This has been a go-to salad for longer than we remember. Chinese in origin, it takes on nearly anything from the grill. Pair it with Smoky Salmon Steaks, Corn on the Cob with Chile-Lime Dip and, of course, Ginger Hoisin Summer Shrimp.
This rich, crustless cheesecake studded with chestnut chunks is scented with the unbeatable combination of vanilla and dark rum. That combination brings unexpected elegance to this cake, which originated as a simple country pudding.
This is a lovely dish to serve with grilled pita bread, either alongside a couple of other mezze, while you have a drink before supper, or as an appetizer in its own right, or as a light lunch with a good salad on the side. In the summer, please use fresh peas; at all other times of year the wondrous frozen pea will do. You can make this dish in advance, put it in the fridge, and bring it back to room temperature when you want it.
Don't buy peas without tasting them. They should be sweet and juicy.
Ingredients
Each summer, Johannes Sailer—chef at Les Abeilles in the Provencal village of Sablet—creates an all-tomato menu. One year he opened the meal with this stunning soup: all red, all fresh, all full of honest tomato flavor. This liquid blend of tomatoes, seasoning, top-quality olive oil, and vinegar makes you fee as though you are drinking your salad!
The simplicity of this Calabrian dish is stunning, and for that reason there is no point in even thinking about it until that time in late summer when utterly ripe, red, and flavorful garden tomatoes are in season—preferably from your own or a neighbor's garden. That's where the flavor lies—there and in the use of fine extra-virgin olive oil, good crunchy sea salt, a zesty dash of hot red chili, and, of course, the charcoal fire on which the tomatoes are set to roast. Toast the bread over the charcoal embers after you finish the tomatoes, so it will be crisp but not tough and hard.
Making fromage fort is the ultimate way of using your leftover cheese.
Ingredients
On a glorious trip to Venice over a decade ago, I discovered the extraordinary affinity spring vegetables like baby artichokes, feathery wild asparagus, peas, leeks, and tiny onions have for each other, how their flavors can link and complement. Home again, this Venetian lesson in spring led me to devise a simple approach—half sauté, half stew—that would accommodate whatever combination of vegetables I happened to find in the farmers' market or my own inclination of the moment. Sometimes I replace the artichokes with new potatoes, or use sliced sugar snap peas if I can't find regular peas. If I am feeling lazy, I pare it down to just asparagus, leeks, and pea shoots, the tender leafy tendrils of the pea plant. Once the vegetables are prepared, the stew takes very little time to cook.