- Seasonal Kitchen: Chile Peppers
- Roadfood: The Sterns Discover a Special Pepper in St. Augustine, FL
- Book Excerpt: Tim Stark on Chile Peppers
- Gourmet Entertains: Dan Barber’s Seasonal Farm Menu; Summer Picnic Menu
- Picnic Meals Layered in Glass Jars
- The Gourmet Cookbook Club’s August Selection: Deborah Madison’s Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone
- Gourmet Travels: India, Mongolia, New Mexico
- Joe Dolce on Eco-Entrepreneur Craig Sams
- Frozen Watermelon-Lime Bars Recipe
- Drinks: Great New Red Wines for Under $15.00
- The Last Touch: Ice Cream
- New at Gourmet.com
In this issue, Gourmet focuses on three summer obsessions: chile peppers, picnics, and farm-fresh produce.
Seasonal Kitchen: In “Heat of the Moment” (page 96), Gourmet food editor Ian Knauer presents a variety of chile peppers in summer dishes: Jalapeño Poppers; Vietnamese Chicken Salad; Chilled Red Bell Pepper and Habanero Soup; Pickled-Chile Relish; Indian Shrimp Curry; Pork Chops Scarpariello.
In Roadfood: “Datil Be Fine” (page 29), Jane and Michael Stern travel to St. Augustine, Florida, for Minorcan clam chowder flavored with the heat of the delicious and rare datil pepper, grown only on Florida’s northeast coast and southeast of Barcelona. The Sterns recommend the best dishes at: Barnacle Bills Seafood House; Hot Stuff Mon; O’Steen’s Restaurant; and Schooner’s Seafood House.
Exclusive Book Excerpt: “Burning Love” (page 42), from Tim Stark’s upcoming memoir, Heirloom, to be published in July. Stark owns Eckerton Hill Farm, in Pennsylvania, which specializes in heirloom tomatoes and obscure chile peppers. The excerpt depicts a day at Stark’s stand at the farmers market, where “chile heads” challenge him about the heat of his chile peppers, including the chocolate habanero, which is 50 times hotter than a jalapeño.
Gourmet Entertains includes two menus: “Ground Swell” (page 68) highlights James Beard Award–winning chef Dan Barber, one of a growing number of chefs seeking to minimize the distance fresh produce travels from field to table, who planted his New York restaurant Blue Hill at Stone Barns right on a farm. Barber’s seasonal menu includes: Tomatoes “On a Fence” with Lemon Vinaigrette; Bacon-Wrapped Squash; Tomato “Burgers”; Haricots Verts with Poached Eggs and Tarragon Vinaigrette; Grilled Watermelon and Tomato Salad; Grilled Trout in Eggplant Broth; and Cheesecake with Minted Blackberries. Gourmet’s editors compile a guide to the country’s best farm-forward restaurants (page 74). “Some Enchanted Eating” (page 82) offers a picnic-ready summer menu with dishes that you can transport to the great outdoors: Woodland Bundles; Chilled Corn Soup; Stuffed Pork Tenderloin with Mustard-Caper Sauce; Deviled Chicken Drumsticks; Purslane and Parsley Salad; Honey “Tree Bark” Biscuits; and Blueberries in Gin Syrup. Gourmet’s cooks share their favorite easy-to-prepare picnic recipes on page 88. “Picnic in the Glass” (page 46) offers six beautiful composed meals layered into jars that can be taken along on your next summer outing: Curried Chicken Salad with Spiced Chickpeas and Raita; Greek Salad with Orzo and Black-Eyed Peas; Ham Persillade with Mustard Potato Salad and Mashed Peas; Shrimp with Salsa, Avocado, and Chips; Tuna Tonnato with Eggplant Salad; and Smoked Salmon with Egg Salad and Green Beans.
Gourmet Cookbook Club (page 53) highlights this month’s selection, Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone, by Deborah Madison, the founding chef of Greens restaurant in San Francisco. Madison’s book was originally published in 1997, and the user-friendly new volume was recently reissued in a special anniversary edition, including a recipe for Bread Pudding with Corn. A video of the author, more recipes from the cookbook, and a forum can all be found at gourmet.com.
“A Taste of August” (page 50) features a recipe for Frozen Watermelon-Lime Bars for dessert. And Gourmet’s executive editor, John Willoughby, examines whether the sulfites in wine are to blame for headaches.
“Framing a Life” (page 62) is Gourmet food editor Ian Knauer’s story about beehives on his family farm and the bees that died due to colony collapse disorder (CCD). In “To Bee or Not To Bee” (page 65), Heather Smith writes about the CCD outbreak and why food suppliers are in need of insects to pollinate crops.
