Fancy Food

This cauliflower soup came from Rocco Dispirito's Flavor, which I received for Christmas several years ago.  This is the second time I've made it, and both times I ended up a little disgruntled by how labor-intensive it is.  First, you make a basil simple syrup, which involves two saucepans and a blender; then, browning the pine nuts in oil--a small skillet; and finally cooking a whole head of cauliflower with a sweated onion--one saucepan and the blender, and finally another clean pot to reheat the soup.  And this is only a first-course soup, as it's very light.  I made focaccia with sage and walnuts to go with it, which made a balanced supper.

We ate it cold for lunch the next day, equally tasty.

Why am I whining about this?  Because I prefer to make simple things.  I've vowed to live without recipes for a while.  I already know how to cook!

On the positive side, there was leftover basil syrup, and I made this drink at Eva's suggestion:  gin, soda, a squeeze of lemon, and a teaspoon of the syrup.  Delicious!

Lemon-Basil Daiquiris

Our beach trip a few weeks ago was somewhat marred by cold weather, but was otherwise beautiful. You can see in this picture I am holding a daiquiri in my long pants and wool jacket.

Sharon had heard about this drink somewhere, so she and Annie set about trying to re-create it. Here is the recipe for a blenderful, as perfected over several days.

• 4 ounces light rum
• 1.5 ounces lemon juice
• 1/8 cup or more sugar
• 4 basil leaves
• ice to fill

It sounds almost too minimalistic. It is very light and crisp, like a mojito. But all the ingredients come through just right, assertive but not too strong.

They experimented with using lemonade, lemon zest, and freshly squeezed lemon juice, but in the end settled on high quality bottled lemon juice. I would probably juice a lemon just because that's what we usually have around.

I think you should make one with your homegrown Meyer lemons and garden basil, Mom.

Homemade Pasta with Pesto and Green Beans

The pesto Lawson made over the weekend was so fresh and good and perfumey that I decided it deserved some homemade pasta. The combination of pesto, homemade pasta, and green beans is not untraditional (though I skipped the potatoes).

The pasta recipe (from both Marcella Hazan and Jack Bishop) was simple: 1 cup of flour and two eggs, mixed in a food processor and then kneaded by hand. I ended up adding a good bit more flour during the kneading and rolling, but stiff pasta dough is not a bad thing.

After reading Ms. Hazan's rant in More Classic Italian Cooking about how pasta machines are evil, I nonetheless pulled out Lawson's lovely old hand-cranked Atlas pasta machine and proceeded to make some fettucine. Here it is waiting to be cooked. The local eggs I used had vibrant, almost orange yolks, which made the raw pasta a lovely yellow.

We had it with the barest salad: red romaine, lemon juice, salt, olive oil, and pepper.

Various Things to Eat

Here's a nice garbanzo bean salad. It contains a cucumber from Dad's garden, some basil, orange bell pepper, lime juice, and olive oil.

Also pictured are limes from our tree--chicas, or little ones, they are called in the Mexican grocery store. I have always wanted some of these Mexican blue glasses for margaritas, and today we found them in a store that was going out of business.

And . . . check out our basil crop. I made pesto today.

Thai Beef Rolls with Sweet Chile Sauce

Lawson made these grilled, Thai basil-wrapped meatballs last week. The chile sauce was very sweet -- tasted just like the Maggi sweet chile sauce I love to put on burgers, except with a fresher lime flavor. And the meatballs were perfect. He used more mint than the recipe calls for, and added some Thai basil to the meat mixture. I highly recommend the recipe.

We tried using some lemongrass stalks as skewers for a few of the meatballs, but there was no discernible flavor difference.

I made jasmine rice, and I invented a simple new okra recipe to deal with some slightly tougher pods: sauteed cumin, garlic, and a dried red chile, followed by sliced okra and enough water to keep things from sticking -- around 1/8 cup. I covered the whole thing and cooked it for 15-20 minutes. Touch of salt. Delicious.

Margherita

I was proud of this pizza. Garden basil and garden tomatoes, pure and authentic, except for the cheese: that's queso fresco. It was convincingly mozzarella-like.

It's gluten-packed, though -- no spelt in sight.

Food Day

Today was food-filled. I took Grandma shopping to our local Sprouts market, which was packed with beautiful, inexpensive produce as usual: strawberries, 4 quarts for $5; leeks, 99 cents a pound; peaches, 69 cents, Bartlett pears, 59 cents. Wild, fresh Alaska salmon has been plentiful this summer, and once was even as low as $6 a pound. I also hit the supermarket to complete my list (I got reduced-price farmed salmon for Emily--after all she is a dog).

Since I was going out to an evening meeting, I decided on a cold supper. I poached the salmon and chilled it, and boiled Yukon Gold potatoes to slice and serve cold. With both I served this sauce:

Mustard-Dill Sauce

2/3 cup plain yogurt
1/4 cup Dijon mustard
1 teaspoon sugar
2 tablespoons white vinegar
2 tablespoons fresh snipped dill

This time I used fresh tarragon, fresh parsley, and dried dill, and I added chopped cucumbers.

We also had Katherine's Caprese Salad with Corn, and fresh strawberries. And homemade chocolate chip cookies.

Caprese Salad with Corn

Small fresh mozzarella balls
Cherry tomatoes
Basil leaves
Corn kernels scraped from an ear of roasted corn

Dress with a little olive oil, wine vinegar, salt, and pepper.

While fiddling with dinner, I baked cookies; cooked a batch of barley in the crockpot outside (to use in dog food); and started the dough for a loaf of slow bread.

Today is a much lazier food day. We're eating out for lunch, watching a baseball game, and possibly eating some pasta for supper if we can find room.

Insalata Caprese

It's famous because it's so good.

In August I feel like I get most of my protein from mozzarella cheese. Caprese salad is just such a perfect expression of tomato flavor.

I like it with balsamic vinegar. Lawson likes it with just tomatoes, salt, olive oil, and basil. I make it with alternating slices of tomato and cheese with whole basil leaves, and Lawson makes it as shown here. Unsurprisingly, it's good both ways.

Thai Stir-Fried Okra, Eggplant, and Tomatoes

Lawson is much better with the wok than I am, so he usually does the stir-frying around here. He's fun to watch. As you can see here, he moves at superhero speed.

He roasted the eggplant first to soften it -- without precooking, it seems to stay tough and soak up too much oil. He then stir-fried onions, okra, the roasted eggplant, and tomato in some chile-garlic-basil paste he made last year. A little fish sauce, chicken broth, and fresh Thai basil finished it. We served it over plain white rice.

The chile-garlic-basil paste is based on this amazing product we found at the local Asian market a few years ago: Por Kwan brand sweet chile basil paste. It consists of basil leaves, garlic, fresh chiles, salt, and oil. The Por Kwan is almost as good as Lawson's garden-sourced reproduction.