Around the Kitchen Table: WHAT ARE YOUR FAVORITE GARDEN OR FARMERS' MARKET RECIPES? + 5-Book #Giveaway

 

TINA KASHIAN: I love my garden and plant one every year. I’ve had success with grape tomatoes, cucumbers, green peppers, zucchini and green beans. Jersey beefsteak tomatoes are my favorite and can be used in many recipes. I also grow herbs like parsley, basil and mint. Here's a picture of one of my garden beds.

Jersey beefsteak tomatoes get big and the grape tomatoes are plentiful. We often give them to our neighbors every year. 

I have fun taking my two teenage girls to the local farm stands. and we buy fresh peaches, nectarines, watermelon, as well as local honey. My favorite summer recipe that uses vegetables and herbs from our garden is tabbouleh. It’s not hard to make and it’s a healthy salad that bursts with flavor. I shared the recipe at Mystery Lovers’ Kitchen here.

What’s your favorite dish using what you’ve grown

in your garden or purchased from local farmer's markets?

Happy summer!

  🌽 🍦 🍉

MADDIE DAY: So many recipes, so little time! I always grow Sun Gold cherry tomatoes, cucumbers, and oregano, and often make this simple, delectable Greek salad. I realize I've never shared the recipe, because all it is is tomatoes, cukes, feta, Kalatmata olives, fresh oregano, and olive oil.

Soon the basil will be flourishing, and I already harvested the garlic. I make plenty of pesto sauce from my great-uncle's recipe - nothing but basil, garlic, pine nuts, salt, and a mix of olive oil and butter - and freeze portions so I have it all winter. Last year I used it in a marinade for grilled chicken, which turned out fabulous.

And then the fruits! Blueberries, as in the trifle I shared recently, plus peaches, strawberries, and so much more. I really live for summer produce, and it never disappoints. 

🍓🥒🍅

LUCY BURDETTE: There's nothing like vegetables and fruits in the Connecticut summer. We wait all year for our tomatoes and then they roll in so fast! I discovered Mark Bittman's tomato soup recipe two years ago and have been making it like mad ever since.

.

🌽 🍦 🍉

MAYA CORRIGAN: We have a community garden plot, where our favorite summer crops are tomatoes, baby eggplant, peppers, basil, and parsley. We buy corn and summer squash at the nearby farmer's market, though often the neighboring gardeners give us their excess zucchini. One of our favorite dishes with fresh vegetables is Southwest Ratatouille.

🌽🍅 🌽

PEG COCHRAN/MARGARET LOUDON: We live in a condo and don't have a garden (plus I have a "black" thumb) so fresh produce comes from the farmer's market or, when I had a day job, gardeners would bring in their excess produce to share. There was often zucchini on the table in the break room from those who'd had a bumper crop. I made these stuffed zucchini boats with one of them. My absolute favorite though has to be corn on the cob. Growing up in NJ, there was a farm stand about a mile away from our house where we always got our corn. New Jersey sweet corn is the best.

 

🍅🍆🍅

 

LESLIE KARST: For me, the best thing about summer gardens is home-grown tomatoes! Nothing like tomato sandwiches with lots of mayo, caprese salads, and simply biting into a freshly-picked, plump tomato, still warm from the sun!

But when those plants start producing far more fruit than you and all your neighbors could possibly eat, you can preserve those glorious tomatoes for winter eating by making this slow-roasted tomato jam.

 

                                                                            🍓🥒🍅

LESLIE BUDEWITZ: So many wonderful choices here! As befits a woman writing a series set in a farmers' market, the Spice Shop series, and another set in a local foods market, my Food Lovers' Village mysteries, I love sharing recipes with fresh herbs or seasonal fruits and vegetables. One of my favorites is this Roasted Mushroom, Tomato, and Herb Salad. And since I'm willing to bet your green beans and tarragon are going as madly as mine, here's our Green Beans with Tarragon Vinaigrette, the taste of summer no matter when you make it!

 

 🍓🥒🍅

MOLLY MacRAE: Tina, your question is too hard. I can't pick a favorite! I love all those fresh green things from the farmers' market. And from my friend Sue's garden. When she takes a trip she asks me to look after the garden and take home anything that's ready. What a hardship! We especially love dill and have had bumper crops in years past - all volunteer and growing in the expansion crack along the edge of the driveway. It's a garden row that's half an inch wide. Talk about easy weeding. I haven't posted many dill recipes, yet, but here are some from former blog mates. Squash with Sour Cream and Dill and Asparagus and Dill Sauce, both from the late and lovely Sheila Connolly, and Easy Tomato Soup with Dill from Wendy Lyn Watson.

Dill as high as the mystery writer's eye

Bounty from Sue's garden

🌽🍅 🌽

VICKI DELANY: Great question! I live in farm country, surrounded by farms. My next door neighbours run a small scale farm and are always extremely generous. Just last week she brought me this basket

With which I made this

My favourite summer vegetable, by far, is tomatoes. I make a lot of pasta sauce and soup for the freezer and freeze whole tomatoes to use over the winter.

But nothing beats a fresh tomato and here's my favourite way of cooking with tomatoes when they are at their best:

Mystery Lovers' Kitchen: No Recipe Tomato Pasta

from Vicki Delany (mysteryloverskitchen.com)

☕ 🍅🍇

CLEO COYLE: Lovely topic, Tina! My dad grew up during The Great Depression when his father impressed upon him the importance of having a food source for his family during tough economic times. With that end in mind, he was a serious backyard gardener, who provided our family with baskets of gorgeous produce and homemade wine from his grape vines...

My father Tony
(in his Army Air Corps uniform)
with his mother Grazia (Gace)

I miss those days and my dear parents, grandparents, and Aunt Mary, all of whom have since gone to heaven, where they now wait for me to join them in the most beautiful garden of all. Thanks, Tina, for reminding me of those delicious memories. And I’m happy to share how our family made our FRESH GARDEN TOMATO SAUCE in a step-by-post post that also shares a little more about the background of my beloved Italian family. ~ Cleo

Click here for Cleo's recipe on
how to make her Italian family's
Fresh Garden Tomato Sacue.

🍆🍅🌼🌽

Happy Summer!

GIVEAWAY!

To be entered in this week's drawing
for the 5 terrific mysteries below,
join us in the comments.


What’s your favorite dish using
what you’ve grown in your garden or
purchased from local farmer's markets?

Join the
conversation!

Include your email address,
so we can contact the winner!

> MISTLETOE, MOUSSAKA AND MURDER by Tina Kashian 

> A DISH TO DIE FOR by Lucy Burdette 

> MURDER IN A CAPE COTTAGE by Maddie Day (ARC) 

> ARGYLES AND ARSENIC by Molly MacRae 

> BREWED AWAKENING by Cleo Coyle

Comments Open through

Wednesday, August 10

Don't forget to include

your email address.

📚