IT’S ALMOST SUMMER: SIMPLE, FAST, DELICIOUS

Sacramento’s fabulous Corti Brothers Gourmet grocery store posted this photo yesterday to announce “The First of the Season heirloom tomatoes are here!”

Reminding me of the powerful pleasure of simplicity. 

And of Escoffier’s maxim to always keep in mind, when cooking, to “faites simple.”  Keep it simple.

Defined for me one very hot afternoon in midsummer Marrakesh I had wandered around trying to decide where to have lunch. No restaurant looked suitable. Too crowded, too expensive, too empty, too everything. By two-thirty, no one would serve me anyway since the afternoon siesta time was fast approaching. I walked back to my hotel in the European district outside the center of town. By the time I reached the hotel, the only noises were the barking of dogs, the hum of flies, and the slight tinkling of a plastic fountain in the hotel garden. I called for the owner who graciously explained that at after three o’clock there is no food. I asked if I could use the kitchen, a request that so horrified him that, suddenly wide awake, he told me to go sit in the garden.

Half an hour later, in the 110-degree heat, he appeared with a bucket of ice studded with beer bottles dripping with condensation, a bottle of olive oil, a plate of salt, a loaf of bread, and a huge platter of quartered tomatoes that he had just picked from the garden. The tomatoes, still smelling of their ripening in the blazing summer heat, were covered in chopped herbs, onion,  and freshly ground pepper. He shuffled off to sleep in his slippers and left me under the shade of the trees, completely alone, the whole city asleep, the only sound that of the fountain, to crack open one and then another of the ice-cold beers, eating the summer tomatoes, dipping my bread first in olive oil and then in salt. I felt satisfied, and immensely privileged, like a prince in a tiny but momentarily perfect kingdom.

Photo Courtesy of 30 Minute Meals

But now I am in Mexico, it is still 110 degrees, and the aircon is on the blink. With no hotel owner to bring me cold beer and warm tomatoes.

What to do?

Coleslaw

A setting that was as special to me as the Moroccan garden, but one that I visited many times and was the origin of much of my inspiration for and teaching about food, was the apartment of my aunt and Russian uncle in Washington, D.C.

It was there that I drank hundred-year-old Madeira, there that I discovered flavored vodkas chilled to oily smoothness, there that I learned to eat blini—the fire-and-ice vodka first, then the rich, buttery, caviar-laden blini. There that

I ate guinea fowl braised in 1907 Malmsey served on a bed of kasha and wild rice, the sauce made from the braising juices, and drank with it an 1891 Sercial.

I was fifteen.

Despite all these riches and indulgences, it is the memory of the simple food that most vividly conjures up every detail of the lost moments—the flavors, attitudes, and quietly deeper satisfactions. I remember the lobster served with my aunt’s coleslaw, potato chips, and beer. With the hot lobster with melted butter into which I mashed the tomalley, we ate the cold tomato and cabbage coleslaw

The whole key to the success of this dish, I was firmly but very gently told, is to cut the cabbage and tomatoes in large pieces and to soak the cabbage in ice water in the refrigerator for four hours. Meanwhile you peel and seed ripe tomatoes, and when the slaw is mixed and dressed it has to sit in the refrigerator for a couple of hours to achieve perfect flavor and texture. So not a fast dish until you take it out of the fridge. 

This is the perfect time to finally use the Tupperware that your grandmother gave you for your first apartment. It is the perfect picnic or going away for the weekend.

Serves 4 to 6

1 head   white cabbage

4 large   ripe tomatoes

1/2 cup  mayonnaise

1/2 cup  sour cream

1 tablespoon finely chopped fresh ginger

1 teaspoon powdered ginger

1 1/2 teaspoons dry mustard

Salt and freshly ground black ground pepper

Discard any of the outer leaves of the cabbage that are wilted or discolored. Cut the cabbage in half from top to bottom and cut out the core. Put each half, cut side down, on the cutting board and cut into 1/2-inch slices. Put the cabbage in a large bowl, cover with cold water and ice cubes, and refrigerate for 4 hours.

Peel the tomatoes, cut in half around the circumference, squeeze out the seeds, and cut each tomato half into 6 pieces. Mix the mayonnaise, sour cream, fresh and powdered ginger, and mustard in a bowl.

Drain the cabbage very well and mix thoroughly with the sauce. Season with salt and pepper to taste, add the tomatoes, and toss lightly. Refrigerate covered for 2 hours, stirring twice.

Serve very cold.

Safety Net: there is a huge delay, and the slaw starts to wilt, put it in the food processor, chop it up a bit, and stick it in avocado halves or on top of hot, toasted English muffins. Delicious.

You’ve Got Only 20 Minutes: Pasta with Shrimp Sauce              

The tomatoes are from a carton, the shrimp are in the freezer, pasta from the deli, and there are lemons in the refrigerator. All you have to buy is onion and fresh herbs. The sauce for this dish can be prepared in the time it takes for the water to boil. And don’t forget that the best way to heat the bowl for serving the pasta in is to drain the pasta over it in the sink (sieve or colander sitting in it) so that once the pasta is drained, the bowl, wiped dry, is hot and ready for the pasta. You will have read somewhere that the water for cooking pasta must be at a high boil. True, but not if you are using ravioli. A bare simmer is what is needed with ravioli, so they will not burst from all the boiling action.

If you have more time, buy shell-on shrimp and then use the shells to make a 20-minute stock as you would a fish stock. Reduce and use as a base for the sauce.

Serves 2

1/2 cup              chopped tomatoes

1 tablespoon      chopped, mixed fresh herbs (basil, marjoram, tarragon, parsley)

1 tablespoon      freshly squeezed lemon juice

pinch                salt

½ teaspoon        freshly ground black pepper

¼ cup                extra virgin olive oil

½ pound            uncooked, peeled shrimp (18-24 size to the pound)

12                     spaghetti or linguine

Mix the tomatoes, herbs, lemon juice, salt, pepper, and olive oil in a bowl.

Simmer the shrimp in ½ cup of lightly salted water for 3 minutes. Drain the shrimp and save the cooking liquid. When the shrimp are cool enough to handle, chop coarsely and add to the tomato mixture. 

Meanwhile cook the pasta in boiling water until just cooked and still slightly al dente, about 10 minutes. Heat the shrimp water and add to the tomato mixture. Then add the drained pasta, toss gently, taste for seasoning, and serve.

Beyond Canned Salmon:  Broiled Salmon BLT                                     

Salmon, because it is the most popular fish it tends to be fresher than others available retail. And buy the salmon with the skin on  since the flavor will be all the better from the fat on the skin. And get the best bacon available, like apple-wood-smoked, but not the thick cut. 

Variations:  fresh basil leaves under the bacon with or without the tomato, or any other fresh herbs. And fatty fish like salmon go really well with more fats, so you could serve it with an herb or tomato mayonnaise.

Preparation Time: 30 mins.       

Serves:  2+

1 piece        salmon filet, skin on, pin bones removed

1                  lemon, zested and juiced

1 large         tomato

           freshly ground black pepper

6 rashers      bacon

1 small         Romaine lettuce heart, roughly chopped

                    sea salt

1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.

Put the piece of salmon skin side down on the baking sheet. Cut the stem end out of the tomato and cut it in roughly 1/8-inch slices. Sprinkle the lemon zest over the salmon, lay the tomato slices over the salmon, and sprinkle it all with lashings of the pepper or less lashings if the bacon is already peppered. Now lay the bacon over the salmon to cover it. Put the salmon in the oven and cook for 15 minutes or until the salmon looks as if it has just turned from raw to cooked. From red to pink. 

Take the salmon out of the oven and lift off the crisp bacon. Chop it up roughly and put it in a small bowl. Add the lettuce, a little pepper, and the olive oil. Quickly toss together and serve on top of the salmon.

Safety Net: Difficult to do, but you could overcook the salmon. In that case, chop it up coarsely, add a little olive oil, and serve it in a nest of that same lettuce-bacon salad.

Russian Raspberry Gratin

This is one of those simple desserts that have far more impact than their few ingredients would seem to indicate. It is fast, easy, sinfully comforting and delicious.

Serves 4

1 pint (340 gr)       raspberries

2 cups                    sour cream or crème fraiche

1 cup                     dark brown sugar, sieved

Heat the broiler.

Place the berries in a shallow baking dish. Whisk the sour cream until smooth and spread over the berries. Sprinkle with the brown sugar. Broil until the sugar begins to bubble and lightly caramelize. Be careful not to burn the sugar. Serve immediately.

Photo Courtesy of The Smitten Kitchen

I don’t have a broiler right now, so I have used this photo below from Good Dinner Mom, even it if is a different version with custard.