Zac and I teamed up to make a fantastic dessert for Independence Day. Zac made a lovely blueberry slab pie with star cutouts in honor of the holiday. Slab pie is just pie that’s made on a sheet pan rather than in a pie pan. The resulting pie is more shallow than regular pie but it also gives you a greater crust to filling ratio that we love. Just about any pie can be made into a slab pie. We find that slab pies work much better when serving a crowd.

Zac’s Blueberry Slab Pie

For the ice cream, I modified a recipe from Jeni’s Splendid Ice Creams at Home. I have to say, this book changed the way I make ice cream. I’ve always been in the “frozen custard” camp, making my ice cream with eggs because I found ice creams made with out them to be less creamy and icy. This book turned that thinking on it’s head. Not only is the ice cream amazing, it’s much easier to make because it doesn’t require a custard base, which is always nerve wracking. It’s kind of revolutionary. This particular recipe is- hands down- the best ice cream I have ever made.

Strawberry Marscarpone Ice Cream

If there is one thing we have a lot of here, it’s goat’s milk. Like gallons on gallons of goat’s milk a day. We’d be absolutely drowning in it–there’s just not enough hours in the day to make cheese constantly–except for Chèvre, the easiest to make of all the cheeses on the books. And we go through a lot of it, because how could you not? It’s delicious! And during weeks like this where it is hot, hot, hot, there is nothing better than coming into the kitchen from the garden in the afternoon for a quick snack–filling, quick, and tasty.

If you’re making your own cheese, drain the curd for only 3-4 hours, giving it a cream cheese like consistency, instead of more drained, crumbly Chèvre. If you’re buying Chèvre, make sure to look for something creamy. Then take a bit of the cheese at a time and roll them into balls.

Make sure they are tightly rolled, otherwise they will squish together later.

Then, roll each ball in whatever spices you choose.

We chose dill, lavender, California sea salt, ground pepper, sage, cumin, and of course, how could we not, chipotle seasoning.

Next, after placing them in separate containers, drizzle them in olive oil, place them in the fridge for an hour of so, and let them cool down and solidify.

Then, devour! We suggest eating them with bread, and if you’re blessed like us with a surfeit of tomatoes, go that too.

I think I’m a pretty good cook. I went to culinary school and I learned the techniques. I care about ingredients and I really try to always give each dish my full and thoughtful attention, particularly when I am cooking for friends and family. But no matter how much care I put into cooking, I can almost always find a something I would do differently next time, a little tweak that would make the dish even better. I’m not being hard on myself; it’s just that almost anything can be made better the next time around.

Today I am presenting to you the exception to that rule. I love this recipe so much and I can’t think of a single thing I would do differently to improve upon it. To my taste, it is perfection. And – in keeping with the theme of the week- it won’t heat up your kitchen.

This recipe is my modified version of an old recipe from thekitchn.com. I use marrow beans in this dish because they have an almost bacon-y flavor. They are available at my Whole Foods in the bulk section but you can substitute any dried white bean if you can’t find marrows.

2 cups dried marrow beans

4 cloves garlic, peeled and smashed

2 slices Pancetta, chopped

1 piece of Parmesan cheese rind (I save the rinds in a ziplock in the freezer for use in soups and beans. You can also buy the rinds at some fancy grocery stores. Just ask at the deli counter.)

salt to taste

olive oil

1 large, ripe tomato, chopped

1/2 red onion, finely diced

1 handful of basil leaves, roughly chopped

grated Parmesan

1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes

Rinse the dried beans throughly in a colander, picking through to remove any debris. Put the beans in a heavy pot and cover with to inches of water to soak. You can either let them soak overnight or use the quick soak method. Discard the soaking water, rinse the beans again and return to the pot. Cover with two inches of fresh water and add the smashed garlic cloves, pancetta and the parmesan rind.

To keep from heating up the kitchen, I cook the beans overnight in a low oven. Just pop the lid on the pot and place it int he middle of an oven pre-heated to 300 degree. When you wake up in the morning, remove the beans from the oven and test for doneness.

(Alternatively, you can cook the beans in a slow cooker during the day. I’m not a huge fan of slow cookers in the summer, as they put off a lot of heat, but when I must use one I plug it in in the garage. That way I’m not pitting the slow cooker against the air conditioner all day.)

When the beans are tender and creamy, drain any excess liquid and taste for seasoning. Add salt if necessary, but don’t go crazy. Drizzle the beans with good extra virgin olive oil and top with chopped tomato, red onion, basil and grated parmesan. Sprinkle with red pepper flakes.

I like to bring the pot to the table and serve into individual bowls. Serve with a crusty baguette and red wine. Marrow Beans Fresca is lovely served warm but it is also a great cold dish for picnics.

I have a confession to make. In spite of the fact that I am blessed to live in a state with a long and lovely growing season (Zone 7A representing!) I will never be able to be a true locavore.  Why? Avocados. I don’t want to live in a world without avocados.

In my defense, I came to avocados in my late 30s and I regret every day of my life that I didn’t eat one. If only I had known! Oh the avocados I would have eaten! But instead of looking back, I try to eat as many avocados as I can every summer.

This salad is one of my very favorite ways to eat avocados. It is packed with all the good things of summer and it’s madly healthy. It’s also made entirely on the grill, so your air conditioner doesn’t have to work overtime.

There are a couple of tricks to making this salad. You’ll need avocados and peaches that are just barely ripe. If either are mushy, you will end up with a salad that may taste nice but won’t be very pretty. The other trick is that you need to have everything ready before you start grilling, so the your avocados don’t lose any of their lovely color while you’re fumbling around making the dressing.

First light your grill to get it preheated. I preheat on high and then turn the gas down to low.

Next make your vinaigrette by combining lime juice, extra virgin olive oil, a smashed garlic clove, salt and pepper. Set aside.

Dice half a medium red onion finely and set aside. Put one ear of fresh corn, shucked, on the grill. Check it every couple of minutes, turning until the corn is lightly charred on all sides. Let the corn cool and then cut it off the cob. Combine the corn, red onion and vinaigrette.

Now we’re ready to grill. Take a chef’s knife out to the grill, along with a small bowl of olive oil and a brush, one avocado and one peach per person you will be serving. Cut the avocados in half the long way, remove the pit and brush both exposed halves with olive oil. Place on the grill cut side and allow to cook for five minutes.

Cut the peaches in half and remove the pit. Some peach pits are harder than others to remove. I find that a grapefruit spoon can help to get the stubborn ones out. Brush both exposed halves with olive oil and place on the grill, cut side down. When you can move the peaches without resistance (sticking to the grill) flip them over and cook with the skin side down.

Remove avocados and peaches from the grilled to an awaiting platter. Using a large spoon, carefully remove the avocados from their skin. Drizzle everything with the vinaigrette, filling the avocado cavities with the red onion and grilled corn.

I could eat this every night of summer and never get tired of it. So, so perfect.

I’ve decided to that the best way to beat the heat this summer is to think strategically. So for the next week, I’m going to be posting recipes and suggestions for dinners that won’t heat up your oven, or your house.

I’m kicking things off with a Juniper Moon favorite. In fact, if you’ve been to my house in the summertime in the last 15 years, you have surely been served this one many, many times. Insalata Margherita is the specialty of the house and it involves no cooking at all.

In fact, this salad is so simple to put together that I won’t even call this a recipe. It’s really just a lot of my favorite in gradients tossed together in a bowl. The trick is using the best ingredients you can find. Fresh mozzarella is a must

You’ll need two dry pints of ripe cherry tomatoes(quartered) or grape tomatoes (halved). Put the chopped tomatoes and their juices into a large bowl. Add one large red onion, diced finely. Tear an eight ounce ball of fresh mozzarella into bite size pieces and add to the bowl. Add half pound of prosciutto di parma diced finely, six basil leaves, torn into small pieces and drizzle with 1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil. Sprinkle with 1 teaspoon of salt and 1/4 teaspoon of red peeper flakes. Toss everything together just till combined and then cover and allow the salad to sit for at least two hours while the flavors meld and marry.

We usually serve Insalata Margherita on a baguette as a sandwich or eat it straight from the bowl, but it also makes a delicious topping for pizzas and it’s a knock out omelette filling, if you can manage to keep it around long enough. This stuff is crazy good and many the morning I have had my breakfast plans dashed by an empty bowl.