The back to school stuff is going in Target, heralding the end of the summer. Soon enough it'll be time for backpacks and lunchboxes and binders, but before we give ourselves over to F-A-L-L, it's time to worship at the altar of the Hatch chile. Last summer I froze 25 pounds worth and it looks like I was pretty stingy in doling out the chiles over the year since I still have several bags in the freezer. But there's nothing like fresh roasted, and stores across the country are already breaking out their roasters with events starting this weekend.
A couple of weeks ago on the Splendid Table, LA Times Food Editor Russ Parsons wrote, “The thing that's really great about this book is that he takes what might seem familiar and just throws a twist on it. When you cook it, it's an act of exploration because you're doing things that you know, the ingredients are fairly familiar, the techniques are fairly familiar, and then boom, there's this very new and exciting result that really makes you want to cook more into it.”
He was talking about < Ottolenghi's Plenty
, but he hit it on the head for Jerusalem
,too. It’s the twists that set these recipes apart. And it's never more true than with Naama’s Fattoush, the marquee recipe for this month's salad theme for Tasting Jerusalem.
We’re in the dog days of summer, finally. Days so hot all you want to do is sit in front of an oscillating fan and sip a cool glass of iced tea. Days so hot nothing is getting cooked, except you in your car on the commute home. I’ve got something for you. It’s cool, crisp and refreshing. It’s….a sandwich. Well, a dip and a sandwich. Break out the food processor, we’re making edamame hummus, which you can do as dip for dinner with veg and pita chips, or as a great spread on sandwiches for the “Damn, could it get any hotter?” nights ahead.
Are you always the last to know? I feel that way about sour cherries. Did everyone else already know how good, how different they are from regular sweet cherries? Why did no one tell me?
Our pie cherry week(s) (season is too long to actually describe it) finally arrived in Seattle, I know most everyone else had their go in June and pie cherries are but a distant memory at this point. But with only one shot with them, I split the difference and made a sour cherry compote and a coffee cake. And now we know who’s been hoarding all the pie cherries, because I thought, “OMG – it really does taste like canned cherry pie filling!”
