After a blustery spring that at times felt more like second winter than a transition to flip-flop weather, summer’s eventual arrival is a welcome respite from having to hunt for both gloves before heading out the door, swaddled in a layer of down that both buffers and distances from the outdoors. Whenever winter trails deep into spring, the fear is always that this will be another short, cold summer, like that one a few years back.
What summer may lack in duration, though, it makes up for in intensity. A single summer day may include early-morning blueberry picking for the day’s pancakes, then a hike in the mountains with a quick dip in the stream to cool off or perhaps a few hours spent alternating between warm sand and cool ocean. With an appetite thus stimulated, the evening’s meal provides a chance to recharge before a few rounds of flashlight tag or staying up late, circled around the fire pit with a pile of long, skinny sticks and a bag of marshmallows, only a few of which fall in the dirt before being roasted.
Fortunately, the mosquitoes hovering just beyond the glow of the fire pit are not the only ones who feast come summertime. After the inevitable slow start of spring where a single new vegetable appears at the farmers’ markets and roadside stands every week or two, by the time school lets out for summer vacation, multiple new finds are popping up every week: little green cardboard treasure chests of jewel-toned berries, every shade and shape of green imaginable, and, of course, the inevitable onslaught of summer squashes. Despite every home gardeners’ resolution not to overplant zucchini this year, by late August, even once-novel uses for the vegetable, such as sautéing it down into a creamy sauce for pasta, are wearing thin.
Happily, nearly all of the seasonal summer crops are at their best when fussed with as little as possible, leaving maximum time for soaking up the warm feeling of sun on the skin and for embarking on after-dinner walks to enjoy refreshing breezes as the sun begins to set.
Tomatoes are sublime sprinkled with salt and pepper (a drizzle of extra-virgin olive oil is usually a welcome addition). Berries need no more than a quick rinse under a cool stream of water. Melons are sliced and eaten out of hand. Even vegetables such as corn, which require cooking, demand little of the cook.
All of these simple preparations are ideally suited to the shared ambitions of nearly every home cook in the summer—maximize time available to spend outdoors, minimize effort required to get dinner on the (porch) table, and, above all, do not heat up the kitchen—all while eating well, of course. The time will come soon enough when a long, slow braise warms the hearth and the soul, but for now, savoring a fresh peach warmed only by the sun is the best way to celebrate the season.
