Late Summer Pasta Salad with Tuna, Fennel, Red Pepper, Heirloom Tomato and Cucumber

This is a mash up of Amanda Hesser’s kids’ favorite Zuni's Pasta with Preserved Tuna and Martha Stewart’s recent Pasta Salad with Tomatoes, Mozzarella, and Chickpeas; it’s basically a late summer kitchen sink pasta salad with tuna.

Ingredients

2 heirloom tomatoes, roughly chopped
1 red bell pepper, thinly sliced
4 Kirby cucumbers, cut lengthwise into thin spears, then into 1-inch segments
1 fennel bulb, sliced into then crescents
2 TBS red wine vinegar
12 ounces — 1 can— of olive oil packed tuna
2 TBS capers
1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes
2 garlic cloves
2 TBS of chopped parsley
8 ounces of radiatore, gemelli or fusilli pasta
Pecorino Romano cheese

First, chop tomatoes and sprinkle with salt and set aside and allow them to weep — I do this on the side of my cutting board, or in an empty prep bowl, or since you’ll be draining pasta you can also toss them in the colander

Second, chop cucumbers, fennel bulb, and pepper, place in serving bowl and drizzle with red wine vinegar and sprinkle with 1 teaspoon of salt

Third, cook the pasta and saute the tuna: Bring salted water to a boil to cook your pasta per the instruction and while you are waiting for the water to come to a boil, add the garlic cloves, capers, red pepper flakes, 1 tablespoon of parsley, and the entire can of tuna, including the olive oil to a non-stick skillet or cast iron

When the water begins to boil, add your pasta and turn the heat under the skillet to medium-low and saute the tuna the amount of time that the pasta needs to cook — my pasta needed 9 minutes anywhere in this range will work

Fourth, combine everything: Add the pasta, tuna, and drained tomatoes to the serving bowl and toss

Garnish with Pecorino Romano cheese, 1 tablespoon of parsley, and the juice of 1 lemon

Probably should serve four, but we were hungry and so it only served two.

A Late Summer Side Salad

Approximate quantities: 6 Kirby cucumbers, cut lengthwise into thin spears, then into 1-inch segments;4 black cherry tomoatoes, halved; 3 artichokes, halved; 1 bell pepper, thinly sliced; 1 Casady’s Folly plum tomoato, sliced into thin creseants; drizzled with olive oil, salt and pepper to taste

Serves four as a side or two as a main with lemon-parsley-feta rice.

A Rainbow Side Salad

Approximate quantities: 1 large red heirloom tomato, roughly chopped; 1 large yellow heirloom tomato, roughly chopped; 1 avocado, sliced lengthwise; 4 kirby cucumbers, cut lengthwise into thin spears, then into 1-inch segments; 1 watermelon radish, peeled and sliced into thin discs; drizzled with olive oil, salt, and pepper to taste

Serves two as a side.

Purple Diakon Radish, Silver Queen, and Cucumber Salad

Approximate quantities: 1 head of red romaine, roughly chopped; 6 Kirby cucumbers, cut lengthwise into thin spears, then into 1-inch segments; 1 purple diakon radish, sliced into thin discs; kernels of 1 ear of grilled silver queen corn; 2 yellow carrots, sliced into thin disks; drizzled with 1/4 teaspoon of red chili flakes, salt and pepper to taste

Peanut-Soy-Rice-Vinegar-and-Sambal Dressing — not pictured — inspired by Sue Li: Whisk together 2 tablespoons soy sauce, 2 tablespoons rice vinegar, 3 tablespoons unsalted peanut butter, 1 teaspoon sugar, and 1/2 teaspoon sambal

Serves four as a side, or two as a main with 1 cup of steamed rice

Cucumber and Snap Pea Salad

Approximate quantities: 5-6 small kirby cucumbers, cut lengthwise into thin spears, then into 1-inch segments; 6 ounces sugar snap peas, strings removed, ends trimmed, and cut lengthwise; drizzled with olive oil, salt, and pepper

Serves two as a side.

Summer Rainbow Salad

Approximate quantities: 1 head of red romaine lettuce, roughly chopped; 1 red heirloom tomato, cut into 16ths; 1 orange carrot, sliced into thin discs; 1 yellow carrot, sliced into thin discs; 1 avocado, sliced lengthwise; 1 green bell pepper, thinly sliced; 6 ounces of sugar snap peas, strings removed, ends trimmed, and cut lengthwise; 6 purple radishes, sliced into thin discs; 1 purple carrot sliced into thin discs

Drizzled with 2 tablespoons of olive oil, 1 teaspoon of Cholula’s Chili Lime; two tablespoons of queso fresco or Parmesan, salt and pepper

Serves two as a main or four as a side.

Apricot-Blackberry-Cherry-Peach-Pluot Pie

So this one has a little bit of a preamble and it starts with, I don’t really like cooked cherries. I’m not sure why. I’m not sure what happens when you cook cherries but something happens to the flavor and texture that I just don’t love. This happens, funny enough, with carrots too. I love raw carrots and always have them in my fridge, but I don’t generally like cooked carrots. They get too sweet and too mushy. Grilled carrots, I’m fine with.

Anyway, it’s been a absolute gangbusters cherry season here in the north east. They are everywhere and they have been amazing. About two weeks ago, they were all laid out in pints with blueberries and it got me thinking that I’ve made so many different pie and crisp fruit combinations — apple, apple-cranberry, apple-rhubarb, blueberry, blueberry-rhubarb, cherry, peach, peach-raspberry, peach-blackberry, plum, strawberry-rhubarb, but never cherry and never cherry-anything.

It’s been a busy and hot few weeks — not exactly prime baking conditions — and so I’ve been reading recipes for all sorts of cherry desserts, cobblers, pies, and clafoutis, or a reliable fruit cake with cherry instead, and I decided to make … wait for it … a pie. What can I say. The heart wants what the heart wants.

Apricot-Peach-Pluot-Cherry-Blackberry Pie

4 apricots, sliced into then crescents
2 peaches, sliced into then crescents — I used white peaches, but yellow will do fine
2 pluot, sliced into then crescents
10 ounces of sweet cherries, pitted and halved
10 ounces of blackberries, halved or quartered if they are large
2 tablespoons granulated sugar
1/2 teaspoon of cinnamon
1 tablespoon of corn starch

Erin McDowell’s perfect pie crust, doubled

Normally, pie instructions will tell you to make the crust first and then get your fruit together while your crust spends some time in the fridge before you roll. For this, because there are so many different fruits, I’d highly recommend chopping all of the fruit and mixing it together gently with the sugar and the corn starch and allowing it to sit either at room temperature for an hour or two or in the fridge for a few hours. I find that this will help bring all of the fruit together and it allows for the cornstarch to bind.

Follow Erin’s instructions for crust, refrigerate for at least 30 minutes, and then roll

One additional comment on this that I keep meaning to make a very short Instagram video of, and that’s, obviously, pie crust is notoriously difficult — I think Deb’s photos here are really helpful and then, after you finish cutting the butter into the flour either with your fingers or with a pastry cutter:

Make a well in the center of the mixture. Add 3 tablespoons ice water and mix it in by tossing the flour in the bowl.

This is absolutely freaking genius. So in the video, Emily tosses the flour, which you can see at the 1 minute mark, but since my mixing bowls have handles, I actually toss the whole bowl with an even push forward and toss action and what happens is the clumps of butter and flour begin to attract the loose flour and tiny pieces of butter, slowly forming into larger and larger clumps of dough which you can then easily press into a single disc of dough

Measure your dough into two equal balls, press into discs, and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes

Roll out the two pie crusts, press one into the bottom of the pie plate, spoon the fruit mixture with a slotted spoon in discarding any juice that may have gathered at the bottom of the bowl, gently place the second crust on top, crimp the edges together and bake for 60-70 minutes at 350 degrees

A Fancy and Beautiful Tomato, Cucumber, Carrot Salad

Inspired by Sarah Jampel’s Fancy and Beautiful Tomato Salad!

Approximate quantities: 1 large tomato, cut into 12-16 wedges; 8-10 ounces of mixed cherry tomatoes, quartered; 3 carrots, sliced into thin discs; 1 English cucumber, cut lengthwise into thin spears, then into 1-inch segments; 3-4 ounces of feta cheese, roughly chopped; 4 artichokes, quartered, 2 cups of pita chips; 1 tablespoon of harissa, 1 tablespoon of olive oil, salt, pepper, and the juice of half of a lemon

Chop all of the vegetables and add to salad bowl

Mix harissa and olive oil together in large mixing bowl and mix together with a fork until well-combined, add 2 cups of pita chips and mix well to coat all of the chips in the harissa and oil (or if you bowl has a lid, put the lid on and shake vigorously enough to coat the chips)

Add the chips and any remaining harissa and oil to the salad bowl mix to combine and dress with lemon juice, salt, and pepper

Served two as a main.