It's July. The days are long and you're getting a late start on dinner. Fortunately, since it's July, you have the following things on hand: 1-2 ears sweet corn, 4-5 gypsy peppers or 1 red or yellow bell pepper, a couple cloves of garlic, some white wine, some grilled tri-tip (or other grilled thing), a large sprig of mint, and a ball of bufala mozzarella. (Two words if you're not stocking bufala mozzarella at all times right now: tomato season.)
Here's what you do to get your delicious seasonal supper on the table in no time: Cut the kernels off the corn. Dice up the peppers, tri-tip, and mozzarella. Chop the mint. Tell your spouse, guest, child or pet to set the table. Heat a saute pan over medium heat and cover the bottom with extra virgin olive oil. When it's hot, add the corn and peppers and saute a few minutes until starting to soften. Add the garlic and stir for a quick minute. Add a good splash of white wine, so there's some liquid in the pan, reduce heat to medium-low, and simmer several minutes until the wine is mostly gone and the vegetables are tender-crisp. Turn off the heat and stir in the tri-tip and mint. Remove the pan from the heat, give it a moment to breathe, and stir in the mozzarella. Your goal is for the cheese to get a little soft but not melt into strings, which makes serving and eating tricker and obliterates the nice creamy texture that you paid the big bucks for. Season to taste with salt and pepper (probably about 1/2-3/4 teaspoon salt and 1/4 teaspoon pepper) and serve. This serves two.
You can switch up your ingredients depending upon what you have. The key elements that shout "July!" are fresh corn, fresh herbs, and something grilled. We enjoyed this with a bottle of Frog's Leap Rutherford Cabernet. I wish this much happiness for you.
