Summer porn

Do I really need to say anything about this? I think the picture sums it up: the bounty of summer. A fresh tomato sliced with salt, pepper and a basil leaf. I love August.

Summer Pasta Part I

During last week's heat wave, when it reached 103° in NYC—a record for that day —I couldn't bare the thought of spending too much time in the kitchen to cook dinner. So I relied on one of our favorite warm-weather meals: spaghetti with arugula, cherry tomatoes, garlic, and olive oil. This dish tastes like summer. The beauty of this recipe is that you most likely have all or most of the ingredients in your cupboard or refrigerator. Garlic is a staple in our kitchen as is olive oil. We're growing tomatoes in our garden in Copake but it's too early to pick any just yet, so I grabbed some cherry tomatoes from the market. Arugula on the other hand was one of the first vegetables to grow in our new garden this summer. Carl takes the credit here. He grew the plant from seeds and took pains to keep the patch weed and critter free.


I cut the tomatoes in half and washed the arugula. Next, I sauteed chopped garlic in the olive oil for 30 seconds or less. Don't let the garlic start to brown. It will taste too bitter. Add the cherry tomatoes and saute until they start to caramelize and create a thickened sauce. While you're doing this have a pot of water on to boil. I prefer traditional spaghetti # 8 for this but you can use linguine or any long pasta of your liking. Once the pasta is al dente, drain and pour the hot spaghetti on top of a heallthy serving of arugula placed in your serving bowl. The heat from the pasta will wilt the greens. Pour that delicious red "sauce" of tangy tomatoes over it. Voila! A taste of summer at your ready in less than 20 minutes. Fresh ground pepper and little Percorino Romano on top finishes it off. Take your bowl as quickly as you can into the air-conditioned living room and slowly enjoy your dinner in front of the AC and the latest episode of Glee stored on your DVR. Dishes can wait until tomorrow when the weather cools. Hopefully.

Tomatoes and herbs are finally planted

The weather was crazy this weekend, what with a tornado warning in upstate New York. But we managed to get to the nursery for the tomato plants that I had planned to plant last week, and in the midst of a torrential downpour, I got the plants in the ground.

We picked up some herb plants too. Planting the cukes and zucchini got rained out, so Mom's going to get them in this week. Thanks Mom! I'm finally starting to feel as if the garden will really take shape. I just need to keep weeding and weeding and weeding.

It's going to be worth the effort. And having Vivi at my side while weeding has been great inspiration. The radishes and lettuces are growing nicely, and Vivi's getting curious about how they're growing and when we can eat them. That curiosity is exactly what I was hoping for. I just hope she'll eat the veggies. If only I could plant a mac and cheese plant, all be will happy in Viviland.

Is it summer yet?

The transition from one season to another is always a time of flux. And not just in terms of the weather, but what we eat and what we crave. As soon as the temperature starts to rise I immediately have visions of corn on the cob and tomato salad. The truth is that those are our culinary rewards for surviving the heat and humidity of summer. They're at their peak in August and September, and are so worth the wait. But it's hard to eat seasonally. What with strawberries from California and corn from Florida available all year long, why should we have to wait?

This spring we tried to stick to a more seasonal approach to eating veggies and gobbled up pea shoots, asparagus, and some recently sprouted radishes. But they aren't always available at the Key Food in our neighborhood in NYC, and we end up buying what's in front of us. I have moments of guilt when I buy that mix of gourmet tomatoes from Mexico or California. I think about how they were shipped across the country and how my carbon footprint just got gigantic.

I made a salad from that box of tomatoes, and although it was quite tasty, my guilt was weighing down on me. Does anyone else have this type of food anxiety: eat local versus eat organic versus eat seasonal? Or should we just be focused on eating healthy foods that are available to us regardless of the season or their provenance? Any thoughts?

Chicken cutlets, summer style

Fred has a favorite, little Italian restaurant on the Upper West Side—Coppolla's—which he swears has the best Chicken Parmesan in the city. I, on the other hand, think that their Chicken Milanese is out of this world. The crispy, fried, extra-thin chicken cutlet covered with a mix of greens and chopped tomatoes. Mmm. My mouth is watering just thinking of it.

Since I had tons of leftover arugula I decided to make some Chicken Milanese at home. It is so easy to do, and so easy to alter based on what you have in your crisper. Fred's sister also made some last week and she used fresh basil and tomatoes instead of arugula. You could substitute mesclun salad, fresh spinach, or chop some flat-leaf parsley and toss that with tomatoes. There are no hard rules with this dish.

Start with your favorite recipe for chicken cutlets. This can be done ahead of time, since they don't need to be hot when eaten. In fact, I like to eat this with the chicken just warmed a little, kinda like room temperature. That's what makes it so perfect for summer. Then toss a mix of chopped greens and tomatoes with a glug of olive oil and a drizzle of balsamic vinegar in a bowl. You can use your hands for this part. Put a cutlet on each plate and then top with a handful of the salad mix (for the kids, you might want to put the salad on the side). Lick fingers and enjoy the taste of summer.