June swept in raw and rainy this year, leaving a small red trailer on our shores—a trailer that seemed to be looking for us. We took the trailer home, of course, never imagining the degree to which its subsequent care and feeding would consume our attention in the weeks that followed. Emblazoned with “The Miller’s Wife” in finely wrought gold lettering, the trailer declared its intention to serve sweet and savory crêpes, and settled in along the dusty margins of a dry-grass parking lot, a newly inducted member of the local farmers market. Nourished on a diet of Anson Mills flours, grass-fed butter, local free-range eggs, and a supporting cast of other fine ingredients, the trailer grew robust and healthy—and grew a following to match.
Plates piled high with crêpes, we appealed to (begged, actually) our reliably creative and exacting editor, Dawn Yanagihara, to develop this newsletter’s recipes. She obliged, and they are lovely, shining as much in September’s late summer light as if struck by the gloss of high summer. Besides, it’s still summer, right?
Right?
A click on each image will take you to its recipe.
Potato Gnocchi
with Pesto and Tomatoes
Potato gnocchi are the perfect dumpling-to-noodle crossover: plush and pillowy, but forkably small and toothsome with a just the right degree of slip. Their handsome sauce-catching rings rival those of rigatoni—but gnocchi’s visuals are charmingly hand-wrought and laid-back compared with rigatoni’s strict uniform. Russet potato purée and our superfine ‘00’ pasta flour form a subtle sweetness to match the gnocchi’s delicate texture. With ripe cherry tomatoes along for a high, juicy trill.
Pesto alla Genovese
And there is pesto. Yes, pesto—silky, bright, and rich with enough garlic and aged cheese to win an argument, but never so strident as to stop a conversation.
Thai Corn Fritters
Trim the kernels from a few ears of fresh sweet corn. Sneak in a bit of fine yellow cornmeal for flavor and textural interest. Add a spray of Carolina Gold flour for crisping, and an egg to plump the pillows. Then, dial the volume up past ten with red curry and makrut lime. Witness the birth of a Thai corn fritter! Shoved off a spoon into hot oil, these fry up in seconds: crisp and cushion-y with bursts of sweet corn—and an unexpected flavor of the Far East. But it is the dipping sauce and its triad of hot, tangy and sweet that takes these fritters well over the border into Thailand. Easy—and satisfying.
Semifreddo di Riso
with Wine-Soaked Grapes
Created in the mold of a classic platinum blonde, the beautifully understated flavor of this frozen Carolina Gold rice dessert demands one stay in the moment to savor it. Under the creamy sculpted surface, chewy rice provides textural interest, while a band of dark grapes infused in a lightly spiced red wine reduction offers an additional touch of visual sophistication. The grapes could easily be cherries—or plums. Yet upscale as it is, the base of this semifreddo takes to ice-pop molds, too—with or without fruit—where it becomes an approachable frozen ice on a stick. More blonde-next-door than ice princess.
Enjoy the last days of Summer,
Y’all, and Good Food!
