bounty from a friends' garden

Gary, my food-obsessed friend and his wife, charlotte, dropped in with overflowing boxes of potatoes, tomatoes, baby leeks,corn and watermelon from their garden. As if that weren't enough Gary had been fishing in Florida,so that night I sauteed the freshest, most delicate mahi mahi I'd ever eaten.I prepared it simply, finishing it off with capers,white wine and, of course, butter. So good. The tomatoes made a lovely end-of -summer sauce and I have plans for a leek tart.Tonight my niece arrives from Texas, and we'll have chicken paprikash, buttered parsley and garlic egg noodles and broad beans cooked gently in tomatoes and onion. We'll begin the meal with a caesar salad - no dessert, we'll probably indulge in ice cream later in the evening.

chipotle chili

In the mood for a bowl of chili,I decided on one of my favorites, chili with chipotle and chocolate. I coated a saute pan lightly with vegetable oil and over medium-high heat sauteed diced onion, sweet red pepper, garlic and ground turkey until the turkey was browned and the vegetable tender. I added brown sugar,chile powder,cocoa,ground cumin,salt and pepper,diced tomatoes with their juices, chipotle peppers in adobo sauce low salt chicken broth. I simmered this till it thickened slightly then added some good unsweetened chocolate,stirring it to melt the chocolate. I enjoyed this hugely over rice and topped with sour cream. If only I'd had some cornbread!!

dishes for the freezer

humid,rainy weather with no possibility of working in the garden - a perfect opportunity to spend some time in the kitchen. Every year during peach season I make a favorite; curried chicken with peaches. I browned chicken pieces in a combination of vegetable oil and unsalted butter. When the chicken was crisp on the outside I removed the pieces and cooked till soft and tender thinly sliced onion and garlic,then added curry powder,cinnamon, ginger and flour. I cooked this briefly, then added chicken stock and brought it to the boil.stirring constantly. When it thickened I added salt and mango chutney. I returned the chicken to the pan, covered the pan and simmered for forty minutes. When done I added a bit of lemon juice and some thick slices of marvelously juicy and flavorful white peaches. When cooled I divided it into containers for the freezer to be served to friends a couple of weeks from now. I'll accompany the dish with white rice, chutney, cucumber raita and green beans with shallots. A gewurtztraniner or dry riesling will be perfect.

Monsoon Dinner

Last night, dining alone, I regaled myself with a surprising little salad - manageable chunks of a lare green tomato, two plump and succulent calimyrna figs, also chunked, a showering of the tiny leaves of piccolo mundo basil ,salt and pepper, some lovely meyer lemon olive oil and a bit of balsamic. Wow - gorgeous to look upon, refreshing and delicious, just the thing on a night of pounding rain and unrelenting wind.

a late-summer dinner

Dinner for five last evening.We started with drinks on the deck and a lazy susan serving up a selection of cheeses and clusters of red grapes. After an hour of easy conversation we proceeded to the dining room, where, on antique green glass plates perched piedmontese peppers - red pepper halves stuffed with coarsely chopped tomatoes, fresh from the garden. I added minced anchovies, baby basil leaves, paper thin slices of garlic and a generous grind of black pepper. A drizzle of olive oil and into the oven for a half hour. I then added some roasted red onion slices, a few black olives and a bit of a basil and olive oil emulsion. Beautiful to behold, and delicious. This was followed by tuscan chicken, the butterflied birds having marinated overnight in a heady mix of lemon zest, rosemary.garlic and olive oil. My daughter the grillmeister did a perfect job, and I served the succulent chicken with a creamy corn pudding and fat asparagus spears topped with nothing by gray salt. Dessert was a white peach tart, the peaches glistening and slightly caramelized with their brushing of home-made peach preserves.

sixteenth birthday dinner

Last night was a celebration of my grandaughter's sixteenth birthday and it was all about comfort food. With drinks, we had guacamole with some particularly good, low-salt taco chips I picked up at Zabar's in NYC. I laid out dinner on the counter - macaroni and cheese topped with fresh,toasted bread crumbs mixed with parsley; oven-fried chicken that had been lightly coated with lemon zest enhanced flour; a pan of heavenly carribean influenced corn bread and a green bean salad - the beans cooked to a crispness then combined with sauteed garlic and shallots, rosemary, some sliced perfectly ripe peaches and lime juice - I'd harvested the beans just hours before and they were so good. Dessert was an ultra rich chocolate cake, filled with a sheet of baked meringue topped with a mix of peanut butter, chopped peanuts, and, of all things, rice crispies. The cake layers were frosted with a chocolate ganache - not for the calorie counter, but this was a night for indulgence.

casual dinner with friends

The evening was cooling off a bit, so we had drinks on the deck, accompanied by a white bean, lemon and rosemary spread served with paper thin toasted pitas. Dinner in the kitchen, enabling us to look out at the garden. We started with a platter of mixed yellow and red tomatoes interspersed with sliced melon, strewed with dwarf basil and tiny signet marigolds and drizzled with a lovely olive oil. On to the main course, scallops cooked with garlic, parsley and lemon juice - this was mixed with spaghetti not quite fully drained, drizzled with olive oil, and topped with toasted bread crumbs - it was devoured - delicious. Dessert - ah, dessert. A french tarte de granmere, an almond flour crust filled witht he most luxurious cherry preserves I could find, enhanced with a bit of lemon juice, topped with big pastry stars, and painted with an egg wash. I could barely restrain myself from cutting a slice. There were moans of pleasure - and guess what I had for breakfast the next morning. A truly extraordinary tarte.