Beginner's Notebook: A Hail of Bullet Points

In my last post, which seems like it was months ago, I wrote of my trouble in adapting myself to hot weather cooking. Despite some progress (detailed in part below), that's continued to be a struggle and I've been eating out more than I'm comfortable with. That's limited my kitchen time, as did a period when a temporary health challenge had me eating as low-carb as I practically could for a while.  Nonetheless, I have done a few fun things.

• In a previous post, I mentioned having started the process of preserving some lemons. During the waiting period, I heard an episode of "America's Test Kitchen Radio" in which the problems with that process were discussed, the conclusion being that it works so rarely that it's better to just buy preserved lemons. So it was with trepidation that I cracked open my jar: they looked okay. So I cut off a quarter, trimmed away the flesh, rinsed off the excess salt, and tasted. I was good, and I was still healthy a few hours later, so I chopped some up into some spinach I was sauteeing -- in that application, it was FABULOUS. The lemon pretty much disappeared, leaving behind a bright lemon flavor that didn't have the acidity of lemon juice. Delicious. (Admittedly, I sometimes have a little problem taking credit. This, however, is clearly a case of 10% good method and 90% luck.)
• The okra I pickled also tuned out quite nicely. The recipe I used was a bit more vinegary than I'd prefer, but the okra itself is quite tasty and has none of the vegetable's infamous sliminess.
• As far as heart weather cooking goes, even the cooking I'm doing is involving more assembly and less heat application. I'm eating a fair number of 'wraps", for example. (If you're not familiar with them, wraps are basically burritos that contain almost anything other than burrito filling.)  For me, these are typically containing some sort of meat, some cheese, some fresh veggies, some hummus or other sauce, and maybe some fresh cilantro. Pretty good.
• I'm eating more vegetables in general. Often this is just carrot or celery sticks dipped in hummus, but I've been cooking veggies, too. The other night I thinly sliced a small yellow squash and sauteed it with salt, pepper, and a little garam masala. It was very tasty.
•  Could I have made my own hummus? Yes. SHOULD I have made my own hummus? Yes. Would it have been easy? Yes. But I thus far haven't. I'll never be an Iron Chef at this rate!
• Avocados. 'Nuff said.
• I have roasted a chicken and a hunk of pork on relatively cool days. The key is to hide in the air conditioning during the roasting time rather than staying in the kitchen to work on other dishes.
• Cheese. Garlic cheese. Hot pepper cheese. Cajun-spiced cheese curds. All of these give joy to the mouth and staying power to light meals.
• This morning, before my apartment got too hot, I cooked a flank steak on my iron griddle. I used a tip from cooking show host Daisy Martinez and gave my meat sprinklings of salt, pepper and vinegar and let it sit for a while before cooking. I can't really define the difference the vinegar made, but it certainly did make a difference.
• While my meat was sitting, I did some sweet corn on my griddle then (after cooling) sliced the kernels off the cob. However, I don't think I left the corn on the grill long enough, though, to really make much difference in the flavor.
• Finally, I made gazpacho today, more or less from this recipe. It's good, it was easy, and it involved no use of heat. (Other than the pepper flakes I added.).

 So, I'm feeling my way forward. Slowly. And with frequent breaks to sit in the air conditioning!

Is Summer Cooking Vacation Avoidable?

I have trouble getting excited about cooking during the summer. And the last two summers, after winters filled with all manner of culinary experimentation, I've done essentially no cooking, instead falling back on old habits of eating out, ordering in, and basically living la vida sandwich. In other words, I was on cooking vacation -- unplanned, unwelcome, and unwise summer cooking vacation.

You see, as I've noted before, Kansas City is not the hottest part of the country (or the world) by any means, but it gets plenty hot and humid for me.  And, my kitchen is a long way from my window air conditioner. Additionally, I'm finding as I age that I don't regulate my body temperature as well as I once did, and several weekend cooking sessions recently have ended with me feeling a little bit icky. Last weekend I put a small fan on top of my refrigerator and drank ice water frequently, and still felt icky when I was done.

I can't have a summer cooking vacation this year. Perhaps I should say that I can't CONTINUE to have one, since this past week has not had too many meals at home. That kind of vacation isn't good for my body, my skills development, or my wallet.
 
I have a few ideas. Veggie salads should be my friend. (Not leafy salads, though: leafy salads are okay, but more than one or two a week make me cranky. OK, crankiER.) I know a little bit about quick-cooking meat cuts, and sandwiches are a good option if not made with cheap white bread and processed cold cuts. Outdoor cooking is not a practical option for me.

But I'm just not feeling inspired.

So, I'd appreciate ideas: how do YOU feed yourself during the summer?

Beginner's Notebook: Dazed and Infused

I don't have a lot to report from this weekend's cooking. I didn't take on any projects, mostly contenting myself with throwing some dishes together out of stuff in my refrigerator that needed to be used. But I did pick up one fun little trick.

For a couple of decades, the one recipe I knew that seemed a little fancy was one my brother-in-law had taught me. It consisted of pasta tossed with olive oil, sliced black olives, and feta cheese. The thing that made it a little fancy is that, before the dish is assembled, the olive oil is flavored by warming sliced or minced garlic in it for a few moments. (If you hear any sizzling, turn the heat down.) The garlic is then disposed of before the oil is used.

A week or so ago, my neighbor lady asked me to make shrimp tacos for her. The shrimp I was using was precooked, so I decided to just flavor it with a saute with olive oil infused as I described above. Today, though, I though the zest of a lime in with the garlic. Although the result was a bit subtle and was buried by the salsa verde I used as a taco sauce, it was very nice right out of the pan. I'm thinking it might be very nice to cook fish or chicken.