No Cook Summer

Nothing says summer like a kitchen full of tomatoes of multiple varieties. Today at the market I picked up my favorite cherry tomato- sunburst. They are smaller than other cherry tomatoes and are bright orange – an explosion of flavor in your mouth. I eat them raw all the time. I also picked up a couple of my favorite green zebras. Then after going to my friend’s community garden plot I picked up some more red cherry tomatoes and regular tomatoes.

One problem: casualties. Riding a bike has its inconvienience, namely sometimes all my tomatoes get squashed a little in my messenger bag. First thing when I get home I have to do triage, separate the squashed maters from those that were saved. Then I have to think up quick ideas to use the squashed ones before they go bad.

I decided to take today’s casualties and make a chilled Gazpacho and a salad with cherry tomatoes, avocado, and corn. Both were perfect!!!

Chilled tomato Gazpacho

Cut four small tomatoes
Peeled and seed two small cucumbers
Dice a 4th of a red onion

Puree tomatoes and half of cucumbers in food processor, chill in fridge
Add onions and left over cucumber to separate bowl and let sit in white wine vinegar

Add cucumber and onion and vinegar to soup


CHerry Tomato, Avocado, & Corn Salad

This was my favorite and is perfect for a late August summer day:

cherry tomatoes- cut the larger ones in half
1 ripe avocado, cut in cubes
corn on the cob- boiled for a minute then de-cobbed
jalapeno, finely diced
1/4th red onion diced
small bunch of basil chopped

mix all together, sprinkle lime juice and oil on top, season with salt and pepper.

My Version of Succotash

The fridge is pretty bare, but I have corn on the cob – if you ignore the catepillar that ate part of the cob, fresh lima beans (babies) and fresh tomatoes from my friend’s community garden. Perfect for a succotash!!

Saute three cloves of garlic in olive oil. Add Red chili pepper flakes. Add lima beans, cover with water, bring to boil. Keep at boil for 10-20 minutes, routinely refreshing with more water. You want to boil until the lima beans are soft. I added chicken broth at some point to add a little extra flavor. Add Italian seasoning and salt to taste. Close to right before the lima beans are perfectly soft, add corn that has been cut off the cob. Finally, immediately before eating add chopped tomatoes. Also t the very end I added a large spoonful of basil pesto.

I accomponied this summer dish with homemade french fingerling potato chips

A perfect succotash for late a August summer evening!

Simple Summer Pasta

I got home from work late today and needed to make something quick.After putting on Iron and Wine on the turntable, I started assembling one of my favorite summer melodies.

Cut a handful of cherry tomatoes in half
boil pasta

Mix pasta with tomatoes, pesto, goat cheese and top with fresh cut basil

Eat with a cob of corn

YUM!!!!

Perfect Sunday

Sunday’s are best spent with friends. Yesterday was no exception. I started off by going to Malea’s house for waffles. They were delicious! Fluffy from the buttermilk, yet crisp from warming in the over. Topped with peaches equals YUM!

Then after post breakfast stupor we trekked over to my friend Lisa’s community garden plot. She is out of town for three weeks and invited me to water the garden and take some of her veggies. This was perfect! 1) I love community gardens and hope that one day I can find a coveted plot in my neighborhood. 2) all the gardens were overflowing in ripe tomatoes of all varieties – heirloom, roma, and early girls, Basil, peppers and squash. I was in my own little paradise.

So we went home with a load of basil, several tomatoes and some flowers. Several minutes later we transformed the Basil into two large batches of pesto

After doing some much needed cleaning in my kitchen I then invited another friend over for dinner. I needed to use the seconds tomatoes I got from the market on Saturday. So I made a simple tomato sauce with sliced squash from Lisa’s garden


Simple Tomato Sauce:

Sauté one small onion and three cloves of garlic
Add pinch of red pepper flakes and Italian herb seasoning.
Add chopped up tomatoes.

Simmer until the liquid reduces, Add more herbs and salt as necessary.

Puree Tomato sauce

Add thinly sliced squash

Serve over boiled spaghetti

Basic Pesto

Mix fresh Basil, garlic and toasted nuts in food processor. Drizzle in Olive Oil. Add salt pepper and parmesan cheese.