Chatting Tomatoes, Corn, Zucchini & More with Margaret Roach
This post may contain affiliate links. Please read my disclosure policy.
Funny story: My aunt Marcy (the one with the dogs in Vermont) came to visit me on Tuesday. She arrived with a bag of special Vermont plums (delicious!), a tub of pineapple tomatillos (irresistible!), and a glass pitcher filled with an orange-y hued purée I recognized instantly as Julia Moskin’s gazpacho, the one everyone is making.
Surprise Aunt Marcy: I’ve been making it too! I opened the fridge to reveal a mirror image, a glass pitcher filled with an orange-y hued purée, the silky smooth Spanish gazpacho I had blitzed on Monday evening.
Friends: have you made it? I learned about it via Jenny Rosenstrach and Cup of Jo, and I’m finding it to be as miraculous of a little recipe as promised: it takes about five minutes to whip up; it yields a huge quantity; it puts to great use so much of the peak summer produce; it’s delicious and not to mention totally refreshing and incredibly healthy. I like mine drizzled with chili oil.
Hooray: it’s tomato season! Morning- noon- and night-tomato season! But also: up-to-our-eyeballs zucchini season. And: Don’t-blink-how-did-it-pass? corn season.
So much to savor, so little time.
Good news: My friend, Margaret Roach of A Way to Garden, and I have some ideas. We recently chatted about all the tomato, all the zucchini, and all the corn recipes we could squeeze into 25 minutes. Margaret also shares her tips for ripening tomatoes, her method for roasting tomatoes in preparation for freezing, and her go-to, easy skins-on tomato sauce recipe.
I’ve linked to all of the recipes (and more!) below. You can listen to the podcast over on A Way to Garden and enter to win a copy of Bread Toast Crumbs there, too.
UPDATE: GIVEAWAY IS CLOSED. WINNER IS WENDY. I HAVE EMAILE YOU. But before you go! Enter to win a copy of Margaret’s award-winning A Way to Garden here: Leave a comment below. Tell me what you’re currently most excited to be eating or cooking or what you’re looking forward to making most.
Tomato Recipes
Get All the Tomato Recipes Right Here → Tomatoes
After you’ve had your fill of open-faced tomato-and-mayonnaise sandwiches, tomato-topped cream cheese-smeared bagels, BLTs, pan con tomate, simple salads, and pico de gallo, here are some ideas.
But first! Have you seen the new Alexandra’s Kitchen recipe filter? Click on “Recipes” in the top navigation bar. Then filter away!
A Few Perennial Favorites:
- Tomato and Corn Galette (I’ve been making this David Lebovitz recipe for nearly 20 years.)
- Oven-Dried Tomatoes + Bruschetta (Summer in a jar.)
- Tomato-Red Bell Pepper Sauce (My favorite summer sauce: so delicious, so fast.)
- Marcella Hazan Tomato Sauce, Simplified (No peeling!)
- Roasted Tomato and Bread Soup (If you’re feeling fall.)
From Around the Web:
- Margaret Roach’s Skins-On Tomato Sauce
- Julia Moskin’s gazpacho (A new favorite! Pictured up top.)
- Spaghetti with no-cook Puttanesca (Eager to try!)
- Margaret Roach’s Roasted Tomatoes
- Turkish Scrambled Eggs (Looks so good.)
- Naked Tomato Sauce (Long-time Smitten Kitchen favorite.)
Corn Recipes
Get All the Corn Recipes Right Here → Corn
When you’ve had your fill of corn on the cob…
A Few Perennial Favorites:
- Raw Corn Salad with Tomatoes, herbs, lots of acid, and feta (Mark Bittman)
- Fresh corn polenta (A must-make once a summer.)
- Soup with a corn cob stock: Deborah Madison’s or Samin Nosrat’s
- Fritters with Cheddar and Scallions (Deborah Madison’s)
- Melissa Clark’s creamy (no cream!) corn pasta
To Try:
- Milk Street’s Pasta with Corn and Tomatoes (Eager to try!)
- Grilled Romaine and Corn Salad (Looks so good.)
Zucchini Recipes
Get All the Zucchini Recipes Right Here → Zucchini
A Few Perennial Favorites:
- Summer Squash Spaghetti
- Raw salad with olive oil, lemon, parmesan
- Roasted or Sautéed with pine nuts and herbs
- Zucchini Parmesan
- Zucchini Involtini
- Zucchini Fritters
- Zucchini Bread
- Roasted Ratatouille
From Around the Web:
- Heidi Swanson’s pasta with smashed zucchini cream (Loved this one!)
- Zucchini Pickles (Zuni cafe recipe)
- Canal House’s Marinated Zucchini (Food52)
- Zucchini Butter (If you’re looking to cull your haul.)
- Zucchini quesadillas (Smitten Kitchen)
- Stuffed Globe Zucchini (Cookie + Kate)
- Oven-Baked Zucchini Fries (Marilena’s Kitchen)
Enjoy these last few weeks of summer, my Friends! Comment below for a chance to win Margaret’s beautiful book!
This post may contain affiliate links. Please read my disclosure policy.
148 Comments on “Chatting Tomatoes, Corn, Zucchini & More with Margaret Roach”
It is always so inspiring when you two get together. Keep up the great work!
Creative recipes for summer harvest.
I’m so hungry after hearing this podcast! My garden is bearing beefsteak tomatoes, so I made Caprese salad with basil, fresh mozzarella, olive oil, balsamic vinegar, garlic, S&P – delicious!
I’d love to win the books!!
We love trying new veggie recipes along w/ all our old tried & true ones. Looking forward to trying so many of the ones you linked & that you discussed w/ Margaret!
Eggplant! I have 2 plants that are producing so many beautiful eggplants! I love making a no cook tomato sauce, toss it with warm pasta, then top with cubes of roasted eggplant, roasted artichoke hearts and cubes of roased potatoes and, of course, parmesan and fresh basil. It’s AMAZING!!
Loved the podcast! So many great recipes. My kitchen is overflowing with plum tomatoes and zucchini and it has been a great year for corn from our local farm stand. I decided to make the Zucchini Parmesan tonite. Can’t wait to try it. I have your book and would be excited to read Margaret’s.
I’m thinking of corn chowder.
I love micro greens! I put it on top of soup or salad.
My favorite use is on a cheese platter.
I am making zucchini candy. Zucchini chunks simmered in fruit juice, then dehydrated. Amazing gummy candy!
Thanks for zucchini fritter recipe. I’ve lost count in how many times I’ve made them this summer. They have become our favorite.
We have been making one of our simplest recipes… sliced cherry tomatoes tossed with basil, EVOO, garlic, balsamic vinegar and fresh mozzarella. Let it marinate for 3 hours, then toss with fresh pasta. So hood!
I was looking for a zucchini fries recipe, and here was a link on your site. Thank you.
Can’t wait to make t summer squash spaghetti!
Can’t wait to make the tomato and corn galette – it looks delicious!
So many recipes, so little time!
Grilled corn on the cob! In India street vendors serve it grilled, rubbed with a slice of lime and sprinkled with coarse salt.
Made a big bowl of picot de gallo last night with my first large pick of tomatoes. Delicious! Love your post and recipes!
Great ideas
corn chowder!
Right now, I can’t get enough eggplant, or since I learned how to really make my CSA greens work for me from a trusted mentor, al of those greens and herbs have really hit the spot! I can’t wait for Fall cabbages (looking at you, brussels sprouts) or, of course, squash season!
I am into the lovely garden tomatoes, basil, and corn from the garden. You have to make and each as much as you possibly can while you can. Our summers are much to short. Thank you for some more tempting recipes.
Thank you for the yummy ideas! Would love to win your book as I’m planning to (finally) start a vegetable garden.
It’s hard to know where to start, but gazpacho got my attention immediately!
Green Beans growing like crazy…Par boiling then sautee with onions.
Thanks for the chance to win the book…
Making eggplant parm today!
Always a great day when you and Margaret get together. Can’t wait to choose a new recipe for a beautiful Labor Day. Margaret’s book is superb. Pick me, please! 🙂 Thanks!
Corn and tomato pies of all sorts…..can’t get enough. Also going to toss tomatoes just straight in bags into the freezer for this winter as mentioned in your chat w Margaret Roach.
I am anxious to try the Corn Fritters. I have never made anything like it and it sounds amazing.
maybe some fresh corn cooked with from the garden tomatoes and mixed peppers – great warm or cold!!
I started making a recipe when I got married in 1990 from Sarah Leah Chase’s Open House Nantucket, Summer Squash Casserole, changing it up a bit using zucchini along with the yellow summer squash and using grated cheddar and grated havarti instead of slices…the herby and cheesy juices produced at the bottom after cooking this delicious summery and early fall casserole is perfectly soaked up by Alexandra’s Peasant Bread!
I’m a fan of cherry tomatoes only in the summer when they are so sweet & have different varieties. I make a several deconstructed BLT salad, Big Mac, cheese burger, caprese salads all summer long for lunch & dinner.
Have been in the hospital desperately missing the fresh veggies of summer. I think we would all get better if we had the opportunity to get some fresh gazpacho instead of the cheap carbo laden dreck that is served to we sick folks!!