This month it’s felt so clear to me that the summers of my youth are gone: the earth is getting hotter, and we’re all feeling it. Growing up in New England, there were plenty of hot summer days, but with cool and rainy days mixed in and frequently chilly nights. This summer I am longing for those cool days and nights like crazy. Cool nights help our bodies regulate themselves, and help keep our houses from becoming absolute ovens. The around-the-clock heat is insanely depleting.
It seems like there are no end of opportunities to feel stricken anew by the fact that climate change is here, and that life on Earth is changing. We are all already adapting to our new reality, whether consciously or not, and we’re clearly going to have to keep finding new ways to adjust. The last few weeks, cooking and eating have been a struggle for me. My apartment is hot, my body is hot. My appetite is down, especially during the middle of the day, and things I normally love to eat don’t appeal. My hunger cues are all scrambled. Also, it’s emotionally frustrating: I usually love to plan meals, cook, and eat, and it sucks to feel so limited and uninspired. So here are a few of the things that I have been enjoying making and eating, and that you might try if you’re having similar struggles.
Pasta with raw tomato sauce. Here’s how I make it: First, put on water to cook your pasta. While your stove is on, go stand as far away from it as possible in your kitchen to prepare your sauce. Take one medium-sized good-tasting tomato, ideally a local one, and chop it into a medium dice. Scrape that into a bowl, including all the juice. Then add a glug of olive oil (maybe just shy of a tablespoon?) and a smaller glug of red wine vinegar (about a teaspoon). White wine vinegar or balsamic would also be good. Throw in one clove of garlic, either grated on a microplane or pressed with a garlic press, a big pinch of salt, and a bunch of grinds of black pepper. I also like to add a few basil leaves, torn or chopped finely, and some capers. Olives could also be nice, or some torn fresh mozzarella, or chopped parsley or chives. But if you don’t have any of those things, it will still be delicious. When your pasta is done, drain it and toss it in with the tomatoes and mix it together. Taste and add more vinegar/salt if it’s bland, or add more olive oil if you feel like it. Grate some parmesan on top if you like. The other day I made this around midnight, when I realized I hadn’t eaten nearly enough all day and I was suddenly ravenous. I ate it in bed with the AC running and it was perfect.
Gravlax. This is a decadent thing to make, it requires no heat, and I’m planning to start some tomorrow. Point of distinction: nova lox is salmon that’s been smoked, and gravlax is salmon that’s cold cured, meaning you can make it at home easily. My recipe for this comes from Michael Solomonov’s cookbook. Procure a salmon fillet. The recipe is designed for a one-pound fillet, but if it’s a little bigger or smaller it’s fine. The recipe tells you to remove the skin if it’s skin-on but you can also remove it easily after curing. Rinse the salmon and pat it dry with a paper towel. Then mix the following in a small bowl: a quarter cup of kosher salt, two tablespoons of brown sugar (or white sugar, if you don’t have brown), some grinds of black pepper, and a bunch of dill that you’ve chopped roughly. Lay a piece of saran wrap inside a baking dish or container that will fit the salmon, and sprinkle half the sugar-salt-dill mixture on top of the saran wrap. Put the salmon on top of that, and then cover it with the rest of the sugar-salt mixture. Then wrap the plastic wrap tightly around the whole thing. Put it in the fridge and let it cure for about 48 hours. During this period, flip the fish over a couple times, when you think of it. When the two days have passed, take it out. Some liquid will have seeped out into the dish. Unwrap, scrape off the sugar/salt/dill and discard, and rinse any remaining brine off the salmon and pat it dry. The salmon will be darker and firmer than it was before you cured it. Slice the salmon as thinly as you can. Eat it like you would lox, on a bagel or in a sandwich, or put it in a salad, or eat it as part of a meal that’s just random things assembled from your fridge. It will keep a week, refrigerated.
And here are a couple other recommendations that are not recipes:
3. Treat yourself to a whole watermelon. A slice of watermelon is both a food and a drink, IMO. Last week I brought watermelon as dessert to a friend’s house for dinner and we ate it dusted with some chili-lime seasoning (Rancho Gordo’s Stardust powder, specifically, which is incredible). Everyone was delighted.
4. Two very specific ice cream recommendations, if you can find them: Hood’s “New England Creamery” Black Raspberry Chip, and Haagen Dazs’ Banana Peanut Butter Chip. The best supermarket black raspberry chip I’ve had, and a genius flavor that should be a standard, respectively.
5. I feel that it’s very important to have a range of cold beverages in the fridge during times like these. One that I have been keeping on hand: a teapot of herbal tea (I love fresh mint mixed with dried chamomile, but you could also just use, like, a couple Sleepytime tea bags) kept in the fridge. I like to have little glasses throughout the day and before bed. It would also be tasty sweetened, but I prefer it straight up.
Stay fed and watered, and if you have heat survival food recs, I would love to hear!