31 dishes, 31 days – I’m cooking my way through Melissa Clark‘s “No-Sweat Cooking” from the August issue of Every Day with Rachael Ray. And to those of you who made your way over here via rachaelraymag.com, welcome!

I love avocado in just about any form, so I was looking forward to trying these Herbed Crab Salad-Stuffed Avocados and they did not disappoint. Our avocados were on the small side so we have a good amount of the crab salad left over, but that’s hardly a bad thing – I’m sure it will be great on a sandwich or a mound of crisp greens… or maybe we just need to buy more avocados.

Get the recipe: Herbed Crab Salad-Stuffed Avocados

31 dishes, 31 days – I’m cooking my way through Melissa Clark‘s “No-Sweat Cooking” from the August issue of Every Day with Rachael Ray. And to those of you who made your way over here via rachaelraymag.com, welcome!

We enjoyed these tasty little bites before our gazpacho dinner Monday night, and while I couldn’t really wrap the cheese in the lox thanks to some rather tiny, odd-shaped slices in my package of wild Alaskan smoked salmon (as you can probably tell by the rogue dill fronds on most of them), my improvisation worked just fine. These are a little light to make up a whole meal for us, but they’re perfect as a snack or a first course. I’d love to make them again when we’ve got some of our own home-cured salmon, perhaps even using a mix of herbs to echo the ones in our cure mix.

Get the recipe: Lox ’n’ Goat Cheese Crostini

The heat has been relentless this summer. My friend Jan remarked to me on Saturday at the farmers’ market that last summer was so grey and rainy she forgot just how miserable the heat could be. Meal planning can be hard when the mercury climbs, even for a committed home cook like me, so I’m always on the lookout for dinnertime inspiration beyond salads this time of year.

I found it in Melissa Clark’s “No Sweat Cooking,” which appears in the August issue of Every Day with Rachael Ray magazine. She put forth some really appealing dishes to help folks beat the heat but still eat well, and for the next month, I’ll be cooking my way through them – 31 dishes in 31 days, all blogged here.

I got started with last night’s dinner, taking advantage of Mike’s absence to indulge in something he’s not a fan of but that I love – fresh melon. It’s featured in a simple scallop ceviche, made bright and zippy with chilies and mint, the melon adding a subtle sweetness and lovely color to the dish.

I picked up the tiniest muskmelon I could find from Wishing Stone Farm, barely the size of a softball, and combined the diced flesh with my citrus “cooked” Bomster scallops. A little chopping and squeezing and about two hours’ time was all I needed to get this elegant, refreshing meal on the table, and as promised, I didn’t break a sweat. We’re off to a good start.

Get the recipe: Scallop-and-Cantaloupe Ceviche

The weather seems to finally have turned, and I’ve really been craving lighter, brighter flavors. It’s perfect timing, really, because the farmers’ markets around Boston are finally open for the season, which means that we can now shop at a farmers’ market in Providence or Boston nearly every day of the week. It’s really the beginning of the very best time of the year to cook and eat around these parts.

The warmer weather also means that I love to escape from my windowless office whenever possible and take a lunchtime stroll up the North End to visit my favorite fishmongers. Liz and Keri always have beautiful fresh seafood, and it’s always a treat to visit their adorable shop, chat with them, and know that I’m bringing home something delicious to cook up.

For the second week running, one of those delicious offerings from the sea was soft shell crabs, in season right now, and particularly sweet and tasty. Last week I soaked some in buttermilk, dredged them in flour, and served the crispy little guys on a “broken” basil and lemon puree; this time around I went with a different take. They got a super light coating of seasoned Wondra flour, then a brief saute in a hot pan slicked with a little bit of grapeseed oil, then I served them up with a sprinkle of slivered almonds and a dipping sauce composed of tamari, mirin, rice wine vinegar, shaved green garlic, and a little toasted sesame oil.

On the side, I served up a salad of cucumber ribbons dressed with a light rice wine vinaigrette, slivers of nori from She Sells Seaweed, and black sesame seeds, very much inspired by a dish we had at last years Farm Fresh RI Local Food Fest.

Last night’s seafood preparation was even simpler. I had two gorgeous pieces of mahi mahi, which I salted, dried well, then seared in a bit of grapeseed oil until the skin was crackly-crisp. When I flipped the fish so the skin side was up, I added a nub of anchovy butter, which soaked into the flesh of the fish, infusing it with more rich flavor, and I served the seared filets on top of a basil and garlic scape citronette, with simply halved and salted tiny heirloom tomatoes from Kimball’s Fruit Farm scattered around. Quick, simple, delicious.

It was for a good cause, I swear. My recipe is here, at food52.

I dove head-first into my new position this week, with my first trainee joining the department on Monday. Things are going great, but I’m still effectively doing my old job as well, and people, I am *beat* by the time I get home. I did myself a favor by writing up a meal plan for this week’s dinners over the weekend, but I had to fall back and punt last night when I realized that the fillets from the whole black sea bass I had in the fridge were not going to be nearly enough for two (particularly since breakfast and lunch are luxuries I haven’t had much time for lately).

Thankfully, I had portioned out some lovely little Maine shrimp a couple of weeks back and tucked them away in the freezer for future meals. After a quick water bath to thaw them, I gave them a quick saute with sliced leeks and a bit of grapeseed oil in my new favorite pan. They needed just a couple of minutes to cook through, and were delicious served alongside sauteed red cabbage and carrots on a bed of black rice. I whisked together the juice of a lime, some tamari, and a bit of toasted sesame oil to drizzle over the top of our bowls, a simple sauce that provided just the right notes of salt and acidity to complement the sweet shrimp and nutty rice.

One of the most fun things about this past year has been my involvement with food52. The weekly challenges have made me look at cooking in new ways, and there’s a real sense of camaraderie there that isn’t present in a lot of other online forums. I have met, virtually and in person, so many great people, have become aware of a ton of new-to-me food blogs, and have been hugely inspired by the great dishes being put forth every week by the food52 community.

This dish is one that caught my eye a while back, and with cold, stormy weather headed our way, I knew it would be perfect for last night’s dinner. It comes from Brooke of not lazy. rustic., and it was just as delicious as I thought it would be. The Point Judith squid, inexpensive and sustainable, came from Mercato del Mare, and it became incredibly tender as it simmered in a bath of red wine, stock*, tomatoes, and aromatics. The olives really made the dish, mellowing as they cooked ever-so-briefly in the stew and leached a bit of their briny flavor into the rich broth. If you’re looking for a new take on seafood stew, give this one a try.

Recipe: Squid, Potato & Olive Stew on food52

*Brooke’s recipe calls for clam juice, which we didn’t have, so I substituted an equivalent amount of Maine shrimp stock that I had in the freezer.

Commuting to Boston can be rough, and it makes for some very long days (12 hours from the time I leave in the morning to the time I walk through the door in the evening, assuming I don’t work late or have train delays), but it’s worth it for many reasons. Like Providence, Boston is a great food town, and it’s a treat to venture out on my lunch break to source out items for dinner.

One of my favorite discoveries since moving back to this part of the country is Mercato del Mare (a/k/a “the cutest fish market ever“), a jewel box of a store located in the North End. Since Friday was grey and gloomy, I decided to head to the store to pick up ingredients for a light but warming seafood stew.

In a riff on my standard preparation, I decided to toss some Point Judith calamari into the mix. I generally grill or fry calamari, but since tasting a red wine-braised version at Farm Fresh Rhode Island’s Local Food Fest over the summer, I have been eager to try a long-cooked preparation, and the calamari turned out as meltingly tender as I had hoped it would be.

Seafood Stew with Saffron, Tomatoes and Fennel

½ lb. calamari, cleaned (bodies, tentacles or a mix of both)
½ lb. skinless, firm-fleshed white fish (I used cod), cut into 1 inch chunks
½ lb. shrimp, peeled and deveined
½ lb. cockles or other small clams, scrubbed
2 T extra virgin olive oil
kosher or sea salt
1 cup diced shallot, red onion, or leek
a big pinch of saffron
¼ cup dry white vermouth
1 28 oz. can whole peeled plum tomatoes with their juices (I prefer San Marzano), lightly crushed
1 cup peeled and cubed russet potato
½ cup chopped fennel bulb
1 cup water

In a heavy-bottomed soup pot, heat the olive oil over medium heat until shimmering. Add half of the shallot, onion or leek and a big pinch of salt, stir to coat with oil, and cook for a few minutes until beginning to soften. Slice the calamari bodies into rings. Add the calamari rings (and tentacles, if using) and another pinch of salt, and stir to coat with the oil. Clear a spot in the center of the pan and crumble in the saffron, letting it toast briefly before stirring through. Add the vermouth and the tomatoes with their juices. Stir and let cook over medium heat until it just comes to a boil, then reduce the heat to low and cover. Let cook for 1 hour, stirring occasionally, and partially uncovering if the heat is too high. Add the potato, fennel and remaining onion, plus up to a cup of water and a pinch more salt, stir and let cook until the potatoes are just tender. Add the chunks of fish, the shrimp, and the cockles at the end, letting them simmer in the hot broth until they are just cooked through – about 5 minutes should do. Remove from heat and ladle the stew into wide, shallow bowls. Serve with plenty of toasted garlic-rubbed bread on the side.

(Weekend Eats (and Drinks) will return next week.)

When you’re sitting at a desk or behind cubicle walls, thinking about what you’d rather be doing, how you’d spend your days if money were no object, or if your circumstances were different, what do you dream about?

My answer has changed over the years, but it’s getting clearer, to the point where I now find myself taking notes, making lists, looking longingly through the windows of empty storefronts in my neighborhood, pondering the possibilities.

A storefront. A market.

Specifically, a seafood market, but more than just that.

There’d be a little space for retail, where I’d sell a small, well-curated selection of fresh, local seafood, and perhaps even a few sustainably-fished favorites from farther afield. There’d be things prepared in-house, seafood salads and cured and smoked fish, and things you could take home, heat and eat. There’d be baskets of lemons, good white anchovies and glass jars of briny capers for sale, homemade butter spiked with fresh herbs or lime and chile, sauces and salsas, a variety of tasty things to serve with your seafood.

There’d also be a small adjoining space, cozy, with a raw bar like our beloved Marlow and Sons with their oyster happy hour. We’d have tables and chairs and a small seafood menu, fritto misto and seafood rillettes, chowders and stews and seared or grilled fillets – simple, honest seafood dishes, prepared with whatever good things are in season. A neighborhood place, filled with laughter and conversation. A place that celebrates what we so love about living here – the ocean, the people, the bounty of this beautiful state we now call home.

And when the weather warms up after the long winter, we might even put some chairs out on the sidewalk, throw open the doors to let the breeze in, pour frosty beverages and linger, listening to the sounds of chirping birds and passing traffic. And maybe, just maybe, we’d serve up some grilled fish tacos.

Someday? Who knows. I have neither the means nor the experience to make it happen right now. But it sure is a nice dream.

We got back to Providence on Sunday evening, but since I had made a point to use up most of our fresh food before our trip, and since we weren’t around for Saturday’s farmers’ market, we had to make a quick trip to Whole Foods for provisions. I’ve gotten so used to buying the majority of our food at the farmers’ market that I was a little frazzled when we got to the store, but the seafood counter saved the day. I grabbed some sardines for Sunday night’s dinner, and a beautiful whole trout for Monday.

We had hoped to grill the sardines on Sunday night but it was a bit too chilly out, so after Mike cleaned them, I dipped them in a little bit of seasoned flour and fried them. I made a quick stew of fennel and tomatoes, one of my favorite partners for fish of any kind, and our Sunday supper was complete.

Monday’s trout dinner was equally simple: our butterflied trout went into a grill basket rubbed with salt and a bit of olive oil, and Mike took care of cooking it while I worked on sides.

I had spotted some Massachusetts fiddleheads at the store, which I snapped up along with a few gorgeous chanterelles. I sauteed them in butter with thinly sliced spring onion until the mushrooms were a bit caramelized and the fiddleheads were tender, then I spooned them onto our plates with the grilled trout and some boiled, smashed new potatoes. I finished the fish with a spritz of fresh lemon juice and some thin slices of the bright green onion tips, and simple as that, dinner was served.