Summer

lobstersLobster season is in  high gear. While lobsters are of course most easily available on the east coast and New England, you can get pretty good live lobster now at reputable markets around the US thanks to purveyors who are not (luckily) locavores.

Folks who sell lobsters know that their product is so good that not even a politically correct eater can stay away from them. For those who are part of the extreme locavoreans, indulge yourself, suspend your obsession for just one meal - it will be worth it. 

Unfortunately, most of us still prepare and eat lobster the same way we have been taught for generations. The pleasures of boiling the lobster and eating it with drawn butter or with mayo in toasted rolls cannot be underestimated.

Lobster Fra Diablo or lobster with XO sauce are great, but merely variations on a theme. Here's a simple recipe for an appetizer/salad  that retains some of the familiar but introduces some nice new twists.

Read more ...

mango peach sangria"This was served at our wedding last year and always delights a crowd, hence the name. Not that we have anything against Billy Idol…. It is fruity, sweet, on the lighter side and can be made more like a cooler if you increase the juice.  Frozen fruit is key here as it keeps the drink cold and stops from becoming too mushy in the liquid. Frozen pre-cut fruit works fine or you can do it yourself."

1 bottle of white wine, something fruity like Chenin Blanc works well
1 cup frozen diced peaches
1 cup frozen diced mango
1 red delicious apple, cored and cubed
1 lemon, thinly sliced and seeds removed
8-12 ounces fruit nectar (anything like peach or passionfruit or guava works)

Mix the wine and nectar in a large container, add apples and refrigerate for at least one hour. When you’re ready to serve add the frozen fruit, give it a stir and serve over ice. Garnish each glass with a slice of lemon.

-- Recipe courtesy of MattBites.com    

 

shrimparugula.jpgThe best thing about this time of year is the abundance of fresh ingredients available at the Farmer's Markets and roadside farm stands.  Freshly harvested arugula is widely available right now, which makes me almost giddy, I love it's peppery flavor.

This dinner or lunch comes together in minutes which works perfectly for my schedule at the moment.  It's a very summery dish with little to no effort going into making it.  Not to mention it's very light on the calories.

Enjoy it with a refreshing glass of white wine while sitting on the patio enjoying family and friends.

Read more ...

salmon.jpgPeople in Portland, Oregon  have salmon on the brain. It is a centuries old, intense love-affair – one that I can easily identify with having grown up in the Bronx where lox was one of the five basic food groups along with pickled herring, pastrami, rye bread and shmalts {or schmaltz} - chicken fat.  Everyone from the state’s original people – the Umatilla, Warm Springs, Siletz and Grand Ronde tribes, to the chic tattooed urban dwellers, is salmon obsessed.

At the downtown Portland farmers market there are at least 3 purveyors of fresh and smoked salmon, not including a Native American  guy who also sells fresh salmon eggs that you can take home as I have and make ikura.  I’ve not done any scientific surveys but it appears to me that in the last 10 years the Oregonian has had more front page articles on protecting salmon habitats than on any other major political issue – except logging maybe. (Actually logging and salmon are joined at the hip because logging allegedly destroys salmon habitats.) 

Read more ...

Image What's this I see? Kids fighting over vegetables? Yes, it's true.

This past Saturday at the Little Italy Mercato in San Diego, two little boys were tussling over cucumbers. Well, not just any cucumbers, Armenian cucumbers, otherwise known as "snake cucumbers" and "snake melons."

"I wanted that one!" said the freckled blonde, stomping his right foot on the ground.

"Well, it's mine!" said the dark-haired one, fiercely, as he handed a curly, striped cucumber as tall as he was to his mother and asked: "Can I have this?"

I sighed. Ahhh! There is nothing so touching as seeing children fight over fresh farmers' market vegetables.

If you've seen an Armenian cucumber, then you understand why they're so alluring.  Though a variety of melon, an Armenian cucumber looks and tastes like a regular cucumber, but can grown up to three feet long!

Read more ...