Slow roasting prevents this and pulls out the sweetness of the tomato.

Saute the red pepper and onion until the onion is beginning to turn translucent. Add chopped zucchini and yellow squash and saute until soft. At the last moment, add the stale bread or croutons, pesto and kalamata olives. Stir with the heat on medium until all of the vegetables are well coated. Sprinkle a little feta, parmesan or nutritional yeast on top and serve.

This dish can be adapted so many ways! Add mushrooms, take away the pesto, add pine nuts, substitute cucumber for zucchini...endless options. And because it's all from the garden/using things I always have on stock, it's a cheap meal as well. As my dear friend Rob has said, he'd kill for this dish. No, really.