Summer is ending soon, and I found some seasonal inspiration in tomato water and one of my favorite stone fruits, nectarine. The thing about tomato water is that it only lasts about three days in the fridge, but if you freeze it, you can use this umami bomb year-round for a myriad of projects, from tomato margaritas to tomato sodas. In this cocktail, we are going to keep its use fairly simple — as the chilling and diluting component in a shaken cocktail.

The addition of anise-forward absinthe, the sweetness of honey and the acidity of lemon round out the summer flavors in a classic sour cocktail template, while the vegetal and savory tones from tomato ice elevates the cocktail. Tangy and complex, this one is worth the effort. The nectarine infused gin will last about a month, so you can cling to one last sip of summer even as the seasons begin to turn.

Serves: 4

Difficulty: Easy

Inactive time: 48 hours

Active time: 15 minutes

Ingredients

For the tomato ice cubes

• 1 large heirloom tomato

• Pinch of salt

For the Nectarine-Infused gin

• 375mL high-proof gin (I used Mama Chuy Laurel Gin, Ford’s Gin would work well in its place)

• 1 nectarine, halved and pitted

For the honey syrup

• 100g honey

• 64g water

• Pinch of salt

For the drink

• 1.5 oz Nectarine-Infused Gin

• .75 oz honey syrup

• .75 oz lemon juice

• .5 oz absinthe (I used Absente)

• 60g tomato ice

Prepare your tomato ice by slicing your tomato into large cubes. Place the tomato pieces on a parchment-lined sheet tray and freeze uncovered. After at least 6 hours or when they are frozen and rigid, transfer your tomatoes to a fine-mesh sieve over a large bowl, sprinkle a pinch of salt and keep in a cool area of your kitchen to thaw. Place a cheese cloth or paper towel on top of your tomatoes to keep flies away. Once thawed to room temperature, transfer to the fridge. After 24 hours, you should have a good amount of tomato water collecting at the bottom of the bowl. Pour the tomato water into ice cube molds and freeze. The tomato ice cubes should be ready in about 3-4 hours.

To make the nectarine-infused gin, roughly chop the nectarine into cubes. Transfer the chopped nectarine to a large glass jar. Fill the jar with the gin and cover with a lid. After 24 hours sitting at room temperature, the gin will have a more juicy and slightly sweet flavor. Once you’re satisfied with the taste, strain out and discard the nectarine cubes and transfer the gin to a bottle.

To make the honey syrup, combine the honey, water and salt in a small pot over medium-low heat. Stir occasionally for 15 minutes to fully dissolve the honey. Remove from heat and let cool. Transfer to a bottle and store in the fridge. The honey syrup will last about two weeks.

To make your drink, combine all elements in a shaker tin and seal. Shake vigorously until you hear the ice dissolve into the drink, about 25 seconds. Strain into a coupe.

Cheers,
Rog

Tomato season hasn’t ended yet, and today I have a really fun application I bet you haven’t tried: a savory granita.

I’ve seen a couple recipes for oysters with granita, which I think is a brilliant idea for a dish best served icy cold. The idea to do a take inspired by a michelada made total sense to me, as the tomato-based Mexican drink is commonly paired with mariscos anyway. I season fresh, fragrant tomato with the savory staples of a michelada and plenty of lime juice, and then just pop the whole thing in the freezer. The result is a salty, acidic and slightly fruity topping that works really well with the subtly sweet brine of fresh oysters.

The type of oyster you select is entirely up to you, though I’m generally partial to East Coast varieties. You can always chat with your fishmonger about the varieties they have in and what flavor profile would best suit your tastes. You’ll want to buy them the day you plan to eat them and keep them ice cold. Shucking can be intimidating the first few times, but you’ll eventually get a feel for it. My best tips are to protect the hand bracing the oyster so you don’t, you know, stab yourself (opening an oyster can require more force than you might think), and to wipe the blade of your shucker or knife frequently with a damp towel. No oyster is unshuckable, so the worst you can do is mangle it a bit, which will mostly just affect presentation.

Ready to shuck it up?

(Crowd boos)

Serves: 2-4

Inactive time: 1 hour

Active time: 30 minutes

Difficulty: Intermediate

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For me, summer cooking is all about simplicity. The lulling heat makes every action become a little more leisurely, no need to overcomplicate things. This recipe features only a handful of ingredients — fresh summer corn, charred to enhance it’s sweetness, mild, stretchy Oaxaca cheese and a drizzle of honey that has the subtlest hint of warming spice and fruity qualities of guajillo chile.

I’ve written this recipe for the grill, and while you could certainly adapt it by charring the corn on a gas range, I really recommend doing the whole thing outside while the late afternoon sun washes over you. There’s a smokiness that can’t be easily replicated indoors, and anyway, sometimes cooking is just as much about the experience as it is the end result.

I made these quesadillas for dinner the other night and paired them with carne asada, grilled spring onions, and my mom’s rice and beans. While I can’t give you the recipe for the latter, I did use this one from Serious Eats with minor adaptions for the carne asada and really enjoyed it.

Makes: 6

Active time: 30 minutes

Difficulty: Easy

Ingredients

• 2 ears of fresh corn, shucked

• Neutral oil

• 1 guajillo chile

• 1/4 cup honey

• 8oz oaxaca cheese, hand-shredded

• Six 6” flour tortillas

• Flaky salt

1. Light a charcoal grill, building up one side more than the other so you have a hot zone and a cooler zone. Lightly brush the corn with neutral oil and place on the hot side of the grill, rotating as needed to get a good char on all sides. I’m talking some real blackened patches, not a light toast. Remove to a cutting board and let cool slightly before cutting the kernels off the cob holding it horizontally against the board (this way the kernels don’t fly everywhere).

   

2. Heat a carbon steel or cast iron griddle or large pan set over the hot side of the grill. Dry toast the guajillo chile until pliable and lightly fragrant, just a minute or two. Using kitchen sheers, snip the stem off and discard. Snip the chile into 1/2” pieces into a small sauce pan, add the honey, and set it over the cooler side of the griddle to warm and infuse as you work on the quesadillas.

3. If your tortillas are soft and pliable, you can assemble the quesadillas right away. If they’re prone to cracking, warm each of them for about 30 seconds on the griddle or pan. Divide the corn and oaxaca cheese up among the 6 tortillas, covering one half of each and folding them over to close. Brush your griddle or pan with a bit of neutral oil and add as many quesadillas as can fit, pressing on them with a spatula to make strong contact with the pan. Cook until toasty and browned, 1-3 minutes depending on how hot your grill is. Flip and repeat on the other side. Remove to a plate and repeat in batches until all the quesadillas are cooked.

4. Top the quesadillas with flaky salt and a drizzle warm guajillo honey, avoiding the large pieces of chile. Enjoy!

I’m interrupting the regular flow of recipes to tell you about Everything I’m Loving Right Now™. What’s life if you don’t stop and notice maybe you’re actually happy and take note of all the things that are making it so. These are a few of those things, or at least the more tangible ones I can recommend to you. I’d love to hear what’s really doing it for you these days, so don’t be shy in the comments.

HAGS.

Summer Favorites

Fresh young coconut

I’ve never enjoyed a coconut water before. In fact, the flavor sort of repulsed me. Then, one day this summer, I saw these fresh young coconuts in the produce section of my grocery store, cradled in a gleaming bed of pebble ice, and I thought to myself, “I need that like air.” Suddenly, there’s nothing I find more refreshing than the faintly sweet, toasty and surprisingly salty flavor of fresh coconut. I’ve been drinking one a week for the last two months. The other day I gave my mom a sip and she said it “tasted like socks.” Love it.

Blush below the bridge of my nose

I’m a blush abuser. Every day I wear a little too much in an effort to affect the natural flush of someone who has just gone for a run, made love or spent 20 minutes too long in the sun — when do we ever look and feel more alive? Lately, I’ve been obsessed with rubbing the excess from my fingertips after I’ve blended it onto my cheeks in a little stripe across my nose just below the bridge and above the tip.

Short iced latte

Where a latte feels glutinous and makes me tired, a cappuccino is the perfect balance of espresso and milk and just the right size for a slow-sipper like me. However, if you know anything about coffee, you know part of the definition of a cappuccino is in the temperature — it cannot be iced and remain true. Because I am the sort of annoying person who wants others to understand that I understand this, I have taken to ordering a “short iced latte” to which most people reply, “you mean like an iced cappuccino?” and I say, “yes, exactly.”

Blue jelly kitten heel

This little sandal from Steve Madden was the perfect low-cost impulse buy. I feel like ocean blue and aqua have been everywhere in fashion this summer, and flip-flops have made their way back into most of our wardrobes by now. When I tried them on at the mall and found they were comfortable and complete with my preferred kind of heel, it was kind of a no-brainer. I style them with a french tip pedicure and a dolphin toe ring.

It’s-It ice cream sandwich

If a brand or restaurant has been around for nearly 100 years, you needn’t sell me on anything else about it. I like things that have withstood the test of time. I’ve encountered It’s-It ice cream sandwiches before (I swear they were once at Whole Foods, though a look at their stockists tells me that’s not the case anymore, if it ever was.) but never tried them until recently. I was craving an ice cream sandwich and was struck by a sudden memory of their perfect, nostalgic packaging and immediately hunted them down at the only convenience store in my town that carries them. The cookies are tender and cinnamon-y and never squish the ice cream in between, which is soft right out of the freezer and robust in flavor. My favorite variety so far is cappuccino.

Big white LA Apparel pants

I picked up these unisex cotton poplin wide leg pants from the LA Apparel Factory Flea Market when I was recently in Los Angeles. Because they’re factory seconds, I can’t promise the ones you’ll get from the site are exactly like mine, but what I got was crisp, sturdy cotton, generous pockets and a silhouette that’s equally flattering and comfortable.

Pan-fried zucchini

If you read my last recipe, you’ll know I’ve been loving zucchini this summer. I’ve been cooking it at least once a week and think you should be cooking it too.

Dolphin tote bag

This mini cotton tote from Fruity Booty was a gift from my best friend. She thought I’d love it because it has a dolphin on one side and a picture of sardines in a tin on the other (not in a twee Lisa Says Gah! sort of way, more in a Mediterranean seaside kind of way). She was right, of course, but it’s also perfect because it feels equally at home at the pool and at dinner, it’s little bucket-like shape holds everything I need without feeling hefty, and it’s unique print goes with nearly all my outfits. I think it’s off the site now, and for that I do apologize.

Frozen Spaghett

Icy, refreshing and low-ABV — just the way I like it. The first place I had one of these was at Busty’s, a dive bar here in Austin, but my husband has also written a delicious and simple riff on it here.

Tuna salad lettuce cups

Most of you will know by now that I’m a real freak for tuna salad. Recently, I’ve loved serving it up like a little pearl in a shell-like cup made of butter lettuce leaves. It’s so easy and light. I think I may have been inspired by Aimee France.

Weeknight plans

Not to sound like a total stick in the mud, but I’ve always been someone who keeps a pretty rigid schedule. I grocery shop, cook, exercise, write, etc. on the same schedule every week. I go on a date with my husband every Friday. Many of you ask me how I manage to get everything done, and the answer is by being incredibly strict and organized. I love this about my life, but it doesn’t leave a lot of room for spontaneity or casual plans. Lately, I’ve been a little more lenient with myself. I say yes more. I’m having fun going out to dinner or stopping by a friend’s on a Tuesday night.

Pb+j cold from the fridge

I love the comforting nostalgia of a peanut butter and jelly on soft, untoasted potato bread. I like it even more after it’s been wrapped in plastic and chilled in the fridge for half an hour and the peanut butter gets extra sticky. Maybe that sounds weird. Try it and get back to me.

This is my first summer really caring about zucchini. I can’t say I’d ever given it a second thought, and now I suddenly can’t stop eating it. I’m not sure what made me pick one up at the store, other than my general commitment to seeking out the things that are naturally in season, even if they’re virtually all being imported from warmer climates year round anyway. What I’ve found is that when you cook zucchini hot and fast, it takes on this almost creamy texture and a really delicious savory vegetal flavor. It’s fantastic pan fried and tossed with pasta or layered in a sandwich, shingled on top of pizza or fried crisp, as I’ll walk you through here. I’m sorry it took me so long to notice you, zucchini. Forgive me. I was rather distracted by more seductive stone fruit and strawberries.

I can’t believe summer is already halfway over. The city pools here are closing in one week, and I feel like I’ve barely felt the serene, alien quiet of being underwater followed by that blissful, disorienting moment as you break the surface, wind tickling your ears as you come up for air. I want more warm nights eating ice cream in the back of a truck. I want my shoulders to stay a warm, deep tan. Life has a way of moving too fast. So please, enjoy some zucchini. And some berries, tomatoes, peaches and corn while you’re at it.

More summer recipes

Zucchini Frites with Parmesan Aioli

Serves: 2

Active time: 30 minutes

Difficulty: Easy

Ingredients

Read more

Welcome back to another installment of Mean Spirited.

This summer, my wife has been obsessed with one drink: the Frozen Spaghett. At one of our favorite local bars, it’s the perfect refreshing treat after a long day of swimming or running around. The combination of bittersweet and citrusy Aperol and the crisp “Champagne of Beers,” Miller High Life, was originally conceived as a low-effort Aperol Spritz, but between the two, I’d choose the Spaghett every time — especially when it’s ice cold.

They weren’t the first to serve the modern classic Spaghett, but at Busty’s, they have slushie machines in which they incorporate Aperol with citrus juice for sweetness and balance.

I took this inspiration and made it replicable at home by forgoing the slushie machine and opting to make a granita. It takes little effort and works on its own as a scoopable frozen dessert, reminiscent of Italian ice. I also swapped Aperol for the more hearty and complex Forthave Spirits Red Aperitivo which has pronounced notes of chamomile and rhubarb.

If you really want, you can swap out the High Life with another full-bodied lager (my favorite is Coors Banquet aka Coors Heavy), but I love that the High Life comes in a smaller 6oz bottle, called a Pony. It’s a perfect sidecar companion when your Spaghett runs low.

Serves: 6

Difficulty: Easy

Inactive time: 31 hours

Active time: 5 minutes

Ingredients

For the granita

• 1/2 cup granulated sugar

• Juice and peel of 1 orange

• Juice and peels of 2 lemons

• 1 cup Forthave Spirits Red Aperitivo

• 1/2 cup water

For the drink

• 1 scoop of granita

• Miller High Life Pony to top

• 1 orange, for garnish

1. Place a glass mug in the freezer to chill. To make an oleo saccharum, add the orange and lemon peels to a lidded container, followed by the sugar. Shake to incorporate the citrus oils and let rest at room temperature for at least 24 hours or until liquid forms in the jar. Juice the orange and lemons, strain and reserve the juice in the fridge.

2. Once the sugar dissolves, remove the peels. Add your oleo saccharum, citrus juice, Red Aperitivo and water to a freezer-safe shallow dish. Stir to combine and then set in the freezer.

3. After four hours, scrape the granita with a fork to prevent large ice crystals from forming. Return the dish to the freezer. Repeat every 30 minutes for the next 3 hours. You are aiming for a flaky, shaved ice consistency.

4. Once the granita is prepared, you’re ready to assemble the drink. Grab your chilled mug and pour in half of your beer. Cut an orange in half moons by slicing it in thin wheels, then cutting those in half.

5. With an ice cream scoop, top the beer with the granita. Garnish with an orange half moon and a straw.

Cheers!

-Rog

I don’t remember exactly the turns I took to end up typing “tuna casserole” into my Google search bar, but that’s where I found myself on a recent afternoon. I’d never actually had it. I would consider myself very American, which makes it sort of funny to think about things like stewed tripe, beef tongue, sheep’s cheese, and lamb chops as familiar and tuna casserole as, well, exotic. I think that’s where my curiosity probably comes from.

I’ve thought about the tuna casserole a lot. I brought it up to my friends, polled my followers on their thoughts. I became interested in the sort of mythos that surrounds it. It feels almost emblematic of all that is bad about white American food. One friend who I would consider to have both excellent taste and an open mind said she was scarred by the memory of church potlucks. Another said she hasn’t touched it since she lost her father. Someone brought over a condolence casserole topped with Ritz crackers and marshmallows, insult added to injury that could only be remedied with takeout pizza. But where did everyone go wrong?

The mechanics of the casserole seem to be as follows:

• Noodles (egg or macaroni seem to be common choices)

• Canned tuna

• Creamy sauce (cream of mushroom/chicken, sometimes sour cream, mayonnaise and/or cheese)

• Vegetables (varied, though peas seem common)

• Breadcrumbs, sometimes

My thesis is that fundamentally, this isn’t a bad formula. A few improvements could make this the cozy, nourishing dish it was always meant to be. For starters, there are better noodles. Ones that will hold up better to baking and cling to sauce more readily. Another important consideration is that not all packed tuna is created equal. There is the kind that’s wet like cat food and formed into a flaky disk, and there is the kind that would fall under the category of Spanish conservas, packed in olive oil and good enough to eat on it’s own. In terms of sauce, anything canned will inevitably taste like it came out of a can, and things like mayonnaise or too much cheese will leech oil during the bake. Thankfully, a velvety béchamel is the easy answer and a common component of many baked pastas already. For vegetables, what if instead of a mushy bit of carrot or a misplaced bell pepper they were sweet, snappy and crisp? And my answer to breadcrumbs is, of course, why not?

The result is still tuna casserole, but actually quite good. Even more surprising, it’s equally delightful as leftovers. I ate it for 2 more days, and the firm texture of the tuna held up to reheating just fine. It didn’t dry out. The sauce didn’t split and turn greasy as it so often tends to do with left over pasta. It was a perfect packed lunch. And if you ask me? That’s the sign of a damn good casserole.

Serves: 4-6

Active time: 1 hour

Difficulty: Easy

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I think you can microdose heaven by gathering warm, syrupy fruit, buttery pastry and a little bit of half-melted ice cream on a spoon. God.

Sometimes these little moments of ecstasy are hard-earned. Sometimes, they’re practically handed to you. This is one of those times. This fruit crisp is a two-bowl, mix-and-dump, minimal ingredient affair. We’re going the extra mile by browning the butter, which I’m sure we all learned to do years and years ago when we couldn’t stop hearing about that one brown butter chocolate chip cookie. We’re also adding a little extra crunch and whimsy by way of cornflakes. Corn and blueberries has long been one of my favorite summer flavor combinations. There’s a similar mellow sweetness there that takes a turn in different directions, one toasty or creamy, the other juicy and acidic.

This recipe will take you about 45 minutes start to finish and can be served as soon as it’s cool enough to eat. Ice cream is a must, and I’m a particular fan of Van Leeuwen’s Honeycomb flavor in this context. They’re not paying me to say that, it’s just a really good match.

Serves: 6

Active time: 45 minutes

Difficulty: Easy

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Welcome back to another installment of Mean Spirited.

I know what you’re thinking. Yes, we are making another syrup.

There are plenty of other ways to create innovative drinks, however, my goal with this column was to make simple twists on beloved beverages without the need for specialized equipment or (usually) fussy ingredients. The easiest way to do this is to swap out sugar for something more intentional.

Based off of the orgeat recipe by Kevin Kos, I expanded on the syrup to create a Mai Tai that feels like a step up from the basics with inspiration from the specs of Garret Richard, acclaimed bartender of Brooklyn’s Sunken Harbor Club. The richness of pistachios, salinity of miso and unique yet familiar flavors of vanilla and orange round out this summer sipper. Pairing this silky syrup with Planteray’s Cut & Dry Coconut Rum elevate the nutty and tropical flavor of the drink.

This orgeat is one of my favorite recipes to make, share and use in rum cocktails. Orgeat is an almond-based rich simple syrup that is utilized in classic tiki drinks due to its complex floral quality with the fresh, airy flavor of orange flower water or rose water. Making your own orgeat opens up the possibility of choosing different nuts to experiment with in addition to adding secondary components that compliment and emphasize the ripe flavors of your favorite rum. There is a downside; homemade orgeats tend to separate due to the fat and oil content of the nut milk. They also can have a thin consistency which doesn’t result in a rich mouthfeel. To fix this, I use xantham gum and gum arabic to emulsify and thicken up the orgeat. This is technically optional. You can purchase both of these from Modernist Pantry.

Whether it be in a cocktail, coffee or atop sweets, this syrup will keep for up to 8 months in the fridge, but it’s not likely to last that long.

Serves: 12

Difficulty: Intermediate

Inactive time: 24 hours

Active time: 30 minutes

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I am so sorry to bring a phrase as inelegant as “grinder dog” into your world, but that is just the situation we’ve found ourselves in. It’s the time of year where a juicy, snappy hot dog begins to sound incredibly appetizing. This summer, I’m dressing mine up like a good Italian sandwich, otherwise known as a grinder. The origin of the name, which is primarily used in New England, has either something to do with slang for dockworkers and the kind of work they did or with the toothsome nature of the bread the sandwich is served on. You could also call this a sub, though that feels somehow more vague, and “sub dog” is hardly an improvement. In fact, it probably sounds even more like a weird sex thing.

Name aside, this marriage of handhelds feels totally natural to me. They’re probably the top two most crave-able things to have at lunch on the beach or at a poolside barbecue. Hot dogs are, after all, a forcemeat just like mortadella, so really, we were never a far cry away to begin with. The toasted bun gets lined with creamy, funky provolone followed by an all-beef hot dog. The toppings are crisp, acidic and spicy featuring an Italian-style slaw and pickled peppers. It’s just the kind of thing you want to eat by cool body of water.

Makes: 4 hot dogs

Active time: 20 minutes

Difficulty: Easy

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If you’ve been with me for awhile, you’ll know about my deep, deep love of tomato season. For two years in a row I dedicated an entire week to cooking with them during the summer. See 2024’s edition here:

But today, I’m offering you an utterly simple recipe, free of all the fanfare. It’s just three components: soft buttery brioche (I strongly recommend you make your own), one of France’s finest culinary contributions (Boursin) whipped into a fluffy cloud, and ripe, fragrant tomatoes.

Makes: 2 servings

Active Time: 15 minutes

Difficulty: Reeeeaaal Easy!

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We’re all excited for summer berries, stone fruit, tomato season, of course — and believe me, those recipes are on the way — but in such a bountiful season, even the byproducts are a gift — squash blossom, peach leaves, and one of my favorites, fig leaves.

If you’ve never tried fig leaf, you’re in for a treat. The flavor is akin to vanilla with an almost nutty, almond-like undertone and a light green floral bitterness. The leaves tend to be in the best shape before the fruit comes in toward the end of summer and early fall. Where I live, fig trees are abundant and the leaves are easily foraged. All you need to do is go for a walk and snap off a few medium-sized leaves (around the size of your palm). Fig trees exude a sap called “fig latex” that can irritate the skin (I’ve never experienced this myself) so fair warning, you may want gloves. Nicola Lamb has some excellent info on the topic of fig leaves here.

Fig leaves are super easy to infuse into syrups and custards, or in this case, a simple eggless ice cream base. You will need an ice cream maker for this recipe, though it doesn’t have to be anything fancy. I have this one from Cuisinart. It’s a pretty small investment that will vastly improve your summer for years to come. Beyond that, all you need is a little time — for infusing, cooling, setting (and chilling the bowl of your ice cream maker overnight if you have the same kind I do!).

I’ve topped the ice cream with this warm, sunshine-y orange caramel. The combo was inspired by two fragrances from Tsu Lange Yor’s latest collection, The Garden. All three have quickly become summer staples for me, able to stand alone or layer together. This recipe is free, courtesy of TSY. If you enjoyed it, consider becoming a paid subscriber to receive new recipes every month. I’d be delighted to welcome you into the fold.

Makes: 4 servings

Difficulty: Intermediate

Inactive time: overnight

Active time: 30 minutes

Ingredients

• 3 fig leaves

• 1 cup whole milk

• 3/4 cups turbinado sugar

• 2 cups heavy cream

• 3/4 tsp kosher salt, divided

• 50g granulated sugar

• 2 tbsp water

• 2 tbsp orange marmalade

• 3 tbsp unsalted butter, cubed and softened

1. Add the fig leaves and milk to a saucepan and bring to a very gentle simmer over medium heat. Once simmering, remove from heat and let steep for 30 minutes. Remove the fig leaves, strain the milk into a bowl and whisk in the turbinado sugar until dissolved. Stir in the heavy cream and 1/2 tsp salt and chill for at least 4 hours, or preferably overnight.

2. Churn the ice cream base according to your ice cream makers instructions. Scoop right away for soft-serve consistency, or freeze for several hours to firm it up.

   

3. To make the orange caramel, add the granulated sugar and water to a small stainless steel saucepan. Heat over medium high and gently whisk until the sugar is just dissolved. Cook the caramel undisturbed until it’s a rich amber color. I mean this. Don’t touch it. This will likely take at least 5 minutes, but rather than relying on time, keep a very close eye on it and follow visual queues.

   

4. As soon as the caramel reaches the desired color, immediately remove it from the heat and carefully whisk in the orange marmalade. It will bubble violently, which is normal. Stir in the softened butter and whisk until smooth and incorporated and season with 1/4 tsp of kosher salt. Let cool to room temperature. The orange caramel can be made ahead and stored in the fridge. Microwave for 15 seconds before serving.

5. Scoop the ice cream into coups and top generously with orange caramel. Enjoy!

Today marks the 5th recipe and final day of Strawberry Week (fin!).

To bring us home, I’m turning things over to our monthly columnist and my darling husband, Roger. He’s written a juicy and delicious shrub recipe that can be made into a simple cocktail or mocktail — dealer’s choice.

You can find all the other recipes from Strawberry Week here:

If you’d like to see a second-annual Strawberry Week next summer, or have another ingredient to obsesses over together, please write to me in the comments.

I’ll let Roger take things from here.

Mezcal Sour with Strawberry, Burnt Lemon and Pink Peppercorn Shrub

Despite appearances, I’m not always creating complicated cocktails for myself or others at home. I don’t always have complementary bottles of booze — let alone sweet simple syrups or citrus — on offer. Lemon and lime juice don’t stay stable and delicious after even a few hours.

A great remedy for this conundrum is to make a shrub. This simple-to-make vinegar-based additive combines smooth acidity, ripe sweetness and complexity; just add a spirit. For this recipe, I combined fresh strawberries and smoky burnt lemon for a summery strawberry lemonade taste. The addition of pink peppercorn adds a mouth-watering and slightly spicy dimension.

Shrubs are great because unlike most syrups, they easily translate to non-alcoholic drinks. Mix the shrub with sparkling water and ice to taste, and you’ll have an easy crowd pleaser. In this instance, we are combining the shrub with a mezcal from one of my favorite agave distillers, Derrumbes. Durango is an affordable and unctuous spirit with notes of ripe mango, vanilla and musk. If you can’t get your hands on this bottle, experiment. I chose mezcal, but feel free to use your favorite un-aged gin, vodka or blanco tequila. It will likely result in a delicious sipper.

Makes 12 oz, 8 servings Difficulty: Easy Active Time: 20 minutes Inactive Time: 24 hours

For the shrub:

• 2 lemons, halved

• 1 cup fresh strawberries, quartered, stems intact

• .75 cup sugar

• .75 cup apple cider vinegar

• 20 pink peppercorns

• .25 cup honey

For the drink:

• 2 oz Mezcal (Derrumbes Durango)

• 1.5 oz shrub

1. Turn your broiler to high. Generously drizzle olive oil on the cut side of the halved lemons and sprinkle with salt. Place your lemons with the cut side up on an aluminum-lined sheet tray and broil for 12 minutes, or until the cut side is charred in parts.

2. Fill a deli container with the strawberries. Pour in the sugar, squeeze the lemon juice from the burnt lemons and reserve the carcasses. Cover with a lid and shake the container to evenly cover the strawberries. Set aside while you heat the vinegar.

3. Heat the vinegar on low in a small pot. Add the burnt lemon carcasses and honey, stirring to dissolve. Crush the peppercorns with a mortar and pestle and add to the pot. Warm and infuse for 12 minutes, then remove from heat. Transfer your macerated strawberries and infused vinegar into a jar and let infuse for 24 hours in the fridge.

4. The following day, strain out the solids with a nut milk bag or a cheesecloth, wringing out the juice from the strawberries. Pour the remaining liquid into a clean bottle and keep in the fridge for up to two months.

5. To make a drink, add all the ingredients to a cocktail shaker with ice.

6. Shake vigorously for 20 seconds and strain with a fine mesh strainer over a cocktail coupe.

Cheers!

-Rog

Welcome back to Strawberry Week!

For the fourth recipe in the series, I’ve put together a little bit more of an ambitious bake for you. These brioche danishes have a really polished feel, like they’ve come straight out of the case at a bakery where you’d gladly spend $19.50 for an iced americano and a little treat.

The two main techniques here involve working with enriched dough (brioche) and making pastry cream. Neither should intimidate you, just know you’ll need to be a bit patient with following each step to get the correct results. Before you begin, mix up a batch of brioche dough following the instructions here.

The following day, all you need to do is shape the danishes, whip up a batch of pastry cream and bake. The strawberries are applied here in an utterly simple way, just sliced and fanned out across the middle, so you’ll want to be sure to pick your ripest, sweetest berries. The custard substitutes goat milk for standard dairy, which just adds a little bit of interesting funkiness to an otherwise very simple flavor profile. I recommend using what’s leftover to make a goat milk honey cappuccino to sip alongside your danish, if you can.

Makes: 10 danishes

Active time: 30 minutes

Inactive time: Overnight + 1 hour

Difficulty: Intermediate

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My mom was the cook in our household growing up, and being that she’s not Caucasian, it wasn’t until adulthood that I tried cottage cheese for the first time. I never really understood the allure, and in many ways, still don’t. There’s no nostalgia factor to these strange little curds for me. I think this recipe is actually what drew me to is for the very first time. I am constantly searching for ways to batch cook healthy things I can easily take to work for breakfast and lunch — baked eggs, yogurt bowls, oats, smoothies, salads that Sit Well ™️. For some reason, I got this idea in my head of creating a strawberry cheesecake-like flavor profile, and cottage cheese just fit the bill. By whipping it with a little skyr and lemon zest for tang and honey for sweetness, it transforms entirely.

I love roasting strawberries for added depth of flavor. I sweeten them up with a little turbinado sugar, which I think works especially well for this dark, toasty application. Spooned over the fluffy whipped cottage cheese and topped with a little bit of floral sumac, it’s a really excellent breakfast you can eat throughout the week — even better when served in a dainty little glass.

Serves: 4

Active time: 35 minutes

Difficulty: Super easy

Ingredients

• 1lb strawberries, hulled

• 2 tbsp turbinado sugar

• Vanilla extract

• 1 container cottage cheese

• 1/4 cup vanilla skyr or greek yogurt

• 1 tbsp honey

• Zest of half a lemon

• Sumac, for serving

1. Preheat the oven to 375°F. Halve any particularly large strawberries and leave the smaller ones whole. Add these to a baking dish along with the turbinado sugar and toss to coat. Bake for 30 minutes, stirring once in the middle. When the strawberries come out of the oven, stir in a splash of vanilla extract and let them cool completely.

2. In the bowl of a food processor, add the cottage cheese, vanilla skyr and honey. Blend on high until smooth. Stir in the lemon zest.

3. To make a parfait, layer a little whipped cottage cheese in the bottom of a glass, then a couple strawberries, and repeat so you have two layers of each. Sprinkle with sumac and enjoy!

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My version of this dish features a tender scone with crisp, buttery edges. The scones get just enough height to be split across the middle, but still maintains enough softness to be easily broken up with a spoon as you’re eating. The dough gets perfumed with fresh orange zest and toasted pistachio. Before you begin the recipe, you will need to toast some shelled pistachios in the oven for about 7 minutes at 350°F and then finely grind them in a food processor. I recommend toasting at least 1/3 cup. Once you’ve got your ground pistachios ready, the dough comes together simply.

As for the strawberries, I like to macerate them until they’re super vibrant and juicy. A splash of orange liqueur does incredible things to their flavor and creates a really beautiful connection to the scones. I recommend letting them sit in the fridge for at least an hour and up to overnight. The chantilly cream is simple and straightforward. You could use vanilla extract here, but I’d encourage you to spring for a vanilla bean. In a dish this simple, these things go a long way.

Serves: 6

Active time: 1 hour

Difficulty: Easy

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I’m a pancake-loving bitch. This is well known and well noted. There have been many excellent large-format pancakes that have come before me – Golden Diner, Hellbender, Carla Lalli Music, Paris Starn. I want to pay my respects to all these, but it’s my turn now.

My Big Pancake ™️ is crisp and lacy on the surface, buttery without being pitted and pockmarked, thick and fluffy without being too toothsome. It took some perseverance to get here. I’ve incorporated cornmeal for a touch of nutty sweetness, which I’ve used with great restraint to avoid venturing into cornbread territory (much closer than you’d think!). I highly recommend seeking out a finer grind of cornmeal for this precise reason as well. It’s much more subtle when it blends seamlessly into the rest of the dry ingredients.

This pancake is a perfect vehicle for a wide array of toppings, but what led me here was, of course, strawberry syrup. A soft, pulpy strawberry is one of my favorite textures. Few things can compare. However, often the syrup you’ll encounter them swimming in is far too saccharine for breakfast, though you’ll certainly find it at IHOP anyway. I’ve turned to honey instead and gone a step further by cooking it until it’s a toasty amber color. This roast-y floral flavor goes perfectly with jammy strawberries for spooning over the pancake. Top the whole thing with a pat of salted butter and it becomes difficult to stop eating. One will feed two people as a main course, or four in a pancake-for-the-table type of situation.

Serves: 2-4

Active time: 30 minutes

Difficulty: Easy

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This five-part series will feature recipes for:

• Strawberry, Burnt Lemon & Pink Peppercorn Shrub

Before we get to all that, let’s talk about the berries, if we can even call them that.

History of The Strawberry

The strawberry as we know it today was the result of a happy accident. It’s earliest garden varieties date back to the 1300s, brought in from the wilderness by the French. It wasn’t until the 1600s that Virginia strawberries were brought over to Europe. This new variety was much hardier than those that came before, but it was many years before it was widely appreciated. Then, in 1714, a French spy brought the Chilean strawberry back to France from Chile. What this variety offered was size. While it produced much larger fruit, the plant lacked fortitude and posed challenges with growing. It wasn’t until the Virginia and Chilean strawberries were accidentally cross-pollinated by the French that we arrived at a hybrid fit for mass growing.

The origin of the name “strawberry” is uncertain, though what we do know is that they’re not actually berries at all. In fact, most “berries” aren’t berries. Berries are derived from a single ovary of a flower. Their seeds are contained internally and the layers of their fruit walls aren’t distinct from one another, which means strawberries, blackberries and raspberries are not berries, but rather aggregate fruits.

How to Pick Strawberries

If you have a u-pick nearby where you can pick strawberries right off the vine, by all means, do that. Few things are more romantic than hand picking fruit with the sun warming your skin. But most of us are more likely picking out a carton at the grocery store, and when you do, I recommend you give it a sniff. In Latin, strawberries are referred to as “fragra,” or fragrant. The way they smell should tell you all you need to know. You’re sniffing for something sweet, not that green grassy scent and not something that borders on boozy. When they reach the latter, they’re usually beginning to mold. As a general rule, I also recommend looking for smaller berries, which will be less full of water and more dense in flavor.

More Ways to Celebrate Strawberry Week

Strawberry Scents

From green strawberry fields to licorc-y strawberry candy, these are all scents I’ve known and loved.

• Amicus Cumulous - Pearfat

• Fraaagola Saalaaata - Hilde Soliani

• Strawberry Candle - Malin + Goetz

• Oishii Berry Body Wash - Iota

Strawberry Sounds

Strawberries in Art

I am writing to tell you there will be no recipe today. I’m cooking up a special collection of five recipes centered around one ingredient that will come out a little later this month. If you can guess what the ingredient is, I’ll tell you.

Instead, I’ve been collecting little things I’ve found especially pleasing lately in food, media, etc. What are you enjoying lately, I wonder?

Recent Favorites

Spring vegetables - I’ve been blanching asparagus and serving it with hollandaise or green goddess, blistering snap peas, pairing green beans with sliced garlic, black vinegar and chili crisp or baby bok choy with oyster sauce.

Japanese sweet potato for breakfast - I roast them in batches and eat them warm with pistachio butter and Maldon salt.

Peanut butter sandwich crackers - What a perfectly nostalgic 3pm snack.

Yogurt parfaits - Why did we ever abandon them? The stratified layers are so satisfying to dig through. I like packing them in jam jars and throwing them in my bag for work.

Noting each new flower that blooms along my run - Hello, fleeting friends, I wonder how different you’ll look tomorrow?

Water flossing - And running my tongue along the gaps in my teeth, what a strange satisfaction.

Yacht rock - I turned 30 and suddenly started liking Steely Dan. I don’t know.

Brandi Melville bralettes - Pretend you did not just read the former sentence about being 30. I hate synthetics and love cotton, even when working out. I hate to say these have become some of the most comfortable and reliable garments I own as the weather gets warmer.

Flamingo Estate Prinsesstårta fragrance oil - Sometimes it’s nice to smell like a sugary confection ready to be devoured.

Re-learning old skills - I am trying to remember how to be a barista and a photographer again and both keep me humble.

Girls (2012 - 2017) - I’ve been watching for the first time. What a perfect time capsule. I particularly love the soundtrack, and I think Elijah is the best Girl.

Demitasse spoons - The smaller the spoon the better. After buying a huge bundle of these for approximately $3 at the restaurant supply store, they’ve changed everything for me.

Doily baskets - I recently located one of these after a long search. I had seen a photo long ago and had no idea how to refer to it, but it turns out it’s an antique bread basket. I’m planning to use it to store easily-bruised summer fruit.

Peas are a year-round, weeknight hero in my house. They’re cheap, protein rich, delicious and freeze beautifully, but spring is really their season. I love them paired with salty pork — ham hocks, prosciutto, or in this case, crispy mortadella. The rendered fat from the mortadella acts as the base of the sauce, which is rounded out really simply with a little emulsified butter, lemon and parmesan. You can use any pasta you like here, but I really like the ditalini because the size is consistent with the peas and little cubes of mortadella in a really lovely way, and I think that’s an underrated consideration when it comes to plating and creating a pleasant textural experience.

But the best part of this recipe is probably that you can make it with one pan in about 20 minutes.

Serves: 2

Difficulty: Easy

Active time: 20 minutes

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