Maque Choux. Bless you.

There are certain foods that people like that I really wish I could like, but do not. Mushrooms fall into this category. Bleu cheese. Cantaloupe. Fennel. It's not a very long list. Oh, and there's one more. Okra.

I've been trying to like okra for awhile now. But like my problem with mushrooms, it's a textural thing. Mushrooms are spongy and odd. Okra is slimy.

I've tried it fried, added to soup, in gumbo. Slimy, slimy and slimy. But recently I've had two separate conversations with okra lovers, real born and raised Southerners. I approached it politely. "Don't you find okra to be a bit, you know, slimy?" I asked. Not at all they insisted. Both of these people suggested stewed tomatoes and okra. Okra turned up in our box this week, so why not give it a try?

I found this simple vegetarian recipe for Stewed Corn and Tomatoes, or maque choux, on Epicurious.  Maque choux is a Cajun dish, based on a Native American one. You're supposed to use fresh corn, but I only had frozen. Wrong and I'm sorry-- and I promise next time to use fresh.

But everything else was completely fresh.
Homegrown peppers.

CSA tomatoes.

I made a couple of other changes. We had a big leek so I used that instead of the scallions. And I left out the jalapeno seeds, being a wimp about spicy stuff, and a hater of seeds in my food. Seriously, pepper seeds drive me crazy. Any time I cut one up, any variety, I have to completely remove any and all seeds from the pepper and from the cutting board before I can move ahead with slicing or dicing, or whatever.

So now that you know about more about my food compulsions than you ever wanted to. The maque choux. It smelled wonderful. The corn was sweet, the tomatoes delicious. The jalapenos were just the right amount of spicy. The okra. It tasted good. The slime was still there though. But I admit: the whole of stewed tomatoes and okra is pretty much larger than the sum of its parts.

More Tomatoes

If you come to my house right now, you'll smell two things: sunscreen and garlic. The boys and I stayed at the pool as long as possible, and when we got home we were starving. As soon as I walked in the door I started cooking. There's a pile of cherry tomatoes on our counter that's been growing larger every day. And I can see more out there on the vines, ready to be picked; cherries, Romas, the works.  Makes a person a bit panicky. I'm happy to say that our indoor tomato pile just became a little sauce, simmering on the stove. This is a tomato sauce with the barest essentials: cherry tomatoes, garlic, basil and oregano, salt and pepper, crushed red pepper. (I've mentioned that my husband has a thing for peppers. He made the crushed red pepper with last year's batch of peppers.) I heated a pan, poured in some olive oil.  Just threw everything in at once. The result: a little taste of summertime.

We had a jar of Alfredo sauce too. I stirred this into the fusilli, and topped it off with the tomato sauce. Kind of Sandra Lee Semi-Homemade of me. But addictively good. An achievement for someone who  maybe got a little too much sun today. 

Tomato Sandwiches

I was plugging my digital camera into the side of my computer just now, and it reminded me of the scene in A Christmas Story where the dad goes to plug in his lamp, and there are so many cords. That's exactly how it looks. What the heck are they all for?

The friends we share our CSA box with went out of town this week, so we got the whole box to ourselves. It's quite the haul.

I've been celebrating the tomatoes with tomato sandwiches. I made basil mayonnaise: mayo, lemon juice, a bit of lemon peel, salt and pepper, a dash of Dijon mustard. And basil, of course. This has been my lunch every day this week.

And just in case you think I've run out of squash ideas, I have one more. I made this Summer Squash Gratin from 101 Cookbooks. I had stayed up way too late the night before, so I was struggling and every step of this recipe took twice as long as it should have. It turned out to be well worth the effort though.

Market Day

This morning the boys and I headed over to the North Asheville Tailgate Market to pick up our CSA box. This tailgate is held on the campus of UNC-Asheville every Saturday. We are really blessed to have many great farmer's markets around here.

Here are some photos of what's available at the market this week.

I love the idea of "Society Garlic". It was the tailgate's 30th anniversary today (!) so they were giving away free ice cream. The flavors were blackberry and apple butter. 

Happiness.

A Frittata

Somehow we ended up with too many eggs this week. I thought we were out of eggs and bought some, but it turned out there were a dozen in the fridge bought by Josh the day before. Sometimes the left hand doesn't know what the right hand is doing, and we both buy things we're out of. Then my friend Amber, who raises chickens, gave me a dozen fresh eggs. I'm so jealous of my friends with chickens. But the house, yard, kids--are all pretty overwhelming right now, so we'll hold off on introducing any feathered friends to the mix.

So what to do with all the eggs? Breakfast for dinner comes to mind first, and the boys had no complaints. Miles is pretty much obsessed with fried egg sandwiches; Willem likes his scrambled, with toast.

But for the adults: a Frittata. We had some Yukon Gold potatoes in our box this week.

Also from the box, an onion. And some fresh herbs from the garden.

No, we didn't eat the Black-Eyed Susan. I just noticed them blooming when I went out for the herbs, and had to pick one. 

I sliced the potatoes into circles, then fried them in a big pan with some butter and canola oil. Josh had just fried some bacon, so he suggested I add a little bacon grease. I did. The thing I've learned about frying potatoes is that, once they're in the pan, you need resist the urge to stand over them and stir them around. So I left them alone, and went out to pick herbs and look at the tomatoes. (Our cherry tomatoes are going wild, by the way.) 

Once the potatoes browned up, I added diced onion and salt and pepper. I scrambled up some eggs, and poured them over the potatoes. Then added crumbled bacon, shredded cheese (cheddar, dill Havarti and Gouda), the herbs (chives, dill, basil), and some cherry tomatoes. The pan went into the oven until the egg was cooked and the cheese was melted. 

Garden fresh, simple. Divine.

Berry Delicious

The boys and I finally got out to do some berry picking. We took a long drive (okay, under thirty minutes, but it felt longer) out to the country, to Long Branch Environmental Education Center in Sandy Mush, NC. I have to say, as much as we loved it when we got there, driving there was a little stressful. This is what happens when you leave Asheville: the view is fabulous; the roads are curvy and then little people in the back are complaining about their tummies. You're driving along, looking for your turn, and oh, there's a road! But it has no road sign. Was I supposed to turn there? This happens several times until you do find your road, and get where you need to go and all's well. Deep breath, enjoy nature.

So, the berries. Long Branch had blueberries, blackberries, and a few raspberries. We met my friend Maggie and her two boys and, after a visit to the compost toilet (hmmm), we got to work. We picked some of each. The boys liked it for about ten minutes, getting very excited and shouting to me every time they found a ripe blueberry; then they ran off to explore. They'd come back every once in awhile to check in and eat berries. Maggie reminded them, "For every berry you pick, one has to go in the bucket." Hard rule to follow, but they did their best. Picking berries gets kind of addictive. You think you're done, but then spot another branch with a few more, and then another and so on.

I didn't overdo it though, and brought home a pint each of blueberries and raspberries (which were a bit scarce, I think they were early ones) mixed with blackberries. Now, to find delicious ways to serve them. 

Two Summer Salads

There's so much great produce around right now that I couldn't resist making not one, but two gorgeous salads for last night's dinner.

My friend Maggie gave me a bag full of cucumbers (this is what people do with cucumbers, right? There's no ducking it.) Her farmer neighbor had given them to her, since they were too big to sell at the market. She suspected maybe they'd be seedy. I peeled a couple of them, and cut them open and scooped out the seeds.  With some sliced red onion, cherry tomatoes and dill from our garden, olive oil, rice wine vinegar and salt and pepper, I thought they tasted just fine. 

This beet salad had me up during the night thinking about it. In a good way, of course.

It's roasted beets with diced red onion and crumbled bacon over steamed beet greens with vinaigrette. You can find the recipe here. 

We ate the salads with breaded pork chops and roasted red potatoes. Pretty much stuffed ourselves silly. 

Fried Green Tomatoes

The tomatoes are coming! The tomatoes are coming! I've been saying this for weeks, and we are finally just on the cusp of a tomato onslaught. I say bring it on: the tomatoes are my favorite things of all from the garden.

Before the tomatoes are officially ready, meaning ripe, i.e, red, I like to pull some green ones. And fry them. That's right, fried green tomatoes. I grew up in New York, where they were most definitely not on the menu. I watched the movie Fried Green Tomatoes, but I never knew they were an actual thing. Sort of like how I'd watch that show Alice, and that one waitress would say "Kiss my grits!" and I never knew grits were a real thing either. I had no point of reference. But now I live in North Carolina, and I eat fried green tomatoes whenever I can.

One of my favorite cookbooks is Sundays at Moosewood Restaurant. My copy is battered and falling apart. The book is broken up into sections by countries and regions. There's a section about the Southern United States, and a great recipe for fried-green tomatoes.

I snuck a little greenie out of the garden, and sliced it up.

Salt, pepper, hot sauce.

Then a dip in some flour and cornmeal.

I like to use the "two forks" method when dredging things in flour. Keeps the hands from getting sticky. Then into the hot oil, and onto my plate. These are great as a side to almost any meal. Or on a sandwich with some bacon and goat cheese. (I stole the idea for this sandwich from Sunny Point Cafe, a West Asheville restaurant known for it's fabulous breakfast.)

Fried Green Tomatoes (From Sundays at the Moosewood Restaurant)


3 or 4 medium unripe tomatoes (very green--not red at all)
salt and pepper, to taste
cayenne, Tabasco, or other hot sauce (optional)
1/3 cup unbleached white flour
2 tbsp white or yellow corn meal
1/4 cup vegetable oil


Slice the tomatoes into quarter-inch slices. Discard the ends. Spread the slices out on a platter or cutting board and sprinkle generously with salt, pepper and hot sauce (if using). Turn slices over and season other side.


In a shallow bowl, combine flour and cornmeal. Dredge the tomato slices in flour mixture, one at a time, covering each side thoroughly. Shake any excess flour off the tomato slices.


Heat the oil in a heavy frying pan. When the oil is hot, but not smoking, fry the slices in batches; don't overcrowd the pan. Fry for about 3 or 4 minutes per side until golden brown. Drain on paper towels and serve immediately.

Summer Squash: A Second Way

I like to make summer squash like this: sauteed in a pan with onions, peppers and cheese. It's easy and tasty and allows you to use any leftover odds and ends of veggies and cheese you have lying around.

I used two yellow summer squashes and one zucchini. Slice them in half then slice again into these little half moon wedges

and slice a quarter or so of an onion (I like red) and some peppers. (The pale green ones are Cubenelles, grown by my husband. He has a pepper obsession.)

Saute in a pan. I like the squash to have a bit of crispness on the outside. Use a large enough pan so that everything has room.

I neglected to follow my own advice. You can't see them here, but we found a couple of ripe cherry tomatoes (yay!) so I threw those in as well. If you have a tomato, chop it up and add it to the mix. It makes a kind of sauce for the squash.

Sprinkle with shredded cheddar and Parmesan, and let the cheese melt. I usually just put a lid on my pan and let it melt while I attend to the rest of the meal, but you could also slide it into the oven and let the cheese brown up. We eat this as a side dish mostly, but it's also great over pasta.

So there you have it. Squash two ways, on two different days. Enjoy!