Thursday, June 21, 2007
Smells Like Summer
More than any other time of year, summer is an olfactory season. Flowers, cocktails, barbecues, decaying dog feces.... it's a veritable buffet of scents, both good and ill.
So what is your favourite smell of summer, dear reader? Do tell, 'cause I am such a hoo-er for comments, you know.
My answer may surprise you: basil.
I enjoy vegetable gardening in the summertime. I especially enjoy keeping up an herb garden. (notice how I wrote that: "an herb...". Please don't pronounce the H in my presence. My mother over-pronounces the H and it drives me batty.)
My idea of an idyllic summer Sunday morning is to get up early and get a big brunch ready for my family before they wake up. In the course of doing that, there comes a perfect moment when I sneak out quietly, still in my pajamas, to the dew-laden garden and carefully pick out a few fresh herb leaves to chop up for the omelette. Heaven.
But while I love working with all herbs, the greatest of them is surely basil. The smell of it is downright sexy. When I dead-head the basil plants, I don't just throw the flowers away; I grind them up in my hands and rub it on my face so I can enjoy the smell all day. If they made a musky men's basil cologne, I'd buy it. If they made a sweet basil women's cologne, Mrs. Mentok would be stuck wearing it whether she liked it or not.
And of course there's no greater scent or flavour combination than tomato and basil. Later in the growing season, when the tomatoes are ripe, I sometimes just sit right down in the middle of the garden, grab a tomato and a leaf of basil, and just make myself a sort of scent salad.
Here's a recipe I enjoy that takes full advantage of the tomato and basil flavours:
Rotini - enough for 4-5 ppl
6ish big, very ripe tomatoes
1 cup or so fresh basil (preferably the broad leafed kind)
More or less 1 cup extra-virgin olive oil
1/2 red onion (adjust up or down depending how oniony you like it)
Cook the pasta. Rinse it. Put it back in the pot and dump in some olive oil so it doesn't stick. Chop up the tomato fairly fine, but make sure to keep as much of the juice as you can. Chop the basil fine. Throw all that in with the pasta and toss it around well. Slice onion in rings or half-rings and mix those in gently, or use them to decorate the top of the pasta once you've transferred it to serving bowl.
Enjoy.
That opens the door to another discussion topic: summer recipes. Whichever you'd like to talk about: favourite (or unfavourite) summer smells, or recipe exchange.
posted by Mentok @ 9:55 a.m.,
8 Comments:
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At 4:02 p.m.,
Grumps said...
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Asphalt. Tar. Concrete. Diesel. Those are the smells of another road-closing summer her is Grumpsland.
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At 7:45 p.m.,
cchang said...
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Oh! Thanks for the recipe. I LOVE the smell of basil. Cilantro comes next. I think thought, my favorite smell of summer has to be ripe Texas hill country peaches. They're so flowery.
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At 5:34 a.m.,
said...
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mmm, i love the smell of lighter fluid.
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At 6:50 p.m.,
said...
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hey lyle, i have a question. does canada have provincial parks with campgrounds in them like the u.s. has state parks with campgrounds? as opposed to privately owned and operated campgrounds, like jellystone? thanks.
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At 9:38 p.m.,
Mentok said...
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grumps - with all that flooding in Grumpsland, you'll have to change the civic nickname from "Paris of the Prairies" to "Venice of the Prairies"
cindy - you're welcome for the recipe. The least I can do given all of yours. But dammit you reminded me I forgot to plant cilantro! I knew there was something...
mjrc - I've started to use citronella oil as lighter fluid. Kills two birds with one stone.
...And yes of course Canada has many fine government-run provincial parks and national parks. May I direct you to this link for more information.
Any particular reason you ask? It almost sounds like you're trying to settle an argument. -
At 6:05 a.m.,
said...
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oh no, no argument. we're trying to plan a camping trip that entails a visit to niagara falls and were looking for a park near the falls.
actually, after a little more googling i did find the ontario parks website. but thank you very much. you were the first person i thought to ask, you should know. ;-)
p.s. we're going to niagara mostly because i am bound and determined to use the passports we paid *&#$ $$ for to have expedited, which now, of course, it turns out we didn't have to have done anyway! argh!! -
At 1:11 p.m.,
FiL said...
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Growing up, summer often smelled of stale urine, rotting garbage, car exhaust, and melty asphalt. That's New York City for you. And having just been there, I can confirm it still stinks the same.
I am SO f'ing happy to be back in Vancouver... -
At 5:49 a.m.,
adam said...
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yeah, basil wins. A slightly different take on your fine recipe, make some loose pesto as a dressing for a tomato and mozzerella salad on some bruschetta - on a lazy sunny day I could sit and eat it for ever.
