Pump Anna - Summer on a plate: more than 120 delicious, no-fuss recipes for memorable meals from Loaves and Fishes

Also by Anna Pump and Gen LeRoy

Country Weekend Entertaining

The Loaves and Fishes Cookbook

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For Detlef

F irst and foremost I wish to thank Gen. Without her, there would be no book.

I want to thank my husband, Detlef, whose support, hearty appetite, and encouragement never stopped.

I could not have done this without Sybille van Kempen, my daughter, who is always there with new ideas and who, during the busy summer months, keeps Loaves and Fishes on track. I would also like to thank the entire staff at Loaves and Fishes for their hard work and their unwavering commitment to quality and freshness.

A special thanks to all my loyal customers who, summer after summer, with their praise and gentle critiques, inspire me to come up with new and challenging ideas.

Thanks to our superb editor, Sydny Miner, my agent and friend, Alison Bond, the excellent creative team at Simon & Schuster, Alan Richardson, Jackie Seow, and Michael Pederson, and a special thanks to Alice Mayhew for believing in me.

Finally, a big hug and thanks to all my family for sharing my food while testing and retesting all the recipes and offering their honest critiquesnothing sugar-coated as my grandchildren would call it.

A. P.

I t 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, Youre going to write another book, Anna, arent you? I couldnt 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 summers 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.

I ts been twenty-five years since that fateful day when, having heard there was a small cooking store for sale in Sagaponack, Long Island, I drove over and looked it over carefully. A soft natural light spilled in from the bank of windows in front and on one side of the main room, which made the room appear larger than it was. I walked behind the wooden counter and into the kitchen, which seemed to be just the right proportions for someone like me who had catered parties for years, mostly from my own country kitchen in Noyac, sometimes using my customers kitchens, and many times on outdoor grills under vast tents. The storealready called Loaves and Fisheswas cozy, and I was able to see that its size was certainly manageable. Its embracing atmosphere made me feel immediately at home, and after spending more time inside and then outside in the small, charming garden I decided that I had to buy it.

My husband, Detlef, and I scrubbed the inside from top to bottom, repainted everything white, even the floors, made sure all the facilities were in A-1 condition, weeded the back garden, and planted herbs and vegetables. As we worked, I allowed my imagination to run rampant; new recipes began cluttering my brain, ideas that I had been yearning to test and try but had no space in which to develop were now in almost my every thought. I was, at the same time, excited and terrified. Time flew by at an alarming rate. The season was to begin in approximately two weeks from the time Detlef and I finally mopped our way out the back door. I began buying, storing, planning, bakingI felt as if I had suddenly sprouted eight arms, all of them moving simultaneously. Suddenly, it seemed, opening day was upon us. I had not stopped, filling the shelves with my own freshly baked breads, scones, muffins, pies, and cakes; the cookie jars were gradually filling to their brims, each food bin held new and, I hoped, innovative salads, meats, pastas, grains, and vegetables. Ducks and chickens, crisp and still steaming, were slid off the spits and lined up on a huge wooden tray. Room was made for the savory tarts and the whole roasts, sliced, garnished, and ready to go. Pts, dips, dressings, sauces, and hors doeuvres were placed in my brand-new freezer and I cant even remember what else, but, believe me, there was more, much more.