At this time of year, when summer produce shines with flavour and succulence, you really don’t need to do a lot to get dinner on the table. Cook up a pot of potatoes or heat up a crusty loaf of bread, fire up the barebecue to cook some protein and prepare a yummy salad with whatever fresh vegetables you have to hand.
In a restaurant, you sometimes find that the chef is at such a great pains to impress that their food is all about technique, and it can be hard to figure out what you are actually eating. As soon as I see the words ‘foam’ or ‘spherification’ on a menu, I know I’m in trouble.
Molecular gastronomy, which also goes by such names as Progressive cuisine, Avant-garde cuisine, and Modernist Cuisine, approaches food from the point of view of pure chemistry. You find cubes of deep-fried hollandaise sauce and edible paper made from soybeans and potato starch for use with edible fruit ink and an inkjet printer. One of the most famous examples of this kind of cooking is Australian-born Chef Adam Melona’s signature octopus preparation - an edible floral centre piece that looks like a bunch of flowers, sees very low temperature cooked octopus fused using transglutaminase (a protein binder, called meat glue), dipped in an orange and saffron carrageen gel (carrageen holds its form at higher temperatures than gelatine) and suspended on dill stalks. He calls it the “Octopoop”. My friend Emerald would say “Tricked up”. It’s not a compliment.
While I appreciate the ingenuity and expertise involved in this kind of advanced chemistry cooking (all cooking involves some form of chemistry), as a cook I’m actually far more interested in connecting with the actual ingredients and finding ways to enhance them, rather than transforming them into something entirely different.
A vinaigrette dressing, stashed in the fridge ready to drizzle and toss, is all you need to transform summer produce into a tasty salad. I make my ‘go-to: dressing with 4 tbsp olive oil, 3 tbsp neutral oil, 3 tbsp red wine vinegar, 1 tbsp Dijon mustard, 2 tbsp water, a big pinch of salt and several grinds of black pepper. Sometimes I grate in a clove of garlic, or use a different kind of vinegar. I like it quite tangy. You might prefer more oil. The mustard emulsifies the dressing and keeps it creamy. That’s all the chemistry I need.
These vegetable tasty offerings make the most of the season’s harvests. Sturdy and portable, they’re equally at home for a back deck barbecue or a portable potluck.
Crunchy Cucumber and Butterbean Salad
This is wonderfully refreshing and full of flavour. If you want to bulk it up a little, you can double the amount of beans, or serve it with toasted crostini. The salad also works as an open sandwich topping - just spread a little Greek yoghurt on a slice of baguette, then top with the salad.
Ready 20 minutes
Serves 4
2 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
2 tbsp apple cider vinegar
2 tbsp lemon juice
1 clove garlic, finely grated
1 × 390g can butter or cannellini beans, drained, rinsed, and set aside in a bowl
2 spring onions, base and ends trimmed, finely diced
1 stalk celery, finely diced (optional)
1 telegraph cucumber, cut into quarters lengthways, then sliced
½ cup finely chopped mint leaves
½ cup finely chopped coriander
flaky sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
To serve
1 cup Greek yoghurt or non-dairy alternative
1 tsp Za’atar (optional)
Combine the olive oil, vinegar, lemon juice and garlic in a small saucepan and bring to a simmer. Remove from heat, and pour this mixture over the drained beans. Place in the fridge to cool while you prepare the other ingredients.
Combine the spring onions, celery, cucumber, mint, and coriander in a large bowl. Season to taste with salt and pepper, then add your bean mixture to this bowl along with any dressing.
To serve, divide the yoghurt between four bowls. Spoon over the salad and divvy over the juices.
Beet and Carrot Salad with Orange and Mint
This refreshing salad holds well and is great for a picnic or pot luck. Add the pumpkin seeds just before serving so they retain their crispness. You can also make this with farro or barley, in which case you’ll need to cook it. Replace the bulghur with Quinoa for a gluten free version.
Ready in 15 mins
Serves 4-6
½ cup each bulghur wheat and boiling water
1 beetroot, peeled and coarsely grated
1 carrot, peeled and coarsely grated
1 spring onion, finely sliced on a diagonal
1/2 packed cup coarsely chopped mint leaves, no stems
1 clove garlic crushed to a paste with ½ tsp salt
Finely grated zest and juice of 1 large orange
1 tbsp lemon juice
2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
several grinds of black pepper
¼ cup toasted pumpkin seeds
Place bulghur wheat in a bowl and cover with boiling water. Allow to stand for 10 minutes.
Combine grated beetroot and carrot in a bowl with spring onion and mint. Add soaked bulghur wheat. In a small bowl, mix garlic and salt paste with orange juice and rind, lemon juice, olive oil and pepper, pour over salad and toss to combine. Check seasonings and adjust to taste. Just before serving, mix through toasted pumpkin seeds. If not serving at once, reserve the pumpkin seeds to add at serving time, cover and store in the fridge for up to 2 days. Take out of the fridge about 20 minutes before serving.
Red Peppers and Shallots with Sherry Vinaigrette
If you haven’t used sherry vinegar before, it’s worth buying a bottle. The flavour is so good, and it’s also great for deglazing a pan you have cooked beef or venison in. Here it works its magic on a simple dish of roasted peppers and shallots.
Ready in 40 minutes
Serves 6-8 as a side
2 tbsp olive oil
12 medium shallots, skin on, halved lengthwise,
4 red peppers
salt and pepper
Sherry vinaigrette
1 fat clove garlic crushed to a paste with ½ tsp salt
1 tsp Dijon mustard
1 tbsp runny honey
2 tbsp sherry vinegar
6 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
several grinds of pepper
Preheat oven to 200°C.
Drizzle a little of the olive oil over a large roasting tray and arrange shallots, cut side down. Rub whole peppers with remaining oil and place on another tray. Season with salt and pepper.
Roast vegetables until shallots are tender and peppers are starting to blister, about 30 minutes. Transfer peppers to a bowl, cover with a cloth and leave to cool.
When shallots are cool enough to handle take off the outer skin and discard.
Make the dressing by whisking all the ingredients together in a mixing bowl large enough to fit the roasted vegetables.
Skin and de-seed peppers and tear each into 6 thick strips. Place in the bowl with the dressing, together with the shallots. Mix to coat. When ready to serve transfer to a serving platter and spoon over the dressing.
Serve at room temperature.
Match these with ...
by Yvonne Lorkin
(Crunchy cucumber and butterbean salad)
Dashwood Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc 2023 ($14-$17)
All this greenery and butter beanery deserves to be dissolved by a delicious, herbaceous, passionfruit and peachy punch in the mouth like the Dashwood. Laced with sweet pea and grass clipping complexity on the nose and palate, it’s an easy, lemon-squeezy style of sauvignon that you can buy pretty much everywhere and it’ll bring the grins when sipped on the salad front. Refreshing, gum-tingling and pretty darn good. Thegoodwine.co.nz
(Beet and carrot salad with orange and mint)
Swift Wines Marceline Methode Traditionelle Blanc de Blanc 2022 ($45)
The sweetness of the crunchy beetroot and carrot mixed with tangy citrus dressing and softly chewy bulghur wheat means a smorgasbord of sensations in every spoonful. So why not replicate that on the sipping side of things too? Lauren Swift has created a new version of her hugely popular fizz and it’s a crunchy, dry, heck of a good time in a glass. Crafted entirely from chardonnay in a blanc de blanc style, it’s had no sweetness added to kickstart its bubble-making referment (zero dosage) so it’s profoundly lemony, and roars with green apple, gunsmoke, sensationally squinty acidity and boasts a long, ultra-fresh finish. Swiftwines.co.nz
(Red peppers and shallots with sherry vinaigrette)
Taylors Reserve Parcel Limestone Coast Clare Valley Cabernet Sauvignon 2021 ($27)
I recommend sipping a large goblet of cabernet sauvignon as you nibble your way through this salad. Why? Because cabernet sauvignon is the result of cabernet franc and sauvignon blanc doing the wild thing back in the mists of time and this new baby took on a hint of its parents’ propensity for capsicum characters on the nose and palate. The Taylors Reserve Parcel is scented with charred red capsicum, deep peppery tones, blueberry, cocoa powder and Christmas cake spices. On the palate it’s richly structured and super-savoury, which is exactly what you need to marry with the slippery shallots and sweet sherry vinaigrette. Superb. Available at New World supermarkets and Superliquor.