Manic Cooking

There is a bitter irony about summer cooking.  On the one hand, it is the best time of year to cook.  Trees are bearing fruit, vegetables and herbs are sprouting, farmers are milking their goats and cows, market stalls everywhere are literally overflowing with fresh produce and cooking ingredients.  On the other hand, summer at its worst can be oppressively hot - and if, like me, you do not have an air conditioner and your apartment has terrible circulation, then summer is irrefutably the worst time of year to cook. 

Now sure, there are plenty of nice summer time meals that one can prepare that involve minimal heat, and I have certainly made a few of them in the past couple of months.  But it was not a lack of ideas that kept me from making elaborate salads or cold entrees.  It was a lack of motivation.  Sitting in the soup, which for the early part of August was my apartment, sucked the will to do anything from every crevice of the body. 

Consequently, there was a good two to three weeks when I barely cooked a thing.  I certainly had not cooked anything approaching the type food that one frequently sees on this blog.  I was out of it.  I did manage a few nice salads like this caprese below, which I prepared for dinner multiple nights.  But on the whole, I'd been just making due with whatever I could find around the house, and trying to get out as much as possible.

Caprese Salad

Brandywine Heirloom Tomato, Buffalo Mozzarella, Fresh Basil,

Aged Balsamic Vinegar, Greek Extra Virgin Olive Oil, Hawaiian Volcanic Salt, Crushed Black Pepper, Chive

Then one weekend, disgusted by my apathy, I determined that I needed to start cooking again.  I went to the store and loaded up.  It was still hot.  It was still sticky.  But at least the apartment was in the 80s and not the 90s!  Possessed, and compensating for lost time, I morphed from a lazy, idling degenerate into a manic, gourmet chef.  Here is how the girls and I ate for one week:

Pan-Fried Tilapia

Fresh Corn, Black Bean, Mango and Chive Relish with Lime Butter Sauce

The tilapia was flowered and pan-fried to a perfect crispness.  It was rich in flavor and tender beneath the crust.  The relish was inspired from the menu of one of my favorite restaurants, Basso Cafe, whose chef and owner used to live in the apartment next door.  I've never had his version, and I assume it is much better than what I made, but I really like the idea of corn, black beans and mango together, so I played with it.  This meal was just for Vanessa and me, and we had leftovers for the following night.

Cheese Tortellini Primavera with Cream

Brocolini, Red and Purple Peppers, Onion, Yellow Heirloom Tomato, Garlic

Sarah was home two nights later, and I made a big pasta dinner for us all.  The tortellini was freshly made by this nice pasta company called Nuvo - I think it had Parmesan and mozzarella inside.  I topped the whole dish with a little grated mozzarella and fresh herbs and paprika.

Chicken Stir Fry

Broccoli, Leeks, Water Chestnuts, Onion, Garlic, Crispy Noodles

Sarah contributed this dinner, and it was also very tasty.  She does not usually get to cook dinner as she works late most of the year, and was gone for all of July.  In the summer though she works earlier hours and so she has cooked a few meals.

Duck a l'Orange

Garlic Mashed Potatoes and Broccoli

At the time, it seemed that my duck a l'orange would be the pièce de résistance for the week.  Vanessa and I enjoyed it for two nights.  I could not resist trying this French classic when I saw the duck legs on sale for about $2.20 a leg.  I rubbed the meat in dry-roasted and ground coriander, cumin, black pepper and some kosher salt.  I slow-cooked it stove-top on a bed of carrots, onion, celery, orange chunks, fresh thyme, and marjoram.  After a little while I added wine, veal stock, and orange juice concentrate.  Meanwhile, I melted sugar into a dark caramel syrup, and added orange juice, cider vinegar and salt.  When the duck was sufficiently tender, I removed the aromatics, strained the pan juices, and seared the duck skin on a high heat in olive oil.  I combined the pan juices with the orange syrup and some fresh orange zest.

This dinner was positively fabulous, but it was actually topped the following night, when the girls and I were joined by our friend Harrison.  As is customary when guests come over for dinner, I kick it up a notch and make multiple dishes.  In this instance, the meal was an Indian feast, and if I do say so myself, the tastiest one I have made.  I made a chicken mahkani, a chana masala, basmati rice, and we had some garlic naan and sweet mango chutney.  To drink, Sarah and Harrison made some mango lassis.  When Harrison asked what he could bring to contribute to the dinner, we gave him the unexpected response, "a tub of yogurt."  He did not suspect that we would be drinking the yogurt (mixed with mango pulp and sugar), and so he also brought a bottle of Cabernet Sauvignon. 

Clockwise from Top: Garlic Naan, Basmati Rice, Cilantro,

Chicken Mahkani, Chana Masala, Sweet Mango Chutney

Mango Lassi

I have had a troublesome time at making a good Chana Masala in the past.  The recipes that I have used were all overly complex, with multiple pots, pans, a blender, and a big mess.  This time I made and wrote down my own recipe, which was so much easier, so much cleaner, and just about as tasty.  Sarah said that she enjoyed it more than my previous incarnations, so... it's the new recipe.  I'd be happy to e-mail a copy to anyone who'd like it.  Though it is simpler than before, it is still too much to write in the blog.  Anyway, yummy chickpeas.

Chana Masala

For the chicken dish I had a little help.  There is a nice Indian woman at the Westport Farmer's Market who makes and sells a variety of sauces.  Her Mahkni Simmer Sauce is an absolutely outstanding tomato based sauce.  Very flavorful and mildly spiced.  I sauteed some chicken chunks, deglazed the pan with a fair amount of rice wine and vinegar, and then browned some chunks of vidalia onion.  Later I added the simmer sauce to the mix, which was already a tasty chicken dish.

Chicken Makhani

This was the table for the Indian feast.

This summer was very busy for me, and while I avoided cooking in late July and early August, things did eventually pick up in the kitchen.  Mostly, I just did not do a lot of blogging.  Hopefully, I'm back now will be writing more frequently.  Stay tuned.