We could call the The Season of Ease. At this time of year, we have vegetables of every possible type, sometimes in great abundance, and dinner is easy.
When my kids were small and I relied heavily on my garden, supper in the summer was often a collection of whatever vegetables were in abundance on that particular day, it made no difference what, and it was easy. This time of year, the end of August, was, and remains, especially bountiful with everything from beans and squash to tomatoes and potatoes coming into their full ripeness all at once. We want to keep summer alive, but the winter squash are also nudging their way in as well heralding the new season that is almost upon us. We have lots of fruits and berries galore, and greens of every type. One would be hard pressed to think of something we don’t have. At least for the fleeting moment, so catch it quickly if you can.
No recipe please
Who needs a recipe when you have so much with which to work? Although I dutifully write out recipes as I make a dish for this blog, when I’m actually cooking, I usually follow nothing more than instinct, and everyone has that same instinct because we all know what we like. It might take some trial and error, but if you are in the kitchen long enough, so much becomes second nature. And this time of year, we certainly have the inspiration. We can even cook by the color we want there’s so much.
Just a hodgepodge of flavor
Hodgepodge was a go-to in our house when I was a kid, and continued in my own home. My mom’s most usual combination was new potatoes, onions, and carrots, green beans, and lots of Swiss chard, her favorite green. Other veggies might end up in the pot depending on what was available, but always potatoes, onions, carrots and the greens of some sort, all making their own broth. Mom wouldn’t dream of adding a broth to this, it wasn’t necessary, water was just fine; it made its own superb broth. It’s still one of my favorites, the flavor brings me right back home to the Old Chesterfield Road.
Seasonal staples
At this time of year, both ratatouille and gazpacho routinely feature at suppertime. Ratatouille, a lovely French peasant dish, is a combination of tomatoes, squash, eggplant (unless you are allergic), peppers, and onions, with a garlicky herbal notes. It’s summer comfort stew to be enjoyed hot, room temperature, or chilled, with whatever texture you like. One of our favorites, you can eat it straight up as is, or toss it with pasta, pile it on rice or polenta, turn it into a soup, or split open a crusty baguette and scoop to your heart’s content. Poach some eggs in it! Make a giant batch and freeze some for next winter.
As you like it
You can stew the vegetables, grill them, roast them, or bake them, it’s all good. Cut them small, leave them with larger pieces, whatever proportion you like. It doesn’t matter at all because it will taste wonderfully of late summer. It is also a great ‘recipe’ to use up whatever abundant vegetables you have on hand, not exact measurements are needed, it will probably never be exactly the same twice, but it will always be delicious, even if you end up using a mass amount of zucchini.
Gazpacho
The same is true for gazpacho. Tomato, cucumber, peppers, onion, lots of spices and some oil and vinegar and you have a chilled soup that you can enjoy for days, and absolutely no cooking! If you have a blender or food processor, this takes mere moments to put together, and you don’t have to turn on the stove.
Hundreds of cherries
Cherry tomatoes start proliferating in the garden just about now. We pick, turn around, and there’s even more ripening! Toss them into just about everything, and have a bowl of these sweet gems sitting on the counter for a little snack as you pass by. They are amazing sautéed with beans, both fresh in the pod and added to cooked shelled beans, and will liven up any stir-fry. The excess when you just can’t look at another one? Just pack them in a canning jar and pop in the freezer, no prep necessary. In winter, just toss them in soups and stews and sauces. If you have a dehydrator, you are all set.
Corn and everything else
Corn lends itself to a myriad versions of succotash, also a classic summer dish that uses what is available and ripe at the same time. Corn and lima beans are traditional, but I for one also love other fresh beans in this dish, and will always toss in some of those cherry tomatoes. No need for exact proportions, use what you have, or what you need to use up. Season the way you like it, you have lots of herbs in the yard at this time of year, right? There will come a sad day when you hit the farm stand and find the corn is gone for the year. But if you’ve planned right and frozen some, the sting will be a bit less.
The vegetables dictate the meal
Let the vegetables tell you what to make; so often the things that ripen at the same time make good sidekicks in the saucepan. Or wok, or grill, or whatever heat source you are using. If the vegetables are a main course, you’ll want some aromatics tossed in there such as something from the onion family, maybe some carrot, celery. Something starchy, like potatoes, is good, and the dish can also be expanded with the addition of a protein from tofu to shrimp. For a simple side, just about anything goes.
Anything goes
It’s just about dinnertime. Put on some favorite music, toss out the measuring cups and spoons, the cookbook and recipe cards, and create by the feel of it, letting those vegetables shine! It won’t last, but for right now, it’s the Season of Ease.
Ratatouille
This is a stovetop technique of this simple country dish originally from France; add some poached eggs or other protein to make it a complete meal.
Cut up and have ready all your vegetables, whatever size dice you like: tomatoes, eggplant, yellow and green summer squash, a colorful bell pepper or two, onion or leek, maybe some celery. Choose small eggplants. If you have a larger one, cut it up, let it sit in salted water for at least a half hour and then drain and rinse well. This removes the bitterness, and changes the texture of the eggplant so it does not suck up all the liquid from the other veggies.
Heat a large skillet over medium high and add some olive oil. Sauté a large onion or a leek, something from the onion family. Once soft, deglaze with a bit of white wine or water, then toss in the other vegetables, seasoning with salt, pepper, some fresh basil, and some dried herbes de Provence, or whatever you love. You’ll know how much, just adjust and taste as you go. If you don’t have enough tomatoes, you can use some canned, diced.
Let this simmer until everything is cooked, taste and correct seasoning, add some more ripped up fresh basil if you have it. Let it simmer just a few more minutes, then call them to the table.
You can also use the same vegetables and get a little fancy and create a vegetable tian. Just slice up like sizes of squash, eggplant, and tomatoes, add some garlic and herbs and olive oil, top with some crumbs and grated cheese, and bake until everything is fragrant and browned.
Gazpacho
Nothing could be easier in the summer, and no cooking.
Chop up some cucumber, onion, Roma tomatoes (or use canned), sweet peppers, and hot one like Serrano if you like, parsley. Work in batches in the blender, adding tomato or vegetable juice to get the consistency you want. This could be completely smooth, or with lots of chunks, it’s your call. If someone handed you an extra zucchini, toss that in as well, we won’t tell.
Add sherry or cider vinegar to taste, some fruity olive oil, and season with salt and pepper, chili powder, cumin, smoked paprika, and a bit of cayenne if you like. Make it your way.
Chill well before serving, and top with a few more diced veggies, or even a protein.
Sautéed Beans and Cherry Tomatoes
There are beans everywhere right now. Bush beans, broad beans, lima beans, pole beans, green, yellow, and purple beans. They are all tasty and work well with just about any other vegetable.
One of my go-to dishes is simple beans and cherry tomatoes with garlic. But I often expand it with what else is ready in the garden of nice at the farmers market. Add a bit of protein at the end (shrimp, tofu…) and you have a full meal, and this is delicious cold the next day for lunch.
Sauté an onion with lots of garlic, toss in some green or any other type bean, cut or whole and add a splash of wine or water. When the beans are just about cooked, add some broccoli florets and cherry tomatoes, as many as you want to get rid of. Season as you like. Cook just until the broccoli and beans are tender, and the tomatoes break down a bit to make a sauce. Add whatever herbs you like, or a nice big dollop of pesto, our favorite and so easy. For some crunch, sprinkle with pine nuts or other nut.
What else can you add? How about some new potatoes? I used them here. Summer squash, of course because it is still coming crazy in the garden, those zucchini need to find a home. Peppers, of course, beets, turnips. It will all taste wonderful.
Or, keep it really simple and steam some beans, then gently sauté with some garlic and toss in some hazelnuts.
Or, start with cooked shelled beans and add a medley of sautéed veggies to top them. Sprouting broccoli and those cherry tomatoes are great here.
Pesto
We find large bundles of sweet basil right now, ready to be transformed into pesto. Add a dab of pesto to just about any concoction of veggies and flavor abounds. I make a batch and spoon it liberally on those side and main dishes to liven them up. Smear it on slices of baguette and top it with meaty tomato slices, or a smear of burrata. A simple but perfect lunch.
Traditionally, pesto includes basil or another herb, some pine nuts or another nut, some Parmesan or other strong cheese, garlic, and a beautiful, fruity olive oil. You can make this with a mortar and pestle, or a food processor if you are stocking up for the freezer. Nothing brings you back to summer when it is snowing outside like the aroma of pesto you’ve just thawed from the freezer and added to some stewed beans.
You don’t absolutely need the cheese or the nuts when you are stocking up. I keep it simple to freeze, just the basil, olive oil, and garlic with a bit of salt, so that when I pull it out in the winter I don’t have to worry about those with dairy sensitivity or nut allergies.
Use the leaves and tender stems, a big bunch, and crush in some garlic, you know if you like a strong or mild garlic flavor. If using nuts, add those as well, then drizzle in the olive oil to the consistency you want. Stir in the cheese if using, and place in a jar. If you are not using it right away, float a bit more olive oil on top just to keep it from discoloring.
Put your grill to work
Gather those wonderful vegetables, then grill them. Arrange on a pretty platter and add a sauce of some sort. We love mixing up some sriracha and mayonnaise, use regular or vegan, and call it a day!
And for dessert…
Nothing better than a plate of our beautiful fruits, who needs anything else? Melons right now are at their best, and we still have tons of berries! The apples have arrived as well!
“It is the glistening autumnal side of summer. I feel a cool vein in the breeze, which braces my thought, and I pass with pleasure over sheltered and sunny portions of the sand where the summer’s heat is undiminished, and I realize what a friend I am losing.” ~ Henry David Thoreau
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All beautiful dishes. I love the look of that gratin!
That’s one of my favorites too!
As soon as I can safely slice a vegetable again, I am going to make a tian–that is calling my name.
It’s so pretty, and so delicious!
All so true, you don’t really need a recipe. If you have a pile of vegetables, you have a meal! They all taste great and even better when mixed together with a few herbs etc. Roll on Summer!!
I’m immersed in summer as long as it lasts!
Hmmm, horseradish root with pesto. Interesting. I bet Bruce would enjoy that!
It will have you craving it! The horseradish was sooooo good on the tomatoes!
I look forward to trying it!
Just fabulous
Thank you so very much!
Oh, D! This page is delicious!
Boy oh boy, what bounty! This post is one for the recipe folder.
Thank you Laurie! Tuck it away!
I thought you’d enjoy the flavor of it!
It’s fantastic. That ratatouille looks incredible!
It’s always delicious, even with all the twists!
Fresh from the garden to the table – no recipes needed!
This time is so precious!
Well said! 👏
Thank you!
You truly have made me smile at the simplicity and logic and inviting tastes-to-come and gorgeous photos and all . . . 🙂 !
Hold on, you’ll be there soon my friend!
I thought I was the only one to eat Rattatouille cold as well as hot. It is always delicious!
I have heard the word succotash but never knew what it was. It is unknown in Australia!
I was just thinking that the skill of throwing foods from the fridge or garden together, to create a meal, is diminishing. My daughter relies strictly on a recipe and buys extra to have all the ingredients. I wonder if the cooking shows have influenced that somewhat?
Also coincidental that you are harvesting cherry tomatoes as I harvest mine!
Enjoy!
Those cherry tomatoes have a long season! I will be picking them through October if the frost holds off.
I do know what you mean about the reliance on recipes, and I’ve thought about this. My mother rarely used a recipe except when baking, or trying something new or a recipe from a friend, so I was lucky to learn from her to cook with what was on hand. You can almost always toggle something together.
Indeed. That was the way my son learnt to cook. But he did enjoy cooking. If my daughter had been more interested in cooking when she was younger (despite my best efforts), no doubt she would have picked this skill up too. And it is a skill anyone can develop.
It is about convenience too. My mother, grandmother and all those before didn’t have access to much that was already prepared so they had to learned how to cook by watching and if they didn’t they didn’t eat! If they wanted to eat something that actually tasted good, they perfected their skill.
Definitely convenience and time management/planning ahead plays a role in today’s choices.
It is enough to make you pine for olden times, but not in all ways!
We’ve handed our time over to electronics and not to the activities that really enhance our lives, like knowing how to cook together, gather around the table! I still have a standing rule of no electronics at dinnertime, you can only use the cell phobe as a camera!
I enjoy vegetable gratins. But when you have a bounty it’s time to get creative. I enjoy roasting these veggies. And will enjoy trying some of your ideas. Yum!
Thank you Nancy! Happy cooking!
I love veggies and this is lovely post to celebrate veggies..I do love a gratin xx
And any vegetable will work Carol! So wonderful this time of year here.
What a Summer dance!
Ah, my friend, that’s exactly what it is!
As Steve Irwin would have said: Crikey – what a feast.
Loving this, Dorothy. I’m a kinda throw whatever is in the fridge together, some herbs and spices and voila – a delicious meal. One of your best here!
Thank you Carolyn! Whatever the hodgepodge, it will turn out delicious!
Fresh veggies make cooking easy! That romanesco is gorgeous and I really, really want to dive into that big ol’ vat of tomatoes. Lovely.
I know! I could swim in those tomatoes! They are really sweet this year too!
My absolute favourite way of cooking! We call it a ‘green-up’ but I think hodgepodge is way better, given this time of year it’s the full rainbow of veggies. Thanks again for you wonderful approach to food, Dorothy!💕
Thanks Lis! I love it when the garden tells me what to cook, not much thinking needed there!
I also meant to say that so many of the photos in your post look like colourful works of art ~ I’d take them over paint on canvas any day! 😉
Oh, what a sweet thing to say! Thank you very much!!!
You just about covered the challenge of too much bounty here, and it all looks delicious.
Thanks Judy!
Those squash keep coming, but I know I’ll go out there one day soon and they will be no more.
You have so many choices with that bounty. Good eating all around!
Every night, a feast!
One of my favorite memories is of taking my young granddaughters to the garden where we picked corn, cucumbers, tomatoes, potatoes to prepare for our supper. The youngest granddaughter said, ” Grandma, carrots grow in the ground?” Yes, my darling, they do. And they ate what they picked.
What a lovely memory! Kids really do love those veggies they have a hands on experience with!
There is nothing better than an armful of fresh produce at its prime! You have come up with so many creative ways to use them!
Jenna
Thanks Jenna! It’s easy this time of year!
What a feast! Wow!
Thank you! This time of year, every meal feels like a feast.
You had me at “no recipe!”🤠
Gorgeous ideas. I love recipes like this.
Ah, non-recipes! Thank you so much!
August is my favorite month for cooking. There are so many fresh options.
Everything just asks to be transformed simply into something scrumptious!
Love, love, love ratatouille! Gazpacho, too! I had to laugh out loud because when I saw that enormous bowl of baby tomatoes, I wanted to jump into it like the kiddie ball bounce places! 😂
I know! It would be a blast that’s for sure. We could make tomato sauce à la Lucy in the wine vat!
Hahahahaha!!!!
Likewise here, Dorothy. As noone does use their phone at dinner, I didn’t need to make an official rule. If anyone does look at their phone at the table, they would feel pretty awkward. I am thankful for that inadvertant discouragement.
Wonderful!
What beautiful vegetables Dorothy. Did you grow them?
Some are mine, some from the farm stand!
nice vegetables
Many thanks! The veggies thank you too!
Everything looks so tempting!
Thank you! They do call out to us!
So many tasty combinations here. Hard to choose! 🙂
I know! I love them all. Just finished a carton ratatouille!
Love all those summer veggies! 🙂
They are a gift this time of year!