5 for summer
Master these seasonal staples for those sunny days ahead
Like a dream at last come true, the days of summer are nearly here. Let's all say it - wahoo! See ya later, snow shovel! Bye-bye, puffy parka! There will be picnics and barbecues and potlucks and more picnics. Are you ready? You'll need your flipflops and sunscreen and some go-to recipes. We've got you covered on the last count. For those crazy and not-so-lazy days that lie ahead, here are five master recipes, each for an all-star of the summer table: Salsa, grilled corn, vinaigrette (for all those lovely salads), potato salad and shortcake. We've added a few variations on the master recipes, just to keep things interesting. So happy summer, and let's say it again: Wahoo!
STRAWBERRY SHORTCAKE
As I hunted for my 2 1⁄4-inch biscuit cutter, a thought ran through my mind: If only we had someone as wise and willing to help in other areas of life as Susan Reid is on the matter of shortcake.
Reid, editor of Sift magazine at King Arthur Flour, said this about turning out a great shortcake biscuit:
“As for technique, biscuits have a lot of the same emotional freight attached to them that pie dough does, and the trick for both is to do just enough mixing and then — stop. Nervousness leads to overhandling leads to tough results leads to more nervousness the next time you try. It can be a tough cycle to break.
“I’ve often told bakers that confidence is one of the key ingredients when it comes to biscuits and pie.”
She continued, “Fluffy biscuits need a little more liquid than you may think is right the first few tries. After cutting in the fat, all the liquid goes in (if an egg is involved, the recipe will be slightly more tender) and then, as you mix, it looks too wet, then too dry, and bakers are dealing with their internal ‘Uh oh!’
“Having a bowl scraper can be a great thing at that moment; the curved edge hugs the inside of the bowl to bring everything together without overdoing it. Use the scraper to gather the dough from the edge and press it toward the center, until the dough is evenly moist and ready to turn out on a floured surface.”
Once on that surface, don’t roll it more than two or three strokes, she says. “Often I will pat it to the thickness I want and then just give it a light pass with the pin to flatten out the top.”
When it comes to cutting, use a biscuit cutter, not a water glass. The sharp edge of the cutter allows an even rise, Reid says, while a glass “mashes the edges down and can give you some weird results in the oven.” And no one wants that.
One more thing: “Placing the biscuits one-half inch apart will give you a higher rise; they’ll keep each other straight and help each other rise higher.”
With all that in mind, here’s a master recipe for shortcakes, courtesy of King Arthur Flour, with a few variations.
The recipe gets its name from a member of the flour company’s bakingcircle.com community. The man, David Lee, got it from a James Beard book and came up with his own version. Beard credits the recipe to his Chinese cook, and the people at King Arthur flour fiddled with it a bit, too.
Anyway, it’s a keeper, and not too complicated.
David Lee’s Biscuits Makes 10 large biscuits
2 cups pastry flour blend (see note)
1 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon baking powder
2 teaspoons sugar
1 to 1 1⁄4 cups heavy whipping cream
1 to 2 tablespoons melted butter
Sparkling (coarse) sugar (optional)
Preheat oven to 425 degrees.
Sift together the flour, salt, baking powder and sugar.
Stir in enough heavy cream to moisten the dough thoroughly. You should be able to gather the dough together, squeeze it, and have it hang together without dry bits falling.
Turn dough out onto a lightly floured work surface, and very gently pat it into an 8-inch circle about 3⁄4 inch thick. Using a biscuit cutter — a 2 1⁄4 -inch cutter is recommended — cut dough into rounds.
Dip the rounds into melted butter, so that they’re covered in melted butter, and place on a lightly greased baking sheet. (The butter will give a crisp exterior that will contrast nicely with the light, fluffy inside.)
Sprinkle biscuits with sparkling sugar, if desired. Bake biscuits in preheated oven 15 to 18 minutes, until golden brown.
To freeze: After cutting, put unbaked biscuits in a tightly sealed container. Take them out of the freezer and put on a baking sheet before turning on oven, Reid advises. They may need an extra 3 to 5 minutes of baking time.
Serve with strawberries: Mix 1 quart of trimmed and sliced fresh strawberries with 2 tablespoons of sugar. Stir and set aside at room temperature several hours or refrigerate overnight.
Top with whipped cream: Whip 1 cup heavy cream until it just holds its shape; sweeten to taste with sugar.
Note: If using all-purpose flour in biscuits, use 1 3⁄4 unbleached all-purpose flour and 1⁄4 cup cornstarch.
VARIATIONS
For orange biscuits, add 1 tablespoon orange zest to the wet ingredients before blending with flour.
For chocolate biscuits, add 1 cup of semi-sweet or white chocolate chips to the dry ingredients, before adding the cream.
VINAIGRETTE
Few recipes are more basic, yet yield so many possibilities as vinaigrette.
The master recipe is simple but acts as a canvas for summer’s herbs and whatever vinegar you might want to try, according to Mary Dess, chef instructor with the Milwaukee Area Technical College’s Culinary Arts program.
“The basic ratio on a vinaigrette is about 3 to 1, meaning 3 parts oil to 1 part acid (vinegar, lemon juice),” she says. “So, if you use 3 tablespoons of oil, then use 1 tablespoon of acid. If you are making a bigger batch, 1 cup oil to 1/3 cup acid. Some people like the tang of a more acidic vinaigrette, so a 2.5-to-1 ratio would achieve that.
“The combinations are endless. Try and balance sweet, bitter, salty, sour and spicy. Experiment with whatever herbs you like to enhance the vinaigrette. There are no wrong combinations. … Explore items you find at your local farmers market or in your garden.”
And here’s a tip: Put minced shallot, onion or garlic in a strainer and run under hot water to curb the potency.
Basic Vinaigrette
Makes 1 cup
3⁄4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
1⁄4 cup acid (vinegar or lemon juice)
Pinch of salt
Pinch of freshly ground black pepper
To blend or emulsify, slowly whisk the olive oil into the vinegar or lemon juice in a steady stream. For an emulsification that will last longer, use an immersion blender. Or, if you’re in a hurry and will serve the dressing right away, shake it all up in a glass jar with a lid. (It’s a nice little workout, Dess says.)
To add fresh herbs: Add 1 tablespoon of chopped fresh herbs of your choice; if the herbs are very strong (like sage, rosemary or thyme), add 1 teaspoon, Dess says.
VARIATIONS
Citrus dressing: Use champagne vinegar as the acid, add the zest of one orange, the zest of one grapefruit, 1 tablespoon honey, 1 tablespoon minced shallot and 1 teaspoon Dijon mustard.
Dill dressing: Use lemon juice as the acid. Add 1 tablespoon capers, 1 tablespoon minced fresh dill, 1 teaspoon sugar, 1 teaspoon Dijon mustard, and 1 tablespoon minced red onion.
To make a quick potato salad, add the basic vinaigrette to 2 pounds of red potatoes while the potatoes are hot, and let them sit for 2 minutes; drain off any dressing that wasn’t absorbed.
GRILLED CORN
The people at Seriouseats.com are, well, serious about food. They turned their attention to grilled corn in a Food Lab column, by Chef J. Kenji Lopez-Alt, chief culinary adviser at Serious Eats and a James Beard Award winner for his cookbook “The Food Lab: Better Home Cooking Through Science.”
He’s grilled corn three ways but prefers a direct heat method over hot coals, with corn stripped of its silk and husk.
That way, you get a smoky flavor, plus some nice charring marks,” he says. Grilling the corn “naked” (that’s the corn, mind you) also makes it cook faster, he says.
And of course, using the freshest possible corn is the best, so get it from your local farmers market or roadside stand, and get it on the grill fast.
The Best Grilled Corn
Makes 8 servings
8 ears of corn, shucked and rinsed
4 tablespoons (1⁄2 stick) butter
Kosher salt
Light chimney full of charcoal on a grill. When charcoal is lit and covered with gray ash, pour coals and arrange on one side of grate. Set cooking grill over coals, cover grill and allow to heat for 5 minutes. If using gas grill, set half of the burners to highest heat, cover, and heat 10 minutes.
Clean and oil grate.
Place corn over hot side of grill and cook, turning occasionally, until charred on all sides and tender, about 10 minutes.
Remove from grill and allow to rest for 2 minutes. Serve rolled in butter and sprinkled with salt.
VARIATIONS
Mexican corn-on-the-cob: This version is from
damndelicious.net: Serve with chili powder, small bowls of grated cotija cheese and chopped fresh cilantro, and fresh lime wedges. Brush ears with butter (or mayonnaise for a more authentic version), then sprinkle with the chili powder, cheese, cilantro and fresh lime juice.
Pesto and Parmesan: This is from delish.com: Serve with about 2/3 cup pesto for brushing on the ears and 1⁄2 cup grated Parmesan cheese to sprinkle on top.
POTATO SALAD
At Larry’s Market in Brown Deer, potato salad is a staple. Since opening in the early 1960s by Larry Ehlers, they’ve been turning out buckets of potato salad for picnics, catering and their deli counter.
Chef Dale Curley, who now co-owns the food shop with wife Debbie, carries on the tradition. He’s been a chef there for 17 years, and he and his wife bought the place in July from the Ehlers family.
His potato salad pointers:
Watch the time when boiling potatoes. You want
them cooked through but not turned to mush. Test them with a knife.
When mixing the salad with the dressing mixture, be very gentle. “The less you mix it, the better it will look,” he says.
And keep food safety in mind. For an outdoor event, don’t set it on a table in the sun. It's best to keep it below 41 degrees with ice packs around the bowl.
If not kept packed in ice, don’t serve it longer than four hours maximum. After that, any remainder should be tossed.
Creamy Potato Salad
Makes 6 servings
2 pounds red potatoes
1 cup mayonnaise
1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
1 tablespoon cider vinegar
1⁄2 cup sweet pickle relish 1 cup celery (cut into small dice)
1 teaspoon salt
1⁄2 teaspoon black pepper
1⁄2 teaspoon garlic powder
4 chopped green onions (green part only)
1 teaspoon sugar
Cut unpeeled potatoes into bite-size pieces. In a large pot, cover potatoes with lightly salted cold water, bring to a boil, and then reduce heat to a simmer. Cook until tender, about 10 to 15 minutes. Drain potatoes and allow them to cool completely. (Starting with cold water allows them to heat and cook evenly.)
In a large mixing bowl, combine all other ingredients. Mix well. Pour the mixture over the potatoes and fold gently to combine.
VARIATIONS
Nueske’s bacon and blue cheese: Add 1⁄2 cup cooked, diced bacon and 1⁄2 cup crumbled blue cheese to dressing mixture.
Sun-dried tomato-basil: Add 1⁄2 cup chopped fresh basil and 1⁄2 cup chopped sun-dried tomatoes to dressing mixture.
SALSA
Here’s what you need to know: You’ll start with a base, the building blocks of salsa being tomatoes, onion and garlic, says Sofia Sada Cervantes, Latin Cuisines chef and instructor at the Culinary Institute of America in San Antonio, Texas.
Add to that a fresh herb — usually cilantro — and fresh or roasted chile peppers, such as jalapeño, serrano or habanero.
Sada Cervantes takes her students through a slew of variations on salsa that change up the method: chopped, blended, boiled and roasted.
Students often are surprised at how flavors change dramatically when elements are boiled or dry-roasted over high heat, she says. “There’s more depth of flavor,” she says.
Red “asada” salsa is good with most any dish, she says, including tacos or huevos rancheros.
“The cool thing about salsas is that by just adding a couple of ingredients you have something new and so different in taste,” she says. “You add herbs like hoja santa, cilantro, epazote, quelites or fruits like mango, papaya, xoconostles (fruit from the prickly pear), pineapple or seeds and nuts like peanuts, almonds, sesame seeds, lime and even chocolate,” she says.
The addition of fruit is a south Texas thing, while nuts or seeds make it a Mexican mole.
An important note: “Salsas, chiles and tortillas aren’t just dishes — they’re part of the Mexican identity,” she says. “I’m pretty sure I have salsa running through my veins by now.”
Basic Mexican Salsa
2 fresh Roma tomatoes
1 serrano chile
1⁄4 white onion (about 1⁄2 cup chopped)
1 clove garlic
3 sprigs fresh cilantro
Pinch of salt to taste
Fresh lime
Chop the tomatoes, chile, onion and garlic and combine in a small bowl. Toss with chopped cilantro and season with salt and a squeeze of lime.
VARIATIONS
Roasted: Place whole tomatoes, onion and chile over an open flame, grill or griddle on high heat. Turn each until charred on all sides and cooked through, about 5 to 7 minutes. Blend roasted vegetables in a blender and add fresh chopped cilantro. Season to taste with salt.
South Texas fruit salsa: Add 1⁄4 cup chopped mango or pomegranate seeds to salsa.