What are your favorite end of summer recipes?

[Front-Ranger]

Hello friends! A big 3-day weekend is coming up for us state-siders and the whole northern hemisphere is entering those golden end-of-summer days. I get cravings for tropical ingredients and dishes...what are your favorites? Here on the Front Range of the Rocky Mountains we grow Rocky Ford cantaloupes and on the other side, the Western Slope, we grow Palisades Peaches. Down in the southern parts, we grow hot peppers. So I try to find recipes for all those things.

Attached is a photo of a simple lunch I prepared with lightly pickled cucumbers, Rocky Ford cantaloupe, and minced red onion from my garden, along with half an avocado filled with a ranch dressing made with Penzey's Ranch herbal mix. There's also the book I'm reading, 1491, about the thriving civilizations that existed in the Americas before the Europeans arrived.

[serious crayons]

Yum!

My end-of-summer favorites are generally anything involving either homegrown tomatoes or fresh corn. So I usally eat a Caprese salad or sandwich or BLT every day. And make some batches of corn chowder, corn salad, etc. I think I just posted on Chuck's blog about the casserole I made with garden poblanos, garden tomatoes, fresh corn and onions and shredded pork, topped with melted cheese and sprinkled with pepitas.

I'd post a photo but I've eaten most of it and unlike your beautiful shot mine would not look like it involveda professional food stylist! 

[Front-Ranger]

... I usually eat a Caprese salad or sandwich

So, is that made with tomatoes, buffalo mozzarella, and basil? I should try that!

... your beautiful shot mine would not look like it involved a professional food stylist! 
[/quote]
THank you! I just noticed it is kind of blurry.

[Sason]

It's not blurry and it looks yummy!

[Front-Ranger]

My neighborhood is having a block party on Sunday and I've decided to bring succotash. However, I'm not happy with the recipes I've found online. What are your favorite ways to prepare it?

[serious crayons]

So, is that made with tomatoes, buffalo mozzarella, and basil? I should try that!

Not sure it's actually made from the milk of an Italian Mediterranean buffalo, but it's soft fresh mozzarella. I get decent bread, toast it and spread it with mayo, though I suppose those who don't like mayo could use some kind of oil and vinegar solution. I like it about as well as a BLT, though I have as many as possible of both this time of year.

Which brings up a question. A friend said he ate a sandwich that was pork belly, lettuce and tomato. I love pork belly in restaurant concoctions, buffet tables, etc. But is it something you can actually buy in a grocery store? I've never seen it. Is it called something else?

[Front-Ranger]

Here is a good explanation of it:

https://agrillforallseasons.com/smoked-pork-belly/

They call it the "king of bacon." It's thick and very fatty. It's cured with salt and sweetener.

Now, back to the succotash. I would think that the way you all rave about Southern food and lima beans, that you could have a good recipe at hand. The best looking one that I could find is here: https://www.mccormick.com/recipes/salads-sides/classic-succotash

But I was thinking it would have more of a vinegrette dressing. But no, it's cooked in butter.

[serious crayons]

Here is a good explanation of it:

https://agrillforallseasons.com/smoked-pork-belly/

They call it the "king of bacon." It's thick and very fatty. It's cured with salt and sweetener.

Oh, I know what it is and usually order it when I see it on menus. It's delicious! But I've never seen it in a store, including the slightly upscale stores I tend to shop at (they're closest). According to this article, I should check Costco or a butcher shop, I guess.

Now, back to the succotash. I would think that the way you all rave about Southern food and lima beans, that you could have a good recipe at hand. The best looking one that I could find is here: https://www.mccormick.com/recipes/salads-sides/classic-succotash

But I was thinking it would have more of a vinegrette dressing. But no, it's cooked in butter.

I made succotash years ago at the specific request of the person hosting a potluck Thanksgiving dinner. This was when I lived in the South. But I'll have to say, I didn't like it that much. Kind of blah. However, if you do make it, I would suggest using non-frozen products. So you could make the lima beans by cooking dried lima beans, and cut corn off the cob if you can get good corn there. Maybe use a spicy pepper of some kind in addition to the red bell.

I have a package of Trader Joe's "soycotash" in my freezer in case I need a quick vegetable sometime to accompany protein. It subs edamame for the limas.

It's corn season here, and because fresh sweetcorn is delicious in Minnesota I try to use it at every opportunity. (Same with tomatoes) In addition to throwing a lot of corn into my poblano casserole, I made a corn salad last week for a Labor Day pot-luck picnic. I would have loved to put bacon in it, but one of my friends is pescatarian, so when that group gathers I try to bring something either vegetarian or with fish or shellfish. I made my corn salad with bacon once for a neighborhood potluck and saw a nice man who I gathered was Jewish say "Oh this looks good!" and dig right in. Hopefully all went well. I know not all Jewish people avoid pork but I like to be careful. A Jewish friend hosts a brunch every year and one year she served a delicious grilled pork roast. "This is the best roast beef I've ever tasted!" a guest exclaimed. "Oh, it's pork," my friend said. Oops! The guest had never had pork in her mouth before.

Anyway, I've got another 5-6 ears and I'm going to make a corn chowder and definitely will use bacon.

[Front-Ranger]

Okay, based on your comments, I think I'll switch to a "Cowboy Salsa" recipe with black beans instead of limas. I'll make the succotash another day.

[serious crayons]

Okay, based on your comments, I think I'll switch to a "Cowboy Salsa" recipe with black beans instead of limas. I'll make the succotash another day.

That's always good! A friend who brought it to our Labor Day picnic called it cowboy caviar.

[Front-Ranger]

I can't say the Cowboy Salsa was a big hit because I brought it at about 5 pm when most of the people at the block party had already eaten. It took longer than I thought it would to dice up the peppers and cut the kernels off the corn cobs (I used already diced tomatoes and onions). And it also took some time to get the lime juice/salt dressing just right. I'm taking the leftovers to my daughter's house so I'll have a verdict after that.

I feel that I should try some sheet pan recipes because they are so popular right now. But the photos are very unappealing. Does anyone have feedback on sheet pan cooking?

[serious crayons]

I can't say the Cowboy Salsa was a big hit because I brought it at about 5 pm when most of the people at the block party had already eaten. It took longer than I thought it would to dice up the peppers and cut the kernels off the corn cobs (I used already diced tomatoes and onions). And it also took some time to get the lime juice/salt dressing just right. I'm taking the leftovers to my daughter's house so I'll have a verdict after that.

I feel that I should try some sheet pan recipes because they are so popular right now. But the photos are very unappealing. Does anyone have feedback on sheet pan cooking?

People had already eaten by 5 p.m.? That's crazy. I mean, I know I'm weird the other way because I generally eat dinner around 9. But I would have thought 6 was the time normal people ate.

I keep putting off making my corn chowder because other things come up -- and frankly I'm getting lazier and lazier about cooking -- but I'm hoping to make it tonight. Luckily corn in MN is so good it stays delicious in the fridge for a while. I'm going to make it with bacon, even though yesterday I visited a sanctuary farm where they take in abused or neglected farm animals and help them live out their lives in comfortable friendly settings. The owner is vegan and the message is pretty vegan. I can totally understand the vegan position, think that people of the future may look back and see factory farming as our era's big hard-to-understand cruelty. But there I go compartmentalizing my own meat eating out of the equation. I went home and ate a hamburger for dinner.

I do try to get responsibly raised food when possible, though. The woman at the farm told me that "free range" eggs just mean the barn doors are kept open -- not necessarily that the chickens go outside and run around. And of course I did know that "cage free" just means chickens aren't kept in literal boxes, but may still be packed tightly into a barn. So that explains why "pasture-raised" eggs are more expensive than others. Eggs are cheap enough that I don't mind throwing in an extra couple of bucks, but it's too bad that eating responsibly raised animal products or organic produce is not available to poor people.

I make "sheet pan" dinners when I'm making food that you'd cook on a sheet pan. For example I get these really good frozen pre-breaded fish filets and might roast some broccolini to go with them. I've roasted a mixture of fall vegetables on sheet pans. But I've never made whole complex recipes on a sheet pan.





 

[Front-Ranger]

Now that I look back on it, my dish was on the appetizer table and they were pretty much done with those by 5 pm. There was such a riot of food at that shindig! Later on I had some pulled pork that was delicious, in case anyone is thinking I've gone vegetarian. But I haven't had any meat since then this whole week.

What satisfies me more than eating meat is having the "free range" eggs my daughter's hens lay. You can just tell they are more nutritious. The yolks are large and yellow-orange, and they sit up tall in the pan like a floating beach ball. Lately I've started adding miscellaneous fresh herbs. Surprising how delicious fresh rosemary is on eggs, toast, or both.

I have a good gas oven and a good broiler, some excellent olive oil, and a sheet pan...two of them in fact. But I can't bring myself to do any roasting no matter how much the New York Times urges me to. I'm just afraid everything would be bitter or raw. Maybe I'll do some grilling instead.

[serious crayons]

On Tuesday

I have a good gas oven and a good broiler, some excellent olive oil, and a sheet pan...two of them in fact. But I can't bring myself to do any roasting no matter how much the New York Times urges me to. I'm just afraid everything would be bitter or raw. Maybe I'll do some grilling instead.

You mean, even for vegetables, like Brussels sprouts, broccolini or cauliflower? They're pretty easy, actually. You set the oven to about 410, toss the vegetables in olive oil and whatever other seasonings you want (garlic, herbs, mustard, a few drops of maple syrup) and roast them for maybe 10 minutes (it varies with the density of the vegetable, and you should double check a recipe to make sure I've got those numbers right). Check them and/or flip them as they go. Worst I've ever had happen is they get slightly too singed, but that can happen on the grill.

But maybe you're thinking of something more complex.

[Jeff Wrangler]

I have a good gas oven and a good broiler, some excellent olive oil, and a sheet pan...two of them in fact. But I can't bring myself to do any roasting no matter how much the New York Times urges me to. I'm just afraid everything would be bitter or raw. Maybe I'll do some grilling instead.

I prefer gas for cooking. I think you can control things better than you can with electricity. With gas, if you shut off the burner, you shut off the burner, and I believe the heat may be steadier.

My dad's kitchen has an electric stove, and we both hate it.

[Front-Ranger]

I agree, Jeff, but regulators seem to be heading towards all electric for new housing.

I'll try that method, crayons, when the weather gets a bit cooler.

Now here's a sheet pan foccacia that's appealing to me. The way the NYT does it is half-eaten already with crumbs spilling all over. 

[serious crayons]

I can't stand the electric stovetop in my apartment. I grew up with electric but had a gas stove in my first apartment in 1981 and have had gas in all subsequent homes. Gas is far superior for controlling temperature. When I cook something on my electric stove, I have to kind of vaguely guess where to set the temp, then adjust as needed if it's too hot or not hot enough, but then it takes forever to heat up or cool down.

Unfortunately, my city (no longer Minneapolis -- I'm now living in a suburb across the street from Minneapolis) bans gas stoves in multi-unit housing.

Meanwhile, gas stoves are bad for the environment and there's recent concern that gas stoves emit more dangerous levels of indoor air pollution than previously thought. I googled just now and found headlines saying they're more dangerous and headlines saying nah, they're actually not that bad. So who knows. Seems to have to do with asthma and at my age I feel somewhat unlikely to develop asthma. Meanwhile my ex-husband, who does have asthma, has never seemed to have a problem with gas stoves.

Here's a fairly recent article:

https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/katiecamero/gas-stoves

 

[serious crayons]

The sheet-pan focaccia is pretty, but looks like some bites would be very oniony.

[Jeff Wrangler]

I'm glad to know others share my opinion of gas v. electric stoves. Maybe if you use it more often you get used to it--I don't know--but with my dad's stove, it seems to take forever for things to boil, and then you have to watch like a hawk so things don't boil over.

I'm sure it's lovely to have everything in the house, including the kitchen, electric when the power goes out. 

So these sheet pan meals you all are talking about. Is that the same sort of pan you would use to bake a cake, or is it shallower?

[serious crayons]

I'm glad to know others share my opinion of gas v. electric stoves. Maybe if you use it more often you get used to it--I don't know--but with my dad's stove, it seems to take forever for things to boil, and then you have to watch like a hawk so things don't boil over.

I'm sure it's lovely to have everything in the house, including the kitchen, electric when the power goes out. 

So these sheet pan meals you all are talking about. Is that the same sort of pan you would use to bake a cake, or is it shallower?

Shallower. More like a cookie sheet but the edges come up a half inch or so on all sides. Frankly, aside from roasting I don't fully understand the advantages of using it like you would a regular pan with sides, but I may be missing something.

My former stove used electricity to start the burners and display the oven heat, but if the electricity went out I'm sure I could have turned the gas on and held a match to it and guessed with the oven.

As for ovens themselves, power issues aside I don't notice too much difference between electric and gas.

[Jeff Wrangler]

Shallower. More like a cookie sheet but the edges come up a half inch or so on all sides. Frankly, aside from roasting I don't fully understand the advantages of using it like you would a regular pan with sides, but I may be missing something.

My former stove used electricity to start the burners and display the oven heat, but if the electricity went out I'm sure I could have turned the gas on and held a match to it and guessed with the oven.

Thanks. That's the way my gas stove works, electric sparks to start the burners, and a digital display that's a clock or displays the oven temperature and is used to set the temperature.

Gas does have its hazards. My bedroom walk-in closet backs up against the kitchen of the unit next door. One evening quite a few years ago now, I came home from work and went to change my clothes. When I opened the closet door, the smell of gas was strong enough to knock you on your ass. The pilot light on the neighbor's stove had gone out.

[Front-Ranger]

I'm on my way to the store to pick up ingredients for one of my favorite end-of-summer recipes: fish tacos!!

I'm not sure why it so strongly evokes this time of year. After all, fish and tortillas are available year-round and cabbage is a fall/winter veggie. I guess it is because it is fun to eat outside; how fondly I remember sharing it with you, friend, on the patio of the Table Mountain Inn in Golden.

[serious crayons]

Gas does have its hazards. My bedroom walk-in closet backs up against the kitchen of the unit next door. One evening quite a few years ago now, I came home from work and went to change my clothes. When I opened the closet door, the smell of gas was strong enough to knock you on your ass. The pilot light on the neighbor's stove had gone out.

Good thing you weren't smoking!

[serious crayons]

I'm not sure why it so strongly evokes this time of year. After all, fish and tortillas are available year-round and cabbage is a fall/winter veggie. I guess it is because it is fun to eat outside; how fondly I remember sharing it with you, friend, on the patio of the Table Mountain Inn in Golden.

Yes, what a nice memory!    And I'd forgotten about the Table Mountain Inn!

My apartment building is above a restaurant and bar. Sometimes I go with neighbor friends down to the bar for happy hour, when their foods include fish tacos for $5 apiece. They're only OK, though. I've realized I prefer my fish tacos batter-fried, which these aren't. There's a slightly nicer restaurant down the street that has delicious walleye tacos but for some reason only sells them in the afternoon, not at dinner.


 

[Jeff Wrangler]

My apartment building is above a restaurant and bar. Sometimes I go with neighbor friends down to the bar for happy hour, when their foods include fish tacos for $5 apiece. They're only OK, though. I've realized I prefer my fish tacos batter-fried, which these aren't. There's a slightly nicer restaurant down the street that has delicious walleye tacos but for some reason only sells them in the afternoon, not at dinner.

Do you have to deal with (put up with) cooking smells from the restaurant?

[Front-Ranger]

...The way the NYT does it is half-eaten already with crumbs spilling all over. 

They did it again! Featured some kind of sheet-pan nachos, with one side eaten already. And they even have a stylist! Who likes this stuff??

[serious crayons]

They did it again! Featured some kind of sheet-pan nachos, with one side eaten already. And they even have a stylist! Who likes this stuff??

I don't know. I just looked it up and it is kind of peculiar. I can see removing one portion, preferably even setting that down still on the spatula, something like that. But anything that strangers have already demolished half of -- possibly with their hands! -- does seem less appetizing.