Hello from New York! It’s a balmy 80º at 8 am, and I’m already dreading this afternoon’s sweatfest. It went from near-winter to dead-of-summer overnight here, and I’ve arrived just in time for the relentless heat. Initially I’d planned to write to you from the plane ride over, but instead I became unduly engrossed in a House of Cards bingefest—a show I’ve resisted since its beginning. Five hours of episodes later, I emerged from a power-hungry tv intoxication into a stunningly beautiful sunset landing at JFK.
I used to spend weeks at a time in New York while I was in college—Grand Central Station was just an hour and a half, $11 metro ride in from New Haven. We’d come in to see a show at BAM (the Brooklyn Academy of Music), or to go to an exhibit, or simply to remind ourselves there was a dusty, grimy, humanity-stricken world beyond Yale.
I’ve always had a love-hate relationship with New York—my friend Ben still makes fun of me for emphatically pouting, “This city is antithetical to my being,” as we sat in traffic one brutally hot Indian Summer in the early aughts. One part of my abhors the concrete, the massive, endless, throngs of people, the pulsing heat. And yet. There is also the art, the parks, the possibility, the skyscrapers. This city is a good blade upon which to sharpen oneself.
I think, always, of that perfect passage from James Baldwin’s Another Country, about New York : “It was a city without oases, run entirely, insofar, at least, as human perception could tell, for money; and its citizens seem to have lost entirely any sense of their right to renew themselves. Whoever, in New York, attempted to cling to this right, lived in New York in exile—in exile from the life around him; and this, paradoxically, had the effect of placing him in perpetual danger of being forever banished from any real sense of himself.”
But now, in truth, I do see renewal. I see oases. I see a city striving to become an oasis, despite itself. I’m off to a bunch of book meetings today (and breakfast at Food52! I’m very excited), but I know I’ll be seeking my own oases in the heat.
I’m east for the next week and a half, and I brought my camera (thanks for the nudge, Alana)—so hopefully I’ll capture some moments to share with you later. On Sunday, I’m headed north to Amherst, Massachusetts for a week-long writing fellowship (yay!) with Tent, so expect some deeply pastoral east coast beauty.
Oh! And this delicious roasted corn salad!! You must make it for Memorial Day. For all your summer bbq’s and garden parties. To nosh on at home. It’s dressed with a killer chunky pepita cilantro pesto that’s got just enough lime to make it sing. Plus shaved manchego, fresh radishes, and baby kale—and all those gorgeous roasted shallots and jalapeños! Enjoy. Kisses from NYC.
ROASTED CORN SALAD WITH PEPITA CILANTRO DRESSING.
Ingredients
pepita cilantro pesto
- ½ cup cilantro leaves
- ¼ cup olive oil
- 2 tablespoons water
- 2 cloves garlic
- juice of 1 lime (about 2 tablespoons)
- ¼ cup toasted pepitas pumpkin seeds
roasted corn salad
- 4 ears corn shucked and kernels trimmed from cob
- 3 shallots trimmed, skin removed, very thinly sliced
- ½ jalapeno very thinly sliced, plus more depending on spice desired
- ½ teaspoon ground coriander
- ¼ teaspoon ground cumin
- ½ teaspoon sea salt
- ¼ cup olive oil
- ½ cup shaved manchego cheese
- 3 cups baby kale or spinach plus more as desired
- 2 radishes very thinly sliced
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 425º.
- If raw, toast pepitas in a dry skillet on the stovetop over medium flame until golden and popping. Remove from heat. In a small food processor or blender, combine all ingredients for cilantro pepita dressing, and blend until you they reach the texture of a mostly blended but slightly chunky dressing. Set aside.
- Shuck corn, break each cob in half, and stand upright on a cutting board to slice kernels off cob. Maintain as many corn clusters as you can.
- On a large baking sheet, toss fresh corn with sliced shallot, sliced jalapeño, ground coriander, ground cumin, and sea salt. Drizzle with ¼ cup olive oil and toss to coat. Distribute evenly on the pan.
- Roast corn for 10 minutes, then remove from oven and turn broiler to high. While broiler heats up, use a spatula to turn over kernels and redistribute evenly. Once broiler is ready, return baking sheet to oven on shelf closest to broiler. Broil for 2-4 minutes, checking at 2 to make sure nothing is burning.
- Full disclosure: At 4 minutes, a couple kernels actually popped—not dangerous, but definitely an alarming sound.
- Remove from oven and let cool for 10-15 minutes. Then add manchego, baby kale (or greens of choicand sliced radishes, toss with cilantro pepita dressing, and top with any remaining toasted pepitas.
