It’s hot.
Like really, incredibly, horrendously hot. In Paris last night, it was 99 degrees – the hottest June night Paris has ever seen. I got up at 2am to take an ice-cold shower and flop back down on top of the sheets to try to sleep through it. I’ve been alternating mason jars of cold water and iced coffee for four days.
And I love it.
I’ve always loved hot weather, ever since I was little. I love when New York gets so hot that the tar on the streets sticks to the bottoms of your shoes and the streets smell vaguely of rotting garbage. I love when the sun shines so bright that my hair is hot to the touch. I love the feeling that I could subsist entirely on watermelon and be just fine.
But in New York, there is respite. In France, there is not.
While I’m firmly opposed to the blasting air conditioning that you find everywhere in America as soon as the temperature rises above 70, from the drugstore to the movie theater to the parking garage, in France, there is nowhere to go to get any release. There is no air conditioning pretty much anywhere (except, I have learned, in some movie theaters; my pregnant friend suffered through a matinée of Baywatch just to stop sweating for two hours).
French people are conditioned (no pun intended) to spend hot summer days in darkness, the shutters pulled firmly closed, with the windows opened to create weak cross-breezes. I find the darkness depressing, but it’s better than becoming fused with one’s couch in a slick of sticky sweat, so the past few days, I have been working in darkness, slowly roasting in my living room until my skin pricks.
As a result of the heat, we’ve mostly been eating salads at home, assembled from things that require no cooking: fresh tomatoes, canned beans, refrigerated packs of pickled anchovies. But sometimes, I need something a little bit more substantial, and that’s when I turn to this dish.
It’s pretty spicy and just a little bit sweet, the perfect combination, I feel, for a hot day. After all, isn’t the food of the hottest countries the spiciest? It also goes very well with a cool cabbage slaw, which is easy to make in large batches and enjoy periodically throughout the day with minimal effort.
And the best of all: it only requires that you turn the stove on for five minutes.
Sticky Beef Sauté with Chili and Lemongrass (serves 2)
2 thin beef steaks, about 3-4 ounces each
1 red jalapeño, minced
1 inch fresh ginger, peeled and grated
1 garlic clove, minced
1 tablespoon honey
juice of 1/2 lime
1 inch lemongrass, smashed
2 tablespoons coconut aminos
1 tsp coconut oil
Slice the beef very thinly into strips and place into a bowl or container. Combine the other ingredients (except for the coconut oil), and pour this marinade over the beef. Refrigerate for 4 hours.
Melt the coconut oil in a frying pan over high heat. Remove the beef from the marinade, allowing the excess to drip off. Stir fry for about 5 minutes, until it is sticky and very browned.