Freshness And Flavor Featured in this Seasonal Summer Dinner Menu
I apologize for my absence these past few months. Finishing my Health Coach certification requirements and my fourth cookbook (third anti-inflammatory cookbook) took up a lot of my time! Soon I’ll provide information about my expanded services, I’m really excited to be able to help people transition to a whole foods anti-inflammatory diet, but until then, I can’t let summer go by without enjoying the best fruits and vegetables of the year. Presenting: a Seasonal Summer Dinner.
My Summer Seasonal Dinner Meal Plan
It’s fitting that this dinner menu was for the same guests as my last dinner menu post, A Classic Dinner. That menu was at a colder time of year and featured salmon, roasted vegetables and a warm chocolate soufflé for dessert. For this menu I’ve featured summer produce. Our first course was chèvre puffs with golden tomatoes seasoned with lavender salt (Blue Lavender Flake Salt from the Bitterman Salt Co.-thanks Anne!), and chopped chives. The entrée was pan seared steaks with chimichurri sauce over sautéed white corn, zucchini, and shallots. Dessert was cherry clafoutis with lemon honey crème fraiche. I saved the cherry juice from the clafouti and used it to create an aperitif with champagne.
A Surprise Hostess Gift
This lucky hostess was gifted with a beautiful bouquet of sweet peas from Myrts garden and a big bouquet of herbs from Lizzy’s garden. And if that wasn’t enough, Liz gave me her Wedgewood Wild Strawberry china! I’ve coveted that pattern since I first saw it at her house many years ago. We joked that she would leave it to me in her will. Fortunately, she decided to give them to me now so I can enjoy both her and her china! The next dinner will be an exploration of pinks, greens, and anything that will enhance the beauty of the china.
Recipes
Chèvre Puffs with Goat Cheese and Lavender Tomatoes
Chèvre Puffs with Goat Cheese and Lavender Tomatoes
Cream puffs look complicated but really aren’t. These can be made ahead, and cut them in half, lightly brush them with olive oil and return to a hot (375F) oven to warm them, about 8 minutes before filling and serving them. The tomatoes can be dressed ahead and kept at room temperature for several hours. Don’t refrigerate tomatoes! If you buy tomatoes from a place that keeps them refrigerated, or the tomatoes are cold when you touch them, shop somewhere else. Refrigerating tomatoes makes them mealy.
Pan-Seared Steak with Chimichurri Sauce and Sautéed Corn
Pan-Seared Steak with Chimichurri Sauce and Sautéed Corn
This meat recipe is so easy that I’m not even going to write it up, because I already have! As mentioned in the method for cooking the salmon in A Classic Dinner Menu, the technique is exactly the same, except you’re cooking steak instead of salmon. I used NY Strip, but Rib Eye and T Bone are also good options. And if you love to grill, the chimichurri sauce is excellent on grilled meat. I suggest buying 6 oz per person. If available choose organic pastured grass-fed meat.
The sauce can be made the day before and stored in the refrigerator overnight. It is equally delicious served with salmon, halibut, or lamb.
The corn is best made with fresh corn with the kernels cut off shortly before serving. The starch in corn breaks down quickly which changes the texture.
Cherry Clafoutis
Cherry Clafoutis
Clafoutis are a very simple dessert that can be made with almost any seasonal fruit. It is most famously made with cherries and since they are in season right now (July in California) I wanted to bake with them. Pitting cherries is a messy job, so feel free to cheat by using thawed frozen pitted cherries.
The pan is buttered and coated with ground almonds and sugar. I like using large grained brown sugars like turbinado, but granulated sugar works well too. Serve Clafoutis slightly warm or room temperature.
