Veggies brighten wintertime dinner tables

Sophisticated greenhouses, hothouses, and other venues of vegetables in or out of season make wintertime dining a bit more varied than the recent norm. While I am pretty much a traditionalist when it comes to cookery, I have to admit today’s illustration of stuffed baked tomatoes made me think that just maybe we could accept that circumstances allowed for offering them in a wintertime cooking column.

Further delving in the files brought out a couple more surprises, so here goes for a February “summer supper” collection. Enjoy!

Baked Tomatoes

W/Quinoa, Corn

& Green Chiles

1/2 small can (or more) of green chiles

2 cups fresh or canned corn kernels (drained)

1 cup finely chopped onion

1 Tb. finely chopped sweet marjoram*

1 Tb. EACH olive oil and fresh lime juice

1 tsp. salt, divided

3/4 tsp. ground cumin

1/4 tsp. fresh ground black pepper

6 large ripe tomatoes

4 ounces Colby/Jack cheese, shredded (about 1 cup, packed)

Place corn and onion on foil-lined broiler pan and broil about 10 minutes, stirring till beginning to blacken; remove and add to chopped chiles in bowl. Stir in herb(s) of choice, oil, lime juice, 1/4 tsp. salt, cumin and black pepper.

Cut tops from tomatoes, set aside. Carefully scoop out tomato pulp leaving shells intact, Drain pulp through a sieve over a bowl pressing with the back of a spoon to extract liquid.

Reserve 1 1/4 cups of the liquid. Sprinkle inside of tomatoes with 1/2 tsp. salt and invert on a wire rack; let stand for 30 minutes. Dry insides with a crumpled paper towel.

Place quinoa in a fine sieve in a large bowl and cover quinoa with water. With your hands, rub the grains together for 30 seconds; rinse and drain well.

Combine reserved tomato liquid, quinoa, 1/4 cup water and remaining salt in a medium saucepan; bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer 15 minutes or until liquid in completely absorbed, Remove from heat, fluff with a fork, Add quinoa mixture to corn mixture, tossing well.

Preheat oven to 350F. Spoon about 1/4 cup mixture into each tomato.

Divide cheese evenly among tomatoes. Place tomatoes and tops, if desired, on a jelly-roll pan.

Bake for 15 minutes; remove from oven. Preheat oven broiler and return pan to oven for about 1 1/2 minutes or till cheese melts. Place tops on tomatoes if you wish, serve.

* You may use parsley or other green herb, available fresh in winter in most produce sections.

Our smaller illustration displays a fabulous crunchy salad to cool down the hot tomatoes – or to enhance a goodie yet-to-come as our finale recipe. Here’s the how-to for our versatile salad – perky enough for winter and cooling for summer as well.

Cucumber

Herb Salad

5 1/2 cups thinly sliced cucumber (about 2 large)

2 1/2 cups thinly sliced sweet red Spanish onion

Dressing:

1/4 cup plain yogurt

2 Tbs. dillweed/seeds (in summer use fresh-chopped dill)

1 Tb. chopped parsley

1 Tb olive oil

1 1/2 tsps. chopped mint

2 tsp. Dijon mustard

1/4 tsp. EACH sugar, salt, black pepper

1 garlic clove

After slicing cucumber, toss slices into a large sieve or colander and press down with a plate or weight to express excess water.

Combine all dressing ingredients and blend in a blender or processer till well blended. Toss drained cucumber and onion together in a large bowl, then drizzle with the yogurt mixture, tossing to coat. Serve as shown . Sensational

If stuffed tomatoes aren’t on your to-do list, how about a great old-fashioned hot sandwich to complement your salad? Here’s an updated version.

Monte Cristo

Sandwiches

(For 2)

4 1/2-inch thick slices egg bread

2 1/2 Tbs. Dijon mustard, divided

4 thin slices white cheddar cheese* cut to fit bread slices, divided

4 thin slices deli turkey (plain or smoked)

4 thin slices deli ham (plain or smoked)*

2 generous half-cup servings shredded greens of choice containing a few mustard greens

2 large eggs

3 Tbs. butter

For each sandwich, place two bread slices on work surface and spread each with 1 Tb. mustard. Top each with 1 cheese slice, 2 turkey slices, 2 ham slices, half of the green to cover evenly, another cheese slice and the second bread slice.

Beat eggs and remaining 1/2 Tb. mustard in pie dish to blend. Heat butter in a large heavy skillet over med-low heat. Dip both sides of sandwiches into egg mixture to coat evenly. Place in skillet. Cover and cook until bottoms are golden brown, about 5 minutes, then turn carefully with spatula, re-cover and cook till golden and cheese is melted, about 4 minutes longer. Transfer to plates, cut into quarters and serve.

* You may use smoked turkey and/or ham as you wish, or opt for thin-sliced salmon lox in place of the ham. Too, choose a favorite cheese as well or use two kinds for a flavorful combo.

Valle Novak writes the Country Chef and Weekend Gardener columns for the Daily Bee. She can be reached at bcdailybee@bonnercountydailybee.com. or by phone at 208-265-4688.