Good morning. Time of wonder, Robert McCloskey called it: summer defined by place and weather and light. You might get a good peach out of it, some terrific corn, a few excellent tomatoes. I’ve had a lot of those, these last few weeks, and it’s made for maybe the best no-recipe cooking of the year.
Try it yourself, if you can lay hands on a couple fat, juicy heirloom tomatoes and a can of good Italian tuna: tomato tonnato. Put the tuna into the bowl of a food processor along with some olive oil, a few spoonfuls of mayonnaise, a palm full of capers, the juice of a lemon, a clove of garlic and, if you have any, a couple of anchovies. Pulse until it’s creamy, then taste and adjust the flavors to your liking. You might want a little more lemon, a little salt, a grind of black pepper.
Now slice the tomatoes and fan them out on a plate. Spoon the sauce over the slices and serve with toast. Holy cow.
Try some actual recipes as well. I’m really into Alison Roman’s awesome new recipe for seared steak on a leafy greens salsa verde (above), with charred scallions. Outrageously, Alison serves the dish with potato chips for a weeknight take on steak frites. This is a yes.
Speaking of scallions, I’m kind of into Melissa Clark’s recipe for cheddar-scallion dip as well. It’s a nice thing to send to school with the kids as a snack, or to eat with crackers while you’re cooking Alison’s steak.
Other dinner options: chicken in mustard sauce; black bean soup; sautéed scallops; one-pot meatballs and sauce; sheet-pan roasted fish with sweet peppers.
Priya Krishna spent time with the chef Fany Gerson recently, learning about the Rosh Hashana cooking of Gerson’s native Mexico. She picked up some terrific recipes, of course. Even if you won’t be celebrating the dawn of 5779, you should take a look at them, instructions for a spicy matzo ball soup, for a sweet and tangy roast chicken with apricot glaze; and for a fiery hot-honey ice cream, served with chile-dusted mangoes on top.
(And if you are celebrating? Here are our best recipes for the high holidays.)
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Now, it’s nothing to do with sarsaparilla or cashews, but I think you might enjoy this strange little film about birds in northern Sweden: “Stealing Feathers,” by Rolf Nylinder.
