I know there is really no such thing as out-of-season food any more, but we still try to eat some things in their seasons, especially things that really only taste good when the time is right like softshell crabs, tomatoes, and corn on the cob.
So we had a traditional kind of dinner this weekend, sauteed softshell crabs and corn on the cob.
The tomatoes are always a source of controversary this time of year. We're eating them pretty much every day, hoping to store up as much tomatoeness as possible against the January days when it looks like we'll never see a real tomato again. I always vote for a tomato salad (some variation of sliced or chopped tomatoes with something tart (onion, shallot, arugula) and perhaps something mild (cucumber, avocado, goat cheese) in a vinaigrette (anything goes, but balsamic is the house favorite).
My husband always wants a very tomatoey gazpacho, with lots of onion, garlic, and cucumber, no green pepper at all, and lots of hot sauce added withi the olive oil and vinegar. This time the gazpacho won.
We did introduce one new (and worth keeping) note. I am not a big fan of my husband's softshells, because he likes to cook them soft-sauteed and I like them crisp fried. Crisp frying one softshell is just too much trouble, but we've found a good solution. Our seafood store also offers freshly made (uncooked) crabcakes, made with fresh lump crab meat and no bread crumbs. One of those, popped into the oven to cook to a golden brown while the corn cooks and the softshells saute is a perfect compromise.
We'll have to wait til next summer to repeat this meal.
P.S. This turns out to be our new stove's debut performance. I give it an A, but we didn't really stress it very much!
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