Early Summer Dinner Party

Sunday June 8

Jeff and Caroline were coming over for dinner, and though we had hoped to have appetizers on the garden patio under the fans, the temperature and humidity both climbed toward the 90s - i.e., it turned into a typical Cincinnati summer day. As that's what we've grown to expect, we had planned a cold supper from the very beginning, and the only change was, we enjoyed it all indoors in the air-conditioning.

Said appetizers were made of Findlay Market ingredients as far as possible. For prosciutto-melone, Holt carved up both a cantaloupe and a honeydew, with Canadian prosciutto on the side for the guests to adorn as they would.

Holt also made Gordon Ramsay's stuffed courgette rolls, a.k.a. ricotta-stuffed zucchini appetizers. You can see how he makes them here. The ricotta he was using must be stiffer than American ricotta; we had to beat in 4 oz. of cream cheese to thicken the filling, and even then it was a bit loose - though still scrumptious. Oh, and we adorned the little rolls with our own basil oil, both inside and out. With the appetizers, we had some Italian prosecco that Jeff and Caroline had brought.

Our favorite summer main course is pork tonnato, because all the work is done beforehand, and it's served cold. In Italy, of course, it would be vitello tonnato, but even if you could find a veal roast in Porkopolis, it would cost as much as gold or gasoline. So the night before we had roasted a half a boneless pork tenderloin, rubbed with dry thyme and oregano, to medium (140º)*; and made a batch of mayonnaise in the robo-coupe: 1 egg, whirled up with a dab of dijon mustard into which 1/2 cup of olive oil and 1/2 regular oil is s-l-o-w-l-y drizzled.** Then you add a can of oil-packed tuna, a mess of capers, and 4-5 anchovies*** were pulverized. Liven it up with a shot of lemon juice and leave it overnight to mellow. On party day, all we had to do was slice the cold roast super-thin and garnish it with the tuna sauce.

As side dishes, we boiled up some tiny new Yukon Gold potatoes showered with fresh chopped tarragon, and a big batch of sugar snap peas from the garden, with fresh mint. They looked so pretty on either side of the pork roast. We continued with the white wine, a Con Class Rueda.

For dessert, Holt had baked a Southern Nut Cake from Maida Heatter's Book of Great Desserts. He doctored the cake with a touch of bourbon, for that local flavor of Old Kentucky (except that many of Kentucky's bourbon-making counties are dry, so you can't get their own chief product within their limits). We served it with Graeter's coconut chip ice cream, not knowing that Caroline was allergic to coconut; but it was all right, she had cream and bourbon instead. In fact, we all had an extra bit of bourbon to keep her company, and a hilarious time was had by all.

*Don't let them buffalo you about pork. A pork roast done to 160º will be bone dry. Take it out at 140º (by our instant read thermometer) and let it sit so the heat diffuses.

** This is an old Martha Stewart recipe. We like it because it uses whole eggs. Half EVOO is right, since just olive oil make the mayo too overwhelming.

***The secret ingredient - don't tell kids if you want them to keep eating it. In fact for this batch, we tossed in a hunk of Gentleman's Relish that John and Priscilla gave us in their English care package.

Addendum: How to slice up melon all neat! Holt first saw this a restaurant in London when he was about 14 and still thinks it's the best thing ever. Just whack the tip of the knife into melon slices at discrete intervals perpendicular to the rind, then straighten out the wedge. Run the knife along the rind, and if it's a good sharp knife the little wedges stay put. Cool, huh?