ROANOKE TIMES 
                      Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times

DATE: Wednesday, August 28, 1996             TAG: 9608280008
SECTION: EXTRA                    PAGE: 8    EDITION: METRO 
COLUMN: summer & smoke

TAKE IT EASY YOU DON'T HAVE TO LABOR TOO HARD FOR A GREAT HOLIDAY MEAL

Siestas - brief rests or naps taken after the noon meal - are a civilized tradition in Latin America. This Labor Day, let your menu reflect their influence with dishes that are a little different from the norm and that leave you some leisure time, too.

Singe quick-grilling salmon steaks with the hotness of habanero peppers. The recipe is from among more than 100 in an impressively varied collection compiled by chile experts Dave DeWitt and Nancy Gerlach for the "The Habanero Cookbook" ($17.95, Ten Speed Press).

Chill out with a creamy no-bake pie, both filled and shelled with fruit. Its recipe is included among an amazing array ranging from cakes and pies to main-course entrees that do not require cooking in Imar Hutchins' "Delights of the Garden" ($15.95, Main Street Books, Doubleday).

Wash it all down with ice-cold Mexican drinks that date back to simpler times.

Long before the days of canned sodas and air conditioning, a delicious relief from the sweltering summer heat appeared in Mexico in the form of icy drinks made from fruits and flowers.

Aguas frescas, usually ladled out of enormous glass jars, their sides dripping with condensation as the colorful juice cooled over ice, not only were refreshing to drink, but beautiful to look at and nourishing as well.

They still are sold in marketplaces and fruiterias throughout Mexico and in some restaurants in the United States.

Literally meaning fresh waters, aguas frescas typically are made from macerated fresh fruit, water and sugar. Red watermelon, pale orange cantaloupe, bright, clear-red jamaica (a type of hibiscus flower) and pale yellow-green lemon and lime are some of the most popular varieties.

Though some may not term it strictly an agua fresca, one of Mexico's most popular traditional cold drinks is horchata, made from rice. Horchata is creamy white, spiced with cinnamon and enriched with ground almonds. In some parts of Mexico, horchata is made from melon seeds.

In ``A Cook's Tour of Mexico,'' Nancy Zaslavsky writes that Mexicans swear by their aguas as the perfect accompaniment to a lunch with one too many chiles. ``The two H's, horchata and habanero, seem to have been made for each other,'' she says.

(These long, brown, thin-husked fruits frequently are available in the fresh and dried chiles section.)

As the name implies, fresh is best. Use the jewel-toned drinks as alternatives to ice tea and soft drinks. For the traditional presentation, ladle aguas frescas from large glass jars.

- FOOD EDITOR ALMENA HUGHES AND BONNIE WALKER OF THE SAN ANTONI EXPRESS-NEWS CONTRIBUTED TO THIS STORY

Recipes for:

GRILLED SALMON BORRACHO WITH HABANERO-LIME BUTTER

HORCHATA (RICE DRINK)

HORCHATA DE MELON

AGUA FRESCA DE SANDIA (WATERMELON DRINK)

AGUA FRESCA DE PEPINO (CUCUMBER)

SOUTHWEST RED CABBAGE SLAW

SCRUMPTIOUS STRAWBERRY-BLUEBERRY PIE

Summer & Smoke today makes its last appearance for this cookout season.

LENGTH: Medium:   68 lines
ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO:  1. Jewel-toned drinks are refreshing alternatives to 
          iced tea and soft drinks. 2. Alaska salmon is delicious and easy to 
          prepare with help from a few basic herbs and spices. color.