Wednesday, June 9, 2010

A page from Frankies

For a taste of summer, you can’t go wrong with a fresh salad and a lemonade. Luckily, Frank Castronovo and Frank Falcinelli — the Frankies behind the Carroll Gardens restaurant Frankies Spuntiono, and the new cookbook, “The Frankies Spuntino Kitchen Companion & Cooking Manual,” have provided us with their favorite recipes from the book for just the thing.

Tomato, Avocado and Red Onion Salad
Serves 4

Falcinelli loves to say that this salad “makes gazpacho in your mouth.” It’s funny, because there are no avocados in gazpacho, but true because the experience of eating it—it’s all lush and creamy with super-fresh tomato flavor—is gazpacho-like. The sting and the acid from the raw onion keep it from going flabby.

Ingredients
2 large ripe tomatoes
1 small (or 1/2medium) red onion, thinly sliced
Fine sea salt
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil, plus more for drizzling 2 tablespoons
Red wine vinegar
2 Hass avocados
Freshly ground black pepper

Directions
1. Core the tomatoes and slice into wedges. Combine with the sliced onion, a large pinch of salt, and the olive oil and vinegar in a large bowl. Gently toss, and divide among four serving plates.
2. Halve, pit, peel, and slice the avocados and divide among the four plates. Sprinkle the avocado with a small pinch of salt and drizzle each plate with a little olive oil. Finish with a few grinds of black pepper just before the salad goes to the table.

Frankies Lemonade
Makes 1 tall glass

On hot days, we stir up cool batches of our own homemade lemonade.

Ingredients
1 lemon
2 tablespoons agave nectar or simple syrup (50/50 water and sugar, heated until the sugar dissolves, and then stored in the refrigerator)
1 leafy mint sprig
1 cup ice cubes
Water or, preferably, sparkling water

Directions
Juice the lemon into a 16-ounce glass. Add the sweetener, mint, and ice. Stir or muddle, just so the ingredients in the glass get a chance to know one another. Top off with water. Repeat as necessary.

Meet the chefs at BookCourt [163 Court St. between Dean and Pacific streets in Cobble Hill, (718) 875-3677] on June 19 at 1 pm.

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