For all of summer’s delights, there is much misery for those of us not exactly built to take the heat. Having been perpetually damp since June, I was thrilled when, late last week, we briefly hit my ideal temperature: 58 degrees.
At 58 degrees, I’m comfortable (read: dry), finally able to wear sleeves and, perhaps more important to readers of this newsletter, ready for soup.
While the weather can yo-yo from 58 degrees right back up to 85 during this shoulder season, the brisker mornings are promise of brothier meals to come. I’m holding out for Carolina Gelen’s lentil tomato soup (above), a five-ingredient pantry wonder that you’ll want to bookmark for when summer produce thins out for good.
Lentil Tomato Soup
Better yet are dishes that still feel summery, but ease you into fall’s cable-knit grip with a gentleness befitting the season. Which is to say, something cozy and tomato-y, like this vivacious tomato curry that Eric Kim adapted from Julius Roberts’s cookbook, “The Farm Table.” He roasts whole, ripe tomatoes until tender and yielding, and then nestles them among a curry rich with coconut milk and fragrant with chiles, ginger and other aromatics.
Eggplant is a noteworthy season straddler, and few dishes capture its range like Hetty Lui McKinnon’s recipe for grilled eggplant with herby lentils and turmeric tahini. As the name suggests, you can and should still break out the grill well into cooler temps for deeper, smokier flavors. The whole affair, which is vegan, leans hearty and filling despite its sunny hues.
Corn, too, is a classic transitional vegetable, fitting as nicely in a warming casserole as it does in guacamole. Make Sarah Jampel’s spicy corn and coconut soup if there’s a chill in the air, and Melissa Clark’s sheet-pan tofu with corn and chiles if there’s not. Both are vegan and can stay in your recipe rotation well into winter with the help of frozen kernels.
And speaking of preserving summer’s flavors well beyond their season: The freezer is your friend. Consider this your reminder to make pesto. Make David Tanis’s quick fresh tomato sauce. Make Alison Roman’s stone fruit jam.
And don’t forget that breads and cakes also freeze well. It’s time to squirrel away Jocelyn Delk Adams’s island vibes zucchini bread for when 58 degrees gives way to 48 and 38 and, goodness, 28 degrees. I’ll be eating my words about resenting summer’s warmth by then, but at least I’ll be eating really good zucchini bread.
Tomato Curry
Grilled Eggplant, Herby Lentils and Turmeric Tahini
Island Vibes Zucchini Bread
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