lists and links … taking advantage of the last bits of summer

We’ve rounded the corner on summer when everything hits at once – the last holiday of the season, first days of school, work schedules pick up, garden produce is almost too much to handle and unfortunately, fall is in the air. I’ve been cooking quite a lot these last few weeks, making old favorites a few times over and searching recipes to deal with an overachieving garden. Nearly everything I’ve made has been from a published recipe, executed as written, and they’ve been good. Really good. Good enough that you might want to make some of these things too. So let’s chat.

I’m drowning in tomatoes. It’s been a banner year in my little community plot, more tomatoes than any other year I’ve gardened. The combination of favorable weather, attentive watering and a heavy hand with the fertilizer has been a mixed blessing. The majority of my plants are cherry tomatoes which are easier for me to deal with and produce the whole season long though I do have a few mid-size varieties that have been steadily pumping them out too. In a nutshell, I have a lot of tomatoes all the time in all colors and all sizes and I’ve spent a good portion of the last two weeks finding ways to use them.

One of my favorite things to do when cherry tomatoes are plentiful is to confit them slowly in olive oil until sweet and wrinkled and maybe a little blistered, and then use that herby-tomato oil in a delicious vinaigrette. They taste amazing, can be used infinite ways and are a great way to use up a bumper crop quickly. This is also one of those few recipes that can really transform out of season, grocery store grape tomatoes so file it away for later if you need to. They also freeze rather nicely and are a wonderful find months later when you’re rummaging around and realize you’d forgotten all about them.

Another big favorite is a tomato tart. A simple butter pastry is brushed with Dijon mustard and maybe a few herbs, then whole cherry tomatoes or slices of larger tomatoes are piled on top. Multicolored tomatoes are ideal if you can swing it. Baked until golden and bubbling, its great hot or room temperature. I’ve made this 5 times in the last month and it’s always a crowd pleaser. True story.

Tomato sauce is a go-to for many gardeners, and I’ve made many different kinds with many different methods over the years. A friend gifted me with a good sized grocery bag of beautiful, deep red beefsteak tomatoes, which I gladly accepted though I had plenty of my own. I’ve got a problem. This time, I tried this NYT recipe because it appeared in my inbox at the very moment I decided to deal with the large bowl on my counter. As I had just lent out my food mill, the cheese grater technique to puree the flesh and remove the skins worked really well. I may use this again; it was easier than dealing with a food mill for a smaller batch. I loved the fresh flavor of this quickly cooked sauce so rather than hot water bath canning for shelf stable jars, I filled several small deli containers and stashed them in the freezer for the dead of winter when a little tomato sunshine will be a welcome dinner.

Though I was slowly making a dent in my tomato stash, it was hard to tell so the larger ones were picked off and roasted. Cut in half, packed in a sheet pan with a drizzle of olive oil, a sprinkle of salt, pepper and herbs de Provence for a good roast in a hot oven (400°F). After about an hour, the edges caramelized a little, they wrinkled and collapsed a bit and had a great concentrated flavor. These also went into the freezer, the layers separated by pieces of parchment paper. I’ll probably do this a few more times before the season ends. Rainy day gold.

My friend Cathy Barrow popped up in my feed one day, with a recipe for a tomato nectarine chutney on Saveur.com. I’m a big fan of spicy/sweet/savory condiments and I had a glut of tomatoes and no nectarines but I had a lot of peaches. So I made it. I will be outstanding on a cheese platter or to dress up a turkey sandwich. Oh, Thanksgiving leftovers just got a lot better looking.

And these were just the tomato recipes I knocked out. At any given time, I also had bowls of peaches, plums, a crazy ripe melon, piles and piles of basil and the need to bake bread on a 95°F afternoon. Because I’m a little bit crazy. At this point, it was all about preserving as much of the summer as I could so with the basil I made a few small baggies of pesto, stashed deep in the freezer for drearier days. I will be very happy to find those come February.

In my typical fashion, I bought too much at the farmers market including some beautiful deep red Santa Rosa plums. Before they started to attract the fruit flies, I made an old favorite – Marian Burros’ plum torte. Delicious as always and it’s also good with peaches or any stone fruit, really. I could eat this for breakfast every day and be happy.

During the same farmers market trip I also bought a ½ bushel of incredibly ripe peaches. Same issue – grand ideas, no time. Again, a timely post saved the day and this recipe on kitchn.com for peach frozen yogurt popped up at just the right moment. I had a large container of greek yogurt leftover from something else and it was ungodly hot outside so I made it. Mighty delicious though in the future I’ll add a Tablespoon of vodka or maybe bourbon to keep it from freezing too hard – I found it a touch icy. Hurry and you might just be able to squeak out a few peaches at the market this week before they disappear completely. May I just say, a scoop of this on top of a blackberry pie is from another world? It is. Do it.

A friend was home recovering from surgery so I made her family dinner – this great foccacia, minestrone from an old Cooks Illustrated recipe (their website has a paywall so you’re on your own with this one), a box of oatmeal jam bars, because everybody loves those and a peach blueberry pie. Because peach blueberry pie!

I nearly forgot. I made a melon jam. Honest to god. I had one of those amazing French charentais melons that was so ripe the scent blasted you as you walked in the door. Years ago while traveling through the Dordogne Valley in France, my host served her homemade melon jam with freshly baked bread and I’ve never forgotten it. So I made a small batch from this recipe and it took me right back to those lovely summer mornings. Interesting stuff, bright with ginger and lime, I think it might be best with savory/salty items rather than on your morning toast. It’s a little chutney-like. But one thing is key – you have to have a really sweet flavorful melon to pull this one off.

So there are some ideas to take advantage from the embarrassment of riches in the farmers markets right now. Enjoy! Since I just picked a bunch of pears and plums from a friends yard, I have to figure out what to do with those. Soon. Stay tuned.

Six years ago: Chilled Cavillion Melon Soup, Empanadas -Two Ways, Confessions of a Cookbook Addict
Five years ago: Peach Pandowdy
Four years ago: Tomato Confit
Three years ago: Bastille Day Lunch – Figgy BBQ Sauce
Two years ago: Tomato Chile Jam, Yunnan Pineapple Salad
Last year: Deep Dish Plum Almond Tart

STRESS THERAPY BAKING FACTOR: WHO ARE WE KIDDING? There was a thin veil of stress hovering over me the last few weeks. Every morning I’d wake up a little guilty that something had spoiled because I didn’t get to it in time. Tomatoes were in every colander I own (and I own five.) I kept buying produce because it was in season and perfect and I didn’t want to miss it. I hovered on the precipice of not keeping up. I was starting to develop a complex. But I buckled down, made some lists and some plans with friends (you need eaters in these situations) and cranked these things out. Come those inevitable winter months, I’ll be happy I did this. When I brought that dinner over to my friend, not only was she grateful, I felt fantastic. I don’t send flowers, I do food and that is my therapy.