cover image Summertime Food

Summertime Food

Miriam Ungerer. Random House (NY), $19.95 (273pp) ISBN 978-0-394-57535-3

Ungerer ( Country Food ) offers sensible recipes for summertime dining (``Tuna Salad My Way,'' ``Easy Fish Chowder,'' ``Simple Country Pate'') that won't devour precious vacation time. This revised, updated version of her 1966 Too Hot to Cook Book reflects the changing American diet and evolving attitudes toward vegetables and seafood (pro) and fats (ambivalent). Laced with Ungerer's wry comments about cooking (she regrets ``the savage requirements of cocktail party-giving''), food (``There is no gainsaying the drab blue of blueberry ice cream'') and the quality of kitchen equipment found in rented summer houses, the book makes for amusing reading as well as cooking. The inexperienced cook will encounter few problems; the more seasoned will enjoy the challenge of dishes such as spicy marinated squid and fried stuffed zucchini blossoms. Though many recipes rely on seasonal ingredients, a number can be prepared at any time of year. Illustrations not seen by PW. (May)