Summer Vegetable Mornay & Giveaway

In case you guys haven’t figured this out already I live in the suburbs on little over half of an acre. What you see pictured here isn’t nearly half of what has come out of my first “real” garden this year. So don’t let anyone ever tell you that you can’t grow a plethora of fantastic veggies on a small plot in the burbs’. Your neighbors might do a double take over the 5 ft corn stalks as they are driving by one day but they will be enthralled none the less.

The only trouble you might run into is how to utilize all of your produce before it goes to waste. I am in the thralls this summer of Re-learning a Simple Life. The life of my grandparents that involved eating seasonally, canning, and preserving what they grew.  It is never to late to learn this simple way of life you know and I am having a blast learning as much as I can and eating fresh from our garden.

For lunch today I was craving some sauteed fresh summer veggies over pasta with a nice delicious creamy sauce. Not quite Alfredo but something close.

My choice of sauce will probably come as no surprise to some of you seeing as how most of ya’ll know I am addicted to all things cheesy. I hear the snickers and giggles out there. Don’t you guys say it…not one peep :) Mornay sauce is very similar to Alfredo sauce. Both are made with Parmesan cheese but with a Mornay sauce you add Gruyere as well…drool.  Here’s a little trivia for you this sauce has been around since the Second Empire in France. It was especially enjoyed at the infamous Restaurant Durand during that time.

Here is what you will need for my Summer Vegetable Mornay.

Veggies & Pasta

1 green bell pepper

1 small zucchini

1 small cucumber

1 small yellow squash

1 small eggplant

2 ears of corn

1 can of  Del Monte Lima Beans

1 small shallot

1 tblsp extra virgin olive oil

1 small tomato for garnish

salt and pepper to taste

1 box of De Cecco Farfalline

Prep Work:

Boil the Farfalline until el dente and set aside.

Dice the bell pepper, squash and cucumber. Slice the zucchini lengthwise and into approx. 1in pieces.  Cut the eggplant into rounds (if it is the skinny variety) otherwise dice cut it. Remove the corn from the cobs. Finely dice the shallot.

Warm the extra virgin olive oil in a skillet over medium high heat. Add all of the prepped veggies including the lima beans into the skillet and saute for approx. 10 minutes. You want the veggies cooked through until just tender yet still firm.

Mornay Sauce

2 cups Bechamel Sauce (see below)

1/3 cup Gruyere cheese

1/3 cup Parmesan cheese

In a sauce pot over medium heat add the grated Gruyere cheese and grated Parmesan cheese to the already heated medium Bechamel sauce. Stir together until the cheese has melted. Serve over vegetables,fish or poultry.

Bechamel Sauce-Medium

2 tblsp butter

2 tblsp flour

1 cup milk

1 small onion, minced (optional)

salt and cayenne or white pepper

Over medium heat melt the butter and, if using onion, stew until soft but not brown. Add the flour and cook, stirring for approx. 3 minutes. Heat the milk and add, stirring until thick and smooth. Season to taste. Cook gently for 5 minutes. Strain before using. Makes 1 cup *Double the recipe for Mornay Sauce*

Plate the pasta into a lovely large serving dish, cover with the beautiful fresh sauteed veggies, add diced tomato and drizzle with creamy Mornay Sauce.

Okay right about now I have the biggest grin plastered on my face only ya’ll can’t see it.  Mornay Sauce is one of the easiest yummy sauces to make. Yep, I was TICKLED for sure this afternoon. Not to mention the uber picky monkeys liked it…once I removed a few of the veggies of course, sigh.

I hope that you give it a try, you won’t regret it.

_____________________________________________________________

Another bonus this evening is that CSN Stores.com is working with us again for this Monday is Giving Giveaway. If you weren’t here for the last time that they were a part of our giveaway let me tell you a little bit about them. CSN Stores.com has over 200 different stores to choose from and over 1 million items, including beautiful dining room tables, accessories and cookware! They offer competitive pricing on many name brands that you can’t find with other retail online stores. They are one of the top 3 online U.S. retailers of home and office goods!

Also if you would like a look at how the owner and his wife have created a wonderfully creative and beautiful home utilizing products from CSN Stores.com check out the latest issue of Better Homes and Gardens. You will also find along with the article a product code coupon that you can use at CSN Stores.com

This week we are giving away a 3.5 quart Le Creuset Stoneware Oval serving bowl in Caribbean Blue. That way when you make a large amount of delicious fresh veggies with pasta you will have a lovely serving bowl to hold all of your scrumptious yummies.

Just let me know what you would love to fill the bowl with :)

I am off to bed now because this post has run into the wee hours of the morning. Disrupted schedules… one of the many perks with being part of a swim team. Tonight we had relay’s between all of the different teams in our area.

I can’t wait to hear about some of your favorite dishes. Good Night or actually Good Morning Ya’ll,

Tickled Red

___________________________________________________________________

Comment on THIS post by 11:59 pm PST July 2nd.

1 random winner will be announced by midnight July 3rd. I will notify you by email and you will have 72 hours to respond before I have to choose a new winner.

If you live outside of the US , I want you to participate but we will need to split the shipping, them’s the breaks my pals.

Extra Entries: There is also a chance of getting a total of 4 entries by doing the following.

Tweet about this giveaway. Include @iamtickledred and a link to the giveaway in your tweet. Leave the link to your Twitter post in a comment on the post.

Subscribe to Tickled Red either by email or RSS reader. New Subscribers only.

Become a fan of Tickled Red on Facebook.

Easy Peasy!

1. Comment

2. Tweet

3. Subscribe

4. Fan of FB

Please remember to leave a separate comment for each of your entries letting me know. Be sure to leave your name and email address as well.

Tagged as: CSN Stores.com, De Cecco, Del Monte, Le Creuset, Monday is Giving, Mornay Sauce