If you’re like me, you’ve been cooking more in the last few months, maybe more than ever. (So many filthy dishes!) With the heyday of farmers markets and the time it invites us to leave, I find myself looking for recipes that have a tendency towards the macha sauce of chef Traci Des Jardins, which adds a smoky flavor to almost everything, or the cheesecake with blueberries by Andrae Bopp. You’ll find those recipes and 39 other new summer recipes in our August edition. Before we begin, I invite you to start with a taste of five caregivers from my own summer kitchen. Refine them however you want. Store them in jars in the refrigerator to cause an impulsive dinner, or take them to a refrigerator wherever you are on your culinary adventures.
This lazy pumpkin in your kitchen isn’t going to cook itself. Grate it into the giant holes of a box grater and cook it in a seasoning for use on pizza, sandwiches or toast. To turn it into a pasta sauce, load the pasta and liquid to cook grated Parmesan cheese into the pan.
Sauté four chopped garlic cloves and 1 finely chopped small onion into 1/4 cup olive oil. Add a pinch of crushed red pepper and four small shredded zucchini (about 2 pounds). Season generously with kosher salt. Cook, stirring occasionally, until squash is soft. Add 1 tablespoon red wine vinegar, fish sauce, butter and chopped herbs. Refrigerate for up to four days.
Melt the cherry tomatoes with herbs and wine, then in butter and bloodless herbs, create a rustic sauce to pour over the grilled fish or with pasta or cooked rice.
Sauté 1 finely chopped shallot and 3 minced garlic cloves in 3 tablespoons olive oil. Add a pinch of crushed red pepper and 1 pint cherry tomatoes, halved; simmer until tomatoes begin to soften. Add 1/4 cup white wine (or 2 tablespoons vinegar); cook, mashing from time to time with a spoon, until tomatoes are very soft. Stir in chopped tender herbs and 1/4 cup cubed cold butter until sauce is glossy and loosens a little. Refrigerate up to 6 days.
Mutsuko Soma, the new chef at F-W 2019, encouraged me to this recipe after buying too many green plums on the market. It’s a wonderful way to use all solid, unripe fruit, from peaches to green tomatoes.
Combine an equivalent weight of fruit (mark the back of the fruit to accelerate pickling) and granulated sugar with 1 tablespoon of kosher salt in a jar. Add vinegar (I use Silver Swan or Datu Puti silver cane vinegar; rice vinegar also works). Stir until sugar dissolves. Add purple shiso sheets for the color, if desired. Refrigerate for 3 weeks, stirring every day. To make a drink, use a 4:1 sparkling water ratio to the shrub mixture.
Mayonnaise has powers as a softener and flavor carrier, in this case, a combination of coriander sauce, garlic, chilli, ginger and fish that evokes Southeast Asia. Brush this on bird’s wings or mere ones cooked in hardwoods.
Puree 2 cups loose coriander, 3 garlic cloves, 1 shallot, 1 piece of new peeled ginger (1 inch), 1 new jalapeno pepper without seeds and stems, 0.33 cup mayonnaise, juice of 2 limes, 3 tablespoons of fish sauce and 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt in a blender until smooth. Add birds or fish to bowl; combine to coat. Marinate fish for up to 2 hours; marinate bird for 8 hours.
This is for my friends and family, who continue to text me for my recipe in Summer Caesar. It’s my favorite to traverse the flood of vegetation as I pass through the farmers market house. It is also suitable for chopped and crunchy salads of kale, cabbage or romaine lettuce.
Puree with five anchovy fillets, 2 garlic cloves, juice of 2 lemons, 2 tablespoons mayonnaise, 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil, 1 tablespoon of capers, 2 teaspoons Dijon mustard, 1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper, salt and freshly ground black pepper until soft. Mix 1/4 cup finely packed Parmesan cheese, packed. Refrigerate for up to 7 days.