A Mediterranean state of mind

Enlarge Image

c_

The Mediterranean countries really understand summer cooking.

Of course, they get more practice than we do, with their months of sun and their sea breezes and their long wooden trestle tables sheltered by shady trees. And they have some of summer's best ingredients close at hand -- fish right out of the water, tomatoes that smell like warm earth, mint and thyme growing wild on the hillsides.

Mediterranean summer dishes rely on fresh ingredients and uncomplicated preparation. A new cookbook, Summer Days & Balmy Nights: Simple Summer Food from Sun-Drenched Shores (Ryland Peters & Small, 176 pages, $32.95), concentrates on the cuisines of Spain, Italy, Greece and southern France.

Covering everything from starters to desserts to drinks, the book is divided into sections on grilling, picnic food, alfresco feasts, and grazing plates. There are recipes for intimate suppers and big crowds, for a day at the beach or an extended poolside cocktail hour. Summer Days & Balmy Nights combines straightforward recipes with rustically-styled visuals that suggest long, lazy afternoons and endless warm evenings near the sea.

Even if you're not on the Mediterranean, you can pretend to have a Italian villa or a French farmhouse just by making some olive-infused chicken with charred lemons, or a tomato and basil tart, or fresh figs with mascarpone and Vin Santo. If you can't get to the Med this summer, you can at least cook yourself into a Mediterranean state of mind.

I started with a cold soup that highlights the green, summery flavours of mint and peas, and a tomato salad that uses a variation on anchoïade, an anchovy-spiked Provencal condiment that can be spread on grilled bread slices or tossed with boiled new potatoes or used as a dip for raw vegetables.

Mediterranean desserts tend to be light and simple, often showing off seasonal fruit. Checking out what was good at the fruit market, I went with nectarines that are tossed with lime and liqueur to bring out their sunny sweetness.

Tomato salad with anchovy vinaigrette

Vinaigrette:

1 garlic clove

2 ml (1/2 tsp) Dijon mustard

30 ml (2 tbsp) white wine vinegar

6 anchovy fillets canned in oil (most of a small tin)

120 ml (8 tbsp) extra virgin olive oil

small handful fresh basil leaves

freshly ground pepper, to taste

750 g (about 1 1/2 lb) ripe tomatoes

1 large shallot, sliced thin

coarse sea salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste

fresh flat-leaf Italian parsley, chopped fine (to garnish)

To make vinaigrette, put garlic, mustard, vinegar and anchovies in a food processor and blend to a smooth puree. Add the oil, 15 ml (1 tbsp) at a time, and then blend in the basil. Season with pepper and set aside.

Cut the tomatoes into halves, quarters or eighths, depending on their size. Arrange on a serving plate and sprinkle with shallots and season lightly with salt and pepper. Spoon over dressing, sprinkle with parsley and serve at room temperature. Serves 4.

Tester's notes: A great summer salad. I made more of the vinaigrette the next day, just to have some on hand.

Minted pea soup with frazzled prosciutto

1 bunch green onions

15 ml (1 tbsp) olive oil

1 garlic clove, crushed

1 medium potato, peeled and diced

750 ml (3 cups) hot vegetable stock

300 g (3 1/2 cups) frozen petite peas

large handful of arugula, roughly chopped

15-20 ml (1 heaping tbsp) chopped fresh mint

sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

Garnish:

4 slices prosciutto

15 ml (1 tbsp) olive oil

crème fraiche or sour cream

pea shoots (optional)

Trim and slice the green onions. Heat the oil in a saucepan over medium heat, add the green onions and garlic and cook for a couple of minutes until softened but not coloured. Add the diced potato along with the hot stock. Bring to a boil and then simmer gently for about 20 minutes, or until potato is really tender. Add the peas, arugula and mint and cook for a further 3-5 minutes.

Put the mixture in a food processor (working in batches if necessary) and blend until smooth. Pass the soup through a fine sieve and season with salt and pepper. Cover and chill until ready to serve.

To serve, pour the chilled soup into 4-6 small glasses. Roughly tear the prosciutto into pieces. Heat oil in a small frying pan, add the prosciutto and cook until crisp (just a minute or two). Remove from heat and drain prosciutto on paper towels. Add a little sour cream, some prosciutto pieces and pea shoots to each glass. Serves 4-6.

Tester's notes: Maybe it's my food processor, but the blended soup was quite thick and the straining process took forever, with a lot of pushing down to get the liquid through. Still, I ended up with four shots that were a fabulously verdant shade of green.

This soup needs to be really well chilled, and it also needs the salt, pepper and frazzled prosciutto to offset the sweetness of the peas. (And frazzled prosciutto is my new favourite garnish, quicker and easier than bacon, with a salty, smoky flavour and crisp texture.)

Nectarines in sambuca and lime juice

8 ripe nectarines

45 ml (3 tbsp) superfine sugar (also called fruit or berry sugar)

30 ml (2 tbsp) sambuca

freshly squeezed juice of 1 lime (about 15-30 ml or 1-2 tbsp)

zest of 1 lime, finely grated (about 7 ml or 1 1/2 tsp)

lime wedges, to serve

Slice nectarines thinly and discard stones. Place in a bowl. Add the sugar, sambuca and lime juice. Cover and leave for 2 hours to macerate. When ready to serve, sprinkle with lime zest and serve with lime wedges. Serves 4.

Tester's notes: Sambuca is an Italian liqueur made from elderflowers and star anise. It developed an over-the-top reputation in the 1980s when restaurants started serving it with a flaming coffee bean, but its mild liquorice taste is actually quite subtle. Be careful when choosing the fruit: The nectarines should be ripe enough to have a lot of juicy flavour, but not too ripe, or they will be mushy and hard to cut.

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition July 4, 2012 C1