Category Archives: Summer
Cool as a Cucumber
For the past few weeks, we’ve been getting 10 cucumbers each week as part of our CSA share. Sliced cucumbers sprinkled with spiced salt are a favorite, or of course, adding cucumbers to a salad, but I was looking for something new to do with cucumbers.
For the past year, I’ve been doing some experimenting with cocktails. Usually, I just drink wine or beer. My repertoire of cocktails was mostly limited to frozen margaritas and daiquiris, both based on limeade concentrate. Now that cocktails are trendy, it felt like time to branch out. It all started last summer when we discovered Vena’s Fizz House in Portland which sells different mixers, like the base for the Small Batch Gin & Tonics we like. I also get inspiration from my favorite on-line mixologist and blogging friend, Christy Majors.
When we were out in San Diego in June, we had a few cucumber cocktails. I didn’t pay close attention to what was in them, but, as we sat at the bar sipping our drinks, we did discuss how well they hit the spot on a hot afternoon. Necessity is the mother of invention, and the previously mentioned plethora of cucumbers reminded me to try this at home.
Cucumber juice turns out to be very easy to make — no juicer required. Wash one or two cucumbers, preferably organically grown. Chop them coarsely. Don’t bother to peel or seed them. The skin gives the juice a wonderful chartreuse color. I quartered the cucumber lengthwise, then sliced it into half-inch slices. Throw the cucumber pieces into the blender with a handful of ice cubes for each cucumber. Turn the blender onto a high speed, and puree until smooth. Now strain the puree through a fine sieve. Press on the solids to extract as much juice as possible. You should get about 1 cup of juice for each cucumber.
I’ve been playing around with the combination of cucumber juice, simple syrup, lime juice, and liquor. I’ve had success with both cucumber mojitos (rum) and cucumber gimlets (gin). The margaritas didn’t come out as well.
Mojitos start by muddling sprigs of mint in a tall glass before adding the other ingredients. For the gimlets, simply pour the ingredients over ice. Both are cool, refreshing, and delicious options for relaxing on a hot summer evening.
Cucumber Mojito
Makes one drink
6 sprigs of fresh mint
3 oz cucumber juice (made as described above)
1 oz freshly squeezed lime juice
1 oz simple syrup (made from equal amounts sugar and water)
2 oz rum, preferably Bacardi Limon
Ice<
Slice of cucumber and sprig of mint to garnish
In a tall glass, muddle the mint until it's very fragrant. Leave the mint in the glass, and fill it with ice. In a separate container, combine the cucumber juice, lime juice, simple syrup, and rum. Pour over the ice. Garnish with a cucumber slice and mint sprig.
Cucumber Gimlet
Makes one drink
1 oz cucumber juice (made as described above)
1 oz freshly squeezed lime juice
1 oz simple syrup (made from equal amounts sugar and water)
1 oz gin, preferably Hendricks
Ice
Slice of cucumber to garnish
Fill a short (old-fashioned) glass with ice. In a separate container, combine the cucumber juice, lime juice, simple syrup, and gin. Pour over the ice. Garnish with a cucumber slice. You can also double it and serve in a tall glass (as pictured!)
Cheers!
provençal vegetable soup {ffwd}
Hot soup isn’t what I usually want to eat during the summer, especially when the weather is hot and humid. The things we do for French Fridays… Even though the temperature didn’t seem seasonal, the ingredient list certainly was, especially with tomato and corn. Between my farm share and a few things picked up at the farmers market, this soup turned out to be a masterpiece of local bounty. I also love anything with chickpeas.
I made one modification when I read Dorie’s warning about the pasta getting mushy when reheating the soup. I made it the morning to serve for dinner that evening, so I knew reheating was in my soup’s future. I chose to cook the pasta separately, cool it down, and keep it in a separate container until later. I just stirred it in when I reheated the soup. It seems to have held up well, not just the night we had it with dinner, but also as leftovers.
As I mentioned, the soup was a bit too hot for the weather, but it did taste delicious! It was amazing that just 3 minutes of simmering infused the vegetable broth with so much tomato flavor. I also enjoyed the drizzle of pesto (which I made sans Parmesan). Howard’s not a fan of zucchini, so he didn’t love it, but did pronounce it “OK”.
You can check out the other Doristas’ soups by following their links here. You can find the recipe in Dorie Greenspan’s book Around My French Table.
We have a double-header this week. The zucchini plant that I planted about three weeks ago offered up two male blossoms this week. I picked them early in the morning and stored them in the fridge for the evening, when I would make two fried shrimp-filled zucchini blossoms. Unexpectedly, when I stopped by the Belmont Farmers Market in the afternoon, one of the vendors had bunches of pumpkin blossoms for sale, just $4 for just over a dozen, so I bought a bunch to add to my homegrown couple and make it a meal.
I was worried it would be hard, but I was able to pull the stamens out without ripping the blossoms (using tweezers). I stuffed half with shrimp and half with goat cheese mixed with chopped olives and pesto. Other Doristas raved about the batter, and they were right. I loved how it bubbled up and stayed frothy. I’m not a big deep-fryer, but if I were frying stuff again, I’d use this batter recipe.
I enjoyed the fried blossoms. I also liked that there were multiple fillings. Once cooked, I couldn’t remember which were which, so the surprise on the first bite of each was fun. I’d make these again, as a once-a-year treat, if I come across blossoms again next summer.
As a final note, I spent last weekend hanging out in New York City with Kathy, Cher, and Diane. What a blast! Diane already posted about our adventures here, so I won’t repeat, but I will include a photo of the four of us getting ready to go into Chelsea Market (This is Kathy’s picture, I won’t take credit). Here’s to more Dorista meetups in the future.
A Plateful of Happiness 