The High Spark of Summer Meals

If you want some real garden-based food blogging, Kelly's your woman (and just to show how cool she is in so many ways, she's the one who pointed me to this most excellent Wilco post). I must say, though, that I've been doing pretty well in the farmer's market area this summer. I also must say that I'm not missing the CSA. I'm much happier going to the market on Wednesday afternoon, planning meals for the next three nights on the spot, buying fruit, and then going with our standard sushi/beans and rice/takeout for the rest of the week.

(Have I blogged about our current homemade sushi habit? I make sushi rice and mix it up with rice vinegar. I make some omelette with soy sauce, sugar, and a little more rice vinegar, and I cut it up in thin strips. I cut vegetables in thin strips--cucumber, red pepper, carrot, avocado. I put it all out on the table, along with nori, and we roll up maki and handrolls to our hearts' (and stomachs') delight.) (No, of course E does not eat sushi. She eats plain sushi rice, pre-rice vinegar, and thin strips of vegetable. She does like to make rolls for me, though.)

So anyway, the farmer's market. Actually, now that I think of it, my farmer's market genius is heavily inspired by my friends. Libby, also a much more impressive cook than I am, is the source of our favorite fresh tomato pasta, which I make with balsamic vinegar, assorted heirloom tomatoes, and either feta or goat cheese (last week we got goat cheese with sundried tomatoes...mmm).

And this week I was inspired by the aforementioned Kelly's gorgeous ratatouille. I did not seed my tomatoes--that's just going too far--but I carefully chose paste tomatoes and roasted them in big chunks with eggplant, zucchini, onions (those were from my sister's garden), garlic, olive oil, salt, and pepper. Served over couscous with more goat cheese (plain this time), it was one of my most triumphant meals in a long time.

That was Wednesday night. Last night I boiled up fingerling potatoes and M made an omelette with outrageous gold and purple cherry tomatoes, so sweet we were eating them like grapes, and some more of the goat cheese (E made herself scrambled eggs and chopped up a farmer's market carrot for her vegetable). The omelette was runny in the middle for a long time, so ended up a bit tough on the outside, but overall dinner was once again delicious.

Really, I am just incredibly impressed with myself.

(Tonight? Beans and rice. But I'll chop up the big green stripey tomato whose name I would know if I were Kelly. And we'll eat more Ginger Gold apples for dessert, if we don't finish them up for snack.)