August 17, 2016

Summer Suppers

I love this time of year mainly for the fact that two of my favourite things are in ample supply: Tomatoes and Peaches. As children, we always had plenty of both and they evoke such great food memories of picking and eating tomatoes straight from the garden, and going to a farm and getting bushels of peaches. image

To me, there’s nothing better than a simple tomato sandwich. Just white bread, Dukes mayonaise, freshly picked and sliced tomatoes and some salt and pepper. You have to eat them immediately or the bread gets soggy. I could eat these for supper every night during August.

I also love Insalata Caprese, which is just tomatoes, good mozzarella and basil leaves, drizzled with some good balsamic vinegar, and sprinkled with salt and pepper. image

Additionally, if you’ve got a huge bounty of tomatoes, you can make sauces, or do like I do and dry them in the oven until they’re leathery, and then preserve them in olive oil. Simply slice them, put them on a cookie sheet in the oven at about 200*, and leave them for several hours. An added bonus is that your house will smell amazing!

On Saturday mornings, when I work at Halcyon House Antiques, I stop at a farm stand and pick up provisions for the week, including peaches. While they don’t always look picture perfect, they are delicious! image

Again, my favourite thing to do is wash them and cut them into quarters or eighths, sprinkle them with a tiny bit of vanilla sugar, and eat them, skin and all. I know that some people can’t stand the fuzzy skin, but if you wash them and rub them a bit, the fuzz comes off.

If I have a couple of pounds of peaches, I love making peach and bourbon jam.image I wrote about it here, and think that it tastes amazing on a good vanilla ice cream. It’s fun to make enough to share with friends as a host/hostess gift at a summer supper.

What’s your go-to summer meal?

6 comments:

  1. Summer in our kitchen means always having homemade basil pesto in the fridge and bowls of fresh blueberries on the counter top.
    And in August padrone/shishito peppers finally start showing up in the farmers' markets - blistered in a cast iron skillet (with a bit of olive oil) then lightly salted - great appetizer with a cold Sierra Nevada Pale Ale...

    ReplyDelete
  2. Don't forget cucumber sandwiches!!!

    ReplyDelete
  3. I've been making all sorts of things with our tomatoes. I actually LOVE the peach fuzz LOL.

    ReplyDelete
  4. I dry tomatoes in the oven, also, it's tomato essence. I freeze extra for winter.
    Today I made gazpacho, one of my favorite summer meals, just add crusty bread on the side...Yum!
    Judith in California

    ReplyDelete
  5. Can't get enough peach/tomato gazpacho this summer. Apple cider vinegar creates magic !

    Leave skin on both tomatoes & peaches.

    Dread them going out of season.

    XOT

    ReplyDelete

Thank you for reading and commenting on Pigtown*Design. I read each and every comment and try to reply if I have your e-mail address.