Cooking

Many of us have cooked meat in a hot pan lightly covered in olive oil and then deglazed the pan with either a rich beef or chicken stock or our favorite white or red wine. This classic French sauté method is credited to Pierre Franey, whose series of “60-Minute Gourmet” cookbooks taught a generation of Americans about the versatility and speed of this classic technique.

Grits are a staple of the Southern breakfast. For those unfamiliar with them, grits are nothing more than coarsely ground, dried corn. If you grind it a little finer, you have the Italian staple, polenta … grind it finer yet, and you have corn meal.

I’ve heard that some places like to combine grits with hominy, which is soaked in lye. Why would you want to soak food in lye, and then actually eat it?

 Do you know what the most popular, edible pod bean is in this country? It’s green beans, otherwise known as snap or string bean. Not only are green beans a popular home-garden vegetable, they are also plentiful at our local farm markets and produce stands during this warm season.

I remember my aunt pulling the “string” on these beans, noticeable when you snapped off the ends. The “snapping” noise is the reason for its other nickname.

Swiss chard is available year round but is best in summer

Chard is often referred to as Swiss chard because of its extensive cultivation in Switzerland. As a member of the beet family, it has also been referred to as silver beet, spinach beet, leaf beet, sea kale beet, white beet, strawberry spinach and even Roman kale.

In our area, the two main types available are red chard and green chard. The red, which has a stronger flavor, has red stems and dark green leaves with red veins. The green has lighter green leaves with white stalks.