It’s almost time for summer garden delights! Tomatoes fresh from the vine! Corn on the cob! Green beans! I’m going to share some of my all-time favorite summer recipes.
Tomato Tart
I’m kind of giving you a full recipe! Don’t expect this to happen often. This is best if you follow a few simple rules. Of course, I break most of them. I’ll bullet point my divergences from the recipe. (!)
- Preheat oven to 450 degrees. IMPORTANT: within these directions, you’ll come to a point that you have to reduce the heat!
- This recipe has a section with the ingredients and “how tos” to make a pie crust. (Bottom crust only.)
- I trot to the store and buy one. You can purchase several at a time on sale and store them in the freezer until you need one.
- Often, I make this dish without the piecrust. If making without, skip the next step and preheat the oven to 325 degrees.
- Line piecrust with foil and bake for five minutes. Remove foil and bake until golden, about five minutes. Place the piecrust on a wire rack.
- Reduce oven temperature to 325.
- Whisk together ¾ cup milk, 2 egg whites, 1 large egg, ¼ teaspoon black pepper and 1/8 teaspoon hot pepper sauce.
- The recipe calls for skim milk, and that’s what I usually use. I take the lazy way out and use 2 or 3 eggs, depending on what size I have. I use more pepper (crushed peppercorns) and more hot pepper sauce, typically tabasco.
- In a small skillet, heat 1 teaspoon olive oil. Add ¼ cup chopped yellow onion and 1 clove garlic. Sautee until tender.
- I rarely have yellow onions. I use white, Vidalia, or red, whatever I have on hand.
- Combine the onion mixture with ¾ cup shredded Swiss cheese and 2 tablespoons flour. Mix well. Spread cheese mixture over prepared piecrust.
- I typically use mozzarella cheese. Any white cheese will do. If you are making it without a crust, put the cheese mixture in the bottom of your pan.
- Arrange four thinly-sliced plum tomatoes over the cheese mixture. Sprinkle with 1 tablespoon shredded fresh basil and ¼ cup shredded Swiss cheese.
- Use the kind of cheese you used in the step above.
- I often make this with yellow tomatoes or some other type of red tomato. In that event, slice your tomatoes before you get started and allow them to drain.
- Pour the milk and egg mixture over the top.
- Bake 50 minutes, or until a knife inserted in the center comes out clean. Place tart on a wire rack and cool for 10 minutes. Best if served warm.
- YUM!
Easy-Peasy Corn On The Cob
Unless you’re cooking for a large group or family, this is the BEST way to do corn. Don’t bother taking off the husks. Don’t frustrate yourself trying to get each and every piece of silk. (Or any piece of silk!) Just take your fully-husked ears of corn (one to four) and put them in the microwave. Three to five minutes later, take them out – oh, you have to actually hit the “cook” button – lop off the stem ends, and squeeze the ears out of the husks. Voila! Silk-free perfectly-cooked corn!
Salsa
Salsa is easy, has many variations, and can be made ahead of time. The basic ingredients (I link here to a basic recipe), are tomatoes, onions, cilantro, jalapeno peppers, garlic, salt and lime juice.
Variations
- Use yellow tomatoes instead of red.
- Use any kind of onion.
- Instead of jalapeno, try serrano or Anaheim peppers.
- For any pepper, to make it cooler, take out all the seeds. Hotter, leave them in.
- For very mild salsa, use green pepper.
Tomato-Free Salsa
Freshen up. Instead of tomatoes, use mangoes, citrus fruits, corn and black beans, peaches….gosh….anything! Here is a link to some recipes.
Green Beans From A Master
Decades ago, volunteering at a homeless shelter, I met my favorite green bean. It had been cooked by a master. A man who cooked everything in huge pots on top of a busy stove in an inner-city shelter serving hundreds.
He started with bacon, onions and hot peppers. Hot. Peppers. Not green, not red. Hot. Like the kind you use to make hot oriental dishes.
After filling your pot with fresh green beans, add brown sugar. Heat to your desired “done.” (I like my beans crisp!)
In Closing
If you don’t have a garden, or even if you do, head to any local Farmers’ Market throughout the summer for great fresh produce. Be sure to ask the vendors for their favorite recipes!