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Next week marks a year of being in our home and I can hardly believe it. This has felt like the longest year of my life and like we just moved last month. I read that a house feels like your home when you know the patterns of the sun shining in and it’s true. The late morning summer sun shines in the living room doors between 8 and 10 am right now. At dinner time our dining room is flooded with evening light, it’s great for photos. This summer has felt familiar here and it’s a really nice feeling.
I’m loving summer this year. I have always loved summer but losing the humidity and bugs of the midwest has made my summer experience 10x better. You would expect me to say that I love summer grilling but it is too damn hot right now. We threw a birthday party for Marco and after grilling my light purple shirt was dark purple from all the sweating I did in front of the fire. Fall is fire season people, fall!
These are my top hits of summer so far:
Morning Gardening
The newest addition to our morning routine, Marco and I head outside with our coffee and collect our daily harvest. I caught myself thinking “we have too many tomatoes” and quickly changed that train of thought. What a gift it is to have an abundance of homegrown tomatoes and boy will I miss picking them daily when fall comes.
Our first watermelon is almost ready to harvest!!!
Cake stands as fruit bowls
I ran out of vessels to hold fruit and cake stands take up an awkward amount of space in cabinets. Putting one out on the counter is a win-win. Most importantly, they look pretty! I have a few cake stands that get used maybe four times a year and that’s a shame. They add height and dimension to the basic “fruit bowl” situation. Give it a try.
Counter Grapes
A bowl of grapes (in season right now) on the counter. Hungry? Eat a grape. Thirsty? Bored? Passing by? Eat a grape! Enough said, I love counter grapes.
Jovial has a new shape
The gluten-free pasta scene has very limited shapes. If you never noticed this before, you will now. Penne, fusilli, spaghetti, and lasagna use to be the only options. Then came elbow and bowtie. Now, MAFALDA!
They are like teeny lasagna noodles, thin and flat with squiggly edges. I didn’t know a pasta shape could excite me so much but I love it. It makes a great pasta salad.
Ice Cream Sandwiches
I transitioned from my ice cream cake era to my ice cream sandwich era. Significantly easier to assemble and equally as satisfying to consume.
I had to take a break from making ice cream because the Kitchen-Aid ice cream bowl is kind of a pain in the ass to use. I’m saving up for a fancy ice cream maker and then I will be cranking out ice cream sandwiches on the regular.
RANCH
I’m obsessed and I don’t know why. I saw it on the menu of Triple Beam Pizza and got a side of ranch one day. Dipped my pizza in it and my life was changed. Why had I never done this before? I have no clue. Here is the thing, I like fancy homemade ranch. Triple Beam Pizza has excellent ranch but it is a little inconsistent with the garlic content. A close runner-up is California Chicken Cafe. It’s not homemade but a very good basic ranch. I tried the Hidden Valley packet recommended by many people and it didn’t cut it so now I have been making my own ranch at home. Recipe coming.
My guilty please: Iceberg lettuce wraps with turkey and cheese dipped into ranch. Chef’s kiss.
Spring Butter
From Isigny Sainte Mère. It is a little sweeter and yes, I have eaten it straight off a knife. Treat yourself!
Tomato and Blue Cheese Salad
On repeat in my house every summer. It has classic steak house salad vibes and I can’t get enough of it. Wing it recipe below ⬇️
Summer Tomato and Blue Cheese Salad
Ingredients:
Ripe summer tomatoes in a variety of sizes and colors
Thinly sliced red onion
Fresh basil leaves
Blue cheese (Bay Blue is my favorite)
Really good olive oil
White balsamic vinegar
Salt and black pepper
Before you assemble, slice your tomatoes and lay them in a single layer on a paper towel lined plate or tray. Sprinkle them generously with salt and let them sit for a few minutes. This helps season the tomatoes and bring out their summer flavor. Salt draws moisture and before we add the tomatoes and assemble it’s important to blot them dry with a paper towel.
Slice those red onions super thin and maybe even whip out the mandolin. I love alliums in any shape BUT a paper thin slice is much more enjoyable than a huge chunk. Lay your tomatoes and onions on a serving plate, tuck in a bunch of fresh basil leaves, crumble blue cheese on top, and drizzle with olive oil and white balsamic vinegar.
Finish the salad with a generous crack of fresh black pepper and flakey salt. You can prep this salad a little in advance and the flavors will mingle but too far ahead of serving and you will end up with excess moisture pooling on the plate. Not the end of the world but not the best.
For all my blue cheese skeptics out there, I’m with you. I like it but I don’t love it. Bay Blue by Point Reyes Farmstead is super mild and not too in your face. It has the perfect amount of funk without scaring people away. I used to add it to my Board Babe boards and converted a lot of blue cheese haters. Give it a try if you see it at the store (Whole Foods has it for sure) because the blue cheese really makes the salad.
Can we cool it with all the burrata balls? – lol, yes, please!
The Mango Is King of the Miami Summer – We have a lot of stuff growing in our garden but I would kill to have mangos growing around me like this. A good read.
What Your Refrigerator Decor Says About You – I’m a bare refrigerator person but only because clutter makes me anxious and of course, it looks cleaner. In my early 20s, we covered the side of our fridge in Instax mini photos that we would take at all of our parties. It was a gathering place for guests to find themselves and definitely a conversation starter. Now those photos live in a giant frame hung up in the guest room.
Bobbi has been around on TikTok for years but she recently blew up with her podcast interviews. She has a very specific type of humor and I think it’s great. Hello, she’s in bed with Drake.
Hama Sushi – Excellent sushi that’s not $300. Tiny sushi bar that gets full fast. Get there at 5 pm for the first sitting, put your phone away, and talk to the people next to you as well as the chef. Every bite was good, we ended up ordering 2x more than we originally planned, and I’m dying to go back and get the broiled salmon collar that the guy next to me ordered.
Luigi, my mom’s new cat. He is only one but has cancer (scar from surgery to remove some of it). My mom adopted him so he can live his life in a home instead of a shelter. He’s incredibly cute!
Fondoodler…like a hot glue gun for cheese?!
Strawberry Galette
Galette > pies
Three components smushed into a circle with permission to be imperfect. I love making galettes. That being said, you do have to make three components but two of the three can be made up to two days in advance.
First, pie crust. My galette crust is the same thing as my pie crust. Cut butter into flour, fold it a few times, and wrap it up. Throw that thing into the fridge and grab it when you are ready to bake.
Next, frangipane. Frangipane is a filling made from ground nuts, butter, sugar, and eggs. Traditionally made with almonds but any nut works. After beating it will look like a thick paste that can be spread and baked into tarts, pies, and cakes. Do not be intimidated if you have never made frangipane before. It takes five minutes to make and all you need to do is beat the ingredients together. It can hang out in your fridge for a few days with the pie crust too.
Last, lightly macerated strawberries. I picked up a pint of strawberries last Sunday and they are still very much in season. By letting them sit with sugar and lemon juice they soften and release some juices. They get placed on top of the frangipane and bake into jammy almond berry bliss.
Let’s put it all together now.