Simple Summer Recipes

I don't mean to be so recipe-centric, but I guess I've been cooking a lot lately. Here are four more recipes I have tried and liked in recent days:

Last Friday, I tried a Soy-Glazed Flank Steak from Everyday Food, which I cooked on a Le Creuset grill pan, since I lack an actual barbecue, and it was tasty. To accompany the steak I made a basic green salad and roasted new potatoes. I served them with another recipe from the Food & Wine article I mentioned, this one was a simple tomato salad with herbs and Parmigiano-Reggiano. For dessert, I made roasted plums (again from Everyday Food); they were delicious served with vanilla ice cream.

Then last night, I cooked this Seared Salmon with Balsamic Glaze, which appears in The Gourmet Cookbook (a personal favorite). We only cooked 1 lb. of fish, so I halved the ingredients on the glaze and only needed three minutes per side.

Linguine with Tomatoes, Baby Zucchini and Herbs

Another great tomato recipe that I discovered this summer was the Linguine with Tomatoes, Baby Zucchini and Herbs in Food & Wine's August issue. (The article, 'The Cook The Farmer & The Tomato,' has several other tomato-centric recipes I am still dying to try.) I followed the recipe the first time, but upped the quantities of both garlic and herbs a bit--what can I say, I like garlic. I also forgot the red chile when shopping, so we substituted dried, crushed red pepper, which gave it that bit of kick.

Since that first test-drive, I've made this pasta several times. It's an easy, delicious way to enjoy summer herbs and vegetables at their best. The only cooking required is boiling a pot of water, so it's also a great choice for hot, New York City apartments. Plus, it makes for a really delicious leftover lunch the next day. Yum!

Tomato Salad with Olives and Lemon

I made this delicious tomato salad recipe from Everyday Food last night, and it's a definitely a keeper of a recipe. (I used a combination of yellow and red tomatoes and pitted Kalamata olives. ) If you plan to make it yourself, the recipe on Martha Stewart's site has a typo--it's 1/4 cup of olives, not 1/4 gallon.

I also tried out a spinach and bacon frittata recipe from the September issue that was good, but it wasn't one I am dying to try again. I served both with a simple salad of endive, radicchio and baby arugula with vinaigrette and baguette and fancy, salted Irish butter. (I have decided the expensive butter is worth every penny, and I use so little that it's not a huge indulgence. However, Land 'O Lakes is still my go-to for baking.) All in all, a lovely, late summer meal.

Happy cooking!