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The Great Smells of Summer

Last week my friend Judy called and asked if I’d like to pick basil. It couldn’t have been a better time, since I had just one packet of pesto in the freezer, left over from last summer.

Evidently, this has been a wonderful time for gardeners, with people home tending vegetable and herb gardens. I cut enough basil to make pesto to last until mid-winter and Judy promised me I could pick more and often. She also asked me to take some catnip. She has a catnip bush so enormous it would take three people to hug (which, of course, we did not).

On my way home, I stopped at a market to buy pignoli nuts, but they were out. At home, I ordered a pound of pine nuts via Amazon, but the delivery date was July 9. The basil would not wait, so I used toasted walnuts, along with extra-virgin olive oil, salt, and freshly ground Parmesan.

The kitchen smelled gorgeous.

The next day I visited friends in Mystic, also distancing, in their beautiful yard. Their son handed me a container of spices his aunt had brought him from India. That evening, even after I went to bed, the memory of the aroma of basil and Indian spices was heavenly.

I am thinking of other great smells of summer in my kitchen. We may not have local tomatoes for another few weeks, but corn from farms outside Hartford will be here sooner, and I thought about corn salad with fresh herbs. My late friend, Candy Green, a superb cook, made this salad every summer. I will make it as soon as sweet corn is available, with just-okay grape tomatoes and lots of herbs now at our farm stands.

Lee White of Old Lyme has been a food editor and restaurant reviewer for more than 25 years. You can email her at leeawhite@aol.com.