Summer Nostalgia

One of my summer food goals was to make something that G and I remembered from our childhoods.

For G's nostalgic summer dish, I summoned a whole meal from the way back machine.  I made a summer supper straight from Syracuse, NY.  

Grilled steak, corn on the cob, and salt potatoes.

I always love corn season because G loves it so much.  His eyes light up when I ask him to shuck some ears.  Once I take the steaming hot corn out of the pot, he's right there ready with salt and butter.  Then he goes to town.

Years ago, on my first trip to Syracuse while dating G, his family introduced me to salt potatoes.  I'd never heard of this.  It turns out central New York has a history of salt production, the area was loaded with salt springs.  In the 1800's Irish salt miners would bring potatoes for their lunches and boil them in salt brine.

If you go to the grocery store in Syracuse, bags of baby white potatoes are sold with a salt pack included.  Oh, and they must be baby white potatoes, as G advised me before I left for the grocery store.

For my summer throwback recipe, I chose to make broccoli salad.  I remember my mom making this and bringing it to potlucks or picnics.  

First of all, I've always admired a dish called a salad that is decidedly not healthy.  Is that a Midwestern thing?  I feel like there's a whole category of recipes that have the audacity to call themselves salad while being highly caloric or laden with sugar or both.  Your potato salad or macaroni salad.  Your seven layer salad.

The broccoli salad is comprised of yes, that cruciferous vegetable, but also, cheese, bacon, mayonnaise.  A trio of ingredients that scream for a dose of statins.

I think I like it because of the textures.  The blanched, tender broccoli that still has a bite.  The chewy dried cranberries.  The nuttiness added by the sunflower seeds.  The sharp bite of the diced red onion.  And of course, the cheese, the bacon, and the mayo dressing.

Summer Tomatoes

G loves tomatoes.  He's one of those people who will grab one and bite into it like an apple.

I have a lifelong love of ketchup and marinara sauce, but it took a long time for me to appreciate tomatoes.  I think my gateway was this:

This time of year, it's always Caprese o'clock.

Besides throwing tomatoes into my gazpacho this summer and pairing tomatoes with the classic combo of mozzarella and basil, I made a tomato gratin that garnered applause and made its way into the summer recipe rotation.

Summer Goals Achieved!

I've never been a huge fan of cold soups.  But I live in Florida now.  I want to have lunch options in the dog days of summer that 1) don't involve heat from the oven or stovetop and 2) are icy cold.  (I'm choosing not to talk about the fact that I might be experiencing some temperature fluctuations due to my stage of womanhood.)

I studied a few gazpacho recipes and decided to try one.  I loaded up my blender with tomatoes, watermelon, cucumbers, jalapeno, red onion, basil, some sherry vinegar and crossed my fingers.

I loved it!  I added a bit more jalapeno for some heat and topped it with diced cucumber and more basil.  It was summer in a bowl and so refreshing for someone who desperately needed a cool down.

Speaking of basil, I bought a few bouquets of it and made big batches of pesto this summer.  I loved being able dip into it whenever I needed to pep up a dish.  I drizzled it on my morning eggs.  I stirred it into my lunchtime orzo along with some peas and parmesan.  I dropped it by the spoonful on pizza and tossed it with green beans or spinach.

Yes, two photos of pesto.  It just makes me so happy.  I'm going to have to make more after I finish writing this post.

Another new dish I tried was a stovetop shrimp boil.  All I had to buy was the shrimp.  Cobs of corn are a given in the summertime and I always have potatoes, lemons, garlic, and Old Bay on hand.  This version of a shrimp boil was a one pot meal with easy prep that we devoured.

I halved the shrimp boil recipe in case it didn't work or we didn't love it, so I had more shrimp for another dinner.  I cooked a few pieces of bacon in a skillet, added corn kernels straight from the cob, a tiny bit of jalapeno pepper, and the shrimp.  I garnished it with basil and scallions.  Another big hit!

Summer Food Goals

Does anyone else get summer fever at the supermarket this time of year?

I admire the photos my gardening friends share on social media.  June, July, August, they proudly share the bounty they've grown in their backyards or in community gardens.

When I had a yard, the most I could manage was herbs.  Born without a green thumb, I was fiercely proud of those herbs.  During the Michigan summers and falls, I could grab my kitchen shears and walk outside to gather fresh herbs for breakfast, lunch, and dinner.  In October, I'd try to harvest sage, rosemary, and thyme to use at Thanksgiving, just in case an early frost decided to land.

My culinary life bloomed in Michigan.  That's where I met and married G.  My mom lived an hour away on five acres of land.  For the first time in her life, she had raised bed gardens where she grew tomatoes, peppers, lettuces.  Those lettuces!  I'd never seen so many different kinds.  That was my favorite crop to to collect and take home with me.  I loved the tender leaves of oakleaf and red sails, the different colors of loose leaf baby lettuce.  All of a sudden, my salads had character!  Mom even grew kohlrabi, a vegetable that's still kind of a mystery to me now.

In Michigan, I started taking cooking classes.  I earned my culinary degree and worked at a farm-to-table kitchen.  Visiting farmers' markets became a frequent pastime.

We moved to San Francisco where I was lucky to be able to walk to the farmers' market at the Ferry Building on Saturday's.  I volunteered there and helped pick and prep vegetables and herbs for cooking demos.  After my work was done, I'd visit the stalls to do some grocery shopping and pick a pastry for my walk home by the bay.

The farmers' markets in Chicago were small, but mighty.  Now that I think about it, I could walk to the markets there too.  Was that a subconscious prerequisite for choosing a neighborhood?  The Chicago markets had excellent produce, a lot of it grown in Michigan, a stand or two with donuts or artisan bread, and great coffee.

Nowadays, I find my summer produce at the grocery store.  I'm still learning the in's and out's of Florida farmers' markets.  I look forward to the dishes that have become tradition in the summer months.  I have my usual stand-by's.  A stellar BLT when tomatoes arrive.  Daily Caprese salads when tomatoes arrive.  Summer fruit for ice cream and homemade popsicles.

Drum roll, please for this year's summer food goals:

• Attempt gazpacho.
• Make copious amounts of pesto.
• Try a stovetop shrimp boil.
• Choose something nostalgic to make from our childhoods.
• Use tomatoes galore!

Break out the Grill

We had some chicken breasts in the fridge and a hankering for barbecue so we uncovered the hibernating grill and fired it up.

We seasoned the chicken breasts with salt and pepper and basted them with our house sauce, Dinosaur BBQ sauce from G's hometown of Syracuse, NY.  Simple as that.  We finished off the meal with some roasted green beans and mashed potatoes.

Welcome back, grill!  Pretty soon you'll be my BFF again.  I think some flank steak might be in your future.

Farmers' Market Bounty

So I've been having a blast with my farmers' market bounty.  I made fried green tomatoes for the first time.  I dipped them in buttermilk, then in cornmeal and flour seasoned with garlic powder and cayenne pepper.  I don't fry much food, but I do make exceptions.  When I served the tomatoes, I squeezed some lemon juice and drizzled hot sauce on them.  What a tasty summer snack.

Next up, I made a green chile sauce.  I roasted poblano peppers, grilled an onion, and then pureed them with fresh oregano, garlic, honey, salt and pepper, and a splash of water (recipe courtesy of Bobby Flay).

I made a potato salad with the fingerling potatoes.  Once I simmered them and cooled them down, I tossed them with cider vinegar, salt and pepper, and then made a quick dressing of olive oil, more cider vinegar, garlic, shallot, and a bunch of fresh herbs.

So tonight's dinner will consist of green chile cheeseburgers (on the grill, of course), potato salad, and a TBD vegetable.

Summer Desserts

I've always read that successful dishes depend on the best seasonal ingredients. For instance, asparagus, a spring vegetable, isn't the best choice for a vegetable side dish in the dead of winter. Berries in February? They probably won't be the star of the show. This summer I've been taking advantage of these foodie guidelines. I try to go to the local farmers' market once a week. Without a shopping list, I just peruse and see what looks the best and fill up my bag. Lately, I've been using fresh fruit for easy-to-throw-together desserts. Beautiful plums, bright red raspberries, juicy peaches, and tart blueberries have found their way into crumbles and tarts. I have this thing about tarts. I do make my own crusts and I love tarts in any shape, form...sweet, savory...I just love them. For a quick treat though, I also love rustic tarts, or crostatas in Italian. Crostatas are super easy to make. I made an apple one last fall for my mom and stepdad. My mom asked for the recipe and now she makes them all the time. Sometimes I still make my own dough for the crostatas, but when I need a crostata and I need one now, I keep some store bought pie crusts in the freezer. I thaw the crust, heat the oven, and toss some sliced fruit with sugar, maybe a little flour, lemon juice and then pour the mixture into the center of the rolled out crust. I fold over the edges and usually egg wash and sugar the crust so it browns. I get extra oohs and ahhs for that move. Making a crumble is even easier. Toss the fruit with sugar, etc., pour it into a baking dish and top with oats, nuts, brown sugar. Delicious. I've served plum raspberry crumble, plum crostata, peach blueberry crostata. So far, no complaints.