We have been eating a lot of salads this summer. Mostly because it is an easy solution to our weekly vegetable drop, but really because it gets us in and out of the kitchen in record time. And as long as I can cover vegetables in a blanket of protein, D is happy.

My favorite protein in salad is fish. Salmon, tuna, monkfish, you name it, I can probably find a salad solution for it. Because of this, it is difficult for me to walk past the fish monger without stopping in. He must know this, and places all the calamari, clams and shrimp in the front window for me to spy on. Inside is the real gold mine. Wild salmon, lobster tanks, oysters, crabs, pompano, and the catch of the day line the shelves. I can walk up to each fish, sniff, eye and poke at it, then declare it mine.

Tuna is what catches my eye more often than not. It might be its arresting pink hue. It might be that I tease the fish monger about sushi grade tuna just to hear him laugh and say, “You kiddin’? You can’t get any fresher than this!” So I bring it home time and again, wrapped in paper and await mealtime.

This past week, how lucky we were to receive the proper fixings for a classic Salade Nicoise. It is one of my favorites because it is a hearty and playful salad where almost anything goes once you have the basics. D loves it because he can correct my French accent while I practice my pronunciation.

But I think the true love in this salad is the color display. How can you pass up something that looks this fresh?! I say go out and buy that tuna steak now. You will not be disappointed.

The biggest risk you have when cooking tuna steak is drying it out by overcooking. Tuna needs a scant 30-60 seconds per side over hot heat. Remember, this limited cook time leaves the center of the cut rare. As always, when dealing with any sort of protein, buy the freshest cut possible.

To cut down on prep time I slice and boil my vegetables when I bring them home, storing them in the fridge for quick prep or an easy snack. It makes assembling a salad like this a real breeze. It may be some work day 1, but there is nothing like being able to reach into the fridge and have everything done and ready to go. Here are a few tips, some used in this salad. All of these should be stored in sealed, air tight containers.

- Quarter potatoes, boil until soft. Storage time: about 1 week. Pancakes, salads, home fries.
- Trim and blanch green beans, 2 minutes. Storage time: about 3 days. Dip, salads, snack.
- Char red peppers in skillet. Storage time: about 5 days. Sandwiches, omelette, dips.
- Trim and boil beets until soft. Store in reserved liquid, 1 week. Sandwiches, salads.
- Peels and cut carrots. Store in water (change every 2 days), 2 weeks. Snack, soup, salads.
- Wash and cut celery. Store in water (change every 2 days), 2 weeks. Snack, soup, salads.
- Cut corn from cob, saute with butter 2 minutes. Storage time: about 1 week. Salad, soup, omelette.
- Boil and peel eggs. Storage time: about 5 days. Use in sandwiches, salads.

But let’s get back to the salad and this “fusion” I mention. I marinated the tuna steaks in a soy sauce-ginger-lime mixture, coated them with sesame and seared them. This presented a fabulous citrus snap to the salad. I tied the sesame theme into a tahini-based salad dressing (tahini is sesame seed paste). Together the tastes blended smoothly into the whole and create a fabulous play on a traditional salad.

Salade Nicoise
Serving size= 2. Cook time= 3 minutes. Prep time= 15 minutes.
For the Marinade:
2 tablespoons soy sauce
1 tablespoon fish sauce
juice of 1/2 lime plus zest
1 glove garlic, crushed
1- 1 inch piece ginger, minced
1/2 cup sesame seeds, set aside on a flat plate

For the Dressing:
2 cloves garlic, crushed
10 anchovy fillets
2 tablespoon Dijon mustard
1 tablespoon red cider vinegar
3 tablespoons tahini
1/4 cup olive oil
salt/ pepper to taste

For the Salad:
3-4 new potatoes, quartered and boiled until soft
1 tomato, sliced in 8 wedges
2 soft boiled eggs
small handful green beans, blanched
1 small head red lettuce (optional)
1/2 red onion, sliced thin
1 tablespoon capers
1- 1 lb fresh tuna steak

1) Prepare the marinade. Mix soy sauce, fish sauce, lime juice, zest, ginger and garlic in a bowl. Set tuna in mixture and marinade while continuing. Set the sesame seeds on a plate, aside.
2) Prepare the dressing. In a small skillet, heat the garlic with the anchovy fillet. No oil is needed as the fish has enough. Heat until garlic turns translucent and anchovies break down. Once ready, place in a bowl and mix with the remaining ingredients until well incorporated. Set aside. Turn tuna steak over in marinade.
3) Wash and prep the vegetables for the salad and assemble.
4) Begin warming a skillet with about 1 tablespoon peanut oil on medium high heat. Remove tuna from marinade and pat dry slightly. Place on plate with sesame seeds and push down slightly so sesame seeds adhere to steak. Flip and press again. Place in pan once hot, cook 30-45 seconds, flip and cook for 30-45 more seconds. Transfer to a cutting board and cut into 1/4 inch thick slices. Assemble over salad.

Note: This recipe makes extra dressing. Refrigerate and use it at a later date. It will keep about 1 week. Just bring to room temperature and mix well before use.

Here’s an absurdly simple salad. So perfect it deserves an equally petite post so as not to obscure it. I became dangerously addicted to it the other week, tucking my knees up, with bowl between, to block D’s attempts at getting any. Was it the the honey-like tomato jewels? The seemingly familiar flavor combination that begs for another bite? The rich nuttiness of the olive oil?

You will have to judge for yourself.

Make this before tomato season leaves us for the summer. (I have already wallowed in fears of the fleeting tomatoes to D, don’t get me started.)

It is a play on the classic tomato-mozzarella-basil combination we are too familiar and tired of. This salad has a bit more Mediterranean tang to it (the tang lies in the cheese). I dream of making it with the raw milk ricotta I had in Indiana this summer…

Tomato Ricotta Salad
Serving Size= 2. Active time= 5 minutes.
1 pint cherry tomatoes, halved
1/4 cup crumbled ricotta salata (ricotta salata is the firmer, dried and salted ricotta)
1 teaspoon dried mint (2 springs fresh mint, leaves only, may also be used)
1-2 tablespoons olive oil
salt/ pepper to taste

1) Place tomatoes in serving bowl. Top with ricotta, mint, olive oil, salt and pepper. Serve.

It doesn’t get much easier or more delicious than that.

D and I have received, dare I say, too many tomatoes from our local CSA (Community Supported Agriculture). Don’t get me wrong, they are probably the best tomatoes I have ever had. And no joke, every time one is sliced into D makes some comment about how amazing they are– like I didn’t hear it the first 30 tomatoes we sliced into the deep sweet skins. They really are amazing, but it’s too much for two people to eat.

The first week was fabulous. 10 tomatoes, all over 2 pounds. I gave one to my father who made some comment about the “pumpkin” I had given him a few days later. I brought a batch of gazpacho over to a party of 12 people (where everyone made some comment about how sweet it was), but 2 pound tomatoes go pretty far and I was still left with 7 tomatoes (that’s 14 pounds!). But we trucked on through leaving only 2 tomatoes over for the next week…

…When we received another 8, plus a pint of cherry tomatoes. That brought our tomatoes back to 10. Tomato salads galore: tomato with basil, tomato with mozzerella and basil, tomato with riccata, fresh tomato sauce, pizza with thinly sliced tomato, guacomole, sandwiches, tomato fritattas. We still had 1 left when we received our next shipment…

7 more plus 2 quarts of cherry tomatoes (total now 8 plus 2 quarts). I gave 2 to my brother’s girlfriend. She was going on and on about how horrible tomatoes were in New York City. Well, you’re not buying from the greenmarket, huh? She told me she missed the tomatoes her parents grew in Saint Louis. I gave her 2 tomatoes. She said she hadn’t smelled anything so good since her childhood.

It’s amazing an amazing feeling when you can give a gift so simple like tomatoes and have people calling you for days telling you how fabulous they were. We must really be neglected in New York City.

The dish above celebrates the sweet powerhouse of this summer’s tomatoes. I was looking for a dish to use those slightly past due tomatoes. You know the ones, a little too soft to eat, but you don’t want to throw them out. It was a hit, and took minutes, perfect for these days that are fading fast (with plenty of heat). I think of this dish as a Middle Eastern-Italian-South American fusion, but all summer.

Note: Quinoa (keen-wa) is a grain that is high in protein (surprise) and of course, fiber. It is originally from South America. It’s flavor is close to couscous, but a little wheatier in flavor (though it is gluten-free). It comes in light brown and red.

Quinoa w/ Summer Vegetables
Serving Size= 2. Active Time= 5 minutes. Inactive Time= 10 min.
1 pint cherry tomatoes, halved
4 shallots, skinned and quartered
1 ear corn, sliced from stalk
1 cup quinoa
1/4 cup fresh basil, tightly packed and loosely chopped
olive oil
Parmesan cheese to taste
salt/ pepper to taste

1) Bring a sauce pot to a boil. Cook quinoa according to package directions (usually 2 parts water, 1 part grain). Quinoa takes about 10 minutes to cook. (While water is coming to a boil prepare veggies.)
2) Turn on oven’s broiler. In an oven safe pan, put tomatoes, corn and shallots. Toss with 2 tablespoons olive oil, salt and pepper. Place under broiler for about 10 min. Check after 5 minutes, stir. Vegetables should be blackened once done.
3) Once done, mix vegetables with quinoa. Stir in basil and top with Parmesan.

Note: Add chicken or beef to this dish to make it a main course! This dish is great warm or cold.

What do you do when you realize you have ordered 20 pounds of Roma tomatoes to drop in one bountiful bulk shipment?

If you’re me, you work on cleaning out the freezer: Remove frozen soups from last year, remove lobster stock, chicken stock, bones awaiting stockage, eat through ice cream, make a plethora of Caipirinhas with that leftover bag of ice… breath.

And realize everything being done is unnecessary as long as one thing holds true: you learn how to can.

When I sat in a planning meeting with our potential farmers for my local Community Supported Agriculture Program in January (I’m not only a client, I’m also the president) a fair blond woman spoke up: “I want canning tomatoes– bulk! Can you give us that?” When the farmers responded with a “why not,” the deal was sealed and the season was underway. I walked away thinking the fair blond crazy, but bulk tomatoes did sound fun, think of all that roasted tomato soup I could make.

But the months passed and the bulk date loomed on the horizon. Was I crazy?! I planned to turn my oven on in some of the hottest days of the year. So I did the only other sensible thing and petitioned the fair blond to teach me to can:

“Well, it’s really easy, you don’t need me to teach you.”

“But I’ve only made apple sauce. That was in the third grade at school with my teacher we used to call ‘Nature Freak’ because JJ stepped on an ant and was yelled at for killing a living creature. I just need some hand holding the first time.”

So as cucumbers stacked up to 10 a week for 3 weeks (and there are only so many cucumber salads a person can happily eat) the fair blond, who will now be referred to as L, and I gathered our cucumbers for a wholesome day of pickling. This to become my re-entry into the world of glass jars beyond my grandmother’s jams.

The pickling went smooth enough, despite the burning vinegar smell that lingered in the air. I was warned a shelf time of at least three weeks and sent home with my 5 jars of pickles. Like any good student, when I returned home I gathered the remainder of the zucchini in my refrigerator and continued to pickle the night away (what else is there to do on a Saturday night in NYC afterall?).

The days were slowly checked off my calendar and I bragged to all my friends about my pickling adventures, promising all tastes of my sure success. Finally time came to pop a jar and I must admit my pickles were delicious. Adding red pepper flakes for a slight bite and coriander seeds for a twist paid off. Soon D and I were having pickle appetizers before every meal. When pickle jar one vanished in less than one week, zucchini jar one was opened as burgers cooked away.

But now is tomato season. After my pickle triumph I was ready to take on the non-pickling world of tomatoes. I found my recipe and plodded on the other night as temperatures dropped, securing the services of D, now known as the great Tomato Skin Peeler.

It is simple really. The hardest part is that the jars must remain submerged in boiling water for 85 minutes, easily avoided if you retreat to another room for a movie. The jars come out and as the night continues each “pop” of a lid brings a smile to your face, knowing you have another quart safe for the winter ahead when you will truly appreciate that reminder of summer.

At the end of the night, just for fun, I pickled 3 small jars of green beans. Afterall, with all those tomatoes a good Bloody Mary is in order as reward… in three weeks.

Canning Tomatoes
Active Time= 1 hour. Inactive Time= 1 hour 30 minutes
Roma Tomatoes
2 tablespoons lemon juice per quart jar
Jars and new canning lids

1) Fill a large stock pot with enough water to ensure quart jars standing upright will be totally submerged, bring to a boil.
2) Bring a smaller pot of water to a boil, sterilize all jars and lids in boiling water for 5 minutes. Remove and turn upside down to dry.
3) As equipment is drying, keep boil going (use same pot for next step). Prepare an ice bath and ready tomatoes and jars. Put 2 tablespoons lemon juice in each jar.
4) Blanch tomatoes (submerge in the boiling water) for 1 minute then transfer immediately to ice bath. Once in ice bath, skins should slip off tomatoes easily. Remove skins, core, and any visible bruises from tomatoes. Fill the jars with the tomatoes as you skin and core them. Push down on tomatoes to stuff in as many as possible, making sure to leave a 1/2 inch space at the top of the jar.
5) When all jars are filled, wipe the jar lips clean and cap, securing to finger-tight.
6) Submerge jars in water, standing. Boil for 85 minutes.
7) Carefully remove from water, set on racks to cool overnight. Any jars that do not pop tight should be transfered to the fridge and eaten. You cannot store these jars for long term.

NOTE: There are plenty of books and recipes online for canning if you do not like this one. Compare what is available, have fun and enjoy your reminders of summer all winter long!

D and I have returned from an August whirlwind of driving. It all started in upstate NY near the Vermont border with a music gig and a tour of the farm that supplies our grass-fed beef. We had a lovely, though all too short, stay in the country where $2.50 milkshakes could be had nightly at the local ice cream shop! (We thought this to be a great bargain what with the manual labor that goes into milkshakes.) Off to Niagara Falls where we got sprayed by mist and then high-tailed it to Indianapolis for the remainder of our vacation.

This was the vacation of the farm.

I found a great raw milk dairy and farm just outside Indianapolis that offers bi-monthly courses on cheese making, milling grains, breads, jams, canning and more. Our stay happened to fall upon a cheese-making course. D, his family and I sampled a range of fantastically hay-scented cheeses, creams

and spreads while we learned how to make ricotta, sour cream, buttermilk, creme fraiche and more. The farm has a cow share program, offering its raw milk to shareholders. We weren’t able to take home the milk, but we made due with some raw (not for human consumption) butter, fresh eggs (the darkest yolks I have ever seen), grass-fed beef, and fantastically rich chocolate milk from a nearby minimally pasteurized dairy.

The Indiana State Fair, as always, was the highlight. Correction: the Dairy Barn at the Indiana State Fair was the highlight. Double Correction: Pioneer Village is always the highlight, but how can you resist 25 cent milk refills?

I took my share of photos containing signs tooting deep fried edibles (Pepsi being the strangest) and we chatted about how the Fair was now frying in non-hydrogenated oils (recently featured in the NYTimes along with a piece about raw milk a few days after I wrote about it). This year’s Fair was “The Year of

Corn” evident from the Agribusiness-touting signs in front of corn stalks all around the Fairgrounds. There was also a room displaying about 30 (even though there are thousands) products chock full of corn. All hail for mono-cultures…

D and I also decided that we would call our country’s other great monoculture, soy, edamame at the Fair, asking folks what they thought about our nation’s great edamame boom. Unfortunately, “The Year of C

orn” had very little edamame praise around. Maybe next year.

The next day, D and his mother made a purchase of a beautiful blue grill that his mother proceeded to call the “Colt Grill” (after the football team). Later that night we apparently made “Colt burgers” though I

noted we probably don’t want to call everything we make on the grill “Colt X.” Other than the “Colt burgers,” which were really beef steaks. D’s mother also mentioned that she had a fabulously memorable salad at a new restaurant in town that contained peaches. That night, we grilled up some peaches to create our own version of the salad.

The salad was truly the highlight of the meal. It was colorful and full of texture and flavors. From the sour crumble of the blue cheese, the sweet syrupy nature of the peaches to the crisp freshness of the

cucumbers. A hit that will be made again before the summer comes to an end.

The next day we witnessed cow milking and some real free-range chickens at a farm that was part agri-tainment. We headed to the farmer’s market on-site where D’s mother proclaimed we needed some meat to make our Colt burgers for the night.

“Uhhh… she’s talking about the football team, we’ll just take some pork chops.”

“You guys must really like football.”

We headed home and relaxed for our last night together, grilling up the last of the season’s “Colt burgers.”

Grilled Peach Salad
Serving Size= 4. Active Time= 15 minutes.
2 ripe peaches (or nectarines)
1 medium-sized head red leaf lettuce (or other lettuce)
1/2 cucumber
1 ripe Hass avocado
1/2 cup crumbled blue cheese (or like cheese)
1/4 cup mixed (or Kalamata olives) optional
juice of 1 lemon
3 tablespoons plus 2 tablespoons olive oil
salt/ pepper to taste

1) Ready gas or charcoal grill. While grill is warming, prepare salad:
2) Slice peaches into 8 segments. Carefully pull apart each segment and brush all sides with the 2 tablespoons olive oil, set aside.
3) Wash and drain the lettuce, add it to the salad bowl. Slice the cucumber, avocado, crumble the blue cheese and add them to the lettuce. Top with olives, sprinkle lemon juice and remaining 3 tablespoons olive oil over salad. Add salt and pepper to taste.
4) Grill the two meat sides of the peaches until blackened, about 3 minutes each side. Careful when transporting peaches to the salad bowl as they will be juicy and can easily fall apart. The sugars will have caramelized adding a fabulous color and scent to the peaches.
Note: No grill? Mimic the grill in your broiler! Broil your fruit about 3 minutes each side, until blackened for a similar great taste!

With the abundance of zucchini came an abundance of cucumber from our CSA: cucumber and fennel soup, cucumber and avocado salad, salted cucumber sticks, cucumber water and finally, when there were just too many, pickled. But this simple recipe, pictured above, might just be the favored of all cucumber dishes.

D loved this dish so much that when we had watermelon for dessert the other night he asked what happened to the cucumber, accusing me of using up all his favorite foods when I went pickling. (Let’s just say he’ll bite his tongue when he tastes one of my pickles and wish I hadn’t left behind this one treasure for the watermelon!)

This salad goes great with fish or after the meal, cleansing the palate, or as a starter to a main. It’s vibrant color makes an artistic addition to most meals. I can see it at a BBQ too– being that unusually creative (yet so simple!) dish that little Sally made all by herself– why she’ll be a contender in the kitchen one day!

Red onions or avocado could be added to this. I could even see preserved lemons sprinkled over top. Or, make the salad with cantaloupe (and some prosciutto). Just be sure to keep it easy, fast and especially summer fresh.

Watermelon Cucumber Salad
Serving Size= 2. Active Time= 15 minutes.
1 small watermelon or 1/4 of a large watermelon.
1 large cucumber
2 tablespoons fresh dill
juice of 1/2 lemon
coarse sea salt (I used Black Lava Salt b/c the color contrast was desired)

1) Cut rind from watermelon and then cut into 1 inch cubes, place in a medium bowl.
2) Using a vegetable peeler, remove skin from cucumber and discard. Continue using the vegetable peeler to “shred” the cucumber pulp. This will create the “noodles” pictured above. Discard the core, add to bowl.
3) Chop dill and add to bowl along with lemon juice. Sprinkle with sea salt just before serving.

As summer pushes into full force, we all know how important it is to stay out of the kitchen. That, or simply keeping the stove off as long as possible is key. With these beautiful days (finally it’s not deathly humid) nobody wants to spend more time than is needed wrapped in an apron, laboring over dishes. With that in mind, in the coming weeks Just Braise will highlight easy, quick cooking recipes.

These past weeks have offered up an abundance of zucchini from my CSA. It is so much that I am almost running out of unique ideas. So much zucchini, let me count the ways I used them: there was grilled zucchini, broiled zucchini, zucchini bread, zucchini in salad, zucchini and eggs, pickled zucchini, visions of zucchini soup, and the above, zucchini “burgers.”

I have made similar zucchini pancakes before. It was a great way to get D to eat this vegetable he claims to not like (so far though, the bread, full of nuts and chocolate chips, was the best trick). This time, I bulked the zucchini pancakes up to make them more burger style. Topped with a basic raita (yogurt based sauce) this burger proved refreshing served warm or cold.

What I love most about this recipe is that it can be used in a variety of ways. A frittata was easy with most of the work done– just break apart the burgers over a pan, add eggs, cook and done. Ditto with veggie tacos (on a shell with salsa), a side (or base) for hummus, or a topping in salad.

Veggie Patties
Prep time= 15 minutes. Cook time= 8 minutes.
1- 15oz can black beans (or chickpeas)
2-3 zucchini, 7-9 inches long
1 carrot (also 7-9 inches long)
1 clove garlic, crushed
2 tablespoons tahini
1/4 cup breadcrumbs
1 egg
1 tablespoon olive oil

1) Wash and drain the black beans and place in a medium sized bowl. Using a potato masher, crush the beans until they form a paste.
2) Lay out 2 paper towels. Shred zucchini and carrot and place on paper towels. Cover with 2 more paper towels, pressing down to drain off water from veggies. If you find there is still a lot of moisture to them, repeat process. When they no longer release moisture, add to bowl with black beans, along with garlic, tahini, bread crumbs and egg.
3) Use a hand to incorporate all ingredients evenly, squeezing the batter to check stickiness. Add another egg if you find it is too dry, more breadcrumbs if too wet.
4) Warm a saute pan on medium high heat with olive oil in the pan. Once warm, create patties with hands of the vegetable mixture and place on pan. Cook about 5 minutes, until brown, flip, then about 5 minutes more, until brown on other side. Serve warm on burger buns, bread, cold, or as suggested above.
NOTE: The above photo is bread with olive paste, avocado slices, a veggie burger, arugula and topped with a homemade raita. This raita was a 1 cup plain yogurt mixed with 1/2 cup diced cucumber (chopped parsley or mint optional).

As summer progresses D and I are receiving a more varied selection of goodies from our Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) group. When I tell people about CSAs they are often horrified– you don’t know what you’re getting each week? You cook every night? Don’t you throw a lot away? (Admittedly, some ask how they too can join.)

On all accounts, no.

CSAs help a person think seasonally. While it has become second nature for most to eat tomatoes all year round, I will actually know when they are in season in my region when I see them in the share I receive. This also means that when I finally get my tomatoes they will taste worlds better than those gassed-to-look-ripe at the grocery.

I also know I can check my farmer’s newsletters from years past to get an idea of what might be coming each week (or at least each month). I can also check the predicted weekly share that gets posted by Tuesday (we receive veggies two days later, freshly picked the day before). Usually though, it is more fun to just show up, be surprised, and Iron Chef style, make meals for the week. D even noted this morning how the unpredictability is really changing up our diets.

I like it because instead of D being annoyed at me for bringing home something we normally would not have purchased: “What?! Kale?! What are we supposed to do with that?!” I can just say our farmers grew it, we paid for it back in March, and now you’re going to eat it [insert sinister laugh here].

Further, it has opened up a whole new library of local vegetables for us and forces us to try new preparations so as not to tire of a single vegetable while the season lasts. We have found that while pretty much all hearty greens are good with bacon (above) we have found that Swiss chard does not take readily to being creamed (a la spinach), sauteed kale is delicious in eggs and fennel makes a fabulous cold soup, to name a few.

And no, we do not cook every night. With one small air conditioner (in the living room) that only gets turned on when temperatures reach over 95 degrees, a kitchen gets way too hot to be cooking throughout the summer. Sure, we take to the grill a little more often, sure we eat a lot of salads. More often than not, we set up a kitchen sauna about twice a week and prepare food for the week ahead. Our veggies go great in salads, but D has proclaimed a “one salad a day” policy which leaves us to be more creative with our veggies– zucchini bread anyone?

Do we throw a lot out? Although our farmers suggested one share can feed 3-4 non-vegetarian adults, D and I have found we easily finish our weekly allotment each week. It helps that we rarely go out for dinner and we bring lunch to work everyday.

Plus. with large preparations, especially in soups, much can be frozen for later in the year. I have contemplated purchasing a separate freezer, just for soups, but unfortunately, we lack the space. This week, I am most excited that we received a bounty of cucumbers– it’s canning time!

With all our trials and errors in the kitchen this summer, I still think bacon with hearty greens to be the best. It’s simple and delicious and takes little prep time. A perfect side from breakfast to dinner: great with eggs or cornmeal crusted fish (as shown here).

Collards (or other hearty greens) with Bacon
Serves 2. Prep time= 5 minutes. Cook time= 10 minutes.
While collards are usually cooked to an extreme doneness, leaving them limp and soggy, this preparation holds some of their structure, leaving them crisp.

2 cups loosely packed chopped collards, leaves only
2 strips bacon, cut into 1 inch pieces

1) Cut the bacon into 1 inch pieces. In a hot pan set over medium-high heat, cook bacon until crisp (or desired doneness reached).
2) As bacon is cooking, prepare collards: Wash collards and pull off leaves, discarding stems. Chop into strips, about 1 inch thick.
3) Push the bacon to the side of the pan and using a papertowel, soak up some of the bacon’s fat, leaving a thin surface on the pan. Add collards, stir to incorporate ingredients and coat with bacon fat, and cover.
4) Let cook about 3 minutes, uncover, stir and cover again, about 2 minutes more. Serve warm.

I wait all winter for fresh fruit. Those imports that come from Chile, Mexico, Australia and other parts of the globe simply do not taste as good as the local stuff. Part of it is because fruits and vegetables bought in the grocery travel on average two weeks and 1,500 miles to reach your plate. This means they are picked well before ripe and sprayed with ethylene gas to appear ripe when they reach the markets, though are a far cry from tasting ripe. The biggest victim of this method is probably the tomato.

Local food obviously travels less to reach you making it more environmentally friendly. It also keeps the consumer in touch with the seasons. Why don’t apples taste as good in July? Where does all the acorn squash go in May? If food must travel less to reach its destination it will (hopefully) be picked closer to ripeness– or when fully ripe. So local food tastes better. To find out more about local food go here.

If you purchase from farm stands or greenmarkets even better: you have an opportunity to talk with the person who actually produced your food. This allows you to find out their farming methods and philosophy. Often times, this produce can be found low-spray or organic. To find out more about organic food go here.

The best food I have ever eaten has been the stuff I picked myself. A peach direct from the tree, arugula from my garden buckets and apples in an orchard.

The other weekend D and I went strawberry picking. I cannot remember the last time I picked strawberries but it was definitely a time when I was closer to Earth. Let’s just say a 4 inch plant is not a small distance from 5ft 11in me. 3 hours of squats will do more to your thighs than you think, especially when you rely on your legs to carry you around the city and up and down the subway stairs.

Picking fruits and vegetables connects me to more than the Earth. It makes me aware of how difficult not just farming, but especially harvesting is. Spend a few hours in 100 degree heat breaking corn from the stalks and you will see what I mean.

As D and I at times crawled around the field we popped a few of those sun-ripe and ultra sweet berries for a tasting. One taste was all we needed to let greed take over. 4 quarts, 3 hours and a belly full of berries later we were on our way to a vineyard for a little relaxation before the drive home.

The results? One quart went to my father and the other 3 were broken into 2 piles: “Eat Now” and “Savor a Bit.” A few days later both Eat Now Savor a Bot were resorted, sliced and transferred into a third “Use Me” pile. Use Me became the items pictured below: Strawberry Lemon-Limeade, Strawberry Scones and Strawberry Ice Cream.

Strawberry Lemon-Limeade
Makes about 1.5 quarts. Active time= 20 minutes
Juice of 4 lemons
Juice of 3 limes
1 cup strawberries, loosely chopped
Simple Syrup to taste

1) Make simple syrup: Place 1 cup sugar and 1 cup water in a pan over medium-high heat. Let simmer for 10 minutes.
2) While simple syrup is simmering, juice lemons and limes. Place the lemon juice, lime juice and strawberries in a 2 quart container. Fill container with water about 3/4 full.
3) Using a hand held blender (or regular blender) puree ingredients until a desired consistency is reached (leave some strawberries more solid if desired).
4) Add about half the simple syrup, taste, add more if desired. Add simple syrup until desired sweetness is reached.

More recipes soon…

Just look at it. Isn’t it lovely? Okay, so it could use a real slice of tomato, but who cares? It’s grilling season! Alright, so it’s been grilling season for a while, but it’s only recently D and I picked up our very own $10 hibachi.

It’s a great little thing that has done us well. Friend’s gas grill line needs cleaning? No problem, we’ll carry over the hibachi. That’s right, it’s got legs that swing up to latch the top in place to make it a portable little bugger. We can grill in the front of the house or the side of the house. (We quickly realized our neighbors don’t think we’re burning the place down if grilling is done in the front.)

Nothing looks appealing in the fridge? Whatever, just throw it on the grill– everything tastes better grilled!

So D and I whipped up these little guys.

Right, everyone is doing burgers now and most know how to whip one together. So I’ll give no recipe, but ask you to try something new…

These are beef burgers with my own added secret seasonings (they’re secret because they change according to my mood). Many people will say that meat is best left untouched (D is one of them). Salt, pepper, heat, done. But seasonings can give meat a personality. It is no longer a burger, but something unique that requires its own flavor combinations.

Trust me. I once made my “secret seasoning” burgers stuffed with goat cheese at a party and people ate 3, 4, 5 burgers.  They told me to sell them and I could be bigger than McDonalds. Okay, they didn’t go that far, but they did say if I opened a restaurant with them they would be there to support and tell everyone about it… Was it just the drink in them? I like to think not.

I think Doug over at Hot Doug’s in Chicago exemplifies this perfectly with the hot dog– not that there is anything wrong with the traditional Chicago-style dog, but why not jazz it up with say… chorizo and manchego?

I do the same with my burgers, often stuffing them with cheese, fresh herbs and mixed spices. Not only did this one get an interesting array of spices, it was topped with a slightly more grown up condiment selection: olive paste; Dijon mustard; cucumbers; scallion spears and tomatoes.

The ingredients should be mixed according to mood, so there is no recipe to go by here. Some good additions, beyond salt and pepper, include:

garlic powder (also fresh)
onion powder (also fresh)
olive paste
fresh herbs (I like basil or rosemary best) (dried work too)
hot pepper flakes
celery salt
cumin
nutmeg (just a pinch)
paprika
cinnamon
Worcester Sauce
Tabasco Sauce
Soy Sauce
Fish Sauce
anchovies
1 egg, for binding
red wine
goat cheese (really any cheese works but I prefer the softer goat or mozzarella because of how they melt inside)

Of course, all of these at once would overwhelm. But next time you whip up some burgers, pick 3-4 from this list you think might go together. Experiment, experiment…