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to go with grilled veggies, etc
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Food for Thought Friday: 3 recipes for a summer cookout/weekend 🏖
 

Hi! It's July 1!

I'm excited to report that I ordered my first ever grill yesterday, and it's being delivered next week. I can't wait to dig in to a new (and straightforward) cooking method, especially one that will keep my summer kitchen cool and provide one of my favorite summer foods: grilled veggies!

For your summer grilling and gathering plans, here are 3 of my old favorite summer recipes. I haven't made these in a while and I'm craving them too!

First up - a red and a green version of one of my favorite summer sauces: Romesco! Super easy and amazing on all grilled foods, or you can also use it as a dip for crudite. And then... since I bought my first zucchini at a PA farmers market this week... my not-too-sweet almond zucchini bread!

I hope you get to take a break from the world and enjoy a long weekend this weekend! Recipes below :)

love,
Jess


Classic “Red” Romesco Sauce - adapted slightly from Pinch of Yum’s 5-Minute Romesco
takes about 5 minutes, makes about 2 cups of sauce

This sauce is extremely versatile - you can use it as a dip, put it on grilled meat or veg, dip bread in it, or use it for pasta. It's vibrant and delicious and adds a tasty punch to whatever you're eating. Also great for dipping raw veg straight out of the fridge!

Romesco is what I refer to as a cold, blended sauce, or more specifically a non-cooked sauce that you make quickly using a machine. I prefer an immersion blender + pyrex setup (see details/recs here), but you could also use a food processor or blender. Read more about GPJ sauces/guide here.

Ingredients:
  • 1 12-oz jar of roasted red peppers, *peppers removed from liquid but save liquid in case you need a little*
  • 1 to 1.5 cups *red* cherry, grape, or other tomatoes
  • 1 cup raw almonds
  • 3-5 whole sprigs fresh parsley - I use the whole sprig and blend the stems right in. Quickly chop the parsley into a few sections so it blends more easily, especially if using the immersion blender
  • 1 teaspoon kosher salt (or more to taste)
  • 1-3 cloves garlic
  • juice of half a lemon
  • optional - dash of sherry vinegar, about 1 tsp or to taste
  • optional - dash of paprika, about 1/4 tsp
  • optional - dash of fresh ground black pepper

Instructions:
  1. Pulse/blend everything together in a blender, food processor, or using an immersion blender in a tall jar/4-cup pyrex until blended to your liking. I like to keep it a little chunky - you should see small white pieces of almonds, but they should be so small that you wouldn’t know they’re almonds.
  2. If it’s too thick or you’re having trouble blending, you can add a little liquid from the roasted red peppers, more olive oil, or a tiny bit of water. Taste and adjust flavors, especially salt, olive oil, and lemon/vinegar!

GPJ Notes:
  1. Make sure you remove the peppers from the liquid versus dumping in the whole jar - too much liquid makes it too liquidy. It’s also easy to roast your own red peppers if you feel so inclined - just google it!
  2. This tastes great with SO many things, but I especially love it with cooked green vegetables like broccoli, asparagus, green beans, etc. And it’s really awesome with carrots and celery crudités, which may sound weird but they just work!
  3. In the winter I have also used fire-roasted canned tomatoes and those also work fine, just use a little less and make sure you don’t add too much liquid.
 


Slightly Spicy, Earthy, Bright-Green Romesco Dip/Sauce
takes about 10 minutes, makes about 1.5 cups of sauce

GPJ Notes (to read before making):
  1. This will be as spicy as the arugula is, so taste it first so you know! Mine had a real kick to it, which I liked. You can add additional olive oil/lemon/nuts to balance spiciness if needed.
  2. It’s important to use YELLOW tomatoes here for the color. If you use red, it will be an uglier weird-green-red-which-makes-almost-purple color, which is also fine but just not as pretty.
  3. The turmeric is my surprise/key ingredient! It adds a layer of earthiness; it doesn’t make it “taste” like turmeric to me. If you’re nervous, this was confirmed by several trusted taste-testers. I made a version without the turmeric also and we agreed that the turmeric made it at least 5x better - more complex and interesting and a fun, bright color too!
  4. This tastes especially great with “sweet” crudités like carrots and sugar snap peas, which complement the spicy, earthy flavors well!

Ingredients:
  • 1 cup walnuts, toasted (almonds would also work well)
  • 1 cup *YELLOW* cherry, grape, or other tomatoes
  • 12oz arugula (or I’m sure you could use spinach, parsley, a combo, or experiment with other herbs!)
  • 1 big clove garlic
  • juice of 1 lemon
  • 1 tsp kosher salt
  • 1/4 cup olive oil
  • 1/2-1 tsp ground turmeric
  • fresh ground pepper
Equipment:
  • immersion blender + 2- or 4- cup pyrex liquid measuring cup OR food processor of some kind
  • wide, flat pan + stove OR toaster oven/regular oven + sheet pan to toast nuts

Instructions:
  1. Optional but recommended, especially if using walnuts: Toast the nuts, either in the oven at ~350 for 6-12 mins, OR on medium-high in any wide, flat pan, tossing consistently. Stay at the stove and be careful of burning them - you just want them to smell a little nutty. Remove pan from heat/oven and allow nuts to cool a bit.
  2. Add everything else to the pyrex or food processor/blender. Then add the slightly cooled nuts.
  3. Pulse/blend to reach your desired consistency. I like it with some texture so that it works as a dip! Taste and adjust lemon/salt/pepper/turmeric/olive oil. If you need more, stir them in rather than blending again in order to keep the texture. Or blend more if you want it smoother.

GPJ NOT-TOO-SWEET ALMOND ZUCCHINI BREAD
Takes about 1.5 hours, ~30 mins active time
makes 1 normal loaf or 2 small ones

Ingredients:
  • 4.5 cups almond flour
  • 1/2 cup flax meal OR 3 heaping Tbsp flax seeds, ground
  • 1.5 tsp kosher salt
  • 2 tsp baking soda
  • 1 tsp cinnamon
  • 1/2 tsp nutmeg (optional but recommended)
  • 5 eggs
  • 5 Tbsp olive oil
  • 1 Tbsp apple cider vinegar
  • 2 tsp vanilla
  • 6 Tbsp raw cane sugar
  • 2 cups PACKED zucchini (grated on the large grater) from about 2 small or 1 medium zucchini
  • optional: chocolate chips if you like it sweeter
Equipment:
  • grater with large holes
  • 2 mini loaf pans OR 1 large loaf pan OR 1 sheet pan
  • parchment paper
  • mixing bowls, tsp, Tbsp, cups to measure
  • whisk or fork, flexible spatula
  • maybe: a spice or coffee grinder to grind flax seeds

Instructions:
  1. Preheat the oven to 375. Prepare 1 large or 2 small loaf pan(s) by lining with parchment paper. (I recommend parchment over spraying/buttering - the almond flour likes to stick, so parchment works better.)
  2. Crack 5 eggs into a large bowl. Add a pinch of salt (helps break down the whites) and whisk until well combined. Add 6 Tbsp sugar, 1 Tbsp apple cider vinegar, 5 Tbsp olive oil, and 2 tsp vanilla. Whisk again until well combined. Set aside.
  3. In a medium bowl combine the dry ingredients: 4.5 cups almond flour, 1/2 cup flax meal OR 3 heaping Tbsp flax seeds ground, 1.5 tsp kosher salt, 2 tsp baking soda, 1 tsp cinnamon, 1/2 tsp nutmeg (optional but recommended). Mix until well combined.
  4. Grate zucchini over the large setting until you have 2 cups packed.
  5. Give wet ingredients a quick whisk to make sure they’re well combined. Now add dry ingredients to the wet ones, gently stir in until just combined. Fold in the zucchini and make sure it’s well-distributed. If using, fold in the chocolate chips. NOTE: It will be thick! - not as wet/liquidy as a normal quick bread batter.
  6. Carefully add batter to the pans. Use spatula to spread it evenly and/or tap it a few times on the counter to help level it.
  7. Bake until a toothpick comes out clean from the center of the loaf. I find it usually takes at least 45-65 minutes, sometimes longer for one big loaf pan. Definitely start checking at the 45 minute mark, depending which pan(s) you’re using.

RECIPE LAB NOTES!
Overall - this recipe is quite forgiving so don’t stress about measuring everything perfectly. I always aim to minimize use of measuring cups/spoons and often use the 1-cup or 1-tsp to eyeball the 1/2 cup or 1/2 tsp measures.

Ingredient notes:
  • In case you were wondering, the purpose of the apple cider vinegar is to react with the baking soda, which helps the bread rise! I don’t think you can taste the vinegar at all, so you could probably sub plain white vinegar or likely another mild-tasting vinegar, although I haven’t tried those because I always have apple cider vinegar around.
  • I have used various kinds of sugar and all have worked fine here. Raw or brown sugar adds a nicer caramel flavor over white sugar, but all will work. If you want a sweet zucchini bread, I would increase the sugar quantity to 1 or 2 cups.
  • Feel free to PACK IN THE VEG to use up that zucchini! I have used 3 cups of zucchini and once did 2 cups zucchini + 1 cup carrots and it was great!
  • I am not a baking expert, but I think the flax helps absorb some of the moisture from the zucchini. You could probably substitute an equal amount of chia seeds. Ground would blend in well, whole would likely be fine although you’d probably see them. You can probably get away with leaving this out, although I haven’t tried it so I can’t promise. If you do leave it out, it might take longer to bake, and I’d probably add a little extra flour just in case.
  • Flour substitutions - I have not actually tried these, so I can’t attest to their success, but I feel pretty confident that you could likely sub another gluten free flour blend, or use part coconut flour instead of almond flour. The coconut flour will probably change the flavor slightly, so I think the nuttiness of almond flour is the preferable flavor profile here. If you experiment, please report back!

Instruction and storage notes:
  • You’ll need a grater with the large holes, the size you’d use to grate mozzarella cheese for pizza. If you don’t have a grater, you could probably spiralize into noodles and then chop into roughly 1-inch pieces.
  • Store on the counter if you’ll eat it in 2-3 days. To keep it lasting longer, or if it’s really hot out, store in the fridge, in which case I recommend warming it up/toasting briefly in a pan or toaster oven. It’s too delicate for a toaster.
  • If you cut it and see very very fine, kinda wet-looking “strings” when you pull it apart, that means it’s going bad, so make sure you toast it in that case if you still want to eat it, or just finish it fast! Of course, if tastes or smells bad, don’t eat it. The fresh ingredients and excessive amount of eggs make it a tad more perishable than your standard zucchini bread. It also freezes fairly well for 2-3 months max, I’d say!
All photos are taken by me and recipes written by me, unless otherwise noted.

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Hi, I'm Jess! I help health-conscious, busy people transform their cooking from chore to lifestyle through intuitive cooking, which I teach through online classes, free content, coaching and more. This is my newsletter, Food for Thought Fridays, where I share highly actionable tips and inspiration to help you cook more intuitively (which makes cooking feel easier and SO much more fun!). Once a month, I share a recipe that's really worth making, and I only share those with my email subscribers. Sometimes the text above may include affiliate links, meaning (at no additional cost to you) I get a commission if you click through and make a purchase. This helps me to continue to share free content, so I would love it if you buy through my link! Thank you for supporting Garlic Press Jess!



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