EASY SuMMER SALADS

By Lynette La Mere

Sometimes it’s a friend I miss; just longing to sit & catch up that makes me start planning a menu and ringing up a dinner party. Other times it’s the food; the peaches as they come into their own in the summertime with their amazing smell, or the local white nectarines, or a craving for really good English cheddar. I like to gather on the porch and play cards after the sun has set and these are a few of my favorite dishes to pull together for those times.

WHiTe NeCTaRiNe SaLSa

1.5 quarts

The secret here is to get the nectarines at least two days ahead so they ripen, you can smell when they’re perfect (ripen out of the frig of course). This is my new fav with everything from salmon to lamb. It’s nice and light as sauces can go and super tasty. This recipe will work brilliantly with peaches, bosc pears, mangos, grapes or any nice ripe fruit.

3 pasilla chilies

4 white nectarines

3 jalapenos

1 small red onion

1 small bunch cilantro

3 limes, juiced

6 cloves roasted garlic, or 3 raw, minced splash of olive oil salt and pepper to taste

I roast the pasillas over the open flame on my stove top or grill turning on each side with tongs till charred well then pop them hot into a plastic bag, twist tight and let them steam a while. Fine dice everything else (I ditch the seeds and veins of the jalapenos). Toss it all together and serve.

Mixed GReeNS SaLad WiTH

PeaCHeS, GORGONzOLa aNd TOaSTed aLMONdS

Dressing:

Juice of 2 limes

Juice of 1 orange

1/4 cup almond, hazelnut or walnut oil

1/2 tsp. salt and a few grinds of pepper

Slowly whisk the oil into the juices. Add the salt and pepper.

Salad:

1/ 4 cup sliced almonds

4 medium peaches

8 cups mixed greens; red leaf, oak leaf, romaine, spinach, arugula, etc., cleaned and torn

3 oz gorgonzola, crumbled

Lightly toast almonds by baking on sheet pan 5 minutes 350 degrees. Peel and cut into 1/4 inch slices. In a small bowl, combine dressing and peaches and marinate for ten minutes. Distribute greens on individual salad plates. Top with peach segments. Drizzle with the dressing and sprinkle with gorgonzola and almonds.

Lynette La Mere is the proprietor and Executive Chef of Pure Joy Catering, Inc (805) 963-5766 (www. PureJoyCatering.com) and a freelance writer who flourishes in Santa Barbara. Ingredients for both salads can be found at Whole Foods Market and Farmer’s Market

Louie’s is a hidden gem

and up-to-date Californian cuisine with spot-on service. Its bistro-like space is located inside the 130-year-old Hotel Upham, and reflects the charm and tradition of its Victorian location, with a jazzy, comfortable feel all its own. The romantic atmosphere can be experienced dining cozily inside or outside on an old-fashioned heated verandah. Choice selections from the well-stocked wine bar are served with extraordinary fresh seafood, pastas, filet mignon and a changing menu of specialties.

offering

Food iadmit to going adjectivally overboard in my descriptions of wine, but like any good English major (and wine geek), I’m trying to drive home a point…plus, I have instant access to Thesaurus.com, so if my prose seems inflamed and flowery, it’s inspired by my passion for vino and appreciation for precise but poetic language, all fueled by a lightning-quick DSL connection. diRTy:

I grew up reading James Thurber and Mad magazine, and thus always felt that anything could be satirized… even wine. Here, I examine a few negative descriptors to help hone (and safeguard) your palate.

It may be attributable to barrels that don’t get washed, floors that aren’t hosed down or rogue yeasts that infest the winery, but dirty wines are out there.

These atrocities will make your nostrils flare in terror and prompt your socks to fly off. Tears will come to your eyes and you’ll shout new obscenities that the world has never heard before, especially if you paid fifty dollars a bottle for the offending wine.

Simply put your socks back on, return to the store you bought it from and shove the bottle into the jowly, hairy face of the dolt who sold it to you and say, “Bob, this wine is reminiscent of the Chicago stockyards on an August afternoon, and I demand a replacement as well as an apology to my canasta club.”

If you offered a glass of this to a Francophile, he would probably say, “This is magnificent! I love the funky, barn-yardy, leathery aromas coupled with the aged meat and animal sweat characteristics: is this from Provence?”

Oxidized:

This flaw can be found in red AND white wines, but it’s easier to spot in whites: if your Chardonnay resembles the color of Heinz cider vinegar or a sienna Crayola, then you’d best take it back to the harried retailer who sold it to you, thrust it in his surprised, porcine face and say, “Bob, this stuff you sold me was over-the-hill: it tasted like old apples and festering walnuts, and my dinner guests are now forming a lynching party in the parking lot.”

Of course, if you hand a sample of it to a Sherry drinker, he’ll probably remark “What a charming finish! It’s got delicate color and an utterly lovely, nutty aftertaste that lasts and lasts. May I have a second glass?”

VeGeTaL:

Again, this quality can be found in both whites and reds, and in an appropriate ratio it can add complexity to a wine. However, if you take a whiff of a Cabernet and it smells overwhelmingly like canned asparagus with overtones of tar, bell pepper, weeds and freshly mashed eucalyptus, then simply go into the garage, put on your white hazmat suit and helmet, place the wine carefully in a Federally Approved Waste Material (FAWM) holder, drive back to the store where you purchased the wine and dangle the bottle threateningly in the tranquilized, corn-fed face of the ignoramus who advised you to buy it and say, “Bob, I hope you can hear my muffled threats through the visor of this helmet. This Cabernet tastes like veggie pâté with a slight whiff of cherry cough syrup, and if you don’t take it back, I’m tossing you in the FAWM container for a one-way trip to the county dump!”

Oddly enough, if you would have handed me a glass of this twenty years ago, I would have said, “Ahh, delightful…an herbaceous mélange: there’s nothing like a good Santa Barbara County Cab.” —Bob Wesley

Mr. Wesley can be reached at the Winehound wine shop. 1221 Chapala St. Santa Barbara. 805-845-5247.