Fresh Tart

Hello from my (ridiculously brief) summer vacation in East Hampton. The only reason I'm posting a recipe while on vacation is that the local produce out here is so astonishing that I'm inspired to cook here more than I am at home. As much as the area is known for spiffy homes, those homes are separated by farms and farm stands bursting with glorious peaches, grapes, melons, vegetables, tomatoes, and berries. The sweet corn in particular haunts my beachy dreams with its caviar-pop sweetness.

As an added bonus, the fish scene is as fresh as the fashion. Every summer, my father-in-law makes us his famous crab cakes, a recipe I've already shared, so this year I settled on making up a crab and sweet corn chowder. It's not difficult to put your hands on good lump crab meat in Minnesota (Coastal Seafoods sells it, for instance), and Lord knows we know good sweet corn right exactly now. Work in some of the fresh herbs overgrowing your garden, serve wearing high heels alongside a plate of perfectly ripe tomatoes, and call it August, Hamptons-in-Minnesota style.

Recipe for Crab & Sweet Corn Chowder at TC Taste/Minnesota Monthly Magazine.

And oh, congratulations chef Sameh Wadi (Saffron, World Street Kitchen) for his win at the Minneapolis Farmers Market Country Chef Challenge this past Saturday! He and chef Jack Riebel (Butcher and the Boar) faced off with fresh-and-fabulous items quickly gathered at the market. I was a lucky, lucky judge, along with Lee Dean, food editor at the Star Tribune, and Matt Brickman and Jamie Yuccas, weekend anchors at WCCO-TV.

Jack Riebel's luscious beer cheese soup with tomatoes, chiles, maple-glazed bacon, fried croutons.

Sameh Wadi's stunning tomato salad with smoked tomato vinaigrette and raspberries (top) and fragrant trout tagine with squash and sweet corn.

Not a bad way to kick off the weekend, ha! I went from the market to the airport. Whee! Nice.

Notice how both chefs featured the gorgeous tomatoes flooding the markets right now. If you're looking for new (as well as tried-and-true) ways to use the tomatoes in your garden or at the market (like the gorgeous tomato jam pictured!), join chef Scott Pampuch and me for the last class in our Provisions series at Kitchen in the Market. This Thursday night we will be talking and eating tomatoes and berries: Jams, syrups, freezing, sauces, preserving in oil, on and on and on. We'll share tasty cocktails and a delicious meal as we chat and learn. Join us!

The day I arrived at my inlaws' home in East Hampton, John's dad made one of his famous dins, this time spinach souffles with rock shrimp sauce followed by braised beef short ribs with couscous. For dessert...this luscious lemon pudding. God I love lemon desserts - better than chocolate. Yeah, I just said that.

The pudding is easy to pull together and best made ahead - that's party food in my book. The top emerges golden and crusty but when you spoon into it, it's all soft lemon pudding-y, luscious and creamy. He serves it plain, which is amazing, but I could imagine adding a berry sauce and perhaps even softly whipped cream to you know, gild the lily, Hamptons-style.

Recipe for my father-in-law John's Baked Lemon Pudding at Dara & Co./Minnesota Monthly Magazine.

We just returned from visiting my in-laws' home in the Hamptons, one of the prettiest places in the world.  With lush flowers, towering trees, white beaches, and sprawling "cottages," there is always somewhere picturesque to rest your eye.

The food is lush too, spilling over onto quaint farm stands and into local markets.  Berries, melons, tomatoes, peaches, fresh fish, and corn, corn, corn.  I say this every year, but the Silver Queen-esque variety of east coast sweetcorn - white, small-kerneled, poppingly crisp - is always a summer food highlight.  There's nothing like it in Minnesota, so we really savor it while we're there.

My father-in-law made his famous crab cakes with tomato sauce.  To.  Die.  For.

He gave me his recipe, below, lalalaaaa! If you can put your hands on fresh crab meat, you are in for a treat.  The light tomato sauce is the perfect complement to the rich crab.  This night we had silky beef shortribs as well, but I started eating crab cakes and drinking wine and chatting with my sister-in-law and...no more pictures.

I could not get enough of Esther's plump shrimp dumplings.  Little pillows of heaven.

The painting in the picture above is by our friend Maud Bryt.  It's of the whole gang at one of our annual beach barbecues.

Thank you to Maud's husband Bartley and my brother-in-law Tom for this year's barbecue: Grilled shrimp with peach salsa, guacamole, burgers & dogs, and s'mores.

Perfection.

One of the best parts of the trip was getting a break from the heat and humidity.  Warm sun, cool breeze, dry air, ahhh. I've not much enjoyed sweating on my own deck this summer, so it was particularly lovely to sit on the porch to sip coffee and read in the morning...

...and to sip wine and chat in the evening.

The tree above is my favorite in a landscape forested with beautiful, unusual trees.  This photo doesn't do it justice - it's hard to see the ivy skirt that swirls up its trunk, or appreciate its stunning asymmetry against perfectly symmetrical surroundings. I guess I'll just have to go back and try again...

Home now, gearing up for Part II: Westward Ho!  I'll be back soon, but until then, I leave you with crab cakes.  Yeah.

My Father-in-Law's Crab Cakes
Makes 12/14 medium crab cakes

2 lbs. fresh, carefully picked over crab meat
1 cup minced onion
2 tsp. dry mustard
1/2 tsp. cayenne pepper
2 tsp. Old Bay seasoning
1/2 c. minced fresh parsley
2 eggs
3 Tbsp. mayonnaise
1/4 c. heavy cream
2 c. finely crushed saltine crackers
1/2 stick butter (or more)
1/4 c. oil (or more)

Put crab meat and onion in a large bowl.  In a small bowl, whisk together mustard, cayenne, Old Bay, parsley, eggs, mayonnaise, and heavy cream.  Pour mixture over crab meat and fold together carefully with a rubber spatula, being careful not to break up the crab too much.  Form into hockey puck-sized cakes.

Spread crushed saltines in a pie plate.  Coat crab cakes with saltines, setting them on a sheet of waxed paper as you go.  (Can be made up to 2 hours ahead; cover with waxed paper and chill.)

Heat butter and oil in a large saute pan over medium heat.  Fry crab cakes until browned and crisp.  Drain on paper towels.  Serve hot with tomato sauce pooled generously around each cake.

Light Tomato Sauce

1/4 lb. butter
28 oz. chopped tomatoes (Pomi or other Italian brand)
2 c. concentrated chicken stock (from cubes)
salt & freshly ground black pepper
6 Tbsp. chopped fresh basil
2 Tbsp. good (imported) white truffle oil

In a large saucepan over medium heat, melt butter, then stir in tomatoes and chicken stock.  Simmer, breaking up tomatoes, until sauce is lightly thickened, about 10 minutes.  Season with salt and pepper, then stir in basil and truffle oil.  Serve immediately.  (You can make the tomato sauce one day ahead, up until adding basil and truffle oil; cover and chill.  Reheat, then stir in basil and truffle oil to serve.)

Ahhhh, it's good to be home, as usual. We had a great time yesterday, hanging with Jon & Amy Brown, showing them all around the Hamptons, sitting on Georgica Beach, wrapping up with a romantic dinner (for their anniversary!) at The American Hotel in Sag Harbor. Man did I laugh yesterday, seriously, my stomach was aching. Hard to beat hanging out with hilarious people in a gorgeous spot. And oh, throw in some killer eats to boot. Right on!

Today, smooth trip home, minimal head-bobbing as I slept on the plane (thanks to a window seat), no wait for our bags because suddenly no one checks luggage (per-bag fees, ouch), home before rush hour. All good.

Except what to do for dinner? Obviously no groceries, and truly no motivation to shop, I dug in the freezer and discovered...Trader Joe's puff pastry. I glanced at the still-lovely tomatoes on my counter and thought...must use. I poked around in the fridge and found...fresh goat cheese. OK, with some herbs from the deck, and a drizzle of olive oil, we had the ingredients for a pretty sa-weettomato tart, so...that's what we had.

Twenty minutes later, voila, good stuff, especially alongside some softly scrambled eggs.

And now, we are goners. I'm not even half unpacked and I just don't care. As long as I can wash my face and brush my teeth, climb into some clean pajamas and find my bed, I'm all set. Good sleeping weather here in Minnesota, cool and dry - crank those windows open and have yourselves a good night. Baby.

Moderate it: man, we had an interesting - and perfectly gross - lunch at LaGuardia airport today. We arrived hungry, opted for the Burger King just past security in the Northwest terminal, scoped out the calorie counts posted next to each item (welcome to NY!), and sat down at a dirty table to eat bad food. Instant moderation, thank you very much. Blech.

Despite persistent clouds and rain (boo), we've been able to spend a nice amount of time outside. On Friday, John and I fit in a stroll through lovely Sag Harbor, stopping for focaccia sandwiches at one of our favorite little cafes, Espresso. You only order one of these babies for two or more people - they're huge, half a loaf of their famous focaccia, split wide and stuffed with all manner of homemade, scrumptious fillings. We kept it simple with turkey, fresh mozzarella, arugula, and onions, topped with their signature vinaigrette, and it was delicious.

My in-laws John & Dot arrived later Friday afternoon and treated us to dinner at the Old Stove Pub. Set way back from the road, the Pub is in an old farmhouse, cozy, very casual, and perfectly candlelit for a rainy September's eve. Steaks are their specialty, so steaks we had - The Broadway, baby, a sizzling slab of ribeye, dabbed with herb butter and served steakhouse-style with platters of sides to share. Their version of spinach is sauteed with lots of garlic (I actually could have had just that for din, so yummy) and the potatoes are cut skin-on, fried, and showered with fresh herbs and coarse salt. The Johns somehow finished with "cold fudge" sundaes for dessert; I couldn't do it, totally ran out of steam. But for them, steak and ice cream, NICE!

Yesterday John and I took a quiet bike ride through the village of East Hampton - leafy and serene despite the overcast sky. We did some serious house-gawking, I mean damn; major bonus to be up on bikes, you know, the better to spy over those pesky fences and hedges.

We spent the afternoon with John's bro Tom (and pup Spice!), checking out his new digs in Bridgehampton and putting together a lunch of tasty leftovers. Despite the sunless sky, we hit the beach for naps, chat, and reading. After showers, and cocktails here at the house, we five had an amazing dinner at 1770 House in East Hampton. Tucked into another charming old house-turned-inn (not so uncommon in a town first settled in 1648), we settled into a corner table for some serious eats. I opened with a chilled puree of sweet corn soup, geniusly garnished with a hot, crispy piece of pork belly, and just about swooned. Oink friggin oink, yum. Pretty much full at that point, I dug anyhow into my second course, a crispy-rosy duck breast, sliced and fanned prettily over a pile of pillowy, homemade spaetzle, drizzled with a rich duck-wine-fig sauce to pull it all together. I finished with a piece of cheese and a glass of muscat. Uff. Dah. My bed felt goooood after that meal.

Today, we're awaiting the arrival of our Minnesota-friends Jon & Amy Brown, out 'round these parts to celebrate their anniversary. Our original plan was to arrange some sort of dinner on the beach, as the sun set, but that's looking highly unlikely given the weather. Backup plan - The American Hotel in Sag Harbor, uber-romantic and anniversary worthy. It's not the beach, but is much easier on the hair, and as you know, that's OK by me.

Moderate it: alright, we're eating out every night, which is never a formula for moderation. The best I can do is really focus on when I feel even slightly full...and then push what's left of my food off on the men at the table. Seriously, nothing gets unnecessary food out of the way faster. Thank goodness for men.

The Hamptons, at least from my (very limited) perspective, is not about parties, people, or palaces. It's about the landscape - so lush, so stunning, so not-Minnesota, it takes one's breath away. I don't know if it's the pretty girls or the fancy cars that the trees get off on, but whatever it is, they grow here like no other place I've seen. Huge, tiny, wild, manicured, airy, dense, flowering, spare, grand, sweet, sweeping, charming...the variety and contrast keep you looking and looking, trying to take it all in. Even the downtown retail areas are lush and leafy. Butt all that verdancy up against wide stretches of white sand and crashing ocean, bathe it all in the famously super-natural golden hue (the light here is as unique and lovely as the trees, but that's another breathy rave...), and you start to understand the appeal of the place, traffic and ostentation and all. It's just plain gorgeous.

Something about those pretty girls and fancy cars makes for lovely vegetation of the edible sort as well. Of course there's the corn that I've already nattered on about, incredible stuff. And hopefully it's not too late to score peaches, oooh, especially the squashed little donut version, sweet and cute to boot. I'll drag John to a stand later today and report on the bounty.

Although I don't think I'm doing any cooking out here - a shame on one hand (given the produce and fish options), but kinda cool on the other because we're usually out here with the kids, and John's brother's kids, and big groups of friends, so we only cook and eat in. (No complaints! The eating in around here is amazing, especially when John's dad is cooking...veal a la danoise and Viennese shrimp toast? Pahlease - The. Kill.) This time it's just us, and John's parents Dot & John, and it's past peak season craziness, so we're going to hit a few restaurants...can't wait.

In fact, last night it was just John and me, so we slipped into famed Della Famina, in "downtown" East Hampton, for a lovely din. We both scarfed down a salad that I'm going to crave for days, I can tell - hot, crispy shrimps atop a mound of shredded lettuce and vegetables, tossed in a fiery dressing. You know me, any dish that gets that hot, cool, creamy, spicy, salty, sweet thing going just slays me. Delicious.

It's cool and cloudy here, not pool weather, but no matter. Good for walking, and driving around (no traffic in September, yay!), and reading good books. And blogging a bit, too, so stay tuned...

Moderate it: I blew it last night, skipped one of the easiest rules of moderation - when ordering a salad in a restaurant, ask them to either put the dressing on the side or to dress the salad very lightly. The salad last night was delicious, but not one bit light, and would have been just as tasty with less dressing.