Chatting Tomatoes, Corn, Zucchini & More with Margaret Roach
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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”
Yummy
It’s hard to decide which I love more- corn or tomatoes. The season in Vermont is so short. Thanks for some new ideas to savor the last of summer.
love sweet corn season, I’m going to try the grilled romaine and corn salad sounds wonderful!
Thanks for all the wonderful recipes.
I love roasted veggies. Any and all on a sheet pan with olive oil and lots of garlic and fresh herbs. Maybe some leftover protein and a dash of cheese. Hot or cold.
Your website is amazing love the photography
Never tried tomatoes your way – but looks good!
I have had tomato sandwiches for a week now how that continues for much longer
Corn on the cob. Butter dripping down my arms
Roasted garden mix !
Hi Ali,
Martha newly from Maine here. Can’t stop making the corn fritters even as we cross state lines. Thanks forever for the recipes. xx
Awesome Recipes ! You took my End of Summer but Grateful for It’s Bounty Blues away 🙂
It’s been a late tomato season this year, so I’m still excited about all tomato-y things. I’m looking forward to making the first batch of sauce for the freezer this week 🙂
I’m most excited about the bountiful figs that I can harvest from my 3 small fig trees as I would love to make a homemade fig jam so I can spread it across fresh baked corn muffins with cream cheese. Oh joy!
Excited to experiment with preserving some oven roasted tomatoes to brighten up those 9000 days of winter here in VT!
would love to own a copy of Margaret’s book! so impressed with the both of you. preparing to make your Best Zucchini Bread recipe today 🙂
Herbs. Loving the fresh basil, rosemary, chives, thyme and sage, which will survive till Thanksgiving. I add these herbs to variations of salad dressings, delicious!
Everything looks so good, I don’t know where to begin!
Everything looks so yummy, I want to try it all. We are coming into my favorite time of year to cook. Looking forward to hearty soups and stews and yummy muffins. Please include me in your book giveaway. Thank you.
Loved this podcast! I am at the point of burnout with these summer crops but here in NC, we have at least another month to enjoy them. Thanks for the ideas!
Hi Alexandra! I’m hoping to make the corn and tomato gallete soon! Summer gardens tomatoes are one of my favorite foods! I would be so excited to win the garden book!!
Umm. Just skipped over from Margaret’s place. Am in summer heaven as I read your fabulous recipes. Bring on the zucchini, tomatoes, corn-going down the list while summer provides these goodies. Thanks so much. Plan to add this find to my favorite file. Good day!
Every year I am looking forward to tomato season at our farm share and every year I brainstorm what to make of them so my kids will eat it. I try fresh tomato soups, roasted seasonal veggies (yes, zucchini, tomatoes, eggplant!) but I seem not to make a big impression on either of them. And I want them to be wowed! (Humble me). Having said that, I am looking forward to the expert’s advise and rest my children’s finicky palate in her hands.
I love everything fresh and local right now: pears, plums, summer squash, corn, tomatoes and raspberries! Galettes, pasta dishes and salads are in the forefront – yum!
I made TheFeedFeed’s summer coconut-creamed corn risotto and it was magical and now I’m hooked. And making corn stock has been so amazingly beautiful – I can’t go back to regular veggie stock from the store! There’s a Bon Appetit coconut creamed corn and grains recipe I’m also similarly stoked about cooking. I’ve never had the combination of coconut cream and corn before this summer and I can’t wait to explore all the possibilities!
Oh and I forgot to say that when I saw your post with just a slice on tomato on bagel and cream cheese, I was filled with joy that I’m not the only one. My favorite thing right now is slice of tomato on bread with homemade ricotta, but I’m in love with the bagel and cream cheese version too. So dreamy!
Tomatoes, always tomatoes. I do love classic tomato pie.
Corn pie is on my list of summer recipes. I’m wondering if this is a Lancaster County, Pa ‘thing’ or if it is found in other regions. I know whenever I say ‘corn pie’ to most of my friends and acquaintances they look at me as if I said ‘nroc eip’
I love Fresh tomato pasta sauce with raw tomatoes, garlic, feta or goat cheese, basil, salt, marinated in very good olive oil and left at room temperature for several hours. Toss with al dente pasta of your choice
Hi, I just made the tomato and corn galette and it was wonderful – thank you for the recipe! Now I am going to try the roasted ratatouille. I really enjoy your conversations with Margaret!