Half Assed Kitchen

Zucchini pie

We're pretty much suckers for anything containing the word 'pie'. It conjures comfort food and country windowsills.

Zucchini pie is no exception, except that it's actually more quiche than pie.

Still, we love it. It's simple, delicious and filling in the way only egg, cheese and pie crust can be. And, at 6 to 8 servings, it can feed a small group or be saved for another night.

This recipe came from The Six O'Clock Scramble, which we highly recommend if you want your weeknight meals on auto pilot. We changed it up a little (though not much) and love the results.

Rating: 3/4 assed (We're sorry to say, there's some chopping involved.)

Here's what you need and how you do it

1 Tablespoon butter

2 large Zucchini, sliced thinly

1 medium onion, chopped

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon black pepper

1 teaspoon garlic, minced

1/4 cup fresh basil, chopped, or 1 teaspoon dried

1/2 teaspoon dried oregano

1 9-inch pie crust (do yourself a favor and buy them ready made)

2 Tablespoons dijon mustard

2 eggs, lightly beaten

2 cups shredded swiss cheese or mozzarella

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

In a skillet, melt the butter over medium heat and sauté the zucchini, onion and garlic until soft. Add salt, pepper and oregano.

Press pie crust into a pie dish and spread dijon mustard evenly over the crust.

Combine the eggs, cheese, zucchini mixture and basil in a large bowl. Spread evenly into pie crust.

Bake for 30 minutes, until lightly browned.

For a printable version of this recipe, click here.

Tomato mozzarella basil salad

This is one of our favorite summer salads. A snap to throw together and a succulent, fresh delight to eat.

Rating: 1/4 assed (easy, easy, easy and the payoff is high)

Here's what you need and how you do it

1 pint cherry or grape tomatoes

1/2 pound fresh mozzarella

1/2 cup fresh basil, chopped

3 Tablespoons olive oil

1/4 teaspoon salt (or to taste)

Mix all ingredients together and serve.

For a printable version of this recipe, click here.

Chicken skewers with orzo salad

This is the perfect summertime meal: Not too much effort; it can be eaten warm or cold; and the flavors are sensational. Our friend Cindy helped us piece this together when we were foiled by a woman who made something similar but would not divulge her secrets.

For this recipe, you're required to marinate the chicken for several hours ahead of time, so be forewarned that some up front prep is necessary (the orzo can be made ahead of time too), but the results are so worth it.

Rating: 3/4 assed (we're sorry, but it's well worth the effort)

Here's what you need and how you do it

3 to 4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut into strips

Chicken marinade:

8 ounces plain yogurt (dairy or soy)

1 Tablespoon curry powder

1 Tablespoon fresh ginger, peeled and minced

1 teaspoon garlic, minced

1/4 teaspoon salt

Freshly ground pepper

2 Tablespoons sherry or chicken broth

Orzo salad:

4 to 6 ounces uncooked orzo (in the pasta aisle)

1/2 cup kalamata olives, chopped

1/2 cup cucumber, peeled and seeded

1/2 cup feta

1/4 cup onion, chopped

1/4 cup fresh, flat-leaf parsley, chopped

Juice from a 1/2 lemon

1/3 cup olive oil

1/4 teaspoon salt

Pepper

Mix first 7 ingredients (yogurt through sherry). Add chicken and marinate in refrigerator for several hours to overnight.

Cook orzo in boiling water for 7 to 10 minutes, until al dente. Drain. Combine with olives, cucumber, feta and onion.

In a separate bowl, whisk together lemon juice, olive oil, salt and pepper. Pour into orzo and stir to mix.

Soak bamboo skewers in water for 30 minutes. Then thread chicken onto skewers. Grill until chicken is done (10 minutes or so). Serve over top of orzo salad.

For a printable version of this recipe, click here.

Tuscan pasta

Our one and only experience in Tuscany was on a train. Sitting on the floor between two cars and just outside the bathroom door. Not the most appetizing voyage of our lives. Still, we saw a little of the countryside through the windows and continue to have romantic notions of renting a villa there someday.

So what makes this pasta Tuscan? We have no idea. It just sounded right. 

The recipe actually came from our Californian friend Vanessa, who  made it for us back in 2000. Her instructions read more like a stream of gastronomic consciousness (Add a hunk 'o butter...splash in some beer if you like...etc.). Which we adore. But, which we did not imagine you'd appreciate as you're standing in your kitchen thinking, 'okay, what exactly is a hunk?'

We've figured out the proportions for you. You're welcome.

This combination of ingredients is truly inspired (thank you Vanessa). It makes a rich, extremely flavorful sauce that is not quite red but dances across your palate in all its Mediterranean complexity.

Rating: Truly 1/2 assed (Simple, but not ridiculously so)

Here's what you need and how you do it

1/2 – 3/4 pound pasta, cooked to almost al dente and drained

Olive oil

1 Tablespoon garlic, minced

1/2 cup portobello mushrooms (black gills scraped out, mushrooms diced)

3/4 cup roasted red peppers (plus some liquid)

2 Tablespoons butter

1 teaspoon anchovy paste

1/2 cup beer

1 15-ounce can diced tomatoes (with liquid)

1 can artichoke hearts

1/4 cup fresh, flat-leaf parsley, chopped

1/4 cup fresh basil, chopped (optional)

1/4 cup red wine (optional)

Salt and pepper to taste

Romano or parmesan cheese, grated

Heat olive oil in a large skillet. Add garlic and sauté 2 to 3 minutes. Dump in rest of ingredients and let simmer for about an hour.

Combine mostly cooked pasta with sauce and let simmer another five or ten minutes.

Top with grated cheese.

For a printable version of this recipe, click here.

Scalloped potatoes with mushrooms and white wine

Tender potatoes, sweet-tangy white wine and a creamy roux make this a Side to die for. We've prepared this dish more than once and, with each try, it turns out better than the time before.

When you serve a side this good, you can slack on the entreé (think pork chops or a rotisserie chicken).

Seriously. We love this one. You need to try it. Soon.

Rating: Truly 1/2 assed (Simple, but not ridiculously so)

Here's what you need and how you do it

3 baking potatoes (thinly sliced)

1 medium onion, chopped

3 Tablespoons olive oil

8 ounces crimini mushrooms, sliced

2 Tablespoons butter or margarine

1-1/2 cups milk, half-and-half or plain Silk Creamer

5 Tablespoons white wine

1/4 cup flour

1 teaspoon salt

Black pepper

Fresh rosemary (optional)

In a skillet, heat olive oil, onion, mushrooms, salt and pepper until the mushrooms have given up most of their moisture and the onions have turned transparent.

Meanwhile, heat butter, milk and wine in a separate sauce pan. Once warmed, whisk in flour and continue to heat until the roux has thickened.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Layer potatoes into a greased, shallow baking dish. Stir mushroom mixture into sauce and then spoon over the potatoes.

Bake for 45 minutes to an hour, until potatoes are soft and sauce is bubbly. Sprinkle with fresh rosemary if desired.

For a printable version of this recipe, click here.

Thin mints

We wish we could say that these are far and away better than the Keebler Grasshoppers you can buy at the grocery store. They're good...but they're a bit of effort. Not back-breaking effort, mind you. Just more work than we like to put into food.

Still, if you're up for a little mixing, chilling, baking and melting, you might skip the Grasshoppers and try these.

We went to the trouble (and are proud of what we got), so there was no way we weren't going to post our results.

The basic recipe came from Baking Bites, with a few modifications.

Rating: Full assed (Some serious effort and time required)

Here's what you need and how you do it

Cookie:

2-1/4 cups all purpose flour
1/4 cup cornstarch
6 Tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup butter or margarine, room temperature
1/2 cup milk
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
3/4 teaspoon peppermint extract

Chocolate coating:

10 ounces dark or semisweet chocolate
1/2 cup butter or margarine

1/4 teaspoon peppermint extract

In a small bowl, whisk together flour, cornstarch, cocoa powder and salt.

In a large bowl, cream together butter and sugar. With the mixer on low speed, add in the milk and extracts. 

Gradually, add in the flour mixture until fully incorporated. (You may have to knead by hand as the dough turns out fairly crumbly).

Shape dough into two logs, about 1-1/2 inches in diameter, wrap in plastic wrap and freeze for at least 1-2 hours, until dough is very firm.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.

Slice dough into rounds about 1/8-inch thick and place on greased or parchment-lined baking sheet.

Bake for 12 to 13 minutes. Cool on wire rack.

In a sauce pan, mix chocolate, butter or margarine and peppermint extract until smooth. Dollop a spoonful of chocolate coating on top of each cookie and give them an hour (at least) to set up.

(Try them refrigerated too.)

For a printable version of this recipe, click here.

Asian lettuce wraps

  

Okay. Technically, you're supposed to wrap these up like a burrito and eat them. But we've never had any luck making a lettuce leaf behave like a tortilla. Even lettuce wraps we've tried at Asian-fusion restaurants end up losing most of the filling. We call them "wraps", yes. But they're more like, oh, salads. That should be eaten with a fork.

Still, the flavor is rich, suffused with ginger, sesame oil and honey. And if you buy precooked chicken from your grocery store's deli, these "wraps" are ready in about 20 minutes.

Rating: Truly 1/2 assed (Simple, but not ridiculously so)

Here's what you need and how you do it

2 chicken breasts, cooked and shredded

3 to 4 ounces rice sticks (found in the asian section of your supermarket, they look like flat, white spaghetti and usually come in a cellophane bag)

Several large lettuce leaves (Boston, Romaine or Red Leaf), washed

1/4 cup cilantro, chopped

3 green onions, chopped

1 can water chestnuts (optional)

Sauce:

4 Tablespoons sesame oil

2 Tablespoons cooking sherry

3 Tablespoons soy sauce

4 Tablespoons honey

2 teaspoons fresh ginger, minced

Whisk all sauce ingredients together.

Heat several cups of water to boiling in sauce pan. Turn off heat and add rice sticks. Leave to soften while you shred the chicken.

Lay a lettuce leaf on each plate. Fill with chicken, rice sticks, cilantro, green onions and water chestnuts.

Drizzle sauce over the top or pour into individual bowls for dipping. (We drizzle and place small bowls on each plate in case anyone wants extra.

For a printable version of this recipe, click here.

Meatloaf

Meatloaf, we're sorry to say, is not going to win any beauty contests.

But we like meatloaf. We like that it's relatively healthy (especially if you use ground turkey), that it's fast and easy and that you can throw almost anything you want into it.

This is our version. We start with the basics, then make suggestions for ingredients to add if you have them on hand.

Rating: 3/4 assed (because of all the mincing)

Here's what you need and how you do it

1 pound ground meat

1 cup crushed or diced tomatoes

1/2 cup oatmeal

4 to 5 Tablespoons worchestershire sauce

1 cup onion, minced

1 cup celery, minced

1 teaspoon salt

1 Tablespoon dried thyme

Ground black pepper

Ketchup

Optional additions:

1/2 cup red bell pepper

1/4 cup fresh, flat leaf parsley

2 cloves garlic, crushed

1/2 cup bread crumbs

1 egg, slightly beaten

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Mix all ingredients except ketchup in a large bowl. Transfer to a loaf pan, drizzle with ketchup.

Bake for one hour.

(Keep in mind that if you go too crazy with the veggies, you'll want to add breadcrumbs to soak up excess liquid. In which case, the egg would probably be a good idea to help hold it all together.)

For a printable version of this recipe, click here.