Island Cooking: Using summer’s bounty of fresh veggies

It is summertime!  And the cooking is easy! 

When seafood and produce are this fresh, there is no need for complicated recipes that disguise the pure flavors of the food. 

Every meal consists of something just out of the surrounding seas or picked that day from my garden, friends’ gardens on the island, or from local stores and markets that purchase from farms on North Carolina’s coastal plain.

Although my favorite summer meal is a thickly sliced, really ripe tomato with Hellman’s mayo on white bread (with fond memories of home), the suggestions in this column are just a little more complex.

Triggerfish is a delicately flavored white-fleshed fish that perfectly absorbs  
flavors of other ingredients.  When friends presented me with beautiful, moist fillets, I wanted to experiment with seasonal flavor combinations. 

Since peaches and tomatoes were just right — ripe and juicy —  I combined them with fresh cut thyme and MoscaPesca, a peachy sparkling wine that another friend had introduced to me.

Summer on a plate!

Of course, when Carolina corn is ripe it magically appears on the porches at home and at the dock, and it is hard to enjoy it better than straight off the cob!   It begins to  come in when the sweet, little butter beans are also ready.  Creamy succotash is served on the side many evenings.

I added yet another friend’s tomatoes for color and a touch of acidity, just  enough. 

Using fresh tomatoes again, I created a version of Imam Bayildi, a summer taste treasure!  It is a heritage recipe from the Byzantine Empire that still appears regularly on Turkish meze tables for good reason. 

It is a little time consuming, but the oven cooking takes most of the time.  Since it is always served at room temperature, you can enjoy the prep with no need to rush.  Serve it the next day.

Its main ingredient is eggplant and there is, for me, no better use of a favorite vegetable.  The vegetables literally melt during low, slow cooking and the finished dish is creamier than you would expect with beautifully combined veggie flavors that are still individually identifiable.  It really is a treasure with its jewel-like colors and rich taste.

There is a good reason for its name.  Imam Bayildi translates to ” The archbishop swooned!”  So will your guests!

With a good vaccuum packer, much of summer’s bounty can be successfully preserved for the dreary winter months when local produce is scarce and varieties are limited.

But enjoy as much as you possibly can now!  That is the pleasure of seasonal food.

SUCCOTASH

6 ears fresh corn, cut off the cob
2 cups fresh butter beans
1 tablespoon unsalted butter
2 ripe tomatoes
Fresh thyme
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

Bring a sauce pan of water to a boil and add the butter beans.  Cook until just tender.

Husk the corn and remove the silk, using a damp paper towel to get it all.  Holding the cob up on one end, slice the kernels off the cob and press the knife along the cob to also extract the milk.

Add to the beans with a pinch of sugar and of salt.

Boil until corn and beans are both easy to pierce.  Drain.  Add butter and stir.
 
In another small saucepan boil enough water to cover two tomatoes.  Add the tomatoes until the skin begins to crack, about a minute or two.  Immediately remove from the water and allow to cool.  Peel the tomatoes and chop the fruit into a small dice.  Add to the succotash along with the fresh thyme.

POACHED TRIGGERFISH WITH FRESH FRUIT

1/2 bottle MoscaPesca (available at Lee Robinson General Store)
4 fillets of triggerfish
2 peeled and diced ripe peaches
2 peeled and diced ripe tomatoes
A pinch of sugar
1 clove of garlic, whole, sliced
1 small sweet onion, thinly sliced
Butter
1 peach, peeled and sliced for the finished dish
Fresh parsley

In a small saucepan boil enough water to cover the tomatoes and peaches.  Add the fruit until the skin begins to crack, about a minute or two.  Immediately remove from the water and allow to cool.  Peel the tomatoes and peaches and chop the fruit into a small dice. 

Melt the butter in a skillet and add the onions.  Cook until translucent.
Add the garlic slices.

Pour the MoscaPesca into the skillet and bring to a boil.  Add the fish and the fruit and immediately reduce to a low simmer.  Cover and cook for about 10 minutes, depending on the size of the fish fillets.  Fish should be flaky and the cooked fruit still intact but soft.

Serve with fresh, raw peach slices and a sprinkling of fresh parsley.

IMAM BAYILDI

4 small eggplants, sliced in half lengthwise leaving the stem in place to hold the half intact.
4  large tomatoes, peeled and diced
1 large onion, minced
4 cloves garlic, minced
Grape or cherry tomatoes
1/2 cup sugar
1 cup parsley, chopped plus more for garnish
1/2 cup pine nuts plus a handful for garnish
Olive oil, the fruitier, more rustic the better

With a spoon, remove the seed from the eggplants halves, creating a slight indentation in the flesh. 

Pour a film of olive oil into a large skillet and heat.  Add the onions, then garlic, then tomatoes, parsley and pine nuts.  Add more oil if necessary.

Add sugar and cook on a low heat until the mixture starts to caramelize.  Taste for sweetness and add more sugar, if needed.  The mixture should be slightly sweet.

In the meantime, place a container of grape or cherry tomatoes on a baking sheet and toss with oil, salt, and sugar and roast in the oven at 375 for about 10 minutes.  Check it so it doesn’t burn.

Toast a handful of pine nuts in a dry pan on a burner set on low.  It only takes a minute to toast them, so don’t leave the stove.  Be ready to remove the pan from the heat as soon as they turn a golden color.

Pour olive oil into a baking dish and set the eggpant skin side down in the dish.  Spoon the tomato mixture onto each half, pressing gently into the flesh of the eggplant.  Sprinkle a little more olive oil on top and place, covered, in a low oven (180 degrees).  Cook for about 45 minutes. 

Remove from the oven and add some of the roasted tomatoes.  (You can use the rest in other dishes.)  Return to the oven for another 30 minutes.

If the mixture has not “melted” into the eggplant, cook a little longer.  You want the mixture to blend into the eggplant and the entire dish to be creamy.

Sprinkle on the toasted pine nuts and parsley.  Reserve until the next day, allowing for the flavors to blend even more, and serve at room temperature with good bread.

(Lynne Foster lives in Hatteras village with her husband, Ernie. Together they operate The Albatross Fleet of charter boats. They actively support the sustainable practices of the island’s commercial fishermen and the preservation of Hatteras Island’s working waterfront.  Both love to cook seafood and entertain friends, and Lynne loves to experiment with recipes for locally caught seafood.)