Caprese salad

Per Andy's request, with Robesons (finally ripened!) and basil from the garden.

roasted tomatoes

Picked enough tomatoes to fill a half-sheet pan for roasting. Here they are before going into the oven. Yum!

no, seriously

I couldn't resist. Smells like dirt, tastes like Sprite.

pizza!

Made pizza tonight with Sungolds and arugula from the garden.

Top a par-baked (or store-bought) pizza crust with olive oil, shredded cheese, tomatoes, and freshly ground pepper. Bake on oven rack at 350°, until cheese is melted and crust is as toasty as you like.



While pizza is in the oven, toss arugula with more olive oil and pepper.



And slice up some prosciutto.





Top hot pizza with arugula ...



... and prosciutto.



Yum!

apricots, finally done

Okay, here's a rundown on all the apricot stuff:

• first apricots: June 30
• first driveway cleaning: July 1
• second driveway cleaning: July 10
• last apricots/driveway cleaning: August 12
• countless apricots to Stacy over the course of the summer
  processed mostly into 5+ gallons of super-concentrated apricot purée, currently in the Walter Burke Catering freezer
• five grocery bags picked in 20 minutes by Patrice: July 14
  estimated 30 pounds, processed into, according to Patrice:

  6 half pints of sugarless jam; 4 frozen pies to bake on a cold winter's day (pie pie me oh my); several pints of thick, delicious apricot syrup for dipping chocolate cookies and pouring over ice cream, or using to sweeten lesser fruit pies, or just swigging out a few tablespoonfuls when no one can see; bags and bags (4 gallon bags) of fresh apricots pitted, cleaned and quick frozen for future adventures; more jam with cherries added; bowls and handfuls for fresh eating and cereal; 4 more pints of sugarless jam with agave

• one grocery bag to Steven and Janet: July 16
• one grocery bag to Nicole and John: August 10
• 4 grocery bags for our own use
  processed into 1 apricot tart, some fruit leather, some refrigerator preserves, 4 gallons of frozen purée, 4 cups blanched frozen halves, 6.5 pints of canned preserves

Patrice wrote a sweet note thanking us:

The Meehans' neighborhood apricot tree. Sweet orange morsels ... Apricots are my food, my special fruit that is part of my identity. I am a California July baby and remember climbing the fence into an ownerless apricot orchard to pick apricots every summer. We kids cleaned 'em and cut 'em open and Mom laid them out around the swimming pool to dry. We had shelves full of dried apricots until the next season. In late July, the whole neighborhood smelled sweet with the overabundance of fruit on the ground. What's not to like? Round and orange with a ruby blush. Mmmmm — the fragrant, tasty essence of summer. I have a floor-to-ceiling chalk board in my kitchen and kept a count from the pits ... ha ha! It looked like an orange smooshy hurricane hit the kitchen that day. Considered hosing out the kitchen floor but thought better of it. Wish I had taken pictures. Thanks for sharing the abundance.

tomato snack

Tomatoes with a little balsamic vinegar, olive oil, basil, Parmesan, and some salami.

blt

Yum! BLTs with the Robesons.

apricot preserves

Two grocery bags of apricots = 11 half pints of preserves





My eight quart stockpot was only big enough to fit half at a time. Woof!



I picked, cleaned and cooked down the apricots last Sunday. Then everything sat in the fridge until this weekend. Brought the preserves back to a boil in the stainless steel dutch oven (in 2 batches), then processed them in the big stockpot.

Since I don't have any real canning equipment, I improvised with foil at the bottom of the stockpot (instead of a rack) and rubber band-wrapped tongs (instead of a jar lifter). Ghetto fabulous!

pasta with tomatoes, basil, and smoked mozzarella

A favorite with fresh tomatoes. Super easy and delish!





While water is boiling/pasta is cooking, cut up tomatoes. Toss with salt to taste in serving dish. You want the salt to render out some tomato juice, so let that sit for a bit. Meanwhile, cut up mozzarella and basil. Add to tomatoes, along with some olive oil. Stir. When pasta is done, drain and dump into tomato mixture. Stir some more. Good warm or room temp.

bbmt

Bacon, basil, mozzarella, and tomato (Robesons) sammiches.

Robesons for dinner!

Picked the first two big Robesons. Made a giant caprese salad for dinner: smoked (Trader Joe's) and fresh (Montañita Coop) mozzarella; basil (Farmers' Market). Also, broiled, prosciutto-wrapped shrimp. We ate it all.


[Photo by Bram]

some produce

Washing produce: (clockwise from bottom center) red grapes (Sunflower) and sage for chicken salad dinner tonight; sungolds; and blueberries (Trader Joe's).

app plate with sungolds

Jim + Stacy + Bernice came over for dinner. Appetizer plate had: (clockwise from bottom right) sungold tomatoes; homemade pickled radishes (Farmers' Market); homemade rosemary-chipotle nuts (Sunflower bulk section); and hummus + pita chips (Trader Joe's).


[Photo by Bram]

apricots

Well, we did get some apricots this year. Why is it that I never see them until they start hitting the ground? Dragged out the ladder and picked as many as I could reach. I ended up with about 10 or so, some so ripe you could barely hold them without bruising them. There were enough to make a small free-form tart for me and Bram and John and Susanne after Sunday dinner. I used this recipe from Orangette.