peaches

Local peaches, marinated with Luxardo Maraschino, some oil, sugar, mace and a pinch of salt. And grilled. Summer perfection.

full-on summer, pt. 2

Reasons to love the Pioneer valley:


Broccoli marinated in a purée of mustard and garlic scapes (from my CSA).

Baby bok choy from the CSA; "Hadley grass," or asparagus (marinated in tamari and rice vinegar).

Steak from Chicoine Farm. Salt, pepper. White-hot cast iron. Rare.

ramps. asparagus. grill.

A red hot grill + Ramps and asparagus =

Really quite simple, and delicious. Marinate ramps and asparagus in olive oil, preserved lemon, Korean chili flakes and lots of white wine vinegar. Heat the grill up very hot. Make a basic risotto (having stock on-hand helps — this was a very rich duck stock with salt and pepper added at the end). But both vegetables on the grill: this was the ramps are mostly cooked the the asparagus very lightly. Chop them up upon retrieval from the grill and serve on risotto.

summer grilling.

I had a somewhat rare (excuse the pun, folks) meat craving a few nights back. I had tried some skewered grilled meatball things at a cookout a while back made of some local, mostly grass-fed beef, so I sought that out. I didn't find it, but I found another of the same description. I added chopped onion, herbes de provence, salt and pepper. I found the perfect destination for sauerrüben made almost a year ago — it is perfect for hamburgers. And they were perfect on a ciabatta roll from my bakery, with all the fixins' — all of which, save Belgian beer (Saison Dupont is, I found, incredible with burgers) and French mustard — were local. (And the pickle is from this batch.) That's what makes summer so wonderful.

summer.

An entirely homegrown salad: Alissa's escarole, cucumber and baby summer squash with my nasturtiums. A perfectly bitter early summer salad: the sharp escarole was offset by the sweetness of raw squash and cucumbers while the nasturtiums' sweetness pairs with escarole's bite and its pepperyness goes well with a spicy mustard vinaigrette.

And then cauliflower (from the CSA), tossed with nutmeg and olive oil and grilled. Simple; very, very good:

And mackerel, one of my favorite fish, stuffed with thyme, preserved lemons and garlic, grilled:

And the last of my many strawberries, all tarted up.