Last call for summer!

[Jenise]

Openly and unabashedly, I am stealing this thread title from today's New York Times and a charming article in which five writers, or was it six, discuss a summer meal that they are heavily bonded with and presumably about to say goodbye to until 2012. What's yours? (I must give this some thought myself and choose between a childhood Southern California favorite or one of the foods that life choices since have swerved me to.)

[Robin Garr]

Mary was reading that column this morning and told me to look at it, but I haven't got back to it yet.


Without reading, though, I can say that fresh peaches and fresh figs are two biggies that I miss out of season. Local tomatoes, too, but we've got a couple of more months there. Last year we picked the last about a week before Thanksgiving, but last year was bizarre.

[Jenise]

Mary was reading that column this morning and told me to look at it, but I haven't got back to it yet.


Without reading, though, I can say that fresh peaches and fresh figs are two biggies that I miss out of season. Local tomatoes, too, but we've got a couple of more months there. Last year we picked the last about a week before Thanksgiving, but last year was bizarre.

Yahbut...that's not a meal. Just single items or ingredients that we'll all miss. Instead, the spirit of the article and this thread is looking for a dish or a meal that symbolizes summer to you.

[David M. Bueker]

A dish...very simple, freshly shelled and lightly sauteed (in butter) peas.

I'm not sure there are meals I specifically associate with summer exclusively. Though surely many foods are most complimentary of summer. I guess for me it would just be the summer ritual of getting fresh ice cream at the parlor. That's something that literally closes around here in the Fall but is always like a "first kiss" when it re-opens every summer. And it simply makes you smile!

I would offer "cook-out meals" as an ideal selection (for us). Except that we don't necessarily stop eating steaks/burgers etc just because winter arrives. Those are some of my favorite foods any time of the year!

I've even grilled outdoors during winter before. Although it's not the prettiest thing to watch.

Jeff

Tomatoes tomatoes tomatoes tomatoes. Plus tomatoes.

Also basil and eggplant.

And tomatoes.

One of my favorite summer dishes is tomato and bread salad. Mine has an array of garden tomatoes, all colors, and many variates. Sourdough is drizzled with evoo, then grilled and cut into cubes. Mixed with kalamata olives, fresh garlic, fresh marjoram and sweet basil, with a champagne vinegar vinaigrette. I love it and eat leftovers for breakfast.

Another is marinated beef strips, with garden tomatoes, and bell pepper in a thick soy based sauce. Chinese noodles cooked then tossed with peanut oil, put into a sheet tray, spread out and let dry all day. They are then fried to crispy on one side, turned and crisped up on the other side. The tomato beef and sauce are poured over the noodles. It is one of the best tasting summer dishes we really love.

Fresh corn on the cob from the farmer's market, so sweet and tender it can be enjoyed served raw if one desires.

Fresh corn on the cob from the farmer's market, so sweet and tender it can be enjoyed served raw if one desires.

I always eat a bunch of the corn raw. So delicious.

Tonight's "dinner" was a Caprese salad of three different heirloom tomatoes with a baguette and a bottle of Brun's '09 L'Ancien. To me, that epitomizes summer as well as any meal that I can think of. The fresh corn on the cob is the other big feature, but that's not a meal.

Mark Lipton

[Robin Garr]

[
Yahbut...that's not a meal. Just single items or ingredients that we'll all miss. Instead, the spirit of the article and this thread is looking for a dish or a meal that symbolizes summer to you.

Caprese! We'll make a giant plate of it with a boatload of fresh, drippy mozzarella ... that's a meal. And you can really do it only with local tomatoes, ideally plucked from your garden moments before.

[Jenise]

I always eat a bunch of the corn raw. So delicious.

I thought I was the only one!

[Jenise]

Caprese! We'll make a giant plate of it with a boatload of fresh, drippy mozzarella ... that's a meal. And you can really do it only with local tomatoes, ideally plucked from your garden moments before.

Speaking of mozz, has anyone else discovered that their Costco now carries,in addition to the domestic Bel Gioso, authentic imported Italian Bufalo? It's crazy delicious.

Caprese! We'll make a giant plate of it with a boatload of fresh, drippy mozzarella ... that's a meal. And you can really do it only with local tomatoes, ideally plucked from your garden moments before.

Speaking of mozz, has anyone else discovered that their Costco now carries,in addition to the domestic Bel Gioso, authentic imported Italian Bufalo? It's crazy delicious.

Must go to Costco and check. The only time I can find that around here is in a store across town and only during the holidays. Thanks