A couple things are left in my garden.  Some leafy greens and herbs mostly.  I didn’t get enough use out of my tarragon this summer, but a week or two ago I made tarragon vinegar and my family went through a bottle before it even had time to cure properly.  Luckily my mother-in-law makes vinegar from wine that my father-in-law produces.  So I made up several more large bottles to take us through the year.  The vinegar tastes bright like summer, and I’m sure it will be welcome when we tire of the cold.

I’m not one for experimenting with flavored oils and vinegar, although maybe I should be.  I never think of using them when I’m following a recipe, and so they haven’t become a part of my improvisational technique either.

But tarragon vinegar is  different.  I tried it first at my grandma’s house (who has a keen palate and is peppy enough to land a husband 30 years her senior.)  It was one of those “oh!” moments.  And now it’s my favorite vinegar for a simple green salad.

So I was making tarragon vinegar, and my mother-in-law decides to try a complex recipe in which I had no interest.  But today when I tasted it, I had to hand it to her, it smelled like I was sitting at an Italian restaurant, having my server freshly grind black pepper onto my dish.  I hope she lets me use a little to experiment.

tarragon vinegar- empty a bottle of white whine vinegar into a clean bowl.  Rinse and pat dry enough fresh tarragon sprigs to fill the bottle.  Use as much as will fit easily.  Pour the vinegar back into the bottle with a funnel.  Cover and let sit 2 weeks.  Repeat the process, taking the old tarragon sprigs and replacing them with a couple of fresh ones (optional).  Use in a vinaigrette, or simply with olive oil, salt and pepper to dress a salad.

Italian herb vinegar- follow instructions for tarragon vinegar, but instead of tarragon, for every 6 cups of vinegar add 1 peeled garlic clove, 3 sprigs fresh basil, 4 sprigs of thyme, 1 sprig oregano and 25 nasturtium blossoms.   Cover and let set aside for 2 weeks.  Remove herbs, replace with a sprig or two of fresh herbs.

Last year before the neighbors cut down their apple trees (sigh), I went onto their property without asking (maybe that’s why), and picked up fallen apples, cut off the bad spots and made the most delicious applesauce I’d ever tried: just apples, fresh lemon juice, and a few gratings of fresh ginger.  I came into some more apples and made it again, this time, I had run out of lemons and fresh ginger, so I used bottled lemon juice and dried ginger.  Such a sad pot of applesauce.

As much as I had been looking forward this year to repeating that first applesauce I had made, I bought some nice plums at the farmer’s market and threw them in.  At first I regretted it.  When it was hot, the flavors were off with a strange aftertaste.  I added a little honey with the lemon juice and ginger.  I still wasn’t impressed, and resigned myself to being a purest.  The next day when I pulled it out of the refrigerator though, it was changed: full of flavor, no unpleasant aftertaste.  It actually tasted quite beautiful.  The plums added an end-of-summer flavor that bridged the fall flavor of the apples.  A very timely applesauce that made me realize there’s lots of room for improvisation with top-notch ingredients.

plum applesauce
I left the the plums unpeeled (they become tender), but you can peel them if you like.  Cut an X across the bottom, and place in boiling water for 30-60 seconds.  The peel should slip off.

5 lbs. cooking apples, peeled, cored, chopped
2 lbs. plums, peeled (optional), stones removed, chopped
honey or brown sugar, to taste
fresh lemon juice, to taste
fresh ginger, to taste

Put the apples and plums in a large pot and add an inch or two of water.  Cook over medium heat until the fruit begins to break down, stirring and adding more water as needed.  Turn the heat down to low, cover and simmer until the fruit is cooked through, mashing with the back of a spoon for a chunky texture, or putting in a food processor for a smooth texture.  Add the ginger, and continue cooking five more minutes.  Turn off the heat and let cool to room temperature.  Add the honey and lemon juice to taste, refrigerate and serve chilled.

I don’t know if I’m the only parent who routinely forgets to save food for the kids.  Around here it happens at least once a week: I get carried away enjoying my food and *expletive* it’s gone and the kids are still hungry.  After managing to cook a meal for the family, while keeping 2 eyes on the kids, I have to come up with something else.

Well, I like making my own gnocchi, but the evening inevitably ends with me staring in the fridge wishing I hadn’t been so selfish.  Doubling the recipe isn’t really an option, because of the labor involved in cooking them.  Perhaps I just haven’t gotten a good system down, but it doesn’t really make a difference at this point.

So I tried packaged gnocchi, and I’m not ashamed to say I like it.  And I can easily cook enough for the whole family with a little leftover.  This is one of those meals that I look forward to making because cooking goes so fast, it’s the perfect balance of light and filling, and bursts with flavor.

gnocchi with broccoli, tomato, olives, capers & pine nuts
serves 4

1/3 cup olive oil, plus 3 tablespoons, divided
1 3/4 lb. ripe tomatoes, chopped
generous 1/4 cup green olives, chopped
2 spoonfuls capers
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 1/4 cup pine nuts
1 3/4 lb. broccoli, broken into bit sized pieces, stem peeled and chopped as well
2 lbs. packaged potato gnocchi
big handful flat-leaf parsley, chopped

Heat 1/3 cup of the oil in a large frying pan over medium high heat.  Drain the excess juice from the tomaotes, if any, and reserve. Add the tomatoes to the pan and fry until tasty.  This may be as quick as 1 minute if the tomatoes are ripe and in season.  Add the capers, olives and reserved tomato juice.  Heat through.  Remove from the heat and cover.

In a small frying pan, heat the remaining 3 tablespoons of olive oil over very low heat.  Add the pine nuts and garlic, and fry very gently until first the garlic is cooked through, then the pine nuts and garlic turn golden.  Remove from heat and reserve.

In a large pot of salted boiling water,  cook the broccoli until crisp-tender.  Remove with a slotted spoon or spider whisk.  Add the gnocchi to the same water and cook according to package directions, about two minutes or until they float to the top.  Drain.

Toss together the gnocchi, broccoli, tomato mixture, pine nut mixture and parsley and serve.

Cantaloupe has finally found a home in my kitchen.  After years of half-hearted tolerance, I can now say I love the melon and its lovely floral flavors.  Maybe I’ve been alone for years in detecting an off flavor that just doesn’t hit my palate right, but I don’t think so. Hasn’t any one else been disappointed at nearly every restaurant fruit plate composed of 50% cantaloupe?

Well, when Romeo starting chunking up my least favorite fruit and making a smoothie out of it, I wasn’t thrilled.  But we drink smoothies all the time.  One mediocre drink wasn’t gong to ruin my day.

Then I tasted it, and was blown away. The key is in balancing out the flavors with the pineapple and raspberries.  All the beautiful notes come out, and all the ugly ones fade away.  I don’t know what the carrot adds exactly, since I couldn’t taste it, but this smoothie has got it going on, and I’m not messing with it.

Cantaloupe Smoothie
1 lb. cantaloupe (about 3/8 of a small melon)
1/3 pineapple
5 oz. (half a bag) frozen raspberries
1 carrot
1 cup 100% juice fruit punch blend (or more depending on your blender)
5 ice cubes

Chunk up the melon, pineapple and carrot - you know your blender so you decide the size of the pieces.  Put everything in the blender and whiz until very smooth and a little frothy, adding more juice if necessary - you want a pourable consistency.  Makes 2 smoothies, but you might want to drink them both yourself.

Hearty but not gut-busting, summer is a great time to install chickpea flour in your pantry.  With Mark Bittman on my side (or am I on his side?) it might already be there.  Toasting it like a roux creates a deeply nutty flavor base and thickener for soup.  It’s the perfect new friend for broccoli, which usually can’t drag itself away from cheese and cream, which are loyal friends, but sometimes it needs to mingle with others.

While I was waiting for my second planting of cilantro to grow, I thought it might be fun to experiment with the blossoms of the first planting.  They are so pretty and have a distinct flavor, like green coriander - unexpectedly different from cilantro leaves.  The combination of lemon balm and coriander blossoms is perfect- spicy and refreshing.  But if you can’t get both lemon balm and coriander blossoms I wouldn’t hesitate for a moment to make this soup with basil.  It might be less exotic sounding, but no less delicious.  And  the soup actually lends basil a really special note and revives its sometimes over-used flavor.   So it’s up to you- basil or lemon balm and coriander blossoms.

broccoli and toasted chickpea flour soup with lemon balm and coriander blossoms

8 cups water
1/4 cup olive oil
1 cup chickpea flour
2 lbs. broccoli, trimmed and chopped
salt, to taste
7 cloves garlic, unpeeled
1 1/2-2 lemons, juiced
1/2 cup lemon balm leaves, chopped
10 heads coriander blossoms, chopped, plus more for garnish

Put the water in a tea kettle, and bring to a boil.  In the meantime, heat the oil in a soup pot over medium heat.  Add the chickpea flour and stir, scraping the bottom until it becomes a shade darker.  Very slowly add the water from the kettle, using a whisk and stopping to beat until smooth when a thick paste forms.  When all the water is added, put the broccoli and salt in the pot and bring to a simmer.  While the broccoli is cooking, toast the garlic on a comal or cast iron pan until the skins are charred and the inside is soft.  Peel the garlic and mash the cloves with a little water from the soup pot.  Taste the soup for salt -you may have to add quite a bit- making sure it’s tasty (although it will get better soon).    Squeeze in the lemon juice, and add the lemon balm, coriander blossoms, and mashed garlic. Puree in a blender or use an immersion blender.  If it is too thick add a little more water -you want it to be the consistency of cream of broccoli soup.  It it is too thin, let simmer until it thickens.  Serve alongside bread with a head of coriander blossoms floating in the soup.

My father-in-law likes to go all-out in typical Texan bigger-is-better style.  Sometimes this means having an air-hockey table in our living room with the legs chopped off just right, making it the perfect height for his grandson.  Sometimes this means buying an enormous citrus juicer so he can subsist on ceviche with ease.

I guess we have different ideas on “going all-out,” but here I am, with a state-fair-reminiscent citrus juicer staring at me, so I drink.  And here are a few of the refreshing summer drinks we have been enjoying. With ease.

watermelon agua fresca with lime:  Scoop watermelon flesh (seeds and all) into a blender.  Pulse a few times, then blend until just liquified, pushing down the solids as necessary.  Strain out seeds and excess pulp with a fine mesh strainer.  Add lime juice to taste, and optionally, sweeten with agave nectar or sugar.

lemonade with chia seeds:  Add a tablespoon of chia seeds (found in health food stores) to unchilled lemonade.  Let sit until the seeds have become gelatinous. Chill.  Serve with a straws - almost bubble-tea style.

sorrel mint bissap with lime:  inspired by Yolele!: Recipes from the Heart of Senegal by Pierre Thiam.  Make flor de Jamaica from Hibiscus (sorrel) flowers: In a saucepan place about two cups of hibiscus flowers,  add water until just covered.  Bring to a boil.  Turn down heat, add a handful of mint leaves and simmer for 5 minutes.  Remove from heat, let cool.  Strain hibiscus and mint leaves, add lime to taste, dilute with cold water (to taste) and chill.

Next up: my lemonbalm plant is getting bigger and I’ll be steeping lemonbalm leaves in hot water, chilling and using it as a base for lemonade.