August in New England is sultry and lazy, a calm before the storm. It always feels like vacation: sunny days, swimming, and melon. This month's green tips are excerpted from my column, Parsimony in the Kitchen (at greenyankee.com), because they use a vacation's main ingredients, sun and water.
Simply combine some fresh ingredients with water and put the combo in the sun. Poof! Food and drinks for a healthy vacation that require minimal kitchen time.
Next time you run the tap for either hot or cold water, let the water run into a pot or a pitcher.
Use the pot of water for boiling pasta/rice, or soaking beans, and use the pitcher of water to make sun tea.
Sun Tea
This is so easy. Put tea bags in a clear pitcher of water and place in the sun for a few hours. Use 1 teabag/cup of water. Remove bags or strain; if you like, add your favorite sweetener (or try Ginger Syrup, below). Sun tea is usually an iced drink because it doesn't get hot enough to be "hot." The gentle heat of the sun is especially good for green, white and herbal teas. Black teas brewed in this way also tend to be less bitter.
Tip: Basil flower tea is a favorite summertime treat. It's a clean taste, quite healthy, and snipping the flowers encourages the plant to continue to grow. Toss a handful in a pitcher of water and steep in the sun for a few hours. Strain and add ice.
Ginger Syrup
Hot and sweet, spicy and soothing, ginger syrup is a delightful addition to teas, pancakes, oatmeal, an of course, ginger bread. It's also a pleasant substitute for corn syrup.
4 cups fresh ginger root (14 ounces; unpeeled makes a stronger syrup)
3 1/2 cups sugar (24 ounces)
3 1/2 cups water (28 ounces)
Slice the ginger root about 1/8 thick or use the slicing disc of a food processor. Place in a heavy pot (not aluminum, but does anyone use that anymore?) with the sugar and water. Boil over medium to medium high heat for about 45 minutes or until it reaches 216 degrees F. (You may boil it a bit longer for a thicker syrup — more like molasses, bsut it won't stir into teas as easily. I prefer a pourable consistency for baking.) Remove the pot from the heat, allow to cool slightly, and carefully strain into one or more glass containers. Cover and store in the refrigerator for up to three months.
Easy Sun Stock
Now that summer's in full swing, the kitchen compost pail seems always full, and I'm regularly experimenting with vegetable stocks to can and freeze. This summer I discovered "sun stock" almost by accident.
The herb garden flourishes from some lazy pruning or snipping, so the other day I had a nice basketful of lovage stalks, sage, chive, burnet and basil flowers, as well as savory and rosemary trimmings. A lovely bounty amounting to about four good handfuls of grass. I brought this pile into the house, separated out a few good looking leaves, and tossed the rest into a large bowl on the counter, normally used for making bread. I intended this to become another compost pail, at least temporarily, but instantly thought, sun tea. So back outside I went with the bowl and a gallon of water in tow, set the bowl on a sunny bench, and poured in the water; this was about 8 a.m.
Before lunch, the tea was a healthy, earthy color, and I strained, iced and tasted it. Delicate, savory, slightly bitter. Hmmm, maybe a good base for a vegetable stock. So as I prepared a zucchini soup for lunch, the trimmings (zucchini tops, onion skins and ends, bits of garlic) went into the big bread bowl and it went back outside for the afternoon with another gallon of water and half the reserved herb tea. I chopped up and added some radishes and carrots that had softened in the fridge, a beet, some limp celery, and a ginger root that had seen better days.
By dinnertime, the sun stock was ruddy and, I must say, sublime. I look forward to adding roasted tomato and red pepper skins later in the summer for some added sweetness. I used the stock that night for a Chilled Melon Soup (below).
Just as with sun tea, the slower steeping process creates a more delicate flavor while retaining the nutrients. Of course, you can experiment with whatever herbs and vegetables that might otherwise be tossed into the compost pile. I'd love to hear about your experiments.
Chilled Prosecco Melon Soup
serves 4
No cooking required and super quick. I love the classic musk melon for this recipe and have also used cantaloupe, casaba, and honey dew. Serve it in big frosty wine glasses, garnished with mint.
4 cups melon, cubed
2 cups sun stock
pinch salt
2 cups Prosecco (substitute soda water or other sparkling wine)
mint garnish
In a blender or food processor, process the melon, stock, and salt until very smooth. Chill for at least an hour. Just before serving stir in the Prosecco and garnish with mint.
David Zoffoli owns and operates greenyankee.com.
