Buckets of strawberries

Strawberries are everywhere. From festivals to markets to fruit salads to cobblers, we cannot stop finding them or eating them. To celebrate this deluge of fresh fruit, here are a few recent finds and favorites. Saveur recently offered a bright strawberry cake from Bertha's Kitchen in Charleston, South Carolina, that uses a strawberry cream cheese frosting, while Poires au Chocolat gives a terrific strawberry cream layered sponge cake that's now on my baking agenda. If you have access to Thomas Keller's Bouchon cookbook, I recommend his strawberry tart with its sweet crust, pastry cream, and fresh berries. And for a cocktail that uses fresh strawberries, try Dale DeGroff's Strawberry Nirvana, which makes use of a slightly fussy (but worth it) *triple* syrup (2 parts agave syrup, 2 parts simple syrup, ½ part honey syrup). 


However, the go-to recipe for piles of fresh strawberries in the summer is and should always be strawberry shortcake. Orangette recently posted a recipe with details on making the biscuits, and here I offer the recipe from Alice Waters's The Art of Simple Food for those with access to or recipes for the perfect sweet biscuit. Happy summer!

When it's all about the broth

For five summers now, I've gone clamming with friends in Rhode Island's quahog-rich waters. Rake in hand and potato-sack tied to our waists, we've waded into waist-high water (or neck-high, depending on the tides and one's competitive streak) of Point Judith Pond for a few hours of digging up quahogs and cherrystones in the bright summer sun. Mind you, wearing shoes and employing a rake can be more cumbersome than efficient. Giving up on the shoes and rake often leads to a routine of barefoot digging (usually blindly in the murky waters) and then gasping and diving, all of which is an adventure in and of itself since this process lends well to churning up all walks of sea life. In the end, it's always good fun and involves a fair amount of laughing at oneself and one's friends (especially when the horseshoe crabs get curious). On the boat ride back to shore, cracking open that first freshly caught cherrystone leaves one unable to do anything but raise a toast to summer.

"Easy yet delicious" green beans

A friend wrote to me asking for "something easy yet delicious and snack-like one can do with green beans." Here's a quick and fresh recipe from Dean & Deluca: The Food and Wine Cookbook.

Haricots Verts with Garlic

1.5 lb small green beans, trimmed
2 Tbs extra virgin olive oil
1 Tbs unsalted butter
2 garlic cloves, crushed
a handful of flat-leaf parsley, chopped
1 tsp freshly squeezed lemon juice (optional)
coarse sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

Bring a large saucepan of water to a boil. Add the beans and cook for 3-4 minutes from the time the water returns to a boil. Drain and refresh under cold running water. Set aside. Heat the oil and butter in a skillet. Add the garlic, beans, and salt and cook over high heat for 1 minute, stirring. Remove from the heat, then stir in the chopped parsley and lemon juice, if using. Sprinkle with pepper and serve.

Almonds: Blanched, Ground, and Baked

My trip to Spain begins in less than two weeks and while I'm sadly not exploring Galicia, I wanted to share a recipe from Claudia Roden's The Food of Spain: Tarta di Santiago-Galicia, a terrifically simple tart of eggs, almonds, sugar, and citrus zest. For a somewhat similar tart that has a pastry shortcrust base, try Maxine Clark's Torta di limone e mandorle, which I share here. When making the tart filling and you're grinding your own blanched almonds, Clark recommends grinding the almonds with half of the sugar, then beating the eggs with the remaining sugar, and finally stirring the two mixtures together. This prevents the almonds from becoming too oily. Whipped cream and fresh berries would accompany either tart well.

Tried and true

Gin and limes have gone hand-in-hand for centuries thanks to traditions and remedies practiced by the British Navy. Here's a short list (and by no means exhaustive one) of gin and lime drinks for those who might want something other than the reliable gin and tonic. Cheers!


Gin Gimlet

2 oz gin

3/4 oz Rose's lime juice

Cucumber slice or lime wedge (or both), for garnish

Combine gin and lime juice, shake well. Strain into small cocktail glass or serve over ice in an old-fashioned glass. Garnish with cucumber slice, lime wedge, or both.

Smoking and Searing Tomatoes

At a dinner party recently, I tried for the first time the smoked tomato cream sauce from Dave's Fresh Pasta in Davis Square (Somerville, MA). It's incredible and would pair well with several of their handmade ravioli and pastas. (I had it with black pepper fettuccine.) Smoked tomatoes were a revelation to me, with their earthy, campfire fragrance, and since trying that sauce I've been eager to smoke my own tomatoes. For years, I've been roasting or drying them in a variety of ways, but now that the tomatoes in my fire-escape garden are getting plumper by the day I'm ready for something new.

School is IN for summer

No. 9 Park is offering a cocktail summer school...

"Love the cocktails at No. 9? Interested in recreating a few favorites at home? Join No. 9 Park Bar Manager Ted Kilpatrick and his team for Saturday afternoon cocktail classes at the bar!

On Saturdays from June 11 to July 2, guests will gather at the bar for two hours to learn how to make fabulous cocktails and discover the fascinating history behind them. Each class will feature several individual cocktail demonstrations and tastings accompanied by perfect bar bites. From making  bitters to creating improvisational cocktails, our summer bar class series will increase the cocktail savvy of even the most seasoned at-home stirrers and shakers.

Classes will be offered on Saturdays from 2:30pm - 4:30pm for $75 per person.

Assembling a bowl of summer

As I get ready to go to a barn wedding on a farm this weekend, I cannot help but think of summer and the ease of bringing together fresh produce in a great dish. This bright salad does not require much direction, rather a mere shopping list for the market (or growing list for the garden). The fresher the mâche and peas, the better. Assemble the vegetables in a bowl, whisk the dressing ingredients in another bowl, then combine and toss well together. The hazelnut oil makes a big difference.

Ay, there's the rhubarb

Since we're in the first week of 2011 that will near 100ºF, it's time to break out the tartness. Head out to the farmers markets and pick up some rhubarb, that delightfully sharp member of the buckwheat family with thick, celery-like stalks. Choose crisp stalks that are bright in hue; the leaves should be fresh and without blemish. Rich in Vitamin A, fresh rhubarb is very perishable and should be refrigerated, tightly wrapped in plastic, for up to 3 days. Wash and remove the leaves before using since they contain oxalic acid and can be toxic.


I offer here a few different tasty uses for ringing in the heat with rhubarb. Orangette recommends roasting rhubarb with sugar, vanilla, and a crisp white wine. Rhubarb often finds its way into summer-inaugurating crumbles and cobblers, sometimes with brown sugar, often with strawberries. And don't forget the vanilla ice cream. Melissa Clark recently promoted a rhubarb upside-down cake that is now on my to-cook list, and Ken Oringer (of Clio, Coppa, Toro, and Earth fame) just shared his Maine-inspired rhubarb galette. However, nothing compares to my childhood favorite strawberry-rhubarb pie from Bishop's Orchards in Guilford, CT (still an annual treat when in CT). But most intriguing is a stilton cheesecake topped with a rhubarb compote. Yes, rhubarb isn't quite the main ingredient, but how can you turn down stilton cheesecake?