Complements to the Chef

One of the cooking questions I’m asked most often is, “How do you know what ingredients and flavors will go together?” Unless you’re a chef with years of experience or a savant in the taste buds department, determining good food matches can be a conundrum. There are plenty of resources that can help here (one that does a wonderful job of it is The Flavor Bible, by Karen Page and Andrew Dornenburg, a tome that explains the components of taste and indexes complementary combinations for particular foods). But what if there’s no time for research? What if you’re in the kitchen facing the possibilities, knife in hand and stomach rumbling? The answer is this: think seasonal.

It’s a culinary truism that ingredients harvested at the same time have an affinity for each other. Take tomatoes in summer, for example. They ripen in the company of eggplant, beans, zucchini and cucumbers and harmonize beautifully with them all. They love the same growing conditions as basil, fennel, oregano, thyme and other sun-loving herbs, which gives the cook a range of choices for smart accents.

So work with nature: it knows a good match when it grows one.

Check out these comforting summer recipes by Terese Allen:

Rosemary Corn Kernel Bread with Soupy Cranberry Beans, Heirloom Tomatoes and Sweet Onions

Need a quiet pause before dinner preparations begin? (Who doesn’t?) Fix an icy, lime-permeated gin-and-tonic, situate yourself in a lounge chair and then take your leisurely time popping a bagful of shell beans out of their pods. Inspired long ago by a dish from a Richard Sax cookbook, this recipe has become a summer ritual in my home.

Rosemary Corn Kernel Bread

I’ll never regret the extra dollars I spent for a top-quality toaster oven, which saves energy when I’m baking a single dish plus gives me extra oven space when I’m cooking for a crowd. During summer’s sweatier days, I move it to my screened-in back porch so that I can make seasonal favorites—like this kernel-studded cornbread— without overheating the kitchen.

Summer Gratin of Plum Tomatoes, Romanesco Zucchini, Caramelized Onions and Bacon

Bacon vodka, bacon milkshakes, bacon lip-balm… Is there no stopping the American frenzy for cured, smoked pork belly? I say, settle down, people! Here’s a garden-focused gratin in which bacon is an accent, not an idol.

Cherry Tomato & Fresh Herb Toss

Dill, tarragon, fennel, chives, basil, thyme— just about every herb loves tomatoes, and their preparation together couldn’t be simpler than in this stunning little skillet dish. I like to use persimmon-colored Sun Gold cherry tomatoes or marble-sized Matt’s Wild, as sweet and rosy as a toddler’s cheeks. For either the tomatoes or the herbs, consider a mix of varieties, too.