Can We Talk About The Weather
A slightly fussy low-stove use barbecue for sweltering high summer days.
I know I always talk about the weather. It’s repetitive. It feels like small talk, like the watercooler conversation with that guy at work you’re not sure you really like. It might even be a bit lazy, from a writer’s point of view. But the weather is also huge part of the foodways and recipes, traditions and … you know all that stuff. You might have that friend who’ll grill out all year – or you might live in a place where that’s possible – but the truth is we all eat seasonally. For everything there’s a season: roast meats and rich braises in the winter, tender fresh vegetables – asparagus and peas and tiny little twee carrots such – in the spring. Heaps sugar and baking spice masquerading as pumpkin in everything-I-mean-everything-please-stop from the movement the calendar flips to September.
And in high summer? Those dishes that rely on the ingredients of the moment because they’re just not quite as good a few weeks in either direction.
Last month we set a record, here in Ohio, for the most June days over 90°F. That’s high summer – even if it is a few weeks too early. But that means we’re starting to see early cucumbers that somehow survived a few weeks of rainless heat, and early tomatoes, peppers and peaches.
So that’s this week’s menu. A slightly fussy possibly a little too darned fancy but still really really good summer barbecue that’s tuned to the blistering hot weather and to a market full of nightshades and stone fruit.
Oh, and one that requires a little less of the oven and stovetop, because inside should be the cold dark haven
Chilled Corn Chowder with Crab and Potato Crisps
Chilled soup always felt like a bit of an oxymoron to me. I mean the classic chilled potatoes and leek soup, Vichyssoise, always seemed like a cruel prank the French were playing on their American cousins. I found out much later that it’s probably not French, and …honestly it can be really delicious and refreshing, especially when the weather outside is approaching the “I went to the beach and burned the bottoms of my feet” temperatures.
This soup isn’t Vichyssoise, though I was a little tempted to do something like it. Instead, it’s sort of an invert of a crab cake with corn dish I did last year and a play on a classic corn chowder. A chilled corn soup, some crab meat, and topping of crispy potatoes strings. It’s cold sweet, rich and crunchy, and while you do have to turn on the stove to make the soup itself, it can be prepared up to a day in advance.
2 cups fresh sweet corn kernels (or 1 can canned sweet corn)
8 oz lump crab meat
¼ cup heavy cream
1 cup water
1 tsp kosher salt
½ cup coarsely chopped onion
4 cloves garlic
1 tsp kosher salt
1 sprig thyme
1 bay leaf
1 tsp whole peppercorn
1 tbsp sherry
¼ tsp ground white pepper
1 medium russet potato
Oil for frying
Peel the potato and cut into a very fine julienne (I use this OXO julienne peeler to speed up that process)
Rinse the starch from the cut potato and squeeze out the excess liquid.
Bring a shallow pan of oil, just enough to cover the potatoes, to 325°F.
Add the potatoes, and fry – stirring frequently, until the strips are light brown and crisp.
Drain on a paper towel and set aside until ready to plate.
Add the cream and water to a small sauce pan and bring to a simmer.
Add the thyme, bay leaf, onions, garlic and peppercorns and garlic to the simmering cream and water mixture.
Cook for 30 minutes, or until the onions are broken down and the garlic is soft.
Using the back of a spoon, crush the garlic and onions against the side of the pan, and cook at a very low simmer for an additional 10-20 minutes.
Strain out the solids, using a spoon or spatula to press out as much liquid as possible.
Wipe out the pan and return the liquid to the pan.
Add the corn kernels and salt and return to a simmer.
Add the sherry and cook for 5 minutes.
Remove from the heat and allow to cool slightly.
Transfer the corn and liquid to the container of a high-speed blender, and process until very smooth.
Transfer the puree to a covered container and refrigerate until chilled – at least 4 hours and up to overnight. If you wish to speed up the process, the corn soup can be chilled in a zip top bag in an ice bath.
To plate, ladle a portion of the chilled corn soup into a bowl, arrange a portion of crabmeat in the center, and top with crispy potatoes, herbs, and chive oil for garnish.
Heirloom Tomato Salad with Chickpea Zucchini Fritters and Mint Salsa Verde
As I was playing around with things to make for this week’s menu, I briefly went down a Chickpea rabbithole. I know they can be contentious, and the hummus explosion of the past few years have made them a little ubiquitous, but there’s something weird and wonderful about chickpeas. They really do have a distinctive flavor – which I know may not be for everyone. Chickpea flour – which is essentially just powdered chickpeas, opens new and fun ways of using that flavor.
Of course, I didn’t go with new and fun. I was looking for a textural element to spice up simple cucumber and tomato salad. What I ended up with was a classic preparation that exists in different forms all over the world. Vegetables fried in chickpea batter. In this case, a fritter of julienned zucchini and chickpea batter. It took a few tries to get right, and not just because I’m completely and totally incapable of spelling ‘zucchini’ correctly without a spell checker or minor embarrassment – but because I didn’t really know which direction I was going in.
In the end, this is a simple tomato salad – leaning on the richness of ripe heirloom tomatoes – but the crispy zucchini (I’m using copy and paste now that the spell checker fixed ‘zucinni’) fritter adds texture and that weird wonderful musky mysterious nuttiness of the chickpeas. Finally, I used doused the plate with a spoonful of Mint Salsa Verde – basically an Romanized version of the Zhug-like hot sauce I’ve been dousing everything with for months.
2 cups very ripe assorted heirloom tomatoes, cut into 1-inch pieces
½ tsp kosher salt
½ cup thinly sliced Persian cucumber
4 zucchini fritters (below)
1 recipe Mint Salsa Verde (below)
Salt the tomatoes, and allow them to come to room temperature.
Spread a thin slick of Mint Salsa Verde on a plate, arrange the tomatoes on top, place the zucchini fritter on top of the tomatoes, and top with sliced cucumber and herbs.
Chickpea Zucchini Fritters
2 cups finely julienned zucchini (or ‘zoodles’)
1 cup chickpea flour
½ tsp kosher salt
¾ cup chilled club soda
oil for frying
In a non-reactive bowl, salt the julienned zucchini, gently tossing to ensure the pieces are evenly seasoned.
Allow the zucchini to rest for 15 – 30 minutes, then gently squeeze out and discard the excess liquid.
Prepare your fryer, or a thick bottomed pan with at least 2 inches of oil, and heat the oil to 350°F.
Mix the chickpea flour and soda water, working gently until no lumps remain.
Fold the zucchini into the batter.
Divide the batter into 4 equal portions, and fry until crisp.
Drain on a paper towel.
Mint Salsa Verde
1 cup loosely packed mint leaves
2 large cloves garlic
2 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp fresh squeezed lemon juice
½ tsp kosher salt
½ tsp capers in brine
Add all ingredients to the container of a spice grinder or mortar and pestle and process until a uniform paste has formed.
Smoked Pork Ribs with Peach Barbecue Sauce
This newsletter has included rib recipes … well, a lot. There were the Gochujang Glazed Ribs from just a few weeks ago, Mango Habanero Ribs from this years attenuated Tiki Party, Mustard Glazed Ribs, and the Lime and Vadouvan ribs from last year that both remain some of the best ribs I’ve ever made, and a part of one of the better-by-accident menus I’ve put together. There’s a point where I’ve thought, maybe I’ve made enough ribs – and then I remember.
Basically, if you’re looking for rib recipes, I’ve got you somewhat covered. Ribs are really good.
The truth is, I love pork ribs for the same reason I love chicken wings. Anything that comes with its own built in eating utensil is unapologetically awesome. I could probably make the same argument for oysters, another favorite, but I live in Ohio now.
This recipe relies on the sort of “well obviously they go together”ness of pork and peaches. It’s a classic combination for a reason. But instead of grilling the peaches, or one of the other sort of traditional ways of approaching them, I’m basically using them in place of tomatoes in an otherwise classic barbeque sauce. It works pretty darned well, if I do say so myself, and I do, because I’m the one writing this.
One note, the sauce recipe is made to be very mild. If you’re looking for a spicier sauce – you can add more chili paste, or spike it with cayenne. I like it spicy, so I definitely added a little more heat.
2 racks pork back ribs
1 recipe Super Simple Barbecue Rub
1 recipe Peach Barbecue Sauce
Remove any membranes and trim the ribs to your taste.
Coat the ribs generously with the rub – I use a small strainer to evenly coat them.
Allow the ribs to rest, uncovered, in the refrigerator overnight.
Prepare a smoker or grill with indirect heat and (ideally) fruitwood.
Smoke the ribs over low temperature for 2 ½ hours, then wrap in foil or uncoated butcher paper, and continue cooking for an additional 1 ½ - 2 hours.
Unwrap the ribs, coat liberally with Peach Barbecue Sauce, and continue cooking for another 30 mins to 1 hour – or until the sauce has turned to a shiny glaze.
Serve with more sauce, garnish with herbs and finely diced peaches.
Super Simple Barbecue Rub
¼ cup dark brown sugar
¼ cup kosher salt
1 tbsp smoked paprika
1 tsp season salt
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp onion powder
½ tsp pink curing salt (opt)
Combine all ingredients in the container of a spice grinder and process until a fine powder forms.
Store tightly covered – will keep for at least two weeks.
Peach Barbecue Sauce
4 large ripe yellow peaches
1 large onion
¼ cup cider or malt vinegar
½ cup water
1 tsp Worcestershire sauce
3 drops liquid smoke
½ cup dark brown sugar
2 tbsp chili garlic paste
½ tsp kosher salt
½ tsp dry ground yellow mustard (such as Colemans)
cayenne pepper to taste (opt)
Peel, trim, and coarsely chop the onion.
Half the peaches and remove the pit and any remaining stems or leaves, then cut into 1 inch chunks.
Add the peach pieces, onion, and all remaining ingredients to the container of a high speed blender and process until very smooth.
Pour the puree into a medium saucepan, and bring to a low simmer.
Cook until the sauce has thickened and reduced by about 1/3.
Use to sauce and baste pork or chicken.
Graham Cracker Caramel Ice Box Cake
A few weeks ago, as I was messing about with Peruvian and other south American flavors, I spent some time researching desserts that I thought would match. One that I came across, but didn’t have the ingredients to develop and test, was an icebox cake made with a fresh soft cheese like Quark, dulce de leche, and thin crispy chocolate wafers. I was fascinated but for the life of me, couldn’t find chocolate wafers anywhere – which would be a unforgivable travesty to many of my friends who live in the American South – as they’re absolutely necessary to prepare the classic whipped cream (or topping) and chocolate cookie icebox cake that shows up on every potluck table between may and October.
Anyway, I moved on to making yet another caramel custard because I love caramel custard – but I didn’t forget the icebox cake. I was enthralled by the idea of using Dulce de Leche - because again, caramel – and decided to run with a slightly different version.
So, this is a simple icebox cake, it’s preparation requiring little more than a few minutes with a mixer and a few hours refrigeration, but doubling down on a brown, on the caramel, by layering a caramelly mousse with that toasty sort of caramel flavor of graham crackers (if you’re not in North America, digestive biscuits also work well). I swapped a few tablespoons of yogurt and American cream cheese for the fresh cheese – but the result is a tangy, sweet, rich, and easy dessert for a hot day.
1 box graham crackers
1 8oz package cream cheese,
1 13.4 oz can Dulce de Leche
1 cup heavy whipping cream
2 tbsp Greek yogurt
confectioner’s sugar for garnish
Chill the bowl of a stand mixer in the refrigerator or freezer for 30 minutes.
Wipe out the bowl with a dry towel to remove any condensation.
Add the whipping cream, and process using a whisk attachment, first on low speed, then gradually increasing, until stiff peaks form.
Use a silicone or rubber spatula to remove the whipped cream from the mixing bowl and set aside in the refrigerator while preparing the rest of the filling.
Add the cream cheese, dulce de leche, and yogurt to the bowl, and process on high using the whisk attachment until light and fluffy.
Gently fold the whipped cream back into the cheese and milk caramel mixture.
Line a loaf pan with plastic wrap, leaving sufficient extra to be able to cover the contents when full.
Layer graham crackers with the filling until the pan is full or the filling and or crackers are used up.
Wrap the excess plastic over the top.
Refrigerate for at least 6 hours and best if overnight.
Unwrap the excess plastic, and turn out onto a plate or cutting surface.
Remove and discard the plastic wrap, cut into 1 ½ - 2 inch slices and dust with confectioners’ sugar as a garnish.
Serve chilled.