WHAT’S COOKIN’ By Barbara Shark Redstone Review

LYONS – As we launch into August, our last summer month, I’m taking advantage of the abundance of late summer veggies.

Chop onion into bite-sized one-inch bits. Sauté it in 1 tablespoon of olive oil, in a pan large enough to hold all the vegetables, over medium heat until softened and barely brown about three minutes.

Shark

I was reminded, on the cool days and nights we experienced earlier in the month, how fleeting are these treasures. Better get busy and enjoy summer while we can.

A generous friend from Apple Valley brought me cucumbers, green beans and zucchini from their bountiful garden. The zucchini inspired me, along with eggplant, peppers, and basil from the farmer’s market, to make ratatouille. The charming animated movie “Ratatouille” brought the pronunciation of this French word into common usage. Now it’s time to bring it onto the dinner table.

You’ll need two medium sized zucchini, an onion, two or three Japanese eggplant, a red or yellow pepper, garlic, a large tin of crushed or diced tomatoes or eight fresh Romas, skinned and chopped.

Add zucchini halved and cut into 1-inch chunks and continue to cook, browning lightly, 3-4 minutes. Stir in the red or yellow pepper cut into 1-inch pieces. When these begin to sizzle, add the Japanese eggplant cut into, you guessed it, 1-inch pieces. No need to peel this delicate vegetable. Add a tablespoon or two of olive oil and cook until lightly browned and beginning to soften, 3-4 minutes more. Add two to three cloves of garlic, minced. Pour in the large tin of tomatoes or the Romas and bring to a simmer. Add eight leaves of basil. Cover and let cook gently over low heat for 45-60 minutes into a thick and succulent amalgam. Watch so the stew doesn’t catch and burn in the last minutes, adding a bit of water if necessary. Salt to taste - start with a scant teaspoon. When ready to serve scatter with torn basil leaves. This is delicious warm, at room temperature or cold. Even better the next day. We eat ratatouille with fried eggs, grilled fish, sausages, chicken, or on its own with crusty bread and a hunk of cheese. Any leftovers are great as a pasta topping.

Barbara Shark is an artist and author of How I Learned to Cook, an Artist’s Life. She lives near Lyons, Colorado. For more recipes, read her blog at www.howilearnedtocookanartistslife.blog.

Souvlaki with yogurt sauce – a fresh and easy Greek dish at home

By Catherine Metzger Redstone Review

SAN MIGUEL COUNTY – We Americans have the hamburger – a veritable meal on a bun – and the Greeks have souvlaki. I remember seeing souvlaki stands on almost every street corner in Athens.

Souvlaki with yogurt sauce is a fresh, easy and inexpensive Greek meal at home. It’s served on a flat bread such as pita and filled with spicy lamb, onions, fresh tomatoes and a yogurt sauce called tzatziki. Complemented with homemade mint lemonade, it sings of summer.

I recently purchased five pounds of lamb from my friend Terri at Snyder Ranches. Her lambs graze just up the road from here, and this recipe came to mind first.

Souvlaki

Preparation time 20 minutes; serves four.

1 pound ground lamb

1 teaspoon oregano

1/2 teaspoon spearmint

1/4 cup onion, chopped

1 small clove of garlic, chopped or pressed

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/8 teaspoon pepper

Olive oil

6 pieces of pita bread (or flour tortillas)

1 cup tzatziki (recipe below)

1/4 purple onion, sliced thinly

1 medium-sized tomato, chopped with a drizzle of olive oil and grill, turning every five minutes or so for 20 minutes.

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F or start the grill.

• Mix lamb, oregano, spearmint, onion, garlic, salt and pepper together in a medium-sized bowl. Take five or six skewers and form the meat around each skewer so that it clings and is in the shape of a large, evenly formed, thick sausage.

• Shape the tortilla into a cone and stuff with a skewer of lamb or slit the top of the pita and fill the hollow with lamb. Add several onion rings and a sprinkling of tomatoes and top with a dollop of tzatziki. Serve.

Tzatziki: Cucumber Salad with Yogurt

Preparation time 20 minutes; makes about two cups

2 cucumbers peeled, seeded and grated

1 cup Greek yogurt

3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

1 teaspoon spearmint flakes or

1 tablespoon fresh spearmint, chopped

Place the cucumbers in the center of a clean cotton dishtowel or cheesecloth. Twist tightly, squeezing the excess water from the cucumbers over the sink. Do this several times until you have removed as much water as you can from the grated cucumbers.

• Place cucumbers, yogurt, olive oil, spearmint, dill, garlic, scallions, lemon juice or vinegar and sugar in the bowl and mix. Mix together. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

Catherine Ripley Metzger has been cooking professionally and privately since 1979. She is the proprietor of the food blog www.foodfortheages.com and cooks with curiosity from the ground up in her log cabin home on the Western Slope of Colorado.

• Place the skewers on a baking tray, drizzle with olive oil and bake for 20 minutes. They will begin to brown. In the last five minutes of cooking, increase the oven heat to 550 degrees F. Turn the skewers to lightly brown. Remove the tray from the oven. If you are grilling the souvlaki, place the skewers on a layer of aluminum foil

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1 teaspoon dill or 1 tablespoon fresh dill, chopped

1 clove garlic, chopped

1 teaspoon scallions, chopped

1 teaspoon lemon juice or vinegar

1/2 teaspoon sugar

Salt and pepper to taste

• Grate cucumbers in the food processor.

Trustees unanimously approved the settlement at its June 20 meeting.”

Dittman went on to say that the Benita Yoder issue was also settled. “Yoder did complete all the nuisance abatement activities,” Attorney Dittman said. “So that one is behind us as well.”

In other matters the Liquor Licensing Authority moved that the Moxie liquor license remise modification, to move the liquor license from the 355 Main St. location to the 442 High St. location, was moved to the August 21 town board meeting.