masala-laced carrot macaroons

i've probably told this story before,

but i can't find it anywhere on this blog,

so i'll just write about it and apologize

if you've heard this 3-second tale before.

it was senior year of college and i was

sitting in the living room of my college apartment,

talking about how i'm always looking for something

that's different, something that you don't see

coming and going, just something. (to be honest,

i remember that part, but i have no idea what i

was talking about.) my friend turned to me and said,

brooke, sometimes there's nothing wrong

with a plain potato chip. (note: i know we weren't

talking about food.)

i know what he was saying.

sometimes life is not about being different.

sometimes it's about the familiar.

it's about the classics.

the thing is, i never want a plain potato chip.

it's plain. i've seen it before. it offers me very little.

i always want the chip that's coated with

craziness.

and so when i buy a cookbook,

i want one that offers me something new.

yes, i want to one day make

chocolate chip cookies

and

brownies that are classic,

but so good that my kids constantly wish

they're eating mine when snacking on someone

else's (am i nuts? yes.).

but, for now, i want the crazy. i want the recipes

that make me look at food and ingredients

differently, while resulting in desserts that are

surprising and unforgettable

(they should taste good, too).

this, it should be noted, is my philosophy

when finding a restaurant, too, which is why

it takes so long for us to find a place to

eat dinner and why it takes me hours

to research places to eat while on vacation.

surprisingly, when i decided to take home

alice medrich's newish book,

chewy

gooey

crispy

crunchy,

it was for both reasons:

this book is full of the classics

and it offers really interesting twists

on recognizable recipes.

still, the first one that i decided i had to make,

spicy carrot masala meringues, fell into the second

category. they looked pretty simple, but

provided several things that i love:

carrots (reminiscent of my favorite cake, carrot),

garam masala (a new love)

and shredded coconut.

i think - if you are glancing quickly and in a rush -

you might look past this recipe.

it involves grinding almonds,

shredding carrots,

giving the recipe 10 minutes to hydrate,

stirring while set in simmering water,

and ultimately, baking.

but, thanks to my food processor and

a decent mise en place,

i think it took me less than 30 minutes

to get these cookies in the oven.

and, then, i let them be,

worrying about the next thing that

i was making, when really, i should

have focused on making sure these

teeny bundles didn't burn their

bottoms in the oven.

so of course, they got a little too

dark underneath. and i got a little

angry. but then i calmed down and

tried one. and here's what i learned

from these cookies:

1) the carrots really taste like carrots.

while that might sound like a charlie

and the chocolate factory rip off,

i was really surprised to find that i could

taste the strands of carrots in a very different

way than you can when the veggies are

baked into a cake. i'm not a huge carrot lover,

so my first bite worried me, but i persevered.

2) you really can taste the garam masala.

i - someone who wants to jam pack everything

she eats with spice and flavor - worried that

1 teaspoon wouldn't be enough to make an

impression, but i was wrong. the spice comes

after and lingers, slightly spicy, cinnamon-laced

and faintly indian-influenced. (i would say the spice

was most pronounced on the second day and decreased

in intensity on each day forward.)

3) they were a little bit sticky, which is something

i'm not crazy about. i did find that the ones that were

closer to burnt on the bottoms were slightly less

sticky, which made me think that my oven might

need to be adjusted. but, i digress.

4) my family, when offered slightly weird cookies -

with carrots and indian spices woven throughout -

at the same time as brownies, will eat an equal

amount of both. and, i'm pretty sure that at least

some of them, if given a choice,

would reach for a plain potato chip.

masala-laced carrot macaroons

adapted from chewy gooey crispy crunchy by alice medrich

this is how i tackled the recipe: i ground the almonds in the food processor, then transferred them to a bowl. next, i used the shredder attachment on the food processor to shred the carrots into the bowl, which i did not bother wiping clean of almonds, since they were ultimately going into the same bowl anyway. the only thing i struggled with with these cookies was how long i really needed to stir the mixture over boiling water. the recipe said 5-7 minutes, or until the mixture had thickened slightly. i went for the full 7 and the mixture did seem thicker, but when it came time to scoop them into the cookie sheet, the ingredients did not hold together, instead, functioning like separates, coated in something wet. i placed the bowl back over the simmering water and stirred until the mixture was scoopable and was able to form something closer to a batter that kept its shape.

ok, i will tell you this. i read this recipe about 10 times before and while making it. and just now, when i went to type it out, i realized it says, "set the bowl directly in a wide skillet of barely simmering water." that's not what i did. instead, i read "set the bowl directly in" as "place the bowl over a double boiler." most likely, that was where i went wrong. below, i'll write as intended.

also, the recipe called for (a generous 1/4 teaspoon of) lemon zest, but i'm never crazy about lemon in baked goods - save for lemon bars - so i omitted it.

3/4 cup whole almonds

2-3 carrots, peeled

2 large egg whites

1 cup sugar

1 teaspoon garam masala (alice also offers that you could use cinnamon or pumpkin pie spice)

1/4 teaspoon salt

3/4 cup shredded unsweetened dried coconut

position racks in the upper and lower thirds of the oven. heat oven to 325˚f.

in food processor, pulse almonds 10 times, or until chopped (you're looking for almonds that are both large chopped and finely chopped). set aside.

on box grater or using shredder attachment on your food processor, grate carrots. measure 1 1/3 cups lightly packed carrot (reserve remaining for another use).

in medium stainless steel bowl, whisk egg whites until frothy. stir in sugar, garam masala and salt. stir in carrots, coconut and almonds. set aside 10 minutes, to hydrate the mixture.

bring a large wide skillet of water to a very low simmer; place bowl in skillet. cook 5-7 minutes, or until the mixture is very hot and the liquid turns from opaque to translucent, stirring constantly with a silicone spatula, making sure to scrape the bottom.

use 1 heaping teaspoon measure to drop cookies on two parchment-lined baking sheets. bake 20-25 minutes, or until the cookies are deep golden on the bottom (check by turning up the corner of the parchment paper), rotating the pans top to bottom and left to right midway through baking.

place pans on cooling racks and cool completely. remove from parchment paper and store cookies, loosely covered, 3-4 days.

green smoothie

while we all hold on

(for dear life, sometimes)

to who we are,

i think it's fair to say we become products

of our environment. for me, that means a lot

of things - like lately, my (slight)

obsession with green smoothies.

i had never heard of green smoothies -

much less imagined myself drinking, craving

and researching twists on them - before about

a year and a half ago. one of my coworkers brought

in a smoothie everyday, filled with lots of visible

kale. other people started drinking them. a lot

of people started talking about them. and i kept

thinking, one day, i'll get up the nerve to make one.

i kept it in my head for over a year.

people still drank them, but they didn't talk about

them quite as much. then, in april, i switched jobs

and boom: green smoothies. in my face. all the time.

again. ok, i will make them.

but, i didn't.

until one day, in the middle of may,

i realized that i had almost all of the ingredients

in the house for this one, the smoothie i'm

most commonly faced with. i prepped everything

the night before - i chopped kale, measured spinach,

diced strawberries and sliced dates, even sprinkling

some flax seed in for good measure. the next morning,

i blended the whole thing with a ripe banana and

coconut water, the only acceptable beverage in the house,

and blended. the results were faintly flecked, but overall,

smooth. the mixture, like everyone said,

tasted like bananas. it was pretty good.

for the next few weeks, we set up shop every night.

after dinner, larry would try to clean the kitchen,

and i, as i am apt to do -

stemming kale, hulling strawberries - would

recreate a mess next to him.

the next morning, when larry got up for work,

he would pour a couple cups of coconut milk

(which we found we liked better than the coconut

water when not using a crazy ripe banana) into

the container, add a banana and blend for 2 minutes

before dividing amongst our shiny new smoothie cups.

(mine's the orange!)

his would leave with him. mine would go in the fridge,

ready and waiting for me to fly downstairs, always one

minute later than my 7:20 deadline, and grab it out

of the fridge. it was great - i loved my breakfast,

i felt good about my breakfast and larry was into it, too.

but, then, as i am also apt to do, i got bored.

i wanted to try new things.

so i played around - trying almond milk,

blueberries, mixed berries, no kale, no spinach,

adding ice cubes and more.

i learned this: mixed berries have never been my thing.

but, also, this: i love green smoothies. love 'em.

there aren't many i haven't liked.

but, there's one that has stood out as my favorite.

the one that i wish i could drink every day.

but, i don't because, for many reasons,

it's more of a special

occasion green smoothie.

i can't believe i just wrote that.

this one

doesn't have kale or bananas.

it sometimes uses dates, sometimes agave.

when they're in the house, i add blueberries.

lately, i've been tossing in cubes of melon.

here's what it always features:

baby spinach

an apple or a pear

a couple splashes of almond milk

ice cubes

and a generous half of an avocado.

i haven't been able to decide if i like

apples better than pears. i'm sad that i

discovered the delicious addition of melon

so close to the end of melon season. i'm

very happy that i realized i only need a small

amount of almond milk - just enough to blend

the mess into a cohesive frosty drink - to make

me happy. but, i've made one decision, that i haven't

wavered from since beginning.

i don't measure.

i can't.

early in the morning,

when i need to leave for work and i've

sacrificed my hair time for smoothie time,

the last thing i want to deal with

are measuring cups. honestly,

it annoys me that i have to deal with

a knife and a cutting board. and, by now, i've

gotten pretty good at making a smoothie

that tastes pretty much the same every day.

so, here's what i do. approximately.

i start by placing a huge handful of

baby spinach in the container.

this fills up about half the blender.

then, i large chop an unpeeled apple* or pear,

using all of a small piece of fruit,

or three-quarters of a large piece.

that goes into the blender, too,

pressing down on the spinach.

then, i add about ten cubes of melon,

or a small handful of blueberries.

i spoon in a generous half of ripe avocado**

(and, by this i mean, that when i "halve" the fruit,

i make sure to cut a bigger section for the smoothie)

then, i drizzle in a squeeze or two of agave

(or three chopped pitted dates).

i add two or three splashes of almond milk,

just enough so that i can see about 1/3-inch

of milk on the bottom of the blender.

and, then, before setting the blender to puree,

i top everything with two small

handfuls of large ice cubes.

usually it takes a good 20-30 seconds for

the mixture to start blending. if things don't start

to take shape at that point, i turn the blender off and shake

the container a couple times. if that still doesn't

help everything mix together, i add a little bit

more almond milk. and once everything is combining,

i let the blender run for at least a minute or two, or until

everything is cohesive and smooth.

on the rare days that i've gotten it together

to make my smoothie before i start getting ready,

i've learned that, surprisingly, this mixture

keeps - covered and in the fridge - for at least

a couple hours.

and that's it.

it's green.

it's satisfying.

it makes people ask questions.

(what are you drinking? why are you drinking that?

spinach? avocado? did you lose a bet?)

but, mostly. it makes me immensely happy.***

*you may notice that the apple i used on the day i took pictures was a granny smith. they looked really shiny and beautiful in the store, but i don't recommend using them. they make the smoothies more tart that i like and it would take quite a bit of sweetener to balance it all out.

**don't get me wrong. a fair half of an avocado makes a really good smoothie. but, using a little more than half ensures that the entire thing tastes faintly of avocado. and in my opinion, what's the point of using a good, but expensive and fatty fruit if you're not going to be able to taste it?

***on friday, i made three smoothies - one for me and one for each of my sisters - as a road trip "treat" to drink on the way to our grandmother's house. they drank theirs, but i'm not sure they'd be able to say that these smoothies made them immensely happy. one of my sisters said it took her three sips to realize she liked it, but she came around. i do think they'd say they like them just fine.

thai melon salad

last week, larry and i had a really

lovely day. it was the day after my

birthday and we both took off from

work. i drank coffee in bed and, later,

we ate lunch outside, very close

to the ocean. we bought fig vinegar

from an olive oil shop and sat on the

boardwalk with our legs dangling over

the sand. we went to see the help,

which i've been hoping to see in the theatre,

since finishing the book last november.

in between the beach and the movies,

we stopped at the book store, where i was

given a really great gift: unlimited time

to look through as many cookbooks as i

wanted. and, truthfully, that's quite a gift.

as much as i love cookbooks, i rarely buy

them. and when, i do, it's a specific book

that i've had my eye on for a while. rarely,

do i just plant myself in front

of the shelves and read.

ultimately, i left with three - two baking

books that, it turns out, i actually had wanted,

but had forgotten about,

and a third, cooking in the moment

by andrea reusing.

to be honest, i keep picking up and putting down

the last one. i would decide that i was not

going to keep it and then i'd turn one last page

and see a recipe, like the one for

black sesame sauce.

in that case, i read the recipe twice

and thought, ok, i know

how to make this. as i shut the book,

i noticed a page reading

garlic and crab fried rice.

this happened several times.

ultimately, it was the kale panini and

salt preserved chilies that cinched

my decision.

that night, i got back in bed and read

cooking in the moment from cover to cover.

and, in spite of my curiosity about the

recipes above, i knew that the first dish i

would be making was the

spicy melon salad with peanuts and mint.

it uses fish sauce. and a lot of it.

need i say more?

and, then, you should have seen me the next

day, standing at the grocery store, staring at

the melons, trying to channel my melon

knowledge. is it the santa claus melon that's

really sweet or is it the canary? are any melons

really dark orange? or yellow? what will happen

if i add watermelon? will the color run?

ultimately, i was lucky.

a melon expert - or at least he seemed

that way to me - helped me pick three

small, sweet flavorful globes. he was spot

on. (except when the next day i realized

that i somehow had two green-fleshed melons,

but i'm very over it.)

after a search for my melon baller -

a tool i'm pretty sure i haven't used since

culinary school - i cracked open the melons

on sunday, prepared to make a cooling

summer salad for a hot summer night.

except it was sunday.

when there was lightening.

and thunder.

and rainstorms that made me fear

for our basement.

so, i scooped melons for a cool evening.

and, that's ok, too.

the melons were incredibly sweet,

floral and juicy. i pulled small

and large balls from

all three:

the honeydew,

the crenshaw and

the galia.

(as for the remaining melon in

each half, i used a spoon to separate

them from their skins, put all three

into the same container and have

been adding the pieces and sweet

juice to my smoothies in the morning.

it's been a nice change.)

i whisked together the juice of two limes,

a few glugs from a new bottle of fish sauce -

i forgot how powerful a brand new bottle

could be - a squeeze of agave and an

unfortunately, mild, chopped

red fresno chile pepper.

the dressing was powerful.

slightly spicy, slightly sweet,

tangy and salty. i tossed it over

the melons, took a premature bite

and knew that i would love this dish.

simplified, it reminded me of a

sweet green papaya salad.

the recipe said to let it the mixture

sit for at least 45 minutes or up to

several hours. we went for three.

before serving, i topped it with

shreds of mint and salted peanuts

and we dug in.

the marinating liquid is

unbelievably bold.

but, the melons, when picked up with

a fork, instead of scooped,

gave a significantly more subtle delivery.

i don't know how many fruit salads are eaten

with a spoon,

but it would be a shame to leave all that

limey-fish sauciness on the bottom

of the bowl.

team spoon. all the way.

regardless.

this salad slash side dish slash

potential dessert is everything i look

for in a recipe.

it's different, so it won't see itself

coming and going. but, more importantly,

it's sweet and salty and soft and crunchy.

it's slightly spicy and kind of tangy

and would be perfect on

a hot night spent outside.

it was a recipe that gave me

reassurance. it made me feel justified

about buying the cookbook. and, about

making larry amuse himself in the bookstore

while i dealt with my indecisiveness.

and, it made me find my melon baller.

worth it all around.

thai melon salad

adapted from cooking in the moment

i followed this recipe pretty closely. the only real changes were using agave instead of sugar and using a serrano chile pepper and a red fresno chile pepper, because neither were very spicy. with a spicy pepper, i would have stuck to one. i also chose not to measure the peanuts - just grabbed a handful and chopped.

i agree that this salad should only sit for a couple hours. by the next day, the melons had expelled a lot of their own liquid and mellowed the flavor of the dish significantly.

2-3 assorted melons

2 large, juicy limes, juiced

1/4 cup fish sauce

1 tablespoon agave

1 spicy chile pepper, chopped

10 mint leaves

1 small handful roasted and salted peanuts

halve melons. using melon baller, scoop melon into balls, transferring to a measuring cup as you scoop. measure 4 cups melon. transfer melons to mixing bowl.

in liquid measuring cup, measure 1/4 cup lime juice. whisk in fish sauce, agave and chile pepper. pour lime juice mixture over melons; toss to combine. cover; chill 45 minutes, or up to several hours.

when ready to serve, rip mint leaves into smaller pieces. chop peanuts.

using a slotted spoon, transfer melon to serving platter or bowls. top with spoonfuls of marinade. garnish with mint and chopped peanuts.

for love. and peanut butter pie.

over six years ago,

we were visiting colleen and christian

when i got the kind of call you

never want to get. not ever.

and not in the house of your

friend's boyfriend, no matter how wonderful

they are. it was my mother,

telling me that my ex-boyfriend - the

ex-boyfriend, who i dated for six years,

starting one month into our freshman

year of college - had died. we hadn't

spoken since one month after our

break up. to me - to everyone - the horrible

accident came out of nowhere.

had we still been a couple, i'm not

sure how i would have managed. if i'm being

honest, i still don't think i've fully recovered.

from that phone call.

from his accident.

from knowing that even though we would never have

been remembering together anymore,

i am now the only one who can know our memories.

--

to say that i was an immense worrier before

his death, would be fair. i have always been

fearful of things large and small.

but after that, everything was elevated.

i dream about him, about trying to stop him from

stepping into an elevator or leaving the room.

when i wake up, i panic for my family.

when i haven't heard from or can't reach

my mom,

my dad,

my sisters,

my grandmother,

larry,

i hate myself for it, but i obsess over the worst.

i hate myself for allowing myself to think things

that are not doing anyone any good.

my mind is set to catastrophe.

--

on monday morning,

the first thing that i saw were three

tweets, in a row, with the message that

a food blogger had lost her husband

unexpectedly to a heart attack the day before.

i follow jennifer perillo on twitter.

i read her blog.

i've known her as an active member of food52.

the closest i've ever been to her, was making

her homemade manicotti for larry last winter.

but, when i saw the tweet, i was unable to focus

on anything else. i drove to work shaken and

all day my mind wandered back to jennie and

her two daughters. when larry got home from work,

i tried to tell him what happened

and shocked both of us

when i started crying uncontrollably.

when i calmed, i hugged him. hard.

then, i told him about jennie and her

two young daughters and how we really don't

know each other, but through her tweets,

i knew about her date nights and that i've

been meaning to try her lentil-ricotta meatballs

and that the hardest thing for me - and i've come

to find out, others - to see, was that her last tweet

before she lost her husband, was about canning

marinara and getting ready for their vacation

to cape cod in 13 days. i felt for jennie in a way

that i did not know i could feel for someone

who i did not personally know.

jennie posted last week,

talking about her husband in a way i believe

few of us would have the courage to do. and,

in a time when i think many of us who know

her peripherally, felt helpless, jennie asked for

us to make her husband, mikey's, favorite dessert,

a peanut butter pie, on friday, to honor

him and those who we love the most in our lives.

and, so i did.

i made the recipe exactly as it was

written. i tried not to sweat it when my crust

crumbled a little into the melted chocolate

layer, knowing that was not the point. the point

was that even on friday, five days later, jennie, her

husband and her daughters were still on the forefront

of my mind and, because, my family was even closer. i

made it for the people who i love and have loved.

and, i served it to my family tonight.

i told them the story of our dessert and

about the hundreds of food bloggers who came together

to make peanut butter pies for our families, and in

our hearts, for a family who many of us do not know.

as we ate, i showed them this video

that has brought me to tears each

time i've watched it. and, we talked about showing

the people that you love, that you love them, always.

--

for the pie recipe, to see more about the

amazing food community that rallied or

to learn more about jennifer's strength,

visit in jennie's kitchen.

tomorrow, i'm making a peanut butter pie

and, you can, too.

here's why.

grilled calamari and nectarine salad

i'm pretty sure it's not cool to admit,

but i love my reality tv. and even less cool

to admit: i'm a fan of the food network.

are there food celebrities who i cannot stand?

yes.

are there recipes that make me

stand up and yell at the tv, accusing the

chefs of misleading the not-so-knife-savvy

that they can chop two onions and 3 cloves

of garlic in the time that it takes a tablespoon

of olive oil to warm itself?

yes.

are there times

that larry has to listen to 5 minutes of my

amazement that a chef will cut an avocado

and then tell us to use it as a garnish when

the stew will not be ready to be served for thirty minutes?

yes!

but, i'm still a fan of the food network.

i love that they've been a huge part of the

cooking movement, inspiring people to

get back to the kitchen, or more likely,

getting them into the kitchen for the first time.

i believe in a network that makes food fun

and cooking less of a chore and is trying,

very slowly, but surely to offer up a bit

of diversity, in the dishes and the chefs

they are offering.

and, i loved when they bit the bullet

and offered up their form of reality tv,

several years ago, with the

next food network star. i have watched

every season, and often - as is very unusual

with most reality television - my early

pick has won. (fingers crossed that the

streak continues - susie and jeff,

i'm pulling for you two.)

last year was no exception.

i loved aarti from the beginning,

as much for her fun personality

as my recent interest in indian food.

and, she herself was a food

blogger. the day after she won,

my mom texted me and said,

already scheduled the dvr to record

aarti's first show!

while i'll admit that it's rare,

these days that i'm watching tv on saturday

mornings, i'm thrilled when i am home and

am able to turn on the tv in time to catch

an episode. i always learn something or

get an idea for my own food.

and last weekend, when i caught less

than 5 minutes of her show before having

to run out to meet my family for breakfast,

that was all it took to decide what i was

making for dinner the following night.

she was pulling nectarine wedges off

a grill pan and adding them

to a bed of lemony greens, along with

garlicky squid. it was the kind of salad

i would have ordered without a second thought

on any day in a restaurant.

but, knowing that it had been nearly 100

degrees for days and that the last thing

either of us really wanted to do was

serious sunday night-cooking, this salad

seemed inevitable. in the best possible way.

while we have a grill that we use regularly,

we really wouldn't have wanted to head outside. i was so glad that

the recipe actually said to use a grill pan. sometimes,

i need a little pat on the back, a little that's-ok. and right

there, telling me that i could use a grill pan, that i didn't have

to go through the trouble of threading the teeny squid

onto soaked skewers and cook the nectarines in a basket,

that made the recipe extra appealing.

and here's the funny thing: when i cook a dish

for the first time, i obsess about it until

it's on the plate in front of me. i think about

what it will taste like, what it will look like,

if i should change the chives to scallions or

use almonds instead of pine nuts. i think about

it as i'm cooking it and still, i find myself making

changes even when i should be finished

and am one second away from

tossing it into a bowl.

but, with this recipe, there was none of that.

ok, maybe it's more fair to say there was very little

of that. i guess the truths are this:

the salad looked good.

i guess, as it turns out, i trust aarti

(i've yet to see her cut an avocado too early).

none of the ingredients were so tempting to mess with.

so, i bought the squid.

(coolest thing: the store divided the squid between

two trays: bodies and tentacles so i was able to ask

for a 50/50 ratio). i picked up two nectarines.

i grabbed arugula, a lemon and a few very juicy limes.

and that was it. the rest i had at home.

i prepared the ingredients, staying pretty close to

recipe with just a few tiny alterations. first -

and it pains me to say this - i had a lot of trouble

reading the recipe. several times, the recipe writer

in me wanted to stop, rewrite the recipe and then

make it. so, ultimately, i think i made everything

the way that it was intended, but i can't be sure.

also, there was this: the recipe called for

a couple pinches of a couple different spices and

when it comes to seasoning, i always believe

in going (carefully) bolder. and, because

we were eating this as our meal,

i added an extra nectarine.

but, i don't want you to think that i have any

complaints: we loved this salad. it was garlicky

and citrus-laced and, even with the extra spice,

still delicately kissed with garam masala.

but, all of the flavors managed to share the spotlight

without competing. the nectarines were really

amazing on the grill and the calamari, cooked

exactly as instructed, were tender and lightly

charred and easily the centerpiece of the dish.

it was the kind of summer salad, that as i was

eating it, i was thinking about the next time

i could make it. and it's the kind of dish, that

as i was writing this, larry came up and said,

that was really good. i hope we can make it again.

it's the reason that i refuse to apologize for

my love of the food network and my love of reality

tv. without either, i never would have found

aarti party. or, this salad. or, these recipes:

spicy baked onions rings

spaghetti with turkey meatballs

whole grain pasta with spinach and goat cheese

mediterranean squid stew with pearl onions, artichokes and olives

rosemary focaccia

grilled calamari and nectarine salad

adapted from aarti party

as i said, i made a few changes to this recipe, but nothing major: i upped the number of nectarines from 1 to 2 and i used a good amount of garam masala compared to what was called for, in the marinade. a couple changes that i may make next time: i was not sure how necessary the lemon juice was (it's tossed with arugula), because i thought that the lime-garlic marinade was substantial enough to carry the dish. i'm including it below, so that you can make the decision. i also, loved (loved, loved) the tentacles and i may be 100% tentacles the next time around.

ok, when i just went to write up this recipe, it turns out that i may have left out the cumin. honestly, i don't remember putting it in, but i know that i read everything several times before i started cooking, so maybe i did? (i'm sure this is instilling a lot of trust.) i'm not putting it the ingredient list because i really don't think i used it, but if you want to add it in, use 1/2 teaspoon.

3 cloves garlic, peeled

2 juicy limes, halved

1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil, plus extra for grilling

2 generous pinches tumeric

1/2 teaspoon garam masala

2-3 pinches red chile flakes

kosher salt and ground black pepper

2 large firm, but ripe, nectarines, pitted and cut into 6ths

1 pound baby squid, cleaned (tubes and tentacles) and patted dry

4 really large handfuls arugula, washed and dried

1/2 lemon, juiced

on cutting board, very finely chop garlic; sprinkle generously with kosher salt. let sit 5 minutes; using the back of your knife, mash the garlic to form a paste. place garlic in the bowl; juice the lime into the bowl. add the cumin (if using), tumeric, garam masala and red pepper flakes; whisk in the olive oil. season with salt and pepper.

transfer 3 tablespoons garlic marinade to small mixing bowl; add squid, tossing to coat. set aside.

heat grill pan over high heat. drizzle nectarines lightly with olive oil.

place nectarines on grill; cook 1 minute on each side, or until grill marks appear. (for me, by the time i put all of the nectarines down, it was time to turn the first ones.) transfer nectarines to plate.

make sure that the grill pan is still very, very hot. remove the squid from the marinade, letting the excess marinade drip off (discard any marinade remaining in that bowl). place squid on the grill, one piece at a time. cook 6 minutes, turning once. (if you are worried that the squid is overcooking as i was, here's 2 tricks, one from aarti, one from me. from aarti: if the squid sticks, it's not ready. give it 30 more seconds. from me: take one off the grill pan and taste it.)

remove the squid from the marinade. using a sharp knife, cut bodies into rings. toss hot tentacles and rings with the remaining garlic marinade.

toss the arugula with the lemon juice. divide among plates; top with grilled nectarines, grilled squid and the marinade mixture, if desired.