vegetables as far as the eye can see!

It's that time of the year when parts of the kitchen garden are yielding produce by the piles and you could eat salads for three meals a day and it still wouldn't make a dent. But that's what you waited for all winter, right? So let's do some interesting things with all that beautiful summer bounty!

One of my favorite summertime vegetable preparations is from the terrific cookbook "Herbs Love Tomatoes, Peppers, Onions & Zucchini" by Ruth Bass, published by Storey Books. On every page there is a mouth-watering recipe using simple ingredients to make wonderful everyday meals. When you're up to your eyes with garden vegetables, the recipe "Marinated Vegetables with Tarragon" is one that you will turn to again and again.

Simply prepare 4 cups of vegetables, your choice: tomatoes, snow peas, zucchini, cauliflower, broccoli, carrots... whatever you like and have on hand that day.

Mix up the marinade:

3/4 cup extra virgin olive oil

1/2 cup tarragon vinegar

2 tablespoons fresh-squeezed lemon juice

4 tablespoons chopped green onions, white and part of green

1 teaspoon dried tarragon (double the amount if you have fresh tarragon available)

Salt and freshly ground black pepper

2 teaspoons sugar

Arrange veggies in a shallow dish, pour the marinade over them, cover and refrigerate for at least 2 hours and up to one day, stirring once.

Serves 4 to 6 veggie lovers.

so... many.... tomatoes!

Well, it has finally happened. The Lonesome Road Studio Kitchen is about to be inundated with a bumper crop of tomatoes in various stages of ripeness. Eventually I will be getting out the heavy equipment and spending some time making pizza sauce to freeze, but in the meantime I'm making dishes that really emphasize the freshness and quality of a good garden-ripened tomato. In fact, just a couple of days ago, I made a delicious insalata caprese, a simple Italian salad of fresh tomatoes and mozzarella, olive oil and um.... oregano. Basil is the traditional herb of insalata caprese but we have plenty of fresh Greek oregano on hand so that is what went into my salad.

Hm. Will these become pizza sauce? Or maybe a nice cool Panzanella (Italian bread and tomato salad)?
Look at the size of these things!

Greek oregano.

Isn't this just gorgeous? And so fast and easy to prepare, it literally takes minutes. Just slice the best ripe tomatoes you can find, and layer alternately with slices of fresh mozzarella cheese. You can actually buy 7 ounce containers of the sliced cheese, which makes this even quicker. If serving for a special occasion, a large beautiful platter works well but I also use an 8 inch by 8 inch glass baking dish for the job. The salad can be chopped if you prefer, but the slices look prettier and and are obviously faster to prepare.

Drizzle with a high-quality olive oil, then sprinkle with slivered fresh basil (or in my case, oregano tastes very nice as well). Season liberally with sea salt and black pepper and allow to sit in your refrigerator, covered, for a little while. Before serving, allow the salad to warm up a bit to almost room temperature. An 8 inch by 8 inch dish of insalata caprese will serve 4 to 6; if you have any leftovers it is delicious tucked into an omelet for breakfast the next morning.

Order and Profusion: The Kitchen Garden

The New Kitchen Garden by Anna Pavord

A Complete Practical Guide to Designing,

Planting, and Cultivating

a Decorative and Productive Garden

Published by DK Publishing - 1996

It's that time of year. Poring over garden catalogs, you've made your selections, now the actual planning of the garden's layout is the task at hand. This is a book you will refer to again and again in the planning stages of the garden of your dreams. "The New Kitchen Garden" by Anna Pavord truly waters the seeds of the gardener's imagination. The first part of the book is devoted to innovative and beautiful original planting designs of various kitchen garden styles including "Formal Fruit Garden," "Vegetable Patchwork," "Cottage Garden," "Salad and Herb Garden," as well as clever designs that maximize growing spaces for smaller yards and urban balconies. Here you will find inspiring designs that emphasize the unexpected beauty of each plant, like "chiseled artichokes" and "handsome leeks." The combination of vegetables and fruits with flowers both decorative and useful is amazing.

The growing section includes information on vegetables, fruits, nuts, herbs and edible flowers. Each plant is illustrated by a stunning detailed photo and is accompanied by directions for its cultivation, recommendations for best cultivars, and a simple, elegant recipe plus helpful culinary notes. A gardening book and a cookbook all in one - my kind of reading!

A thorough section on planting and cultivation techniques discusses topics like types of soil, creating garden structures, crop rotation, feeding and watering, greenhouses, cold frames, training and pruning trees, harvesting and storing, and of course, pests, weeds and diseases. This section has been very helpful to us in caring for our own gardens; the photos are clear and treatments for the problems are practical and effective.

This book is as inspiring and timeless as it was when published in 1996. "The New Kitchen Garden" is easily found online through Amazon and other booksellers; treat yourself to some new yet classic ideas for your own garden. I wish you order and profusion in the months to come!

new for the kitchen garden

It's that time.... seed catalogs stacked to the ceiling... garden plans graphed neatly... tiny peat pellets sprouting new life, promising a season of bountiful richness.

The Lonesome Road gardens are a bit soggy at the moment, but the choices have been made for this year's kitchen garden. Of course we have more seeds than we could possibly ever need (how did we end up with 7 or 8 different kinds of lettuce?). Yet enthusiasm wins over practicality every year and so we will get to work in the garden once again in a couple of months. Besides, any extra produce is always welcome at local food pantries and as part of Plant A Row For The Hungry.

The newest addition to the Lonesome Road kitchen garden this year will be the herb epazote. I am a Rick Bayless fan; I have been to his fabulous Chicago restaurant Frontera, I have one of his many cookbooks, and I love to watch his cooking show "Mexico One Plate At A Time." One of the ingredients that Bayless uses often in his authentic Mexican cooking is epazote; it's not readily found in my area stores so I ordered seeds to plant my own and will give it a try this year. In my research, I discovered that epazote is often used in bean dishes because it has digestive properties, kind of a natural "Beano."

I am also treating myself to Ichiban eggplant this year. In previous years I've planted several varieties of eggplant; the little white ones that look like actual eggs, the lovely lavender and white ones, and the list goes on. I've never really liked the texture and seediness of the others but have always longed for those elegant long, dark Japanese eggplants that need no peeling. So I found what I was looking for in my trusty seed catalog, and I will hopefully have a bumper crop of Ichiban eggplant for everything from ratatouille to Chinese stir-fries and oh yes... tempura!

Of course the usual suspects will be included this year. Last year was not a good year for tomatoes on the Lonesome Road; we will try again for a good crop of Roma tomatoes for my awesome homemade pizza sauce which is made in large quantities for the freezer (yes, I will post the recipe here!). Other garden favorites to be planted this year are Cubanelle and Poblano peppers, and herbs. This year the herbs will be part of a container gardening system; with my busy schedule of juggling a job and an ever-increasing show schedule, I just don't have the time to pick weeds in an extensive herb garden. Plus, it gives me an excuse to buy some cool pottery *wink*.

Post your garden suggestions here; what's new in your garden this year, and old favorites that you can't live without.