I should mention at the outset a few things about this menu. First, it’s light, fresh, cool, elegant — meant for beating the heat — with the flavor-enhancing help of some familiar Japanese ingredients.
It’s also a bit of a splurge: You’ll need to shell out for seafood and invest a certain amount of effort into the recipes. But the good news is that absolutely every dish can be prepared a day ahead, leaving very little last-minute fussing.
It’s an ideal menu for an al fresco dinner on a sultry evening, and I found myself serving it to friends on such a recent night. We started with this chilled cucumber-spinach soup — easy to put together and most welcome on a sweltering day. It’s very green, whizzed up in a blender with briefly cooked leeks and spinach, ginger and a hint of smoked paprika. Cubes of silken tofu dressed with sesame oil and soy sauce add a lovely contrast to the base.
For brightness, it is worth finding shiso leaves at an Asian grocery. Just a few strips of this sweet, fragrant herb contribute a flavor reminiscent of anise hyssop, hoja santa or flowering cilantro. (Gardeners, take note: My farming friends tell me it grows like a weed, returning yearly.) As a substitute, try Thai basil and a little squeeze of lime.
With the soup chilled overnight and ready in the fridge, all you need to finish is the quick tofu garnish.
As a main course, we had pan-fried crabcakes, bound with puréed scallops for a meaty, firm texture complemented by miso, ginger and scallions. You can prepare the crab mixture and form it into cakes a day in advance. While you’re at it, make the easy dipping sauce, too. It’s a tasty lemon-infused combination of miso and mayonnaise.
But maybe the most fun make-ahead part of this dish is the easy pickled daikon. Ordinary white daikon is fine, but you can also find smaller colorful daikon at farmers’ markets and Japanese markets, so I used a bright magenta-hued one. Once peeled and cut paper-thin, sprinkled with salt, sugar and rice wine vinegar, and tossed with some slivers of ginger, they are ready to eat in an hour or so. But stored in a jar in the fridge, they’ll keep for a week.
Be certain to fry the crabcakes in a sufficient amount of oil so they get beautifully crisp. They taste good hot or at room temperature, and reheat well. You’ll need to be at the stove for only about 15 minutes.
These cakes are small, just 2 ounces each, so most people will want three. We had them in an outdoor garden setting, so they were served on small plates. If it had been a sit-down affair with dinner plates, I might have served a lightly dressed green salad alongside.
Follow with melon-mint sorbet, which comes together in a food processor and releases a blast of mint that’s evident in every spoonful. Happily, any kind of ripe summer melon, even watermelon, can be used. The texture is rougher than a true sorbet, somewhere between granita and shaved ice. It’s plenty good as is, but to gild the lily, add a bit of raspberry syrup and a few festive berries.
Recipe: Chilled Cucumber-Spinach Soup
This chilled soup is easy to put together and most welcome on a hot day. The soft tofu garnish, dressed with sesame oil and soy sauce, is a lovely contrast to the bright green base. It is worth hunting down shiso leaves or Thai basil at an Asian grocery. Their bright flavors add interest.
By David Tanis
Yield: 4 to 6 servings
Total time: 6 hours
Ingredients:
- 1/3 cup unsalted butter or avocado oil
- 2 medium leeks, trimmed, white and light green parts chopped
- Salt and pepper
- 1/2 teaspoon pimenton or smoked paprika
- 1 pound baby spinach
- 2 large seedless English cucumbers, peeled and chopped (about 4 cups)
- 6 ounces silken tofu, cut into rough 1/2-inch cubes
- 3 tablespoons toasted sesame oil
- 2 tablespoons soy sauce
- Shiso or Thai basil leaves, for garnish
Preparation:
1. Melt butter in a medium pot over medium-high heat. Add leeks, season with salt and pepper to taste. Add the pimenton. Cook, stirring until leeks are softened, about 10 minutes, lowering heat as necessary to prevent browning.
2. Add spinach, season with salt and pepper and turn heat to high. Add 2 cups water and quickly wilt spinach, stirring. Remove from heat and spread out on a sheet pan or platter to cool to room temperature, about 30 minutes.
3. In a food processor or blender, blend spinach mixture and cucumber in batches until very smooth, and pass through a fine-meshed strainer.
4. Taste and adjust seasoning. If necessary, thin soup with chilled water until it’s the consistency of a thin milkshake. Chill up to 24 hours for the freshest taste and color.
5. To serve, put tofu in a low bowl, add sesame oil and soy sauce, and toss gently.
6. Ladle soup into chilled soup bowls. Top each bowl with tofu. Drizzle with more sesame oil and soy sauce. Garnish with torn or slivered shiso or basil leaves.
Recipe: Miso Crabcakes
These meaty crabcakes, bound with puréed scallops and enhanced with miso and ginger, can be made a day in advance, along with the dipping sauce. But arguably the most fun part is pickling the daikon. Once peeled and cut paper-thin, sprinkled with salt, sugar and rice wine vinegar, and tossed with some slivers of ginger, it’s ready to eat in an hour or so. Stored in a jar in the fridge, it’ll keep for a week.
By David Tanis
Yield: 18 (2-ounce) cakes
Total time: 1 hour, plus chilling
Ingredients:
For the pickle:
- 1 to 2 small daikon radish, any color, cut crosswise into paper-thin slices (2 cups)
- 2 tablespoons very thinly sliced ginger
- 2 teaspoons kosher salt (such as Diamond Crystal)
- 1 teaspoon sugar
- 1/2 cup rice wine vinegar or white wine vinegar
For the cakes:
- 1/2 pound sea scallops
- 1/4 cup white miso
- 2 large eggs, lightly beaten
- 1 1/2 pounds crab meat
- Salt and pepper
- 2 teaspoons grated ginger
- 1/2 cup thinly sliced scallions
- 1 to 2 cups panko breadcrumbs
- Vegetable oil, avocado oil or clarified unsalted butter, for frying
- Lightly dressed greens (optional)
For the dipping sauce:
- 2 tablespoons white miso
- 2 teaspoons lemon zest, preferably from a Meyer lemon
- 2 tablespoons lemon juice, preferably from a Meyer lemon
- Pinch of cayenne
- 3/4 cup mayonnaise, preferably homemade
- 2 tablespoons thinly sliced scallions
Preparation:
1. Make the pickle: Put sliced daikon and ginger in a bowl. Sprinkle with kosher salt and sugar, and toss well. Add vinegar and toss again. Let sit while you prepare the crabcakes. (Pickle can be made up to a week in advance.)
2. Make the cakes: Put scallops, miso and eggs in the bowl of a food processor and pulse to a rough purée. Transfer mixture to a mixing bowl.
3. Mix in crab meat with a spatula. Add salt and pepper to taste, grated ginger and scallions, and mix well to incorporate.
4. Form into 2-ounce balls, roll in panko, and flatten into 1/2-inch-thick cakes. Refrigerate for about 45 minutes.
5. Make the dipping sauce: Stir together miso, lemon zest, lemon juice and cayenne. Add mayonnaise and scallions. Stir well. Taste and adjust seasoning.
6. Pour 1/2 inch oil in a cast-iron pan over medium-high heat. When oil is wavy, place crabcakes in the pan without crowding. Adjust heat to gently fry and achieve color slowly, about 2 to 3 minutes per side. Transfer to a paper towel-lined tray and keep warm, and repeat with remaining cakes, cooking in batches and adding more oil as necessary. Serve crabcakes with dipping sauce, daikon pickle and a lightly dressed salad, if you like.
Recipe: Melon-Mint Sorbet
This simple, generous sorbet comes together in a food processor and releases a blast of mint that’s evident in every spoonful. But best of all, it invites any kind of ripe summer melon, even watermelon. The texture is rougher than a true sorbet, somewhere between granita and shave ice. It’s plenty good as is, but to gild the lily, add a bit of raspberry syrup and a few festive berries.
By David Tanis
Yield: 6 to 8 servings
Total time: 12 1/2 hours
Ingredients:
- 4 cups cubed melon (honeydew, cantaloupe or other melon work well)
- 1/2 cup agave syrup
- 1/2 cup mint leaves
- Pinch of salt
- 3 tablespoons lime juice, plus 1 tablespoon zest
For the sauce (optional):
- 1/2 cup sugar, for sauce
- 6 ounces raspberries, for sauce
- 6 ounces raspberries, for garnish
Preparation:
1. Put melon cubes, agave syrup, mint, salt, lime juice and zest in the bowl of a food processor or blender. Purée well and transfer to the canister of an ice cream machine. Churn until firm, then transfer to a container with lid and store in freezer, preferably overnight.
2. Meanwhile, make raspberry sauce, if using: Put sugar and 6 ounces raspberries in a small saucepan. Add 1 cup water, simmer over medium-high, for 10 minutes. Place a fine-meshed strainer over a bowl and pour in raspberry mixture. Press firmly on raspberries to extract as much juice as possible. Discard the pressed fruit remains. Let cool completely.
3. To serve, place scoops of sorbet in serving bowls. Spoon over raspberry sauce and garnish each bowl with a few whole berries.
This article originally appeared in The New York Times.