Indian summer started last week in San Francisco, and our apartment was ridiculously hot. It's the top floor of the building, so all the heat from the three floors below rises up to settle right here. I went shopping in the burbs on Friday to escape the heat, and tried to find a coffee shop in the Mission with AC on Saturday, to no avail (though Four Barrel is open and fairly breezy). Jeanette were not in the mood to eat something heavy and hot on Saturday night. So this dish functioned as a light, refreshing meal, as well as a way to utilize some veg before we go out of town this week. We'll be in Atlanta. Any Atlanta people reading? Want to grab a beer?

Anyway, this dish was perfect for a hot summer day. It showcased the Bay Area summer produce nicely, and cooled us down. Here's what it had:

• Red snapper - Cured for an hour or so in a brine of cider vinegar, creme de violette, and salt, then dried, lightly cold-smoked with cherry wood, then sauteed and served hot.
• Cucumber water - Pureed cucumber with a bit of the pickling brine from some pickled jalapenos. Poured into a fine sieve and let drain, but didn't press the solids through. Reserved the drained water in the refrigerator. Poured the chilled cuke water tableside. It retains its vivid green color at least 2 days in the refrigerator, unlike a lot of green things.
• Cucumber sorbet - Using the pulp that I strained out of the cucumber puree, I made a cucumber sorbet by adding simple syrup until it tasted right--highly unscientific and unrepeatable. Oh well. It turned out to be quite delicious, and complimented the veg very well, though it was a bit sweet when tasted with the fish.
• Summer veg - Sweet corn, cherry tomatoes, diced cucumber, and breakfast radish, all cold-smoked with cherry wood. Gently heat the corn in some butter, then toss briefly with the halved cherry tomatoes and diced cuke. Serve warm.
• Sorrel - Sorrel has crisp, lemony leaves. They're almost like succulents, they're so crisp and juicy.

Posted by Barzelay on 2009/09/01 @ 1:38 | Comments (0) | Seafood, Veggies, Fruit, Grain, Cheese