Pink of Perfection

There’s a spot in the Poconos that I think I would rate as one of my top five places on earth. Ferns cover the forest floor. The ceiling fans whir powerfully on hot days. There is a library stocked with Julia Child cookbooks and mysteries, a cool lake beckons for afternoon dips, and a million and one stars come out at night. On walks in the woods there, I always seem to have my favorite kind of conversations filled with big dreams and possibilities, birch trees and mushrooms bearing witness to grand plans.

But what do you do when you’re responsible for dinner on the first night of a weekend away, and plan to carry a picnic across state lines? Why, you bring a sandwich that gets better with sitting! And what do you do if you’re feeding vegans and omnivores alike? Well, you get creative!

The classic pan bagnat, in some ways like a niçoise salad tucked inside bread, has canned tuna or hard-cooked eggs. With vegans present, I made two versions: one with tuna, and one with mashed chickpeas. The entire sandwich is brushed or drizzled with a garlicky vinaigrette, and then tightly wrapped, placed in your picnic basked and smooshed down with something heavy like a couple bottles of wine. With deviled eggs, baby carrots, a mess of cherries and root beer floats for dessert, you might call this a perfect summer meal.

Continue reading “French Friday: Pan Bagnat, Tuna and Vegan” »

I’ve been a bad blogger lately, and I’m feeling pretty guilty about it. Usually I’m brimming over with ideas and recipes and things we have to talk about right now, but lately, maybe it’s midsummer malaise, I’ve got nothing.  We’ve been eating tomato sandwiches for dinner every night at my house, and I’ve been watching reality television in front of the air-conditioner. Last week especially, I had that unmistakable feeling of burn out: you just want to zone out until something fills you up.

And here’s what I’ve learned: Seriously, the Real Housewives are almost as good as therapy. When you are caught up in the crazy ass drama of wackadoos, there’s is literally no brain space left for you to worry about your future, your dirty laundry, or your love life. There’s something remarkably freeing about that.

So that’s what I’ve been up to these last several quiet days. I’ve been trying to fill up what feels like an empty cup. And I’ve been making lots and lots of sandwiches, which, as far as I’m concerned just might be the perfect summer supper. At first I hesitated to share these ideas with you, but then I thought, what the heck? You probably feel like slapping some mayo on some bread and calling it dinner every now and then, too. And to that I say: Girl, I feel you.

Continue reading “10 Super Fast Summer Sandwiches” »

I’m really glad I wrote that post about all the great things about summer, because today, I sorely need a reminder. It is sweltering. I just saw a woman drive by with a wet towel draped over her head, and I myself would like to go lie in a bathtub filled with cool water. I can’t write. I can’t concentrate. I am on a rotating circuit of neighborhood coffee shops seeking out the best air conditioning. So far, the search has been somewhat fruitless.

I recently took a quiz to determine my dosha, and it turns out I am not suited to humid climates. I didn’t exactly need Ayurveda to tell me this, but it’s nice to have my suspicions confirmed. I am very seriously considering moving permanently to a swimming pool. Just forward my mail.

Anyway, all I am interested in eating is frozen yogurt and smoothies, washed down with cold beer and iced coffee. But when I go back to solid food, I’ll turn back to this simple, crazy good meal. I like this recipe because it’s really just a template: use whatever fish, use whatever vegetable. Grill them. Serve them with a rich sauce. It’s like the quickest, easiest summer supper in the world.

Continue reading “Grilled Fish and Zucchini with Herb Aïoli” »

I am floating on a cloud of farmer’s market bliss. Last week I fell in love with garlic scapes––so spicy, so alien-looking!––and this week I swooned over a pint of raspberries so tender and sweet, I ate them with a spoon straight from the stained green cardboard. In the past I’ve been cautiously drawn to the familiar. But this year, I am striking out. What, pray tell, is red mustard? (It’s a kicky green that’s wonderful in stir-fries.) There’s a whole world of exploration to be done under those white plastic tents standing brightly in the middle of a concrete city at the intersection of Broadway and 14th Street.

But that poetical waxing is neither here nor there, as the recipe I’m about to tell you about has no exotic ingredients. In fact, you likely have everything you need for this dinner in the pantry. Which, as far as I’m concerned, makes it a shoe-in for dinner tonight. It doesn’t hurt, of course, that for those nights when you need a bowl of pasta for dinner––and I know you know what I mean––this supper fits the bill. With the front door closed on the unpredictable and tiresome indignities of the world out there, the salve to the cruelties of the day is this rich, nutty pesto, vibrantly green and alive with garlic, tossed with a tangle of noodles. We may now consider ourselves fortified for whatever lays ahead tomorrow.

Continue reading “Pea, Parsley and Walnut Pesto” »

I wish you could have seen me the day I made this tart. I felt like I was auditioning for a Martha Stewart Living picnic feature, but with glaring (and decidedly un-Martha) Sarah-isms: my tupperware was leaking, the napkins didn’t match, and I forgot the salad dressing. While Martha may have you feeling inadequate if you don’t print out templates to label everyone’s mason jar lemonade glass, with me as your guide, you will feel like the Queen of Togetherness if you just remember the cutlery. Perhaps it is only my way of justifying my own inadequacies, but I find the thrown-together, fly-by-night approach less precious and infinitely more charming.

Salad dressing and damp mismatched napkins aside, you can’t take away the raw materials I had to my advantage for this evening picnic: a community garden lush with hosta, roses, and vegetables, a small wooden gazebo to sit under, and at dusk, the brightest lightning bugs I’ve ever seen. Wedges of this rich tart still warm from the oven and Lillet spritzers weren’t too shabby either. And for dessert, Lisa brought a pint of blueberries and the lightest macaroons I’ve ever tasted (like Samoas for grown-ups, I said). Tuesday nights really don’t get much better.

I’ve been wanting to make pissaladière, a Provencal onion tart, for awhile, but it wasn’t until my Grand Diplôme Book 8 lesson on savory tarts popped up that I knew the hour was nigh. Even the anchovy-phobic might be able to appreciate the counterpart the little fishes play to the sweet pile of thyme-scented caramelized onions underneath them. Later on in the summer, I think this would make a great picnic on a very hot day with hard-boiled eggs and a sliced tomato salad.

Here’s hoping you all have a blissful, relaxing weekend perhaps including your inaugural glass of rosé for the season (I think I just might!).

Continue reading “French Friday: Pissaladière” »

I’ve spent my adult life thinking I didn’t like barley. Turns out, what turned me off were the bloated, mushy pearls in soup. But as a grain cooked to delicate, chewy perfection, I’ve discovered I’m a big, big fan. In fact, I’ve been eating it all week with my farmer’s market stir-fries instead of rice.

You’ve got to have a killer air-conditioner or an unseasonably cool day on your hands to want to make risotto in June, I realize, and I certainly wouldn’t advise standing over a hot pot on a humid day. But I made this a few weeks ago when I had a basically bare pantry, and despite the not-so-delicious looking picture, this was a total success. I don’t think I’ll go back to making classic risotto unless it’s for a special occasion, and I’m definitely ditching the time-sucking brown rice attempt. Barley risotto it is from now on!

One more thing: this recipe kind of falls into no-brainer territory. It’s warm and comforting and soothing, and I find it’s nice to have those basic recipes on hand for the days we’re feeling uninspired about dinner, or you spent the afternoon at the public pool and return home with that feeling of bone-weary exhaustion and a cool core temperature. Don’t you love that feeling? And more than any other supper prep that comes to mind, perhaps with the exception of chopping onions, risotto-making is therapeutic, for those days when you can’t handle the high energy action of flipping this and searing that or watching the broiler like a hawk lest something burst into flames. This is for those slower days when your brain’s not firing on all cylinders and you can just manage stirring.

Continue reading “$5 Dinner: Tomato and Parmesan Barley Risotto” »

Oh yo, oh yo, catch this:¹ This is, without a doubt, one of my very favorite things that has ever come out of my own kitchen. It is also very, very possible that is one of my favorite things that I have ever eaten, ever, from my humble hands or the hands of far more talented cooks on this or other continents. Did I mention, ever?

To be honest, I didn’t think it would turn out this way. I sort of skimmed the recipe and thought, “Oh, scallops are on sale this week. What a quick, elegant way to use them. How easy is that?” I like to talk to myself like the Barefoot Contessa when I’m looking at her recipes. It passes the time.

Thing is, when it comes to Food Network personalities, Paula Deen gets all the credit as the butter-lover. But Ina — however more discretely she is at work — deserves to share that crown. While Paula gets her rocks off calling attention to the butter, y’all, Ina rarely acknowledges what she’s plopping into a mixing bowl. So, unless you’ve got a hawk eye for such things or high cholesterol, you might not even notice the many, many tablespoons of butter she puts in everything. And what of it, really? Butter is delicious; fat tastes good. Would Julia bat an eye? I think not.

Even so, I fell prey to Ina’s slight of hand. Because when I was still under the delusion that this might be a moderately healthy dinner, I was measuring out the butter and then adding olive oil and — I’d been had!

So I made a rich, unhealthy, succulently luscious dinner by accident on a random weeknight. And you know what? It was one of the crowing glories of my culinary life. This is what I want to eat on my deathbed, or when someone is trying to seduce me, or when a heartbroken friend comes over for dinner. This is the food that reaffirms your faith in the act and effort of living.

The freshest seafood can taste of life and the sea itself. This dish combines the best of the watery depths with butter, olive oil, and white wine. Together, these four culminate in some sort of new and profound creation of deliciousness. I hardly understand it myself. But add a fleck of parsley, salty prosciutto, bright lemon juice, and the toasted crunch of panko, and you are looking at a dinner of such deep and abiding pleasures, I myself am beginning to blush.

Is there anything more to say than: make this?

Continue reading “French Friday: Scallop Gratin” »

Have you ever cooked a radish? I certainly hadn’t. I know radishes two ways: 1) in the especially terrifying telling of Rapunzel by Fairie Tale Theater, and 2) more delightfully, rubbed with a dab of soft butter and flaked with sea salt. But when you cook a radish, those sharp, bitter jewels turn soft and mellow. Talk about a quick change.

This recipe and I had a bit of a misunderstanding. I was looking for something light as air, as virtuous as spring, and the perfect antidote to a weekend of over doing it. I suppose I was tricked by all those green vegetables listed in the ingredients. But this recipe is a little deceptive (or not, if you, unlike me, read closely). Who knew vegetables could be so freaking rich? I little bit of butter and a grating of Parmesan cheese makes this dinner far from spartan; this is vegetables at their most luscious.

I’m thinking there’s even room for improvement with some fava beans, don’t you think? Speaking of, I’ve been eyeing the favas at the market and wondering how best to make use of them. Any favorite fava recipes out there you care to share?

Continue reading “Spring Vegetable Ragout” »