Animal, Vegetable, Miracle_ A Year of Food Life - Barbara Kingsolver [98]
The baguettes don’t take long to bake in the hot stone oven. After about fifteen minutes we take them out and cut them open. The smell is enough to make you give up on cooking a gourmet meal and just eat bread instead. We resist, however, slicing the whole loaves lengthwise and laying the baguettes open-faced on a pan. We stack them with grilled vegetables and cheese, starting with slices of mozzarella we made yesterday with the help of my little sister and our Italian grandmother. Next we pile on slices of nicely browned yellow squash, pattypan squash, green peppers, eggplants, and onions that I’ve just taken off the grill. The final layer is fresh tomatoes with basil. We stick the pans under the broiler for a few minutes, then sit down to enjoy our meal. I feel like I’ve been cooking all day, but it’s so worth it.
The soup is amazing after its rest in the fridge. It’s the perfect finish to a humid afternoon spent chopping vegetables or hovering over a hot grill. We savor every bite, and then bring out the vegetable-loaded baguettes. The broiler has melted the cheese just right, so everything melds together into one extraordinary flavor.
After we sit a while talking, it’s time for cherry sorbet. The dessert is almost too purple to be real, and an ideal combination of sweet and sour. Everyone finishes smiling. This has been one of the best meals of my life, not only because it was so delicious, but because all this food came from plants we watched growing from tiny seeds to jungles. We witnessed the moment in the mozzarella’s life that the milk turned into curds and whey. We saw the bread go from sandy-colored glop to crusty, golden gorgeous. We had a relationship with this meal.
Here are the recipes that went into our fabulous midsummer menu. I’ve also included two for secretly serving lots of zucchini. Another very easy way to cook squash is to slice it lengthwise, toss in a bowl with olive oil, salt, thyme, and oregano, and slap it on a hot grill alongside burgers or chicken. Whole green beans are also wonderful grilled this way (a grill basket will keep them from leaping into the flames). The squash cookie recipe has passed the ten-year-old test.
CUCUMBER YOGURT SOUP
8 small-medium cucumbers, peeled and chopped
3 cups water
3 cups plain yogurt
2 tablespoons dill
1 tablespoon bottled lemon juice (optional)
1 cup nasturtium leaves and petals (optional)
Combine ingredients in food processor until smooth, chill before serving. Garnish with nasturtium flowers.
GRILLED VEGETABLE PANINI
Summer squash (an assortment)
Eggplant
Onion
Peppers
Olive oil
Rosemary
Oregano
Thyme
Salt and pepper
Slice vegetables lengthwise into strips no thicker than ½ inch. Combine olive oil and spices (be generous with the herbs) and marinate vegetables, making sure all faces of the vegetable slices are covered. Then cook on grill until vegetables are partially blackened; you may want to use grill basket for onions and peppers.
2 loaves French bread (16 to 18 inches)
2 8-ounce balls mozzarella
3 large tomatoes
Basil leaves
Cut loaves of bread lengthwise. Arrange bread on baking sheets and layer with grilled vegetables first, slices of mozzarella next, and slices of tomato last. Drizzle with a little bit of olive oil and place the baking sheets under a broiler until cheese is melted. Garnish with leaves of fresh basil. Cut in pieces to serve.
CHERRY SORBET
2 heaping cups pitted cherries
¾ cup sugar (or honey to taste)
1/3 cup water
While one person pits the cherries, another can combine sugar and water in a saucepan over low heat. Stir until the sugar has dissolved completely (syrup will be clear at this point) and allow the mixture to cool. When cherries are pitted combine them with syrup in a blender. Blend on low until smooth, then refrigerate mixture until you are ready to pour it into an ice cream maker.
DISAPPEARING ZUCCHINI ORZO
¾-pound package orzo pasta (multicolored is fun)
Bring 6 cups water or chicken