Category: Nopi

Garden Dinner: Zucchini, Beans, and Cabbage (Nopi, Summer Kitchen)

August 7th, 2023

Today, it is harvest time for various types of string beans, cabbage, and zucchini. I recently received an new and lovely cookbook: Summer Kitchens: Recipes and Reminiscences from Every Corner of Ukraine by Olia Hercules. Olia also wrote another popular Ukrainian cookbook, Mamushka, and this one seems like a step up, featuring more interesting, recipes that are still approachable. The book is titled after a shed-kitchen that many Ukrainians cook out of during the Summer months. I decided to cook some simple zucchini fritters from this book to give it a try. For the beans and cabbage, I chose one of the few vegan dishes in Nopi (a favorite reliably impressive cookbook of mine.) Stay tuned for more beans and zucchini, as well as kale, nasturtiums, cucumbers, summer squash, peppers in the coming weeks!

Zucchini Fritters (Summer Kitchen): I used a slightly larger grater setting than the book recommended, and it worked fine. I also decided to keep the seeds in the fritters, and this also had no detrimental effect on the dish (just be sure to adjust the other ingredients to account for the added weight of the core). I squeezed the grated zucchini very hard to get out as much liquid as possible. This recipe calls for self-rising flour, so note that you can make self-rising flour by combining a cup of all-purpose flour with a half tablespoon of baking powder and a quarter teaspoon of salt.

The resulting fritters were light, fairly cakey. I would cut the flour down by a small amount next time. I served them with salted yogurt. It was refreshing and delicious!
Joe’s Rating: 7
Difficulty: 4

Snake Bean and Peanut Achar (Nopi): This dish combines Malaysian achar paste (spiced onion paste) with cabbage, peanuts, and snake beans. I actually just used regular garden-grown string beans instead of snake beans, a fine substitute! They recommend serving this with a poached egg or some other egg dish. As it was getting late, I just ate it with simple salted yogurt, and this was a fine way to enjoy the dish.
Joe’s Rating: 6.5
Difficulty: 5
Whole Sea Bream, Fried Green Tomatoes Two Ways, and Strained Ricotta and Blackcurrant Compote

July 30th, 2023

Time to build a dinner around garden-fresh green tomatoes! I decided to fry the tomatoes according to two different recipes: one from Lost Kitchen, the other from On Vegetables (tl;dr: Lost Kitchen wins even though it is easier.) For the main, I decided on a whole Sea Bream, which is available at New Deal Fish Market and feels appropriate for the dog days of summer. Finally, I got ahold of some fresh blackcurrants at The Mushroom Shop and decided to take a stab at a strained ricotta dessert from Nopi.

Whole Sea Bream (Polpo): This dish is super straightforward and delicious! Make extra herb-garlic oil and salt generously. Cook the fish to 135F-140F. Grill if possible. I roasted in the oven in preheated cast-iron at 435F; I’d recommend going even higher to crisp the skin next time.

Fried Green Tomatoes with Buttermilk and Dill (Lost Kitchen): I’ve made this recipe before and know that it is excellent! The recipe is straightforward. Just make sure you get/keep your oil hot enough so that it doesn’t get soggy and oily. I needed to move the oil to a larger burner to accomplish this.
Joe’s Rating: 7.5
Difficulty: 4

Fried Green Tomatoes, Burrata & Green Tomato Preserves (On Vegetables): This recipe features a spiced green-tomato-raisin compote that takes 2-3 hours to make (it only took me about 2 hours) and is served with burrata, basil, and a cornmeal breading. Opinions were divided on whether the grittier cornmeal improved the dish. I also thought the spiced compote was more of a fall flavor than a mid-summer one (although it was delicious.) I’d recommend adding a hit of acid to the compote and salting all components generously.
Joe’s Rating: 7
Difficulty: 6.5

Strained Ricotta with Blackcurrant Compote and Rhubarb (Nopi): The strained ricotta is sweetened and folded together with sweetened whipped egg whites (so an unbaked meringue) and then strained for two days. I can attest that quadruple-layered cheese cloth works but is a poor substitute for the muslin cloth here. We also found the strained-ricotta to be overly sweet. In the future, I would add more ricotta and cut the sugar. Serving with good vanilla ice cream was very appealing and outshone the ricotta. My rhubarb (not pictured) ended up stringy and chewy because I left it unrefrigerated for a couple of hours; it needs to remain super fresh and crisp for this to work.
Joe’s Rating: 6
Difficulty: 7.5

Category: Nopi

Garden Dinner: Zucchini, Beans, and Cabbage (Nopi, Summer Kitchen)

Whole Sea Bream, Fried Green Tomatoes Two Ways, and Strained Ricotta and Blackcurrant Compote