What to eat right now
Summer’s here and southeastern North Carolina is giving up food to nourish and keep you cool. Refrigerated melons are after-dinner staples (with ice cream sandwiches) post barbecues and boils. Seafood, like blue claw crab and shrimp, taste as good in cold “cocktails” as they do out of a frying pan or a pot of boiling water. If you’re firing up the grill to stay out of the kitchen, cook them both in the shell until a bit charred. Your dinner will feel better earned after picking and peeling. Okra and corn are snapping. Tomatoes are red and ripe. The coolest vegetable, the cucumber, sliced thin and tossed with sour cream, a bit of vinegar, dill and salt and pepper makes a great salad for picnics and beach cookouts. It’s unlikely to happen, but don’t forget the peach cobbler.
- Cantaloupe
- Corn
- Crab
- Cucumber
- Greens, all of them
- Okra
- Peaches
- Peppers
- Shrimp
- Snap peas
- Tomatoes
- Watermelon
