Cooking in High Heels with Kate: ARCHIVES
JUNE/JULY 2009: SWEET SUMMER
“June is synonymous with exuberance, mostly because the flavors and colors of the month’s offerings are so
dramatic.” (Vegetables, Charlie Trotter)
I love the weeks leading up to summer, walking into the market and seeing the sea of reds, oranges and purples;
the promise of sweet juicy fruits and plump tomatoes. The aisles are perfumed with sugary sweetness. These
next few weeks, leading up to “true summer”/June 21st, is a time of anticipation. It makes me think of a scene in
Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice, when Elizabeth Bennett is driving up the sweeping grounds towards
Pemberley. The journey towards something captivating and alluring is how I see the last weeks of spring.
Pemberley, that glorious house, is my symbol for summer and the road winding up to it is this time of transition
and growth. Summer, is the sweet, seductive, warm tastes of love.
Everyday, fresh ingredients are being stocked on market shelves. However, you need to understand that,
although you might be able to purchase Peaches, Plums, Nectarines etc. in late spring, they are not yet truly in
season until late June. This is not to say that you can’t buy a peach, leave it out on the counter to ripen and
have it be just as juicy and sweet as at peak season, but you need to have patience so that you can savor the
true flavors that summer has to offer. In these next few weeks let your stone fruits, figs and tomatoes sit on
your counter for a few days to let the juices mature, till they are soft to the touch and smell sweet and tempting.
I will say it again and again; your nose is your greatest ally when it comes to picking a ripe piece of fruit.
Summer fruits that will continue to ripen after picking:
Apricots
Avocados
Cantaloupes
Figs
Guavas
Mangoes
Nectarines
Peaches
Plums
Tomatoes
Of these only Avocados, Peaches, Plums and Nectarines should be refrigerated when ripe.
Strawberries are one of my first associations with summer; even though these charming berries make their first
truly seasonal appearance in May. Strawberries are one of the fruits that are in supermarkets year round but are
only in season for about 3 months. The best way to pick out a perfect pint of strawberries at any time of year is
to smell them. They should smell sweet like candy and be a bright and bold shade of red. Strawberries are one of
the only fruits whose “seasonality” stretches across two seasons. Strawberries should only be washed right
before eating because the moisture speeds up decay. Strawberries in their prime of seasonal sweetness should
not be refrigerated because the cold damages the flavor. However not refrigerating them will lead to the
strawberries spoiling faster. The best day to eat a strawberry is the day it is picked. Of course I recognize that this
is hard to do, but, if only in the approaching weeks, you try to buy your strawberries from local growers, you will
have a better chance at enjoying these sweet berries as they are intended to be enjoyed. “In its wild state, it is a
highly seasonal, wildly flavorful fruit that is as fragile as a soap bubble. Yet in our passion for it, we have managed
to turn this dreamy berry into a year- round staple as resilient as Styrofoam and only a little more flavorful. It
wasn’t long ago that strawberries were a food you anticipated all through the winter and then gorged on in a
brief frenzy...today you can buy fresh, American-grown strawberries at least eleven months out of the year...And
yet finding a berry with true flavor - that kind that stops you in your tracks when you taste it - just keeps getting
harder. And this is one case where the old “buy local; buy seasonal” mantra really pays off.” (How to Pick a
Peach, Russ Parsons)
Peaches are truly the golden fruit of summer. With their soft, juicy, aromatic pulp, delighting our taste buds. But
metaphors aside, peaches literally are the “golden” fruits because a perfect peach will have a golden hue. The
second best way to pick a truly ripe peach is by paying attention to the background color: it should show no
green and be a deep yellow to an almost golden color. A peach that is predominantly red does not mean that the
fruit is ripe. It quite possibly has more to do with the variety. And this is where things get interesting. Each
summer there are dozens, even hundreds, of different peach varieties that make it to our supermarkets. Most
individual varieties are only harvested for a week or two. So in order to keep us stocked with peaches throughout
the summer, the grocer includes many different varieties all labeled “peaches”. Some of these varieties have
sweeter characteristics than others but they are all “peachy”. Again, the best way to pick a peach is to trust your
nose. If the fruit smells sweet, it most likely will taste that way as well.
There are many misconceptions about figs. Most people associate figs with fall and winter, but figs true season
starts in June. Figs grown in warm climates(in this country figs are grown in California) can bear two crops: the
first crop is small and bears a larger sized fruit. This first crop is called the breba crop and it begins in June. The
next crop appears from late in July until mid-August and they are usually medium in size. This latter crop will
continue to produce fruit as long as the weather is warm. We can enjoy fresh figs until the supply runs out,
which could be as late as Thanksgiving. “To sink your teeth into a fig’s soft, sweet, succulent center is one of the
most sensually delectable of experiences. The allure is in both its smooth texture and its sweet taste. The fig has
the highest sugar content of all fruits and was used in ancient times as both a staple food and a sweeter. It was
prized for its medicinal properties and was eaten as a training food by Greek athletes.” (Fig Heaven, Marie
Simmons)
Summer Fruits and Vegetables:
Chicory Parsley Apples Artichokes Collards Peas Apricots
Arugula Watercress Purslane Eggplant
Asparagus Cucumber Red Currents Fennel
Beets Dandelion Radishes Green Beans
Black Currents Escarole Rhubarb Nectarines
Blackberries Garlic Salsify Peaches
Blueberries Gooseberries Scallions Radicchio
Broccoli Leeks Sorrel Raspberries
Carrots Lettuce(s) Spinach Summer Squash
Cherries Mache Strawberries Sweet Corn
Tomatoes Turnip Yellow Beans Zucchini Figs
In one sense we are very lucky to be able to get many of the ingredients of summer year round, but we are also
at a disadvantage because, by having these ingredients year round, we have confused our palettes; into thinking
that what we taste 10 out of 12 months is what these fruits and vegetables actually taste like. A tomato in
November is hard and bland but we still use them. A beautiful, ripe, plump, juicy, red tomato in the heart of
summer is a totally different experience. It can be as succulent and sweet as biting into a peach. It is so full of
flavor, that you could eat it just so, with the sugary juices running down your chin, and be totally satisfied. It is
when tomatoes are out of season that they require all the extra stuff. This is not to say that pairing some fresh
sweet basil and some local ricotta cheese with heirloom tomatoes, a little oil, salt and pepper isn’t fantastic on a
warm summer night; I just want you to be able to tell the difference between what a fruit tastes like in and out of
season.
MAY 2009: COMFORT FOOD
“Food is...anger, sustenance, deprivation, joy, loneliness, rage, hatred, ritual, surprise, laughter, revenge, history,
power, comfort, sex....And food is memory. We remember a nearly infinite series of tables, receding behind us
back to childhood---at home, in school, away, alone, with friends, lovers, families...Food is so entangled in every
human emotion from our very beginnings that eating must inevitably become an expression of our personalities”
(The Sex Life of Food; Bunny Crumpacker, pg. xi).
For me it started with Hot Dogs. Good, old-fashioned, Hebrew National, Kosher Hot Dogs. That was what my
babysitter Judy fed me when I was fussy. And it worked. It made me happy, it calmed me down. As I grew up, I
can remember running down Lee Street, down the hill to the Boston Yacht Club, with my dad’s membership
number on the tip of my tongue. For all those golden summers of my childhood, it was a grilled hot dog with
mustard, diced onion and iceberg lettuce. I would crave those hot summer days and the cool air that came off
the harbor all the months that the gazebo was closed. The smell of the grill and the cherries in my coke mixed
with the ocean. It was an adventure, but I always felt safe there with my paper plate and bag of Lay’s potato
chips.
I went off to Culinary School in the summer of 2002 and a whole new world opened to me; but, even during the
whirl of fresh Vermont ingredients and, a summer spent in kitchens learning new techniques and days spent in
strawberry patches to support local farms, nothing brought me comfort the way a hot dog did. I would walk to
the local Shaw’s to get bags of butter lettuce and Knockwurst! Boars Head, Hebrew National, a little Dijon
mustard and my toes would curl.
People’s cravings are totally personal. It is the first thing we know. It varies from culture to culture, family to
family. Food is our window to old memories that have sat on dusty shelves for years. Each taste that we
remember, each association, is ours to cherish. Peanut Butter and Bananas, Pickles and Potato Chips.
I believe that there is a distinct difference between comfort food and food memories but they are also inexplicably
intertwined. Progresso Chickarina soup is the first thing I want when I am sick. I started slurping it at daycare and
it has stayed with me as one of my favorite comfort foods. Then there is Tuna Salad Sandwich. Not something I
would ever request but it holds one of my most vivid food memories. Taste it and I am 8 years old and sitting in
my friend Cedric’s kitchen. His mom made us lunch one afternoon. I liked her son so much that I didn’t dare tell
her that I didn’t like Tuna Fish even a little bit, so I ate the sandwich! To this day each bite is stuck to the roof of
my mouth. All that matters is that Cedric and I sat grinning at each other as the sunlight beamed through the
open windows. I felt safe and loved in that room. Sitting at that counter with my best friend. That memory,
although nearly 19 years old, still brings me comfort but Tuna Fish is not my comfort food.
Tuna Salad
Canned Tuna
Diced Celery
Mayo
Salt
Pepper
Diced Red Onion
Salt
Pepper
Bread of your choice
Tomato
Lettuce etc.
All of us have these moments and these tastes that we love. A friend in culinary school could talk for hours about
food and wine and Escoffer but, to really get him going, all you needed to do was ask him about Grilled Cheese!
This aspiring chef, who went on to be Sous Chef at a 5 Star restaurant craved Grilled Cheese when he was blue!
And, even if two people both recall the grilled cheese of their childhoods, one person may be comforted by
wonder bread and Kraft singles and the other must add tomatoes for that deep sighing satisfaction. In my
cookbook I added my own take on grilled cheese, a combination that includes unexpected flavors that warm my
heart.
Honey Teleggio Grilled Cheese
Hearty White Bread
Teleggio Cheese
Honey
Butter
Salt
Spread the honey on one side of the bread. On the other side spread room temperature butter. On the side
with the butter layer 4-6 pieces/slices of Taleggio cheese. Place the other side of the bread honey side down
on the cheese. In a small non-stick skillet melt some butter. Wait till the pan is hot and place the sandwich in
the pan and cook until golden. Flip and repeat until the other side is also golden and the cheese is melted.
There was an article in the 2006 January issue of Boston magazine that talked about comfort food. It has been in
my wallet ever since. This article keeps me grounded.
“...Comfort foods are back!...We are doomed, it would seem, to continually rediscover what we’ve left behind as
we race down the culinary road to geoduck clams...and miniature towers of watermelon-and-tomato aspic
drizzled with balsamic vinegar. Even dressed in Prada and Armani, we can’t seem to shake off the timeless appeal
of mashed potatoes, fried chicken, and sides of cornbread. And then feeling ashamed at the gastronomic ecstasy
evoked by a perfect grilled cheese sandwich, we refer to comfort foods as “guilty pleasures,” as if pot roast were
the culinary equivalent of extramarital sex or listening to a Little Walter harmonica solo on your iPod during an
evening at Symphony Hall” (Boston Magazine, January 2006, Christopher Kimball).
There is no wrong way to make “comfort food” because it is personal. Sometimes the craziest combinations
bring the most comfort, and sometimes it is those stereotypical dishes that strike a chord within us. I am lucky to
have eaten at beautiful 5 Star restaurants in Boston, New York, and in Paris, Italy and Ireland. And I am the first
to try new and innovative dishes; I love pushing my palette and expanding on what I know. I love how Foie Gras
prepared perfectly melts in my mouth but, on any given day, I would take some perfectly fried chicken over a 7
course meal because to me that is home. During my research for this article, I asked many people what their
“comfort food” is and I got some really great responses. One friend wrote back about loving bread with butter
and sugar and another loving Earl Grey tea with toast and jam...
Blueberry Lilac Jam
Fresh Blueberries
Candied Lilacs/Sugar
The basic recipe for making jam is equal parts sugar to mashed fresh fruit but you can play with the amount of
sugar depending on how sweet you want the jam to be. Add less sugar if you want it to be tart. Heat the
mixture through and let it sit until it cools and reaches the desired consistency. For this recipe I use my
candied lilacs that i keep year round in an air-tight container. I grind these in my spice grinder until it is back to
sugar but if you don’t have candied lilacs then plain sugar will work just as well.
Comfort food can come from anywhere. The scent of lilac does wonders for me. The smell of the air at the end of
spring. How it is sweet and warm and perfumed with flowers and berries and succulent supple fruits and
vegetables. My grandmother, who I never met, loved lilacs and I am sure that part of my love stems from my
connection to her in a once removed memory. When I started to experiment on what I learned in school, I
focused a lot on cooking with flowers. I found ways to capture delight in my food. I was able to hold onto the
smell and the taste of lilac in many different ways. Infused in oil and vinegar, candied, in sugar and lilac
buttercream. They are also great as fresh flowers in a summer salad. Another one of my comforts is tea. I love
Jasmine tea, lavender and chamomile. Whatever your favorite tea, there are ways to infuse it so that the flavor
you find so comforting can be found in unexpected places. I like to make Jasmine sugar cookies
dusted with Lilac sugar, Jasmine-infused chocolate covered strawberries, Lavender, Chamomile mousse and
crème brulee, tea infused grav lox. So, whether what you crave is spaghetti bolognese, twice baked potatoes
with all the fixings or a hot dog and a bag of lettuce, those tastes and those memories are all your own! And,
whenever you need a little taste of home, of comfort, you can always call upon these time-tested remedies.
April 2009: Spring Cooking
We all know what it’s like to get ready for a date. The perfect color lipstick, a favorite pair of jeans. They say that
for a first date you should go casual. Don’t try too hard. In cooking terms, that means a little salt and pepper!
Dating is a time to listen and learn about someone new. You pay attention to the details. As you get to know
and understand what the other person brings to the relationship, you can truly start to appreciate them.
Cooking in Spring is very similar. The new vegetables are crisp and delicate. Appreciate them as they are. (They
are all available at your local market or Whole Foods.) Fresh arugula in the early weeks of April is not as bitter as it
is later in the season. Mache is nutty and silky soft. Spring lettuces are sweet and tender. Try using them all in a
salad with just a little oil and vinegar, salt and pepper. Notice the difference this makes by tasting! Adding some
heavily seasoned dressing in a bottle won’t make an extraordinary salad. It’s the true expression of your
ingredients that makes it scrumptious. If you are open to approaching food and cooking with the mentality that
less is more, you will create masterpieces! Spring cooking is not about how creative and inventive you are or
about the tools you have, it is about being restrained and going back to the basics. No heavy sauces or long
cooking methods are necessary. I have all the gadgets and spices of a five star restaurant but, in Spring, I rely on
canola oil, a nice salt and a good pepper mill. Once you listen to the ingredients you cook with, you open yourself
up for something unexpected. Just like once you listen to someone’s story, your heart may open to them.
As crazy as it sounds, cooking with this “Spring” approach refines your skills more then cooking in Winter or Fall
because, if you can blanch a bunch of broccoli in just the right amount of water and salt to a perfect tender
green, then you know you have paid attention! You want the water to taste like the sea because this brings out
the broccoli’s natural flavors. And you want to wait until the water is popping with boiling bubbles. Blanching is
quick; it’s in and out in around 3 minutes. When the broccoli reaches that beautiful bright color green, then it is
done! Cooking time varies with different vegetables but, if you look at the color and how it changes, you will start
to know when the veggies have reached their peak doneness. Spring is a season of growth and possibilities.
Everyday, a new ingredient. You can try a black sea salt, fleur de sel, pink peppercorns! Try a first press olive oil
or an aged balsamic vinegar. Throughout this season you want to help sustain the integrity of the vegetables:
new asparagus, the wild ramps, the furled fiddle head ferns! I love to ask the unexpected questions when I am
getting to know someone. “What is your middle name?” The questions that seem unimportant but whose
answers can lead to other unexpected questions and answers. So ask questions, read, experiment. Try tossing
your veggies or salad with canola oil one day and olive oil the next. Try a little bit of garlic or just simple salt and
pepper. You can vary your approach and still stay true to your ingredients.
Cooking using the bare essentials is exotic and sensual. It is literally raw and exposed and often intimidating. It
tests your patience but, at the same time, it is ultimately rewarding because it teaches you what the vegetables
really taste like. Just like revealing yourself to someone new is scary but worth it, if you feel they have taken the
time to really see you! Cooking in the raw is similar to the way you learn a new lover’s curves, the taste of their
lips. Are they salty, sweet, earthy?
