We're deep into summer and cooking couldn't be simpler. In fact, one could barely call it cooking! It's more like arranging and dribbling and scattering. A platter of ripe garden tomatoes needs only a bit of fresh pepper and some flaky sea salt, salad greens are barely kissed by a glug of olive oil and a sprinkle of vinegar, a bowl of thinly sliced cucumbers calls for the lightest drizzle of buttermilk and a few pinches of fresh dill and maybe, if you're feeling frisky, thin slivers of red pepper (sweet or hot, your choice.)
Sometimes I find that a recipe comes between me and my ingredients, that the recipe is in charge and I'm just taking orders. It's almost like I have to give the recipe a certain amount of responsibility and credit for the dish (and, to be honest, the blame if it doesn't turn out.)
But summer cooking, with its fresh and howling-ripe bounty, is more about responding and less about following directions. There's an almost naked, sun-born immediacy that I find very enjoyable -- just the barest whisper of embellishment is all that's need to complete a dish. I'm not turning a handful of things into something, I'm more trying to get out of their way to let them become something. Something delicious.
It's not always easy to keep it this simple. It takes a certain amount of courage, and a measure of confidence and restraint, to let that platter of tomatoes shine on their own. Kind of like a room that's kept spare and simple -- every ingredient, every placement is a decision that reveals the heart and mind of the maker. Nothing extra to distract or distance.
And of course it's ultimately about trust. Trust in the tomatoes, trust in your own senses and abilities, and trust that people will see and taste this and respond accordingly. And they do! They take one bite of that absolutely ripe tomato, sliced up and brilliant and fully in its season, and the taste of summer rushes forward and shines in their mouth. Just a summer tomato, bold and bare, dressed only in its ripeness and a pinch of salt. Have you ever met someone who didn't smile at that?
Related: Weekend Meditation: Summer is for Ripening
(Image: Dana Velden)
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It also helps that the heat makes you want to eat raw veggies and never even thing of turning on the stove, much less the oven. *wink* My new favorite thing is Andrea Reusing's salt-cured tomatoes. Which is basically you just take ripe tomato slices, salt them liberally with kosher salt, and let them stand for about 20-30 minutes at room temp to get the juices out and to allow the salt to soak in.
They are divine on open-faced sandwiches, or with cream cheese and pita.
Salt-cured cucumbers aren't half bad either...
The thing for me is something more akin to letting something be itself. Fresh vine ripened tomato don't always need much extra. You get to taste the ingredients, not the something extra. I love a good sauce, a good recipe, a good combo, but when things are at the peek, I just want the thing itself.
In the previous comment, I did my best to post a beautiful tomato picture that I got from wikipedia as my morning gift to your eyes.
It didn't work...and so it looks like we'll simply have to look at tomato in real time...not a bad idea!... slicing a tomato, seeing the beauty inherent in the nature of tomato-e-ness, and then of course the beauty of tasting...ummmm.
What a wonderful post. thank you :)
I firmly believe that simplest is most always best. Not only flavor-wise, but also in terms of being seasonal, cost-effective, and environmentally sound.