Garden State grilling

The anchovy might sound unusual, but during cooking it almost completely dissolves and seasons the cooking liquid in a subtle way — much like the anchovy in a Caesar salad dressing. Make sure your grill is nice and clean before you cook the fish; little bits of stuck-on food can spring a leak in the foil packets and you’ll lose all the delicious juices.

Tear off a sheet of heavy-duty aluminum foil that is about four inches longer than the bluefish fillet. Center the fillet lengthwise over the foil.

Strip the leaves from the rosemary and thyme sprigs. Grind the rosemary, thyme, salt, anchovy and pepper in a mortar until the rosemary is crushed. Pour in the olive oil and grind for another minute or so. (If you don’t have a mortar and pestle, chop the herbs, anchovies and salt together until the herbs are finely chopped. Scrape the mixture into a small bowl and stir in the olive oil.) Pour the seasoned olive oil over the fillet. Bring the two long sides of the foil to meet over the fillet and make a 1/2-inch fold along the long ends of the foil. Continue making a series of small folds until the fillet is snuggly enclosed in foil. Fold the two short ends in the same way to make a neat little package. You can prepare the bluefish to this point up to several hours in advance. Refrigerate the fish until you’re ready to cook.

Prepare a charcoal fire or preheat a gas grill. Place the bluefish packet(s) over the hottest part of the coals and cook 12 minutes (adjust the time if your fillet is thicker or thinner than one inch). Remove the foil packet to a platter and cool two to three minutes before opening. Unwrap the fillet carefully — the packet will be filled with steam and hot cooking juices. Gently pull the foil from under the fillet, letting the juices drain onto the platter as you go. Serve hot.

This is a juicy salad. Serve it on a platter lined with tender young greens, next to a grilled slice of olive-oil rubbed country bread or, best — over more ripe tomatoes. If you choose big, red beefsteaks for the salad, serve the salad over a different type of tomato, like slices of yellow tomato or a ring of halved pear or cherry tomatoes.

With a small knife, cut the cores from the tomatoes and then cut the tomatoes into quarters through the core end. Cut the tomatoes into chunks about 1 1/2 inches. Toss the tomato chunks, salt, basil and red onion gently in a mixing bowl and let stand, tossing gently once or twice, from 10 to 15 minutes.

Drain the tomatoes in a sieve over a small bowl and spoon off all but three to four tablespoons of the juice. (How much juice accumulates in the bottom of the bowl depends on the size and ripeness of your tomatoes. Save any leftover juice for another use: It is great in Bloody Marys, other salad dressings or stirred into tomato sauce.) Pour the olive oil slowly into the tomato juice, whisking constantly. Taste the dressing and add freshly ground pepper, more tomato juice or olive oil to taste.

Pour the dressing over the tomatoes and taste for salt, adding more if necessary. Serve immediately.

Cooking the sausages on a griddle is the authentic Jersey Shore method for making these sandwiches. If you don’t have a griddle — or preferred grilled sausages which are also excellent — cook them on a charcoal or gas grill.

Heat the olive oil in a large, deep skillet over medium heat. Add the garlic (if using) and cook just until it begins to turn golden, about one minute. Add the onions and cook, stirring often, until wilted, about five minutes. Add as many of the pepper strips as possible without overcrowding the pan. Continue adding more peppers as those in the pan wilt until all the peppers are added.

Reduce the heat to low and season the peppers and onions lightly with salt. Continue cooking, stirring occasionally, until the vegetables are tender and browned, about 25 minutes. Season to taste with salt and pepper and keep warm. (The peppers and onions can be prepared up to a day and advance and reheated over low heat.)

Heat a griddle over medium heat. Poke the sausages all over with a fork and cook them on the griddle, turning occasionally, until they are browned on all sides and almost fully cooked, about 15 minutes. Remove the sausages from the griddle and cut them lengthwise almost but not completely in half.) The sausages should then lay flat. Cook them on both sides until well browned, about five minutes. Divide the sausages among the hero rolls and pile the sandwiches high with peppers and onions.

The topping here calls for pine nuts, but you can substitute any soft, oily nut, like walnuts or pecans.

Heat the oven to 350 F.

Spread the pine nuts out on a baking sheet and bake until very lightly browned, about eight minutes. Stir the nuts on the sheet once or twice as they cook so they brown evenly. Cool them completely.

While the pine nuts are cooling, make the berry filling: Stir 1/2 cup granulated sugar, the cornstarch, orange zest and ginger together in a large bowl until blended. Add the blueberries and toss gently. Let stand, tossing gently occasionally, until the blueberries start to get juicy. Scrape the berries into an 11-inch oval baking dish. Dot the top with the 3 tablespoons butter cut into small pieces.

Make the topping: Stir the flour, brown sugar and 1/3 cup granulated sugar together in a small bowl until blended. Add the 6 tablespoons room temperature butter and cooled pine nuts and rub the ingredients together with your fingertips until the butter is completely absorbed by the flour and sugar. (It is fine if some of the pine nuts are broken up and some are whole.) Sprinkle the topping evenly over the berries and bake until the topping is lightly browned and the berries are bubbling and lightly thickened, about 40 minutes. Remove and cool at least 45 minutes before serving.