Summer Cucumber Salad

This cucumber salad is so perfect--cool, refreshing, satisfying, and really easy. It's especially good when made with the pickling cucumbers from summer farmer's markets!

Cucumber Salad

• 4 cucumbers, peeled and sliced as thinly as you can
• 1 small yellow onion, minced
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup water
• 1 cup white vinegar
• 1/2 tbs dried dill

Boil the sugar, water, white vinegar in dill. Mix together the cucumber slices and onion; once the vinegar/sugar/water mix is boiling, pour it over the cucumber slices and onion mixture. Let it sit in the fridge for a day before eating (if you can resist). It is good after the first day but continues to get better--I often end up doubling the recipe to let it last a week!

Pesto!

Every year growing up, I got to choose what I wanted for my birthday dinner. And every year? Pesto pasta.

Since birthday is in March, large quantities of basil were often less readily available.

But my mother, being the savvy cook she is, had the perfect solution: make big batches of pesto all summer, and stick them in little Rubbermaid containers to be stored in the freezer. Come December, January, and even March, she could pop out one of these containers and defrost it. Fresh market pesto with snow on the ground (well, I grew up in Durham, so snowy ground is more wishful thinking).

I decided to do the same thing this year, looking towards the long northern winter where I will not see the sun for days at a time. (Why? Because class is from 8-5. The sun will rise and set and I will be in the hospital and in class the whole time!)

This pesto is not the pesto with cream you get in many restaurants in the US (I hate pesto with cream in it); it is true Genovese pesto, albeit made with less olive oil.

Genovese pesto at a market in Florence

The recipe is an adaptation of Marcella Hazan's recipe. (If you don't know of her, you should! She's often called "the Italian Julia Child"). My mother often says that Marcella taught her to cook. The old cookbook opens up right to the pesto page, and my mother's adaptation is penciled in next to the original recipe.

Blender Pesto

• 2 c fresh basil leaves, tightly packed
• 1/3 c extra virgin olive oil
• 3 tbs chopped pine nuts or walnuts
• 2 garlic cloves, chopped
• 1/3 c grated parmesan
• salt

Place the olive oil, nuts, garlic and salt in the food processor and pulse for 10-15 seconds. Add the basil and process until combined. Add the cheese, then pulse until it is mixed in.

Pesto Pasta (orzo)

Summer Pesto Pasta with Zucchini

Pesto Risotto

Pesto on Fresh Mozzarella

Tomato and Goat Cheese Crostata with Rosemary Crust

Having just moved thirty minutes away from my grandparents, I now have an endless supply of tomatoes.  My grandfather loves to give away tomatoes---every time I leave the house: "Here, take a few tomatoes!!"

The tomatoes had started to build up, and I wanted to use them in something that would really showcase their flavor. I was looking through one of my favorite cookbooks, Jack Bishop's A Year in a Vegetarian Kitchen, when I came across a recipe for a tomato and goat cheese tart. He called for a tart pan with a removable bottom, which I don't have, so I simply made a crostata!

This is definitely in the top three things I've ever made, possibly the best. It turned out beautifully, with a perfectly flaky and golden-brown crust.

Tomato and Goat Cheese Crostata with Rosemary Crust

Crust

• 1-1/4 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp minced fresh rosemary
• 8 tbsp (1 stick) chilled unsalted butter, cut into 8 pieces
• 4-5 tbsp ice water

Filling

• 6 oz fresh goat cheese, crumbled (about 1-1/3 cups)
• 3 medium tomatoes, cored, sliced crosswise 1/4-inch thick, and blotted dry between paper towels (this keeps them drier so as not to make the crust soggy)
• 1 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
• salt and freshly ground black pepper

A few hours before you want to make the crostata, you need to prepare the dough. While it can be done by hand, it takes five minutes in the food processor. Place the flour, salt, and rosemary in a food processor and pulse several times to combine. Add the butter and pulse until the mixture resembles pea-sized crumbs, about ten 1-second pulses.

Add the water, 1 tbs at a time, and pulse briefly after each addition. After 4 tbs of water have been added, process the dough for several seconds to see if it will come together. If not, add the remaining 1 tbs water. Process just until the dough comes together in a rough ball. (Bishop says: "Do not overprocess or the dough will not be flakey"). Transfer the dough to a lightly-floured work surface and knead briefly to for a smooth ball. Flatten the dough into a 5-inch disk and wrap it in plastic wrap. Refrigerate the dough for at least 1 hour and up to 2 days.

Move an oven rack to the middle position and heat oven to 375°.

To make the crostata, unwrap the chilled dough and roll it into a 12-inch circle on a lightly floured surface. It doesn't have to be a perfect circle, especially if you are using a rectangular baking sheet. Cover a baking sheet with parchment paper, and lay the dough flat on top. Prick the bottom of the tart shell all over with a fork.

To fill the crostata, scatter the goat cheese evenly across the bottom, leaving about one or two inches around the edge of the circle. Arrange the tomatoes over the cheese in two rings (again, leaving the space around the outside of the filling): one around the outside edge another in the center, overlapping them slightly. Drizzle the tomatoes with the olive oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper to taste.  Fold the extra inch or so of tart dough over the tomatoes and pinch together any pieces that don't come together well. Add a sprig of rosemary in the center for garnish.

Bake until the edges of the crostata are golden brown, 45 to 50 minutes. Cool the crostata on a wire rack for at least 10 minutes, then transfer to a cutting board to serve. Cut the crostata into wedges and serve immediately or at room temperature.

Cooking Locally: Reflections on the Farmer's Market in July

I could swoon and moon over some new recipe, but today is devoted to the stars of the show--the fruits and veggies themselves.

To cook locally is a wonderful thing, if you can find a way. My former co-op did it this way, my mom does it this, and now in my new home, I try to do this. It can be both frustrating (SO. MANY. ZUCCHINI.) and liberating (learning to like eggplant, which I recently did). Overall though, local food just tastes better. And those super-sweet, tiny tomatoes? Some varieties just don't travel well, so they aren't sold in big supermarkets.

Everyone has their own way of doing it, but here's one way:

1.) Save your vegetable and fruit shopping until the morning or afternoon for the market, if you have a big enough one (if they carry it, get your eggs/milk/cheese/meat there too).

2.) Walk around the market, and pick out what looks best to you, keeping in mind different ideas for recipes. If you have a particular one in mind, get stuff for that--in my experience, it's easier to figure meals out later and just get what looks good. Get enough veggies for the week (or if you are a lucky duck and have a 2x/week market get enough for only half of it).

3.) Try and spread out your purchases between things that will last the week (potatoes, beans, apples, onions) and things that have to be eaten more quickly (tomatoes, lettuce, basil)

4.) Let the food inspire you....but here are some ideas below.

Eggplant: Roasted, or on pizza, or in pasta sauce....yum!

Tiny, beautiful eggplants!!

Apples: just for eating, in beet-carrot salad, in a pie, etc.

 Tomatoes: I cannot get enough tomatoes. Plain with salt and olive oil (add basil and fresh mozzarella and you've got a caprese salad!), gazpacho, roasted, fresh salsa, fried green tomatoes and so, so much more (okay, okay I don't have recipes for all these yet).

It's so nice to keep flowers in the house! I love these sunflowers... 

Cucumbers: gazpacho, just eaten for kicks because they're delicious and refreshing, raita, or make your own pickles! (My aunt does this and they're amazing--and when the jar is finished she puts more cucumbers in and voilà, more pickles. I made them with her when I was 3, but clearly I have to learn again...)

Beans: steam them, put them in a Niçoise salad (a favorite of mine), etc.

Peaches: Oh, peaches. Peach cobbler, peach pie, peach sorbet, peach muffins, peach scones, or just as they are. Nothing better.

Can't have too many flowers!

Or tomatoes for that matter. 

Carrots: carrot and beet salad, as is, in stir fry, (in the fall, ginger-carrot soup), and much more.

Beets: carrot beet salad, roasted, borscht (any kind of chilled beet soup is really good in the summer, and an alternative to gazpacho)

 Oh, tomatoes.

 Artichokes: steamed with lemon butter, they are so good!

And these are just only just a few possibilities for a small list of fruits and veggies in one month out of the year. In the fall and winter? Kale, sweet potatoes, chard, collards, butternut squash, acorn squash, apples and so much more.

Chocolate Sorbet with Dark Chocolate Chips and Cherries

I am finally, finally, moved into my new house.  It's a sweet little home very close to the hospital (less than a five minute walk!).

And I am in love, I tell you, in love with my kitchen.

It's not a perfect kitchen. There's not a lot of counter space, it's an electric stove (so, not gas), and pantry space is limited. But it's white, full of light, and has tons of character. Those of you that know me have to remember that I've been collecting things for my kitchen for years--a set of handblown Mexican glasses with blue and green rims, an assorted collection of vintage Pyrex and china plates, a gorgeous 10" cast-iron frying pan (all of this from thrift/antique stores---the best kind of place to buy quality kitchen stuff for cheap!). Family and friends have also helped out--especially my mother--a set of hand sewn cloth napkins, white Pottery Barn dishes and bowls (also a thrift store find), and that treasured turquoise Le Creuset pot....

I have finally gotten to fulfill all of my kitchen decorating fantasies---and past the decorating? I get to use it. This morning I got a whole bunch of fruits and veggies at the farmer's market, filling my fridge and open pantry shelves. 

The only big negative about the house? No air conditioning. In today's 90º heat, all I wanted to make was ice cream. And as luck (and wonderful friends) has it, another graduation gift was a Cuisinart electric and automatic ice cream maker!

I've been wanting to try Deb's chocolate sorbet forever, and the fresh cherries from the market seemed like a perfect addition. Here is my (very slight) adaptation of her recipe that I made with my new roommates!

Chocolate Sorbet with Dark Chocolate Chips and Cherries

• 3 oz semisweet chocolate
• 3 oz bittersweet chocolate
• 3/4 c cocoa powder
• pinch salt
• 1/2 tsp vanilla
• 1 c sugar
• 2 1/4 c water
• 1/4 c chopped cherries
• 1/4 or 1/2 c dark chocolate chocolate chips

Deb says about the first few steps: "In a large saucepan (yes, you must use a large one or it will bubble over. Trust me.), whisk together 1 1/2 cups (375 ml) of the water with the sugar, cocoa powder, and salt. Bring to a boil, whisking frequently. Let it boil, continuing to whisk, for 45 seconds. Remove from the heat and stir in the chocolate until it’s melted, then stir in the vanilla extract and the remaining 3/4 cup (180 ml) water."

Blend the mixture (I used my immersion blender--I think if you can spare the $20 they are AWESOME and 100% worth having), then chill it for a few hours. After it is cool, pour it into your ice cream maker for 25 minutes or so. During the time it was in my electric ice cream maker, I added the cherries and chocolate chips. Freeze the whole mixture for another few hours until it reaches your desired consistency.

Deliciously addictive, cold chocolate sorbet with farmers market cherries, and made in my new kitchen? That is (and this is cheesy) the cherry on top.

Wonderfully Addictive French Potato Salad

I have never been a huge fan of classic American potato salad, where the potatoes are swimming in gobs of mayo with little clumps of egg hanging on to the smushy potatoes (ok, maybe it's not always this bad....).

But this potato salad is a horse of a different color. The white wine, olive oil and lemon juice dressing soaks into the warm potatoes, and the green onions add texture as well as flavor. This salad is at once fancy enough to serve at a dinner party and easily casual enough to pack along on a picnic. It is delicious whether it is served hot or cold, and can be made in large amounts or small ones.

Whenever my mom makes this, I literally can't stop eating it---it's so good. I asked her to teach me to make it. We bought some gorgeous little potatoes at the farmers market and picked some fresh basil from the garden.

As always with my mother, it was nearly impossible to figure out amounts of things as she doesn't measure. Here are some estimates.

7-8 potatoes, cut into chunks (but really, as many as you want to make--leftovers are always good!)

1/2 c olive oil**
1/4 c lemon juice
1/4 c white wine
1 tsp mustard
salt and pepper
chopped basil (optional)

**these amounts are really to taste---vary as you like!

Cut up potatoes into potato-salad sized chunks (not too big, not to small) and steam. While the potatoes are still warm, pour the dressing over them and allow it to sit and soak in. Potatoes should be nicely coated but not drowning in dressing. Garnish with the green onions and basil and serve.

Chocolate Chip Cookie Ice Cream Sandwiches

Can I stop a moment and wax poetic about chocolate chip cookies? Gooey, salty-sweet, chocolatey melt-in your mouth cookies?  There are a million good recipes, but for me, the original Toll House recipe (the one found on the back of the bag) will always triumph. Maybe it's because they remind me of afternoons baking with family and friends, the scent of them baking emanating throughout the whole house.

On a cold winter afternoon, there is nothing better than a warm chocolate chip cookie and a glass of milk. But, with temperatures reaching into the 100s warm cookies are less exciting. But ice cream sandwiches? Yes please!

Make the toll house cookies. Sandwich vanilla ice cream between two cookies, and roll in mini chocolate chips (or nuts). Freeze until ice cream is solid again.

Extra points if you make the ice cream yourself.....

Pasta with Zucchini and Lemon (and other summer adventures)

I have been told by many that this, the summer between college and medical school, is The Last Summer (or something like that). While I'll have a few months off next year, there are research opportunities and clinical experiences to be had. After that, summers disappear, perhaps only resurfacing when life looks quite different.

I decided to make this summer the most perfect summer, balanced between traveling, relaxing, and, yes,  cooking. I went on a road trip with my best friend from college, exploring Brooklyn, Niagara Falls, Toronto and Rochester (where I'll be next year).

We found an adorable restaurant in the East Village that had amazing food for low prices--unheard of in NY. They served water in Mason jars with handles and had antique-y furniture. Definitely going back next time....

I'm at the beach with family, sipping mojitos and eating the Catch of the Day from Willis' Seafood Market every night. (Not to mention devouring Ruth Reichl's hilarious memoir Tender to the Bone).

My corgi mix loves the beach

Next I'm off to Europe to visit family and friends (it has been suggested that I create a new blog for my post-graduate adventures titled "Owl at Large"....).

-----

There's something particular about summer cooking, also known as "What to do with all the zucchini?! " Oh, that prolific vegetable that is nearly sickening by the end of the summer (I heard someone joke once that they started leaving yellow squash on people's porches and then running away--"Take it! Please!! I have too much!!").

Lemon and zucchini go particularly well together, and this recipe is adapted from a recipe by a favorite chef of mine, Jack Bishop.

Pasta with Zucchini and Lemon

Boil water for pasta. Cut zucchini into matchsticks: slice thin pieces diagonally, and then cut across the diagonal slices to make the "matchsticks". Sauté the matchsticks with olive oil and lemon juice (add a bit of lemon zest for extra zing). Bishop adds mint, which I put in only if I have it readily available. Add salt and pepper to taste. Serve over good pasta with parmesan cheese.

And maybe some mojitos.