Yum ~ in Photos

A plate of fresh coconut-date love.

Home from the Farmers' Market ~ late-summer bounty. Radicchio, gorgeous basil,

Armenian cucumber, zucchini and crookneck squash, a load of dry-farmed tomatoes

and a couple multi-colored heirlooms.

Can't you just *taste* the sun's love in a warm, ripe, garden-fresh tomato?

That might be *the* taste of summer to me.

Summer Veggie Lovin': Fresh Salsas

Summer is such a fun and easy time to prepare meals. All the bright, colorful produce demands to be eaten immediately, without much work at all. I have been loving salads. Some days I have some form of salad with breakfast, lunch, and dinner! And lately I have been mixing up what I call "salsas" for a fun salad concoction. I chop up veggies, add some olive oil and (usually red wine) vinegar or citrus (lemon or lime) juice, seasalt, toss them together, and then put them on top of a bed of good lettuce (my favorite is Little Gem from Blue Heron Farm!). Another way I've served these salsas is mixed with a pasta (Tinkyada rice pasta), or grain ~ such as brown rice or quinoa, or a combination! It also works on top of scrambled eggs. I love fresh veggies for breakfast (this morning I sauteed a handful of chopped dandelion greens with sliced garlic, added that to eggs, then topped it with leftover salsa ~ so good).

cherry tomato, Armenian cucumber, snipped basil, and red pepper flakes

Here's a list of ingredients from concoctions I've made just in the past few days:

Barely-cooked corn fresh from the cob

Cherry tomatoes sliced in half (this is my favorite way to eat tomatoes right now

~ neat and easy)

A beefy heirloom tomato, diced

fresh-pressed garlic (I put this is almost everything)

basil leaves snipped with scissors

cilantro snipped with scissors

fresh oregano, minced

Armenian cucumber, sliced into rounds, then quartered

young (small) yellow squash or zucchini, sliced into rounds and quartered

Kalamata olives, pitted and chopped

green beans, sauteed

avocado, diced

Sample Combinations:

Barely-cooked corn fresh from the cob

Cherry tomatoes sliced in half

basil leaves snipped with scissors

red wine vinegar

Kalamata olives, pitted and chopped

Armenian cucumber, sliced into rounds, then quartered

fresh oregano, minced

balsamic vinegar

Barely-cooked corn fresh from the cob

Cherry tomatoes sliced in half

avocado, diced

cilantro snipped with scissors

lime juice

young (small) yellow squash or zucchini, sliced into rounds and quartered

A beefy heirloom tomato, diced

green beans, sauteed

fresh-pressed garlic

A later edition:

Ooo!! A new combination!

diced ripe cantaloupe (yuuuummm!)

Armenian cucumber rounds, quartered

snipped basil

olive oil and seasalt

crumbled feta

Delicious!!!!

Farmers' Market Love

Here's another shout-out to the farmers' markets. I still love them and they are still a highlight of my week. Sometimes I attend all three Berkeley farmers' markets in one week. It's just that good. Here are some outrageously red radishes I saw at Blue Heron Farm's booth, where I get my weekly fix of baby lettuces.

Outrageous, no?

Addicted

I have heard that a person can be called "addicted" when they want not just any drug, but a particular one, and not taken just any way, but a very certain way. Well very urgently I have become addicted .

I need cherries. Not just any cherry ~ I need Bing cherries; don't give me Rainier or even Brooks. Bing cherries from Kashiwase Farm at the farmers' markets. I need them three times a week. And if there is a pound bag in the shopping basket as I'm leaving the Kashiwase stand, half the cherries could be gone by the time I make it home. I can't stop myself. I eat one right after another.

What am I doing typing? There are still a few left in the bowl from our trip to the market last night! I'll seek treatment if I fight Anjali for the last one...! ;-)

Sweet Potato Soup with Greens

I love soup. I could probably prepare and enjoy a soup every night of the year. A base of some good broth, whatever produce we brought home from the farmers' market plus maybe some meat ~ that's the soup. And it's always good. This winter season I have been attached to making soup this way: lay down a base flavor ~ usually starting by simmering a chopped onion in the broth; then a veggie such as stewed tomatoes, roasted winter squash, carrots, or in this case, roasted sweet potatoes with the skins. I puree that. Then I add a chopped or chunked veggie that adds texture. This often includes a dark leafy green. We eat a lot of dark leafy greens. They are oftentimes delicious in soups. Last night's ingredients were intended for a soup to take to a friend who recently had a healthy baby boy. But we sure did enjoy it. ;-) The three different dried peppers cut the sweetness of the potatoes three different ways. Leftover, it was probably even better.

Sweet Potato Soup with Greens

serves 3-4 depending on your sweet potatoes, the water you add, and the size of your bowls

A quart of good chicken broth ~ homemade or of equal quality, or homemade veggie broth

A mess of sweet potatoes roasted at 400 until soft, cooled, then sliced into 1/2 inch pieces ~ as many as you can fit between your two hands without dropping them (before they're roasted) ~ I used "Japanese sweet potatoes", but use your favorite, or what's on hand. In America, Sweet Potato = Yam = same thing.

Three large cloves of garlic ~ two crushed well with the side of your chef's knife, the other sliced thin

Dark leafy greens ~ I used what they call a "braising mix" at the farmers' market = an assortment of young kales, collard, chard, etc. ~ equal in precooked volume to the potatoes, chiffonade

1 1/2 teaspoons apple cider vinegar

Cayenne

*Fresh* red pepper flakes

Smoked paprika

Sea salt to taste ~ start with 1/2 teaspoon

Water as needed

In a pot or dutch oven, warm the chicken broth slowly up to a boil. Add the crushed garlic and simmer until the garlic is soft. Add the sweet potato slices and simmer. Puree till smooth (there's that handheld blender again!). Toss in greens and garlic. Cover. Simmer until greens get a little darker than just wilted. Add vinegar, spices, and sea salt, adjusting as needed. If it's too thick, add some water and bring back up to temperature. I think it's better at the consistency of thick soup, as opposed to a soupy baked potato... This is hearty.

Serve with a salad and some craggy hunks of bread to dip in the soup.

Read about that charming label.

Summertime Tapenade

Technically, this is not a true tapenade. But the bold presence of the black olives made me call it that. I think it has a nice ring..

chopped perfectly ripe tomatoes (don't even think about making this in the winter! use olive-oil-soaked sun-dried tomatoes if you do. and leave out the cucumber.)

~ I have discovered dry-farmed tomatoes this season. oh. my god. ~

diced Armenian cucumber (discovered that this season, too.. )

minced garlic

chopped oil-cured black olives, with the brine set aside

freshly toasted cumin

freshly toasted coriander

sea salt to taste

chili flakes to taste

Combine these ingredients to meet your needs. I used enough small early girl tomatoes to fill my two hands, and diced enough cucumber to fill it out nicely, but not densely (then I ate the rest of the cucumber slice-by-slice as I prepared dinner!). I minced 4 regular-sized garlic cloves, and chopped.. 8 olives, because that's what was in the fridge. I toasted a little more than a teaspoon of cumin seeds, and a little less than a teaspoon of coriander. Toasting spices brings out their flavor; I can't recommend this highly enough. It's really worth the few extra minutes of effort and attention. You will smell when they're done. Trust your nose. Add the reserved olive brine to your taste. Then the sea salt and chili flakes.

We ate this atop grilled lamb chops.

Then the next day, after it had had a chance to meld overnight, I ate the remainder on my scrambled eggs.

Yum!