Summer 2021 Cooking Wrap-Up
Summer 2021 in my kitchen was filled with noodle salads, yogurt dressings, and nightshades. North Carolina’s heat and humidity pushed me to embrace the art of raw meals or dishes that involved minimal oven or stove-top use. I joined a CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) with a friend and found myself overwhelmed- in a good way- with beautiful produce. Luckily, each weekly share came with recipe suggestions that we happily tried. One recipe that I returned to a number of times was Grilled Eggplant with Tahini Yogurt Sauce, from the blog, A Sweet Pea Chef. From the first bite, I was all-in on the tahini yogurt sauce, spiced with cumin. We drizzled it over tender, roasted eggplant and then enthusiastically mopped up the leftovers with a baguette. The flavor combination of smoky cumin, savory tahini, and tart yogurt and lemon juice was the perfect complement to the eggplant, tomatoes and basil. I was inspired to try other dishes with yogurt sauces and found Yotam Ottolenghi’s recipe for Tomato Salad with Cardamom Yogurt Sauce (pictured above) to be the perfect raw dish to enjoy after melting away in the heat. The serrano peppers, lime juice and shallots added so much zing and brightness to the dish- and it took only 20 minutes to make! Yewande Komolafe’s Spicy Cucumbers with Yogurt, Lemon and Herbs was another dish that deepened my appreciation for yogurt’s abilities. This yogurt sauce is packed with flavor from the herbs and lemon zest, balancing out the cucumbers that had been marinating in a spicy oil. After making these dishes, I feel more confident in my ability to create yogurt sauces of my own: add some alliums, maybe a strong savory spice, salt and pepper, some acid in the form of citrus or vinegar, and an herb that works well with whatever produce is the star of the dish.
Hetty McKinnon’s Cold Noodle Salad with Spicy Peanut Sauce
One way I effectively used a lot of this summer’s CSA produce was in Hetty McKinnon’s Cold Noodle Salad with Spicy Peanut Sauce. This dish involves zero cooking, but is super flavorful and a real crowd pleaser. And the sauce… I could practically drink it. You’ll never have to look for a spicy peanut sauce recipe again- this one is it! Whenever I’ve made this recipe, I’ve always made additional sauce. It’s perfect for dipping spring rolls or for dressing a bowl of rice, veggies, and tofu. Another way I used summer produce was in a pesto pasta salad. No real recipe here, just throw a delicious, fresh pesto over some al dente (personal preference) pasta and toss with whatever vegetables suit your fancy. You could leave them raw, or cook some down to add dimension and variety to each bite. My favorite version of this pasta salad involved leeks that had been sautéed for quite a while, chunky slices of heirloom tomatoes, fresh corn, and just the best pesto made by a dear friend. It doesn’t get much better than that.
Last summer, my roommates and I made the same eggplant stir fry dish over and over and over again (try it, it’s really good). No matter how recently we had eaten it, we were somehow always craving it. This summer, however, I expanded upon this affinity for eggplant and tried many different preparations. In addition to drizzled with a cumin yogurt sauce, a favorite new eggplant dish of mine is baingan bharta. Inspired by a delicious meal I had from a local restaurant, Lime and Lemon Grill & Bar, I made an adapted version of Julie Sahni’s dish and ate it every night for two weeks in a row. To make it, you roast and mash eggplant and then season it with herbs, spices, lime juice, and aromatics. I ate it over rice and added peas the second time I made it, mimicking Lime and Lemon’s version. Silky eggplant and tons of flavor in every bite; this is a dish I will return to many more times.
One-Pot Orzo with Tomatoes, Corn and Zucchini, recipe from Lidey Heuck
And of course there are many other refreshing dishes that I enjoyed all summer long that I can’t forget:
Chickpea Corn Miso Salad
https://www.bonappetit.com/recipe/corn-and-chickpea-bowl-with-miso-jalapeno-tahini
Onigiri Three Ways
https://www.bonappetit.com/recipe/onigiri-three-ways
Sesame Miso Cucumber Salad
https://dishingupthedirt.com/browsing-filters/seasonal/spring/sesame-miso-cucumber-salad/
One-Pot Orzo with Tomatoes, Corn and Zucchini