Comforting Farewell

As I steal a glance outside the window, the atmosphere is grey and promises to rain; the thermometer is hesitant to nudge above a chilly forty degrees.  While the raindrops begin to pelt the window pain, friends upstate will have a different scenic view as they watch snowflakes tumble down like dice to coat the grounds yet again.  Such is the ushering in of spring here in the northeast.  Although spring began over a week ago and we certainly have been taunted with bright sunny days and temperatures which broke the rules as they climbed to seventy in March, we still have those days to remind us that winter does not want to go quietly into its good night.  Soon we will have plenty of opportunity for cold salads and lemonade and for firing up the barbecue grill.  For now, we should make the most of those last vestiges of chilling temperatures and seize these days to make just a few last meals of what we like to call comfort food.

Comfort food is very simply that: food which is comforting.  Comfort dishes are often cold weather fare, because to prepare them is comforting as the oven or the pot on the stove provides a warmth which permeates our home.  The aromas are also comforting as they are scents which make one feel like they have gone to best place on earth.  A perfect example for me is the smell of Italian foods and ingredients.  Whenever I walk into an Italian pork store, all the scents of roasting garlic and eggplant, simmering tomato sauce, broccoli rabe being sauteed, and the wafting fragrance of sausages and cheeses are all comforting to me; it is aromatherapy as its best.  I experience the same sensation at home when a lasagna is baking in the oven.  Comfort food also warms us through and through when we savor that first mouthful of bubbling macaroni and cheese that just made its trek from the oven to the table, bringing forth the sensation of being enveloped in a warming blanket.  Comfort food is also reminiscent as the lifelong favorite dish teleports us back to childhood, memories of coming home from school to the aromas of a homemade dinner being prepared by mom, our original provider of comfort, security and love.  Those cravings to prepare such dishes years later are merely a desire to return to those carefree days of experiencing the feelings that emerge when dining on fare which says 'I love you, I will comfort you, I will keep you warm and safe.'

Everyone's tastes vary, as do their ethnic backgrounds, and so comfort foods are diverse; the ultimate experience however is best achieved with homemade variations.  There is also something very satisfying, and comforting about trying to duplicate a dish that mom used to make, then tasting it and being instantly brought back in time as you conclude 'Oh, yeah, wow, that's it, that's exactly how I remember it!'  Because, as defined above, many of these dishes come from quite far back in our family trees, they are usually very basic fare that can often be taken for granted in these times of gourmet cooking as celebrity chefs tempt us with new and exotic ingredients.  Some of the most popular entrees to make the top ten list of favorite comfort foods include macaroni and cheese, lasagna, beef stew, meatloaf with mashed potatoes, roast chicken, chili, spaghetti with meatballs, chicken stews and hearty homemade soups.  Comfort food can also be a pick-me-up, something in the way of a treat.  Homemade apple pie, brownies and chocolate chip cookies fit that bill.  Again, basics which were made at home for generations.  While ingredients may be tweaked occasionally for some updated 'wow' factor, there are times when the familiarity of the basic original incarnation can still be the most comforting.

Sadly, not everyone has had the good fortune of growing up in a stable home with daily homemade dinners being served.  Don't worry, such individuals have found their comfort foods too.  Sometimes the foods which are most comforting to us might not stem from our youth, but have come about through our culinary journeys as we delve into cooking and fine dining.  Someone with an Italian background might discover Thai food or Indian food at some point in their life's timeline and fall in love with that.  Something about the scent and flavor of a coconut curry may become something that they just can't get enough of because it takes them to that comforting and happy place every time.  I have had a similar experience.  My mother was a fantastic cook and provided us with home cooked meals every evening, many of which were French delights which I fully enjoy and appreciate to this day.  French dining is among my top two favorites.  It is rivaled, however, only by Italian food, which I have always enjoyed but only savored occasionally at home.  There has always been something about the creamy, cheesy texture of a northern Italian pasta sauce that would draw me into the savoring process of consumption.  The sight and sound of a tray of lasagna being pulled from the oven, the melted cheese browning and the bright red sauce bubbling, wins me over every time.  Ironically, I hear that my mother prepares plenty of Italian dishes at home now.  Perhaps, as did I, she discovered her new comfort food.

So what are my personal favorites?  Classic Italian dishes, particularly heavy pasta entrees such as fettuccine alfredo, lasagna and pasta carbonara.  Eggplant parmigiana is also very high on my list, as is escarole and cannelini bean soup served over toasty garlic bread.  Possessing the sweet tooth that I have, I also find any good pastry or baked confection to be comforting and for that I am definitely all-inclusive as to the origin, whether it's an American gourmet cupcake with mounds of frosting on top, a French eclair or Napolean, a bubbling hot fruit pie or an Italian cannoli.

Winter is coming to an end, the warmer days are imminent.  Enjoy one final hurrah with your baking dish or big pot and cook up a meal of your favorite comfort food as you say farewell to the cold and the snow.  Enjoy your favorite today, treat your family to their favorites in the coming days, and be sure to pass those favorite recipes down to your children so they can always return to their comforting days for years to come, even if only for an occasional meal.

Sweets For Your Sweet

February brings to mind Valentine's Day.  Remember when we were kids?  Valentine's Day was mainly for cutting out crafty Valentine hearts, exchanging cards with your classmates and eating those pastel heart-shaped candies with the timely sayings stamped on them?  My Daddy always remembered to present his little girl with a heart-shaped box of chocolates.  The bakery windows would display their wares of heart-shaped cookies, cakes and other sweet confections.  Our parents would let us stay up to watch 'Be My Valentine, Charlie Brown'  on television.  All sounds fun and blissfully carefree, doesn't it?

While they may not air Charlie Brown holiday specials as much as they once did and many of us no longer have hours to wile away with the art supplies, and those pastel heart candies just don't taste very good to our grown-up palates as they once did, we can still have a lot of fun and eat very sweetly for Valentine's Day.  In lieu of cutting out pink and red paper hearts, turn to the kitchen and explore what sort of edible hearts you can cut out of cookie dough instead.

When Brian and I spent our first Valentine's Day together during our dating years, I remember making him a big pink heart-shaped sheet cake.  It was made from a strawberry cake mix, covered with store-bought strawberry frosting and trimmed with red icing piped around the edges.  I presented it on a big sheet pan, and surrounded the cake with heart-shaped cookies that I made using my grandfather's old cookie press.  It was quite the presentation, perhaps even a bit overwhelming.  I've come a long way since, having experienced the bravery required in the quest to discover that baking from scratch really isn't that daunting after all, especially when you have the right tools and the right ingredients.  With all of the big baking holidays falling during the cooler months, baking is a perfect indoor activity in which to escape from the cold winter outdoors.  It brings the family together, it warms the home, the holiday themes incite creativity in the cake and cookie decorating and the sweet enticing aromas emanate throughout the house.

Baking is an exact science.  Whereas in cooking one can simply throw in ingredients on a whim without measuring each and every one, baking is almost like a chemistry experiment: if you don't put the exact right amounts of each ingredient called for, the mixture will not come together the way you intended when baked.  That said, the first three important gadgets to have in your kitchen are at least two sets of measuring spoons, one for dry ingredients and one for liquid; a set of measuring cups as well as a graduated glass measuring cup, preferably a two-cup version.  The set of measuring cups are ideal for measuring dry ingredients such as flour and sugar, and the glass cup is perfect for liquids.  Also valuable in your kitchen, for baking and cooking alike, is a set of nesting glass mixing bowls.  That way you'll be able to measure out and keep separated your ingredients as you prepare everything to be heaped into the mixer, bringing me to the next point.  One of the most crucial additions that you can treat yourself to for your kitchen would be an electric stand mixer, preferably a Kitchenaid as they are powerful and durable.  This will make short work of mixing batters, whipping cream and kneading doughs, and allows you to multitask.    Start a collection of quality nonstick bake ware as well, including sheet pans, round cake pans, square cake pans, loaf pans, muffin pans and a bundt cake pan.  Williams-Sonoma carries a gorgeous heart-shaped bundt pan which I purchased a few years ago when I made Brian a chocolate-Chambord cake for Valentine's Day.

Also important to successful baking is the use of quality ingredients.  Use the best Madagascar bourbon vanilla and the best quality baking chocolates you can find, they are available in gourmet food shops.  Be sure any nuts used are fresh and crunchy, not stale and soft.  Even the way you handle ingredients can make a difference.  One tip is to sift the measured flour and sugar through a fine-mesh sieve into the mixing bowl, this helps to remove any little balls of flour which would otherwise not be evenly distributed throughout the batter.  Crack each egg, one at a time, in a separate bowl before adding it to the batter, to be sure that each egg has not spoiled.  Other baking success tips?  When making dough to be fed through a cookie press, use food coloring pastes instead of liquid food coloring as the liquid changes the texture of the dough and can inhibit the smooth extrusion and cutting process through the press.  For whipping cream, be sure to chill the bowl and the whisk in the refrigerator beforehand.  Conversely, for meringues, allow the eggs to sit at room temperature before placing them into the room-temperature bowl.  Once the cake or cookies are relegated into the oven, no peeking!  Each time the oven door is opened, even for a few seconds, the oven temperature drops enough to retard the baking process.

So what will you be baking this Valentine's Day?  The choices are infinite.  How about heart-shaped meringue shells, filled with strawberry ice cream and sprinkled with shavings of chocolate and sliced strawberries?  Heart-shaped linzer

Whether you choose to indulge in dinner out at your favorite Italian or French restaurant or dine in on a home-cooked romantic feast, make the evening special.  Enjoy your sweet confections by a cozy fireplace and put on some romantic jazz.  Alternatively, enjoy your chocolate fix as a movie treat as you pop a romantic comedy into the DVD player.   My personal favorites of the genre include 'When Harry Met Sally,' 'Moonstruck' and 'Father of the Bride.'  We may have grown up, but having found our true Valentine just makes the holiday that much more meaningful; now the luscious desserts and the entertainment are just the icing on the cake.  Now I'm off to prepare my shopping list of ingredients to create a batch of decadent red velvet cupcakes ... with truffles on the side!

Warm Up Your Kitchen

Happy New Year Everyone!

What a way to start the year off, with substantial snowfall amounts all over the United States. I heard a report on the news that only one of the fifty states does not have snow on the ground somewhere today. Here on Long Island we just got slammed with over a foot of snow, added on top of snow from the post-Christmas blizzard ... we're running out of places to put it!

As the piles of shoveled and plowed snow grow higher and higher and the wind continues to blow, with evening temperatures plummeting, I for one would rather not venture out. My husband Brian and I love to dine out, always looking for that new dining experience, but admittedly we tend to delve into this dining adventure more frequently in the warmer months. By the time you figure out how to dress warm and trendy at the same time, pull on the coat, the gloves, the scarf, you feel like a mummy and then the thought of stepping outside of your cozy warm abode ... it all seems like a lot of work! In the winter months, we turn to making the kitchen really work for us.

Traditionally, the kitchen was the heart of the home. In some of the oldest homes that you can tour, you'll see that the kitchen was the largest room. This was the gathering place for the household, as it was also the warmest room with its blazing fire used to heat the area, cook, dry laundry, etc. Since everything was made from scratch, the families would hang out together in this great room where conversations were spoken and culinary magic took place in big cast iron pots.

Let the winds blow, let the snow fall. Next time you perform your grocery shopping ritual, plan as if you are going to be snowbound for a week. Oh yes, many people already do this. Before every predicted snow storm the local news station dispatches a reporter to one of the supermarkets where mobs of people have converged to shop and stock up as though Armageddon is on the horizon. But what are they stocking up on, the reporter queries? Milk, sliced bread and toilet paper! I have to laugh. This is New York, the northeast, it's winter, do these people really not expect snow to happen? And when it threatens, are they really to the point that toilet paper of all things may become an endangered commodity? Who needs sitcoms, this is live comedy right here. Instead, stock up on items that will allow you and your family to come together in the kitchen and pitch in to create a warming atmosphere as you prepare a dinner of comfort fare worthy of enjoyment in even the most severe of winters.

You will want to stock up on ingredients for stews. There are infinite numbers of recipes for beef stews as well as chicken stews, from traditional beef stew and boeuf bourgignon to coq au vin and chicken cacciatore. Cat-cooks-chicken-cacciatore-in-her-cozy-kitchen ... go ahead, now you try, three times fast! In addition to the meats, be sure you have plenty of stocks, wine for cooking (and for drinking too, of course), canned tomatoes, beans, frozen pearl onions, peas, baby potatoes, carrots, onions, fresh herbs and any other vegetables you will need for your recipe. Have plenty of stocks, beans, pastas and spices for homemade soups. Soups, chilies and stews will simmer on the stove, some stews even cook in the oven as well, and this will warm up the kitchen as will the conversations with your family and friends who come for dinner. The aromas which emanate from the stove or oven will permeate the air, thus warming the nose as well. There are so many one-dish meals you can prepare, from just about every ethnicity on the globe: Mediterranean lamb shanks, Italian pork shanks, Moroccan chicken tajines, Cuban chicken with chorizo sausage, French bouillabaise, Spanish paella, Cajun gumbos and jambalayas, the list goes on indefinitely.

Some ways to heat the kitchen using the oven include baking a dish of lasagna or homemade macaroni and cheese; and roasting a whole chicken along with some potatoes and vegetables alongside. Any baked dessert will always be a welcome component of the menu; save the ice cream maker for August and focus for these next couple of months on homemade cookies, brownies and cakes.

If you happen to own a pasta machine and you know a blizzard is coming, stock up on ingredients to make your own pasta, homemade sauce, homemade garlic bread and a tasty salad. The when the flakes start tumbling, gather the family into the kitchen and start delegating. One person makes the pasta, another makes the sauce, etc. Everyone will be rewarded by the role they played in the preparation of this meal that just may top that of your local favorite Italian restaurant, and no one had to brave the icy chills to savor it.

How about inviting a few friends for an evening of fun in the warmth of your kitchen? A pizza party is a great way for a group of people to have fun cooking together. Have a variety of toppings available, from the traditional to the 'Oh, wow, I never thought of that, yeah, that would work!' and enough balls of pizza dough to go around. Each person gets to create their own pie. If you want to introduce a little friendly competition, pick up a bottle of wine to send home with the winner of the best combination of toppings. All you need to make with this meal is a big salad and dessert. Try making some chocolate fondue and put out a platter of tidbits to dip, like fruits, shortbread cookies, pound cake, etc. Even pretzels work, there is something satiating about the combination of sweet with salty. A couple of my favorite fondues include dark chocolate with orange liquor and white chocolate with raspberry liquor. Fondues are warming desserts that can be enjoyed by a group while everyone sits around the pot, basking in the warm glow from the flame beneath it.

It may be frigid and dark outside, but it can be warm and cozy in your own kitchen. If you feel like treating yourself to something next time you browse the shelves of Williams-Sonoma or some other cooking shop near you, pick up a brightly colored large Le Creuset dutch oven. It will become your best friend every winter for the rest of your life. Another tip, don't forget to play with your food. Experiment! Traditionally stews were made from whatever happened to be on hand. Don't be afraid to deviate from a recipe. If you happen to have an extra fennel bulb sitting in your crisper that's about to be forgotten and eventually relegated to the garbage can, go ahead and chop it up and throw it into the chicken stew, why not? The favorite all-American winter comfort food is macaroni and cheese. Leave the blue box with the packet of day-glo orange stuff on the store shelf; make it yourself and you can add any cheeses you want. Use four cheeses if you want to; again, why not? This is your kitchen, not the restaurant; you are the chef tonight and you get to add whatever your creativity cooks up. Add other surprises to your mac and cheese too, like mushrooms and truffle butter or shrimp or lobster meat, for a more substantial entree. Last tip for some winter cooking, if you have accumulated some extra vegetables that you didn't need after all, say an eggplant, a zucchini and a pepper, simply cut them all up along with a couple of other vegetables you might find, roast them. Then blend them with some stock for a quick roasted vegetable soup that can be reheated and enjoyed any time.

So let it snow, just pour a glass of wine and make the executive decision to stay in and make the kitchen work for you to warm your home and your palate as you conjure up some comfort food at its absolute best. My pantry is well stocked. Another blizzard next week? Bring it on!

Herbs and Spice Make Everything Nice

'Kick it up a notch!' Emeril demands. 'Turn up the volume,' Ina counters. The music lover in me will take a sampling from the pot and declare "We need to crank this up louder." More salt. More thyme. More sage. More chili powder. We tweak, we taste, we tweak some more; until we find just the right balance of flavor that we're envisioning for our culinary masterpiece. Most typically, the tweaking comes from salt, pepper, and two groups of flavor boosters: the herbs and the spices (sounds like gang warfare, doesn't it?). Wait a minute, you say! I thought herbs and spices were one group ... they're both on my "spice" rack!

Herbs and spices are not the same thing. Repeat after me: herbs are herbs, spices are spices, herbs are not spices, spices are not herbs. Repeat again. Got it? Got it but don't get it? Okay, start by staring at those jars on your spice rack. Those whose contents are green in color are herbs. Herbs, by definition, are the leaves only from plants. Herbs include, but are not exclusive to, basil, oregano, parsley, sage, thyme, rosemary, mint, chives, tarragon, bay leaves and marjoram. Herbs are used in flavoring food as well as beverages. Herbs are also used in holistic medical treatments. Certain herbs are also appreciated by many for their mental uplifting capabilities ... think catnip in your kitty's mice and of the human's variation of such, you get the idea.

Another visual inspection of your spice rack will reveal jars containing substances in all sorts of autumnal hues. Those are your spices. Spices are not leaves, we have just established that herbs are leaves. Spices are obtained from just about any other part of the plant: bark, seeds, roots, stems, fruits, etc. There is a whole world of spices out there, some of the more commonly used ones include cinnamon, paprika, nutmeg, cloves, chili powder, cayenne pepper, coriander, ginger and saffron. Spices have also been used for centuries in perfumes, medicinal treatments, religious and funeral ceremonies. Spices were long ago considered rich commodities that were extremely sought after, to the point where expeditions which lead to the discovery of the new world were prompted by the need to expand the spice trade routes.

Now I want you to look at your spice rack some more. Ponder the idea of why such a storage unit is called a "spice" rack, and then ponder just how long yours has held some of those jars of herbs. The point I am trying to convey should come to you: fresher is better! It's time to clean house, consider this part of your fall cleanup this year: remove and discard those dried herbs. Their shelf life is so short, their color fades and with it the flavor, they are not worth the money spent or the space taken on your rack. When herbs have just been dried, their flavor is more concentrated that their fresh origins, and so one teaspoon of dried herbs is equivalent to one tablespoon of fresh. However, the potency is very short-lived. You have no inkling how long that jar of parsley was sitting on the supermarket shelf before it came home with you. Your best and most rewarding option is to grow your own herbs. Herbs aren't fussy, they are nearly foolproof to grow. All you need is a sunny windowsill, preferably in the kitchen but beggars can't be choosy, and a set of pots. If you commence this project in the spring, garden centers have seedlings (tiny baby plants sold in cell packs) which you can transplant into your pots. Once the herb plants are established, you'll always have access to fresh herbs right at your fingertips. Supermarkets also sell fresh herbs in their produce department. I would recommend planting those three to five which you use most often and buy the rest as you need them for recipes. You will see and taste such a difference once you abandon the dried herbs and go fresh.

Spices are a little more difficult to come by when it comes to growing and harvesting, given that it takes a little more effort to harvest some of them as opposed to simply plucking leaves. For instance, next time you feel like making a saffron cream sauce do you really feel up to removing the stamens from a backyard-full of crocus flowers? Hey, if you plant a few nutmeg trees, you'll get two-for-one on the spices: both the nutmeg seed itself comes from the center of the nutmeg tree's fruit, and the membrane surrounding that seed is dried and ground into another spice called mace. A more realistic option might be to purchase the spices rather than try to produce your own. Most spices sold commercially are in the ground form, facilitating the ease of grabbing off the shelf, measuring and thereby quickly executing your cooking project. One can, however, find some spices in their whole form. Obviously those need to be processed by you, traditionally with the use of a mortar and pestle if you feel that your forearm needs a good workout or, the modern-preferred method, through use of an extra coffee bean grinder which you would purchase and use only for pulverizing whole spices.

There are many available jars of 'blends' available. One is the Herbs de Provence, which is a blend of basil, rosemary, sage, thyme, marjoram, summer savory and lavender. I don't use this often enough to justify planting lavender in my kitchen and it is not something you will find in the produce section at the market. This is the one exception of purchased jarred herbs I will buy. Italian seasoning is another mostly-herbal blend. Some spice blends include garam masala, a delicious and aromatic addition to Indian cooking, which blends up to twelve different spices. Jerk seasoning is a Caribbean blend used to season some heat into grilled meats. Curry powder is another Indian blend of up to twenty different spices.

Oh, so now your spice rack looks a little meager, does it? Full of gaps now that you've eradicated the dried herbs? It will look much better when you go ahead and fill in the gaps with some more spices. There are so many ethnicities of cuisine out there, each one reaping the enhancement benefits of its own combination of herbs and spices. Think about which ones you enjoy cooking and feasting upon the most. If you crave Mexican food, there are several different chili powders you should keep on hand, including chipotle and ancho. You will also want cumin as part of the southwestern repertoire. If Indian food is your specialty, be sure that you have coriander, garam masala, cardamom, curry powder and turmeric. As far as herbs go, you will want cilantro for both. If you love the Mediterranean flavors of Italy, France, Spain and Morocco, you should grow some basil, oregano and parsley and pick up jars of saffron and crushed red pepper flakes (and a vast supply of garlic cloves is a must as well!). Bakers should be sure to keep cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg and ground ginger.

Both herbs and spices are used together to enhance meats, seafood, poultry, vegetables, starches, desserts and beverages. Roasting some red and yellow onions which have been cut into wedges and seasoned simply with salt and pepper and drizzled with olive oil are a pretty good side to a chicken entree or a steak. Now add some fresh rosemary, thyme and parsley, along with a drizzle of good balsamic vinegar to the original dish and you have something much nicer. A serving bowl of pasta in a delicate cream sauce looks delicious. Sprinkle some freshly chopped parsley over it and the visual appeal is heightened. Baked chicken drums with salt and pepper? Boring!! Make it more appetizing by mixing up a few spices with a little olive oil and some orange juice and you have something more exciting happening in your oven. You can even make an omelet have more dimension by beating some chopped fresh herbs into the eggs.

It's all about making the food sing and making at least one dish of every meal be the star at the table. If you pick the meat entree to liven up, have fun with it, tweak to your palate's content and plate a knock-your-socks-off platter that you'll be so proud of. Then you can take things a little simpler with the rest of the meal if time or motivation is limited. By keeping the right variety of spices and herbs on hand to get your creative juices flowing, you'll season up a great meal every time that will keep diners coming back for more.

Last Calls to the Grill!

July on Long Island proved to be a scorcher, second hottest on record they say. So far August has mellowed just a bit as summer prepares to make a graceful exit. Soon the kids are back in school, then before we know it the holiday mayhem presents. Let's not get ahead of ourselves, you cry, we still have a month of those lazy days of summer to go! So how are you going to spend those days of summer bliss? What are YOU going to be eating?

The farm stands are now at their peak for fresh produce, and the colorful fruits of summer beckon us to devour our fill now while we still can, before the oh-too-short lived season of peaches, cherries and berries gives way to apples, oranges and pears for eight months! Now that the days are less stifling, it's a perfect time to bake some summer fruit pies, tarts and crumbles. This week I'm making a luscious summer berry pie which includes blueberries, blackberries and raspberries in the filling. I recently saw a recipe in a cooking magazine for a peach ice cream pie in an amaretti crust, only need to fire up the oven long enough for the crust on that one. Tarts are simple and can be topped with a combination of fruits, such as sliced plums and nectarines. The least amount of prep time in your kitchen is the fruit crumble, another dessert that can be made with any combination of fruits that you like. Personally, when I'm spending a day at the beach or on a picnic, there's nothing like a big, ripe, juicy farm fresh peach. Simple, summer, sweet. Fruit salads are also refreshing ends to a meal, whether you mix as many varieties of berries as you can in one bowl, or combine various bright colors of peaches, strawberries, green grapes or kiwi, golden pineapple, plums and oranges it's all delicious. Make it special by whipping up some heavy cream with mascarpone cheese and a little sugar and vanilla to serve as a topping. Then there is always that favorite classic summer basic: the cool crispness of a moist and juicy watermelon. Try picking up melons of varying colors, such as red watermelon, green honeydew and orange cantaloupe. Attack all three with the melon baller and the finished product will be a trio of sorbet colored melon. Spike it up with a light drizzle of good vodka and allow to sit in the fridge until dessert.

Many of us are spending the final summer month huddled around the grill. Although barbecues can certainly be enjoyed into October, with drinks around the patio fireplace to keep warm, summer fare on the grill is one of those special pleasures unique to the season, like that of days spent on the beach. There are countless recipes for grilling these days. The beginning of the barbecue season has everybody craving those original classics like burgers. Spruce up your burgers, be creative with toppings. Anything goes. I love burgers topped with things like bacon, mushrooms, melted blue cheese - yes, all on one! While ribs are always a winner, few meats are shunned from the grill. Chicken, pork chops, pork tenderloin, steaks, fish and seafood, lamb, sausages, etc. In one week I made a cumin-rubbed pork tenderloin topped with peach salsa, tequila-lime chicken, and shrimp and scallop kebabs. There are enough recipes in books, magazines and online for homemade barbecue sauces, rubs and marinades for every day of the year never mind just the summer months. There is no excuse to buy bottled products that are over salted and over processed. There's a reason these products have long shelf lives, and you do not want to know those reasons. Let them live out their lives on the store shelf and instead whip up your own. You'll notice a difference right away when you taste it, believe me.

By now everybody is getting sick of the basic classic barbecue sides. How much cole slaw can you eat? A fair amount, actually, if you break out of the mayonnaise-based dressing mold. You can make a southwestern slaw by adding some cumin, scallions, jalapenos and a very basic southwestern vinaigrette. There are bags of precut vegetables for making an Asian slaw, I usually add to that peanuts, red peppers, scallions, bean sprouts and an Asian dressing and it's spectacular with any Asian grilled meats like pork chops with hoisin. The possibilities of what to add to a mound of shredded cabbage to make it exciting are endless. Likewise, potato salad doesn't have to always mean potatoes-eggs-onions-celery-mayo dressing. Change things up. Make an aioli for the dressing (a very garlicky mayonnaise to which I like to add a little saffron to as well) and toss some red potatoes with that and add some peas and chives. Easy, elegant and different. Make a vinaigrette to use instead of a mayonnaise-based dressing, then stir in some crumbled blue cheese and bacon with the potatoes. Or some green beans, red onion, yellow peppers and chopped tomatoes. Pasta salads can have more wow factor by using pesto instead of mayonnaise-based dressing and adding other Italian ingredients like sun-dried tomatoes and cubes of fresh mozzarella. Other nice salads for summer barbecues include layering some sliced heirloom tomatoes of different sizes and colors, drizzle with a vinaigrette and then sprinkling with blue cheese, chopped red onion and sliced celery. Thinly sliced fennel would be a fine change of pace from the blue cheese, onion and celery. Or instead of the vinaigrette for the heirloom tomatoes, make a homemade blue cheese dressing. I made a nice salad last weekend out of steamed-then-cooled green beans and yellow beans, halved grape tomatoes and a vinaigrette. You can roast a combination of summer produce, such as eggplant, zucchini, tomatoes, onion, peppers and garlic, then toss with a balsamic vinaigrette and chill.

You can also get your veggies in by grilling them. Just about any vegetable can be grilled, and the farm stands are exploding in gorgeous specimens of summer vegetables. Sliced eggplants, zucchini, yellow squash, and halved patty pan squash. Corn on the cob needs little prep work, just whip up a seasoned butter and you're all set. Skewered large cherry tomatoes simply brushed with olive oil, salt and pepper are a quick and easy side to throw together. Steak-fry- cut wedges of sweet potatoes are great accompaniment for steaks or pork chops. Best thing to do: visit your local farm stand or farmers' market and browse. When you see something that calls out to you, take advantage and then plan the meal with that.

Getting tired of the same old baked beans? Toss together a salad with beans as an alternative. Black bean salad with chopped tomatoes, jicama, corn and scallions with a chili vinaigrette is perfect for any Mexican fare. Southern cooking screams for a salad of black-eye pea and corn salad with chopped bell peppers. Go Mediterranean with a salad of couscous, chick peas, scallions, kalamata olives and a balsamic vinaigrette. Two American classics include succotash salad which consists of corn, lima beans and bell peppers and can be made with either a creamy dressing or a vinaigrette, and the three bean salad which contains green beans, chick peas and red kidney beans in the mix.

Remember, ladies, the grill isn't just man's territory anymore, girls can grill! Next time your man is due to arrive home later than you, show him up one by having him walk into the backyard where you pull a perfectly seared steak, brushed with your own barbecue sauce, right off the grill and into his awaiting plate. Then set the plate down on the table which is complete with an heirloom tomato salad platter and a three bean salad. He won't know what hit him. Then again, once you demonstrate your skill with the grill, this welcome home may be an expected regular occurrence! Maybe you'd better just stick to teamwork on grill nights. Either way, ladies and gentlemen, choose your spatulas (or tongs, or forks), grab your cold drinks and get fired up. You've got some time left to grill it up hot.

Let's All Scream for Ice Cream!

Fourth of July is upon us, kids are out of school, it's still daylight at 7:30, meaning more outdoor fun time after dinner. Summer is officially here at last. Summer evokes visions of backyard barbecues, lounging in a pool, days spent at the beach, gardening, and yes, ice cream. As the heat and humidity rises, the last thing we feel like doing is cranking up the oven to bake a dessert. We'll welcome that moment come fall when apples are picked and we yearn for those first warming cinnamon and apple pie scents to waft through the house. For now, we'll just settle for that summer dessert favorite loved by all worldwide: ice cream. The cooling smoothness that permeates the palate is refreshing and comforting on a blistering hot day.

We all remember those summer nights of our youth playing outdoors after dinner with our neighborhood friends. As soon as we heard the distant jingling of the ice cream truck, we would all flock home at warp speed to transform into instant little beggars, insisting to our parents that we just had to have ice cream, PLEASE can we have some money, oh hurry, hurry, quick, he's coming! And then we would all go tearing back down the street after the truck like a pack of starved dogs. It is amazing what immature palates are willing to devour. I tried one of these ice cream truck treats once as an adult and found it to be just a notch above inedible. While chasing down the ice cream truck is probably still a childhood delight, perhaps the only source of physical activity they get all summer these days apart from the thumb-flexing drills of the video game marathons, there are much more rewarding frosty desserts for grownups, and for the kids too.

Next Friday or Saturday night after dinner, before the taunting ice cream truck makes its rounds, announce to the family that you're going out for ice cream. No kid will turn that down, and if you find a high quality ice cream parlour in your area, the ice cream will be infinitely better. I'm not talking about the big corporate chains, I'm talking about the little individual shops which sell premium ice cream and usually offer a wider array of flavors, toppings, cones, etc. I have been to two excellent ice cream shops locally, one is called McNutty's in Miller Place and the other is Hollywood Sweets in Ridge. For anyone visiting the Mystic area of Connecticut, there is a wonderful shop called Drawbridge Ice Cream. Make these family ice-cream night outings on a once-weekly basis throughout the summer vacation. Invite one or two of your child's friends to tag along on some of these pilgrimages. Eating ice cream is one of the summertime highlights that everyone young and old looks forward to.

Another fun way to enjoy your ice cream fix is to invest in an ice cream machine. Most machines are electric and create ice cream in your home simply by agitating the ingredients in a frozen canister. Make a couple of batches each week and you'll have ice cream all summer. The most basic vanilla ice cream contains very few ingredients with which we are all familiar: milk, cream, sugar and vanilla extract. Moving up one notch would be the addition of a stir-in, such as nuts, chocolate chips, peanut butter, chopped candy bars, finely chopped berries or peaches, etc. A few tweaks and you can easily create any flavor you fancy. You can change from vanilla extract to mint extract and add some chocolate chips, for example. More elaborate flavors will involve steps such as slow cooking eggs, melting chocolate, making caramel, etc. You can even add flavorful liqueurs, such as Chambord or Creme de Menthe or Frangelico. I would recommend purchasing an ice cream recipe book at the time you acquire your ice cream machine, then you'll have plenty of ideas to keep you and even the kids busy all summer long. Mixing the ingredients usually does not take up much time, less than half an hour, and then the ingredients are typically poured into the ice cream machine and then processed while you walk away and catch up on folding some laundry or whatever task you've been putting off. In less than an hour, you have ice cream all ready to put into the freezer for future indulgence. You'll be able to revel in seasonal delights, such as pumpkin pie ice cream in the fall and peppermint stick and eggnog ice creams at Christmastime.

When having a barbecue or any social gathering where you don't feel like putting a lot of effort into dessert after creating a colossal meal, let your guests of all ages do the work. Set up an ice cream sundae bar. Have two or three flavors of ice cream to pick from, a chilled bowl of freshly whipped cream, a couple of sauces and a few bowls of various toppings. Everyone will feel right at home, each person creating their own idea of the perfect sundae. Adults will feel like kids again, kids will feel all grown-up as they put their creative culinary ideas in motion. This does get messy, so it's a great idea for outdoor fun and after-party clean-up will be a lot easier.

Ice cream sauces can really make the dessert. A simple bowl of premium quality vanilla ice cream or gelato can be very elegant when drizzled with fresh-brewed espresso. Another way to enjoy vanilla ice cream is to pour melted Nutella, a chocolate and hazelnut spread, over the top. I also prefer to make my own sauces rather than buy commercial jars filled with a lot of artificial ingredients. Chocolate, or hot fudge, sauce is so simple to make, and you'll feel better about it knowing that you can actually obtain, and pronounce, all of the necessary ingredients. I recently made a basic vanilla ice cream, with a stir-in of chopped Lindor white chocolate truffles. Then I made a triple raspberry sauce to pour over. It was divine, the flavors of white chocolate and raspberry are always a perfect marriage. The sauce took only four ingredients: sugar, raspberry preserves from the local farm stand, a pint of fresh raspberries, and Chambord (a raspberry liqueur).

In making something that most kids love, ice cream is a great way to get them involved in the kitchen. The reward will be them seeing how good food is really made, eating better quality treats and thus graduating them away from the lower quality artificial wares peddled by the ice cream truck. The reward for us grownups is pure indulgence after a barbecue or at the close of a day at the beach. While we need to savor healthful summer fruits like peaches, plums, melons, cherries, apricots and berries on a regular basis, a once a week treat of supreme quality is something we all deserve and should take the time to enjoy. In these hazy hot days we're having, ice cream definitely fits the bill. Make mine vanilla ... with chopped Bacci chocolates ... and chocolate-hazelnut sauce ... or raspberry sauce ... or, no, wait ... oh, better just make mine chocolate instead!