Summer on a Plate: More Than 120 Delicious, No-Fuss Recipes for Memorable Meals from Loaves and Fishes

by Anna Pump, Gen LeRoy, Alan Richardson (Photographer)

Overview

From acclaimed cookbook author, successful store proprietor, and regular guest on the Food Network's Barefoot Contessa, comes Summer on a Plate, a cookbook filled with simple but elegant recipes that showcase the spectacular fresh produce of the summer months.

Wherever you are, summer is a time to savor longer days and lazy weekends. Fresh produce abounds, and life moves at a more relaxed pace. Anna Pump, proprietor of the iconic Loaves & Fishes store on Long Island, has catered to a devoted clientele of Hamptons weekenders for more than twenty-five years and understands summer's rhythms. She knows that while you may want to enjoy a picnic on the beach or a late supper on the porch, you don't want to spend the entire day in the kitchen, painstakingly preparing elaborate dishes. In Summer on a Plate she shares more than 120 recipes for delicious, no-fuss, memorable meals that celebrate the bounty of summer.

Anna never confuses simple with ordinary. A distinctive first course of Avocado Mousse and Shrimp on Tortilla Chips comes together in a flash. Chilled Tomato and Cucumber Soup with Seasoned Croutons makes a light and refreshing midday meal, and Spicy Corn Fritters with Salmon Caviar Dip are just the thing to set out for your weekend guests when a sunny Saturday on the beach turns into breezy evening on the deck.

Many dishes can go straight from the grill to the table, like Grilled Tenderloin of Beef with Fresh Herb Sauce or Perfect Whole Grilled Chicken with Plum Chutney. In the mood for seafood? Halibut Baked with Olives, Lemons, and Fresh Basil is a snap to prepare and full of fresh flavors. And what would summer be without salads? Serve Black Mission Figs with Goat Cheese and Upland Cress to begin a dinner party, while the Magret of Duck and Wild Rice Salad or the Asian-Flavor Beef, Pepper, and Spinach Salad are meals in themselves.

If your favorite part of the meal is dessert (like Anna!) you won't be disappointed. Chocolate Chunk Orange Cake is a sweet ending to any meal (or even a sweet breakfast) and is just as satisfying with a cup of midafternoon coffee. Rhubarb Blueberry Pie or a Peach Tart with Almond Topping and a Cookie Crust take advantage of the best of summer fruits. The Coconut Lemon Layer Cake is a showstopper, or you can opt for a simple dish of dead-ripe berries lavished with a dollop of Crème Fraîche.

Put summer on your plate and enjoy everything the season has to offer.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781451626018
Publisher:	Simon & Schuster
Publication date:	03/05/2011
Edition description:	Reprint
Pages:	256
Sales rank:	742,674
Product dimensions:	7.40(w) x 9.20(h) x 0.70(d)

About the Author

Anna Pump was born in northern Germany, close to the Danish border. In 1960 she came to the United States with her husband and two small children, eventually settling in Noyac, Long Island. After teaching cooking and working as a caterer for an number of years, Anna bought Loaves and Fishes. A few years later she published the classic The Loaves and Fishes Cookbook.

Alan Richardson is an award-winning photographer and designer whose work has appeared in Bon Appétit, Gourmet, Saveur, Food & Wine, and The New York Times Magazine. He has done the photography for countless cookbooks and is the co-author of The Four Seasons of Italian Cooking. He lives in New York City.

Read an Excerpt

How It All Began

It was during one evening last summer, when my friend Alison and I were dining at the Dockside restaurant in Sag Harbor, overlooking the bay with dozens of gleaming boats anchored only a few feet away, that the idea for this book was born. I had been chattering almost nonstop about all the new combinations of tastes and blendings of textures I wanted to try, also about nurturing some newer, fun recipes, about ideas for quick and easy meals, when Alison leaned over and said with a knowing smile, "You're going to write another book, Anna, aren't you?" I couldn't help but smile. Of course! I even had a title ready -- Summer on a Plate. It had been in the back of my mind for quite a while and now, speaking openly about it, a summer cookbook seemed like the most natural and, to me, most obvious way to offer recipes that I had accumulated over the years, the majority of which were designed especially for the summer season when Loaves and Fishes is open full time.

I wanted to create a cookbook that celebrated summer's glorious bounty from the fields, farms, gardens, and seas. I wanted it to be a book for those of us who adore summertime and summer food and would like to pick up some handy shortcuts for preparing quick, tasty meals in an hour or less from start to finish.

Life should become easier during the summer, when afternoons grow longer and we are able to find peaceful times to lunch on a blanket stretched under a tree, or lie in a hammock while nursing a tall drink, or spend an afternoon picnicking at the beach, or relish those lengthy dusk-to-dark evenings when each sunset is more spectacular than the last. Which brings us to the core of this book: designing easy-to-read, no-fuss, delicious, and memorable meals that will still allow the cook time to enjoy all the pleasures that our summer season has to offer.

Trends in food come and go. People want new ideas, and as soon as any appear they seem to be instantly embraced by anyone who owns a pan. That, to me, is the fun part of creating new recipes; the one thing that has always remained constant is my absolute commitment to good food. I shop and strongly recommend shopping for the finest, top-quality ingredients: my conviction is that all of us should be able to enjoy every kind of food in moderation. It is the principle that lies at the heart of Loaves and Fishes.

Each and every spring, I cannot wait to hang the "Welcome" sign out front of the store, fling open the windows, give the picnic table in back a good scrubbing, and arrange the table in my garden at home in such a way as to catch the dappled sunshine that filters down through the leaves during the day and allows us the fullest view of those moonlit, starry skies at dinner time.

In this book I want to share with you the joy, the thrill of summer cooking. I want to encourage every home cook to take risks, adapt, add to, or subtract from these recipes that are, after all, blueprints for meals that can turn the modest cook into an instant star. That, to me, is the hope behind this book: that you enjoy the recipes as much as I have loved creating them in my heartfelt salute to summer. Copyright © 2008 by Anna Pump and Gen LeRoy

Table of Contents

Contents

Why This Book? xiii

How It All Began xv

Keeping a Step Ahead 1

Starters 9

Soups 27

The Bread Basket 45

Sandwiches for Beach, Picnic, or Terrace 53

Salads, Sides, and Go-Withs 71

The Grill 125

For Those Rainy "No-Grilling" Nights 161

Desserts 185

Metric Equivalencies 223

Index 225

Editorial Reviews

"We continue to be devout customers of the wonderful Loaves & Fishes, and now we have an added bonus...a book with Anna's mouthwatering recipes." — Julie Andrews

"We look forward to the arrival of spring because it means, after a long winter, that Loaves & Fishes will soon reopen. What a treat it is, in the meanwhile, to have our most delicious recipes in this wonderful book." — Jo Carole and Ronald S. Lauder

"Every one of Anna's recipes is a showstopper! I couldn't wait to see this book all summer long while I was feasting on the food from Loaves & Fishes. You'll love it as much as I do." — Sheila Lukins, coauthor, The Silver Palate Cookbooks, and food editor at Parade Magazine

From the Publisher

Like Ina Garten's Barefoot Contessa, Pump's Hampton's gourmet food store and catering business, Loaves and Fishes, took on a second life in cookbooks (previous cookbooks include Loaves and Fishes Cookbook and Country Weekend Entertaining). The German-born caterer first tells the story of how she came to buy the Loaves and Fishes store 25 years ago before embarking on this well-organized collection of clear and simple recipes. With personal head notes-useful and not overly chatty-the author explains the many ways to entertain or cook for your friends and family. Starters such as clam and bacon dip can get a party off with a bang, while fresh corn soup with local corn is a pure taste of summer. Pump also suggests innovative sandwiches that can be brought to the beach, like Grilled Eggplant, Pepper and Soppressata Sandwiches. She also includes alternatives for inclement weather, such as oven-fried chicken that can be prepared in the kitchen. This is a cookbook that expresses the irrepressible joy of summer. (June)

Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Publishers Weekly

Loaves and Fishes, Pump's gourmet shop in the Hamptons on New York's Long Island, is now almost 30 years old, but her simple, tasty food is as popular as ever. In her latest cookbook, she and coauthor LeRoy offer easy summertime recipes grouped into chapters such as "Sandwiches for Beach, Picnic, or Terrace" and "For Those Rainy No-Grilling Nights." Sure to be popular, this is recommended for most collections.

Shutters on the Beach is a luxury hotel in Santa Monica, CA. Slatkin, a food writer and consultant, and her husband are co-owners of the resort, and here she presents her favorite recipes from its two restaurants. The recipes are simple but sophisticated, and, like those in Pump's book, are gathered into themed chapters, from "Sunny Days" to "Balmy Nights" to "Misty Mornings." Many are shown in full-page color photographs, and Slatkin also includes tips for casual entertaining and sidebars on such topics as "Beach Bar Essentials." For area libraries and other larger collections.
—Judith Sutton

Library Journal