I drove to my mama’s house for the Easter weekend (where I got my ham and scalloped potatoes fix), and Mr. Meat and Potatoes was out of town so I had to go it alone. I have made that drive so many times, I could do it comatose. Still, I have this nasty habit of doing a lot of crying when I spend too much time alone in the car, and with the additional motivation to bawl that pregnancy has kindly bestowed on my hormones, I knew I’d need a distraction.

One trip to the public library later, I was armed with books on CD, and I managed to avoid crying as I listened to Comfort Me with Apples, by Ruth Reichl, the editor of Gourmet Magazine.

The book is a personal memoir, and it’s obvious that Reichl is not really a novelist at heart, but her books read pretty well anyway, and she weaves talk of food and love and restaurants and recipes together in a way that warms the cockles of any good food devotee. At one point, Reichl describes having a meal at one of Los Angeles’ most celebrated food aficionado’s home, and she described roasted asparagus that he insisted she eat with her fingers – apparently the best method for consuming asparagus. He handed over a substance for her to dip it into, and she was perplexed. As they described it, I proudly shouted out to no one else in the car, “I know! I know! It’s good balsamic!” Sure enough, it was a balsamic made in Italy that is not available for public purchase.

I am sure I have never had a balsamic that is quite so marvelous, rare, or mystical. But I have had a good balsamic or two in my day. Heck, I really love a bad balsamic. Commercial balsamic is really nothing like the real product, but it is delicious anyway and I’m not ashamed to have a vat of it in my condiment cupboard, along with all the other specialty vinegars and oils I can’t resist.

But real balsamic…have mercy. I have a few rich friends and they did this to me. They brought the stuff home from Europe and served it with roasted garlic over good cheese and a cracker.

Real balsamic (from Modena) has to be aged for at least twelve years, in a process not dissimilar from that of making good scotch or wine. After the aging process, there can be several more years of a process of pulling a small amount from a small barrel and topping off the next larger barrel and so on – so you can see that this stuff is prized, and pricey. It’s hard to find, even online, but I think by contacting this company one can get ahold of a bottle of the good stuff – if one is willing to pay over $100 smackers for it.

Most of us will never get our hands on such an item, but we can still enjoy balsamic flavor and the magical duality of the sweet and the sour it offers us. The cheap stuff is totally useable, and if you buy the one at Dean and Deluca, which is still a little pricey but much more palletable you’ll find that you have a completely satisfactory product for our meager means.

Here are a few of my favorite, and easy applications for balsamic. There are wonderful, more fancy ones, like use with panna cotta and strawberries, or crème caramel, but I’m a down home girl. Plus, I don’t have time to make panna cotta right now. If you must have a fix, go to Genovese downtown. Armando’s is out of this world, and he is a man who only uses the best ingredients, and therefore he is a man after my own heart.

But for some simple summer recipes, look no farther.

Balsamic Avocados. This is the taste of summer.

4 Haas avocados

8 T balsamic vinegar

½ cup freshly grated parmesan

Kosher salt

When you have a grill going, go ahead and throw these on.

Cut the avocado in half, and take the skin off the avocado (I just use a big spoon for this and it comes out perfectly clean), and then remove the pit. For this, I use a big knife – usually my Santoku, and just knock the pit so the long part of the blade goes in and then pull – the pit will come out on the knife. This can be tricky the first time – be careful.

Once your have clean halves, give them a liberal sprinkling of kosher or sea salt, and plop them, hole side up, onto the grill over medium low heat. Pour half of the balsamic over them, and let them cook for a few minutes. Don’t let them burn, but do let that balsamic warm up and reduce a little.

Once they are warm through and beginning to caramelize, take them off the grill and give them another splash of balsamic, and then top them with the shaved parmesan.

Summer on a plate. I am sick with wanting one.

Summer Bean Salsa/Salad

This is something my old roommate and I sort of came up with. I think there was a recipe once, but I don’t know that it looks anything like what I make now. We used to call it salsa, but came to love it so much we didn’t even need the chips, and just used it as a salad.

1 can garbanzo beans

1 can black beans

1 can corn (I like to use “fiesta corn” if I have a can handy. Shoepeg is also good)

3 ripe roma tomatoes, seeded and diced

2 jalapenos, seeded and diced

1 red bell pepper, diced

1 small red onion, diced

1 splash Tabasco or Frank’s Red Hot

3 T balsamic vinegar (I just pour it in, so this is a guesstimate, but I like a lot)

2 T olive oil

3 cloves minced garlic

1 large lime

½ tsp cayenne pepper (or more, if you like the heat)

1 T sugar (optional)

Plop it all in a good sized bowl, squeeze all the juice from the lime into the bowl, and give it a liberal salting to taste of kosher salt. Stir it up and serve with chips or just a spoon.

Balsamic Reduction with Asparagus and Strawberries

I stole this from Sopressata, because I did a search once for my two favorite things that go with balsamic, and this had BOTH. AND feta, which I love almost more than my kittens.

1 bunch asparagus

1 lb strawberries

1/2 cup balsamic vinegar

olive oil

kosher salt

fresh cracked pepper

3 tbs crumbled feta

Place the balsamic in a small saucepan and turn heat to medium low. Allow it to reduce by half or more until it coats the back of a spoon.

Then trim the asparagus and hull and half strawberries. Toss the asparagus in olive oil, pepper & kosher salt.

Grill the asparagus over medium heat and then toss it in with the strawberries. Sprinkle feta over the whole mess and drizzle with the balsamic reduction.

Note: reducing a cheap balsamic is one way to vastly improve the quality of the product. It’s a great cheap cheat.

Your life will never be the same. From now on, you will baste every kabob with balsamic. (Grilled pineapple with a balsamic dressing? Help me.) You will put it in the cooking liquid for your braised short ribs or roast, and you will set it out with finger foods for dipping. I am guilty of eating a slice of cheap Swiss cheese dipped in balsamic vinegar on a slice of crusty bread for lunch.

It’s as powerful as the smell of a baby’s head. And it won’t require ten long months of gestation for you to get it.