Sadly, we are nearing the end of fresh corn season here in Richmond. People have favorites : white vs. yellow, the elusive Silver Queen vs. Supersweet, but even mediocre ears of corn are satisfying with a slather of good butter and a sprinkle of sea salt.
Some fruits are tasty when frozen, canned or dried. Not so the perfect peach, which has a rather short season and benefits from the least invasive treatments to showcase its allure.
In the South, summertime heat can get the best of your intentions to cook dinner. Toss a salad, cut a few ripe tomatoes from the garden, fire up the outdoor grill (anything to avoid heating up the kitchen) and call that dinner. Better yet, serve something you grilled the day before and avoid fire altogether.
Old Church Creamery, a thriving dairy farm one half hour north of Richmond in Manquin, Virginia, sprouted, then roared to life, in 2008. Through trial and error, and hard work from owners Catherine and Keith Long, the operation is a premier supplier of naturally produced cow’s milk and dairy products for the Richmond area and beyond.
When you are given a gift of late season tomatoes, you have only two choices; you can eat them all right away, or make them last longer by preserving them for later enjoyment.
Two things come to mind when I hear the word succotash : my mother’s unorthodox addition of tomato to the mixture of fresh corn and lima beans (now my preferred preparation), and, naturally, Sylvester the cat.
When summer’s end robs us of vegetables that peaked earlier in the season, we can always count on eggplant as a farmer’s market lure with its high gloss and firm form. Its meatiness holds up well to grilling and it marries well with tart or sweet condiments, marinades and sauces.
Sometimes it’s too darn hot to cook. You’re famished but a hot meal doesn’t appeal. A visit to the Saturday farmer’s market fills you with resolve to turn your purchases into something besides the obvious chopped salad of colorful, crunchy bits. There’s your pile – now what? Continue reading
The sweet scents of summer : freshly cut watermelon, peppery blossoms of abelia draping over my back yard fence, just-made pesto redolent of basil and garlic and the smoky aroma of steak on the grill. Continue reading
Nobody does heirloom tomatoes like Amy Hicks and George Ferguson of Amy’s Garden in Charles City County, Virginia. Amy introduced me to heirloom tomatoes years ago when we were both vendors at the Williamsburg Farmer’s Market. Produce sold by Amy and other farmers made its way into baked goods I sold at the market, some of which remain on The Good Eats Company menus seasonally : tomato walnut spice bread, provencal tartlets with goat cheese and roasted vegetables and strawberry honey pecan muffins.