New cookbooks for summer savoring

What's your summer pleasure? Ice cream, drippy and delicious, whether homemade or shaped like a cartoon character and sold from a truck? Antipasti, light and unfussy, perfect for sharing at garden parties? Or perhaps you've been heating up our outdoor barbecue ever since the snow melted, grilling everything from A (asparagus) to 'Za (pizza can be grilled, too).

Our roundup of new summer cookbooks mostly sticks to cuisines and food styles that, like summer, take it somewhat easy on us. There's a minimum of hot oven work and a maximum of light, fresh, seasonal flavors. After all, if the livin' is easy in summertime, the cooking should be, too.    —Gael Fashingbauer Cooper

We all scream for ice cream
When I was a kid, summer meant salty swims and rides into town for soft-serve ice cream, chocolate and vanilla twisted together atop a wafer cone. Emily Luchetti’s “A Passion for Ice Cream” (Chronicle Books, $35) pays homage to our melty memories, then leaves them behind in a swirl of daring flavors and fresh presentations.

I lingered over photos of ruby-red pomegranate sorbet nested in meringue baskets. Of crème fraiche ice cream piped into lacy rolls. Of espresso floats. None of which I’d ever eaten as a child. But who cares? Summer is the perfect season for adventures, why not dessert adventures?

I promised my coworkers I’d share my creations. Early on, I brought in a lemon-ginger angel food cake (an intended match for sorbet). Then — nothing. How could I confess that the rest had disappeared, scoop by scoop, from my freezer?

Chronicle Books

Plan ahead — these desserts take time. Time for chilling, churning and hardening (the ice cream). Time for mixing, baking and cooling (the accompaniments). Time for assembling and serving. Keep in mind: While some of Luchetti’s ice creams work well alone (like my favorite, a creamy-tart lemon), others are meant as part of a balancing act. Her coconut ice cream, barely sweetened, deliciously offset sugary espresso meringues and a pool of chocolate sauce. Served alone? Eh.

The ingredients aren’t cheap. Vanilla beans alone can run $6 each. You’ll faint at the price of exceptional chocolate. Still, don’t skimp on quality ingredients; you’ll find they deliver in taste what you spend in money.

Which brings me back to chocolate and vanilla. Luchetti’s chocolate-chocolate chunk ice cream is reminscent of rich, frozen mousse. French vanilla, flecked with vanilla beans and slightly fragrant, embodied elegance. I scooped them into the same bowl. Better than that childhood soft-serve. Maybe Luchetti didn’t leave my ice cream memories behind, after all.    —Joan Wolfe

Appetizing antipasti
“Antipasti: Fabulous Appetizers and Small Plates” (Chronicle Books, $20), may be the food equivalent of a summer sundress and bare feet, offering dishes that are light, easy and fast.  Author Joyce Goldstein takes care to ensure that her dishes are uncomplicated and casual, dishes you’d want to share with friends.

Chronicle Books

Even the book's introduction gets into the act, offering nine pages of shop-and-serve antipasti. You'll be tempted to copy this section and keep it next to your shopping bags. The effortless offerings include chunks of Parmesan cheese drizzled with aged balsamic vinegar: a perfect balance of salty and sweet. Piquant olives warmed and dusted with lemon zest and red pepper flakes and smoky roasted peppers with goat cheese on crostini are also winners.

Goldstein’s remaining recipes require a bit more work, but they’re usually worth the effort. Homemade twice-baked Parmesan crackers drew mixed reviews when served plain, but paired well with smoked salmon. Rice croquettes, despite a core of prosciutto, mushrooms and molten mozzarella, seemed bland until we thought to top them with spicy tomato sauce from an earlier recipe. As if you were snacking from a giant platter of antipasti, just mix and match flavors according to your tastes.

The hits were unquestionable. A salad of mixed greens and tart vinaigrette, topped with smoky, salty prosciutto bits sautéed crisp, won compliments. Stuffed eggs, a homely summer classic, were transformed with olives, briny capers and rich bites of tuna.

Neither prepared me for the gorgonzola custard. Silky, atop peppery arugula and a delicate hazelnut vinaigrette, it elevated paper-thin slices of pear to new heights. You could build a party around this dish, or a casual summer picnic. Add a few more appetizers and wine, then call up your friends. They’ll agree that the custard, and Goldstein’s cookbook, are fabulous indeed.    —J.W.

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