A few weeks ago, Esther who works for Martha Stewart magazines sent me an email, asking whether I’d like to receive a complementary copy of the special Everyday Food summer issue.
I’d be happy to, I said.
I love summer.
It almost went without asking. Especially since, I later found out, recipes from fellow bloggers Heidi, Aran, and Ree, were featured inside the magazine. With more goodies from New York food writer Mindy Fox.
I promised to give my feedback.
Don’t be surprised when I tell you that I wasn’t actually familiar with the magazine at all. I know.
In a way, it was probably good. I didn’t have any expectations.
The magazine arrived and I found myself enjoying what I read and saw.
The cover was pretty. The magazine was filled with beautiful pictures of mouthwatering dishes. With a strong enchanting summer feel. There was even a delightful feature of Aran and dishes she made to celebrate a summer pool party with friends.
All charming.
Obviously, many dishes caught my attention–like a zucchini frittata and Mindy‘s roast chicken. But because of the way my life goes at the moment, I knew I wouldn’t have the time to cook my way through the magazine right away.
I have the rest of summer to do just that.
Yet, I started with a few selected dishes.
Like the gorgeous corn soup that Aran made and styled. It was a dish we loved.
I adapted the recipe, experimenting each time I cooked it.
The soup is served chilled with chopped pepper and scallions, and coriander flowers. I was glad to find coriander flowers in my garden that I gladly used for the garnish as well. We found the soup superb to start a meal on a hot day.
In one of my interpretations of the dish, the recipe I am including here, I liked to add leek and fresh herbs, because I have lots of them in the garden that speak summer flavors. I also garnished the soup with fresh pieces of crab that offered a welcoming contrast of texture and flavors, a bit like a cross between Earth and Water. Try these if you happen to have the ingredients handy. And I served the soup lukewarm. In the end, I really enjoyed the original recipe and the variants I tried. It was fun to make the soup again and again and see what happens each time we ate it.
See for more corn soup recipe ideas:
Corn soup recipe I cooked after a weekend in Block Island a few years ago
It may be the first corn soup recipe I cooked?
Then came the popsicles. Beautiful refreshing bâtonnets de glace à eau, as we call them in French, with colors that popped out of the pages. So inspiring, I thought. Perfect for the season.
I knew I had to try a few.
I had mangoes at home, juicy peaches and raspberries bought at the market, and my favorite apple juice. Inspiration with a new recipe idea in my head.
That was just the way the mango and peach popsicle recipe that follows was born.
I kept it simple. Without any sugar added. I wanted to taste the aromas of the fruit. I wanted that Lulu enjoyed them just like that too. I wanted color. So I decided to sneak a few raspberries inside each popsicle. And nothing else.
We ate them when my father-in-law and P.’s sister, who both live in Chicago, paid us a surprise visit for lunch. It was a perfect summer day, I remember. Not too warm. So comfortable. I had prepared a carrot soup flavored with lemon thyme that we enjoyed with crusty millet bread, slices of prosciutto, and cucumber from the garden that I sliced finely and dressed in a yogurt, mint, lemon juice and olive oil sauce.
The popsicles sealed our meal beautifully. They were gone within seconds.
So I made more. With red currants and raspberries that time.
“Red ones!” Lulu exclaimed when she opened the freezer and found them, ready to be eaten.
She ate one. And then she was off running again.
Ah the flavors of summer…
Did I like the magazine?
I did.
I also told Esther that I wished that the future issues would stay in a large format, like the summer issue (the current Everyday food issues are printed in pocket size).
Photographs need to be big, I added.
They really do.
N’est-ce pas ?
See for more popsicle recipe ideas:
Popsicles with raspberries and peaches I made last year
And a rhubarb and raspberry yogurt popsicle recipe.
You need:
- 1 pound 2 ounces (500 g) mango pulp (about 3 yellow mangoes)
- 6 small vine peaches (7 oz; 200 g flesh), peeled, cored, and diced
- 1/3 cup (80 ml) quality apple juice
- 16 to 20 raspberries, halved
Steps:
- In the bowl of a blender, place the mango and peach flesh, and purée finely. Add the apple juice (add more if necessary) and blend until you reach a purée with a creamy texture–it shouldn’t be too runny, but thin enough that you can easily pour it inside the molds.
- Fill the popsicle molds with this purée, leaving 1/2 inch at the top of each (as the fruit purée will expand once it freezes).
- Press a few raspberries inside each mold.
- Freeze until completely set–if you use molds that require wooden sticks, add those before the fruit purée is completely set.
- Bring the popsicles back to room temperature for a minute or so, or until they slide easily out of the mold. Eat immediately.
Note: If you want, add a few mint leaves with the fruit flesh and purée finely together.
You need:
- 12.5 oz (350 g) red currant and raspberries combined
- 1/4 to 1/3 cup (50 to 80 g) blond cane sugar
- 1/4 cup (60 ml) quality apple juice
Steps:
- In a pot combine the fruit with the sugar. Bring to a simmer and cook until the fruit bubbles.
- Transfer to the bowl of your blender and purée finely. Strain through a fine mesh to remove the seeds. Taste to make sure it is sweet enough. Add more sugar if necessary (to taste).
- Add the apple juice (add more if necessary) to the fruit purée and blend until you reach a creamy texture–it shouldn’t be too runny, but thin enough that you can easily pour it inside the molds.
- Fill the popsicle molds with this fruit purée, leaving 1/2 inch at the top of each (as the purée will expand once it freezes).
- Freeze until completely set–if you use molds that require wooden sticks, add those before the fruit purée is completely set.
- Bring the popsicles back to room temperature for a minute or so, or until they slide easily out of the mold. Eat immediately.
You need:
- 4 corn ears, husked and silks removed
- 2 cups milk at 2%
- 2 cups water
- 2 tablespoons olive oil + more for serving
- 1 large shallot, finely chopped
- 1 leek, white part only finely chopped
- 2 thyme twigs
- 4 sage leaves
- Sea salt and pepper
- 4 to 5 leaves of basil
- A few leaves of parsley
1/4 red pepper, cored and seeds removed, finely diced- 1/4 orange pepper, cored and seeds removed, finely diced
- 2 red scallions, cleaned and finely chopped
- 1/3 cup fresh crab meat, to serve
Coriander flowers, to garnish- Chopped chives, to garnish
Steps:
- Using a sharp knife, cut the kernels off the cobs above a large bowl; set aside.
- In a pot wide enough to contain the cobs, combine the milk, water, cobs, twigs of thyme and sage leaves. Bring to a simmer. Cook for 10 minutes and then stop the heat. Let rest for 10 minutes.
- In a saute pan, heat the olive oil over medium heat. When warm, add the leek and shallot, and cook for 3 minutes, stirring, without browning.
- Add the corn kernels and continue to cook for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally.
- Add the milk, water and cobs, and season with salt and pepper. Simmer the soup, covered, for 15 minutes, or until the vegetables are soft. Discard the cobs and thyme.
- Transfer the soup and liquid to the bowl of a food processor with the parsley and basil, if using, (you may want to work in a few batches) and purée the soup finely. Strain the soup through a fine mesh, pressing down with the back of spatula to extract as much liquid as you can. Transfer the soup to a clean bowl and chill it. Or if you prefer, serve the soup lukewarm, like I did.
- To serve, ladle the soup in bowls (thin it a bit with water if you feel it needs it), and garnish each bowl with pieces of red and orange pepper, scallion and fresh crab meat. Drizzle olive oil on top and add chopped chives.
For Aran’s original chilled corn soup recipe, see inside the summer issue of Everyday Food.
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