Non-Traditional Summer Foods Turned On Their Tuchus

Chef Rossi’s, “Kvetching and Kooking Kolumn” is back again – this time with non traditional summer fare that she brilliantly turns summer entertaining ready;

Asparagus can be the star of the show not just a measly side dish. Who eats wild rice in the summer? You do dears, when it’s part of a gorgeous wild rice summer salad. For a great passed hors d’oeuvre. Take your fave frozen vegan ravioli and transform St. Louis style. The following recipes will get you in the mood;

Grill the ‘gus

Grilled asparagus is about as close to sex as you can get , without actually having sex of course. Wash and trim your ‘gus. Trim off a couple inches from the bottom or just bend them at the bottom and see what snaps off.

Toss in olive oil, kosher salt (or sea salt) and fresh ground pepper. Grill over medium to high heat for a few minutes on each side or until well marked. Serve hot or cold. If you don’t have a grill, just roast them instead! A 400 degree oven for 10 minutes or so and you are golden!

Wild rice summer salad

Boil one coffee cup of wild rice in two coffee cups of water. One the water comes to a boil, reduce to simmer and cook 40 minutes. Cook with the pot covered dears. Or you can just follow the two-inch rule. Wash your rice, put in a pot and pour water two inches over the rice, then bring to a boil and simmer as above. Meanwhile back at the ranch, make a dressing out of one plop of maple syrup, a plop of Dijon mustard, a shot of white balsamic vinegar, a shot of fresh squeezed orange juice, three shots of olive oil, a plop of minced garlic and salt and pepper to taste. Drain your rice and dump into a big bowl. Throw in a heaping handful of sundried cranberries, diced onion, diced celery and the dressing and mix well. Adjust your salt and pepper to your liking and top with lots of fresh parsley. This is also killer with chopped nuts (almost any kind,) and raisins.

Veganized- St. Louis Ravioli

Buy your favorite vegan ravioli and defrost. The Soy Boy brand is pretty good, but our favorite is the Org anic Butternut Squash Ravioli from Rising Moon Organics. This is by no means a low-fat recipe, but it sure is tasty!

Now then the original recipe calls for dipping these in a milk and egg goop, then rolling in seasoned breadcrumbs and frying, but you can dip in a mixture of plain soymilk or rice milk mixed with vegan egg-replacer and then roll in breadcrumbs, even skip the egg-replacer and it works – or you can just try a super simple way of dipping ravioli in water then in seasoned breadcrumbs. The point is get them wet and sticky and then roll in the bread crumbs. However you decide to dunk, you’ll want to get your oil fry hot, that’s medium to high hot but not smoking. You will want that oil at least two inches deep. So use a deep skillet. A wok is great. Deep fry until golden and then stick with skewers or tooth picks and serve with hot marinara sauce for dipping. This is a great passed hors d’oeuvres for a cocktail party. Folks really do go mental for this one!

Rossi aka Chef Rossi Rossi- yes she only has one name- has been a writer for many publications, such as “The Daily News,” “Time Out New York” and “Mcsweeney’s” to name a few. She is the writer of the “Eat Me” column for “Bust” magazine and hosts her own hit radio show on WOMR and WFMR in Cape Cod called “Bite This”, now going into its 8th season. She has been featured on “The Food Network” and “NPR” and has just completed her first edible memoir “The Devil and Mrs. Goldstein!” As the owner and executive chef of “The Raging Skillet” a cutting-edge catering company known for breaking any and all rules, she has earned a reputation as the one to call when it’s time to do something different. www.rossirant.com www.theragingskillet.com