Peach–Basil Sgroppino

Sgroppino di pesche e basilico

The sgroppino is a slushy Italian dessert cocktail and is usually made with lemon sorbet and plain vodka. It’s perfect for hotter weather and I find the addition of peaches and basil make it even more summery.

Yield

Makes 2 cocktails

Ingredients

1 cup peach sorbet 8 ounces Prosecco rosé 2 ounces peach vodka Peach slices and basil sprigs, for garnish

Recipe

Chill 2 champagne flutes in the freezer for 15 minutes. Combine the sorbet, Prosecco, and vodka in a spouted measuring cup. Stir until slushy. Pour into the chilled flutes, garnish with peaches and basil, and serve immediately.

WHAT A WONDERFUL PASTA:

Garden Fresh

When markets and gardens are brimming with vegetables at their peak, it’s time to pair your pastas (either warm or in cool salads) with this fresh produce. There’s nothing like the intense flavor you’ll get from a pasta dish with ripe plum tomato, an eggplant or bell pepper right off the vine, or an anise-scented bulb of fennel.

On hot days I want to keep things simple, so I prepare a tomato sauce that requires no cooking at all. From my garden, I pick tomatoes that are sun-kissed and juicy, and marinate them with olive oil, garlic, and peperoncino. What develops in that hour of marinating is a delicious raw sauce I serve over campanelle, the beautiful bell-shaped pasta that offers chunky tomato sauce places to curl up in.

With my eggplant, I do a summer twist on the ricotta-rich pasta alla Norma. Instead of baking it as usual, I prepare it entirely in a skillet on the stovetop. This Sicilian specialty is every bit as satisfying as the baked dish. It’s easy to see what that long-ago Italian writer meant when he exclaimed upon tasting it, “that’s a real Norma” (likening it to the magnificent Bellini opera of that name).

I also like to keep things interesting in my pasta salads, using a variety of pastas and ingredients. For a salad that can easily be a meal in itself, I combine peppers, olives, mortadella, and provolone with fregola, a nutty little semolina-based pasta that looks like Israeli couscous and hails from Sardinia. Topped with crunchy pistachios, this salad has it all. (Remember fregola when you’re making soups and stews and any dish that calls for a tiny pasta.)

Even in summer I can’t resist baking macaroni and cheese; it’s a family favorite. Mixing fontina, Grana Padano, and provolone, and classic cheddar creates multiple layers of cheesy flavor, along with the bonus of salty prosciutto cotto and tender peas. Adding fresh herbs (sage and parsley) gives this rich dish a bright note. For the pasta, curly cavatappi’s corkscrew shape is ideal for catching and holding all of that creamy sauce.