Summertime and the living is easy-until mealtime comes around.
Try convincing a family or invited friends that their appetites are meant to be diminished this time of year. They want food, seasonal food, and plenty of it. Try serving the same old thing one more time and listen to the bleats of protest. Get away from the stove for an eat-out or carry-in meal. Vow you`ll forget about cooking until the frost comes, then find yourself reading a cookbook in bed instead of a novel.
Publishers know the public is susceptible to books about food and cooking at this time of year and bring out a good many volumes on these subjects each summer. Some are seasonal, some trendy and some just fun to read. (Some are dreadful, too, but that has nothing to do with the season.)
Here are some cooking books of summer I recommend devouring before Labor Day, plus an assortment of special-interest books worth noting.
”The Kitchen Survival Guide” by Lora Brody (Morrow, $20) is a lively, unthreatening collection of culinary information and basic recipes for the cooking-impaired. Brody, a talented cook and teacher with a sense of humor, calls her book ”a hand-holding kitchen primer with 130 recipes to get you started.” She provides advice on kitchen equipment, stocking the pantry and refrigerator and cooking basics. The recipe section is larded with chatty tips.
Memoirs can be fun, especially when they are interspersed with mouthwatering recipes. Two new ones set in rural America are irresistible.
It`s hard to conceive of a more timely book than Jane Watson Hopping`s
”The Lazy Days of Summer Cookbook, a Celebration of Summer`s Bounty”
(Villard, $22.50). Known as the ”pioneer lady,” Hopping has published three previous books. ”Lazy Days” is set in rural California, where Hopping spent her childhood, and is rich in nostalgic recollections in prose and poetry of favorite relatives and their favorite recipes. Homemade breads and cakes, produce stands, country markets and church socials are discussed. The food is homey and wholesome, or what was considered wholesome in that era when mayonnaise and meat and sugar and cream were considered treats, not threats.
The other memoir has the somewhat misleading title ”Slow Food” (Warner Books, $22.95). I say somewhat misleading because this is not a how-to cookbook. Instead it`s a serendipitous journey across America. It`s orchestrated by Michael James, a California cook and caterer who spins vignettes with the skill of an accomplished short-story writer. ”It`s not so much food that`s slow to cook, as food that is worth waiting for,” he writes. To find it, he takes us to Long Island, N.Y.; Boston; Virginia; California`s Napa Valley and some unlikely points in between that include Pawhuska, Okla., and Tory, Ill. However, James` nostalgic back roads run close to some superhighways. Amid the little people such as Gram Murphy, Grandmother McNutt, Cese Luther and Beulah Rogers, up pop such food world icons as Julia Child and Simone Beck, Marion Cunningham (author of the modern Fanny Farmer books), Madhur Jaffrey and the late Duchess of Windsor.
To fill the how-to niche, consider ”Cooking with Fruit” by Rolce Redard Payne and Dorrit Speyer Senior (Crown, $22.50). An attractively designed book by two Massachusetts landscape architects, it is a
straightforward presentation of information and tastefully composed recipes for 23 widely available fruits and a dozen other exotics.
Travel is one of the most popular summer activities. So the rest of the reading list is dedicated to a variety of destinations.
The first stop is Spain`s Basque country, brought to life by Maria Jose Sevilla in her ”Life and Food in the Basque Country” (New Amsterdam Books, $10.95 paperback). Perhaps because I visited that vibrant region nestled between the Pyrenees and the Bay of Biscay recently, this book struck a chord. A delight to read, it is a warm, affectionate portrait of a people to whom food is a vital concern. From artisans who make cheese in mountain huts to amateur cooks of the region`s gastronomic societies to three-star Michelin chef Juan-Marie Arzak, the Basques prepare food with passion tempered by discrimination.
Susie Jacobs, an American living on the island of Hydra, provides a chatty, personal view of Greek life and cooking in ”Recipes from a Greek Island” (Simon & Schuster, $25). Consider this book in tandem with
”Valentina`s Italian Family Feast” by Valentina Harris (Simon & Schuster, $24.95) because both are enlivened by beautiful photographs that provide feasts for the eyes. (This is a very useful form of eating for those on summer diets.) Harris takes us to various regions of her country for the 17 meals she presents. Recipes are brief, in some cases too brief for the novice. Jacobs is more helpful as she offers preparations of a firm-textured country bread or a zingy shrimp and red pepper soup.
Closer to home, perhaps it would be appealing to take advantage of off-season rates and travel to the Caribbean. Hot (as in trendy, as well as in taste) island cooking and ingredients are turning up in cutting-edge restaurant and caterered creations. Once again, there is an option. But in this case there are dramatic differences between ”Cooking Caribe” by Christopher Idone with Helen McEachrane (Clarkson Potter, $25) and ”Life and Food in the Caribbean” by Christine Mackie (New Amsterdam Books, $19.95).
Idone, a founder of New York City`s Glorious Food caterers and author of
”Glorious Food” and other books, is a tastemaker. In ”Cooking Caribe,”
with the help of the Trinidad-born McEachrane, he provides a generous buffet of upbeat recipes that employ island ingredients and spice combinations without becoming esoteric. The book, illustrated by bright, equally upbeat watercolor drawings, is a visual treat.
As the title of her book suggests, Mackie takes a more serious tack, probing the history of the oft-conquered islands and the varied influences on the cooking that evolved there. Her recipes are carefully researched.
For those who haven`t the time, inclination or moneyto venture abroad, another pair of books focus on American destinations as far apart as the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans.
”Saltwater Seasonings, Good Food from Coastal Maine” (Little, Brown, $27.95) is Sarah Leah Chase`s tribute to one of America`s most distinctive and eccentric regions. In collaboration with her brother, Jonathan Chase, who operates a restaurant there, Chase has put together an intelligent, informative narrative and a mixture of traditional and contemporary recipes. The recipes are backed by a list of ingredient resources at the end of the book. Cary Hazlegrove`s photographs of Maine people and food have an appropriate snapshot quality.
Also relevant to the season are three garden-related books: ”The Garden Variety Cookbook” by Sarah Schlesinger (Villard, $20), ”The Moosewood Restaurant Kitchen Garden” by David Hirsch (Simon & Schuster, $15 paperback) and ”Whole-Meal Salads” by Norman Kolpas (Contemporary, $9.95 paperback).
New for those with diet concerns are Tribune columnist Jeanne Jones`
”Eating Smart” (Macmillan, $17), subtitled ”ABCs of the New Food Literacy”; ”The 300-calorie One-Dish Meal Cookbook” by Nancy S. Hughes
(Contemporary, $9.95 paperback) and ”How to Eat Like a Southerner and Live to Tell the Tale” by Courtney Parker (Clarkson Potter, $20).
Finally, for those with financial concerns, chef Jacques Pepin has written ”Cuisine Economique” (Morrow, $22), a collection of ”recipes that turn penny-pinching into a delicious experience.”
Here are some recipes as they appear in the books:
EVELYN`S BLUEBERRY CRUMB PIE
This recipe is from ”Saltwater Seasonings, Good Food from Coastal Maine.”
Crust:
1 cup all-purpose unbleached flour
2 tablespoons sugar
1/3 cup margarine
2-3 tablespoons ice water
Filling:
4 1/2 cups fresh or frozen Maine blueberries
1/2 cup sugar
3 tablespoons tapioca
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 tablespoon lemon juice
Topping:
1 cup unbleached all-purpose flour
1/2 cup oats
1/2 cup brown sugar, packed
1/2 cup margarine
1. To make the crust, mix the flour and sugar together. Cut in the margarine with a pastry cutter, blending until the mixture resembles fine crumbs. Add water until mixture just holds together. Form into a ball, cover with plastic wrap, and chill at least 1/2 hour.
2. Heat oven to 350 degrees. On a floured surface, roll the dough out to 1/8-inch to 1/4-inch thick and place it in a 9-inch pie tin. Trim the edges. 3. Make the filling by blending the blueberries, sugar, tapicoa, cinnamon and lemon juice. Pour the filling into the pie shell.
4. For the topping, mix with your fingers the flour, oats, brown sugar and margarine until well blended. Put this on top of the pie. You may have a little extra.
5. Bake the pie until the top is golden, 45 to 50 minutes. Remove from oven and cool slightly or serve at room temperature.
GRILLED HONEY AND MUSTARD PORK TENDERLOIN
Serves 8
This recipe comes from ”How to Eat Like a Southerner.”
2 cups buttermilk
8 garlic cloves, crushed
2 tablespoons Tabasco
2 pork tenderloins, about 3/4-pound each
4 tablespoons Creole mustard, see note
4 tablespoons honey
4 tablespoons low-sodium soy sauce
Mix the buttermilk, garlic and Tabasco in a bowl and pour over the pork tenderloins. Cover and refrigerate at least 6 hours.
Soak 1 cup of hickory or pecan wood chips in 2 cups of water at least 1 hour before heating the grill.
Light the charcoal in a grill with a cover and burn the coals, uncovered, until they turn gray, 30 to 40 minutes. (If you can hold your hand over the coals 5 seconds they are ready for covered cooking.) Add the soaked chips to the coals, then close the cover to allow the heat to distribute evenly and the smoke to accumulate. If you have a gas grill, turn the dial to 400 degrees and add the soaked chips, according to manufacturer`s directions, after about 10 minutes. Cover the lid for 10 minutes before adding the meat.
Mix the mustard, honey and soy sauce. Drain the tenderloins and pat dry. Insert meat thermometer. Brush the meat all over with the mustard mixture and place in the middle of the grill, directly over the coals. Close the cover and smoke 15 minutes. Turn and baste the tenderloins. Close the cover and smoke another 15 minutes or until a meat thermometer registers 160 degrees and the juices run clear. Slice thinly and serve hot or cold.
SHRIMP AND RED PEPPER SOUP WITH ALMOND-GARLIC SAUCE
Serves 4 or 5
These recipes are from ”Recipes from a Greek Island.”
1 1/2 pounds large raw shrimp with heads, peeled, see note
2 cups Samos or other muscat wine
1 bay leaf
1 sprig rosemary
1 small, hot red chili pepper
1 strip thinly pared lemon zest
salt
3/4 pound red sweet peppers
1/2 pound onions, thinly sliced
2-3 tablespoons olive oil
1 garlic clove, minced
2-3 celery stalks, tops and leaves, chopped
1 tablespoon finely chopped fresh mint or basil
4-5 bread rusks or a piece of toasted whole-wheat bread per person
Almond-garlic sauce (recipe follows)
Put the shrimp peelings, wine, 4 cups of water, bay leaf, rosemary, chili pepper and lemon zest in a soup pot and add salt. Bring to a boil and simmer, uncovered, 20 minutes. Strain this stock through a colander lined with damp cheesecloth.
Spear the peppers on a carving fork or skewer and hold over a flame until the skin bubbles, turning them around. (You can grill or broil them, if you don`t cook on gas.) Put them into a paper or plastic bag, seal it, and leave 5 to 10 minutes. Peel off the skin and remove the stem and seeds. Slice half the peppers into thin strips and reserve. Puree the remaining peppers in a food processor, or pound in a mortar with a pestle.
In a flameproof casserole, fry the onions in the oil over low heat until translucent. Add the garlic, celery, and red pepper strips and simmer 5 to 10 minutes. Chop the shrimp coarsely and add to the pan with the pepper puree. Simmer 1 to 2 minutes-until the shrimp turn pink. Add the shrimp stock and heat through. Adjust the seasoning, then sprinkle with mint or basil.
To serve, spread a rusk with almond-garlic sauce and place it in the bottom of a soup plate. Ladle the soup over.
ALMOND-GARLIC SAUCE
About 8 to 10 servings
6-8 garlic cloves
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup blanched almonds, finely ground
1/2 cup stale bread crumbs, soaked in water and squeezed dry
3/4-1 cup fruity olive oil juice of 1 large lemon
Pound the garlic with the salt in a mortar until you have a smooth paste. Add the almonds and bread crumbs and continue pounding until smooth. A food processor can be used, but you may need to add a tablespoon or more cold water to the almonds, so that the oil doesn`t separate from them. Beat in the olive oil by droplets, as for mayonnaise, to make a thick creamy emulsion. Beat in 2 to 3 tablespoons lemon juice and taste for salt.
