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SUMMER SUPPER IN A HURRY

For a perfect summer meal prepared in a rush, open 1 or 2 cans of fine sardines, a can of solid-pack tuna, and perhaps a can of crabmeat or the frozen lobster meat that comes in cans. Arrange these delicacies on a large platter with hard-cooked eggs, wedges of tomato, and plenty of sweet onions sliced to transparent thinness. Accompany this with a bowl of mayonnaise, some good pumpernickel bread, and sweet butter. Serve chilled white wine or beer.

This same dish may be served to a large group as a first course at dinner if you plan to follow it with a rather light meat course.

SARDINE SALAD

Arrange a bed of greens and make a sunburst of sardines in the center. Garnish with halved hard-cooked eggs, onion rings, pimiento strips, and capers. Serve with a bowl of mayonnaise.

For 2 servings, use 1 large can of sardines, 4 eggs, and 1 onion.

For 6 servings, use 3 cans of sardines, 12 eggs, and 2 large onions.

NORWEGIAN SARDINE APPETIZER

2 pounds cream cheese

1/3 cup lemon juice

3 to 4 cans sardines, mashed well

Salt

Freshly ground black pepper

Paprika

Onion juice

This is strictly a spread and a wonderful one.

Mash the cream cheese well with a fork. Beat in the lemon juice, bit by bit, and then beat in the sardines. Season with salt, pepper, and paprika, and blend the mixture thoroughly. (If you are going to eat it all during one sitting, add a little onion juice; if you plan to keep some, omit the onion to avoid a stale taste.)

Spoon the mixture into a well-oiled mold and chill thoroughly. Unmold on a large plate and surround with pumpernickel fingers and crackers. Let people do their own spreading.

This is a favorite dish of mine for parties. I vary the seasonings, but the basic flavors must be sardine and lemon.

Sculpin

This is a bony fish with a large meaty head. Although it is common in Atlantic waters, it does not seem to be well known in the eastern area of the country. On the Pacific Coast, however, some sculpin is sold commercially in California markets, usually whole. I am sure that if you try it you will find it an excellent food fish.

Sea Bass

This popular game fish is a member of a large family of fishes that includes the groupers and the jewfish. Varieties are caught on both coasts, and the Atlantic sea bass is commercially important in the Middle Atlantic region.

The sea bass usually sold in Eastern markets lurk around sunken ships and pilings just offshore, a habit that makes trawl-fishing difficult. As a result, some of the commercial catch is taken in fishpots.

Market sizes range from about 1/2 pound to 5 pounds, and the fish is sometimes cut into steaks or fillets. Cooked and on the table, sea bass clearly resembles its relatives. It can be prepared in any of the ways suggested for striped bass.

(See also California black sea bass.)

SEA BASS ITALIAN

Butter

2/3 cup each of finely cut onion, carrot, celery

Several sprigs of parsley

Spring of thyme

1 bay leaf

2 cloves garlic

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

11/2 cups red wine

1/2 cup water 1 whole sea bass

3 tablespoons butter

3 tablespoons flour

Juice of I lemon

Butter a good-sized saucepan or Dutch oven. Add all the vegetables and herbs, salt, pepper, wine, and water. Bring it to a boil. Place the cleaned fish on the bed of vegetables, cover the pan, and simmer according to the Canadian cooking theory for braising (page 17).

While the fish is cooking, melt the butter in a pan and blend in the flour. Remove the fish to a hot platter, strain the bouillon, and add it gradually to the mixed butter and flour. Stir until thickened. Taste for seasoning, add the juice of a lemon, and serve with the fish. Baked rice and asparagus are good with this dish. Also a bottle of rosé wine.

SAUTÉED SEA BASS

Small sea bass are delicious when sautéed and served with a tartar sauce (pages 35–36) or a rémoulade (page 35). I shall always remember a hot summer day when we sat down to a platter heaped with them — they had been caught that