4 Summer Recipes to check out for 2022

Today Dennis Littley and I chatted about 4 summer recipes for 2022 that we both love!

Spaghetti with Clams

Sperlonga is one of our favorite Italian seaside locations and our favorite summer recipe when we're there is Spaghetti with Clams. Sometimes we stand in the water with a bucket and squiggle our feet into the sand, back-and-forth until we feel the small local clams under our feet - telline. Then we drop them into our buckets. It's a time-consuming process and a fun way to stay in the water and chat with our local Sperlongese friends.
Otherwise early in the morning I walk up along the beach to the local seafood market where I've been buying clams and other fresh fish for almost 4 decades.
Before I head to the beach for the day I get my clam sauce all prepared - what I love about this recipe is it's simple and perfect for summer. Start by making a salt-water solution in your sink so your clams have time to clean out and clear away any grit and sand from the shells. The water should be cold and taste like the sea. When the clams are super fresh and lively they squirt out a lot of water so drape a dish towel atop the sink.
Next get the clam sauce already. Use a large saucepan big enough to hold the clams. Sizzle a garlic clove and a little bit of hot chili pepper in some olive oil. Add about five or six cherry tomatoes or two or three San Marzano tomatoes, cover and cook over a low flame until the tomatoes are soft. Mash it all together then add a splash of cognac and a few anchovy fillets for some extra special umami flavor. Cook another minute then turn off the stove and cover the sauce. All you need to do when you get home from the beach is cook the clams in the sauce for a couple of minutes while your spaghetti cooks then serve with some freshly grated chopped parsley. Here's my recipe.

I also make a delicious potato gnocchi with mussels and clams – give this recipe a try!
No cheese in this dish. That being said Dennis adds a sprinkling of freshly grated Parmesan cheese but that's strictly his American style take on the dish and he loves it.

Fried Zucchini Flowers

What would a summer garden be without zucchini? I pick them right out of the garden while they are still in the baby zucchini phase and add them to salads. I love to slice them lengthwise and toss on the grill with a drizzling of olive oil. And a favorite summer recipe is my zucchini Parmesan - just like a lasagna but with zucchini.

My favorite summer recipe by far is fried zucchini flowers. I usually make them Italian style: stuffed with a slice of buffalo mozzarella and an anchovy fillet, but use whatever filling strikes your fancy. Sometimes I'll use another kind of cheese, sometimes I use strips of red pepper, chicken or seafood, or even a slice of zucchini. They are also great with a dessert-like filling. Sometimes I stuff them with a slice of banana and once they're fried I drizzle them with honey.
Dennis likes to pipe in different fillings, including cannoli style filling. Be judicious when you pick the zucchini flowers because without them in your garden your zucchini won't grow, so just pick a few at a time once they have grown to full size. I have a trick for keeping them for days in my refrigerator and you'll find it in my recipe.

Mac & Cheese

Mac & cheese is a favorite American dish that's now gone gourmet. You might say it's not a perfect summer recipe because it does need baking time to develop its delicious crunchy topping. Why I love it in the summer is you can add all kinds of wonderful summer veggies to the dish - think fresh sweet corn. It's also a fabulous make ahead side dish for your summer terrace lunch. Just pop it back in the oven to warm up when you're ready to serve. Almost any cheese goes perfectly in mac & cheese and Dennis and I both agree that Gorgonzola is one of the best. I love a mac & cheese with seafood: fresh shrimp, clams and mussels. And Dennis drizzles a little truffle oil in his mac & cheese recipe. And mac & cheese is a great way to use up all those leftovers in your fridge.

Pesto, 3 ways...and more!

Pesto is a noun and the name of the classic recipe from the port town of Genoa in the Liguria region of northern Italy. It's classically made with basil leaves, pine-nuts, garlic, freshly grated Parmesan cheese and olive oil. In Genoa locals use a mortar and pestle to crush the basil leaves and pine-nuts together. If you'd like to see how this dish is made by a local woman from Genoa then no-one better than Enrica Monzani in my post Best Traditional Recipes from Genoa.
Oftentimes home cooks use a blender or food processor, and sometimes I hand chop all the ingredients together just so the pesto has a little bit of texture.
Let's get back to the word pesto. The noun comes from the Italian verb pestare which means to crush, pound or grind.
These days chefs and home cooks have taken this verb and the noun pesto to create all kinds of pesto dishes other than the classic pesto Genovese.
Sometimes other nuts are used like pistachios, walnuts and almonds. Sometimes other greens are used like arugula for a somewhat bitter flavor profile. And nowadays sun-dried tomatoes have become a favorite pesto ingredient.
Yesterday we had a terrace lunch at the home of friends and the hostess made pesto with sun-dried tomatoes, pinenuts and almonds. Instead of using it on pasta she spread it on delicious crusty bread for a tasty bruschetta alternative. You can use almost any pesto creation as a topping for bruschetta.

The cheese used in pesto is almost always freshly grated Parmesan, or occasionally grana or pecorino Romano. Dennis says he has occasionally added some Gorgonzola cheese to his pesto.

Interested in more great summer recipes?

Here's a round-up of easy summer recipes.
Some Summer pasta recipes to check out.
Great summer desserts you'll love.
And stay tuned for my Top 10 Summer Recipe e-book for 2022 – free only for my newsletter subscribers!

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