Cooking At Home With Jason: The Fruits of Summer

by Jason Brechin

Credit: Jason Brechin

The farmers’ markets are bursting now with ripe fruits and vegetables, ready to be brought home and enjoyed simply.  We’re lucky in Chambana to have such great farmers all around us bringing top-quality produce to markets and stores around town.  I may still be in a mournful mood, but I feel like this is the time of the year to enjoy what’s available now in its purest form.

Since I started buying tomatoes at the farmers’ market, it’s hard to enjoy the average supermarket specimen.  Under those fluorescent lights lay unyielding fruits with barely any flavor.  Under the shining sun (or clouds and drizzle), the farmers’ market offers tomatoes almost dripping with sweet berry juice and acid twang.  From sweet cherries and pears up to big, bold Cosmonaut Volkov tomatoes, there’s a variety for every purpose.

The important thing is that once summer’s up, these tomatoes won’t be available until next year, so enjoy them while they’re here.  They’re ripe at the market, so bring them home and enjoy them soon.  If they go a little too far, you can always throw them into your next tomato sauce, or cut it up and freeze it in a zip-top bag before it goes off the over-ripe deep end.

Tomatoes.  Fresh mozzarella.  Basil.  Salt.  Olive oil.  Pepper.

I almost feel bad about writing this up as a recipe.  It’s not a recipe, really, just a collection of great components.  It’s a classic reminder of what summer should taste like.  It’s an example of how good ingredients can make food great and how bad ingredients can make a dish fail miserably.  I’ve found that many Italian dishes follow this principle.

Choose tomatoes that you love, or maybe a selection of heirloom varieties to explore the different tomato-y flavors.  Get the freshest mozzarella, like the stuff Art Mart is making in their own kitchen twice a week now.  Basil is best plucked from your own garden, or a neighbor’s garden (or the store).  Use good extra virgin olive oil and a quality finishing salt (I like the crunch of fleur de sel, but kosher salt does the trick).  Pepper is completely optional, but we love it.  You could indulge in a drizzle of balsamic vinegar, but your tomatoes may not call for it.

I like to enjoy this dish once or twice each summer.  I love preparing and eating complex Indian dishes with a dozen spices and 10 other ingredients, but the simple pleasure of ingredients at their peak will always win my heart.

Jason Brechin lives in Savoy with his wife, two daughters, and a lazy cat. Whether you’re looking for recipe recommendations to use up that aging produce or just want to know more about some obscure ingredient, he’ll have something to offer. When he isn’t contributing to Chambanamoms, he’s maintaining his own food blog, Clever Food Blog. Originally from the suburbs, he and his wife met here their first year of college and have loved living here ever since.

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