How to Eat: The Pleasures and Principles of Good Food by Nigella Lawson

Author:Nigella Lawson
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub, azw3, pdf
Tags: Cookbooks, Food, Cooking, General, Courses & Dishes, Cookery
ISBN: 9780470173541
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons
Published: 2007-06-05T03:43:38+00:00

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To eat outside, you don’t necessarily have to cook a lot, but you’ve got a lot to think about. I’m talking here about a table-borne lunch outside in the garden. Choose nothing fussy, nothing that will grow waxy or dry in the heat, and nothing that will sit too heavily on the digestion. Lots of meat, quivering pots of mayonnaise in the sun’s glare, bread already cut—much traditional picnic fare is ruled out. Certainly a hunk of bread, a wedge of cheese, and a peppery salami will do on cooler days, but in even moderate heat, bread gets stale in a matter of minutes. Cheese and meat quickly grow a patina of rancid sweatiness.

GRAPES AND PLUMS

PAPAYAS

Pita is better—unsurprisingly—at withstanding heat; it does harden to cardboardy unpliableness if left out too brazenly, but covered with a napkin or toasted to order on a nearby barbecue, it will hold up better than ciabatta or baguette. Don’t bother cooking a dessert. You could go for the Yogurt with Honey and Passion Fruit on page 211; otherwise serve grapes and plums all’Italiana—bobbing about in water- and ice-cube-filled bowls—or any amount of fruit cut up with as much dexterity as you can muster (in my case, not much), Japanese style. Tropical fruits obviously do well in the heat. Cut papayas in half, remove the black stony pips, and squirt with lime, or fill the cavities, avocado-style, with strawberries that have been chopped and macerated with a sprinkling of balsamic vinegar or with plain, unadorned raspberries.

Food that suits hot weather is—it stands to reason—food that’s customarily eaten in hot countries. I tend to go for the food of the eastern Mediterranean. I am not pretending to set up a taverna in my backyard; but when it’s hot I want tabbouleh, hummus, garlic chicken, mint-sprinkled slices of eggplant, and the balm of juicy, cold, jade-colored wedges of cucumber.

TABBOULEH

I love this salad of cracked wheat, mint, and parsley to be very green and very sharp, but if you want it to be grainier and oilier, then adapt it as you wish. In many recipes you will find cucumber stipulated as well; by all means add this if you want, but I tend not to as after a while it makes the salad go wet and watery. I keep leftovers in the fridge to be squished into pita or a baked potato for the next day’s lunch and, indeed, eaten whenever the desire overcomes me. Tomatoes seem to hold up pretty well in the dish, although I always add them just before serving the tabbouleh the first time. Perhaps it’s just that I don’t mind the pinkly-stained sogginess so much on my own account when it’s brought out for the second. Red onions, if they’re not mild, can make this very intensely oniony, so taste a bit of the onion (and the scallions—they too can vary) before you judge how much to add. Tabbouleh, surprisingly, works very well too with cold—poached or baked—salmon for a different take on a traditional summer food.

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