tomatoes

Light Summer Recipes: Beat the Heat

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So, who wants to cook in this heat? I work in the garden in the cool of the morning and bring in my daily harvest. But when I look at the lovelies on the kitchen counter, I find I have no energy left to cook an evening meal. So, I’ve put together some of my favorite ways to avoid heating the kitchen, meals that are quick to fix, use those exquisite fresh ingredients that are abundant right now, and taste refreshing on a hot summer day.

Pasta with tuna and tomatoes

Boil some of your favorite pasta and let it cool. Dress with store-bought or homemade pesto or your favorite vinaigrette. Toss with a can of albacore tuna, quartered cherry tomatoes and fresh Parmesan.

Roasted vegetable salad

Don’t be shy to heat the grill. Any vegetables you have on hand, like bell peppers, zucchini, and eggplant, take only a few minutes to carmelize a bit in a grill basket. Toss them with fresh herbs, olive oil, and a squeeze of lemon juice. Serve over crisp greens or cooked quinoa.

Cold noodle salad

Prepare rice, soba or spaghetti noodles according to package directions. Let cool and toss with carrots, bell peppers, cucumbers and snow peas. Toss with a sesame-ginger dressing or peanut sauce.

Cold soups

Gazpacho and cucumber soup are perfect for hot days. Blend fresh tomatoes or cucumbers with onions, garlic, herbs, a splash of olive oil, and a splash of your favorite hot sauce (mine is sriracha). Serve with crusty bread or sprinkle with crisp croutons.

Caprese salad

Layer slices of ripe tomatoes, fresh mozzarella, and basil leaves. Drizzle with balsamic glaze, olive oil, salt, and pepper.

Seafood Tacos

Grill fish or shrimp, add to a taco shell, and top with crunchy slaw, avocado, and a squeeze of lime.

Simple Vegetable Gardens

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Butter lettuce after spring rain

With the world in such a stir today, the more I can simplify my life, the better I’ll feel. Grocery prices are soaring as are restaurant prices so I’ve made a promise to myself to grow some of my family’s produce. I don’t want to complicate my life by having to manage a large vegetable garden. But many vegetables are easy to grow and can even be grown in a pot on the porch.

One of the keys to success is to grow in season. Unless you have perfect conditions, it won’t be possible to grow spinach, snow peas or bok choi in the middle of a hot summer. They are spring and fall vegetables. But you can grow kale, Swiss chard and many other Asian greens all summer.

Swiss Chard

And planting every few weeks will keep the produce coming. Bush beans grow beautifully in a pot, and planting every two or three weeks will keep them producing all summer.

Afraid that tomatoes need a lot of care – trellising, spraying, etc? There are new varieties of smaller tomato plants with “potato” type leaves that are compact and inherently quite disease-resistant. You can pick a warm, just ripened tomato from a pot on your porch.

It seems every garden store has plenty of onion sets, and planting a few every two weeks will give you scallions all summer long. Plant them in a pot with radishes and you have an instant salad.

Scallions

An herb garden of dill, arugula and cilantro will grow spectacularly in a pot. Add some basil and use them for pesto (what could be simpler and tastier than hot pasta tossed with pesto and fresh tomatoes?).

Classic Pesto

3 cloves garlic
2 c. fresh basil leaves
¼ c. nuts
1 ½ t. salt
¼ t. pepper
½ cup olive oil
3 oz. Parmesan

Combine all ingredients except oil and cheese in blender or processor. Add half the oil. Process while adding other half the oil. Stir in cheese as you serve.

Kale or Swiss Chard Pesto for the freezer

3 T. toasted pecans, walnuts or pine nuts (toasting gives them a fabulous flavor that raw nuts don’t have)
7 c. greens, stems removed
¼ chopped fresh basil
2 T. lemon juice
½ t. salt
¼ t. pepper
2 garlic cloves, minced (or substitute ½ cup chopped garlic scapes)
2 T. water
1 T. olive oil
¼ c. Parmesan cheese

Place ingredients through garlic in food processor – process until smooth. Slowly pour water and oil through chute with processor on until well blended. Add cheese when serving.

Wrinkly Vegetables

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Ouch! Grocery shopping is getting increasingly expensive, especially now in the winter when everything must be shipped in. We have a few local farms here still growing greens and cabbages, but for the most part, we have to rely on produce from California or Florida.

So, when I check the fruit basket or the crisper drawer and find some fruits and vegetables that aren’t looking their best, I have two options – compost or find a way to use not-quite-perfect specimens. I hate to lose the money spent on groceries so I’m finding ways to use that produce.

For example, it’s usually less expensive to buy a bag of apples instead of a few loose ones, so I buy that bag. By the time we get to the end, we’re all a little tired of apples so we end up with a few that don’t look so good. Rather than toss them, I peel and slice them and gently simmer them with cinnamon and a little water for a delicious topping for yogurt. You can certainly add a little brown sugar if you like. Or if I have a lot of apples, I quarter them, peels and all, and cook them down with cinnamon. A quick run through the food mill or mash with a potato masher makes great applesauce.

Apples simmering for sauce

I know tomatoes aren’t great this time of year but sometimes I simply must have one. I buy Campari tomatoes which tend to have better flavor than others. But again, if I don’t use them all and they start getting wrinkly, I quarter or chop them and toss with hot cooked pasta, a bit of garlic and basil if I have it. Voila! Instant supper.

Tomatoes and onions ready to roast

The same principle applies to anything that gets wrinkly – mushrooms, peppers, carrots, zucchini. You can chop as you want and add to a stirfry. No one will ever know they were in danger of passing on to the compost pile. Add a little fresh chopped onions, crisp celery and you have the base for almost any type of soup.

Roasted Tomato Sauce

Asian stirfry for wrinkly vegetables

Any slightly wrinkled vegetables you have on hand, chopped to whatever size you prefer
½ onion, chopped
1 clove garlic, minced
Protein of choice – leftover cooked chicken, ground pork, tofu
Cooked rice

Wrinkly zucchini

Sauce – any bottled stir-fry sauce will do but if you want to make your own, here’s my favorite Asian sauce:

Spicy Szechuan sauce

¼ cup soy sauce
2 tablespoons brown sugar
2 tablespoons hoisin sauce
2 tablespoons rice wine or sake
1 tablespoon black vinegar (or rice wine vinegar)
2 teaspoons toasted sesame oil
½ teaspoon freshly ground white pepper or ¼ teaspoon finely ground white pepper
1 t. chili paste (or more or less to taste)
3 garlic cloves, finely grated
1 (1-inch) piece fresh ginger, peeled and finely grated
2 teaspoons cornstarch

Heat 2 T. olive in wok or high-sided skillet. Saute protein until done (if using cooked chicken or tofu, simply stir until heated through. Add the vegetables, 1 T. toasted sesame oil and saute until tender. Dress with sauce, heat through and serve over hot cooked rice.

Helene and Vegetable Bean Chili

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I live in Asheville. We survived and are coping. Hurricane Helene caused untold damage and suffering, with many, many houses damaged in our neighborhood by falling trees and inundating rain. But we are Asheville strong and will recover and rebuild.

Being in a situation without power, water or communication certainly makes one take stock of what is important. We scrambled for candles and lanterns, potable and flushing water, and gas to run generators. We frantically tried to cook everything in our freezer as it thawed (I am lucky to have a gas stove we could light with matches). As we handed food out to neighbors and hosted neighborhood dinners, I decided never to let my freezer get that full again. I love to put food by, but the food I lost was such a huge waste.

The community spirit certainly lives on, and our neighborhood, which came together to help each other through the last month, is having an outdoor chili supper tonight. We will all bring food, be grateful for the electricity to plug in the slow cookers, and happily drink our bottled water (no potable water available yet, and probably not for another month).

It’s to be a cool evening, perfect for chili, and there will be a myriad of chili flavors for all to sample as well as plentiful sides and delicious desserts. Most of all, it’s a chance to check in again with neighbors and friends to see just how everyone is doing.

I’m taking vegetable chili, full of vegetables, beans and most of all, tummy-warming flavor. You can put anything you like in this chili and it will keep a week in the fridge and in the freezer for three months. This recipe serves 4-6 and is easily doubled for your own neighborhood chili supper. It’s a great slow-cooker meal.

Vegetable Bean Chili

olive oil for sauteing
1 medium onion, chopped
1 can chopped green chilis
2 medium carrots, chopped
2 ribs celery, chopped
1 large sweet potato, peeled if you like, chopped
4-6 cloves garlic, minced
2 T. chili powder of choice (I like a combo of regular chili powder and chipotle chili powder
2 t. ground cumin
1 ½ t. smoked paprika
2 15 oz. cans diced tomatoes, with juice
2 15 oz. cans black beans (I don’t drain and rinse – the juice adds flavor)
1 15 oz. cans pinto beans (see above)
2 c. vegetable broth or water
1 to 2 t. cider vinegar (brightens the flavor)

Garnishes: chopped cilantro, sliced avocado, tortilla chips, sour cream, grated cheddar or jack cheese

Warm the olive oil until shimmering in a large heavy-bottomed pot over medium heat. Add the onion, chiles, carrot, celery and a few shakes of salt. Saute until the vegetables are tender and the onion is translucent, 7 to 10 minutes. Add the garlic and spices and cook until fragrant stirring constantly, about 1 minute.

Add the tomatoes and their juice, beans and broth or water. Bring to a simmer and cook for about 30 minutes or put into the slow cooker on medium for about three hours. At this point check for salt. If you used unsalted beans, it will definitely need salt. Before serving you can remove a third and blend it to make a thicker chili if you like. Garnish to taste.

My path in the woods before Hurricane Helene

My path after Hurricane Helene

Vegetable Triage (Tomato Glut Sauce)

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This time of year brings so many good vegetables, whether through a CSA box every week with more than you can possibly eat or a garden that is inundating your fridge. Or even friends offer extras from their own gardens. How do you avoid wasting all this goodness as well as stock yourself up for the winter months?

My answer is to roast! Whenever I have loads of extra chard, mushrooms, leeks, onions, zucchini and eggplant, instead of succumbing to feeling overwhelmed, I toss them all into a roasting pan.

Red and yellow tomatoes, onions and garlic

Make delicious soup

It is amazing how combining roasted vegetables of all types with plenty of onions and garlic turns them into savory creations. I roast until everything is quite soft and then purée with a little stock if necessary. Freeze the pureed vegetables to use later as a soup base or pasta sauce. Or, to make a hearty one-dish meal immediately, add some evaporated or coconut milk, chopped sauteed vegetables of choice, cooked beans and/or cooked grains or pasta. A great result of this process is that the sauce never quite tastes the same.

A sauce made of mostly tomatoes is great for traditional pasta sauce. Sauce with spicy chiles added makes a good base for chili.

It’s easy to adjust seasonings according to your tastes. Add basil and oregano for an Italian twist; add cumin and chili powder for Mexican; add marjoram, a hint of cayenne and basil for Mediterranean.

Tomato Glut Sauce

I found this recipe years ago from a magazine called This Organic Life and have adapted and used it ever since. Film a large roasting pan with olive oil and cut up about six pounds of tomatoes – this is a great time to use those that have blemishes or splits because you can simply cut that part away. Chop and add one or two cups of whatever vegetables are coming in at the time such as onions, carrots, zucchini, celery and Swiss chard.

If you plan to use a food mill, you don’t have to take out tomato cores. If you plan to use a food processor, core the tomatoes before cooking. I don’t peel or seed my tomatoes but you can also blanch and peel and/or seed the tomatoes if that’s your taste. Throw in several cloves of garlic, some sprigs of fresh thyme, oregano, basil, and parsley. Splash with balsamic vinegar and roast for about an hour. The sauce will cook down and lose a good bit of moisture, and the vegetables will start to caramelize. Run through a food mill, food processor, or simply put in a high-power blender. Salt and pepper to taste, and use immediately or freeze.

Summer Vegetables

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Heirlooms

In this high season of summer, it’s natural to write about what’s inspiring right now. Mostly summer vegetables and beautiful gardens. Squash, tomatoes, eggplant, cucumbers.

Summer squash, tomatoes and eggplant are delicious in a simple layered dish cooked quickly to keep the kitchen cool. Layer with rich cheese, dust with panko and parmesan, and voila – you have dinner!

Summer squash

Puree fresh tomatoes, cucumbers and peppers to make a delicious gazpacho. Season with a chili and garlic, and drizzle with good olive oil and sriracha for a cool, filling drink or soup to start your meal. 

For a little more complicated squash dish, my favorite:

Sweet peppers

Summer Squash Cheese Custard

2 large yellow squash, sliced into ½-inch rounds (about 4 cups) 

1 medium onion, coarsely chopped 

1 large clove garlic, chopped

3 ounces goat cheese or other cheese, grated

¼ cup cornmeal 

2 eggs, beaten 

1 cup milk 

3 tablespoons chopped fresh dill, plus sprigs for garnishing 

1 teaspoon kosher salt 

½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper 

Preheat the oven to 400°F. Steam the squash until tender. Saute onion and garlic until tender. 

Drain squash. Add all ingredients to a blender and puree until smooth. Pour into an 8-by-8-inch baking dish or 6 individual ramekins that have been coated with cooking spray. Bake at 400°F for 40 minutes (35 minutes for the ramekins) or until golden brown on top. Serve warm or at room temperature.

Corn chowder

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Summer vegetables are so plentiful right now that it’s almost an overload with tomatoes, peppers, eggplants, and most of all corn. Corn is at its peak in a lot of states right now, and the sweet Silver Queen, Peaches and Cream, Honey and Cream cobs will soon be just a sweet memory. 

So, we’ve been having corn every few meals in our house, and always seem to have a couple of ears left over. I scrape the kernels to use in salads, stir fries, and my favorite, corn chowder. Even though the hot days of summer don’t always bring soups to mind, summery corn chowder is unlike a regular soup. It’s not heavy and rib-sticking like a minestrone, but sweet, light and chock full of flavor. 

You can make a chowder from any number of vegetables, and I like to spunk mine up with some cayenne pepper or chopped chilies. This recipe certainly lends itself to using whatever you have in the garden, so feel free to add roasted peppers, roasted eggplant or zucchini. Add some bacon for smokiness (or use grilled corn), chopped fresh sweet bell pepper, tomatoes, cucumbers and scallions as a garnish. 

Summery Corn Chowder for two

2 ears sweet corn, kernels cut from cob (can be fresh, already cooked or frozen)

1 T. butter (don’t be tempted to use oil – the butter gives it an unsurpassed  flavor)

½ c. chopped onion

1 T. flour

1 clove garlic, minced

2 c. water or broth

2 c. potato cut into small cubes

1 c. buttermilk or half and half

Salt and pepper to taste

Garnishes:

1 slice bacon, cooked until crispy and crumbled

1 scallion, sliced

Cayenne pepper or smoked paprika

Minced sweet bell pepper

Chopped fresh tomato

Directions:

In medium saucepan, saute onion and garlic in butter until soft. Sprinkle with flour and stir. Add corn, broth and potatoes, turn heat low and simmer until the potatoes are tender, about 20-30 minutes. Turn off heat and stir in buttermilk or half and half. Pour half of mixture into blender and blend until smooth. Return to pan and heat gently, not boiling. Salt and pepper to taste. Serve with your choice of garnishes. 

Paths and tomatoes

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I’m so fortunate. I get to walk a woodland path every morning. I’ve come to rely so much on the relaxation and stress relief that I walk regardless of the weather. Walking in the rain is a sensory miracle. Walking in fog is ethereal. Walking in snow is a quiet, softly soulful experience.

What is it about paths that beckon us to come hither, to explore something new? When you enter the woods, you’re instantly enveloped with the cool, quiet ambience of the forest. 

On a hot summer day, the woods beckon you as being cool and shady. The cool darkness is welcome, and the soft air soothes. If the weather is humid or foggy, the moisture envelopes you like a velvet cloak, and makes you slow down and amble.

The scent after a rain is of water dripping off leaves and  wetting the soil. When the woods are dry, there’s the scent of honeysuckle or wild rose. Pine groves are filled with the scent of pungent resin.

Then again, on a cool autumn day, sunny glades draw you forward, and the warm sun makes your skin prickle. As the leaves begin to turn, the woods turn into a glorious golden aura and they are filled with the acrid scent of crinkly oak leaves. As the leaves fall, they begin to obscure the paths. 

If you traipse the woods daily as I do, you notice nuances on the paths taken. Most of the paths I walk are well-trodden, which is a good thing when I’m wandering in my mind and not paying attention to where I’m going. But a path that is well-trodden means that I don’t have woods to myself.

This is a good thing because it means that many others are enjoying the woods as well. But I’m a bit selfish. I love the time alone, the quiet, and in reality I end up seeing few others.

When we do meet someone, it’s usually someone with a dog, which makes my dog extremely happy. The woods don’t belong to me, and my happiness at having an opportunity for “forest bathing” means I will happily share this lovely place.

Recipes

To keep you going at this time of luscious tomatoes, don’t forget about Catalan tomato bread – a traditional Italian dish in which you toast slices of robust sourdough or artisan bread, rub with a halved garlic clove and then rub with a cut ripe tomato. It’s the essence of summer. 

Another great way to use those tomatoes is to chop with garlic, basil and olive oil. Spread on grilled bread as bruschetta (you can spread the bread with goat cheese first for a deepened flavor), or toss with hot pasta. Simple but infinitely delicious.  

Simplicity in the Kitchen

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I took a brief vacation from my blog but I’m back! And I’m in the thick of summer harvest, one of the most amazing times of the year. Every morning’s walk in the garden yields beans, tomatoes, cucumbers and onions. Garlic will be next and peppers are on the cusp of ripening. 

I spend much of my time in the kitchen simply grazing rather than planning and executing meals, but when I do actually plan a whole meal it tends to be as simple as possible. Blistered green beans, bruschetta with chopped tomatoes, garlic and basil, sauteed greens. 

Blistered Beans

I’ve written about keeping things as simple as possible many times before but it’s a subject near and dear to my heart. A simple recipe avoids the tyranny of a long list of ingredients and a long prep time. Nothing is more discouraging than looking at a tasty recipe and realizing it has 23 ingredients, many of which you’ll need to go out and buy. 

And this time of year, there’s certainly no lack of fresh, delicious ingredients. I do love to cook and am grateful to share that love with you. In the words of Michael Pollan, “Eat good food, not too much, mostly plants.” And don’t be afraid to play with your food. 

Although the kale is finished for now in my garden, Swiss chard and mustard greens are coming into their own. Check out my blog post from April of last year for a primer on growing greens. 

https://wordpress.com/post/katesgardenkitchen.com/854

Here’s a fresh, simple way to prepare all types of greens 

Saucy Greens

  • 1 small bunch of Swiss chard or other greens
  • 1 clove garlic, minced
  • ¼ c. onion, sliced
  • 1 T. olive oil
  • 1 T. balsamic vinegar
  • 1 t. Sugar 
  • Salt and pepper to taste
  • ½ c. chopped tomatoes
  • 2 T. sour cream or plain yogurt
  • 1 T. sriracha sauce if desired
  • 2 large eggs if desired

Rinse the greens liberally and remove tough stems. Stack the leaves and roll them into a “cigar” and slice thinly. Add garlic and onion to olive oil in a heavy pan and saute until tender. Add greens, vinegar and sugar and saute about 5 minutes until greens are tender. Turn off the heat and stir in tomatoes and sour cream or yogurt. Salt and pepper to taste. Put in individual bowls and drizzle with sriracha sauce. Top with a fried egg if desired. 

Sauteed greens with tomato

What do I do with all those tomatoes?

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This is such an exciting time of year with the produce coming in from the garden in buckets and baskets. But it can sometimes overwhelm. 

Tomato plants may be on the decline in the garden, but the tomatoes are still ripening and filling our counters. Let’s figure out what to do with them. 

Canning is certainly one option but I like to freeze them for later use. 

I simply rinse them and throw them into a bucket or freezer bags in the freezer. No blanching, no cutting up before freezing. When I’m ready to make sauce or salsa, I pull out what I need and run them under warm water briefly to loosen the skins. They can then be cooked or thrown into the food processor with onions, garlic and jalapenos for fresh-tasting salsa. They won’t be firm as when fresh, but they still have the delicious taste of summer. 

Simple ingredients

Here is a salsa recipe to get you started on using them fresh. Check out the recipe tabs for Catalan tomato bread, gazpacho and bruschetta. All have few ingredients – mostly tomatoes, garlic, onion and olive oil. Quick and easy! 

Bruschetta

And check out my YouTube video on how to make each one. https://youtu.be/nhh51JuE8lA

summer salsa

Summer salsa dip (pico de gallo)

1 chile, chopped (with or without seeds depending on your taste)

3-4 tomatoes, chopped finely

1 small onion, minced

1 clove garlic, minced

1 T. vinegar or lime juice

1 T. fresh cilantro

1 t. Salt

Mix and chill. Serve as dip with tortilla chips, on black bean tacos or as topping for a baked potato. Feel free to add other ingredients such as black beans or corn.