Summer in my yard

Today I want to keep it light. This world seems to be going to hell in a handbasket, so let's take a break and talk about wonderful food, gardens and sweet animals instead, yes?

I am going to tell y'all that even my mad love for gardening has been tested the past two weeks. It "feels like" 107 degrees in DC right now, and really, that is just not right. Yesterday I ventured out to trim, went nuts with my lopping shears until the sweat ran rivers into my eyes. Burning eyeballs urged me inside; I left a huge mound of yard waste strewn in my wake.

This morning, I soldiered out to clean everything up and then had to come in and shower in freezing water to restore my sanity. I like to be hot, but this is too much. No deodorant is any match for this. I'm wearing as little as possible, and I haven't a clue about the next time my hair won't be tied back in a ponytail.

That said, I love my yard. Love that loving it yields flowers and food and so much promise. The birds and squirrels have realized that I refill their feeders at the regular, and the wide variety of feathered and furry beings that come visit on a daily basis makes me very happy.

One little squirrel appears to have a cataract. We have come to a truce, that pip squeak and I. I don't shoo him away anymore, and he doesn't run when I walk outside. He's cute, and the squirrels really are incredibly creative, successful problem solvers. They're pigs but they work for the food they get.

A gorgeous pattypan squash!

The birds range from the tiniest finch to the reddest cardinal, from the cocky blue jays to the dopey-looking doves. They are all beautiful, and each has a different personality. The finches share nicely, some of the larger birds flap their wings dramatically to scare others into fleeing. I always marvel at the color of the female cardinal's beak. If she has to be brown, at least she gets that fiery orange bill.

somewhat blurry because i had to be stealth, but you can a squirrel, cardinal and a finch. That bowl is full of water- do you think anything will jump in or drink from it?

Never before have we had enough sun to really grow tomatoes. Tom has long half-joked that my efforts to grow them in pots our deck made the few I got worth roughly $12 each. Not so, now! We're rolling in i pomodori, and I feel gleeful.

Whole bunch o' toms; cold tomato soup (bottom left); caprese salad (bottom right)

Despite the heat, it is prime canning season, so I'm forging ahead a few days each week to turn summer fruit stars into jars of brightly-hued jam. Strawberries, meet cardamom. Shiro plums, meet basil. Rhubarb, meet bing cherries and hibiscus flowers. Peaches, meet lots of things.

Shiro plums, basil and sugar

The finished product.

No matter how sweaty I get, I'm never sorry I put up jars upon jars of summer's best. Before I know it, Jack will have started 5th grade and Oliver 2nd, the weather will become chilly, and fresh plums and tomatoes will be distant memories. Except on my pantry shelves where the ones I snatched fresh are frozen in time.

Tomatoes fresh, tomatoes canned, and some pumpkins too

Before waxing rhapsodic about tomatoes and pumpkins, I first want to say thank you to all who wrote here, on Facebook, via email and via text in response to yesterday's post, Time's Determined March. Any writer who feels her words resonate with and impact others is fulfilled, and my heart is full and appreciative today.

Now, food. I was en fuego yesterday, y'all. Pumpkin puree, roasted pumpkin seeds, tomato and white bean soup, roasted tomato jam, chocolate chip banana bread...and scene.

Pumpkins

Let's begin with the pumpkin puree and seeds as those are both shockingly simple, and pumpkins are just showing their happy autumnal selves at area markets.

I like to make pumpkin puree -for cheesecakes, breads, pies, ice cream, muffins; anything you'd otherwise use canned pumpkin for- from sugar pie pumpkins. These are exceedingly round, bright orange squash that are much smaller than those you'd use to carve jack-o-lanterns from. 

Simply wash each pumpkin, cut it in half and remove the seeds. Rinse the seeds and remove any chunks of pumpkin flesh. Set them aside if you want to roast them, or discard/compost. Place the pumpkin halves cut-side down on a rimmed baking sheet and roasted in a 385° or 400° Fahrenheit oven until the flesh is soft and easily pierced with a knife; there should be NO resistance. 

Once cooked, let the pumpkin cool before scooping out the flesh and putting it through a food mill. This will remove any seeds you didn't remove before as well as any overly fibrous flesh. I then portion out and freeze the puree in one-cup increments. 

Later, I roasted the seeds I'd cleaned and reserved but learned something new as I prepped. Boil the seeds in salted water before roasting them in the oven. This ensures that the salt seasons both the interior seed as well as the exterior shell. Thank you, Elise Bauer, for sharing your  mother's wisdom.

Tomatoes fresh, tomatoes canned

Before tomato season calls it quits, I wanted to make one last batch of roasted tomato jam, so I bought three pounds of beefsteaks and got busy. This recipe, from Amanda Hesser, is really spectacular. I love the slight pepper kick and the cinnamon and fennel seed undertones, all of which deliciously buttress the sweet tomato base.

roasted tomato jam

Meanwhile, I was in the mood for tomato soup and so used some wonderful canned tomatoes that I put up over the summer to make the tomato-white bean soup that my whole family loves. It's a recipe I've developed over time, and I think it's now pretty perfect. Saffron, basil, peperoncino, shallots, garlic, lemon zest and an all-important Pecorino (or Parmesan) rind stew together magically with tomatoes and white beans. The recipe is now posted in Soups.

a pumpkin pot for tomato soup

It's a one-pot vegetarian meal that won't take more than forty-five minutes. Make some grilled cheese sandwiches or toast some bread for the side, and you'll be in heaven. 

tomato and white bean soup

A summery feast

There was a tinge of coolness in the air on Monday. I wore jeans comfortably, I didn't sweat or feel as I were baking. Although I much prefer warm weather to cold, I admit to finding Monday's fall-like clime lovely and invigorating. It was, plain and simple, perfect- the very reason people love fall so much.

And yet, as the seasons change, so too does the produce they offer. I'm not over my crush on tomatoes, delicate summer squash, juicy fruit and the bright beauty of it all, and so, for the next few weeks, plan to eat and put up as much of it all as I can. 

My dear friend of the annual tomato haul brought a second load to me on Monday. Yesterday, I used the last of the original forty pounds to make tomato-saffron sauce which I froze, and today will embark on canning a big batch from the new tonnage. In the meantime, it's tomatoes every which way including a lunch of cold tomato soup (ingredients + blender + 3 minutes) and a dinner of Yotam's socca, aka chickpea crepes with caramelized onions, gently roasted tomatoes and dollops of crème fraîche. 

pretty in pink cold tomato soup

chickpea flour crepe

socca

You cannot go wrong with either of these recipes though the latter takes a great deal more time than the former. Both are posted in Recipes and are tremendous ways to enjoy summer tomatoes beyond the common but always tasty caprese and tomato sandwich. 

I also finished up the last of the peaches yesterday by making a lightly spiced peach butter. Fruit butters, which contain no actual butter AND are a terrific way to use up seriously ripe fruit, are nothing more than heavily reduced fruit + sugar. The cooking process is similar to making jam but slower and over more moderate heat. Sugar draws liquid from the fruit, that poaches the fruit pulp that remains, and then the whole mess cooks down into a thick, spreadable "butter." I love fruit butters, and this peach one by Kevin West, spiced with allspice, nutmeg, cinnamon and a generous pour of Bourbon, is no exception. 

spiced peach butter

Last night, to go alongside the socca, I made a marinated zucchini dish from Food52. I first had this marvelous preparation at 2 Amy's, one of my favorite DC restaurants, a Neapolitan pizza place that serves much more than pie. A few weeks back, Food52 published a version of it in their Genius Recipe column, and my mouth has been watering since. 

Zucchini can be so bland, but what that means is that you also have ample opportunity to zing it up. Zucchini-feta fritters are one terrific way to do that, as is this red wine vinegar-garlic coated method. This is good hot, room temperature or cold and can be made in advance. Three cheers! Food52's recipe calls for basil but I used mint. Both are traditional, so use what you have or prefer.

marinated zucchini

Another great way to use zucchini is to mandoline (slice paper thin) it and serve it ceviche-style -drenched in olive oil, salt, vinegar and such- or atop pizza where it kind of melts into the cheese and crust and is luscious.

shaved zucchini with mozzarella and shaved asparagus pizza

Back to it with the toms, y'all.