I opted for soup and sandwiches for our OLS dinner this week--chilled corn chowder with BLTs. I used this recipe for smoky corn and chile chowder. It would be just as delicious served hot on a colder night.
Let's see: it has fresh corn (of course), summer squash, roasted red peppers, onions, lots of potatoes, and chives for the garnish. And cream. Yum.
(FYI: rather than use a grill to char the peppers, I just put them skin down over the open gas flame on my stove top until they're blackened. The link above provides the rest of the steps.)
The BLTs were quite tasty too--bacon, super ripe tomatoes, lettuce (yes, local, but from a hot house). We used a local rustic bread and homemade mayonnaise (or as we say now, aioli) to complete these scrumptious sandwiches.
The mayo was barely local: the eggs, vinegar, and mustard were local, but the crucial ingredient, lots of fine olive oil, of course was not. Colleen is gonna bean me (not because it wasn't local, but because she hates mayonnaise!).
Plus, who could resist a recipe that was labelled "Top Secret" and "Eyes Only" when it was forwarded to her sister in California to try, over 55 years ago? You can see these very pages here along with a funny little story which just goes to show why Julia Child is still a towering force in the American kitchen.
*Let me just say for the record (although not for the last time) that it pains me that there is a movie-tie-in version of this book with Meryl Streep on the cover as Julia. I linked to it only because there isn't another one available at the moment. Yes, I plan on seeing the movie, I love Meryl Streep, and anticipate enjoying it immensely, but for crying out loud! why couldn't they keep the original sweet cover, which showed the REAL Julia, together with her beloved husband Paul, as depicted in one of Paul's carefully crafted annual valentines sent out to friends? It was perfect! Some things should be left completely alone!
