SAVORING OUR LEISURELY JULY

 

                                    Savoring our leisurely July

           July, the name and the month, invoke leisurely feelings each year. After all the excitement and activities for the 4^th of July, we are left with the rest for summer days for simple enjoyment. Agrarian times saw this as the restful hiatus between urgency of spring planting and fall harvest, our modern-day culture finds the brief welcome hiatus in financial stress as the old fiscal year ends, our education system pauses before the August scramble for the new year, and we savor our vacations weather in travel or at home.

          The languor of steamy days induces the cook to search for simple and easy meals with minimum of cooking but without loss of taste and eye appeal. The following recipes are likely to keep you cool and satisfied. Most of us are familiar with gazpacho, really a liquid salad, the wonderful cold tomato and raw vegetable soup from Spain and Portugal.  A similar liquid salad can be found in Northern Europe with buttermilk or yoghurt as a base which has appeared in this column as “Summer shape up soup” which requires a zucchini and potato cooked purée as a base. The following cool recipe is slightly creamy with no cooking at all!

                                              No-cook white gazpacho

          In a large bowl slowly whisk together 2 ½ cups thick creamy plain yoghurt (do not use low fat) and 1 cup chicken broth or vegetable broth for vegetarians. Whisk in ½ tsp. garlic powder, 1 tsp. celery salt, ½ tsp. white pepper and 1 tsp. ground thyme.

          Add: 1 diced stalk of celery, ½ cup diced seedless cucumber, ½ cup diced zucchini, 2 thinly sliced scallions with greens, 14 halved grape tomatoes, ½ seeded diced red pepper and ½ cup slivered almonds (optional). Stir in 1 tblsp. distilled white vinegar, adjust salt and pepper to taste and refrigerate for 2 hours for flavors to blend. Serve garnished with parsley or dill.

          Steak sandwiches and Stir Frys are summer staples for quick meals. The Korean Bulgogi combines the two by wrapping the cooked beef in a lettuce leaf or in the recipe below, serving it with rice.

                                               Korean beef Bulgogi

          Slice 1 lb. ribeye or top sirloin steak at a 45-degree angle as thin as possible. You can substitute shaved ribeye from the store, but it will tend to keep less moist when cooked.

          Marinade: ¼ cup light soy sauce, 2 tbsp. (not packed) brown sugar, 1 tbsp. toasted sesame oil, grated 2 large garlic cloves and 1 tsp. grated fresh ginger. Toss meat with the marinade in a plastic bag and refrigerate for 2-3 hours.

          Drain excess marinade, heat 2 tsp. vegetable oil in a large pan and spread ½ of the meat single layer to fry 2-3 minutes, turning once till meat is charred in places. Set aside and repeat with the other ½ of the meat. Serve with cooked rice and kimchi or steamed broccoli. Serve sprinkled with toasted sesame seeds and thin sliced scallion. This dish may also be served in a soft roll with Kiwi (Japanese) mayonnaise as a variation on the steak sandwich roll.

          Peaches abound at this time in markets for easy and delicious fruit crisps. This recipe is for a gluten free version, but substituting regular flour for almond flour will make an equally tasty dish.

                                                   GF Peach almond crisp

          Preheat oven to 375 degrees. In a small bowl mix: 2-3 tbsp. sugar, 2 tbsp. corn starch, pinch of salt and ¼ tsp. cinnamon. In a medium bowl mix: 1 cup fine almond flour, ½ cup packed brown sugar, ¼ tsp. cinnamon, 1/8 tsp. nutmeg, ¼ tsp. salt. Cut in 4 tbsp. cold butter in the flour mix thoroughly with a pastry cutter or two knives.

          Pit and slice 5 large peaches in an 8x8x2 baking dish.  Grate peel of ½ lemon on top and 1 tsp. fresh ginger. Toss with sugar and cornstarch mix and squeeze the juice of ½ lemon on top. Sprinkle with ½ cup slivered or sliced almonds and spread the crumble mix across the top evenly. Bake 45-50 minutes at 375 degrees and serve warm or at room temperature with a dab of ice cream.

          Let us savor the mystical dances of fireflies as dusk settles on our leisurely July days.

      (I. Winicov Harrington lives in coastal Maine and is the author of “How to Eat Healthy and Well for Less than $5.00 a Day…”and “Uncharted Journey from Riga”; website: www.winicov-harrington.com)

 

SUMMER AND SEAFOOD

 

                                        Summer and seafood

 

          Summer finally has come in full bloom as we approach our nation’s 250^th birthday celebrations. Exhibitions, parades, fairs, concerts, barbeques and fireworks are on schedule for everyone as we proudly celebrate this memorable event in history on the 4^th of July, that continues to shape our everyday lives. One of my fond memories is celebrating the 4^th of July at a concert in front of the US Capitol Steps, with Aaron Copleland conducting the National Symphony Orchestra, and the fireworks bursting overhead at the finale.  

          For the cook it is easy to adapt to this celebration with blue, red and white accents on the table. Even a red, white and blue potato salad is effortless as many of our stores carry small potatoes in all those colors. However, summer in Maine has the added advantage of plentiful seafood, providing easy and lighter fare for hot summer days when some meals are likely to be taken al fresco dining, which we get from the Italian habit of eating outdoors when it is warm.

                                       Smoked salmon sandwiches

          Local smoked salmon can be the basis for a leisurely lunch attractively presented on open-faced sandwiches and takes very little effort to construct an appetizing plate.

          Start with slices of a baguette or thin slices of roggenbrot (dense rye), spread with butter or cream cheese, cover with a piece of thin sliced salmon, onion and capers. Serve with sliced hardboiled egg, olives, pickles or grape tomatoes and garnish with dill if desired. Seve with lemonade or another cool drink in the shade to relax and savor the day.

           My recent encounter with a very recalcitrant lobster started innocently enough. My very good friend Dan generously offered me a lobster from his first haul. I have been the grateful recipient of such a gift now for many years and was looking forward to cooking it at home that evening. Alas, when I removed the seaweed from the cooler in which the lobster arrived and picked him up to dunk in the pot, I almost dropped the enormous angry creature from surprise as it poked its long antennae toward my face and waved furiously it’s barnacle encrusted claws. It barely fit the pot, requiring force to keep the lid down. It was extremely hard shelled, required garden shears to cut open the tail and 20 minutes of pounding with a hammer on a cement floor to break the claws, but that bigger than a dinner plate sized lobster had a lot of delicious meat, some of which ended up in the following salad.

                                                 Dilly lobster salad

          Cutup 2 cups bite size lobster meat from claws and/or tail. Prepare the dressing by mixing: 1/3 cup sour cream, 2 tsp. chopped capers, ½ tsp. salt, 1 tbsp. lemon juice, 2 tsp. juice from dill pickles, 2 tbsp. chopped dill and ¼ tsp. lemon pepper.

          In a bowl gently mix the lobster with 1/3 cup finely chopped celery and the dressing, Chill for a couple of hours and serve on romaine lettuce with crusty bread.

                                                            Summer snapper

          This tender and colorful fish dinner for two comes together easily and quickly. Prepare the vegetables ready to sauté in one pan and have another medium pan ready for the fish.

Vegetables: ½ thinly sliced onion, ½ red and ½ green or yellow pepper seeded and chopped, 1 diced Roma tomato and 1 tbsp. chopped capers.

          Heat 1 tbsp. olive oil and 1 tbsp. butter in a medium pan and sauté onion for 5 minutes, stir in red and green pepper, tomato, ¼ tsp. salt, ¼ tsp. pepper and capers and continue to sauté for additional 3-5 minutes.

           Cut 1 lb. skin-on snapper in half, season with salt and pepper, dredge in flower shaking off excess. Heat 1 tbsp. olive oil and 1 tbsp. butter to hot but not smoking, fry the snapper on medium heat for 2-3 minutes on each side and remove from heat.

          Serve fish with a side of the vegetables and a steamed ear of corn. Garnish with lemon and dill.

          Happy 4^th of July!

(I. Winicov Harrington lives in coastal Maine and is the author of “How to Eat Healthy and Well for Less than $5.00 a Day…”and “Uncharted Journey from Riga”; website: www.winicov-harrington.com)

 

 

SERIOUS SUMMER SALADS

                                        Serious summer salads

           The summer solstice approaches on Sunday, May 21^st. Interestingly the date for this varies from year to year because our human yearly calendar is set for 365 days but it takes the earth 365.25 days to orbit the sun completely.  So, humans have to adjust.

          The cook wisely adjusts seasonal menus to reflect not only available produce but also to look toward our lighter and cooler tastes with colorful eye appeal. We savor green and crunchy salads not only for lunch but also sometimes for dinner, which require additional tasty combinations of greens with vegetables and seafood or meat. 

                                      Shrimp salad on artichoke bottoms

          In a small bowl mix the dressing: ½ cup sour cream, juice and grated zest of ½ lemon, 1 tsp. Dijon mustard, 2 tbsp. chopped dill 1 tbsp. chopped capers, ¼ tsp. lemon pepper and ½ tsp. salt.

          Thaw ½ - ¾ lb. medium cooked shrimp, cut in half and remove tail cartilage. Place in a medium bowl, add 1 finely chopped shallot and 1 finely chopped stalk of celery. Thoroughly mix in the dressing and chill for at least one hour. Serve on arugula and drained canned artichoke bottoms. On the side add sliced seedless cucumber and radish salad tossed with seasoned rice vinegar, crisp chilled dilly beans and crusty bread, fitting for a steamy day lunch or light supper.

                                      Provençal beef and potato salad

          This recipe has an old and interesting history in my kitchen. The legendary Commissary restaurant in center city Philadelphia served this outstanding salad to our enjoyment many years ago and shortly after, “Gourmet” magazine responded to other readers request for it. Both the restaurant and “Gourmet” are no longer in existence, but the recipe still survives only slightly modified in my kitchen with delicious results. It requires a bit of advance planning but is most certainly worth the effort. This recipe is for 4 generous servings.

          Prepare the dressing by combining in a blender: 2/3 cup vegetable oil, ¼ cup white distilled vinegar, 2 tbsp. chopped dill or parsley, 1 tsp salt, ½ tsp. sugar, ½ tsp. pepper, 2 chopped garlic cloves and 2 tsp. anchovy paste.

          Scrub and cook 1 and ½ lb. of new potatoes in salted water for 15-16 minutes until just tender. Drain, cut in about 1-inch pieces and toss with the dressing while hot. Refrigerate for 3 hours minimum or overnight.

          In a large bowl mix in the potatoes: 2 cups of bite size cubed, cold grilled steak or roast beef, 12 halved cherry tomatoes, 4 tbsp. chopped capers, 4 tbsp. chopped dill or parsley, ¼ cup halved pitted Kalamata olives and salt and pepper to taste. Serve on romaine lettuce sprinkled with chopped dill or parsley.

          It is still strawberry season, so I could not resist making a strawberry-rhubarb pie. The combination of the seasons first fruits makes such a delicious sweet-tart dessert.

                                          Strawberry-rhubarb pie  

          Wash, trim and cut fresh juicy rhubarb into 1-inch pieces to make 2 cups. Hull fresh strawberries and cut in half to make 2 cups of strawberries. Blend together in a small bowl 1 and ¼ - ½ cups of sugar with 3 tbsp. cornstarch.

          Line a 9-inch pie plate with 1 sheet of prepared pie crust from the Deli department in your store, fitting the crust to the bottom of the plate. Spread ¼ of the sugar mix on top. Toss the fruit with the rest of the sugar mix and turn into the prepared pie plate. Spread out evenly, dot with 1 tbs. butter and fit the top crust over, pinching the rim to seal. Cut vents on top, brush lightly with heavy cream and sprinkle with nutmeg.

          Bake in a preheated oven at 450 degrees for 15 minutes then decrease the temperature to 350 degrees. To prevent dripping place a piece of aluminum foil on the rack below the pie at this point and bake for an additional 30-35 minutes until the filling can be seen bubbling through the vents. Cool to lukewarm or room temperature to serve and enjoy.

 (I. Winicov Harrington lives in coastal Maine and is the author of “How to Eat Healthy and Well for Less than $5.00 a Day…”and “Uncharted Journey from Riga”; website: www.winicov-harrington.com)