In the kitchen: A mezze party and some strange fruit
August is a fantastic time to hit your local farmers markets, as well as to translate that produce into seasonal recipes — as you doubtless know if you’re reading this newsletter. We can help with that, of course, and so can local writer Amelia Saltsman, author of the “The Santa Monica Farmers’ Market Cookbook” and frequent tour guide to that mainstay of the Los Angeles food scene. Saltsman throws a mezze party for us, so that the next time you want to serve ceviche and rebujito in your own backyard, you have a guide. We also let you know what’s in season, as we customarily do, as well as get some recipes for wine cocktails and check out a new cookbook that’s particularly resonant for market-goers.
— Amy Scattergood
A marvelous mezze party
Los Angeles-based food writer and cookbook author Amelia Saltsman throws an Israeli-SoCal dinner party, describing a sumptuous small plates gathering and giving us not a few recipes. Among them: Melon gazpacho, eggplant spread, ceviche with sumac and Aleppo pepper, and a make-your-own flatbread wrap that’s as much fun to make as it is to eat. And if you’re wondering what to drink with all that, Saltsman provides some answers to that too.
More fun with melons
There’s a lot more than cantaloupe in season right now: Test Kitchen director Noelle Carter tracks down the various melons that are loading the market stalls and produce aisles at the moment. Pick up some French Charentais and Snow Leopard melons, or maybe just a few enormous watermelons. With a season that typically runs from July until October, you’ve got plenty of time to make our recipe for watermelon curry.
Cookbook of the week
If you like trolling your nearest farmers market for ramps and citron, you’ll probably love the new cookbook from San Francisco-based cooking teacher Michelle McKenzie. “Dandelion & Quince” combines over 150 recipes with plant profiles for the more unusual fruits and vegetables that comprise the book. There are nettle sandwiches, sardine pâté with fennel pollen — and a pretty great tomatillo fish stew, for which we got the recipe.
Beyond sangria
If you like wine in your cocktails but still flashback to wine coolers and bad sangria, Carter toured a few local bars and restaurants for some more interesting takes on the drink — and some recipes. Bartenders at the Cannibal, Paper or Plastik and Faith & Flower give tips and explain the methodology behind their takes on wine cocktails.
The Taste is coming: Our annual Labor Day food weekend, Sept. 2-4, will be here before you know it, and tickets are already available.
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