Only In The Summer!

 JULIA SPENCER-FLEMING: For those of you broiling in other parts of the US, you’ll be surprised to hear we’ve been having a cold summer in Maine so far. Yes, there was the infernal heat dome last week, and we’ve managed a few days when the temperatures have gotten into the 80s, but otherwise it’s hardly been the kind of weather that inspires lingering over icy drinks on the deck or patio or grilling for guests.

 

Which is why I was delighted the other day when it hit the perfect point of heat (i.e. “Yay, it’s summer,” instead of “65 and drizzling” or “Satan’s bowels.”) It finally felt right to have my first Pimms cup of the summer. To me, it’s the quintessential seasonal drink - I mean, the bottle’s not going anywhere, but I don’t touch it between September and May.

 

There are a lot of foods tied to the calendar and the weather because, well, that’s when they taste best. Strawberries, corn on the cob, home-grown tomatoes. But there are other foods and beverages we could have at any point of the year but… we don’t.

 

An example for me: the grilled hamburger. I like hamburgers! I’ll occasionally order one in a restaurant (there are some great grass-fed-beef places in Portland; hit me up for recommendations if you’re traveling here.) But the ONLY time I make them at home is between June and August, outdoors, and it has to be hot enough that I’m a little uncomfortable standing over the grill (I have the old-fashioned, charcoal briquette kind.) 

 

Or potato salad. I literally make the exact same potato salad summer and winter, but the former gets a mustard-mayo dressing and hard-boiled eggs and the latter gets a bacon-vinegar dressing and no eggs. Why one and not the other? I don’t know! I could serve the vinaigrette cold and the mayo warm, but after 40 years of making this (and more years eating - these recipes come from my mother) they remain strictly, rigorously separated by the time of year and the temperature outside.

 

How about you, Reds? What are your “strictly-seasonal-although-they-don’t-have-to-be” drinks and dinners?

 

HALLIE EPHRON: My favorite seasonal dish is a salad main dish. A corn and basil and Fetah cheese salad. Corn (fresh, boiled and cut off the cob (NOT frozen or canned))  with season’s best cut up tomatoes, a generous handful (or two) of chopped fresh basil, and plenty of crumbled fetah cheese — dressed with a vinaigrette (⅔ olive oil, ⅓ a good balsamic vinegar, S&P). 

 

I confess, messing with the charcoal grill holds no allure for me these days. Though my favorite summer thing used to be a whole turkey roasted over coals. You season the bird as if you were roasting it in the oven. No stuffing. Get a full load of coals hot and push them to the edges so you can put the turkey on a rack with coals NOT directly under it. Let it roast with the lid down. Baste  occasionally with olive oil or butter.

Takes about what it takes to roast it in the oven (use a meat thermometer to test for doneness) and it tastes smokey and sensational and can be eaten hot or warm or cold. 

 

HANK PHILLIPPI RYAN: Oh, tomatoes! I cannot wait, CANNOT WAIT! For the good summer tomatoes. A tomato sandwich with white toast and mayo and arugula and tomatoes and crazy salt and I am transported. So delicious.

I also love sungold tiny tomatoes cut in half with a tiny slice of mozzarella and topped with fresh pesto.

Or–tomatoes again–capresed with exquisite balsamic drizzle and mozzarella.

Hamburgers cooked outside–yes! We have briquets, too, it is SO much better. 

And salmon grilled outside too, with grilled corn. 

Now I am absolutely drooling.

And you know–I always forget about watermelon. But it is so yummy!

 

RHYS BOWEN:  Summer to me means the farmers market. All that local produce, especially ripe peaches, plums, apricots. Oh, and strawberries. I am not married to a barbecue expert so we only use it if the kids come over but I do love barbecued chicken and shrimp. But a special treat is to pack a sandwich and fruit and take my lunch to a local beach. 

 

LUCY BURDETTE: What the others said–fresh corn on the cob from our favorite local farmer (I never buy grocery store corn out of season), fresh tomatoes, and blueberries. Later in the summer, the Connecticut peaches come in and I buy bushels of them. Here’s one more: a root beer float with sweet cream ice cream from Ashley’s. Oh yum, glad the grandkids will be here so I have a good excuse for that!

 

DEBORAH CROMBIE: This past week we’ve gone from “Oh, yay, I can grill,” to “Oh my God, somebody shoot me if I have to go back outside and it’s still ninety degrees at eight o’clock. That said, I will still grill. I make fabulous burgers with grass fed local beef from our town butcher shop. They also sell the most scrumptious chewy, dark molasses buns from a local bakery.  Tomatoes, however, in spite of the abundance at the farmer’s market, have been disappointing. 

 

But peaches and blueberries are in season here and they have been fabulous. The one thing that absolutely says SUMMER, though? Watermelon! I cart a quarter melon home from the market every Saturday!

JENN McKINLAY: Cherries and peaches mean summer to me. I recently found the absolute best cobbler recipe I have ever had so there’s been a lot of cobbler kicking off this summer season! It’s so hot here in AZ that we try to avoid using the oven and do most of the cooking outside (by we I mean the Hub), so it’s a lot of grilling or crockpotting until the temperatures drop. 

JULIA: What are your fave seasonal foods, dear readers? And are there any, like potato salad and Pimms, you ONLY have during the summertime?

 

 

Welcome Summer with the Perfect Pimms

 JULIA SPENCER-FLEMING: Once more, please welcome our own Celia Wakefield, today with some wonderful stories and her recipe for a perfect Pimms Cup.

 

I’m very happy to be back home with all the JRW clan (nod to Roberta), and writing about a subject that is dear to Julia and my hearts - L’heure bleue. That time when we stop and relax, preferably with a delicious drink. With our vaccinations done or shortly to be done, our l’heure bleue can include family and friends. Now that, my dear clan, gives me much joy. 

 

I don’t intend to drag on about our last fifteen months. Enough said and while the pandemic is hopefully a once in a lifetime experience, and will linger long in memory, it is time to embrace each other without the aid of Zoom. For most of us, that embrace will include something to eat and something to drink. Rather like Alice, we can choose our poison. Here by the lakeside we drink Pimms in the summer. Well that is I drink Pimms, Julia drinks Pimms, my daughter Olivia drinks Pimms and I share my Pimms with close friends who will appreciate it. I know that Pimms is not for everyone. Victor doesn’t usually drink Pimms.

 

Well, you may say, why Pimms and why in the summer In England? Well, with help from that web thing, I found out that Pimms was invented by James Pimms in 1823. Pimms grew up a farmers son in the County of Kent with which I have many ties, including boarding school, where we would have never been allowed to drink Pimms. James (one can overuse Pimms), owned an oyster bar in the City of London, he developed his ‘tonic’ with a gin base, - “Gin was mothers milk to her”, or “penny a glass, dead drunk for tuppence”, then added herbs and sold it as a health tonic. The actual recipe is still kept a deep, dark secret, but now includes fruit too.

 

It appears that I had to leave England for the drink to become so popular. Julia was in London in the ’80’s and remembers its popularity then. However when I went to Wimbledon in the ’60’s, what we wanted were strawberries and cream. 

 

I don’t remember what I drank at Henley; I was a guest of my best friend Helen’s parents, and dressed in my summer best including a gorgeous pair of while Kurt Geiger high heels, I was freezing all day. Lunch was the traditional poached salmon with hollandaise sauce, new potatoes and salad, and that was cold too. Whatever the weather, tradition is not just observed in the village of Anatevka, it is alive and well in England, which may mean freezing in the summer but dressed to enhance the occasion.

 

My introduction to Pimms came at the home of the same Helen. We met at boarding school and lived close enough in the holidays to get together then. Imagine a beautiful summer’s afternoon in the garden, Helen and I stretched out on rugs catching some rays and Mr. Plutte, Helen’s father, bringing us Pimms to drink. It was love at first taste. 

 

I don’t think I probably had the opportunity to drink Pimms when I was working in London as I really didn’t run with a high society crowd. Boys were willing to shell out for beer but anything more exotic? No, though I do remember after work  parties in the local, when I moved up to corporate life where spirits were always bought for one.

 

Ah me, now when I drink in the summer I do enjoy a Pimms, and I make it differently from any of the  263,000 recommendations from Google. I don’t always measure, but for this recipe I have done so. But first some explanation of the why mine is different. I add spirits to the Pimms mix, along with the measure of Pimms and I top it with Schweppes Tonic Water. 

 

 

 

For a garnish, I like cucumber first; the smell really enhances that first sip. Other than some wines is there any drink not enhanced with a slice of lemon or lime, so let’s add that too. Finally, fresh mint, preferably just picked mint which is why I try to grow mint each year. The mint in the photos was picked maybe twenty minutes before we started shooting.

 

Again, there are recipes with enough cut fruit that one might as well be eating fruit salad. Pimms is a drink, it should be treated as one. Now a note about your mix choice. You will see recipes with lemonade, soda water, ginger ale etc. this is a personal choice. My only caution is please don’t use *diet sodas, they will ruin the taste. For me tonic fits the bill and I like Schweppes.

 

 

 

Our l’heure bleue would not be complete without some tasty nibbles. The display on the table is an English cheddar served of course, with Carrs water biscuits, cornichions to add the bitter, some fresh strawberries in my Wimbledon strawberry bowl, yes, bought at Wimbledon, and the most delicious cookies from a local friend, Samantha Jane Melton, who has started her own commercial baking business. I don’t know if she is shipping yet but those chocolate crumbles, and lemon delights are to die for, and I know my cookies. You can order on her web site, Samantha Jane's Treats, if you want to indulge or send a gift. I know I’ve eaten too many tonight.

 

Finally, here is the recipe and a hearty Cheers to you all:

 

Into a 14 oz glass

Put 5-6 ice cubes

Take a 4 Tablespoon measure (I use a shot glass)

Pour to the top a measure of gin or vodka and pour over the ice

Repeat with a measure of Pimms #1 Cup

Fill with Schweppes tonic water* see above

Add Garnishes, cucumber, lemon, lime, mint, strawberry half etc. to choice