SUMMER ENTERTAINING, Part III: The Recipes

 

S U M M E R   E N T E R T A I N I N G

Part III: The Recipes

                              

Welcome to Summer Entertaining journal entry three. I had intended to write only one post about summer dinner parties but it turns out I have a lot to say. 

In the first post I write about setting the table. That act of setting the scene which really sets the mood for the whole night. Something that does not need to be complicated but of course, as a stylist, I find vitally important. The second post is about how I plan my dinner party menus, how I think through and approach the combinations of flavors, textures, colors, and meal prep.

I could have stopped there but, for anyone curious about the specifics, in this post I wanted to share the actual recipes from the dinner party. If you can call them that. No precise quantities here, but guiding descriptions to help you put together similar dishes. Bon appetit!

-Kira

 

GRILLED LAMB OVER TOMATOES

The anchor of our meal was grilled lamb shoulder, inspired by a recipe of Alison Roman’s. Tomatoes had just popped up at the farmers market and I can’t resist a big, chonky, perfect summer tomato. No cooking needed for those, just slice them up, layer on a platter as a bed for the grilled meat, and sprinkle some salt over them. Salt and pepper the lamb and grill to your desired temperature (I like a medium rare), let it rest 5 minutes, then slice up and arrange on top of the tomatoes. The lamb will warm the tomatoes and the juices from both will mingle.

You could add an herb/anchovy/garlic rub to the lamb for more flavor if you like. I went simple here because I had some guests with dietary restrictions and wanted everyone to be able to partake. And truly, classic and delicious, you can’t really go wrong with a generous salt-and-peppering.

Side Note: I lived in Argentina for several years and learned a very simple but very impactful tip there for cooking red meats- salt generously. Like, generously. With a good cut of meat it’s truly all you need to create something sublime, so don’t be scared to put on more than you think you should, it will reward you in depth of flavor.

 

 

LIMA BEANS

There is a stand at the PSU farmers market in Portland, OR (my current home base) that grows and sells all kinds of beans and grains and I am really having a moment with their lima beans. White and perky, I simmer them in batches and freeze easy portions to have ready for lunches. My favorite way to eat them currently is mixed with poached tuna, chopped cucumbers and oil cured olives, toasted almonds, some herbs, bright salad dressing, and maybe a crouton if there’s left over sourdough kicking around. But I digress…

For this evening I simmered them with bay leaves and garlic and when they were just about done added a good amount of salt and a few glugs of olive oil to the liquid, took them off the heat, and let them rest covered in the pot for the afternoon. I served them (in my new Low Serving Bowl in my new Slate color!) with a small amount of their cooking liquid and more olive oil. 

 

SALSA VERDE

I love an herby condiment and an Italian style salsa verde brought all of the flavors in this menu together. A swoosh through the beans, a dollop on the lamb, spread with feta on the olive bread.

It’s nice to let this sauce sit and meld for a few hours so in the morning I chopped a bunch parsley, leaves from a few sprigs of mint, a tablespoon of capers, and mixed that with a microplaned large clove of garlic and salt, submerging in good olive oil to finish. Add oil until you cover all of the herbs, they shouldn’t be floating, but you’ll want to use plenty. I put that in the fridge to let the flavors develop and then right before serving dinner mixed in lemon juice and zest. (Adding it sooner turns the green herbs brown.)

This sauce is good on everything and left overs last in the fridge for a few days.

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DRESSED FETA

This dish of dressed feta is a great example of my aforementioned modular menu approach (see my previous post). I could have chopped it up and added it straight to the green salad or to the beans, but this way if a guest is avoiding dairy they simply skip the feta and aren’t excluded from the other dishes on the table. Also, when things are separated out everyone gets to put that flavor where they want it. A sensorial choose-your-own-adventure approach: with a bite of lamb? Spread on bread? 

This feta was topped with olive oil, lemon zest, and Aleppo pepper.

 

GREEN SALAD

I just about always serve a bright tasting, simple, crisp green salad as a meal accompaniment.   

For lunch I looove a salad chock full of different colors and textures, crunch, creaminess, protein. A whole meal in itself. And that can be nice for dinner too, a one bowl meal. But, if the salad is accompanying several other dishes, as it was in this case, then its purpose is to serve as a palate cleanser and be light and crisp and refreshing. Something to support the flavors of the meal, not be the meal. Which means serving it with the meal (not before) and keeping it simple. Beans or excessive ingredients in a dinner salad is a pet peeve of mine. I dressed red leaf lettuce and mandoline-thin radishes and cucumber with shallots, chives, mint, lemon, and olive oil for this one.

 

OLIVE SOURDOUGH LOAF

My husband is a talented home baker (who also happens to make the best pancakes I have ever had) so I requested one of his sourdough kalamata olive loaves for the evening. Always a crowd pleaser, especially for my friends who are sensitive to gluten (not celiac) and typically have to avoid bread, but do well with this fermented variety. For some meals I would put out high quality, room temperature butter to accompany the bread. Fresh bread and butter- heaven! But, for this meal I purposefully did not. It felt superfluous, and even distracting, to me with a gorgeous feta and salsa verde already on the table.

 

GINGERSNAP STRAWBERRY TART

There is a NY Times Cooking recipe that I riff on constantly. It’s a light and delicious, easy and fast recipe to make. Wins all around. Dessert for my friends was an iteration made with a gluten free ginger snap crust, whipped cream filling a bit heavier on the cream cheese, and macerated strawberry topping. 

To make at home: After baking and cooling the crust (180 grams of cookies blitzed in the food processor then tossed with six tablespoons melted butter and pressed into a pie dish) you fill it with the whipped cream mixture (beat a half cup whipping cream with two to three ounces room temperature cream cheese and a third cup confectioner’s sugar) and put in the fridge to set for a few hours. When ready to serve top with any ripe, juicy, possibly macerated seasonal fruit.

 

Photography by Scott Rounds