Chatting Tomatoes, Corn, Zucchini & More with Margaret Roach

Funny story: My aunt Marcy (the one with the dogs in Vermont) came to visit me on Tuesday. She arrived with a bag of special Vermont plums (delicious!), a tub of pineapple tomatillos (irresistible!), and a glass pitcher filled with an orange-y hued purée I recognized instantly as Julia Moskin’s gazpacho, the one everyone is making.

Surprise Aunt Marcy: I’ve been making it too! I opened the fridge to reveal a mirror image, a glass pitcher filled with an orange-y hued purée, the silky smooth Spanish gazpacho I had blitzed on Monday evening.

Friends: have you made it? I learned about it via Jenny Rosenstrach and Cup of Jo, and I’m finding it to be as miraculous of a little recipe as promised: it takes about five minutes to whip up; it yields a huge quantity; it puts to great use so much of the peak summer produce; it’s delicious and not to mention totally refreshing and incredibly healthy. I like mine drizzled with chili oil.

Hooray: it’s tomato season! Morning- noon- and night-tomato season! But also: up-to-our-eyeballs zucchini season. And: Don’t-blink-how-did-it-pass? corn season.

So much to savor, so little time.

Good news: My friend, Margaret Roach of A Way to Garden, and I have some ideas. We recently chatted about all the tomato, all the zucchini, and all the corn recipes we could squeeze into 25 minutes. Margaret also shares her tips for ripening tomatoes, her method for roasting tomatoes in preparation for freezing, and her go-to, easy skins-on tomato sauce recipe.

I’ve linked to all of the recipes (and more!) below. You can listen to the podcast over on A Way to Garden and enter to win a copy of Bread Toast Crumbs there, too.

UPDATE: GIVEAWAY IS CLOSED. WINNER IS WENDY. I HAVE EMAILE YOU. But before you go! Enter to win a copy of Margaret’s award-winning A Way to Garden here: Leave a comment below. Tell me what you’re currently most excited to be eating or cooking or what you’re looking forward to making most.

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Tomato Recipes

Get All the Tomato Recipes Right Here → Tomatoes

After you’ve had your fill of open-faced tomato-and-mayonnaise sandwiches, tomato-topped cream cheese-smeared bagels, BLTs, pan con tomate, simple salads, and pico de gallo, here are some ideas.

But first! Have you seen the new Alexandra’s Kitchen recipe filter? Click on “Recipes” in the top navigation bar. Then filter away!

A Few Perennial  Favorites:

• Tomato and Corn Galette (I’ve been making this David Lebovitz recipe for nearly 20 years.)
• Oven-Dried Tomatoes + Bruschetta (Summer in a jar.)
• Tomato-Red Bell Pepper Sauce (My favorite summer sauce: so delicious, so fast.)
• Marcella Hazan Tomato Sauce, Simplified (No peeling!)
• Roasted Tomato and Bread Soup (If you’re feeling fall.)

From Around the Web:

• Margaret Roach’s Skins-On Tomato Sauce
• Julia Moskin’s gazpacho (A new favorite! Pictured up top.)
• Spaghetti with no-cook Puttanesca (Eager to try!)
• Margaret Roach’s Roasted Tomatoes
• Turkish Scrambled Eggs  (Looks so good.)
• Naked Tomato Sauce (Long-time Smitten Kitchen favorite.)

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Corn Recipes

Get All the Corn Recipes Right Here → Corn

When you’ve had your fill of corn on the cob…

A Few Perennial  Favorites:

• Raw Corn Salad with Tomatoes, herbs, lots of acid, and feta (Mark Bittman)
• Fresh corn polenta (A must-make once a summer.)
• Soup with a corn cob stock: Deborah Madison’s or Samin Nosrat’s
• Fritters with Cheddar and Scallions (Deborah Madison’s)
• Melissa Clark’s creamy (no cream!) corn pasta

To Try:

• Milk Street’s Pasta with Corn and Tomatoes (Eager to try!)
• Grilled Romaine and Corn Salad (Looks so good.)

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Zucchini Recipes

Get All the Zucchini Recipes Right Here → Zucchini

A Few Perennial  Favorites:

• Summer Squash Spaghetti
• Raw salad with olive oil, lemon, parmesan
• Roasted or Sautéed with pine nuts and herbs
• Zucchini Parmesan
• Zucchini Involtini
• Zucchini Fritters
• Zucchini Bread
• Roasted Ratatouille

From Around the Web:

• Heidi Swanson’s pasta with smashed zucchini cream (Loved this one!)
• Zucchini Pickles (Zuni cafe recipe)
• Canal House’s Marinated Zucchini (Food52)
• Zucchini Butter (If you’re looking to cull your haul.)
• Zucchini quesadillas (Smitten Kitchen)
• Stuffed Globe Zucchini (Cookie + Kate)
• Oven-Baked Zucchini Fries (Marilena’s Kitchen)

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Enjoy these last few weeks of summer, my Friends! Comment below for a chance to win Margaret’s beautiful book!