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THE GREEN BLINTZ After a personal hiatus, and then a little down time for technical reasons, I'm back - back in the kitchen, and back on the website. To those of you who have written me, thank you for your kind words. Having been too busy for much cooking during many weeks, coming back into the kitchen in the prime of summer was a thrill. I knew it was really July when I saw the first giant purple cherokee tomato in my weekly basket of vegetables. I wouldn't have know it from the weather, which has been more of June - foggy mornings, sunny afternoons, cool nights. This has been excellent for leafy greens, which don't like too much heat, and the first notable result of my return to the kitchen is something that sounds like it comes from a Dr. Seuss story - The Green Blintz. I have often made blintzes of the old-fashioned deli sort, with hoop cheese or farmer cheese and a touch of lemon rind and sugar. I have also made crepes that were rolled and folded and filled with any number of different stuffings, including green mixtures of ricotta and spinach or ricotta and chard. These always were delicious, but I had a yen for something different, and I could taste it before I ever started cooking, or even shopping. I wanted a really green crepe! I don't mean the crepe itself, which was a pure French crepe made of cream and flour and eggs - I mean the inside. I got in the mood for Greek-style greens, sautéed with a little olive oil and garlic, then zapped with some lemon juice and fresh chopped herbs from the garden. Greens in their pure intensity. I made the filling by starting with about a half bushel of greens (spinach, chard and sorrel), adding caramelized fennel and onion, then stirring in the simple but essential ingredients that transformed the whole - fresh lemon juice, fresh oregano and plenty of fresh mint. The great pile of vegetables cooked down to about three or four cups. I resisted the temptation to add cheese or eggs. The taste was splendid, and it was the fresh mint that took it over the top, a mild, delightful, fragrant mint that could not be identified as mint in the final dish, but altered it completely. I wrapped up the insanely green filling in crepes, and thought about the finishing touch. The very forward flavor called for a delicate sauce, so I sautéed oyster mushrooms and added a little cream - as simple as it could be and just right. I loved the combination of the radical, all-green filling with the mild-mannered crepes and sauce. I felt this dish should have a name as sophisticated as its flavor, but a friend of mine dubbed it The Green Blintz, and I suspect that's here to stay. The same dinner party that inspired the green blintz ended with a dessert that was also a keeper, and another prime-of-summer taste: a rustic, free-form tart of apricots and cherries. Those are two of my favorite fruits and I couldn't decide between them, so I combined them. The result was very satisfying - not heavy, not too sweet, juicy and brightly flavorful. Both apricots and cherries are still turning up in the market, so I'm including the recipe. Have one of these tarts before the season shifts. And when it does... we'll keep enjoying the big flavors of summer. They're cause for rejoicing, month after month. Apricots and cherries will be gone soon, but peaches will be abundant for a long time, plums will be going strong till autumn, eggplants will soon appear, and the really great tomatoes are just getting started. Good cooking is almost too easy at this time of year. Look in this month's "New Recipes" for Green Crepes with Oyster Mushroom Sauce (also known as The Green Blintz), and Apricot and Cherry Galette - and join me in the pursuit of big summer flavors.
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