Color! One of the things I love about cooking during our peak produce season is the huge amount of color that I can incorporate into any dish. The varied hues of heirloom tomatoes, the vibrant purple of eggplant, the glowing greens of freshly washed herbs — it’s a feast for the eyes as well as the tongue.
My past few CSAs have been a rainbow of produce – tons of basil, patty pans, chard, collards, radicchio, amazingly sweet onions, mint, lemon verbena, Japanese eggplant, strawberries, and so much more. I love to spend a few moments gazing at my box before I place it lovingly in the car.
The drive home is a feast too, with the amazing aromas of the herbs and strawberries mingling, filling the vehicle with so many tantalizing smells, Charles and my stomachs begin to rumble louder than the gravel road.
And then the joy of turning those aromas into meals! I love the bounty of summer.
Cheesy Tomatoes Love Herbs
Serves: 4
Ingredients:
1/2 cup bread crumbs
salt and pepper to taste
1/2 teaspoon water
1 egg
1 package 8 oz Sierra Nevada Cheese Company Chevre, made into four rounds
4 very thick slices of fresh tomato (heirloom or slicing)
2 teaspoons extra virgin olive oil, plus a drizzle for dressing
1 small head of curly endive (or you could use traditional endive)
1 bunch cilantro (or you could use fresh basil)
1 bunch wrinkled cress (or you could use radicchio)
drizzle of red wine vinegar (If you use the basil & radicchio, use balsamic vinegar instead.)
How-to:
Mix breadcrumbs, salt, and pepper in a small bowl. Add water and work until crumbly. Beat egg is a small bowl. Dip Chevre rounds in the egg and then the bread crumbs. Place in fridge for 15 minutes.
Place tomatoes on plate and sprinkle with salt and pepper.
Add olive oil to a skillet and heat on med/high until the oil is hot but not burning. Carefully place the Chevre rounds in the oil and cook 45 seconds, then flip and repeat. Place rounds on tomatoes.
Toss greens with the drizzles of red wine vinegar and olive oil. Add a little seasoning if desired. Heap 1/4 of the greens on each tomato slice, and voila!
the satisfaction of biting into a ripe, sweet, flavor-packed tomato.
Thank goodness for the wonders of modern invention, like porch green houses. I wouldn’t even be able to harvest a handful of fruit this year if it wasn’t for that glorious creation. Isn’t it amazing the good that can come from a few metal pipes, shelves, and plastic? (My fresh herbs like it too.)
love, Komatsuna. This turnip relative is also called Japanese Mustard Spinach.
Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
One of the things I thoroughly enjoy about the local produce season getting under way is the challenge of trying new things. Before Heaven and Earth Farm brought garlic scapes into the store last week, I had never heard of them, but typing the words into Google gave me a few ideas about how to cook up these bad boys. Specifically, this 
