Betty Lives!

Summer Cooking

Elizabeth David

1955

It is so blazing hot in New York right now that the thought of turning the oven on makes me cringe. Naturally, I turned to the one book that is geared specifically for hot weather and found an instant winner. I don’t really need to go into the glory that is Elizabeth David, do I? If you are reading this blog there is a good chance you not only know her work but own it.

The Eggs with Skordalia was just about right for tonight plus I had all the ingredients on hand. There’s not much of a “recipe” here, just directions for making the skordalia and then the suggestion to serve it with hard-boiled eggs, raw tomatoes, black olives and some radishes. David’s skordalia is made from 4 large garlic cloves, two egg yolks, salt, pepper, 1/4 pint of olive oil, 2 oz fresh bread crumbs, 2 oz ground almonds, lemon juice and chopped parsley. A side note for those who care: To insure that your mayonnaise (which is essentially what this is) emulsifies, all the ingredients must be at room temp, including the egg yolks. And know that if the first drop goes well, the rest is cake.

I don’t know if I weighed out 2 oz poorly, but my skordalia came out thick as paste and had to be diluted with water. Once thinned, it was a sight to behold and the scent was pure garlic heaven. My eggs were bought from the magnificent Flying Pigs Farm stand at the greenmarket and were of such buttery deliciousness that it seemed unfair to swath them in skordalia, but it was yummy. Also bought at the greenmarket were radish seed pods which I substituted for the radishes. I’d never had these before and they are excellent - crisp and spicy. I supplemented the feast with sliced cucumbers, a tart purslane salad and our favorite bottle of Rosé. All in all, it hit the spot and the house stayed cool. Thanks ED.