Crispy Plantain Tacos

Ingredients
2 garlic cloves
6 oz. tomatillos
1 poblano pepper
1 lime
¼ oz. parsley
1 apricot or peach
1 red Fresno chile
1 plantain
1 red onion
6 oz. curly kale
6 whole wheat tortillas
2 tbsp. vegan sour cream
1 tbsp. + 1 tsp. vegetable oil
Salt and pepper

Directions
Preheat the oven to 300°F for the tortillas. Peel the garlic. Remove husks from the tomatillos, and rinse and halve the fruit. Destem, deseed, and chop the poblano pepper. Halve and juice the lime. Roughly chop parsley leaves and stems. Remove pit from the apricot or peach and dice. Trim, deseed, and thinly slice the red Fresno chile. Peel plantain and cut into ½ inch thick slices. Peel, halve, and thinly slice red onion. Destem curly kale and roughly chop the leaves.

Add the peeled garlic, halved tomatillos, chopped poblano pepper, just half the lime juice, chopped parsley, and ½ tsp. salt to a blender. Blend the fiery green sauce until smooth. Taste, and add salt as necessary.

Add the remaining lime juice, diced apricot or peach, thinly sliced red Fresno chile, and a pinch of salt and pepper to a medium bowl. Stir the apricot salsa. Taste, and add salt and pepper as necessary.

Heat 1 tbsp. vegetable oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add sliced plantain and a pinch of salt and pepper. Cook until lightly browned, 3 to 4 minutes per side. Transfer the crispy plantain to a large plate.

Wrap the whole wheat tortillas in foil and place in the oven until warmed through, 4 to 5 minutes. Return skillet to high heat with 1 tsp. vegetable oil. Add sliced red onion and a pinch of salt and cook until lightly charred, 3 to 5 minutes. Lower heat to medium-high and add chopped curly kale and a pinch of salt and pepper. Cook until kale is bright green, 3 to 5 minutes.

Divide the warm whole wheat tortillas between plates. Add charred red onion and kale, crispy plantain, and apricot salsa. Top the crispy plantain tacos with fiery green sauce and a dollop of sour cream.

Serves 2

Watermelon Poke

Ingredients
3 lbs. seedless watermelon, cut into 1/2-inch cubes
1/2 c. unseasoned rice vinegar
1/4 c. toasted sesame oil
3 tbsp. soy sauce
2 tbsp. fresh lime juice
2 tbsp. tahini
1 tbsp. agave nectar or honey
1 tbsp. ume plum vinegar (optional)
Kosher salt
2 scallions, white and pale-green parts only, sliced thinly
1 c. cilantro leaves, with tender stems

Directions
Place watermelon in a large resealable plastic bag. Puree rice vinegar, oil, soy sauce, lime juice, tahini, agave nectar or honey, and plum vinegar in a blender until smooth. Pour watermelon, seal bag, and chill at least 4 hours and up to 1 day.

Heat a large skillet over medium. Remove watermelon from marinade; set marinade aside. Cook watermelon, tossing often, until lightly caramelized and dried out, 6 to 8 minutes.

Meanwhile, bring reserved marinade to a boil in a small saucepan. Reduce heat; simmer until thickened to the consistency of heavy cream, 12 to 15 minutes.

Chill watermelon and sauce separately at least 1 hour. To serve, toss watermelon with sauce; taste and season with salt as needed. Top with scallions and cilantro.

Do Ahead: Watermelon and sauce can be made 12 hours ahead. Keep chilled.

Serves 8 as an appetizer or side dish.

Approximately 120 calories per serving.

Pineapple Bread Pudding

Something special for the sweet tooth at dinner time, this pineapple bread pudding is an excellent accompaniment to ham!

Ingredients

8 slices bread, cubed
1 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. nutmeg
2-15 oz. cans crushed pineapple
3/4 c. brown sugar
1/2 c. butter, melted
4 eggs, beaten
1 tbsp. vanilla

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Combine bread, cinnamon and nutmeg. Stir in pineapple. Spoon into greased 12x8 casserole dish. Whisk together sugar, butter, eggs and vanilla. Pour over bread. Bake for 40 to 45 minutes.

Butter Cookies ("Thumbprints")

Ingredients

1 lb. butter
1 c. sugar
1 egg
1 tsp. vanilla
4 c. flour

Directions
Cream sugar, butter, egg and vanilla. Slowly add the flour. Form into cookies and bake on 350 degrees for 15 to 20 minutes on an ungreased cookie sheet. For thumbprints, press your thumb into the formed cookies before baking and drop in a teaspoon of preserves.

Fruit Pizza

Ingredients
1 pkg. sugar cookie dough
8 oz. pkg. cream cheese
4 oz. Cool Whip
1/2 c. confectioners sugar
Mixture of fruit, including strawberries, mandarin oranges, kiwi and blueberries
Glaze:
1/2 c. water
2 tbsp. corn starch
1/2 c. sugar
2 tbsp. lemon
1/2 c. orange juice

Directions

Bake one package of sugar cookie dough in a pizza pan at 350 degrees for 15 minutes. Cool.
Blend cream cheese, cool whip and confectioners sugar. Spread over cooled cookie. Place sliced fruit on the pizza.

To make the glaze, boil ingredients for one minute and then cool. Spread a thin layer of glaze over the fruit. Refrigerate and slice like a pizza for serving.

Mango & Tomato Salad

An adaptation from one of the Moosewood cookbooks, this is a light summer salad, perfect served alongside grilled veggie burgers.

Ingredients
2 c. fresh mango, diced
2 c. tomatoes, chopped
2 tbsp. olive oil
1 tbsp. red wine vinegar
2 tbsp. mint, finely chopped
1/3 c. scallions, finely chopped
1/4 tsp. salt
Freshly ground black pepper, to taste

Directions
Toss together all of the ingredients in a bowl. Set aside for 10 minutes before serving to allow flavors to meld. Serves 4 as a side dish.

NOTE: You can use any fresh fruit, so choose something in season! Also, try substituting Thai basil or cilantro for the mint.

Mango Salsa

This salsa is super easy and always gets rave reviews. Offering a fruit-based salsa, a guacamole and a traditional tomato-based salsa makes a very colorful spread for summer parties on the deck. Best accompanied by mojitos and margaritas!

Ingredients
1 mango, diced
1 red bell pepper, diced
1/2 red onion, diced
2 tbsp. honey
1/4 cup apple cider vinegar
crushed red pepper flakes, to taste

Directions
Toss ingredients for a chunky salsa, or pulse each ingredient lightly (don't puree!) in Chef Tony's Ultimate Chopper (or a regular food processor) separately and then combine for a more cohesive salsa.

Fruit Dip

Ingredients
1-8 oz. pkg. cream cheese
1 container Cool Whip
1/2 cup confectioners' sugar
1 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. vanilla

Directions
Soften cream cheese at room temperature for 4-5 hours. Whip in sugar, vanilla, cinnamon and Cool Whip. Serve with fresh fruit.

Sisters' Cafe Peach Appetizer

One of the Compters' jersey shore favorites... While the restaurant in Spring Lake, NJ is now closed, the sisters who owned the restaurant offered this fantastic late summer favorite every August. I've been known to turn it into a spinach salad as well, but it never fails to impress as an appetizer.

Ingredients
fresh baby spinach
peaches
crumbled gorgonzola
chopped walnuts
balsamic glaze

Directions
Blanch peaches in boiling water for 1 to 1 1/2 minutes and then immediately plunge into cold water. At this point, the skins should peel pretty easily. Once peeled, split the peaches lengthwise and remove the pit. Mix gorgonzola and walnuts into a paste and spoon into peach halves. Bake on a pie sheet at 400 degrees for 30 minutes (or until gorgonzola mixture turns golden brown). Dribble balsamic gaze across peaches and serve on a bed of spinach.