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Sauce Piquante for Certain Fish
Tom Allen Childers
Bring a large sauce pan of water to a boil. Drop the tomato in for 10 to 12 seconds. Drain off the water. Core and peel the tomato. Cut it in half around the equator and gently squeeze out the seeds, catching any juice. Your little finger may have to help. Cut the tomato shell into tiny dice, about 1/8 inch.
EVOO, 3 T.
Onion, chopped medium, ½ c. Drain capers In the pot and sauté capers and onion over medium heat till onion is golden.
White wine, dry, 2 c.
Add wine and lemon juice to the pot and simmer them down to 1 c.
Tomatillo-Cabbage Slaw
Tom Allen Childers
Tomatillos, 3 to 5 large, cut in skinny strips
Roast Chicken with Mushrooms and Soy
Tom Allen Childers
Tomato, 1 large, halved and sliced Mix all but the lettuce and let sit for one or two hours.
Cremini or Baby Bella mushrooms, about 2/3 c. sliced thin top to bottom Chicken, free-range, 3 ¼ -3 ½ lbs. Starting at neck end, make a pocket for the mushrooms: Using your finger, carefully separate skin from meat over the breast, thigh, and drumstick, being careful not to pierce or tear the skin or the bottom or sides of the pocket. Insert the mushrooms and spread them evenly through the pocket. Pour remaining sauce into the pocket and over the bird. Twist the wings behind the shoulders. Roast at 425F (or rotisserie on high)for 45-50 minutes. Rest it under loose foil for 10 minutes Lay lettuce leaves on two plates and spoon the tomato mixture over them. Cut the bird in half, neck to vent and place a half on each plate, and bon appétit!
Corn Risotto
from Tom Allen Childers
You may wish to take the high road and do it on the stove: Follow the first two steps in a pot, stirring. Have the stock simmering on another burner and add it in ladles-full to the rice, allowing each addition to be absorbed before adding the next, and stir, stir, stir. When the rice just starts to soften, add the corn and complete the cooking. Serves 6.
Onion, ½ medium, chopped coarse
Arborio rice, 1 ½ c.
Liquid, 2 c. of chicken or turkey broth, and/or wine. Once I threw in a little dessert wine found in the fridge, and the sweetness didn't hurt.
Corn, 3 ears, for 3 c. of kernels
Pepper Confit
from Tom Allen Childers
EVOO, 3/8 c. In your largest skillet, over medium-low heat, add all ingredients. Toss thoroughly. Make sure rosemary twigs are submersed. Cook uncovered for 30-35 minutes, tossing frequently. You want to see a melting consistency and very little water. If there's too much water, strain the liquid off and boil it down. Makes about 2 cups
Summer Vegetable Tian
from Tom Allen Childers
Serves 8-10.
Zucchini, 3-4 medium, slice length- wise very thin Oil a large tian (or 9/14 baking dish). Lay a single layer of zucchini, followed by single layers of onion, then tomato. Sprinkle half the herbs over the tomato layer. Drizzle with olive oil. Sprinkle with salt and pepper (or red pepper flakes). Repeat the layering, finishing with the remaining herbs, salt, pepper, and a drizzle of oil. Bake in a 350 degree oven for 1 hour to 1 ¼ hours. Serve hot, warm, or room temperature.
Potato and Oyster Gratin
from Tom Allen Childers
Red or white waxy potatoes, even fingerlings, about 1 lb. Wash the potatoes. Leave the skin on. Chunk them if they're more than 2" in diameter. Toss them in a pot of water, bring to a boil, and simmer for 20-25 minutes, till potatoes are easily pierced with a fork. Drain.
Butter, unsalted, 2 T. In two ramekins, divide the potatoes and crush them with the back of a heavy spoon or a potato masher. Smear the butter over them, distribute the oysters on top, and season them with salt and pepper. Run under a hot broiler will the oyster just begin to curl.
Cold Summer Squash Soup
from Tom Allen Childers
2-3 medium-sized summer squashes, such as zucchini, previously grilled or roasted and seasoned with salt, pepper, and EVOO. Chicken broth, about 1 pint. Puree squashes in the food processor until pretty fine. Add chicken broth. Add water and salt to taste.
Gratin of Zucchini and Leafy Greens
from Tom Allen Childers
Can be made earlier in the day and reheated for a few minutes.
Leeks, 1 or 2, depending on how long the white part of the stalk is, to yield at least a cup of chopped leeks. More is better.
Clean leeks well, discard the green, and chop them coarse.
Zucchini, 3 medium
Shred, place in a colander and salt generously. Let it weep in the sink for at least ½ hour. Then wrap in a clean tea towel and squeeze out most of the liquid. (Save it for soup!)
Swiss chard greens (from above)
Roll the greens in a long bundle and slice thin, then cut across the slices. Eggs, two large
In a large mixing bowl, lightly beat the eggs.
Chicken or other light stock, 1 c. plus a little Add all ingredients to the bowl. Get your hands in there and thoroughly blend the whole mess. Turn into a 14” glass baking dish or equivalent and mash it down. Bake at 350 degrees, uncovered, for about 45-50 minutes. Serve warm or hot.
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Sweet Pea Pasta
from Tom Allen Childers
Lemon
Zest the lemon and mix with the cream. Salt and pepper to taste. Set aside.
Fresh, small peas, hulled, 1 lb.
For fresh peas: To a covered pot with steamer insert, add water just short of the bottom of the steamer and bring it to a boil. Add peas and optional tarragon and cook till barely tender, about 2 minutes (longer, if the peas are on the larger side). Unpot peas into a strainer and set aside.
Pappardelle (preferred) or capellini, or fusilli pasta, dried, 1 lb. Bring 5 or more quarts of water to a boil. Add the salt. Drop the pasta in and cook for the time prescribed on the package. Stir frequently. Pappardelle, especially, likes to stick to the bottom of the pot. Mix the cream, peas, and pasta, and serve.
Shitake Hors d’Oeuvres
from Tom Allen Childers
To hold them for 6 or 8 hours, let them cool a bit and cover with plastic wrap.
Shitake mushrooms, 1 lb.
Remove stems and discard.
Salt of the designer type. Truffle salt, if you have it, enhances the ‘shroom flavor immensely. Use sparingly, so as not to over-salt.
OR truffle oil (a drop or two per cap) plus a pinch of good salt Apply the salt and/or oil. Serve warm or room temperature. *Extra virgin olive oil, not yet pronounced “ee-voo,” but someday soon.
Creamless Cream of Roasted Asparagus Soup
from Tom Allen Childers
When you get those little stink stalks home, test the bottom end of one with your teeth. If it has any woodiness, grab the stalk with one hand and pinch the very bottom of it between thumb and forefinger of the other hand and snap it off. It will break where the woodiness ends. Snap the rest of them, then discard the ends and plunk the stalks in a bowl of water to keep for a couple of days. Serves 4 Asparagus, 2 lb., medium diameter—not thin as a pencil or thick as your big toe—woody ends snapped off. (Adjust the roasting time up or down if you’re using stalks that are pencil thin or big-toe thick.)
Preheat oven to 450F.
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Stuffed Tuscan Squash
from Pat Coluzzi The autumn squashes have arrived and this is a perfect dish to bring in the season. Any type of round squash (that includes pumpkins) will work for this recipe. The key to the dish is to have a squash “container” that can sit upright.
1 squash with top or bottom cut off so it will be able to sit in a baking pan. With seeds and pulp scooped out. Preheat over to 375. Sauté sausage in a separate pan in a bit of olive oil until nicely browned then set aside. Sauté the mushrooms and onions in enough olive oil to just coat the bottom of the pan. Once the onions and mushrooms have softened add the cannellini beans, spinach (or other greens of your choosing) and ½ cup of broth and toss until the spinach has wilted. Now add the sausage, salt and pepper to taste and toss until all ingredients are thoroughly mixed. Stuff the entire mixture into the squash container and add the remaining ½ cup of broth. Place in a baking dish in the oven for about 20 minutes or until squash has softened. Buon appetito! Adapted by Pat Coluzzi from a recipe by Tom Childers.
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Oyster Mushroom Salad with Goat Cheese
from Marcel LavaleeEmbrace the Oyster Mushroom! All veggies purchased from the Rehoboth Beach Farmers' Market.
Grated Chinese Cabbage or other Spring Leafy Green Slice the petals from oyster mushroom and sautee in olive oil until just tender. Add to greens, top with goat cheese and dressing. Light and luscious!
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Early Summer Market Meal
from Pat ColuzziHearty enough for the Market Master. Grilled Portabella mushroom with melted cheddar and grilled spring onions, Dijon potato salad with spinach and steamed asparagus. All veggies purchased from the Rehoboth Beach Farmers' Market. Recipe for the Dijon Potato Salad
Your favorite baby potatoes peeled, boiled and cooled Oops, don’t forget your favorite Sauvignon Blanc!
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Swiss Chard with Raisins and Almonds
from epicurious.com
1/2 large onion, sliced lengthwise 1/4 inch thick (1 cup) Cook onion with 1/4 teaspoon salt in 2 tablespoons oil in a 5- to 6-quart heavy pot over medium heat, stirring, until softened. Sprinkle with paprika and cook, stirring, 1 minute. Add chard in batches, stirring frequently, until wilted, then add raisins and water. Cook, covered, stirring occasionally, until chard is tender, about 7 minutes. Season with salt. Cook almonds in remaining 1/2 tablespoon oil in a small heavy skillet over medium-low heat, stirring frequently, until golden, 3 to 5 minutes. Sprinkle almonds over chard.
Couscous with Harissa
Courtesy, Jay Caputo of Espuma
1 qt couscous Bring salt and water to a boil. In a stainless bowl, mix the olive oil and the couscous. Add the harissa to the water and boil. Pour the harissa mix over the couscous and cover with plastic wrap for five minutes. With a fork, fluff the couscous as you would rice. All to cool slightly then add all of the mint and lemon zest. Taste for seasoning then serve, or chill for a later date.
Harissa
3 red peppers
2 oz ancho chiles 1 oz cumin 1 oz coriander 1 oz garlic, smashed 1 oz salt 1 lemon, zested and juiced Roast the peppers, Peel, remove the stems and seeds and rough chop. Soak the ancho chiles in warm water for 30 minutes. Toast the cumin and coriander separately. Cool, grind and mix. Place all of the ingredients in a blender and puree on high until smooth. Chill and reserve.
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| |  Blue Crab & Avocado Martini
Courtesy, Lee Stewart of Cafe Sole
Yield: 12 Portions
2 lbs jumbo lump crabmeat
Prepare a charcoal smoker. Core and halve yellow tomatoes. Toss with olive oil, salt and ground pepper. Smoke skin side up until they soften (about 20 minutes). Let tomatoes cool, then puree.
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| |  Mixed Berry Cobbler
from Pat Coluzzi
Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
Assemble the Cobbler:
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Tomato, 1 medium
Makes about 4 cups
Serves 2
To the horror of my purist corpuscles-and I have a few-in this recipe I advocate the convenience of the microwave.
"Confit" (kohn-fee) usually means cooking something submerged in a substance for storage or added flavor. The classic is duck legs simmered in a pot of duck fat, in la belle France. But it can apply to fish, vegetables, and fruits as well-in oil, in salt, in sugar.
Consider this a sauce. When peppers get cheap in late summer, it becomes downright economical. And what do you do with it? Spice up a plain omelet, toss it on a provolone bruschetta, sauce your next fish or lamb chop, oomphacize some plain navy beans. The options are endless. It makes a terrific house gift, too. And if there's oil left behind, you're on your way to a kick-ass vinaigrette.
This recipe uses red bell peppers. Red pimento-type peppers are more flavorful and meaty, but hard to find. And you can substitute green peppers, for a grassy-green flavor.
As for the jalapeños: 3 is too hot for a lot of people, and 2 doesn't deliver the level of pain to make the trip worthwhile. So I prefer 2 ½, which leaves a lonesome half-jalapeño to use elsewhere-maybe minced on lemon sorbet for a dessert surprise?
I keep the dish, well-sealed, in the fridge for a week or two or freeze it in small containers for several months. Makes a great house gift.
Simple, light, on the order of ratatouille. Use only the best summer ingredients.
The celestial dish of oyster-and-butter-stuffed russets is adapted here to accommodate the potatoes likely to be found in a farm market. The dish can be a first course, a luxurious side, or a meal in itself with a salad. It doesn't wait well, so eat it now! Serves 2.
With all those extra grilled or roasted squashes hiding in your fridge and that pint or so of roasted chicken broth you froze in March, this is a simpleton's summer soup-all preseasoned, just requiring a bit of a whiz.
This may be the lightest gratin in captivity, as it shuns milk or cream and tolerates only desiccated cheese. So it’s an excellent summery side to a roast or fish or sausage or chop or just about anything. And it can also stand alone as a light lunch. On second thought, let’s have a few barbequed shrimp with it.
The pea is a vindictive veggie. It foresees its own demise and orders its sugars to start turning to starch just before it’s picked. If you can harvest them yourself, young and tiny (the peas, not you), you’re among the chosen. Put them on ice right in the garden, keep them cold, use them right away, and you’ll have the sweetest of peas. Everything but the pasta can be done a couple of hours ahead and kept at room temperature, covered.
A simple dish, requiring little active time. The flatness of the shitake makes it work where other mushrooms won’t. Serve warm or room temperature. Spear with a toothpick and cram a whole cap into your mouth.
The rites of spring: new asparagus! Just picked! Wikipedia says all of us convert asparagus sulfurs into perfumey urine. If you’re in the unlucky—or maybe lucky—22% of humanity, you can’t smell it.
