Summer Squash Pasta

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Linguini with Summer Squash
Creamy Lemon sauce

It’s that time of year when it’s just too hot to eat anything that isn’t just saturated with bright summer flavors. In LA right now it’s actually humid, which happens so rarely that my mom calls it “earthquake weather”. Zucchini, squash, and lemons are my best defense against the heat (besides air conditioning of course).

I’m proud to say that this is the first recipe I’ve done which isn’t based on something I learned from someone else, and the first time I’m publishing something I just followed my instinct with in the kitchen from start to finish. I’m more proud to say it was a great success! Summer provides a great variety of fresh and delicious ingredients, and I encourage everyone to just pick their favorite warm weather flavors and throw something together! Cooking this on the fly was one of the most fun and rewarding experiences I’ve had in quite some time.

Pair this with a crisp white, something like a Sauvignon Blanc that can stand up to the acidic lemons.

serves 2

Southern Style Shrimp

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Shrimp Étouffée
Creamy Rice with Tomatoes

To me, Cajun seasonings are one of the great universal mysteries. In the store you only seem to find them in rows of familiar and less familiar pre-packaged names, all touting some ambiguous “secret family recipe”, or spouting claims to be the “true taste of the old bayou.” Despite never having been to the South, making me particularly unqualified for such an investigation, I decided to do some digging on traditional Cajun flavors. Luckily for me (and my ever patient dinner guests), the trick to traditional Cajun flavors isn’t nearly as difficult as I imagined.

I started with what I knew, shrimp (shellfish are a perennial favorite in my house) and butter, and wound up with shrimp étouffée. In French, étouffée is the word for “to smother”, and the key to this dish is just that, absolutely suffocating the shrimp in a myriad of spices and (of course) lots of butter. I didn’t quite make a traditional version, so purists be warned. I couldn’t manage to get my hands on crawfish, and I added some freshly chopped tomatoes to my creamy rice, which could be called gumbo by the more orthodox of southern cooks. The recipe I based my version of this dish on is from Cuisine at Home, which, if I may say so again, gives a truly foolproof stock of ideas.

The dish is actually relatively easy, if demanding of constant attention, the shrimp and sauce won’t take you more than 45 min, and the rice should be about half an hour. The trick here is to stick to the basics, if you strip Cajun cooking bare of its mystique you are left with a few key ingredients: onions, bell peppers, and celery, added to a red roux flavored with garlic and chili powder.

This dish is spicy, so you won’t want to try it with a very acidic wine. Pair it with an off-dry white or a fruity red with a low alcohol content, or better yet, try it with an amber ale type beer (the lower alcohol content of beer will be a better mesh with the spicy seasoning). As it turns out, most seafood seasonings popular in southern cuisine today were developed in order to encourage bar patrons to order beer, as crabs were so plentiful most bars in places like Baltimore offered them as free snacks.

You can even make this dish ahead of time, simply freeze it in a Tupperware (or other freezer safe container) for up to a month.

serves 4

Perfect Mac and Cheese

Macaroni and cheese, such a classic that boxed varieties abound in every grocery store, each falling short of the perfect childhood memory of mom pulling a steaming dish of cheesy pasta goodness out of the oven. How can you recreate that perfect comforting goo in your own kitchen? Easily! Turns out, the perfect bowl of mac n cheese will only cost you about 30 min out of your day.

For a dish that caters to the taste of adults and kids, try to stay away from too-pungent cheeses, instead use a mixture of sharp cheddar for flavor and Monterey Jack for creaminess. To get a crunchy top, toss homemade bread crumbs with butter and bake for 5 min on high heat before serving.

serves 6-8 people