Nectarine Cobbler
Corn Chowder
Watermelon, Heirloom Tomato and Arugula Salad with Avocado and fresh Mint
To be completely honest, summer in San Francisco is not at all replicable of what summer is supposed to be. It is not hot, as a matter of fact it is not even warm. It is usually pretty chilly actually (today's high: 67 degrees) and overcast most of the morning and late afternoon. We usually get our "summer" in late September and October. But, where I grew up summer was hot and very traditional, so no matter what it looks like outside my window, in my head it is July, and there are just certain foods that I want to eat in July. The cold weather has left me deeply craving for summer lately, so I ended up having all my summer favorites all in one dinner to satisfy my longing...
Watermelon, Heirloom Tomato and Arugula Salad:
I think watermelon and tomato go beautifully together, and when you pair these two with some spicy arugula, and tangy balsalmic dressing, you have the most balanced and tasty salad you can possibly imagine. Just to bump it up to the next level, I added in some mint chiffonade, and topped the salad with a nice creamy avocado. There is a woman who has been at the Alemany Farmer's market lately, and she comes up from Southern California, and she brings the most delicious avocados I have ever had. They are perfectly ripe, and so full of flavor, suddenly I have been wanting avocado on everything... I don't know what I am going to do if she ever stops coming to the market.
Corn Chowder
This is one of the simplest soups I have ever made, but if you use ripe, full flavored corn, it is simply delicious. I started by removing the corn kernels from 4 large cobs of fresh sweet corn. I then took the corn cobs, and simmered them in 4 cups of water for 20 minutes to make a corn stock, to enhance the corn flavor of my soup. In a separate large soup pot, I sauteed a whole yellow onion, and added one clove of minced garlic. I then added the corn in with onion, along with a teaspoon and a half of ground cumin, salt and pepper, and one medium potato diced. (Leave the skin on- this is where the majority of the nutrients are in the potato, and once you blend the soup you will hardly notice the skin). At this point, I added my corn stock to the pot, covered it, and let it go at a medium simmer for another 15 minutes or so, until the potatoes were tender. I finished off the soup by pureeing it in batches and then re-seasoning until the flavors are just right. I topped it with a cilantro sour cream (mix chopped fresh cilantro with some tofutti sour cream) and more of that awesome avocado.
Nectarine Cobbler
My hubby does not like the fuzzy skin of peaches, so I decided to make the cobbler with some beautiful organic nectarines I scored. Again, I like to leave the skins on because there are so many wonderful nutrients and fiber contained in the skins. The nectarines were this beautiful red orange color, and so sweet I hardly had to add in any sweetener. This dessert was so simple, I just finely chopped up a few nectarines, and tossed them with a maple/agave blend from trader joe's (seriously, I don't think I even used a whole tablespoon) and some ginger powder (a little less than a teaspoon) I then used the biscuit recipe from one of my favorite blogs: veganyumyum (which you can also get as an iphone app- so awesome!!) I added some cinnamon to the biscuit recipe, and topped my nectarines with the biscuit dough, and baked it for about 25 minutes until it was bubbly and browned. I served it with some sweet cinnamon spiced cashew creme I had made for another recipe a few days earlier.
So this meal brought the sunshine into our home, I felt fulfilled, enjoying the bounty of fresh summer foods. After all, it is summer pretty much everywhere else, even though when I look out my window it is still grey and misty.
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