Isn’t this time of the year just the best for eaters and cooks?
I love it when all our local produce is fresh and available at all the farmers’ markets. Such marvelous plenty — and all of it at peak flavor. Here are a couple of my favorite late summer recipes.
South-west corn salad
The cilantro, lime and chilpotle seasoning give this salad its southwest flavor, but if you don’t like cilantro, you can leave it out.
3 cooked cobs of corn, kernels cut off the cobs (I boil it for 5 min)
1 red pepper, chopped (or green pepper, or what you have)
a bunch of cherry tomatoes chopped in half, or one large tomato chopped
3 or 4 sliced radishes
1 shallot, finely chopped
1 small garlic clove, finely chopped
1 avocado, sliced
Lots of cilantro to taste, at least a cup before chopping (or none if you don’t like it)
Juice of one lime
1 tbsp olive oil
½ cup salsa (I like Presidents Choice White Corn and Black Bean Salsa)
Salt to taste
Mrs. Dash Southwest Chipotle seasoning blend (I give it a few good shakes, maybe about a tbsp – I don’t measure)
Toss it all together and enjoy. This will keep in the fridge for a day.
Roasted cherry tomatoes
This is a summer recipe that I look forward to all year. I used to grow several varieties of cherry tomatoes – red Gardener’s Delight, Yellow Pear and orange Sungolds, and they were so pretty in this delicious dish. (Why used to grow? The explanation – why I gave up the veggie garden.)
4 cups cherry tomatoes
2 cloves garlic, chopped
2 tbsp fresh basil, chopped
2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1 tbsp balsamic vinegar
Fresh ground pepper and sea salt to taste
¼ cup breadcrumbs
1/3 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese
Cut cherry tomatoes (a mixture of red, yellow and orange is prettiest) in half and put into a bowl. Add the remaining ingredients and mix gently. Place into a shallow baking dish so the tomatoes are about one layer thick. Sprinkle with Parmesan cheese and breadcrumbs. Roast at 350F for one hour.
Photo credit: Corn by overduebook flickr creative commons
{ 1 comment… read it below or add one }
Uhm, totally agree with you about the local produce! The roasted cherry tomatoes sounds like something to try – soon as we have lots of Sungold and Riesentraube tomatoes ripening every day.
Lene