Composing a great meal of good food

One of my favorite summer diversions has become composing delicious, usually cool, more-veg-than-not,  meals made with local summer bounty.  All the better if it is inspired by and can evoke a place, time, and mood.  Someplace we'd rather be...anywhere, but here.

Here are some recent menus for Summer 2011:

Ciao Italia:  Tonight's dinner included roasted red peppers; farm tomatoes & garden basil; fresh buffalo mozzarella; sliced pepperoni; white bean salad with garden sage; spinach wilted in olive oil, garlic and a squeeze of lemon; crusty bread; and a bottle of wine.  Later, we enjoyed homemade cherry-vanilla ice pops.  Yummy, cool, and so easy!

Simplemente Mexico:  Last week, I used up a host of leftovers and re-created them into something totally new and easy.  I sprinkled a mild, white mexican cheese on corn tortillas and broiled them to just enough to crisp the tortilla and melt the cheese; a light pico de gallo sauce on the side; and served with a black bean, fresh corn kernel, avocado, cilantro salad with a squeeze of lime.  Cold beer made it lively.

Grilling in Greece:  One recent warm night, I grilled some lamb rubbed with garlic and rosemary, and served it with homemade cucumber tsatsiki, crumbled feta, olives, and flat bread.  The charred lamb was such a lovely accompaniment to the simple sides.

One Night in Nice:  Dear Daughter will tell just about anyone her favorite food is a Nicoise salad - much to my chagrin - it sounds so precocious!  What she really means is she loves La Nouvelle Observatrice's composed Nicoise with lightly steamed green beans, fresh garden tomatoes, boiled eggs, some briny olives, boiled new potatoes tossed with olive oil and chives, and tuna (if it's in a tin, I use the Italian brand packed in oil, and mix in some fresh parsley).  I usually whip up a lemon-dijon vinaigrette, and drizzle it over the colorful platters.

Crunchy-punchy Caesar:  This one is an American classic - originating, they say, from the Brown Derby in Hollywood, also ubiquitous at steakhouse menus - actually pretty ubiquitous on any American menu!  I do love the effect of the crisp cool hearts of romaine on a summer day.  The weekend's stale bread makes the homemade crusty croutons.  The aged parmesan reggiano is nutty, and procured during a weekend outing at Eastern Market.  I make my vinaigrette with extra punch - lots of lemon, lots of garlic, lots of dijon (extra forte).  Grilling even just one or two chicken breasts gives us enough protein for a few people - more people than breasts can - for once - work out here.

More Inspiration than Perspiration:  Salmon burgers have become a regular go-to meal around here.  Being pressed for time, a little lazy, and taking more credit for the inspiration to eat fresh and healthy, than the actually making of it, I buy pre-made salmon patties at the fish store or Whole Foods Market, grill them up, and serve on whole wheat burger buns, with a spoonful of 1000 Island dressing, some romaine (See Caesar - regularly in my fridge in the summer months), and a slice or two of tomato (see other recipes - perfect in July and August)

Late July Harvest Show-off:  Pasta primavera was featured recently on this blog.  A quick sautee of  summer squash, sweet onion, corn, tomato and basil - no need to be saucy about it.  I serve it over a small portion of pasta - the pasta-veg/sauce ratio is no more than 1-to-1.  Aged parmesan is grated over our bright yellow-red-green dishes right at the table.  Yum.

Don't forget the power of good, cold craft beer, chilled white (or even pink) wine, bubbly seltzer (add a dash of cranberry juice or a flavored syrup for fanciness), lemonade (with or without pureed raspberries), and homemade ice cream (just 20 minutes, plus freezetime in the ice cream maker) to get credit for being a domestic goddess.  Nigella, my luscious, eat your heart out!

Pasta Primavera

Summer Vegetables: zucchini, tomatoes, corn, basil over rotini, sprinkled with parmesan

Sauvignon Blanc

Weekend

Summertime, and the living is easy.

I'm not sure if it's because of the season.  Or because things at work are at a slower pace.   Or because even though my new boss is super-charging our workload and raising the bar big-time, I feel motivated at work and able to define my life and my schedule (which in June meant, I took every Friday off, and today meant that I worked from home in the morning, ducked out for G's performance, and then headed to the office at 1:30, but proceed to work 'til 7pm...on a Friday,...in the summer).  But at any rate, I'm feeling pretty chillax.  And I'm looking forward to a weekend that is mixed with lazing about, doing chores, and being lightly social - or "social-lite."

Tonight was "Book" Club - hardly about books, and hardly a club - but a bunch of irreverent urban moms who like to host good friends, cook great food, eat it well, accompanied by choice beer and wine, and proceed to talk and laugh until midnight or so.  Our bike commutes converge as the blocks get closer in, so one biker, turned to two at my place, where we caught up with two others a few blocks away, and half a block from our host's house found the other three biker contingent coming from the north end of our neighborhood.  I'll spare you the (delicious) menu (there are so many damn food blogs out there these days) and the topics of conversation (to protect the innocent, and because you had to be there), and skip to the end, when my ride home with two others took us the long way to better revel in the cool (in  DC July!) air, the clear black sky, the round bright silver moon,  and the car-free city streets.

Tomorrow's chores include a grocery shop, picking up my computer back-up drive, a trip to the library for returns and pick-up of the books I've reserved online.  It also involves some cooking - a Mexican bean salad and some homemade ice cream (can't decide how I'll top last week's ginger peach, but I'm leaning toward strawberry almond or cinnamon blueberry).  I'll swim in the newly-discovered 50m (Olympic-sized) DC pool that feels simply tremendous in the glorious sun and blue sky and experienced by my working, churning body.  There's a plan with G - perhaps some recreational swimming, and a night in with gameboards (she's learned Sorry!) or cards (Skip-bo, by the makers of Uno).

Sunday will find us at church, followed by brunch with friends...and then we must encamp somewhere for the Women's World Cup (USA!), before heading home at the very last minute for visiting with G's godmoms and kids.

It may very well turn into the Perfect Weekend.

La Nouvelle Observatrice

New York City Food Tour

Mmmmmmm...just back from a delicious four-day trip to New York.  All fun, no work!  Here's a meal-by meal account...

Balthazar - First stop after the train, a quick lunch in SoHo.  This spot is known for the rich and gorgeous, and this Sunday was no exception.  Instead of the sit-down, expensive, tres chic brunch, we opted for the take-away counter - a gorgeous patisserie - where a jambon-fromage sandwich on a crusty baguette and a fresh mint-lemonade on the bench outside while people-watching was simply low-key perfect.

Motorino - Later in the Deep East Village, we had to try to best pizza in New York (at least according to the New York Times).  OMG.  Heaven.  The fennel salad was impeccable. The well-balanced mix of fennel, orange, olives, capers, and parmesan had a lovely fresh, salty, minty, citrus-y pop - perfect for a summer evening.  The Margherita pizza (the true test of the best) met expectations - yeasty crust with just enough black char and a creamy fresh buffalo mozz was delish (though I found the tomato sauce a bit soupy).  A simple glass of Nero d'Avola- my summer favorite in Italian wine was a perfect complement.

Shake Shack - New Yorkers line up for this local chain serving burgers and shakes (now also in Dupont Circle, DC).  I haven't tried either - but I did did a kick out of those stylish hipsters lining up fro them in the summer twilight of Madison Square Park.  We hit the B-line (no hot food, no shakes) where with no line, no waiting, I soon had a sweet corn ice cream cone in my hand.  Another park bench served as a perch for fabulous people-watching and eavesdropping.

Tom's Restaurant - In the morning, it was off to Morningside Heights, my old stomping ground at Columbia, for a little walkabout.  First stop, Tom's - the 24-hour diner institution of Seinfeld and Suzanne Vega fame - for a greasy spoon breakfast.  Sadly, a bit of a disappointment.  The place has been refurbished, and lost it's dive-y charm.  The egg and ham sandwich on an English muffin was lackluster, and the coffee was weak.  I think coffee expectations have changed over the years from Folgers to Brooklyn Roasters...and Tom's is still with the former.

Petrie Cafe at the Metropolitan Museum - The gorgeous summer afternoon hopping between art museums and Central Park beckoned us to the Petrie Cafe at the Met.  The setting was perfect - cooled from the mid-day scorcher, but the wide windows to the courtyard presented the tall green shade trees and the Central Park scenery as if we were immersed in it all.  Here, desperate for vegetables, I had an early summer bounty salad of asparagus, peas and fava beans, and four glasses of NYC tap water.

Eataly - A surprising number of our first choice bistros were closed for the July 4th holiday, but we finally found one good option open.  The Italian food emporium is a huge warehouse of Italian groceries and food purveyors - shelves of pastas, aisles of olive oils, butcher, dairy shop, cheese, incredible espresso, a gelato store...and five sit-down restaurants, each with a specialty - fish, meat, vegetarian, pizza and pasta.  We opted for the pasta - actually the pasta opted us, as all the others were fully booked. A simple antipasti dish - pickled cremini, roasted beets (with crumbled pistachios - yum), shaved asparagus with pecorino, and olives - started us off.  Then, we enjoyed two simple pasta dishes - an earthy, rich ravioli stuffed with prosciutto and gran padano in a brown-butter sage sauce and a lighter, fresher cavatelli with cherry tomatoes and arugula.  All al dente... A good bottle of Italian red - what was it again? - completed the meal and the day.

Bagels - Poppy seed with cream cheese and a coffee from the corner take-out.  It was excellent - and so great to be amidst all the New Yorkers getting the same order as they headed to work.

PJ Clarke's (not worth the link) - Not surprisingly a food disappointment, but we weren't there for the meal, we were there for the New York Harbor view in the Financial District. Some sailboats heading out and Lady Liberty standing watch were five-star all the way!  My Maine lobster roll was bursting with sweet meat...but the iced tea was weak, the coleslaw bland, and the service abhorrent.

Paradou - After a walk on the High Line - my new favorite place in New York, though my recent discovery of Madison Square Park with the luminescent sculpture of a girls' face (Echo, Jaume Plensa) is a close second - we ate dinner in this little bistro in the Meatpacking District,  We ordered our most decadent meal of the trip, and it was hit and miss.  An insanely rich, curated foie gras was incredible - served with macadamia nuts drenched in Lillet! -  started the meal.  This was the highlight of the meal.  A medium rare steak was well cooked, but a poor cut- chewy and fatty.  However, its accompaniment of potato gratin -  finely slivered potatoes, layered with a nutty cheese and a dash of allspice - was heavenly.  The tiny pile of greens on the plate added lightness, but its lackluster flavor was not worth the effort.  A nice bottle of Cote du Rhone kept it all very French in the elegant courtyard garden.  While the overall experience was quite pleasant and warm, the meal itself was merely fair and tepid. Next time, I think I'll go back to exploring the West Village.

Bon appétit!