It would not be summer without ratatouille and everyone has his or her favorite. This one is mine and whether it is better or worse than any other recipe, I don’t know. What I do know is that it connects me to the wonderful cookbook from which it comes, Lulu’s Provencal Table by Richard Olney. Be warned, this is not your quick and easy (well, it is fairly easy) ratatouille, but it is well worth the effort. – Jason Adams
{Recipe after the jump.}
This one comes from one of my favorite food blogs, Chocolate & Zucchini, created by Clotilde Dusoulier. Although there is no chocolate in this recipe, it is a delicious way to use by a couple of pounds of zucchini. You can read the original recipe here. – Jason Adams
{Recipe after the jump.}
Any excuse to eat garlic is what I say, and there is no better way to eat garlic in the summer than the grand dish of Provence: Aioli Monstre or Grand Aioli. And what could be better than eating Red Hook Garlic? – Jason Adams
{Recipe after the jump.}
Do I need to talk about the heat? I didn’t think so. Cold soups are a summer staple, a way to beat the heat in the kitchen as well as out of it. Gazpacho, like pesto, can be made with just about anything. The acidic bite or tang, not necessarily tomatoes, is what historically defines gazpacho. Inspired by this recent NY Times recipe, this soup has it all: spicy, sweet, salty and tangy. — Jason Adams
{Recipe after the jump.}
The return of summer stone fruit — local tree-ripened fruit that is. Short of picking your own, you’re not going to experience what real fruit tastes like until the local stuff arrives.
This one comes from the now defunct pages of Gourmet Magazine, circa 2005. I make it every year when the real goods are available. It looks good, tastes good and is easy to make, especially for those who have difficulty with pie crusts. You can find the original recipe here. Here’s my take and my comments on the comments. (See Notes to the Chef below.) – Jason Adams
{Recipe after the jump.}
I was able to turn my giant kale into kale chips as there was no room in the fridge for it. There was no room in the crisper drawers for the celery, either, so something had to be done. I thought of celery soup as our CSA celery is pretty assertive. A quick Google search for inspiration and I came across the winning celery veloute from Top Chef Masters. So with a nod to Chef Nomi Pomeroy, please find my version of said Celery Soup. — Jason Adams
{Recipe after the jump.}
This recipe is shamelessly lifted from the New York Times – with some modifications to adapt to our recent CSA share. It was delicious none the same. — Jason Adams
{Recipe after the jump.}
As a nod to summer and Fergus Henderson, I bring you the beet, used in its entirety — nose-to-tail, so to speak.
After the jump, enjoy recipes for Grated Beet Salad and Braised Beet Top Crostinis. – Jason Adams
It seems like it has been a long time coming, and then finally, our first CSA share. And what a bountiful selection it turned out to be.
I took an early trip to Prospect Park to supplement what I knew we wouldn’t be receiving in order to push along a theme I had been working on: Strawberry Radish Scallop Ceviche.
This dish pushed my efforts to the next level; the results, along with the wine pairing, turned out to be extraordinary.
There is sweetness in the peas and the scallops, spice in the radishes, garlic scapes and jalapenos, crunch in the lettuce, peas and radishes, fruitiness in the strawberries and the limes. Like our first CSA share – lots of things going on. - by Jason Adams
Recipe after the jump.
They call them Italian Plums; they are the plums that when dried go on to become prunes. I have always called them prunes.
As a kid I lived and grew up among the prune orchards of California. At one point we lived in the farmhouse of an old prune orchard that would later house the early entrepreneurs of the burgeoning Silicone Valley. The sound of the tractors and migrant fruit pickers in the morning was replaced by the rattle of Mercedes and Volvo diesels during the gas crisis in the late 1970s.
