Summer Diary- Shrimp Stir Fry, Cake and Potato Salad

Days of summer, how different they are now than they used to be. I remember spending all day outside when I was a kid and no one was worried where I was, or what I was doing, because it was either so safe, or we were less paranoid with all the media craze nowadays. No computer, not much TV. Just my house in the country, surrounded by the fields and forests on both sides with a river running through one of them, packed with history. All I had was my bike and a freedom to ride it or run in the open fields, picking flowers, napping in the garden, reading and listening to my walkman or picking fresh fruit and veggies sometimes for fun, sometimes because I had too help my grandmother. I read countless amounts of books, enjoyed the fresh summer air and yes, the cars were so scarce that we did play on the street- usually badminton or jumping in the warm pools of water after it rained. Barefoot of course! 

Our lives go by so fast these days that only sometimes I have a glimpse, a distant memory of a place, smell, very different state of mind of my childhood. Peaceful and careless, yet sad at times. And the food, fresh and very organic in the summer. Even though we did not have so many ingredients that I have access to these days, the food was amazing. Always there, always nourishing and we always had something sweet and delicious as my grandmother was a baker. And my grandmother's sister who lives next door made the best doughnuts in the world. My grandma would not even attempt to make them. When we wanted them my aunt simply showed up at our house and made a whole batch! What we did not have was seafood- fish yes, shrimp never! I think the first time I had shrimp was here in Toronto in my twenties. Now shrimp is one of my favourite foods.

I love shrimp in the summer, especially, as it is juicy, light and fresh and all you need with those are some fresh seasonal veggies, some garlic and you have a dish out of this world!

This time the shrimp I prepared is probably the best shrimp dish I have ever made and eaten. It was juicy, fresh and crunchy with the perfect balance of everything!

First fry some gorgeous shrimp with olive oil, a little butter and garlic. As soon as the shrimp is no longer pink, remove it from the pan and place on a plate. Add some fresh corn and fry just few seconds. Remove to the sides of the pan and add halved cocktail cherry tomatoes, saute just until they soften a little. Add basil, remove from heat. Stir in the shrimp, sprinkle with a bit of lemon juice and serve! I served it with Mexican rice and kale salad. Zucchini is very much in season these days, added cubed and fried for few minutes would make a nice addiction to this dish as well.

It was truly delicious. Later on I made a sweet bread with strawberries and rhubarb, what could be more seasonal than that. I also made two loaves with cinnamon pecan crunch in a bread pan and it turned out so gorgeous, fluffy and tasty that I might have to make it more often.

Today I am craving the freshest summer sweet corn. I am going to make butter with lime and Mexican chili to put on it to melt away! With it some Polish sausage fried with summer tomatoes and a favourite in this house- my potato salad with mayo, onion and cauliflower.

For the potato salad simply boil about 5-6 large potatoes in their skins. Remove the skins when done and cooled, chop in small pieces. Add 1 onion, diced. Cook a whole cauliflower just until soft, cool, chop and add to the salad. Add mayo, salt and pepper and mix it all together. Add as much mayo as you like, some like it creamier than others, so it is really up to you.

Enjoy!