Tools of Summer

It’s probably not a surprise that I define the seasons based on the foods I get to eat.

But time does this crazy thing the older I become. It just gets faster and faster. And even though I remember this past winter seemed to go on forever, there were still some winter foods that I never had the chance to enjoy.

Notably, I never made a batch of the most delicious split pea soup in the known universe. But I also never made a batch of bolognese. There was no chili. I didn’t make a single pot of red beans and rice.

Now summer is here. We put the regrets of the past behind. It’s time to embrace the season and enjoy as much as we can. Strawberries have been consumed with great gusto. Our CSA had its first fruit share today, and we received a basket of cherries.

As we approach the peak of summer, I wanted to take a moment and talk tools.

Just this week I fired up the old crappy grill for the first time. Last summer I thought it was on its last legs. This summer I know it is. One of the knobs just fell off. But dammit, it still works for my modest needs.

I needed to char some spring onions, and I can’t tell you how grateful I was to be able to do that over gas with just a moment’s notice. Would it have been better over lump hardwood? You bet. And one day, I hope to be able to figure out how to work that time back into my life.

Today is not that day.

These days I find my summer cooking projects getting stuck because they all require the same tools. The salad spinner and the Cuisinart are in high demand, and become the chokepoint in production.

Recently, I had three batches of greens to process: basil, arugula, and parsley. That was easy enough, because I didn’t have the wash the food processor in between batches. The basil pesto went first, followed by the more assertive arugula with walnut, and finished with a garlicky mass of parsley, capers, dried mustard, and pepper flakes.

A little bit of basil or arugula left in the bowl would never be noticed.

But that’s not always the case. Because the cooking projects I have on deck right now are a batch of hummus with requires the food processor, and a batch of slaw that requires the food processor too. In theory the parts can be washed by hand. But I prefer to send everything through the dishwasher.

Although, oddly, the salad spinner doesn’t go in the dishwasher. Probably it should. But I see that as a way of getting loose debris off leaves. It’s not dirt. It’s soil. Still, I can only wash one batch of greens at a time. And as much as I love my CSA, the greens we get are filthy. Oddly, I see that as a good thing. However, the salad greens require three changes of water to get the grit off.

For the slaw, the cilantro will require at least two changes of water. Plus there’s a head of lettuce that will have to be cleaned for a straight up salad later in the week.

In California, it would not have been environmentally responsible to use so much water in the preparation of food. I’m not sure if we have the same problems here. Hopefully not. Especially because I love how refreshing it can be washing and rewashing a bunch of greens on a hot summer day.

Grilling is less pleasant in the heat. The eggplant is the only thing that goes on the grill this week, and that will get turned into baba ganoush. So I’ll try and get that project lined up with the hummus. I’ve been told the Trader Joe’s frozen falafel balls are pretty good for convenience food. Maybe they’ll be even better when doctored up with some freshly made spreads.

Eventually, we’ll get corn and tomatoes. I’ve seen those precious gifts of summer out and about. But I will wait patiently for Roxbury to send some our way. It will be worth the wait.

And then there are all of the other things about summer, like making sure I get a lemon ice from Civitello’s. At some point we’ll have to go on a summer tour too. But these are topics for another day.