Real lemonade is the lemonade that sends a shiver down your back when you take that first sip. It’s a perfect balance of sweet, tart and cool. This recipe is based on the idea of one medium lemon per person. Adjustments are easily made depending on your love of sweetness. We like to make a simple syrup and keep it in our fridges during the summer months as it dissolves immediately in cool drinks, but any sweetener can step in — stevia, agave or even a big scoop from the sugar bowl.
We had the good fortune to spend a week in Mexico City a few years back, and while we ate killer food like madwomen, we were both entirely won over by the fruit waters, or aguas frescas that Mexicans routinely drink. Made daily with puréed fresh, ripe fruit, water and sugar, they are utterly enchanting and perfect for summertime sipping. You won’t miss the alcohol, we promise.
Slices of cool, fresh nectarines take on surprisingly concentrated flavors when bathed in a nectar-like wine syrup. This is one of the more intriguing fruit desserts you’ll taste, and there’s nothing to it — merely nectarines, sugar, wine and an interesting technique. We’ve been making it every summer since I first wrote about the dish in The Italian Country Table.
Sometimes you need a break from all that lush summer fruit with a sweet that reminds you of what good chocolate and summer cream can do for each other. The bite of strong, dark roast coffee teases out chocolate’s appealingly bitter edge, so things don’t go too far over the top. This desert comes together easily and holds in the fridge for several days.
These generous wedges of red onion marinate in wine, olive oil and herbs, then turn crusty on the grill. Outstanding as a side dish, they could also be a meal unto themselves. We always make enough for leftovers because the onions make such a good lunch the next day with bread and cheese.
Those addictive Southeast Asian noodle salads usually star Asia’s crisp, sweet/tart green papaya or mango. So why not use our own summer peaches or nectarines? When they’re firm and slightly underripe but still fragrant, they’re ideal for salads like this.
Think of this salad as you would a chutney. It was designed to pair with the Weeknight Kofta with Allspice and Almonds, but would be just as delicious with the Golden Rice Salad, Smoky Salmon Steaks, Indian Grilled Vegetables or just slathered on a piece of rustic grilled bread.
You think tomatoes do a lot for a salad? Wait until you taste what cantaloupe or other melons can achieve. Why we don’t use them this way all the time is a mystery.
Straight from 19th-century American cookbooks, these big chunks of ripe beefsteak and green tomatoes (use more red ones in a pinch) get bathed in a warm, garlicky, sweet-sour dressing.
It’s no surprise that the richness of salmon takes beautifully to the flavor of wood smoke. But what is a surprise is that you don’t need hours of smoking to bring out those great tastes. In this recipe, we speed up the smoking process by rubbing the fish with Spanish smoked paprika, and then slowly roasting the fish over wood chips. The salmon comes off the grill beautifully burnished and tinged with the scent of wood smoke. Try the fish with our bright green Somalian Bizbaz Sauce.