Morning Fruit

When it's this hot, even our morning fruit becomes more simple.

This morning we greeted the day with a bowl of cool ripe organic cantaloupe.

Red Pepper and Potato Frittata

 It's been too hot to cook this week, so we've been enjoying leftovers for dinner each night. One of my favorites has been this red pepper and potato frittata that I originally made for brunch on Sunday. Cold with a green salad it made good dinners too.

Often frittatas like this include bacon. The key to getting good flavor without the bacon is to brown the onions until they are deep golden in places. A few bits stuck to the skillet are no bad thing, just unstick them before pouring in the eggs.

The other key flavor is the fresh oregano. It adds a green base note that offsets the sweet pepper and salty cheddar.

This is the beginning of red pepper season, and I can think of no better way to start it than with this frittata.

Red Pepper and Potato Frittata
1 potato, peeled and cut in 1/4 inch dice
2 tbsp olive oil
1 large red bell pepper, chopped
1 onion, chopped
4 cloves garlic, peeled and chopped
3 tbsp chopped fresh oregano
8 eggs
1 tsp salt
3/4 tsp pepper
1 cup grated cheddar

Put the potato cubes in a saucepan, cover with cold water and add a little coarse salt. Bring to the boil, covered, and simmer until just tender. This will take 5-8 minutes depending on the size of the cubes. Pierce with the tip of a knife to see when they're done. Drain and set aside.

Heat the olive oil in a 10 inch cast iron skillet (or other oven-proof skillet) over medium-high heat. Add the red pepper, onions, and a sprinkling of salt. Sauté 5 minutes or so until tender and the onions are starting to brown. Add cooked potato, garlic and oregano. Sauté another minute or so until it smells great and the onions are well-colored. Smooth the vegetables out, scraping the bottom of the skillet to release any stuck pieces.

Whisk together the eggs, salt and pepper. Pour over the vegetables, reduce heat to medium-low, cover and let cook until the eggs are set around the edges, 5-7 minutes. Meanwhile, preheat the broiler.

The center will still be wet. Sprinkle the cheese over the top and place the skillet under the broiler until the cheese is melted and browned. This will take about 3 minutes. As you can see in the picture, mine got very dark in places. Larry allowed as to how that tasted even better.

Let the frittata stand a minute before cutting into it.

Serves 6-8

Sunday night pasta

This year we're growing a lovely Italian heirloom zucchini called Ortolana di Faenza. (We bought the seeds from Renees Garden. And yes, we're also growing the climbing zucchini Trombetta di Albenga. It is not fruiting yet because it's still working on world domination.)

Ortolana di Faenza has pale green striped zucchini that we've been picking at about 6 inches long. I sliced some into very thin strips and tossed them with hot pasta with black olives, walnuts, fresh herbs and lots of garlic for a great Sunday supper from our garden.

Here's what I did:

Fettuccine with Zucchini and Herbs
1 3/4 lb slender zucchini
1 tsp sea salt
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 tbsp minced black olives
1/2 tsp dried crushed chiles
1 lb fettuccine
2 tbsp olive oil
1/2 cup walnuts, toasted, coarsely chopped
1 cup grated parmesan
1/2 cup basil, thinly sliced
1/4 cup mint, thinly sliced
2-3 zucchini flowers, thinly sliced

Cut the ends off the zucchinis and cut them in about 3 inch chunks. Carefully slice them lengthwise into thin ribbons — I used a mandolin. Then cut each ribbon into narrow strips. Put them in a colander over a large bowl and sprinkle with the sea salt. Toss gently and let sit for 10 minutes. Then rinse the salt off and drain the zucchini well. Finally, spread them on a kitchen towel, cover with another towel, and roll them up. Press gently then set them aside so the towels absorb a lot of the moisture.

In a large serving bowl, combine the garlic, olives and chiles. Bash them together a little to form a paste.

Cook the pasta in boiling salted water until just tender. Drain, reserving a half cup of the pasta cooking water.

Add the pasta to the serving bowl with the olive oil and 1/4 cup pasta water. Toss well. Add the zucchini, walnuts, half the parmesan, and all the basil and mint. Toss again and season with salt and pepper. Add more pasta cooking water if the dish is too dry.

Sprinkle the zucchini flowers on top and serve the extra parmesan on the side.

Serves 4

zucchini flowers, purple basil and mint

Sunday Shopping

We've been buying our weekly groceries at the Hollywood Farmers Market for over a decade. While seasons can be tough to discern in Los Angeles — especially with recent temperatures like 100° in March! — we enjoy watching seasonal produce rotate through the market.

While asparagus is available 9 months of the year, red peppers appear in late August and leave in December. Blink and you miss cherry season. All apples — even storage apples — are gone by May, only to reappear fresh and crisp in late July.

So returning to the market after skipping a week always seems like an adventure. I had expected red peppers to make their arrival — and they did — but I didn't expect netting to be draped everywhere, or that Ha's Apple Farm stand would not be there.

It was quite disconcerting.

It seems a mysterious foreign fruit fly has emerged on the streets of Hollywood, and the farmers were asked to spread netting to prevent the flies from laying eggs on their produce which would travel for miles in customers' shopping bags, possibly creating widespread damage to local farms. Prevention is great — especially non-toxic approaches like netting — but it sure looked weird.

Even weirder was the lack of Ha's Apple Farm stand, which we have depended on for years for eggs and apples. Rumor has it they'll be gone for 6 months. I hope they're okay. Market officials would not tell me anything specific.

So, an unsettling morning. Fortunately Finley Farms had red peppers, so my plans to over-indulge in them this week are intact.

Here's what we came home with:
4 potatoes, garlic, 2 yellow onions, 2 red onions, cilantro, dill, chives, 7 red peppers, 6 corn, butter lettuce, romaine lettuce, 2 cucumbers, 6 plum tomatoes, 2 dozen eggs (one from Jared, one from Rick), 2 melons, shisito peppers, small orange lipstick peppers, 12 oranges and 4 grapefruit.

And Russ sharpened a knife for us while we shopped.

Sunday Shopping

We did not go to the Hollywood Farmers Market on Sunday because we were in Portland, OR to watch the eclipse. On the plane our seat mate had told us of stories in the Seattle newspapers predicting Armageddon — so many cars that people would be stuck on the freeways for hours if not days. They were recommending everyone carry 3 days of food, water and toilet paper.

We planned to drive south on Monday to get into the totality. In preparation we headed to Whole Foods (conveniently located near Powell's Books) to stock up for a picnic — and lots of snacking. We also found an independent store called World Market (not Cost Plus) that had a great selection of organic food.

Surprisingly, most of the organic produce at Whole Foods came from California. Fortunately they had local cheese. World Market had local cherries and McVittie's chocolate digestive biscuits.

Here's what we loaded up with:
bread from Pearl bakery, 2 nectarines, 1 tomato, cherries, McVitties chocolate digestive biscuits, cashews, almonds, 2 pink lady apples, 1 banana, peanut butter cookies, 1 St. Benoit plain yogurt, green grapes, Sleeping Beauty organic cheese from Cascadia, Hannah Bridge cheese from Heritage Dairy, plantain chips, 2 Theo chocolate bars - ginger and salted almond.

We were ready for anything.

Omelet with Tomatillo Salsa

Sunday brunch is one of my favorite meals. We return from the market laden down with colorful produce that we unpack on our sunny kitchen table. Then Larry squeezes fresh oranges while I make some combination of eggs and carbs. We enjoy a leisurely meal with the Sunday papers. Last week, I decided to add a little zest to our brunch by pouring tomatillo salsa on our omelets.

Tomatillo salsa is easy to make. You can find my recipe for it here. Even better, it freezes well. I set some out on the counter to defrost while we were at the Market, ready to heat and serve when we returned.

The omelet was thick with mushrooms, cheese, peppers and cilantro. The sauce added zest, and a few breakfast potatoes rounded out the plate.

Sunday mornings are really great around here.

Omelet with Tomatillo Salsa
3/4 cup tomatillo salsa
4 eggs
1/4 cup sliced red onion
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
3 tbsp butter, divided use
1/2 red pepper, cut into strips
5 oz mushrooms, sliced
1 cup grated cheese — half jack, half cheddar
1 tbsp cilantro

Warm the salsa and set it aside.

Whisk together the eggs, onion, salt and pepper.

Melt 2 tbsp butter in a medium cast iron skillet over medium heat. Sauté red pepper and mushrooms until browned, about 8 minutes. Transfer to a bowl.

Melt 1 tbsp butter in skillet. Add eggs. Cook without stirring until they begin to set, about 4 minutes. Sprinkle with vegetables, cheese and cilantro. Cover skillet and cook until the cheese melts and the eggs are set, about 2-3 minutes.

Fold the omelet in half, then cut it in half and serve on two plates. Pour the warm salsa on top.

Serves 2

Greek Salad

Our tomatoes are starting to really produce. I used them in this Greek style salad the other night. Sadly our cucumbers are suffering from drought. Fortunately the organic farmers at the Hollywood Farmers Market have my back.

The key to a good Greek salad is crunchy vegetables to offset the soft tomatoes, feta and olives. I vary them depending on what's available. This is my standard recipe. If you have mint in the garden, it makes a great addition.

Greek Salad
1/2 red onion
1 tsp white vinegar
3 medium or large tomatoes
1 cucumber
1/2 green pepper
romaine lettuce
3 tbsp red wine vinegar
5 tbsp olive oil
2-3 oz feta, crumbled
2-3 tbsp chopped fresh mint
12 kalamata olives, pitted if desired

Cut onion in slivers. Place in a bowl and cover with cold water. Add the white vinegar. Let sit at least 10 minutes.

Chop the tomatoes. Peel and seed the cucumber. Cut in bite-sized pieces. Cut pepper in slivers.

Drain the onion.

Chop the lettuce and put in a large bowl. Add the drained onion, cucumbers, tomatoes and peppers. Whisk together the red wine vinegar and olive oil. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Add a little more oil if desired, but it should be a sharp dressing. Toss the dressing with the vegetables.

Put the vegetables on a platter. Sprinkle the feta, mint and olives over top.

Serves 3-4

Barbecued Flatbreads

I have read a lot about cooking pizza on the grill, but I've never tried it.

But since this is the summer to broaden my barbecue horizons, I decided to try grilling dough. I started small with sourdough flatbreads. They were great with grilled corn, sprouted chickpea hummus and Greek salad.

I usually make these flatbreads on my cast iron skillet, but the barbecue added a smoky flavor that went exceptionally well with the za'atar I sprinkled on them.

This recipe makes a lot of flatbreads, but they freeze well. I put them in a freezer bag with wax paper between each one, and they defrost quickly in the toaster oven as a quick snack with hummus or salad.

It's important to start the dough for the flatbreads a couple of hours before you plan to grill them. The dough can then rest for up to 12 hours, so you have a lot of flexibility. I make it in my stand mixer, which frankly makes it far too easy to make flatbreads. You have been warned.

Barbecue Flatbreads with Za'atar

3 oz sourdough starter

1 2/3 cup white flour

5 cups white bread flour

1/2 tsp salt

5 tsp sugar

1 tbsp olive oil

za'atar (see below)

Combine the starter in a bowl with 3/4 cup water and 1 2/3 cups flour. Cover and let rest at room temperature until bubbly — about 10 minutes depending on the warmth of your kitchen and the vigor of your starter.

In a stand mixer with the dough hook, combine 5 cups bread flour, 1/2 tsp salt and 5 tsp sugar. Add 1 1/2 cups water, 1 tbsp olive oil and 2 oz (by weight) of the bubbly starter (otherwise known as levain). Return the rest of the levain to your sourdough jar in the fridge. It will invigorate what is there.

Mix to a stiff dough, then keep kneading with the dough hook for 5-10 minutes until it is smooth. Remove the dough hook and cover the bowl with a silicon lid. Let the dough rest for a minimum of 30 minutes, or up to 12 hours. It should puff up a little.

Prepare the barbecue (or warm a cast iron skillet over high). Pinch off a piece of dough the size of a plum and roll it out on a floured board until it is a rough circle of at most 1/3" thick — preferably thinner. Place the dough on the hot grill or pan. Cook about 2 minutes until it is spotted. Brush the top with oil, sprinkle with za'atar, then flip and cook the other side about 10 seconds. Remove from the pan and serve immediately or cover with a towel to keep it warm.

Makes about 12 flatbreads.

Za'atar is a Middle Eastern spice blend that is zesty and spicy and utterly irresistible. There are many recipes. This is the one I make: stir together 3 tbsp dried thyme, 1 tbsp toasted sesame seeds, 1 tbsp ground sumac, 1/2 tsp dried oregano, 1/4 tsp salt.

Green Bean Salad with Mustard and Tarragon

Our bean vines are producing vigorously. Fortunately, I love green bean salad. I steam the beans until tender then toss them in a simple vinaigrette. I cook a pound at a time because they last well in the fridge, ready for a quick meal.

The other day I tossed them in a mustard vinaigrette to which I added a snippet of tarragon. It's worth finding a sunny well-drained spot for this perennial because its slight anise-y flavor gives a subtle boost to mustard vinaigrettes like this one.

Green Bean Salad
1 lb green beans, trimmed
1/4 cup olive oil
2 tbsp lemon juice
1/2 tsp dijon mustard
1 small clove garlic, minced
1 1/2 tsp chopped tarragon
3/4 tsp salt
pepper
1-2 tbsp spring onion or chives of Egyptian walking onion

Steam beans until tender but still crunchy, 7-10 minutes. Plunge in an ice water bath to stop the cooking, then drain and pat them dry.

Whisk together the remaining ingredients. Add the beans and toss to coat. Chill until ready to serve.

Serves 4

Sprouted Chickpeas

When I make hummus, I like to sprout the chickpeas before cooking them. Sprouting is supposed to suppress the enzymes that prevent us from fully digesting the chickpeas and getting all their nutrients.

I knew someone who turned raw sprouted chickpeas into hummus, but I found it hard to digest. Dried beans are meant to be well cooked, so after soaking and sprouting, I throw them in the pressure cooker.

I just sprout the chickpeas long enough to soften a little. The bulge where they would sprout gets a little bigger. No roots or leaves appear.

It takes a little advance planning to soak and sprout, but I find it makes a tastier hummus which requires less oil to make it soft and yummy.

First I soak a half pound of chickpeas in cold water on the counter overnight. In the morning, I drain them (saving the water for my houseplants) and spread them on a towel on a cookie sheet. There they sit (covered with another towel if I fear there are flies in the house) until I get home from work ready to cook them and turn them into hummus.

I cook them for about 15 minutes in my pressure cooker until they're very soft. Then I drain them and put them in the food processor with a clove of garlic, 3 tbsp of olive oil and 2 tbsp of lemon juice. I process until smooth and then add a large tablespoon of tahini, a sprinkle of salt and a half teaspoon of cumin. I then add water or olive oil to thin it to the desired consistency. Sometimes some extra lemon juice is required.

It lasts well in the fridge and is great with carrots and celery, making it a simple high-protein snack.

Sunday Shopping

It was a cool cloudy morning at the Hollywood Farmers Market, but the piles of summer produce were beautiful.

By the time we got them home, the sun was out and the vegetables glowed on our kitchen table.

Here's what we 'll be eating this week:
red onion, garlic, cucumber, cantaloupe, red pepper, melon, oranges, blonde apples, williams pride apples, pippin apples, corn, whitecap beans, eggs, pomelo, butter lettuce, mushrooms, little gem lettuce.

Adventures with Sourdough

This is why it's important to keep your starter
in a jar with lots of headroom. When I
unscrewed the lid, the starter exploded out.

I grew a sourdough starter in my garden a couple of years ago, and have been experimenting with it ever since.

Recently my starter has been growing faster than we can eat the bread I make with it. When making bread, I refresh the starter with more flour and water, then return some to the jar in the fridge and use the rest. The amount in the jar never shrinks. In fact, it's currently growing at an extraordinary rate.

So this week I used some of my sourdough starter in muffins. When making muffins, I use the sourdough straight — no refreshing and returning to the jar. It's a great way to use excess sourdough starter.

Orange Sourdough Muffins

I was inspired by Ellen Buchman Ewald in her classic book Recipes for a Small Planet. She has a recipe for orange muffins made with whole wheat flour. They are raised with buttermilk, baking soda and sourdough starter. They are sweetened with a little honey, and make a dense healthy muffin.

Then I used her method to adapt my favorite lemon muffin recipe to sourdough. The muffins are made with white flour and sweetened with sugar. The sourdough, baking soda and kefir made them light. Yummy if not totally healthy .

Here's what I did.

Lemon Sourdough Muffins
2 cups white flour
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda
1 cup sugar
1/8 tsp cloves
3/4 cup sourdough starter
1 egg, beaten
1 cup kefir
1/2 cup oil
zest of 1 lemon.

Whisk together the dry ingredients. In a separate bowl, whisk together the wet ingredients. Gently combine the two mixtures.

Pour into a greased muffin tin and bake at 375°F for 20 minutes until a toothpick comes out clean.

For decadence, combine 1/4 cup lemon juice and 2 tbsp sugar and dip the tops of the warm muffins in it.

Makes 12 muffins

Lemon Sourdough Muffin

Making kefir cheese

When I make kefir, I like to make it thick like sour cream. Then it's good eaten plain as yogurt, stirred into salad dressings, potato salads, or cooked vegetables, and used in baked goods (although its probiotics are destroyed by heating).

I make thick kefir by draining it through a coffee filter set in a strainer over a bowl until it's the consistency I want — from 30 to 90 minutes.

If I let it drain longer, it becomes even thicker like cream cheese. Then I stir herbs and vegetables into it and use it as a spread.

When the kefir is the consistency I want, I scrape it from the filter into a covered glass container and store it in the fridge for up to a couple of weeks. The whey can also be stored for a while, but it's probiotic benefits do wane with time. I drink it straight and Larry puts it in smoothies — usually within a couple of days of making it.

I really like these simple foods that are high in health benefits, low in cost, and add to our enjoyment of our daily meals.

Coconut Rice

I love our rice cooker in the summer. It doesn't heat up the kitchen, and I can load it up and then go putter in the garden while it cooks dinner. It turns itself to warm when the rice is cooked.

The other day I used it to cook basmati rice in coconut milk with a little curry powder. The rice turned a beautiful yellow color. I served it with curried tofu and corn on the cob for a yummy and colorful meal.

Fortunately, we had leftover rice. A couple of days later I used it in simple stir-fried rice. I sautéed onions, garlic and chopped peppers in our wok. I stirred in the cooked rice and some homegrown green beans cut in 1-inch lengths. Then I added a splash of hot water, put the lid on and let it steam — checking and stirring occasionally — until the rice was hot and the beans tender-crisp.

It was a simple one-bowl dinner. I love leftovers.

Here's the recipe for the coconut rice that was the base of the stir-fry. It's really good the first time around too.

Coconut Rice
2 cups long-grain white rice (I used organic texmati)
1 can coconut milk plus enough water to make 2 1/4 cups liquid
1/4 cup chopped onion
2 tsp curry powder
1/2 tsp salt

Combine all the ingredients in the rice cooker and stir well. Cook until the rice cooker tells you it's done, about 20-30 minutes.

Serves 4

Curried Tofu

Tofu is fast-food in our house. Press it a little, spread with a marinade, then fry it up for a great meal.

The other day I served this curried tofu with corn on the cob, wilted greens and coconut rice for a simple meal that hit the spot after a busy day.

The tofu, which was marinated in red Thai curry paste, was spicy with a good texture.

Here's what I did.

Curried Tofu
14 oz firm tofu
2 tbsp red Thai curry paste
1 tbsp tamari
1 tbsp lime juice

Drain the tofu, wrap it in a towel, and press it for 30 minutes (less is fine, but the pressing creates a firmer texture).

Meanwhile, whisk together the curry paste, tamari and lime juice.

Slice the tofu in 1/2 inch slabs. Spread the marinade on one side, turn the tofu and smear more on the other side. Use all the marinade.

Let the tofu rest a little while to absorb some of the flavor. Then heat a shimmer of oil in the bottom of a skillet and fry the tofu a few minutes on both sides until starting to crisp and blacken slightly.

Serves 2-3

Tofu marinating on a plate

Grilled Zucchini and Onions

The zucchini plants we grew from seed have started producing, which is exciting. Expect many zucchini recipes to be showing up this summer, because zucchini tends to be prolific. Fortunately there are many ways to enjoy them.

The other day I barbecued chunks of zucchini and slices of red onion. Tossed with fresh mint and thyme from the garden, they made a great dinner alongside corn on the cob, potato salad and homegrown cherry tomatoes. Larry grilled some shisito peppers for us to munch on while the main courses were cooking.

Fresh vegetables eaten in the fresh air — summer is great.

Grilled Zucchini and Red Onions

1 tbsp olive oil

1 tbsp balsamic vinegar

1 tbsp chopped mint
1 tsp finely chopped thyme

1 small clove garlic, finely chopped

salt

3/4 lb zucchini, sliced in 1 inch rounds

1 large red onion, sliced in 1/2 inch rings

In a small bowl, whisk together the olive oil, balsamic vinegar, mint, thyme, garlic and a little salt. Set aside.

Barbecue the zucchini and onion until they're starting to brown. Turn them over and cook another few minutes. Put them in a large bowl.

Pour the dressing over the hot vegetables and toss to coat.

Cover the bowl and let the vegetables marinate in the dressing for about 10 minutes — this really increases the flavor. Toss the vegetables again and serve.

Serves 2-3

Sunday Shopping

The produce at the Hollywood Farmers Market in August is beautiful.

There are mounds of melons, piles of peaches and other stone fruit, a cornucopia of organic corn, and the first peppers are showing up.

The streets around the Hollywood Farmers Market are challenging to navigate — patrons of  tighty-whitey night were spilling out of a club on Cahuenga; we averted our eyes and headed off along Hollywood Blvd. toward the market. As we headed down Cosmo, we passed a homeless father and child sitting up in their sleeping bags and getting ready for the day.

Clubbers and homeless people co-exist in Hollywood on Saturday nights. I don't know what any of them think of us early morning farmers market-ers with our cloth shopping bags. But we all move past each other in our own spheres of existence.

Here's a list of the organic produce we brought home with us:

mini orange and red peppers, a reddish green pepper, tomatillos, cilantro, 4 jalapeños, 3 shiitake mushrooms, 3 cremini mushrooms, 1 bunch collard greens, 4 artichokes, shisito peppers, 12 oz shelled pistachios from Santa Barbara Pistachio Co, green grapes, 4 red potatoes, 2 avocados, cantaloupe, 12 oranges, 4 Williams' Pride apples, 2 zestar apples, and 2 dozen eggs. 

Morning Fruit

Our fig tree is producing a bumper crop this year — probably because of 18 inches of rain this winter. I've started adding them to our morning fruit.

This week we ate the last of our homegrown oranges with the first of our figs and a white melon I don't know the name of.

We really appreciate the diversity of fruit here in Southern California.

Peeling Tomatoes

Peeled tomatoes ready to be chopped and
added to a sumptuous sauce

When I made fresh tomato sauce last Sunday, I took the time to peel the tomatoes. Each time I start to do this, I wonder if it's worth it. But it really is. Little rolls of tomato peel would take away from the soft sultriness of this tomato sauce.

And really, peeling a few tomatoes takes but a minute.

First, bring a pot of water to the boil. Cut an "x" in the bottom of each tomato. Put the tomatoes in the boiling water.

Cook the tomatoes for 3 minutes until the skin

starts to peel back at the "x".

Scoop out the tomatoes and put them in a bowl of ice water

When they're cool enough to handle (30 seconds or so), take them from the water and pull the skin off with your fingers.

Zesty Potato Salad

When we barbecued last Friday, I was concerned the black bean burgers would be dry and boring so I made this zesty potato salad to go along side.

Fortunately the burgers were fine. But this potato salad almost stole the show. It has lashings of tabasco and mustard to make it interesting. I used our homemade keffir in the dressing — plain Greek yogurt is fine if you aren't growing your own keffir.

Zesty Potato Salad

2 lbs yukon gold potatoes
1 1/4 cups kefir

1/4 cup chopped celery

1/4 cup finely chopped red onion

2 tsp tabasco

1 tsp dijon

1 tsp white wine vinegar

1/2 tsp salt

Scrub the potatoes well and cook them, whole, until tender all the way through. This will take 15 to 25 minutes depending on the size of your potatoes. Drain and let cool a little so you don't burn your fingers, then peel and cut the potatoes into 1/2 inch pieces.

In a large bowl, combine all the remaining ingredients. Whisk together well.

Stir in potatoes. It will seem like a lot of dressing, but the potatoes will absorb much of it.

Cover and refrigerate to blend flavors. Add salt and pepper or more tabasco as needed.

Serves 6

Grilled Corn and Tomato Salad

The first few weeks of organic corn season, we simply cook it and munch it straight off the cob. I eat it plain. Larry uses butter, salt and pepper. Nothing fancy. We revel in sweet summer corn.

A couple of weeks in, I'm ready to start using corn in fancier preparations like this salad adapted from Elizabeth Orsini's book Garden to Grill.

I served this grilled corn and tomato salad with homemade black bean burgers on Friday night. It was a great combo — the salad was a juicy sweet contrast to the dense burgers — and the leftovers of the salad were great in my lunch the next day.

Larry grilled the corn and tomatoes, and I stirred them together with onions and lemon from the garden, romaine lettuce and feta.You can't go wrong with that.

Grilled Corn and Tomato Salad
2 medium plum tomatoes
2 ears corn
1-2 tbsp olive oil
1 Egyptian walking onion stalk or scallion
1 clove garlic, minced
1/2 tsp lemon zest
1 tsp lemon juice
2 tbsp feta, crumbled into small dice
3-4 cups romaine lettuce, cut in bite-size pieces

Slice the tomatoes crosswise 1/2 inch thick. Shuck the corn. Brush all with olive oil, sprinkle with salt and pepper, and grill over medium heat (hand held 6 seconds over grate). The tomatoes will take a couple of minutes on each side. The corn will take about 10 minutes — turn it occasionally.

Remove the vegetables from the grill and let cool slightly. Chop the tomatoes in bite-size pieces and put in a serving dish. Cut the kernels from the cobs and add as well.

Snip the Egyptian walking onion stalk into a small bowl. Add the garlic, lemon zest and lemon juice with a little more olive oil. Whisk well and pour over the tomatoes and corn. Toss well. Add the lettuce and feta, toss again and serve.

Serves 4

Black Bean Burgers

I've made many bean burgers over the years, but I've never cooked one on a barbecue because I feared they would fall apart.

Last Friday, continuing the expanding of my horizons inspired by Elizabeth Orsini's book From Garden to Grill, I made these black bean burgers and handed them to Larry to cook over the coals. He was dubious at first, but they did cook up beautifully.

Orsini says that the key to a making a veggie burger hold together is squeezing the vegetables dry before you add the beans: too much moisture and they fall apart. It seems quite obvious once she's said it, but since I spent my life trying to make burgers that were moist on the inside, it never occurred to me.

These burgers did hold together well on the grill, but I thought they were dry on the inside. Larry didn't. (He put our homemade salsa on his burger — maybe that's the secret.)

We didn't use buns. Instead we saved room for the sides: grilled shisito peppers, green beans from our garden, and a great salad of grilled corn and tomatoes also inspired by From Garden to Grill.

We only grilled two of the four burgers this recipe makes. We kept the others in the fridge to eat at another barbecue Sunday night. There's nothing like eating outside on summer evenings.

Black Bean Burgers
2/3 cup black beans (or 1 14-oz can)
1 stick celery
1/4 cup chopped red onion
2 cloves garlic, peeled
2 eggs
1 tsp cumin
1 tbsp chili powder
1 cup bread crumbs

Rinse the black beans and cook until tender (about 20 minutes in the pressure cooker or 90 minutes simmering on the stove). Make sure they're soft before you drain them. Drain the beans and pour them onto a kitchen towel. Roll them up and press gently to dry them.

Use a food processor to chop the celery, red onion and garlic very fine. Pour them into a strainer and squeeze out the excess water (your plants will enjoy the water).

Put the beans in a large bowl and mash with a potato masher until only a few lumps remain. Stir in the drained vegetables.

Whisk the eggs with the cumin and chili powder. Stir into the bean mixture. Stir in the bread crumbs. The mixture should hold together well.

Divide the mixture into 4 and shape into patties. Put on a plate, cover with wax paper, and refrigerate at least 30 minutes (or up to a couple of days) until ready to cook on the grill.

Grill over high heat (hand can be held over the rack for 4 seconds) for about 8 minutes per side.

Serve with salsa or ketchup. Avocado would be great too.

Serves 4.