Main

My friend Phyllis from Mississippi makes this vibrant and creamy squash soup when she comes to visit us in the summer. It’s such a quick and easy way to make use of fast-growing summer squash that it’s bound to become one of your summer staples, too.

I make these sweet and savory tarts all year round as a first course or served with a salad as a light lunch. The onions take on a lovely blushing red color when they caramelize. Shake it up with a SAZERAC (see page 28)

Fresh green peas and their curlicue shoots are one of the first signs of spring at my local farmer’s markets, and I can never resist combining the two in these refreshing and delicately flavored toasts or Meyer Lemonade. Shake it up with a MEYER LEMONADE (see page 27)

Think of fresh deviled ham as pork’s answer to chicken salad. Creamy and savory, it makes a great dip for crackers or crostini. For a light lunch, try scooping it into cups of butter lettuce with sliced tomatoes.

My initial exposure to French cuisine was during my first trip to Europe. It was long before I would eat in any three-star restaurants, and that exposure—the best I could have asked for—came from sitting in cafés. I was a wide-eyed twenty-three-year-old (and I was told by a waiter not to practice my high school French on him). I remember beautiful, colorful plates of vegetables going past me. I soon learned it was the classic French presentation of crudités, an assortment of three or four salads served together. It was fresh, affordable, and very appetizing, and it was served all over the city. Once in a while I’ll run this as a special in my restaurant; then I’ll forget about it until I crave it again. Any one of these salads can stand on its own, but if you put them all together they make for an extraordinary meal. Marinated Lentil Salad with Creamy Goat Cheese and Ripe Tomatoes (p. 113) would be a welcome addition to the mix.

Gravlax is surprisingly easy to make at home, and you can vary the herbs or add spices to suit your taste. Once you become comfortable with the process, you’ll want to have this around for easy lunches and snacks.

Plain ole dirty rice is a good thing. Add the earthy, nutty taste and toothsome texture of wild rice, and you have something even better.

This is a fantastic dish that I came across when I was researching Caribbean food on the Internet. The recipe was cryptic—just a list of ingredients with no measurements or instructions. But I was so intrigued by the use of curry, black pepper, and Angostura bitters that I developed my own method (and added fresh herbs). This pilaf is substantial enough to eat on its own, but heavenly when served alongside grilled fish or shrimp.

I loved the idea of pairing lamb and goat—since that’s how I think of them, frolicking in a field together (what do I know, I’m a city girl). The idea for a pairing led me to this dish. The tasty goat cheese, herbes de Provence (a mixture of herbs that includes basil, fennel, rosemary, thyme, summer savory, and lavender), and pancetta mixture was initially a stuffing for the lamb, but it was quite tricky to assemble. I made it simpler for the staff and now for you (you don’t always have to take the most difficult route!) by simply crumbling the topping over the roasted lamb. The rich, glossy zinfandel sauce really pulls the flavors together.

Aaaaahhh, Mediterranean comfort food! Think of this as a heady, warmly spiced alternative to your mom’s stuffed bell pepper. The baked eggplant flesh becomes a tender bed for the luscious meat and rice filling, and the whole is so succulent and moist that no sauce is needed. Some chilled sliced cucumber and onion with olive oil and vinegar would be a good starter or side dish.

This sumptuous steak dish makes for a spectacular celebration meal. Beef tenderloin steaks are stuffed with a garlicky cream cheese mixture, seared in a hot skillet, and served with a warm, fragrant red wine sauce. The trick is chilling the stuffed steaks to firm up the cream cheese so it stays put while the steaks are cooking. All this meal needs is your favorite potato dish (simple roasted new potatoes with herbs would be my choice), a simple salad, and a lusty bottle of red wine. I suggest drinking the same style of wine that you use to make the sauce. If you are short on time, these steaks are great without the sauce too.

Like of lot of folks these days, I have gotten away from eating beef very often, but when I do, give me the real deal—a thick, juicy, medium-rare steak sprinkled with good salt. Given a choice between a well-marbled rib eye and a lean center-cut filet, I’ll take the rib eye every time, for the chewy texture and the deep flavor it delivers. Hanger steak, or the “butcher’s tender,” is another cut that lots of restaurants are serving these days as a less expensive but delicious alternative to tenderloin. You probably won’t find it at your average supermarket, but you might find it at an upscale market or a good butcher. It may not look like much, but it cooks up tender and tasty (as long as you don’t cook it past medium). These steaks don’t need any sauce, just something savory to serve alongside—my choices being a pungent salad (with the indulgence of some rich blue cheese) or some broccoli rabe with garlic and olive oil. Hold the baked potato.

This dish requires a little effort ahead of time but finishes quick and easy, making it perfect for a casual weeknight dinner. It’s an adaptation of saltimbocca (Italian for “jump in your mouth”), traditionally made with thin slices of veal sautéed with prosciutto and sage. Since veal can be a little harder to find, and pricier, I use a less expensive cut of meat and splurge on an embellishment: a genuine Fontina Val d’Aosta, from the Piedmont region in Italy. This combination will literally jump in your mouth! I recommend serving it with tender asparagus.

Pork loves the salty, “meaty” flavor of soy sauce just as tomatoes love basil. This quick little sweet-and-hot marinade, fragrant from garlic and ginger, permeates and perfumes the meat, and helps it to caramelize over the heat. Flavored with crunchy vegetables, Quick-fried Rice makes a fresh one-pan accompaniment that is nutritious and provides great leftovers. Feel free to add a few stalks of celery or a cup of broccoli florets to the rice. If you’re pressed for time, plain white or brown rice is perfectly fine.