Warm Vegetable Salad Recipe

I'm still on the quest to follow Joy Bauer's 90 |10 food philosophy. By that, she means eating healthy foods 90% of the time and splurge on treats the remaining 10% of the time. Today I paired a very healthy portion of seasonal vegetable salad with a much more reasonable serving of succulent roasted a leg of lamb, which I admit is probably not the healthiest dish (look out for that recipe soon - probably when I feel less guilty!). The salad consists of zucchini, white asparagus and carrots cut into long, thin linguine shape strips. The trio is quickly sautéed with coriander and ginger and finished with lemon juice. The result is a crunchy, naturally sweet, warm salad with a little fresh zing from the lemon.

What I like most about this dish is how vibrant the colors are. Over-cooking veggies depletes their nutrients and can result in less attractive hues, so make sure you give the veggies just enough time to soften and you'll have a beautiful dish.

Zucchini Tart Recipe (Tarte aux Courgettes)

Savory tart is a very versatile dish. The crust is usually puff pastry, a sauce serves as the filling and the topping is roasted or grilled vegetables. I made pesto using goat ricotta cheese and topped the tart with zucchini. Once you choose your favorite flavorings, you can come up with your own combinations for the pesto sauce, cheeses and vegetables.

Zucchini is a relatively easy vegetable to plant from seeds. My husband Lulu's uncle grew humongous 18-inch zucchini in his garden. Ratatouille would have been a great way to make great use of the veggie but I really wanted to showcase the size of the slices in a tart.

Zucchini with Parmesan and Croutons

I love zucchini. It’s so easy to cook, which is nice in the summer when I want to minimize my time in the kitchen. The one issue to keep in mind though is that zucchini tends to become watery as it softens, so to counteract this I added bread croutons to soak up all the juicy flavors. I learned that trick from Emily, Lulu’s friend.

I used leftover masala tandoori naans for the croutons and flavored the dish with Herbes de Provence, lemon zest and Parmesan for added natural saltiness. This vegetable side dish pairs wonderfully with roasted duck (my favorite meat) or chicken.

Beef Pasta Sauce Recipe

Making delicious pasta is fairly easy; however it requires a few little tricks to ensure that the dish always turns beautifully. The pasta sauce is one of the key components. Today, I used ground beef, fresh ripe tomatoes, grilled zucchini, eggplant, Portobello mushrooms, a sprinkle of Parmesan cheese and fresh oregano. I bound all the ingredients together using pasta water.

This pasta dish is unpretentious, tasty and oh so simple.

Vietnamese Oyster Sauce Beef Recipe (Thit Bo Xao)

Dưa leo xào thịt bò ("beef stir fry with cucumber" in Vietnamese) is really tasty because the meat is so tender it melts in your mouth. The beef stir fry sauce is both sweet and savory; I combined oyster sauce, hoisin sauce and caramelized onions.

It's not the prettiest but it's perfect for a quick and easy meal. I used filet mignon that I sliced paper-thin. I don't cook often with cucumber but in this case, it added crunch to the dish. I also added zucchini, green onions and cilantro. You can serve the dish with bún (vermicelli rice noodles), but for me, nothing can beat beef stir fry with rice. Just add đô chua condiment (pickled carrots and daikon) and you'll have a complete, balanced meal in no time.

Note: Glossary of relevant Vietnamese cooking terms.

Bò = beef

Xào = stir fry

Cơm = rice

Dưa leo = cucumber

Thịt = meat