Best summer salad ever - insalata caprese

Photograph © 2013 Lori Korleski Richardson

One salad defines summer, and that's the Italian insalata caprese (salad in the style of Capri).

Simply, it's a ball of buffalo mozzarella, sliced thinly; fresh, very ripe tomatoes, also sliced thinly; fresh basil leaves, cut horizontally into tiny ribbons; salt, pepper, balsamic vinegar and olive oil to taste.

Some notes and variations that I have tried this summer and enjoyed:

• Many cooks don't have the technique needed to thinly slice a whole ripe tomato, especially a large heirloom, and don't even think of slicing a tomato without sharpening your knife first. To make it easier on yourself, core the top stem area, cut the tomato in half, put the cut sides down, then slice. This makes cutting up the mozzarella easier, too.
• Replace the salt with finely ground sel gris or other gray sea salt, or smoked salt crystals.
• Buffalo mozzarella too dear? Skip the commercial varieties (too bland and bad texture) and try some goat cheese, provolone, or even a triple cream that's somewhat on the firm side (Cowgirl Creamery on the West Coast and Caromont on the East have good ones). 
• A mixture of colored tomatoes are great for a party platter.
• Don't like vinegar? Don't want the extra calories of olive oil? Allergic to pepper? Can't tolerate salt? Fine. As long as the tomato is fresh and ripe, it can stand on its own.

As my husband can tell you, I'm rather harsh in my judgment of tomatoes, grilling waitstaff on whether the tomatoes in the salad are ripe (I do this only in season; out of season, I don't bother ordering salads with tomatoes in them) and sending the salad back if they aren't. I know why a restaurant may have food-service tomatoes even in August and September, but I don't have to pay for their lack of awareness or bad business practices.

Pleasing peas

Photo courtesy of photobucket.com

For those of you who have been wondering why nothing has appeared on this blog lately...

I've gone on sabbatical with my husband, who really does have a sabbatical. While he's been researching and writing, I've been busy doing things to get our Sacramento house ready for our next tenant and help our current renter move out. I continue that project today.

But I did actually cook lunch yesterday, so I thought I'd share the results and jot down the recipe. I hope to be back blogging daily by mid-August.

Pasta with fresh peas and bacon
Serves 4 (lunch or first course portions)

Ingredients
2 quarts water
Salt
1/2 pound pasta (I used a combination of farfalle-bowties and strozzapreti)
1 pound English pea pods (a little over 1 cup shelled)
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
1/2 cup crumbled bacon
1/2 cup Parmesan, grated
Pinch of smoked salt (optional)
Freshly ground pepper to taste

Instructions
Boil the water in a large pot, salted (or not) to taste. Check on the pasta bag for the cooking times; in my case, the bowties were to cook 9-10 minutes and the strozzapreti 7-8 minutes. So I put in the farfalle first, set the timer for 2 minutes, then added the strozzapretit and set the timer for 7 minutes.

About 5 minutes before the pasta is done, add the fresh peas to the boiling water.

Drain the cooked pasta and peas, put the pot back on the stove on simmer and add 2 tablespoons of the oil. Put the drained pasta and peas back into the pot and coat with the rest of the olive oil.

If you are using cooked bacon bits that you keep in the fridge or freezer, line an ovenproof cup with a paper towel and pour in the measured bacon. Microwave for about a minute, remove the paper towel from the cup and squeeze to remove as much grease as possible (you may need to wrap the towel in a second paper towel, since it will be hot and greasy). Add to the oiled peas and pasta and toss well. Season with the smoked salt, if using, and pepper. Remove from heat.

Add the cheese, toss well again and serve.

Clean corn on the cob the easy way

I know I mentioned this in summers past, but by far the easiest way to do corn on the cob is microwave it with the husk on. For easy cob removal after cooking, I lop off the stalk end before putting it in the microwave. If it's really fresh corn, look at the end after 2 minutes; once the kernels are no longer milky, it's done. Here are photos of how it's done.

Road notes

Biscuits at the Loveless Cafe, Nashville.

We've been on the road for a little more than a week now, and so far, we've managed to keep the cost of eating to a minimum without resorting to fast food. How? By selecting restaurants where we know we'll get something that we wouldn't get either in Charlottesville, where we live, or Northern California, where we're heading. And for all other meals, there's the food box and the cooler.

In the food box is tube filled with peanut butter, bags of Uncle Ben's precooked rice and Madras lentils from TastyBite, a variety of crackers, a dozen corn tortillas, a half-pound of cheddar (wrapped in a paper towel and stored in a plastic container, to ward off mold), freshly ground coffee, a few lemons and limes, pop-top cans of tuna and salmon, a slice of vacuum-packed country ham, cups of applesauce, mandarin oranges and fruit cocktail, small bottles of olive oil and Italian spice mix, a couple of instant Thai meals and a backpacking freeze-dried meal left over from a backpacking trip. In the cooler went a tube filled with a mixture of light cream cheese and feta, milk, a bag of fresh salad greens and a butter lettuce, an orange bell pepper, a package of grilled chicken strips and a few packs of frozen slow-cooked pork.

Out of this has come some fancy salads, soft tacos, plates of rice and lentils, and some very portable lunches that can be eaten on a cracker at a time while driving. A shout-out to REI for our camp stove that's smaller than our portable cookware, and the fillable food tubes. Only in Memphis did we not have an outdoor place to use the stove, but the room had a microwave, so that worked pretty well.

By far, our favorite meals out have been at the Loveless Cafe in Nashville, and Rendezvous ribs in Memphis.

Calamari rings in a winner

Most people have their first encounter with squid as fried rings of calamari. Not me. My friend Alan took to an Italian restaurant in Philadelphia that had recently been the site of a mob hit. He pointed out the blood stains between the floor tiles. He ordered us a couple of dishes and my spaghetti had a rich tomato sauce with a bunch of white rings. I took a bite; "What is this incredibly delicious round pasta?" I asked. He smiled and said, "Squid." I've been in love with it ever since.

I'd still rather have it in a sauce than fried. Below is a recipe I've made several times in the past few months, most recently for company last night. If you can't find fresh baby squid, the kind that is frozen whole is a good substitute. It's not hard to cut up, but you should lop off the beaks and any stray cartilage you find as you do. If you want to know why I'm not buying rings-only calamari anymore, take a look at this transcript from NPR's "This American Life."


Linguine with Calamari and Garlic 
adapted from a recipe in Bon Appétit, December 1996
Serves 2

Ingredients
1/2 pound linguine
4 anchovies, from 2-ounce tin; anchovies crushed, oil reserved
3 large garlic cloves, chopped
1/2 pound cleaned calamari (squid), thinly sliced crosswise
1/4 teaspoon dried crushed red pepper
1 tablespoon capers
3/4 cup dry white wine
1/2 cup thinly sliced fresh basil leaves or 1 tablespoon dried

Instructions
Cook pasta in large pot of boiling salted water until just tender but still firm to bite, stirring occasionally. Drain pasta, reserving 1/2 cup cooking liquid.
Meanwhile, heat reserved oil from anchovies in large skillet over medium-high heat. Add garlic and cook about a minute. Add calamari and toss just until opaque, about 1 minute. Add crushed red pepper, anchovies and capers and stir 1 minute. Add white wine; boil until sauce is slightly reduced, about 3 minutes. Mix in basil.
Add pasta to mixture in skillet. Toss until heated through and sauce coats pasta, adding reserved cooking liquid by tablespoonfuls if pasta seems dry, about 2 minutes. Divide pasta and calamari between 2 plates and serve.

Need to use up the extra anchovies? Here's an excellent side dish for this meal.


Seared Broccoli with Anchovy Vinaigrette
Recipe adapted from Maria Hines, Agrodolce, Seattle, WA
Serves 4

Ingredients
Anchovy Vinaigrette:
4 oil-packed anchovies
2 teaspoons white wine vinegar
1 garlic clove, peeled
⅓ cup canola oil
⅛ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

Broccoli:
2 tablespoons canola oil
1 large bunch of broccoli, trimmed into small florets
¾ teaspoon kosher salt, divided
1 garlic clove, very finely chopped
⅛ teaspoon dried red pepper flakes
1/2 fresh lemon, juiced
⅛ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
 
Instructions
Make the anchovy vinaigrette: In a blender, purée the anchovies, vinegar and garlic together on high speed until smooth. Reduce the blender speed to medium and slowly pour in the canola oil, blending until the vinaigrette is emulsified and thick. Season with the pepper.
Make the broccoli: Heat a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add the canola oil and broccoli florets and season with ½ teaspoon of the salt. Cook, stirring once or twice, until the florets are caramelized, 6 to 8 minutes. Add the garlic and red pepper flakes and cook, stirring constantly, until the garlic is fragrant, about 30 seconds. Stir in the lemon juice and season with the remaining ¼ teaspoon of salt and the pepper. Transfer the broccoli to a serving platter and drizzle with the anchovy vinaigrette. Serve warm.

Wahoo for evoo - olive oil aids memory

The Smithsonian has some good news for us olive oil lovers: Not only does it taste good, it can be good  for our brains as well. http://blogs.smithsonianmag.com/smartnews/2013/03/the-secret-to-olive-oils-anti-alzheimers-powers/