Chilled Cucumber-Spinach Soup

This chilled soup is easy to put together and most welcome on a hot day. The soft tofu garnish, dressed with sesame oil and soy sauce, is a lovely contrast to the bright green base. It is worth hunting down shiso leaves or Thai basil at an Asian grocery. Their bright flavors add interest.

Makes: 4 to 6 servings

Total time: 6 hours

1/3 cup unsalted butter or avocado oil

2 medium leeks, trimmed, white and light green parts chopped

Salt and pepper

1/2 teaspoon pimenton or smoked paprika

1 pound baby spinach

2 large seedless English cucumbers, peeled and chopped (about 4 cups)

6 ounces silken tofu, cut into rough 1/2-inch cubes

3 tablespoons toasted sesame oil

2 tablespoons soy sauce

Shiso or Thai basil leaves, for garnish

1. Melt butter in a medium pot over medium-high heat. Add leeks and season with salt and pepper to taste. Add the pimenton. Cook, stirring until leeks are softened, about 10 minutes, lowering heat as necessary to prevent browning.

2. Add spinach, season with salt and pepper and turn heat to high. Add 2 cups water and quickly wilt spinach, stirring. Remove from heat and spread out on a sheet pan or platter to cool to room temperature, about 30 minutes.

3. In a food processor or blender, blend spinach mixture and cucumber in batches until very smooth, and pass through a fine-meshed strainer.

4. Taste and adjust seasoning. If necessary, thin soup with chilled water until it’s the consistency of a thin milkshake. Chill up to 24 hours for the freshest taste and color.

5. To serve, put tofu in a low bowl, add sesame oil and soy sauce, and toss gently.

6. Ladle soup into chilled soup bowls. Top each bowl with tofu. Drizzle with more sesame oil and soy sauce. Garnish with torn or slivered shiso or basil leaves.

Miso Crabcakes

These meaty crabcakes, bound with puréed scallops and enhanced with miso and ginger, can be made a day in advance, along with the dipping sauce. But arguably the most fun part is pickling the daikon. Once peeled and cut paper-thin, sprinkled with salt, sugar and rice wine vinegar, and tossed with some slivers of ginger, it’s ready to eat in an hour or so. Stored in a jar in the fridge, it’ll keep for a week.

Makes: 18 (2-ounce) cakes

Total time: 1 hour, plus chilling

For the pickle:

1 to 2 small daikon radish, any color, cut crosswise into paper-thin slices (2 cups)

2 tablespoons very thinly sliced ginger

2 teaspoons kosher salt (such as Diamond Crystal)

1 teaspoon sugar

1/2 cup rice wine vinegar or white wine vinegar

For the cakes:

1/2 pound sea scallops

1/4 cup white miso

2 large eggs, lightly beaten

1 1/2 pounds crab meat

Salt and pepper

2 teaspoons grated ginger

1/2 cup thinly sliced scallions

1 to 2 cups panko breadcrumbs

Vegetable oil, avocado oil or clarified unsalted butter, for frying

Lightly dressed greens (optional)

For the dipping sauce:

2 tablespoons white miso

2 teaspoons lemon zest, preferably from a Meyer lemon

2 tablespoons lemon juice, preferably from a Meyer lemon

Pinch of cayenne

3/4 cup mayonnaise, preferably homemade

2 tablespoons thinly sliced scallions

1. Make the pickle: Put sliced daikon and ginger in a bowl. Sprinkle with kosher salt and sugar, and toss well. Add vinegar and toss again. Let sit while you prepare the crabcakes. (Pickle can be made up to a week in advance.)

2. Make the cakes: Put scallops, miso and eggs in the bowl of a food processor and pulse to a rough purée. Transfer mixture to a mixing bowl.

3. Mix in crab meat with a spatula. Add salt and pepper to taste, grated ginger and scallions, and mix well to incorporate.

4. Form into 2-ounce balls, roll in panko and flatten into 1/2-inch-thick cakes. Refrigerate for about 45 minutes.

5. Make the dipping sauce: Stir together miso, lemon zest, lemon juice and cayenne. Add mayonnaise and scallions. Stir well. Taste and adjust seasoning.

6. Pour 1/2 inch oil in a cast-iron pan over medium-high heat. When oil is wavy, place crabcakes in the pan without crowding. Adjust heat to gently fry and achieve color slowly, about 2 to 3 minutes per side. Transfer to a paper towel-lined tray and keep warm, and repeat with remaining cakes, cooking in batches and adding more oil as necessary. Serve crabcakes with dipping sauce, daikon pickle and a lightly dressed salad, if you like.