A New Summer Salad

This fab summer side salad is destined to be on my summer playlist forever. I had at a friend's home in Lake Geneva, WI. I've been looking for some couscous recipes and was delighted to find a summery one. I made mine over the weekend (and enjoyed some today for lunch) with just mint, but next time I'll try a combo of fresh dill and mint. The garbanzos and feta give it some heft as a lunch.

I'd be remiss if I didn't tout the reduced fat feta from Trader Joe's. It's more than does the cheese trick on all sorts of things: atop lamb burgers, in a Greek salad, and here as well. Athenos does a good reduced fat feta, but it's like twice the price. We consume very little cheese and I often throw away about half a brick of feta, so I appreciate the lower price point on the TJ variety.

Anyway, here's that recipe:

Couscous Summer Salad
Print recipe only here

Serves 6-8 as a side dish

INGREDIENTS
1 cup dry couscous, cooked according to
1/2 Vidalia onion, chopped
1 English cucumber, peeled, seeded and diced
1 can chick peas, drained and rinsed
1/4 cup fresh herbs - parsley, dill, mint, basil in any combination
1/2 Cup crumbled Feta cheese (or more)

Dressing
2-3 T good Olive Oil
2 - 3 limes, juiced
Salt and pepper to taste

METHOD
Follow the directions on the package for cooking the couscous. Allow to cool to room temperature while prepping the veg. Add all other fresh ingredients once the couscous has cooled. Toss with the dressing and serve. Keeps well for a few days.

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Summer lovin: Board Dressings

Board dressings are a newer fascination. The first one I did was with a Brined Pork Loin, something that I make in the fall and winter. Subsequent efforts at board dressings have been even more satisfying, perhaps because of the season, because not much tops grilling and dining out of doors.

Board dressing does absolute wonders for a piece of meat that you didn't have enough time to marinate. Like last night. I had this gorgeous Bison top sirloin filet. I had intended to dry rub the steak, grill it, and serve it with a chunky avocado salsa, a meal served to me many years ago by the generous and talented Lucas (click here for my riff on his dish). But, the avocados at the market yesterday were unripe. Plan B was a necessity.

Bison can be tricky on the grill. It's lean, but can be tough. It needs enough time on the fire to soften but not so much that it seizes back up. I made a quick marinade of soy sauce, Worcestershire, garlic, salt and pepper, and let the steak come to room temp while soaking up the sodium. But I only had about 30 minutes for this, which is why the marinade was so sodium rich. With more time I would have made a red wine-soy-garlic marinade, a/k/a/ Guamba (with credit to Dave B). Guamba, it should be noted, is more than a recipe, more than a noun. It's not so much spoken as it is proclaimed. It's a call to the table (campfire, really), a conjuring of the appetite, a summoning of all that is good: wine, friends, a blazing fire, and steak. I don't always eat steak around a campfire (pity!), but when I do I prefer Guamba.

Anyhoo...I've been staring at this luscious bouquet of mint lately (if you grow mint, you know it proliferates like rabbits and that it can only be kept in check by producing a fount of mojitos) and working it into various dishes. I had a idea for a mint and lemon board dressing for my steak that would brighten up the marinade. It was wonderful. I grilled the steak to medium and made the board dressing right on the platter. When the steak was done, I transferred it to the platter, turning it over a few times to coat it in the dressing. Steak always needs to rest for about 15 minutes off the grill, and in that time, the juices flow into the board dressing, creating a puddle of love. I had a baguette on hand for dipping, and made a big salad, and we dined al fresco in total bliss.

Here's a few recipes for creating your own board dressings. The first one is what I did for the bison. The other two are ideas for another meal. Experiment as you're lead - the critical ingredients are extra virgin olive oil, some fresh herbs and a smidge of fresh garlic. The citrus zest/juice and chili flakes are optional, but highly recommended.

Board Dressing 1
2-3 T fresh mint
pinch chili flakes
Pinch kosher salt
Fresh ground pepper
2 cloves garlic, pressed or finely chopped
1/2 lemon, zested
1/2 lemon, squeezed
1-2 T extra virgin olive oil

Board Dressing 2
3 T cilantro, finely chopped
2 T fresh oregano, finely chopped
1/2 lime, zested
1-2 T extra virgin olive oil
Pinch chili flakes
Pinch kosher salt
Fresh ground pepper

Board Dressing 3 
2 T chopped rosemary
1-2 T extra virgin olive oil
Pinch kosher salt
Fresh ground pepper

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On Blackened fish, Kid Rock, and Summer Plans

I'm embarrassed to admit that I first heard about Walleye from Kid Rock in that All Summer Long song that took to the airwaves a few summers ago. Walleye is native to the Midwest, unlike yours truly, and is frequently served panfried. I saw it yesterday at Whole Foods and it looked lovely, so I brought it home and mixed together a quick blackened spice rub (see below), grilled some veggies on the side (just peppers and onions), and made a quick salad from the abundance of greens in my CSA sack.

This is a good time to promote the Chicago Lights Urban Farm, the good folks behind my summer salad share. I'm really pleased with the produce, and the farm itself is a little oasis in the city. This week, my share included Nero radishes, which are big, black, beautiful - and spicy! Whoa baby. If I were French, I'd slather a baguette with unsalted Plugra and top it with Nero slices. Chef Dominique Tougne was serving radish and butter aperitifs at Chez Moi last summer and they were delightful. Click here for Saveur's directions for making your own.

Back to the Walleye...I enjoy panfried fish, though prefer to do the panfrying myself. The last time I ate Walleye was at a restaurant around New Buffalo, MI, the panfrying was too aggressive. To create a good blackened seasoning, I consulted James Peterson's Fish and Shellfish cookbook and ended up following his recipe. Here it is:

JP's Blackened Seasoning
1 T dried thyme
1 T dried oregano
2 t salt
1 1/2 t cayenne
Several turns fresh ground white pepper

To cook the fish, I set my cast iron pan over a medium high flame to heat. Then I mixed the spice rub on a long platter, rubbing it all together and smashing up the dried spices with my fingers. Next I transferred the Walleye (the fishmonger removed the skin for me) to the platter, dousing one side with olive oil and turning to coat both sides of the fish with olive oil and the dry rub. Then I cut the fish into serving size pieces (I made them small-ish, so each person would have 2-3 pieces, but cut as you wish). With the pan now nice and hot, I added a tablespoon or less of canola oil, and tipped the pan around to coat the bottom evenly. I added the fish and cooked it for about 4 minutes on one side and about 2-3 min on the other side. To determine if its done, test one piece to see if it flakes - just cut off a corner and peek. Serve immediately.

What else am I up to this summer? Well, I'm going to pick up where I left off with my winter Algebra class thru Coursera (or retake the course entirely, as might be required). I'm also brushing up on my French via Duolingo. The latter allows for fierce inter-family competition, the likes of which we've not seen since Super Mario came to the Wii. I'm also looking forward to some serious cooking. Here's a taste of what will be coming out of my kitchen this summer:

- Sriracha-glazed chicken skewers (already had these and they were fabulous)
- Singapore chili lobster (this is going to be an adventure)
- This Ciopinno;
- Slate-griddled Porterhouse steaks with Roquefort;
- Miche, my lastest favorite bread. Get yours at La Fournette which produced a Blackhawks Miche, pictured here, upside-down;
- Breakfast Crepes with Peaches, Cinnamon Sugar, and Raspberry Jam;
- Half sour pickles (one of my favorite pickles!)

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Three Tricks All the Pastry Pros Know

In a recent post I mentioned tweaks I employed on Flag Cake and Gougères to send them over the top. Here's that info:

Cakes
Trick 1 - Soaking Solution
The easiest way to ruin a cake is by overbaking. But even if your cake isn't baked perfectly it can be brought back to life (within reason) with a soaking solution. This is a hot sugar syrup, flavored with a bit of liqueur, pure extracts, or citrus zest, brushed or squirted onto cake layers. It adds both flavor and moisture and really improves the whole of the dessert.



A soaking solution is made by boiling equal parts sugar and water and adding the liqueur or zest once the sugar is dissolved. For the average 8-inch cake I use about 1/2 cup each sugar and water and 2 tablespoons of liqueur. The solution needs to be hot when you brush it onto the cake, otherwise it won't saturate well. I use a pastry brush to soak my cake layers (just make sure your pastry brush doesn't smell like garlic or BBQ sauce) but you can even spoon it on, tho that method takes longer.

When I bake a round cake I routinely cut off the rounded top. The crumb that is revealed is much more porous than the cake top you've removed and snacked on. But if you are not brave enough to trim the top, just poke holes all over the cake with a toothpick and then saturate.

Oh, and you want to do this to a cake that is out of the pan already. Here's the order of operations:

1. Bake a cake
2. Let it cool 5-20 minutes
3. Remove from pan, transfer to a plate
*At this point, I always let my cakes cool completely, then chill in the fridge as trimming and frosting comes out way better on a chilled cake.*
4. Make soaking solution and brush on

Trick 2 - Crumb Coat
A crumb coat refers to a thin coating of frosting that is applied to a cake. After crumb coating, the cake is retired to the fridge to set. This process sets all the crumbs in place so that when you apply a nice thick coating of frosting you don't get any crumbs ruining the view. Here's photo of the crumb and final coat:




Gougères
This recipe from David Lebovitz was really great. When I learned to make gougères in cooking school they were the sort where you made a choux pate, piped out rounds onto a baking sheet, topped the rounds with grated Parmesan or Gruyère, baked them, and then, when cool, piped into them a ham and Gruyère béchamel. They're quite good, but the béchamel is a wee bit heavy and so 1980. Quiche, brie and béchamel probably did more to usher in the aerobics era than Jane Fonda.

The Lebovitz recipe redeems the hors d'oevre in two ways: it brings it up to date (and offers suggestions for using other hard French cheeses in addition to or in place of Gruyère) and it simplifies the process by adding the cheese to the choux pate. Once the puffs are baked, they are ready to serve.



The only thing I did differently was to use a little water to shape the puffs before baking. If you aren't an expert with a pastry bag, the choux rounds can be a bit misshapen. A simple fix is to dip your fingers into a small bowl of water and then gently smooth out the choux rounds before topping with cheese and baking. I'm pretty sure I learned this trick in cooking school, but maybe it was from restaurant work. Anyway, you can see the difference in the lower photo. The rounds in the front have been smoothed out a bit.

And there you have it - three tricks all the pros know.

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Summer Food and Nightcrawler

I haven't been cooking much lately  - just enough to pass along a few recipes from the past month. The Barefoot Contessa's Flag Cake (our version is pictured here) was a big hit, as were David Lebovitz's Gougères. I'm looking forward to trying out Mark Bittman's Sigapore Chili Lobster sometime soon. For that adventure - which will involve live lobsters - I've already secured co-council. I've been watching re-runs of The Good Wife and have found legalese as fun to throw around as Italian. Prego!

When TGW first debuted I assumed they'd never find me in their audience. This was for the same reason I planned to never watch Big Love:  there's just not enough lifetime waking hours to spend any of them wrapped up in adulterous dramas. I'm not sure if it's more surprising that I watched a multiple seasons of Big Love or that I found myself rooting for those dear polygamists. With TGW, it's all about Kalinda and Eli. The last time I saw Alan Cumming was as Nightcrawler in X-Men 2. I'm half-expecting him to pounce into Alicia's office, long tail flying, only to dissipate into a cloud of midnight blue smoke.

In between reruns I've been answering a flood of emails concerning picnic food. Here's what I've been suggesting:

Salads
Fresh Corn Salad
Three Bean Salad
Roasted Red Potato Salad
Avocado Salad
Potato, Dill, and Cucumber Salad
Panzanella

Main Courses
Flank Steak Sandwiches
Asian Chicken Lettuce Wraps
Summer Chicken Salad
Pan Bagnia
Chilled Soba Noodles


More soon on tweaks to the Flag Cake and gougères to really send them over the top.

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Summer? Nice to meet you.

There has been some uncertainty regarding the season in which we find ourselves. I might point out to those among you grumbling about the rain and reluctant sun that it is still spring. Complaints can be free to flow in 24 hours. Until then, make peace with the rain.

Several things change in the tide between seasons. Winter is over when the last Ruby Red is shipped from Texas. Spring is over when the first corn and peaches hit Chicago. Where these come from is a question without a good answer. Independence Day is not far off and corn went in the ground late this year owing to record spring rainfall in the Midwest. Corn is nowhere near knee high and yet it's been on our plates for a few weeks now. When I go to Trader Joe's later today to refresh my supply of both I will make inquiries as to the origin.

This morning we enjoyed a fine breakfast of Crêpes, thanks to the efforts of four of my favorite girls on earth. They rose early and used every drop of milk and nearly every egg, but they made the batter and tucked in into the fridge to chill and rest, as is necessary for crêpe batter*. By the time I was up all I had to do was make a few lattes and warm my crêpe pans.

Since we wanted to make things extra-special for our houseguests we got really jiggy with flavors. Usually we just do cinnamon sugar or raspberry jam filled. Today I pulled out Catherine's blueberry jam, nutella, sliced almonds and chocolate chips and let people fill their own. Kata had a brilliant idea of adding sliced peach to one of hers. When she offered to fill one for me I had to try her combo: a thin slathering of raspberry jam topped with fresh peach slices and rolled up. Peach with blueberry jam was equally heavenly. We have a fair amount of batter leftover and I can't wait to have another peach-blueberry crêpe tomorrow.

I don't care to waste a minute on less-than-stellar produce so I'm always giving and taking recommendations for the best sources. The corn on the cob (unshucked) and peaches (by the case) at TJ's have been perfect. Don't be nervous about buying 12 peaches. You can always chop some up and freeze for smoothies.  Treasure Island has fantastic watermelons right now.

*  "Why?" you ask. Because after all that whisking you've worked the gluten in the flour. Retiring the batter to the fridge allows the gluten to relax again, ensuring the delicacy of your crêpes. If you don't allow the resting time, you risk a rubbery crêpe.

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Libertarian at the Salad Bar

Remember in middle school when every paper you wrote somewhere contained the phrase, "Webster's dictionary defines..."?

And remember in college when every earnest letter to the editor began:  As a... [fill in occupation/major, ethnicity, gender, eye color, in any order]?

My high school reunion and birthday are nigh, so I'm feeling my age. I was thinking that if I started this piece with the Webster's bit or, "As a brown-eyed woman who usually eats three meals daily..." it might make me sound younger. Or daft.

Anyway, Webster's Dictionary defines salad as, "A preparation of vegetables, as lettuce, celery, water cress, onions, etc., usually dressed with salt, vinegar, oil, and spice." In my house, a salad should only be made from one of three things: red leaf, green leaf or Romaine. Additions (red onion, grape tomatoes, English cucumber) are viewed with skepticism, at best, but more commonly as a Libertarian views federal spending: "disappointing and troubling," in case you don't have time for the link.

Avocado salad is such an offense (it contains black beans!) that I really only make it for myself or like-palated friends. If you're not averse to the combining and tossing of vegetables you will just love it.

Avocado Salad
Print recipe only here

Serves 6-8 as a side dish

YOU WILL NEED:
1 pint grape tomatoes, halved
1 yellow bell pepper, seeded and diced
1 (15-ounce) can black beans, rinsed and drained (dump them into a mesh strainer or colander and run water over them)
1/2 cup red onion, diced
1 jalapeño, seeded and finely chopped
zest of one lime
juice of 2 limes
1-2 T good olive oil
1 t kosher salt
freshly ground black pepper
1 clove garlic, pressed
2 ripe avocados cut into 1/2-inch dice (at point of service - do not prep any earlier)

METHOD
Place the tomatoes, yellow pepper, black beans, red onion, jalapeño peppers, and lime zest in a large bowl. Whisk together the lime juice, olive oil, salt, black pepper, garlic, and cayenne pepper and pour over the vegetables. Toss well.

Just before you're ready to serve the salad, cut the avocados and gently stir nto the salad. Check the seasoning and serve at room temperature.

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Heatwave, shmeatwave: On insulated shopping bags

Two things. One, there is nothing grosser than shmeat. And two, a large, soft insulated shopping bag has been the hero of my summer.

I got my bag this spring at Trader Joes, thinking it would be a great road trip cooler. When I was a kid we had a massive steel Coca-Cola cooler that my parents placed strategically between my sister and me on long road trips. It provided a nice barrier but it was bulky. Actually, I bet the old cooler isn't really all that big. A piece in Vanity Fair about Mad Men mentions the difficulty prop masters have had procuring 1960-sized fruit and pastries. Everything - even apples! -  is supersized these days. Sigh. Anyway, I like that my new bag is collapsible. I can probably load up my new cooler as much as the bulletproof container of my youth, but when it's empty we can tuck it out of the way. We embarked on a 22-hour trip last month with enough scrumptious fresh food and cold drinks so that our stops were spent stretching our legs and chasing our dogs around patches of grass.

The insulated bag has gotten way more use than just that trip. I started keeping it in the car immediately after purchasing it, and realized it made a wonderful shopping bag. Now when I stock up on smoothie fruit or ice cream I don't worry about thawing issues. And since it zips closed I don't have to worry about a certain curious pup snouting around and licking everything. Also, when empty it holds all my other reusable grocery bags quite nicely.

In interesting retailer vs. consumer news, the town council in Telluride, Colorado, has been working dilligently to figure out a way to reduce usage of plastic grocery bags. Local merchants, who have opposed bans of or customer fees for paper or plastic bags, may find they're the ones left holding the bag. Council members are drafting an ordinance that would ban grocers from supplying most plastic bags and impose restrictions on the content of paper bags they are permitted to supply, requiring that they be completely recyclable, contain 100% recycled content, and contain no old-growth fiber, according to The Watch.

The seed for the ban came from a summer 2008 Telluride vs. Aspen bag challenge where the towns competed to see who could use more reusable bags. Telluride won, and combined, the two towns kept an estimated 140,000 bags out of stainless steel grocery bag storage containers.

Do your part, shoppers, and bring reusable bags to the market. Especially in Telluride, where no one needs groceries to cost more than they already do.

Read more:
The Watch Newspapers - Telluride to Impose Ban on Most Plastic Bags
abc news - Austin Weighs Plastic Bag Ban, Sparks Debate
The Aspen Times - Telluride beats Aspen in plastic bag challenge

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Two Summer Salads to Shop for at the Farmers Market

We had two of my favorite summer salads for dinner tonight, thanks to yesterday's sourdough loaf and lots of fresh parsley from the farmers market and basil from my daughter's herb garden. Round out a plate with a mound of lightly dressed baby greens and you have a lovely summer meal.

Here are those recipes...

Panzanella
Print recipe only here

Serves 4-6

YOU WILL NEED:
1 English cucumber
1 green bell pepper
1 red bell pepper
½ red onion
2 ripe red tomatoes
1 clove garlic, pressed
¾ cup Italian parsley, chopped
1/3 cup fresh basil, thinly sliced
2 T good olive oil
3 T balsamic vinegar
½ # good sourdough bread, day-old
Kosher salt and fresh ground pepper, to taste


METHOD
Prep and transfer to a large mixing bowl:

Cucumber - peel and halve it lengthwise and scrape out seeds. Slice about ¼-inch thick.
Peppers - slice into thin strips, about 1-inch long
Red onion - thinly sliced and chopped
Tomatoes - rinse and cut on a plate to save the juice. Remove core and seeds and chop into 1-inch pieces.

Add remaining ingredients except for bread and toss gently.

Slice the bread into 1-inch pieces and add, gently turning. Taste for seasoning and adjust if necessary. If it seems dry, add more oil or vinegar. If too wet, add more bread.

Let sit, covered, at room temperature for a couple of hours before serving. It will be too soggy the next day, so plan on eating it all the day you make it.

Summer Chicken Salad
Print recipe only here

Serves 4-6

YOU WILL NEED
4-6 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
olive oil
white wine or champagne vinegar
shallots
fresh basil and fresh parsley
grape or good cherry tomatoes
pitted kalamata olives

METHOD
Preheat oven to 400°

Rub 4-6 boneless, skinless chicken breasts with a bit of olive oil, kosher salt and pepper. Place on a baking sheet and roast for about 10 minutes, until cooked through. Allow to cool completely.

In a bowl large enough to contain the chicken, combine:
3-4 T olive oil, best you've got
2-3 T white wine or champagne vinegar (I like the Colavita label)
1-2 shallots, minced
2-3 T fresh basil and parsley, finely chopped

When cooled, tear the chicken breasts into bite-sized pieces and add to the bowl with the dressing. Add:
¼ cup pitted kalamata olives
½ cup grape tomatoes, rinsed

Toss together, add kosher salt and pepper to taste and serve. You can also make ahead and refrigerate, but it's best served at room temperature within several hours of being made.

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Small Plates for Summer: Bruschetta

Sangria got me thinking about small plates - my favorite way to eat all summer. Preparing a variety of items is a great way to cook from your CSA delivery or market selections and gets your family trying some new things. Like last year, when we had our first taste of garlic scapes.

Bruschetta - which is pronounced with a hard K in the middle, something like Bruce-ketta and nothing like Bru-Shedda - is a favorite smackerel in the Pinch kitchen. I keep baguette slices in my freezer, which, when brushed with a bit of olive oil and baked, make lovely crostini. Kalamatas are also kept in constant supply year round, so bruschetta with Tapanade are a common enough occurrence, no matter the season. Once Roma tomatoes start looking good at the market, though, they get chopped up with for my favorite seasonal bruschetta. Here's that recipe:

Roma Tomato Bruschetta
Print recipe only here

YOU WILL NEED
Baguette, sliced diagonally
Olive Oil
Pastry brush or baster - optional but helpful tool

4 Roma tomatoes, sliced, seeds and pulpy insides removed and finely diced
1 clove garlic
1-2 T red onion
1-2 T fresh parsley or basil
2 t olive oil
1 t red wine vinegar
Pinch kosher salt

METHOD
First, make the crostini. Preheat an oven or toaster oven to 350.

Slice the baguette diagonally into 1 cm-think slices. Allow for 2-3 slices per person.

Using a pastry brush or baster, brush both sides with olive oil.

Bake about 10 minutes or until crispy and nicely browned. Turn over slices and bake other side. Cool completely.

Meanwhile, use a serrated utility knife to slice tomatoes into 1 cm-thick slices. Remove seeds and pulpy insides and finely dice. Transfer to a small mixing bowl.

Chop red onion and parsley (or basil, or both) and add to tomatoes. Use a garlic press or finely chop the garlic and add. Add olive oil, vinegar and salt and stir to combine everything. Allow to sit for 20 minutes or until ready to serve.

At point of service, top each crostini with the Romas and enjoy immediately.

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Who's Standing in the Field this Summer?

Tour dates have been announced for Outstanding in the Field, an event I keep missing owing to erratic summer travel plans. There are three dates for the Chicago area, and a host of dates in cities across the country. In Chicago, I'm most interested in the event at City Farm, a vacant lot-turned operational farm. I've passed by it several times (it's located across from the Dominick's at Clybourn and Division) and am completely intrigued.

Check out the schedule here. At the very least, check out the gallery of photos showing the farm tables set in various locals. My faves are the beach shot and the one in the barn.
That's all. Have a great weekend.

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Menus? We don't have menus. We have cake.

So, I've been doing some traveling. There are many great things about getting out of one's everyday. Being with the people I love best in a new routine (that included, among other things, cake for breakfast) afforded me the opportunity to spend some time in life's back seat, where the view is always better because you're neither captain or crew. Ahh, vacation.

As much as I love cooking I never miss it. Eating someone else's food each day gave me tons of new ideas. And even if the dish was beyond my skill level (I totally lack the requisite hit points to recreate Marina Piccola's amazing curried scampi penne) it's always a pleasure to try new things.

Here are my top five favorite things I ate on my travels:

1. A giant bowl of steam-sauteed baby clams and mussels under a full moon by the Adriatic. The clams were in the teeniest little white shells marked with a groovy brown snakeskin pattern. La Garzette's garden frito misto, that preceded the steamers, was perfect in every way.

2. Un Caf! This was our whimsical morning rally call to caffeine, conveniently understood cross-culturally. We enjoyed the Euro Caf so much that we're adding on to our family. I'm pregnant with anticipation! Our new arrival is due on our doorstep any day now! Expect to hear lots more about it soon. (Pssst...it's an espresso machine!)

3. La véritable macaron Ladurée. Fave flavor had to be the caramel, tho the pistachio was surprisingly haunting.

4. Peach sorbet. Or caramel gelato. Or the classic raspberry-lemon combo cone. Mmm...gelato.

5. Squid ink linguine with equally well-stained clams. My husband wanted to take my picture after I finished - my entire mouth was black. I imagined I looked a little too much like that freak monk from The Name of the Rose and didn't want that digital image floating around.


Other memorable meals include awesome company and curry at Tandoori Nights, the still scrumptious Wagamama (now in, like, a billion locales), nearly every bite of pizza, pasta or panini, every sip of vin rosso and this one in Paris:


I'm back in my Chicago routine now. Thanks so much to all who wrote that you've missed Pinch.

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Brown Butter Tarts for Summer

This is probably my favorite summertime dessert. I once worked for a pastry chef who never wanted a birthday cake (when you train under a pastry chef you usually get to make their birthday cake) - she wanted birthday PIE. I do not so much make pie - I cannot for the life of me remember what I made for her. I prefer the thinner dessert, the ever-elegant tart.

The one shown here was made peaches. I also love it with nectarines, raspberries, or blueberries. One year for the Fourth I made a raspberry one and a blueberry one and a lemon meringue for a patriotic red, white and blue kind of thing.

Critical to the dessert is the correct browning, and not burning, your butter. But it's not hard to do right - just keep close to the pan and follow the recipe.

Brown Butter Berry Tart
Print recipe only here

Makes two 8 1/2 -inch tarts

YOU WILL NEED
Two 8 1/2 -inch tart shells, blind baked
3 peaches or nectarines, or 2-3 cups fresh raspberries or blueberries PER TART (you'll need six peaches for two tarts).

INGREDIENTS

Filling:
4 eggs
12 oz sugar (1 1/2 cups plus 1 T)
2 oz sifted flour (scant half cup)
8 oz (2 sticks) unsalted brown butter (see METHOD below)
½ vanilla bean, seeds scraped

METHOD
Whisk sugar and eggs together in a medium bowl. Add flour and whisk until smooth.

Make brown butter:
In a stainless steel saucepan (or one with a light-colored bottom), add 2 sticks unsalted butter and scraped vanilla bean. Melt the butter over low-medium heat. Once melted, turn up heat to medium and continue to cook until it turns a deep nutty brown, about 8 minutes. Carefully remove vanilla bean and slowly whisk browned butter into sugar-egg mixture. Use some caution here - the mixture will bubble up substantially when you add the hot butter. Strain the mixture and reserve.

Arrange berries, peach or nectarine slices in bottom of cooled crust. If using berries, just scatter a handful (you will top the baked tart with fresh berries after it has baked and cooled). If using peaches or nectarines, slice about 3 large pieces of fruit per tart and arrange slices neatly on the baked crust.

Pour half the brown butter mixture evenly over the fruit. Place tart on rimmed baking sheet and bake until filling is puffed and golden, about 45 minutes. Cool tart for 15-20 minutes, then remove tart pan sides. Once cooled, you can dust it with a shake or two of powdered sugar. Serve at room temperature or warmed. If using berries, let the tart cool, then paint the top of with raspberry jam and top with fresh berries.

Can be made 1 day ahead. Store covered at room temperature.

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The Great Scape

Garlic scapes, the wily shoot that grows out of the top of the garlic plant, appear for just a few weeks each year. Lucky for me, they appeared in my sister's CSA basket. She turned them into pesto and me into a knute. (I got better.) No, no...she turned me into a FAN of the scape.

On Beth's recommendation, I used Dorie Greenspan's garlic scape pesto recipe with a few adjustments. Be forewarned - this is for serious garlic lovers only. Scapes have a mellow garlic flavor, but it's still garlic as the base of the recipe. To be sure: Your. Breath. Will. Stink.

Use the prepared pesto like you would any pesto - tossed into pasta, slathered on crostini, stirred into soups, or used as a marinade or salad dressing base. The farmer who grew these scapes recommended an alternate preparation: trimming them to green bean length and sauteeing them. I might try that sometime, tossing some slivered almonds and hot chili flakes into the saute pan as well.

Garlic Scape Pesto
Makes about 1 cup

10 garlic scapes, chopped (bulbous flower removed)
¼ cup finely grated Parmesan
¼ cup pine nuts, gently roasted 2-3 minutes in a 350 oven
About ¼ cup extra virgin olive oil
kosher salt

METHOD
Place scapes, parm, cooled pine nuts and a pinch of salt in the bowl of a small food processor. Process until smooth and well ground. Add olive oil and process into a paste. Adjust seasoning. It is ready to use.

To store, transfer pesto to a small bowl and press onto the surface a piece of plastic wrap.

Further cooking:
White Bean and Garlic Scapes Dip - The NY Times

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Simple Summer Food: Vietnamese Summer Rolls

These are such a favorite. I haven't made them in quite awhile, but we had them tonite and think I'll keep them in the summer rotation. I used to make bean sprouts myself. I should relearn that trick. Supermarket bean sprouts disappoint so often.

Summer rolls are fresh and light, consisting of rice (in the form of the wrapper and the noodles inside), vegetables and - optionally - some protein. They are what you turn to when you discover how horrid those greasy little spring rolls are for you.

A good dipping sauce is pretty much imperative. I just love Mae Ploy, available in many supermarkets for like two bucks (in a big glass jar). But a good soy based dipping sauce is nice too. That recipe follows, too.

The trickiest thing with these is dealing with the wrappers which need to be cooked quickly in nice hot water and removed by hand. Tongs just mess things up for me. The wrapper needs to stay nice and flat without folding up on itself. Once it dries - even briefly - it gets pretty sticky. Just buy a package of them and play with them until you get a hang of it. I tossed three wrappers tonite while redeveloping my summer roll skills.

Also, don't underestimate the need for soft lettuce. Romaine is not going to cut it here. Trust me. Do, however, feel free to add shrimp or chicken or tofu.

Vietnamese Summer Rolls
Print recipe only here

Makes 4 rolls

INGREDIENTS
4-6 spring roll wraps (plan on ruining a few before you get the hang of them)
1-2 ounces bean thread noodles
1 T rice vinegar
1-2 carrots, grated
1-2 green onions, thinly sliced
4 pieces soft lettuce (like butter lettuce)
1/2 cup mung bean sprouts
2 T fresh cilantro
2 T fresh mint

Dipping sauce:
Mae Ploy chili sauce or gyoza dipping sauce (equal parts soy sauce and rice vinegar, plus a dash of hot chili oil and sesame oil, and a pinch of sesame seeds).

METHOD:
Bring a saucepan of water to a boil. Add bean thread noodles and remove from heat. Allow to sit for 3-4 minutes, then drain and rinse well with cold water. Chop roughly and transfer to a mixing bowl. Add remaining herbs and vegetables (except for the lettuce) and toss with a splash of rice vinegar.

Place a sheet pan (one with a 1-inch rim) on the stove, fill with water and bring to a boil. Turn off heat and let cool down for a couple of minutes.

Submerge one rice wrapper at a time for about 10 seconds or until it's nice and pliable. Remove it carefully, keeping it in it's shape, and lay it flat on a cutting board. Place one piece of lettuce (about 2x3) in the center of the wrap and top with a generous spoonful of the filling. Fold up the sides and roll the whole thing over on itself. Reserve on a plate, seam side down, and continue cooking and filling wraps.

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Liquid Assets: Simple Syrup

I recently began keeping simple syrup in my fridge. It's stored in a recycled Bonne Maman jam jar (my kosher salt occupies an identical residence stoveside - I just love those jars!). But after seeing a long-necked bottle of simple syrup the other day at Trader Joe's I realize a need a new jar, something that will dispense the syprup more easily. A recycled vinegar bottle might be perfect, especially one with a pour spout.

Simple syrup is just sugar water (who remembers the scene in Men in Black where the alien in the Edgar suit asked for sugar water?!?). To make it you bring equal parts sugar and water (you can play with the ratio) to a boil and simmer until the sugar is dissolved.

Simple syrup is handy for a variety of summer beverages and cocktails including gimlets, fresh lemonade, and as a sweetener for iced coffee or tea. It's also used frequently in the sweet kitchen as a soaking syrup, dry cakes being a pastry chef's nightmare. Previously, I just made some whenever I needed it. For the summer, at least, I'll keep it stocked.

Simple Syrup

In a medium saucepan:
2 ½ cups water
2 cups sugar

Bring to a boil and simmer for 1-2 minutes or until the sugar is completely dissolved. Cool to room temperature and store in a glass bottle, recycled if possible.


Related posts:
How to Sweeten a Cocktail (The Atlantic)

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Indoor S'mores. Seriously.

On account of bloodthirsty Midwestern bugs I’ve resolved not to go camping again in the summer. Campfires will have to wait until fall. Meanwhile, we've been getting our s’mores fix via the rosy glow of two electric heating elements in our toaster oven.

We discovered the way to a great indoor s’more a few summers ago after sampling my nephew’s efforts to produce the same. The key is to replicate the outdoor process: roast a marshmallow then slide the puffy, browned, oozy mass onto a graham cracker preloaded with squares of Hershey bar. Anyone with an oven can do it - preferably a toaster oven since less energy is required.

I don't disagree that the loss of ambiance is critical. Something about dodging smoke, the hunt for a good, long stick, and jockeying for space by the reddest embers makes a s'more taste even better. For those willing to forgo ambiance and kindling:

Indoor S’mores

YOU WILL NEED
Marshmallows
Hershey bars
Graham crackers

METHOD
Preheat oven to about 350° and place marshmallows on a tray. Roast for about 4-5 minutes, watching carefully after three minutes of roasting time. Once browned on top, flip the marshmallows over and brown the other side. You’ll notice the marshmallows deflate if not consumed quickly once roasted. Returning them to the oven will make them puff back up again. Just don’t ask me why; marshmallow science eludes me.


Seriously?
A big shout-out goes to Così, the flatbread chain, for offering indoor s’mores with a nod to danger. Così provides youngsters - any paying customer, really - with wooden skewers, a handful of marshmallows, a Hershey bar, and a flaming scoop of napalm jelly in a small cast iron pot. It’s all fun and games until someone hurls a flaming sugar wad into someone else’s eye (an easily imagined consequence of the hot disagreement over who got more of the Hershey bar). I can’t believe Così is allowed to do this. As long as they are, we’ll be sucking napalm fumes and gesticulating wildly with flaming marshmallow in hand about how AWESOME it is. Seriously.

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Blackberries della Nonna

We didn't hit a single Chicago-area U-Pick farm this summer. This would have been a great disappointment had we not had the opportunity to pick bowls and bowls of wild blackberries in the Pacific Northwest.

Blackberry season hits toward the middle of August. The berries pictured above are rooted in the sand on Puget Sound and in the backyard of our dear Nonnie. Were I there long enough to get sick of eating them straight off the thorny vine I would have done any of the following with them: Kristine's blackberry-macerated elk tenderloin (she marinates the meat all day in in smashed blackberries with tamari and garlic and grills it quickly over a high heat to lock in the juices), my favorite blackberry cobbler or a blackberry ice cream. Of course a simple sabayon topped with fresh berries would be great too.

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Staycation Crab Cakes on Mixed Greens with Red Pepper Sauce

In a summer of traveling vicariously, I’m cooking foods I’d eat if I were anywhere but stuck in the middle. This week it’s crab cakes, inspired by the Paul family’s east coast adventures.

My recipe for crab cakes is from Wolfgang Puck’s Adventures in the Kitchen cookbook. They are beautiful and decadent. With an almond meal crust and a red pepper cream sauce these are the classiest crab cakes I’ve seen. Atop a bed of mixed greens they make an impressive summer lunch.

Crab Cakes with Red Pepper Sauce
Print recipe only here

Serves 6

YOU WILL NEED
1 medium red bell pepper, cored, seeded and diced
½ medium yellow bell pepper, cored, seeded and diced
1 medium red onion, diced
1 jalapeño
2 cloves garlic, smashed
½ cup dry white wine
1 pint (2 cups) cream
1 ¼ # lump crab meat
3 cups mixed greens

for the crabcakes:
2 T olive oil
½ medium red bell pepper, cored, seeded and diced
½ medium yellow bell pepper, cored, seeded and diced
½ medium red onion, diced
1 cup cream
1 t jalapeño, finely chopped
2 t chives, finely chopped
2 t dill, finely chopped
1 t parsley, finely chopped
½ t kosher salt
Pinch cayenne
1 egg, lightly beaten
1 cup bread crumbs
1 c almond meal (found at Trader Joes or grinding almonds)
1 ¼ # lump crabmeat

for the sauce:
2 T olive oil
½ medium red bell pepper, cored, seeded and diced
½ medium red onion, diced
2 cloves garlic, smashed
½ cup dry white wine
1 cup cream
Juice of one lemon
Salt and pepper, to taste

METHOD
Prepare the crab cakes:
In a sauté pan , heat the olive oil. Add the onion, red and yellow peppers and gently sauté over medium-low heat for about 10 minutes. Transfer to a bowl and reserve.

In a small saucepan, heat cream and jalapeño and reduce by one-half (so that ½ cup remains). Cool.

Chop chives, dill, and parsley and add to pepper-onion mixture. Stir in cooled cream, salt, and cayenne. Stir in egg and ½ cup each breadcrumbs and almond meal. Gently fold in crab meat. Divide mixture into 12 crab cakes - about 2 ½ ounces each.

Combine remaining breadcrumbs and almond meal on a plate. Coat both sides of crab cake well. Place on a tray and refrigerate for 2-3 hours.

Prepare the sauce:
Start the sauce closer to the point of service, or about 30 minutes before you plan to sauté the crab cakes.

Sauté pepper, onion and garlic in olive oil over medium-low heat for about 10 minutes. Deglaze pan with white wine and cook until 3 tablespoons of liquid remain. Add cream and bring to a boil.

Transfer mixture to a blender and puree until smooth. Strain into a clean pan. Add lemon juice, salt and pepper to taste and reserve, keeping warm.
When ready to serve, wash salad greens. Prep a sheet pan with paper towel to drain the crab cakes.

Working in one or two skillets heat olive oil over medium-high heat. Sauté crab cakes for about 4 minutes on each side, or until golden brown, avoiding over-crowding. Transfer to sheet pan to drain while sautéing all the crab cakes.

Plate greens and arrange two crab cakes per plate. Drizzle sauce over the greens and crab cakes. Enjoy immediately.

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Americana Summer Salads

When I lived in Telluride my neighbor, Antonietta, would bring me stack of pizzelle and a big bowl of her three-bean salad at the start of every summer. This provided a needed watering of my southern Italian roots. Really my Italian-American roots, in the case of the canned bean salad.

I loved Antonietta's old-fashioned three-bean salad (her pizzelle were good too, but my allegiance will always be with the anise-spiked ones of my youth). I always said I would come over one time so she should teach me to make the salad myself but that never happened.

So imagine my squeal of delight when this caught my eye: Classic Three-Bean Salad in an email from America's Test Kitchen. These are the same serious people who preside over Cook's Illustrated. I'm forever grateful to them for teaching me to make pulled pork but often I feel sorry for them. They seem to take NO pleasure in cooking. The pity may cease if they continue to provide me with great recipes.

I'm excited that the Classic Three-Bean Salad dressing incorporates fresh beans while keeping with the similar flavors as Antonietta's, mainly parsley and red onion. The recipe is a lot like my favorite coleslaw where the dressing is boiled to dissolve sugar. I'm going to make this on Wednesday after picking up the green and yellow beans at the farmer's market.

Classic Three-Bean Salad
Print recipe only here


INGREDIENTS
* 2/3 cup red wine vinegar
* 1/3 cup granulated sugar
* 1/3 cup canola oil
* 2 medium cloves garlic, pressed
* 1 teaspoon kosher salt
* Fresh ground black pepper
* 8 ounces green beans, cut into 1-inch pieces
* 8 ounces yellow wax beans, cut into 1-inch pieces
* 1 16-ounce can red kidney beans, drained and rinsed
* ½ medium red onion, chopped
* ¼ cup minced fresh parsley leaves

METHOD
Heat vinegar, sugar, oil, garlic, salt, and pepper to taste in small saucepan over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until sugar dissolves, about 5 minutes. Remove from heat and cool to room temperature.

Fill a large saucepan with water and 1 tablespoon kosher salt and bring to a boil. Add green and yellow beans; cook until crisp-tender, about 3-5 minutes. Meanwhile, fill a medium bowl with ice water. When beans are done, drain and immediately plunge into ice water to stop cooking process. Let sit until chilled, about 2 minutes. Drain well.

Add green and yellow beans, kidney beans, onion, and parsley to vinegar mixture; toss well to coat. Cover and refrigerate overnight to let flavors meld. Let stand at room temperature 30 minutes before serving. Salad can be covered and refrigerated up to 4 days.

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