We’ve talked about the warm months and the bounty they produce (pun intended) a few times in the last couple of months. From general recipes to enjoy in the moment to preservation methods, there is no shortage of ways to enjoy your favorite summer fruits and vegetables. There will, on occasion, be times that an over-abundance of produce present themselves. Samar Lazarri of Stoa Takeaway and Sara May, stopped by last week to discuss this phenomenon and how to take advantage of the surplus.If you have never impulse purchased a ton of strawberries just because they looked great, then I’d say you haven’t quite lived yet. For some people, it is commonplace enough. Take Samar and Sara, for instance. When they arrived to start prepping for class, they gushed about a haul that included garlic scapes and apricots that they simply had to find a way to incorporate into their class.

Sometimes, however, you buy something (like herbs) and you don’t need to use all of them for a recipe. What to do then? Well, the answer is simple: butter. Compound butter is an easy process that everyone should have in their bag of no-waste tricks. Taking some room temperature unsalted butter, add in your desired flavor component, salt to taste, and voila, you’ve just used fat to preserve your herbs or veggies. You can now portion the compound butter and freeze some for future use. For class, Sara and Samar prepared 3 such examples: herbed, pickled garlic scape, and 6-pepper compound butters. 

While herbs don’t pickle well, many produce items do. As we’ve already seen with the first course, you can apply them in a variety of ways. Another way is using them in combination with leafy greens to make a zesty salad. In addition to the basic lettuces, using heartier greens like lacinato (or dinosaur) kale will give you different textures. A tip from Samar regarding the kale is to not only massage it but add a little salt and vinegar, which will help make it even more tender. As for dressings, make your own, but whatever you do, don’t forget the mustard! Ever wonder why restaurant vinaigrettes don’t separate? Mustard is a little trick to helping emulsify your homemade dressing. Don’t be surprised to see meat and fish producers at your farmers market. While we live in the City of Brotherly Love, our home state is rather rural and these producers exist here as well. You can even find meat-centric CSA style programs, including those at your farmers market. Sustainably raised fish is within reach, and speaking of… For perfectly cooked salmon, try these steps that Samar shared with the class:

• Take a pan and heat it without oil or fish in it.
• Add in a high smoke point oil or blended oil. While olive oil is great for many things, it is ill-suited for getting a good sear by itself.
• Place the salmon skin side down and cook until you see the sides start to turn from pink to bronze. AND DON’T MOVE IT AROUND!
• Flip over and cook on the flesh side for 5-10 minutes.

You can serve it with your favorite sides. For our evening, the chef duo served up a duo of grains. Sara, using the ancient grain farro, made a pilaf-style dish with green peppers, fennel, and capers while Samar gussied up black rice noodles with sesame oil, tamari, scallions and pickled kohlrabi.

Finishing the night was light but tangy buttermilk panna cotta with macerated strawberries and apricots. Just take in the beauty of this colorful dessert. Have too much ripe fruit and don’t want it to go to waste? Simply slice or dice, toss it with sugar and maybe some lemon juice and you’ve got yourself a fresh topping for that custard or cake!

We’ve got a few more months of exciting harvest to enjoy. Take advantage of the local CSAs like Lancaster Farm Fresh   and Greensgrow. Also, be sure to visit Samar at Stoa Takeaway for lunch on Mondays and Wednesdays at the Bok Building. You can catch Sara at Bloomsday Cafe during the day Saturday through Wednesday.