Summer Dishes

Wow, the summer heat and humidity have come back with a vengeance! I think a lot of what we ate recently reflects this. Here are a few items we enjoyed - many of them are things I have posted in the past, but are so delicious for the summer.

Tomatoes, peppers, onion, garlic, basil, cilantro, cucumbers, carrots - made my favorite Gazpacho recipe. It is so simple and delicious - rough chop veggies and place in large bowl along with a bit of water, red wine vinegar and olive oil. Cover and let marinade overnight in fridge. I normally don't use the jarred piquilla peppers called for in the recipe. I just use a sweet red pepper and add just a bit more vinegar. The next day, either use immersion blender or blender and blend till smooth. Recipe tops with shrimp, but I typically cut up cherry tomatoes and top with a few of them, the chopped cilantro and a drizzle of delicious olive oil - I have also topped with jumbo lump crabmeat. This recipe makes enough for about 8 appetizer sized portions.

Tomatoes, onion, garlic, herbs - made the Simple Oven-Roasted Tomato Sauce recipe that member Mindy Bence sent a couple of weeks ago. It is delicious! At the same time I made a large pot of "traditional" sauce. The oven roasted is so simple and delicious and I will make it again - it will be particularly great when used in lasagna. The only drawback for me is that due to space limitations in the oven, I can't use a lot of tomatoes at once. Since I grow my own tomatoes as well, I need to go through a lot of tomatoes, so I will use both methods.

Tomatoes, peppers, onions, garlic, basil - made the tomato salad I grew up with several times over the past few weeks. The only part of this that is kind of a pain is peeling the tomatoes, but it is so worth it. To make it, peel and chop the tomatoes and place in a bowl. Chop the peppers and onions small and add to bowl. Grate or mince just part of a garlic clove and add, along with some julienned basil. Add salt and pepper and a bit of dried oregano to the bowl. Add red wine vinegar and olive oil and mix well. Enjoy - the best part of this dish is having some crusty bread to dunk the juices at the bottom of the bowl. Yum...