SCONES
4 1/4 cups flour
5 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon ground allspice
Even right off their prolific vines, summer squash can be watery and sometimes bitter. Cook them slowly in plenty of olive oil and they turn sweet but stay moist and summery, so you can take advantage of the beautiful golden color. As you cook the sliced squash, mash the rounds against the sides of the skillet to break them up. Then toss the squash with rigatoni, leaves of fresh basil, and crumbled goat cheese. The bright yellow pieces of squash coat the tubular pasta and the mixture tastes as creamy as if you had added a white sauce.
At Rice Valley in Newton, cooks use silken tofu, which they steam with shreds of ginger and scallion. Then they bathe the cubes in hot soy sauce and chicken broth. You don’t need a wok or steamer. Use a deep 12-inch skillet and round cake rack. Serve with white or brown rice.
When slender cucumbers come into the markets, you can make the classic Indian raita, a mixture of cooling yogurt with shredded cucumbers and tomatoes. It's supposed to offset the sauce of a hot curry, but it also goes well with all summer grills and roasted meats and fish.
Palak means spinach; paneer is Indian cheese.
