Monday, August 22, 2011

Pan-Cooked Summer Squash with Tomatoes & Kale

Pan-Cooked Summer Squash with Tomatoes & Kale

It's Monday again, and I'm off to the West Hollywood Farmers Market. That means that's it's been a week since my last visit to the market.

As many of you know, I love eating greens and savory vegetables for breakfast. I do it almost every single day--cooking up baby bok choy with sesame seeds and low sodium tamari one morning, then sauteing baby spinach with garlic and lemon the next morning.


So this morning, I was confronted with the remains of my last market visit--two lovely white summer squash, a bowl full of sweet yellow cherry tomatoes, and a few dark green fronds of kale. Inspired by this recipe for Pan-Cooked Summer Squash with Tomatoes and Basil from Martha Rose Shulman that appeared in her wonderful New York Times column, I decided to saute thinly sliced squash and kale with garlic in my cast iron skillet, and finish them off by adding the cherry tomatoes and cooking them down to a wonderful sweet tomato sauce.

The cherry tomatoes (rather than their larger counterparts) worked beautifully in this recipe. And the kale? Well, it was delicious! I love adding kale to almost anything, and perhaps it was penance for my late night vanilla shake and fries at the 101 Cafe last night, following a great show at the Hollywood Bowl of Disney's Fantasia.

I happily scarfed down this dish with eggs and toast for breakfast, and plan to finish the rest off with my farmers market purchased lunch.


Pan-Cooked Summer Squash with Tomatoes & Kale
Serves 4 people
Cooking time: about 20 minutes
Vegan; gluten-free
Print Recipe

Ingredients
  • 4 cups summer squash, thinly sliced
  • 2 garlic cloves, peeled and chopped
  • 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
  • 1 cup kale, thinly sliced
  • 2 cups cherry tomatoes, halved
  • salt and freshly ground pepper
  • 2 tablespoons fresh basil, julienned (optional)

Directions
  1. Heat the olive oil over medium heat. Add the garlic and saute for one minute. Then, add the squash, cooking until tender and slightly translucent.
  2. Add the kale and cherry tomatoes, and continue to saute until the tomatoes cook down and the kale becomes tender (about 5 minutes).
  3. Stir in the basil (optional). Season to taste with salt and pepper. Enjoy!

Source for Ingredients
  • summer squash, cherry tomatoes, and kale from Studio City Farmers Market
  • organic garlic and extra virgin olive oil from Trader Joe's 

1 comment:

  1. Yum! Just tried this with fresh kale, tomatoes and basil from the garden. Definitely a keeper

    ReplyDelete