Look at what arrived in my farm kitchen!!
My nephew, Bob, is a serious gardener. When he came to the farm this past weekend, he brought along tubs, coolers, and baskets full of fresh vegetables. The bounty included squash, okra, tomatoes, onions, melons, corn, peppers, all in several varieties, as well as bread and butter pickles.
This melon weighed in at about 15 pounds!
The corn, from Gurney Seed, has been their best seller for the last ten years. It’s called “Gotta Have It.” One taste and you’ll agree the variety is well named.
This beauty is quite a handful. One slice is all you need for a BLT.
Vegetable Forward Menu
The farm kitchen has become the living room of the house.
In preparation for what trendy chefs call a “vegetable forward” menu, my dinner guests gathered in the kitchen to cook a number of new recipes—as well as some old favorites.
Kitchen Nostalgia
Remember Breaded Tomatoes? Ahh. . . the taste and smell took me back in time. Back to those blistering hot August days in my mother’s crowded kitchen, where we’d shuck corn, batter the okra for the skillet, and slice up the garden tomatoes ripening on the kitchen windowsill.
Lucy proves there’s more than one use for all those colorful peppers. Hmm. . . if she could just sing Wagnerian opera, she might have future on the stage. 🙂
By oven-roasting garbanzo beans, you can turn the protein-rich beans into a crunchy, nut-like topping for salads or snacks. (More on this in a later post.)
My neighbor, Susanne, enhanced the meal with this Tomato-Basil Pie topped with bread crumbs and Gruyere cheese. She said it’s a long-time family favorite that she tweaked from a Southern Living recipe. Really delish and perfect for the season.
The salmon entree ready for the grill. The fish held its own among all those vegetables, staying moist and flavorful from being cooked on wooden planks.
Pure Comfort Food Simply Prepared
Bob and Peg enhanced this recipe for Oven-fried Okra, seen here ready for the oven. They used a coating of finely crushed pecans rather than the traditional flour/cornmeal mixture. It was exceptional good. I didn’t miss the deep frying at all.
Bob picked corn the night before to make sure, he beat the raccoons to the harvest. Here’s the simple recipe that we used for Sauteed Fresh Corn.
We cut the kernels from the cob and cooked them briefly with butter, salt and pepper. Actually, the corn was tender and sweet enough to eat right from the cob.
Breaded Tomatoes, a summertime treat.
I used the squash to make one of Ina Garten’s recipes: Zucchini Gratin. (Photo: Wives with Knives)
The transformation of garden vegetables to a sumptuous summer buffet.
A plate of plenty! (From left clockwise) Sauteed corn, Strawberry-Lettuce Salad, Bread anad Butter Pickles, Tomato-Basil Pie, Oven-Fried Okra, Sliced beefsteak tomato, Breaded Tomatoes, Sauteed Chanterelle Mushrooms, and salmon (center).
I love this photo! I’ve named it: “The Mushroom Whisperer.” Robin savors the aroma of fresh chanterelles, that she and mushroom savant Ken Gilberg found earlier in the day. They ended up with about four times this amount! More than enough for dinner and plenty to bring home.
