Pink of Perfection

Tomatoes

• roasted tomato and cheddar bread from pete bakes
• tomato and corn pie from smitten kitchen
• homemade tomato soup from tammy’s recipes
• smoky scallops with fennel and tomato from the kitchn
• stuffed tomatoes from the wednesday chef
• sweet cherry tomato and sausage bake from jamie oliver (thanks, domestikate!)

Zucchini

• roasted zucchini with green onions, feta, and basil from kalyn’s kitchen
• zucchini bread from 101 cookbooks
• chocolate zucchini cake from simply recipes
• zucchini galette from serious eats
• thai curried zucchini fritters from closet cooking
• pasta with goat cheese, zucchini and summer squash from sassy radish

Green Beans

• green beans with walnut miso sauce from bitten
• pomegranate-glazed green beans and portobellos from karina’s kitchen
• green beans and coconut milk sauce from (our) brazilian home to yours
• balsamic-glazed green beans from one hot stove
• brown butter green beans with almonds from andrea’s recipes
• garlic lemon green beans with toasted breadcrumbs from food, and other musings

There is something bittersweet about today. In my part of the world, the morning is overcast and the construction that has been droning away all summer long across the street has taken on a melancholic buzz. As we get the first bracings of fall on the breeze and start to think about coming inside and putting on shoes, this time of year can feel a little nostalgic . But it’s also a cozy time. The idea of turning on the oven starts to sound very appealing.

So too does the idea of hovering over the stove stirring something like this. Granted, it’s not full-blown fall and I’m getting a little ahead of myself and the natural rhythm of things. I just like to be prepared for what’s coming next. It’s the scout in me.

And one thing that makes being prepared a cinch is templates. Don’t you love at the end of recipes where they list a bunch of variations? It makes me feel as if I have a toolbox of recipes, that dinner is only a matter of swapping in and swapping out. This is, in part, why I loved this risotto recipe. Now, while we are smack in the middle of tomatoes and zucchini, this dish is the essence of summer: top with a spoonful of homemade pesto and you’ll be in heaven. But the list of variations means it won’t outlive its usefulness. There’s a season of butternut squash and shiitake mushrooms right around the corner.

Continue reading “Mixed Grain Summer Risotto” »

If you are an adult who cooks for herself, day in and day out, the ultimate comfort may well be when someone else takes over. It feels like such a generous act. And if you are maybe feeling a little vulnerable, a little tired, a little world-weary, a dinner cooked by someone who loves you (or maybe even someone who doesn’t) is just what the doctor ordered.

So when I climbed off a country-bound bus and dropped my weekend bag in my mom’s kitchen, she could have served me Kraft mac and cheese to great applause. But because it is August and her garden is overrun with herbs and tomatoes, she was standing at a kitchen counter piled high with herbs, tomatoes, and cucumbers and putting together this salad in a large, wide wooden bowl.

Our experience of food is so often impacted by a confluence of factors. If we are heartbroken or lovesick, the greatest delights can fall on mute taste buds. But sometimes, timing and mood come together in the right moment and flavors are experienced with a greater than usual sensation. Say, for instance, we are famished and have been living on a diet of cold cereal and tepid spaghetti. Or more often, are simply tired, feeling perhaps a little worse for wear. That’s when the moment and the dish conspire to really amaze us.

I think I had thirds when my mom served this dish to us on that hot night. The creaminess of the vinaigrette, the luscious poached chicken, the bright quintessential summer flavors of tomatoes and fresh herbs: It was exactly the right thing at exactly the right moment.

Weeks later, I think it was the exactly the right thing yet again when I served it on an even hotter night to a gathering of friends in our little apartment. Our air-conditioner was chugging along, and our guests were airing themselves out to the tune of the strawberry-black pepper cocktails and an equally potent concoction of pear juice, champagne, ginger and bourbon they brought in tow (I love overachiever dinner guests!). We had little nibbles of baguette with goat cheese and peach, then little sips of a cold corn soup. And then we moved to the dining room table set directly in front of the air-conditioner for plates of chicken salad, steamed potatoes and salad. I can’t speak for my dinner companions as to the confluence of factors that affected their esteem for the dish, but to me, it was exactly the right thing at the right moment.

Continue reading “Light and Elegant Provençal Chicken Salad” »

The first time was on a sunny, Saturday morning, sitting on a green window seat cushioned with tapestry-covered pillows. The restaurant was at the crossroads of two meandering county highways. The floors creaked. I had an omelet filled with pesto and heirloom tomatoes, but it was the strawberry jam that really had me. I spooned it out of the glass jar and spread it thick on my sourdough toast. It was so sweet, a salve to wounds of other disappointments I had that morning, a bright spot in a teary breakfast.

The next time was the following Saturday, and by then I had a taste and was happier. After browsing a used book store, we settled in to a little table set next to the wall in a little bistro. The walls were painted a pale yellow the overhead fan were whirring wildly, and I feasted on toasted baguette with strawberry jam. For the cool air on a sticky day and the sweet jam, I was in heaven.

The big surprise here is that I always thought of myself as a bigger fan of the orange preserves: marmalade, apricot, peach. But sometimes just what you need presents itself to you, like discovering a cookbook author with the kind of frank, witty voice that makes you swoon, or a glass pot of strawberry jam, ready to sweeten your morning.

Continue reading “Quick Strawberry Jam” »

As I sit typing this, directly in front of a fan with a glass of ice water at my side, it is hard to imagine that the temperature was ever below 90° and that when it was, I made soup. But stranger things have happened and besides: when vegetables are practically sighing under the weight of their own ripeness and there are more of them than you know what to do with, what else is there to do with them. I loved the idea of opening the freezer door three months hence and grabbing a relic from when the sky was bright and the air was fragrant with growth and living things: the scent of basil, the ripe red tomatoes, frozen in time.

But we ate the reserves within two weeks. Whoops. Guess it’s time to make another pot, just as soon as I can move freely around my apartment without breaking a sweat, I mean, glowing.

First, a word about beans: The dried ones and I are having a moment. So much cheaper than the canned varieties and with a more pleasant texture to boot, cooking up a pot of dried beans is not as much trouble as you think. When you are sitting down to an afternoon with the new Ruth Rendell, just set a pot of beans on to boil. By the time you’re ready for a snack, the beans will be tender. Unlike a pet flying squirrel, they don’t need much tending to.

Continue reading “Basic Beans and Summer Minestrone” »

Who doesn’t have visions of herself floating around the kitchen, adding a little of this, a little of that, and afterward having the kind of dish that wins compliments and admirers. Oh, it was nothing.

In the realm of impromptu, thrown-together meals, I’d call this a winner. Not only is a tart something especially simple to make when you already have half a recipe of pâte brisée hanging out in the freezer, but they have the sort of casually elegant vibe that makes you feel like a woman who really knows how to feed the people in her life in an easy, breezy, gracious sort of way. And isn’t that — plus how to make a house a home, live luxuriously on a budget, and make the most of every day — what we’re all trying to figure out? It’s not simple work, but it’s certainly some of the most important.

Continue reading “Savory Summer Tart” »

Sometimes it’s nice to take a break from your favorite things, even when you don’t feel like you need it.

Few things taste better on a hot summer afternoon than a fountain soda.

Floating is the cheapest therapy.

Feeling taken care of is when someone else cooks dinner, fixes a plate, and calls you to the table where there are ferns in a glass and a seat for you.

A life without email — and the internet — is a fine life.

Shucking corn isn’t nearly as much trouble as it seems.

Outdoor yoga on a sunny afternoon will make you collapse with sweet exhaustion, like a baby ready for a nap.

Great ideas come on walks through the woods.

A change is scenery, no matter how humble, is good for the soul.

Reading is a habit, and a night spent with a book, a comfy couch, and a bright light is my new favorite evening.

A good mood is only a workout away.

After the disappointment wears off, there is a certain comfort in things not going your way; at least you don’t have to worry about it anymore.

There’s nothing more delicious than a perfect peach.

To remember what’s important, step out of your life, take the long view, and then feel how good it is to come home.

Yesterday I got caught in a torrential downpour. In what felt like a quintessential New York moment, I hustled into a cafe and spent twenty minutes in their bathroom, the hand dryer turned upside down, airing myself out to acceptability. The good news is that the rain cut the humidity and cooled the streets for 40 seconds and the city let out a collective sigh. Then we were back to New York in July with its hot, stinking subway mouths, steaming garbage, and the thick, thick air.

But, as a sunny girl I know says, “I can’t complain.” Isn’t that a sweet turn of phrase? We could complain, certainly, because we can’t stop sweating and the air conditioner crapped out, but really, why bother? With this heat comes those tomatoes we’ve been waiting for, trips to the beach, and the strings of halter tops dangling down our bare backs. Oh, and lazy dinners for two of cold rosé, a cool green soup sipped out of teacups, and a bowl of pasta with lots of bright summer vegetables. At least the fan still works.

Continue reading “Summer Night Supper for Two” »