Cold food comes into its own in August, writes Hugo Arnold
In August I become an assembler of food rather than a cook. This is no month for serious cooking. The produce is great, plentiful and well-suited to a display-and-eat-attitude. A bowl of white peaches, their heady perfume wafting across a table set in the garden, is perfection. What more would you do other than slice them and remove the stones, and even that is hardly necessary.
A plate of Parma ham, sliced so thinly that it is almost transparent, adorned with torn mint leaves, cucumber and mozzarella, is instant food of the best kind. Smoked salmon needs nothing more than lemon juice and black pepper, although olive oil and a few well-chosen capers are good additions.
I will grill peppers, courgettes and aubergines. I will boil, and even roast. I will happily steam, and gladly marinate. But with this warmer weather, who wants hot food? It is time to chill out and relax.
A bowl of peas podded and eaten at the table may sound like an extreme version of field to plate, but they were a delight last Sunday with chilled butter and crusty bread. We continued our meal with a take on tabbouleh, in this instance a barley couscous combined with cherry tomatoes, cucumber, parsley, mint and tarragon and a great drizzle of olive oil cut with lemon juice. To top it off, a slick of yoghurt spiked with garlic and toasted cumin seeds.
In this weather - the good days anyhow - I am averse to anything too heavy. A sausage or two off the barbecue, and I really have had enough. After that what I really want are lots and lots of vegetables. I could eat green salad forever, and a tomato salad when the tomatoes are good cannot be bettered. You can serve it with crumbled feta or goats' cheese, combine the tomatoes with that great duo basil and avocado, or simply dressed.
And what about raw vegetables, or crudites as they call them in France. What better way to eat them than dunked in a garlic-laced yoghurt dip; that Italian concoction of anchovies and butter - bagna cauda; or any number of made-up mixtures: cream cheese and chives; creme fraiche and herbs; or roughly chopped avocado with chilli and roughly chopped coriander. For this month at least, a no-cook cook is in residence.
Recipes serve 4
SERRANO HAM, BRAISED CHERRY TOMATOES AND ROCKET SALAD
We too often refer to Parma ham in a generic way. Some of the Spanish hams are excellent and in some cases many consider them superior to Parma.
1 tbsp sugar
4 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1 head garlic, peeled
300g cherry tomatoes (preferably still on the vine)
1 heaped tsp finely chopped rosemary
4 slices good quality bread200g Serrano ham (or similar)
4 handfuls of rocket
Combine the sugar with the olive oil and two tablespoons of water. Bring this to the boil, stir so the sugar is dissolved and add the garlic. Cover and cook over a gentle heat for five minutes, or until the garlic is just tender. Add the cherry tomatoes, rosemary and a seasoning of salt and pepper. Cover the pan and shake it vigorously so the tomatoes are coated in the oil. Simmer gently for three minutes and remove from the heat. Leave, covered, to cool.Toast the bread, then put some of the tomatoes on each slice, lay the slices of ham on top and add a handful of salad. Drizzle over more olive oil and serve.
SMOKED TROUT, SOY AND GINGER SALAD
vegetable oil
1 garlic clove, peeled and finely chopped
2 spring onions, finely sliceddash of Tabasco
1 tbsp toasted sesame seed oil
1 tsp freshly grated ginger
1 tbsp soy sauce
4 handfuls mixed salad leaves, preferably something peppery (rocket, mizuna, watercress)1 handful beansprouts
1 tbsp lightly toasted sesame seeds
350g of smoked trout, gently broken up wasabi
Heat two tablespoons of vegetable oil. Add the garlic and ginger and saute gently until golden brown. Remove from the heat and allow it to cool. Transfer the oil to a salad bowl. Add the spring onion, Tabasco, sesame seed oil, soy sauce and a tablespoon of hot water. Just before serving, add the leaves, beansprouts and sesame seeds and toss everything thoroughly. Arrange the salad on four plates and scatter the smoked trout elegantly around the leaves. Serve with chopsticks and a small squeeze of wasabi on the side of the plate.
SPICED CRAB, POPPADOM, RED ONION AND ROCKET SALAD
If you want to cook your own crab, plunge it in lots of salted boiling water and cook for 12 minutes for medium-sized crabs. Remove from the boiling water and plunge into iced water. Leave aside to cool completely.
1 red onion
half tsp cumin seeds
half tsp black mustard seeds
3 cardamom pods, seeds removed and pods discarded
4 dressed crabszest and juice of two limes
4 handfuls rocketextra virgin olive oil
4 poppadoms (you can buy these pre-cooked, but the ones you fry off will be crisper and fresher)
Peel and thinly cut the red onion into half-moon slices. Combine the sliced onion with a heaped teaspoon of salt in a sieve and toss so the onion is liberally covered. Leave to drain over a bowl and then wash under lots of cold running water and squeeze dry.Heat a dry frying pan and toast the cumin, mustard and cardamom seeds separately. They need about 25, 15 and 10 seconds respectively, but use your nose - as they cook they lose their raw aroma, becoming quite rounded, almost sweet. Grind the cumin and cardamom seeds and add this to the crab, along with the zest and juice from the limes, and the mustard seeds. It is a matter of preference whether you keep the white and dark meat separate. I combine them.Toss the rocket and red onion together in a bowl with two tablespoons of olive oil. Place a poppadom on each plate. Put a pile of rocket and red onion on each one and then the crab mixture. Add a slick of olive oil and serve. This tends to be combination eating, part fingers, part knife and fork.
MINT AND SUMMER BERRY SOUP
300g raspberries
200g redcurrants, separated from their stalks
100g blackcurrants, separated from their stalks
100g caster sugar
single cream
bunch mint, finely chopped
Combine the fruit with the sugar and three tablespoons of water. Simmer gently for five minutes and set it aside to cool. Push the fruit though a sieve, mashing the fruit to extract as much as possible. Transfer into four shallow soup bowls and refrigerate. Just before serving, scatter the mint over the top and add a generous swirl of cream.
harnold@irish-times.ie