3 perfect recipes I'm making all summer long

We’ve gotten to that point in the summer when I start having a mental breakdown upon turning on my oven or stove for even the mildest amounts of time. For being born in early August, for being raised in the swampiest of American regions, for then going to college in a separate swampy American region, I ironically cannot handle the heat. I would rather frost-freeze my appendages in polar temperatures (happened exactly twice this winter), then schvitz in my kitchen for even a single minute in summer heat. My friend questioned me last night about this exact opinion actually. I said: “Yes, I would rather be freezing, cold, and in the dark.”

The only thing that prevents me from going truly off the walls in the summer is produce and food. Somehow seeing vegetables and fruits at the farmer’s market on a Sunday morning makes me compose myself and brace myself for week upon week of never-ending heat. Tomatoes and cucumbers, herbs and peppers, peaches and cherries make it alright.

So in the spirit of blessing you with the same joy, peace, and ease that I get from summer food, I present to you 3 recipes that are perfect for the summer. The best fried chicken I’ve ever had. An excellent pasta salad. And an excellent dense bean salad.

On the fried chicken: I was particularly enamored with pippara peppers. Their curvy, whimsical nature called out to me. Typically, fried chicken is brined in buttermilk + hot sauce, both quite acidic, sharp ingredients. So using a similarly briny ingredient like a pippara to make a more balanced aioli for dipping made sense to me. This is an excellent fried chicken recipe, aioli aside. Feel free to serve it with hot honey or even a special sauce instead.

On the pasta salad: as someone who isn’t really that inclined toward the pasta salad category of foods, I like to treat “pasta salad” more like room temperature regular pasta (if that makes sense). And my only goal for this dish was to bring a lot more texture to pasta salad than typical. Hence, we have two crunch factors. 1. Crispy thick-cut bacon flavored with porchetta spices. 2. Crispy halloumi crumbs. The cherry tomatoes help cut through all the richness in a lovely way.

On the dense bean salad: This is a great recipe for meal prepping. Dress the salad, and it’ll stay for days. In fact, it’ll develop more and more flavor as it sits in the fridge. This method for cooking shrimp is superior. The key is to not overcook your shrimp. They tell you when they’re ready. Once they start curling and turn opaque, they’re done. If they curl up in a tight little ball like a cute lapdog (idk find a better simile, but one of my dogs imitates an overcooked shrimp when he sleeps), they’ll be tough and chewy. You can also grill your shrimp; that would be lovely.

Ryan

[note: paid subscribers will have access to all 3 recipes below. Per the request of a subscriber, I’ve started including printable PDF documents of all the recipes for easier reading and usage.]