Thursday, June 2, 2011

Supper Time In The Summer


Ah. What a fine dinner. And after seven repeats of the curried vegetables, a welcome change although I have to admit that I enjoyed the seventh meal out of them a great deal at lunch today.

This year I planted a vegetable I'd never planted before. Kathleen turned me onto them. Yard long beans. Also known as Asparagus beans. They are really and truly long. I didn't let mine get to the length of thirty-six inches for tonight's supper, but they were impressive.

I cut off the ends and snapped them into small pieces and cut the corn off of a cob. I cut up onions and garlic and sauteed them in some olive oil and added the beans and corn and a palm-full of pine nuts.

Then I sprinkled crushed red pepper over it and let it all sort of caramelize and cook for a bit.

Earlier, I had made up some foccacia bread dough. I made it with whole wheat and white flours and also chopped black olives and rosemary. It looked like this when it had risen on the baking stone and I'd poked holes in it with a wooden spoon handle:

I had some lovely tomatoes from the garden and I dipped them in a pot of boiling water for a few seconds and then peeled them so that they looked like this with the basil I'd brought in from the kitchen garden:

Ain't that pretty?

I baked the bread, used the tomato-peeling water to boil the whole wheat spaghetti in and chopped the tomatoes and added those to the big skillet of onions, garlic, corn, and Yard-long beans with a tiny spoon of sugar and some balsamic vinegar and salt. I let it simmer for awhile

and when the pasta was done and drained, I added that and some chopped basil and fresh oregano and mixed it all together in a big bowl.

I cut up two cucumbers with some cherry tomatoes and mixed those in with a little bit of Tzatziki sauce and also a bit of balsamic vinegar. It's hard to find anything that balsamic vinegar doesn't improve upon.

Man. That was a good supper. I think Mr. Moon enjoyed it quite a bit. He volunteered to wash the dishes. I let him. I took this picture while he was holding up his hands in surrender to me taking his picture. He's listening to Keith on the iPod.

So yes. Summer is all about heat and sweating and wilting and submitting but it's also about fresh tomatoes and basil and Yard-long beans and cucumbers and onions and so forth.

It's a trade-off and for right now, I'm willing to take it.

Love...Ms. Moon

20 comments:

  1. Oh Mary, that's so funny I was just clicking on your blog when your message came through, you must be psychic. We both blogged about food. Yours looks amazing by the way! The sweetcorn and asparagus beans... Well I made what I would eat with wholewheat spaghetti normally so we on the same lines as usual.

    I'm so glad Mr Moon is home.

    I love you xx

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  2. Looks delish. I have all those ingredients on hand, but I'm crap at figuring out what spices, etc (balsamic vinegar?) to be able to put it together to taste good.

    But i DID make your enchiliadas again yesterday. Yum.

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  3. My god, that looks good. And a whole lot better than the Trader Joe's Pad Thai that I heated up in the microwave for Sophie and me tonight.

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  4. Looks wonderful. So much better than my take-out pizza tonight. Happy to see Mr. Moon home.

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  5. This 'bout makes me want to cry for homesickness, even though no one in any home I've ever lived in has ever used those particular ingredients to make anything close to so lovely and delicious-looking.

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  6. Baa haa haa! Some of the best meals I have ever had were at Chez Moon. And later when I asked her for recipes she would use vague words like "simmer awhile", "throw in some garden fresh veggies", "make bread".

    To this day I can't do any of those things with the aplomb that Ms. Moon can. But occasionally I drag out the cast iron skillet that she gave me and I try.

    Asparagus beans???? Really????

    I miss you.

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  7. Being single and living in a Hamlet I do all my own cooking and I cook meals like you do. A little of this and some of that, lots of hot peppers and garlic and ginger and turmeric and stuff. Usually all thrown together in one big bowl.

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  8. ha..you know how i love cooking...and what you just made looks sooo damn good...just looking at teh sauce..or at the bread dough...yum!!!!

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  9. I am sitting in the emergency room and am hungry looking at your spaghetti. My MIL was taken in around 3 AM. The parents in law are having a rough time lately.

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  10. I love Tzatziki sauce.

    Mr. Moon is a sweetie to do the dishes.

    Love y'all so.

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  11. Yes, summer is about heat, and cooling dinners using fresh veggies from the garden and having that man home inspiring you to cook creative meals. It all looks lovely. x0 N2

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  12. Christina- That WAS funny! And your supper looked gorgeous!

    SJ- It was very, very good and the leftovers will be better. A good rule of thumb is: balsamic vinegar just makes everything better.

    Terena- You are so welcome!

    A- Oh. It was pretty close, at least.

    Elizabeth- I don't know. I do love pad thai.

    Mel's Way- No such thing as a bad pizza. I swear.

    x-ray iris- Well, there's southern cooking and then there's southern cooking. I can do both kinds. Hee-hee.

    Omgrrrl- You are a great cook! So there! I miss you too...

    Andrew- Sounds like my curried vegetables that I ate for a week. YUM!

    Danielle- I'll cook for you if you cook for me!

    Syd- Oh no. I hope all is well.

    Ms. Bastard-Beloved- That way he doesn't have to buy me a dishwasher! Yes. He's sweet.

    N2- Exactly.

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  13. I think I may have popsicles for dinner.

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  14. the basil.
    that is all.
    I cannot wait.

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  15. What??? Holy awesome. I wish you were my mama or wife or best friend even. I love growing yard long beans but never know what to do with him. This is genius. The whole meal is. How do you DO this, just whip up these meals? I am going to save this and try to recreate at least the spag dish with my beans. You inspire me so much. Wow. Just lovely, everything, and that bread, OH!!!!

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  16. Well I had a glass of wine tonight so maybe that's why I wrote "I never know what to do with HIM" instead of "them" meaning the yard long beans. BTW I grow red ones too! I should've sent you seeds.

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  17. Ms. Moon, I want that dinner you cooked with an overpowering physical longing. It may be the wine I'm having, or the diet, but I sure wish I'd been there with you. X

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