How to utilize all of summer’s bounty.
By the time high summer rolls around, my vegetable garden is all showy with a blast of rainbow colors—from heavy, hanging clusters of scarlet red tomatoes; to soothing yellow broad beans hanging on a trellis like Christmas ornaments; to violet stripped eggplant and deep maroon radicchio and bronze brownskinned onions.
Midsummer is the time to get serious and gather the best of what the garden has to offer. Sometimes, when I survey the work before me, I think I need to be careful about what I wish for because too much of a good thing can be overwhelming. That’s when I’m smart enough to call in my neighbors to help lessen the load and share in the harvest.
For my own needs, I think ahead to the cold winter months and make a plan for what to do with all this produce. For sure, I will turn many of the vegetables into soups I can freeze— minestrone, butternut squash and tomato are favorites. I will make jars of caponata with the shiny eggplant, and freeze shredded zucchini to use as a filler in meatloaf and meatballs. Zucchini also is good added to pancakes, soups and muffins, plus I can bake zucchini chocolate cake.
Tomatoes, the force of the garden, need their own sacred amount of time because there is so much one can do with them. Plum tomatoes are destined for tomato sauce. They are also dried on a dehydrator, and put up in jars with good olive oil and vinegar to use in salads, on top of crusty bread, or to complement a cheese plate or top a pizza. Cherry tomatoes make surprisingly good soup as well, and bags and bags of them will be frozen, too.
Eggplants will become the delicious casserole known as “eggplant parm” (Parmigiana), and some will get pickled to eat with crusty bread on days when we dream of the next summer to come.
As to some of the other vegetables: Onions and shallots will get pulled, and allowed to cure and dry until their skins crackle before storing them in a cool, dark corner of the pantry.
The reward for all this work is knowing I will have the pick of the garden all winter long. NHH
Fried Zucchini Sandwiches SERVES 4
Forget deep-fried zucchini sticks. Make these crunchy zucchini sandwiches instead. These are best eaten warm, and one will never be enough.
4 medium-sized zucchini, at least 6 inches long, each cut into ¼-inch lengthwise strips then cut in half crosswise into 3-inchlong strips
Salt, to taste
2 cups grated Swiss cheese
1 cup flour
2 eggs, beaten
1½ cups Panko breadcrumbs
1. Place the zucchini strips in a colander; sprinkle them with salt and place a weight on top of them (like a can of tomatoes). Let them stand for 30 minutes. Rinse and dry the strips.
2. Using two strips at a time, make a sandwich with some of the cheese between the slices.
Roll the sandwich in flour, dip it in the beaten eggs and coat it on both sides with the breadcrumbs. Set aside, and repeat with the remaining strips.
3. Heat the vegetable oil in a heavy-duty, not-too-deep pan or pot to 375°F. Fry the sandwiches a few at a time until golden brown on both sides.
4. Remove the sandwiches, drain on absorbent paper, sprinkle with coarse salt and serve hot.
Recipe courtesy of ciaoitalia.com
Tomato Sauce
4 tablespoons olive oil
1 medium onion, peeled and minced
2 large cloves garlic, minced
2 (28-ounce) cans crushed tomatoes
1 (28-ounce) can tomato purée
2 teaspoons salt
½ teaspoon coarse black pepper
6 leaves fresh basil, shredded
1. In a saucepan, heat the olive oil and cook the onion until it softens. Stir in the garlic and cook until the garlic softens. Lower the heat and stir in the crushed tomatoes, tomato purée, salt and pepper. Cover and simmer the sauce for 35 minutes.
Stir in the basil.
Upside-Down Peppers SERVES 4
My mom taught me this unique way to make stuffed peppers. They are moist, full of flavor and very filling. And the best part is: They are cooked upside down to prevent them from drying out.
2 4 large sweet bell peppers, washed and dried
¼ pound ground sirloin
¼ pound ground pork
1 cup cooked rice
1 cup grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese
1 large onion, peeled and minced
2 eggs
2 tablespoons minced parsley
2 teaspoons sea salt
½ teaspoon coarse black pepper
Tomato Sauce (see recipe above)
1. Preheat the oven to 350ºF. Cut off the tops of the peppers and reserve them. Carefully remove the seeds with a spoon, then rinse the peppers and set them aside.
2. In a large bowl, combine the meats, rice, cheese, onion, eggs, parsley, salt and black pepper.
Mix gently with your hands. Fill the cavities of the bell peppers with some of the mixture, being careful not to overpack them or they will split in the oven while baking.
3. Ladle 1½ cups of Tomato Sauce a large baking pan. Place the top back on each pepper, and holding the top in place with your hands, turn the pepper upside down in the pans.
4. Ladle 1½ cups of the sauce over the peppers. Cover the pan tightly with aluminum foil, and bake for 45 minutes to 1 hour or until the peppers are soft.
5. Remove the pan from the oven, remove the foil and carefully turn the peppers right-side up.
6. Serve the peppers immediately with additional sauce on the side.
Recipe courtesy of ciaoitalia.com
Caponata
When the garden is overflowing with eggplant, I make caponata—a Sicilian sweetand-sour eggplant relish that can be used for many things. Top some grilled sourdough bread with it, or make it the topping for a piece of grilled fish. It is perfect as a sauce for pasta too, and for pizza or focaccia.
8 Japanese eggplants (8-inches long), washed, stem end removed, and eggplant cut in ½-inch cubes
Salt
1¼ cups thinly sliced celery (about 2 ribs)
1½ cups boiling water
1½ cups peanut oil, divided
½ cup extra-virgin olive oil
3½ cups thinly sliced onions
1 cup tomato paste
1 cup drained and chopped green or black olives in brine
½ cup capers in brine, drained
½ cup sugar
2/3 cup red wine vinegar
2 teaspoons baking cocoa
1. Place the eggplant cubes in a colander, salt them, and let them sweat in the sink for 1 hour. Rinse and dry them.
2. In a small saucepan, add the celery to the boiling water and cook for 3–4 minutes. Drain the celery; reserve both the celery and the water.
3. In a large skillet or electric frying pan, heat half the peanut oil. Add half the eggplant pieces, and fry until softened and lightly browned, about 5 minutes. Drain the pieces on brown paper and continue with the remaining eggplant and peanut oil.
4. Drain any remaining peanut oil from the skillet. Then, add and heat the olive oil. Add the onions and sauté them until soft and glazed-looking, about 10 minutes. Lower the heat and mix in the tomato paste, reserved celery water, olives, capers, sugar, vinegar and cocoa. Mix well and let the mixture simmer for about 5 minutes.
5. Add the eggplant and the celery pieces to the skillet, and mix well to coat the pieces with the sauce. Simmer the mixture uncovered for about 10 minutes. Add additional water if the mixture is too thick. Add salt and pepper to taste.
6. Best served warm or at room temperature Because this recipe makes a lot, spoon some into jars, cover, and store some in the refrigerator and freeze the rest.
Recipe courtesy of ciaoitalia.com
Balsamic Glaze
1 bottle (about 17 ounces) balsamic vinegar
2 tablespoons honey
¼ teaspoon salt
1. Pour the balsamic vinegar into a saucepan and bring to a boil.
2. Lower the heat to medium, and stir in the honey and salt. Cook, stirring often, until the mixture reduces by half and looks syrupy. Remove from heat.
3. When the glaze is cool, transfer it to a jar. Keep the glaze in a cool place; do not refrigerate. Use as needed.
Salsa di Pomodorini Arrostiti con Pasta (Roasted Cherry Tomato Sauce With Pasta) SERVES 6
Roasting cherry tomatoes concentrates their sugar, providing great flavor. Serve this over short cuts of pasta, like bowties, ziti, rigatoni or spirals.
6 cups cherry tomatoes, cut in half
5 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, divided
1 teaspoon salt, plus
1 tablespoon salt
1 tablespoon sugar
2 tablespoons Balsamic
Glaze (see recipe above)
1 pound short-cut pasta
6 fresh basil leaves torn into small pieces
Grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese for sprinkling
1. Preheat the oven to 350ºF. Toss the tomatoes in a bowl with 3 tablespoons of the olive oil, 1 teaspoon of salt and the sugar. Spread the tomatoes on a large baking sheet and bake them for 35–40 minutes, or until they are half their original size and look shriveled.
2. Transfer the tomatoes to a large sauté pan, and stir in the Balsamic Glaze. Set aside.
3. Bring 4 quarts water to a boil in a large saucepan, stir in 1 tablespoon of salt and the pasta, and cook until al dente. Drain the pasta and transfer it to the sauté pan with the tomato sauce. Reheat slowly.
4. Add the basil and toss well. Serve hot, and pass the cheese.
Recipe courtesy of Mary Ann Esposito
By Mary Ann Esposito | Photography by John W. Hession