My darlings, didst thou miss me?! I know, it's been 2+ months. There was this destination wedding I was in ... and then we adopted a rescue puppy ... and then my best friend in the world came and visited for almost a month (yes, we had a house guest for 25 days straight, and have I mentioned that my Hubs is a living saint?! I have and have again and will continue ad nauseam).
So here we are: June and July having evaporated like popsicles hitting the pavement in August, which is fitting as we suffer through Day 2 of yet another New England heat wave
withOUT AC.
Yup ... Just another scene from Act I of our melodrama: We Bought a House and It's Been a Bumpy Road.
Cooking in the summer can be trying as it is, but when there is no relief at all from the stagnant, rotting stew of humidity and heat, the. stove. does. not. turn. on. Oh hell no.
This is just fine by me, because when I close my eyes and think of summer, I am sitting on a white plastic deck chair in the screened-in porch with the scratchy putting-green carpet in Wisconsin, the matching plastic round deck table sans table cloth laden with traditional Chinese cold plates--dishes comprising a handful of ingredients and minimalist prep: cold noodles in peanut-horseradish sauce, harvest vegetable salads in soy vinaigrettes, pork-trotter cold cuts and spicy pickles, and steamed sweet corn (without fail, there is always an abundance of steamed corn). For me, these are the dishes of summer, and foremost among them is a bite that I will call tofu bruschetta.
4 ingredients
4-minute prep
VEGAN (which, for those of you who know me, is not usually my thing ... at ALL)
- Mash 1 block very firm, Chinese-style tofu (less firm = mush; Japanese-style = watery mush).
- Add very finely chopped chives and toasted pine nuts.
- Season generously with sesame oil and S&P.
- Serve atop crostini, toast, crackers, bagel chips (make your own), etc.
- (Chitalian version: swap the chives for basil and the sesame oil for EVOO and hit it with some pesto if that's lounging around.)
So simple it's almost suspect yet ultimately savory and satisfying ... and sweat-free. Surviving the summer swelter one dish at a time!