strawberry mint agua fresca.

I'm going to go ahead and state the obvious.  It's hot.  Standing on the subway platform feels like you are waiting at the gate's of hell (or so what I imagine the gates of hell must feel like).  Walking down the street is a game of jumping from one shady spot to the next in an effort to avoid melting into a puddle of salty sweat.  Clothing is unbearable (especially work clothes which are impossible to remain cool in).  Food is even less appealing (it's too hot to chew) which is why when the dog days of summer roll in, I tend to adopt a liquid diet.  I tend to stick with water mostly because I am fairly apprehensive of soda and I'm not completely sold on these pressed juices (how are 6 pounds of kale squeezed into one teeny tiny super expensive bottle?!) but agua fresca is a drink I can get behind when the temperatures hover near 90 degrees.  Agua fresca is a fancy name for fruit juice.  I've seen all sorts of varieties and now is the time to make them at home when the produce is fresh and in season.  My version involves strawberries picked from a roadside market in Maine mixed with some mint for an extra cooling effect.  Served a top a large amount of ice there is nothing more refreshing for a hot summer day (except maybe a spiked version but I'll let you be the judge of that.)

Strawberry Mint Agua Fresca

This is basically a recipe that can you use as a jumping off point for so many other fruits.  Watermelon and basil would make for a lovely combination as would peach and rosemary.  You can also use these juices in a cocktail since spiked juices are always a good thing. (Tequilla would be my liquid of choice but vodka is never a bad thing.)

Makes about 4 cups

6 large strawberries, washed and hulled (about 1 1/2 - 2 cups)
3 1/2 cups of water, divided
2 tablespoons sugar
Juice of 1 lime
8 mint leaves
Ice for serving

Place hulled strawberries in a blender or food processor along with 1/2 cup of water, sugar, lime juice, and 4 mint leaves.  Process until smooth.  Add in the remaining water.  Chill the mixture for at least an hour.

Place ice in glass. Fill the glasses with the agua fresca.  Serve with a mint leave and a wedge of lime.  

new at the market.

Salted butter.  There isn't much else that is needed to accompany a grilled ear of corn.  

While I can't get enough of corn with butter dribbling down my chin and pooling (hopefully) on my plate instead of on my leg, sometimes I want a little something more.  

So this summer I plan on making cheesy polenta with corn and tomatoes (as seen on Not Without Salt's Instagram), corn pizza with bacon and scallions, corn ice cream (or at least making a trip to the Bent Spoon for their version of corn ice cream), and a corn and farro salad with avocado and chipotle.  

But let's be honest, my goal is to get my hands on Thirty Acres grilled corn with miso, browned butter, and lobster mayo and figure out how to recreate it.  ASAP.  

cherry clafoutis.

Come summer time, I like to pretend I'm French.  I spend most of June searching for the perfect nude flat leather sandal and the easiest and simplest loose black cotton dress (because any respectable French woman owns these items) .  The kind of thing that can be dressed up with wedges and dressed down by being barefoot.  Dinners get eaten by the light of the setting sun usually accompanied by chilled glasses of rose and wedges of local cheeses.  Dessert always involves seasonal fruit that is prepared in a way that lets the fruit shine.  Cherry clafoutis is the epitome of rustic French desserts (even the word clafoutis sounds rustic!).  Cherries get suspended in a pudding like batter and as the clafoutis bakes, it puffs up like a pancake, enrobing each cherry in custard.  It's perfection and beyond simple and the kind of thing the begs to be eaten outdoors on hot summer nights. 

Cherry Clafoutis

Recipe is from Around my French Table by Dorie Greenspan

1 lb (450 g) sweet cherries, stemmed (you can pit them or leave them unpitted your choice!)
3 large eggs
1/2 cup of granulated sugar
Pinch of fine grain sea salt
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
1/2 cup all purpose flour
3/4 cup of whole milk
1/2 cup of heavy cream
Confectioners’ sugar for dusting

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Ensure that your oven rack is centred in the oven.

Generously grease a 9 inch pie or quiche pan with butter.

Place the washed and dried cherries into the prepared baking dish in a single layer.

In a medium bowl whisk the 3 eggs until they are light and frothy. Add in the sugar and beat with a whisk for a minute or so until the sugar has dissolved. Add in the pinch of salt and the vanilla and whisk well. Add in the flour and beat the mixture vigorously until the flour is well incorporated and smooth. Gradually pour in the milk and cream and whisk until well incorporated. Rap the bowl against the counter to release any air bubbles and then pour the batter over the cherries in the prepared baking dish.

Bake in the preheated oven for 35 to 45 minutes until the clafoutis is puffed up and golden brown and when a sharp knife blade inserted into the centre of the clafoutis comes out clean.

Remove from the oven to a cooling rack and allow the clafoutis to cool to room temperature. When you are ready to serve, dust the clafoutis with confectioner’s sugar  by using a fine mesh sieve.

Serves 6.

new at the market.

Cherry red cherries have arrived.  

I fall hard for cherries.  They are the first of the seasonal fruits that work exceptionally well in both sweet and savory applications.  

For sweet you have cherry pie, cherry almond clafoutis, cherry cornmeal upside down cake, cherry breakfast crumble, .

For savory you have pickled cherries to be thrown in salads, roasted cherry compote atop goat cheese crostini, pork chops with cherry sauce.  

Or you can eat them on road trips.  Popping them in your mouth and shooting the pits out onto the open highway which is how I will be consuming them tomorrow as the boy and I road trip up to Maine.  

all i want.

All I want is to be on vacation somewhere far away from New York City's humidity.  I want to be barefoot in a simple swingy black dress (something like this would be lovely) baking cherry clafoutis and drinking freshly brewed coffee.  I want to be half way through a novel that I find so engaging I can barely tear myself away from the book.  I want to have a stack of fashion magazines waiting to be read next to my bed.  I want to eat tomato, avocado, and burrata tartines for breakfast and lunch (recipe here).  I want to spend my mornings swimming in the sun and my late afternoons napping to the sounds of summer thundershowers.  I want to not have a schedule or plan or a list of things that have to be done.  I want to eat ice cream.  I want to be calm.  I want to be in this kitchen. 

This kitchen is perfection.  

Image via Pinterest.

miso glazed salmon.

A lot of what we eat for dinner each evening stems from me Googling random ingredients and seeing what recipes come up.  This is not always conducive to having a successful dinner (blue cheese, tortillas, and cucumbers surprisingly doesn't come up with much).  Usually, this method leads to absurd meals but some days you need meals like that in an effort to clean out the fridge before things go bad.  (I know I can't be the only one who has this issue.) On occasion I stumble upon a recipe that has me questioning why I don't try cooking like this every night especially once I discover a recipe like this miso glazed salmon that is absurdly good (and easy!).  

This recipe search came about because I have the tendency to buy ingredients that I use for a specific recipe and then sometimes forget about (I have a terrible memory).  The boy likes to remind me of these tendencies every time I have us searching for some obscure item and every time he does that I like to remind him it will get used (I just don't specify exactly when it will happen).  So when I was searching through the fridge and saw the container of miso languishing in the back, I figured it was time to use it again before I heard him give me an earful.  A quick search for salmon (on sale at Whole Foods!) and miso led me to this recipe and I couldn't be happier with the results.  Miso is flavor-bomb ingredient (also known as a umami ingredient) and when paired with ginger and salmon you have one of the most flavorful glazes for fish ever (or for anything else you may find yourself pairing it with, I strongly suggest green beans and sugar snap peas).  

Miso Glazed Salmon
Recipe adapted (barely) via Bon Appetit

Serves 4

The original recipe calls for bone in salmon steaks but I find that salmon fillet works just as well (if not better).  Feel free to use either because really you could put this glaze on anything and people will devour it and you will have extra miso mixture which I strongly suggest using on vegetables.  White miso can be found at Asian supermarkets in the refridgerated section.  There are many types of miso but I suggest white miso the first time you buy it since it the mildest one.  

1 side, skin-on wild sockeye salmon fillet, about 1 1/2 pounds (pin bones removed)
1/3 cup white miso
2 tablespoons mirin (Japanese rice wine)
2 tablespoons unseasoned rice vinegar
2 teaspoons minced peeled fresh ginger (or grated on a microplane)
1 teaspoon Asian sesame oil
4 lime wedges for serving
Sesame seeds and cilantro for garnish (optional)

Line a rimed baking sheet with parchment paper or tin foil.  Lightly brush with vegetable oil.  Place salmon filet on the baking sheet, skin side down.  Whisk miso, mirin, rice vinegar, ginger, and sesame oil in a bowl to blend.  Spread the miso mixture over the salmon fillet so the whole thing is evenly coated.  Cover with plastic wrap and let marinate at room temperature for 15 minutes or in the fridge for up to an hour.  

Position an oven rack 6"-8" from broiler and preheat. Broil salmon, turning once, until golden brown and just opaque in center, 10-12 minutes total (or until an instant read thermometer reaches a temperature of 131 degrees.  Let salmon rest 5 minutes.  Top with minced cilantro and sesame seeds if desired. Serve with lime wedges.