I think you hardly need recipes these days with the extraordinary produce that’s coming in! But as usual I couldn’t help including some herbs that are not in your share–thyme, tarragon and cilantro–so pick some up if you can. The first recipe, the Onion and Sweet Pepper Tian (from Deborah Madison’s book Vegetable Literacy) is the epitome of perfect late summer food and as simple as can be. And the corn pesto is so good I eat way to much of it when I make it. Happy cooking!
Torpedo Onion and Sweet Pepper Tian
Roasted Onion, Corn and Tomato Salad
Pasta with Sweet Corn Pesto
Cook-With-What-You-Have Ratatouille
Grilled Eggplant with Tahini Yogurt sauce
Kohlrabi Salad
Fennel, Grape, and Feta Salad with Sumac
Fennel and Onion Soffrito
Pesto
Torpedo Onion and Sweet Pepper Tian
–adapted from Vegetable Literary by Deborah Madison
Oh my goodness this is good. All you need is some time. The preparation is dead simple but it takes 90 minutes to bake. It’s just as good or better the next day so you could make it one night while you’re making something else for dinner and then have it the next day.
3-4 small-ish torpedo onions
3 sweet peppers
2 medium-sized ripe tomatoes
1 to 2 tablespoons olive oil
5 to 6 thyme branches or several pinches of dried
6 small garlic cloves, peeled and left whole
Salt
Freshly ground pepper
Balsamic vinegar
Preheat the oven to 350F. Quarter the onions, leaving the base intact, and peel them. Halve the peppers both crosswise and lengthwise, remove the seeds and veins, and cut them into pieces roughly 1/2 inch wide. Remove the core from the tomatoes and cut them into sixths.
Brush a film of olive oil over the bottom of a gratin dish, scatter the thyme over it, and add the vegetables, including the garlic and arrange nicely in the dish. Brush the remaining oil over the vegetables, being sure to coat the onions and peppers. Season with salt and pepper.
Cover the tian and bake for 1 1/2 hours. The vegetables should be very soft, the tomatoes melting into a jam. Remove it from the oven and carefully pour the liquid that has collected into a small saucepan. Add a teaspoon of vinegar, bring the liquid to a boil, and reduce until it is thick and syrupy. Taste for vinegar and salt; then pour or brush this syrup over the vegetables.
Serve with slices of grilled polenta or piled on top of grilled bread that has been spread first with a layer of garlic mayonnaise. Serve hot or at room temperature.
Roasted Onion, Corn and Tomato Salad
–adapted from Food52
2 torpedo onions
4 tablespoons olive oil, divided
Salt
1 summer squash, cut into large dice
3 ears corn, blanched
Another small piece of onion, diced or 2 scallions, thinly sliced
1 ½ cups diced tomatoes or halved cherry tomatoes
Coarsely ground black pepper
2 teaspoons sherry vinegar
1 teaspoon honey
1/3 torn basil leaves
Heat the oven to 400 degrees F.
Peel and slice the onions into 1/2-inch rings, and then arrange them on a rimmed baking sheet. Drizzle the onions with 1 tablespoon or so of the olive oil, sprinkle generously with salt, and toss everything around to coat the onions on both sides. After 20 minutes add the diced summer squash to the pan and continue roasting for about 20 minutes more until the onions are brown and soft. Let the vegetables cool and then roughly chop the onions. Set aside.
Strip the kernels from the ears of corn and add them to the bowl with the squash. Add the raw onion and tomatoes to the bowl. Add the chopped roasted onions, squash a tablespoon of olive oil and a few pinches of salt and pepper. Stir everything together gently.
In a small bowl, whisk the vinegar with the honey; whisk in the remaining 2 tablespoons of olive oil and some more salt and pepper. Stir about two-thirds of the dressing into the salad, taste, adding more if you like. Stir in the basil and serve. This salad keeps well so feel free to make more and enjoy the next day.
Pasta with Sweet Corn Pesto
–adapted from Bon Appétit
To make this vegetarian, instead of the bacon you can sauté the corn in butter or olive oil and add 1-2 teaspoons of pimenton (smoked Spanish Paprika) and then add a few squeezes of lime juice at the very end.
3 bacon slices, cut lengthwise in half, then crosswise into 1/2-inch pieces
3-4 cups fresh corn kernels (cut from about 5 large ears)
2 large garlic cloves, minced
1 1/4 teaspoons coarse kosher salt
3/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes
1/2 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese plus additional for serving
1/4 cup almonds or pine nuts (I always use Almonds because that’s what I have on hand)
1/3 cup extra-virgin olive oil
1 lb tagliatelle or fettuccine or penne
3/4 cup coarsely torn fresh basil leaves, divided
Cook bacon in large skillet over medium heat until crisp and brown, stirring often. Using slotted spoon, transfer to paper towels to drain. Pour off all but 1 tablespoon drippings from skillet (and reserve for future use or toss). Add corn, garlic, 1 1/4 teaspoons coarse salt, red pepper flakes, and 3/4 teaspoon pepper to drippings in skillet. Sauté over medium-high heat until corn is just tender but not brown, about 4 minutes. Transfer 1 1/2 cups corn kernels to small bowl and reserve. Pulse almonds until finely ground, add cheese, whiz again, then scrape remaining corn mixture into processor. With machine running, add olive oil through feed tube and blend until pesto is almost smooth. Set pesto aside.
Cook pasta in large pot of boiling salted water until just tender but still firm to bite, stirring occasionally. Drain, reserving 1 cup pasta cooking liquid. Return pasta to pot. Add corn pesto, reserved corn kernels, bacon (if using) and 1/2 cup basil leaves. Toss pasta mixture over medium heat until warmed through, adding reserved pasta cooking liquid by 1/4 cupfuls to thin to desired consistency, 2 to 3 minutes. Season pasta to taste with salt and pepper. Transfer pasta to large shallow bowl. Sprinkle with remaining 1/4 cup basil leaves. Serve pasta, passing additional grated Parmesan alongside.
Cook-With-What-You-Have Ratatouille
I love this time of year when I can make ratatouille, when sweet peppers, eggplant, summer squash and tomatoes are all at their peek. Quantities are all easily adapted and the ratios are not critical so scale up or down as needed. It is a rich, stew-like dish in which the vegetables all break down a bit. It is not beautiful but it is GOOD! Serve with some good crusty bread, another salad, a frittata or some such. It’s even better the next day.
4 medium tomatoes, diced
1 large eggplant, diced
1 onion, cut into large dice
2-3 summer squash, sliced or diced
2 sweet peppers, seeded and diced
Olive oil
Basil, handful of torn loves
1 clove garlic, minced
Salt
More olive oil for serving
Heat some olive oil in two large skillets. Add the onions and peppers to one pan and the zucchini to the other. Sprinkle all with a bit of salt. Cook both on high heat for a few minutes, stirring frequently and then turn down to medium high and continue sautéing until softened and browning just a bit. When the zucchini is just about tender remove it from the pan and reserve. Add a bit more oil and add the eggplant and a bit more salt. You can keep the peppers and onions sautéing on medium while the eggplant cooks. When the eggplant is tender and browning, add half of it to the pepper and onion pan and divide the zucchini between the pans. Now add the tomato to both and bring to a lively simmer and cook for about 10 minutes to marry the flavors. Add the garlic and basil and cook for 2 more minutes. Taste and adjust seasoning. Serve warm (but not hot) or at room temperature with a drizzle of good olive oil.
Grilled Eggplant with Tahini Yogurt sauce
Whether or not you make this tahini yogurt sauce for the eggplant you might grill all of your eggplant in rounds just to have it and snack on or use however you see fit. It’s delicious in myriad ways.
Slice the eggplant into about ½-inch rounds. Brush both sides with a little olive oil and sprinkle with salt and grill, fry or roast until tender and browning on both sides, about 5 minutes per side, give or take. I tend to use a cast iron pan but sometimes broil. I don’t have a gas grill so tend not to go that route though it is easy and delicious grilled.
Sauce (from Deborah Madison’s Vegetable Literacy):
½ cup whole milk or Greek yogurt
3 tablespoons tahini (sesame paste)
1 small clove garlic, minced and mashed into a paste with a little salt on your cutting board with the side of your chef’s knife
chopped cilantro for serving
Drizzle the warm eggplant slices with the tahini sauce and garnish with the cilantro.
Kohlrabi Salad
1 kohlrabi, peeled and cut into matchsticks using a sharp knife or mandolin
1/2 crunchy apple, cut into matchsticks as well
2 tablespoons rice vinegar
1 tablespoon sesame oil
1/2 serrano or jalapeno chili, minced and seeded (unless you like more heat—try first to see how hot it is)
1/8 teaspoon ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon fish sauce
3 tablespoons chopped cilantro
Salt and freshly ground pepper to taste
Toss the kohlrabi and the apple with the remaining ingredients and chill before eating. Taste and adjust seasoning.
Fennel Salad with Grapes, Feta and Sumac
–from The Ottolenghi Project
The original recipe calls for pomegranate seeds instead of grapes. It seemed odd to include a recipe with pomegranate seeds at the height of our own local produce so I tried it with small, fragrant grapes from Ayers Creek Farm and it was wonderful. This is a cinch to make but does call for a few ingredients you might not have. I found sumac recently at New Seasons. You can make it without the sumac though and it will still be great.
2 medium sized fennel bulbs, trimmed, halved and cut as thinly as you possibly can
2 cups small, flavorful grapes
2 teaspoons of Sumac and some extra to garnish
Juice of a lemon
Good olive oil
4 tablespoons of tarragon leaves
2 tablespoons of coarsely chopped parsley
2 ounces feta, crumbled
Salt and pepper
Rinse and stem the grapes and reserve. Put the fennel slices in a larger bowl or on a platter.
Mix the olive oil, sumac, lemon juice, herbs and salt and pepper in a small bowl and mix well, and add to the fennel and mix well. Finally add the feta and grapes. Garnish with more sumac and serve!
Fennel and Onion Soffrito
This is my favorite thing to do with fennel, hands down. It’s a delicious garnish/condiment/side for fish, roasted vegetables, etc.
Olive oil
1 ½ cups thinly sliced fennel
1 ½ cups thinly sliced onion
¾ cup chopped tomatoes
2 cloves garlic
red wine vinegar to taste
salt and pepper
In the largest skillet you have heat about 2 tablespoons of olive oil. Add the onions and fennel all at once and cook, stirring occasionally over medium heat until starting to brown and quite soft. Add the garlic and the tomatoes, a couple of generous pinches of salt and some pepper and cook until the liquid has evaporated. Finally add a little vinegar, you’ll probably want at least 2 teaspoons and plenty of black pepper. Taste and adjust seasoning.
This is delicious with a bunch of chopped parsley and black olives too.
Pesto
I used to be a purist about pesto and I’m not anymore. I use almonds, walnuts or hazelnuts since I never have pine nuts. I use aged, Asiago Stella (available at Pastaworks and City Market) because it’s much cheaper than Parmesan and still very good. I also use the food processor. And you can scale this up or down very easily. It keeps well in the fridge, topped off with a thin layer of good olive oil, for about a week. And you can put it on so many things—use it as a sandwich spread; stir it into deviled eggs or a frittata thin it out for a salad dressing . . . .
basil, leaves picked (about 4 cups leaves, loosely packed), washed and dried
3 smallish cloves of garlic, peeled and roughly chopped
Generous handful of almonds, walnuts, hazelnuts or pine nuts
About 2 ounces of Parmesan or aged Asiago (Asiago Stella available at Pastaworks/City Market)
1/3 – 1/2 cup of good-tasting extra virgin olive oil (or more)
Salt and freshly ground pepper
If you have a mortar and pestle, a strong arm and some time, by all means make the pesto by hand. I almost always now make it in a food processor and it’s very good that way too.
Put the nuts and cheese in the processor and pulse until finely ground. Add the basil, garlic and salt and process until well chopped. Then slowly add the oil. Don’t over process. Adjust for salt and oil. Then store in the fridge until ready to use.