I’m sure the parents of the 3rd and 4th graders from two D.C. area public charter schools would be amazed by their children’s enjoyment of asparagus and cherry tomatoes, sautéed spinach, and fresh mint tea. Being that I only started enjoying asparagus last year, I was definitely impressed, but that just goes to show the power of fresh picked vegetables straight from the garden.

Last week and the week before, I had the pleasure of giving a cooking demo to students in the Washington Youth Garden’s Garden Science program. Located in the beautiful National Arboretum, the Washington Youth Garden provides environmental science and food education programs for D.C. youth and their families. These programs include teaching gardening and how food gets from farm to plate, how to start a school garden, how to be good stewards of the environment, and how to prepare fresh nutritious food.

All of the kids were very eager and happy to help me cut up asparagus, tomatoes, lemons and herbs. Some of them helped harvest the vegetables and herbs from the garden, while others helped to gather the scraps for the compost pile. In addition to the beauty of the garden and superior taste of freshly picked vegetables, the gratification that comes from eating something you helped to prepare was another big factor that likely contributed to the students liking the lightly cooked vegetables and even asking for seconds!

With the increased attention school gardens, childhood nutrition, home gardening, and local foods are receiving nationally from First Lady Michelle Obama’s Let’s Move campaign and White House Garden, opportunities are increasingly becoming available for everyone to join in the efforts to improve our own and our children’s eating habits, food choices and awareness of how and what we eat.  Among national and local efforts to improve school lunches, establish community and school gardens, and advocate for better food policies, there are plenty of opportunities for you to get involved where ever you live.

Here are some resources to help you find such an opportunity, as well as a recipe for fresh mint tea, which the Washington Youth Garden kids definitely enjoyed!

American Community Garden Association
Let’s Move Campaign
Slow Food USA (Chapters nation-wide)
Time for Lunch Program (Slow Food USA)
DC Field to Fork Network
Google.com (Just do a search for your city and “community garden” or “school gardens”)

Fresh Mint Tea

4 quarts water
5 -6 single serving bags of black tea
1 bunch of fresh mint (about 1 to 1-1/2 cups packed), leaves removed (discard stems)
1 cup evaporated cane juice sugar, plus more to taste

Bring the water to a boil in a large pot. Once boiling, turn off heat and add tea bags and loose mint leaves. Let steep for about 5 – 10 minutes. Strain the tea into a heat-proof pitcher and stir in sugar. Serve warm or allow tea to cool and serve over ice.

After seven months of weekend-long intensives, weekly classes, teaching practicums, readings, personal practice and study; the nine ladies of the Shakti Mind Body Studio 2009 – 2010 yoga teacher training class have been initiated into the transformative practice of yoga as teachers and life-long students.

As a member of this class, I’m grateful for the experience of the program and I thoroughly enjoyed it. My interest in food and nutrition goes hand in hand with my study of healing movement through yoga and dance, as they all have the power to heal and foster well-being – body, mind and spirit.

During our graduation celebration this past Sunday, we all brought a vegetarian dish just as we had for our lunches throughout the teacher training program. The spread was delicious and beautiful from roasted vegetables to an Asian noodle stir-fry to chocolate dipped strawberries.

Wanting to make sure I contributed an especially delicious entrée for our special occasion, I looked to the flavor of Indian cuisine with its myriad of spices that always leave my mouth bursting with a party of flavors in every bite. I’m a big fan of Indian food, and thanks to my study of Indian cookbooks and several Indian cooking classes, the chole curry with pulao that I brought to the party turned out very well.

The chole (a.k.a. chickpeas or garbanzo beans) curry included the seasoning of mustard seeds, cumin seeds, curry powder, garam masala, cinnamon, bay leaves, parsley and fire-roasted crushed tomatoes. With a slow simmer these spices meld together to create a very tasty curry to go over the pulao. I highly recommend finding yourself a good Indian market to get your spices. Their spices tend to be less expensive than what you find in a regular grocery store.

Pulao, basmati rice pilaf, is a very fragrant dish in Indian cuisine. It can be made a variety of ways, but I used spices recommended by Chef Sudhir Seth of Passage to India, which I learned from him during a cooking class.

In addition to using the spices of cinnamon, black peppercorns, cardamom, cumin seeds and cloves, the key to this lovely pulao is washing or rinsing the basmati rice 3 to 4 times to remove excess starch and then letting the rice soak briefly while you cook the spices and boil your water. With the rice left to simmer on low for only 15 minutes and then removed from the heat and left to sit for 5 minutes, you’ll have fluffy rice every time. Enjoy and Namaste!

Chole Curry (Chickpea/Garbanzo Bean Curry)
Serves many (10 – 15)

4 tablespoons oil (extra-virgin olive oil, or ghee, or other)
1 teaspoon mustard seeds
1 small yellow onion, diced
2 - 3 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 teaspoon cumin seeds
3 cans (15-oz.) of garbanzo beans (chickpeas), rinsed and drained
1 can (15-oz.) crushed tomatoes (fire-roasted if you can find it)
2-1/2 cups vegetable broth (plus more if needed during cooking)
2 teaspoons kosher salt (plus more to taste)
1-1/2 tablespoons curry powder
1 tablespoon garam masala
3 bay leaves
1 cinnamon stick (optional)
1/4 teaspoon chopped fresh rosemary (optional)
2 teaspoons dried parsley flakes (or 1-1/2 tbs fresh chopped parsley)
Fresh cracked black pepper
1 Squeeze of fresh lemon (about 1 teaspoon)

Heat oil in a large pot over medium heat. Add mustard seeds and cover pot with lid to retain any popping seeds. Cook seeds for about 1 minute (until you hear them begin to sizzle and pop a little). Uncover pot and add cumin seeds, onion and garlic; and sauté about 5 – 8 minutes (until onions begin to become translucent). Note: As always, do not burn the garlic – otherwise start over.

Add the rinsed and drained beans to the pot along with the crushed tomatoes (juice included). Stir and next add the broth, curry powder, garam masala powder, salt, bay leaves, cinnamon stick and rosemary.

Stir contents well, cover pot and increase heat to medium high. Once the contents of the pot reach a hard simmer or low boil, reduce the heat to medium low, cover pot and simmer stirring occasionally. Add additional broth if curry becomes too thick. It should neither be too soupy nor pasty.

After simmering for 20 minutes or so, add parsley, black pepper and lemon juice. Stir and taste for flavor. Add additional salt or curry powder if desired. Simmer on low for an additional 10 - 15 minutes. Serve over rice or with flat bread and enjoy!

Note: You can use dried garbanzo beans as well, just soak them over night and simmer longer (more broth or water needed) until the beans are tender. Canned beans are acceptable; just use a quality natural foods brand that doesn’t include preservatives. I used Whole Food’s 365 Organic Garbanzo Beans.

Pulao (Fragrant Basmati Rice)
Serves 5 (Recipe can be easily doubled)
Adapted from a mutter pulao recipe by Sudhir Seth of Passage to India

1 cup basmati rice
2 tablespoons oil (canola, ghee, or other)
1/4 teaspoon cumin seeds
5 cloves
6 green cardamom pods
10 whole black peppercorns
1 cinnamon stick
1 bay leaf
1-1/5 cups water (plus more for rinsing and soaking)
1 teaspoon salt

In a large bowl, rinse and drain (wash) rice 3 – 4 times with lukewarm water, then in the same bowl, cover rice in lukewarm water and set aside. Heat oil over medium heat in a medium sauce pan and add cumin seeds. After about 15 – 30 seconds, seeds will begin to sizzle. Immediately add other spices and sauté for about 1 minute.

Add 1-1/2 cups water to pot and raise heat to bring water to a boil. Drain soaking rice and add rice to the boiling water. Allow water to come back to a boil, stir once, then cover pot. Reduce heat to low and simmer for 15 minutes. Remove covered pot from heat and set aside for 5 minutes. Fluff rice and serve.  

Note: The pre-washing the rice removes excess starch and results in separated, fluffy rice.

 

Hopefully, where ever you are the weather has been as beautiful and uplifting as the gorgeous spring weather we’ve been experiencing here in the D.C. area. The breakthrough of sunny skies, gentle winds and comfortable warmth has been a refreshing detour from the harsh winter we experienced this year. Now with all the snow melted and days warm enough to leave the jacket at home and breakout the sandals, it’s time to ease up on soups and stews, and move on to lighter and refreshing dishes.

The first touch of spring and lighter fare in my kitchen comes from this nutritious whole wheat pasta salad. Working well as a light side dish for lunch or an afternoon snack, a tasty pasta salad is also a good thing to have in your collection of dishes for your first cook out or BBQ of the season.

Made with whole grain pasta, my spring fresh and summer ready pasta salad includes a variety of flavorful, fresh ingredients like diced tomatoes, green onions, tangy black olives, and a homemade vinaigrette of extra-virgin olive oil, white whine vinegar and Dijon mustard. Easy to make in all of about 30 minutes, you can eat it warm, but it gets that cool and refreshing taste of a salad once you refrigerate it or allow it to come to room temperature. Enjoy!

Spring Fresh, Summer Ready Pasta Salad
Serves 8

3 cups whole wheat corkscrew (rotelle) pasta
1/2 tablespoon salt
2 small ripe tomatoes seeded, peeled and diced
2 scallions (green onions) thinly sliced (green parts only)
1/4 cup sliced black olives
1/4 cup diced red onions
1 teaspoon lemon zest (optional)
Salt and fresh cracked black pepper to taste

Dressing
1/3 cup extra-virgin olive oil
1/4 cup quality white wine vinegar
1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
2 teaspoons honey
1/8 teaspoon dried thyme
Pinch of salt

Fill a large pot with water, add 1/2 tablespoon salt, and bring to a boil. Add pasta and cook uncovered until pasta is tender. Drain pasta and set aside in a large bowl.

In a separate bowl, add white wine vinegar, Dijon mustard, honey and dried thyme. Then slowly drizzle in the extra-virgin olive oil while quickly whisking all dressing ingredients together. Season dressing with a pinch of salt and taste to adjust flavor as needed.

Add olives, green onions, red onions and tomatoes to your bowl of pasta and add in dressing (you may not need to use all of it). Stir all together and mix well. Season pasta salad with salt, pepper and lemon zest to taste. Set aside or refrigerate to cool completely before serving.

Staring in my cabinet at two cans of pumpkin puree that were left over from my holiday baking, I asked myself, “what can I do with this besides wait until next holiday season to bake with it, or cheat on my New Year’s resolution to cut back on sweets with an attempt at pumpkin cheesecake?” The answer: a warming and slightly spicy pumpkin soup.

Leaning on my love of coconut, cilantro and fragrant curry powder, I looked to those ingredients to add full-bodied flavor to this vegetarian and vegan friendly soup. A sauté of diced onions and garlic in coconut oil provide the foundation for the soup followed by the pumpkin puree, which is then made rich and smooth with coconut milk and vegetable broth. When creating this recipe I used full fat coconut milk that includes the thick cream, but light coconut milk will work perfectly fine as well.

I shared this pot of soup for lunch with my fellow classmates in my yoga teacher training program and it was a big hit! Not to mention, just what we needed on a cold January afternoon. I hope you enjoy it too!

Note: There’s a debate among health and nutrition circles as to whether or not coconut oil should be a part of a healthy diet. I tend to lean toward arguments for coconut oil’s health benefits, but here are some helpful links – one of which discusses the arguments against coconut oil – so that you can inform yourself.

• MSN Health & Fitness on Coconut Oil
• A New Look at Coconut Oil

Coconut Curry Pumpkin Soup
Serves 8

3 teaspoons coconut oil or extra-virgin olive oil
1 small yellow onion, diced
5 garlic cloves, minced
1 teaspoon curry powder (mild or hot)
2 15-oz. cans pumpkin puree
1 14-oz. can coconut milk
1 quart (4 cups) vegetable broth
4 cups water
2 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro
Squeeze of  juice from 1/2 lime
3 teaspoons salt plus more to taste
Fresh cracked black pepper to taste

In a large pot, heat coconut oil over medium heat, then add onions, garlic and curry powder and sauté stirring occasionally until onions are soft (about 8 minutes or so). Next, add pumpkin puree, then stir in coconut milk, vegetable broth and water followed by salt and pepper. Bring soup to a boil, then reduce heat to a simmer and add cilantro. Allow soup to simmer for about 25 minutes. Add lime juice and taste for additional seasoning. Serve and enjoy!

As soon as you walk into any supermarket right now, you’re sure to be met with a bold, colorful and varied display of winter squash. Acorn squash, banana squash, spaghetti squash, buttercup squash, butternut squash, and pumpkins. Have you ever wondered, “What in the world do people do with all this stuff?” I used to.

I can’t really recall anybody from my family cooking with winter squash. If that’s the case for you too, know that these colorful round and odd shaped vegetables can offer wonderful variety to your autumn meals. They’re great for roasting and mashing, and using in baked goods and soup.

I’ve only begun to learn different ways to prepare winter squash, but warm, herb seasoned soup is one of my favorite uses for it, particularly using butternut squash. Butternut squash has a deliciously mild sweet flavor that kind of reminds me of sweet potatoes and it’s one of the winter squash varieties that’s easier to peel than others.

Butternut squash soup can be prepared various ways to give it flavor. It may include chicken broth or vegetable broth, cream or milk, or sprinkles of parmesan cheese, and the choice of spices to use are endless. I’ve seen two recipes that feature curry in the soup. I’m really looking forward to trying the recipe Dr. Sunyatta Amen, one of my dance instructors, recently featured for a tasty looking butternut squash soup that includes Thai curry and coconut milk.

My recipe uses vegetable broth, apples, sage and thyme. The apples add another mild layer of sweetness to the soup that contribute to its seasonal taste. Also, I especially love seasoning butternut squash soup with sage. Just like winter squash, sage reminds me of fall due to the herb often being used in roasted turkeys and dressing (stuffing). Using vegetable broth gives the soup a light flavor, but you can easily interchange it for chicken broth, which will add more body to the soup. Either way, it will be delicious!

Do you have any other way you like to prepare winter squash or butternut squash soup?

Butternut Squash Soup
Serves 4 – 5

Adapted from Deborah Madison’s recipe in
Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone.

2.5 – 3 pound butternut squash
6 cloves garlic, unpeeled
3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, plus more to drizzle
1 small onion, diced (about 1/2 cup)
1 tablespoon chopped fresh sage leaves
1/4 teaspoon dried thyme
1 medium apple, peeled, cored and cut into cubes
1 quart vegetable broth (4 cups)
1 teaspoon kosher salt, plus more to taste
Fresh ground black pepper

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Slice off the small top end of the squash, then with the squash standing upright, carefully cut it in half with a large chef’s knife (be careful). Scoop out the seeds of both halves of the squash and discard.

Drizzle and rub a little olive oil on the flesh side of both halves of squash including inside the cavities. Then, placing three cloves of garlic in each cavity, place the halves skin side down on a baking sheet and roast uncovered in the oven for about 30 – 40 minutes or until squash gives to pressure when touched.

Remove roasted squash from oven and allow to cool for about 10 – 15 minutes. Heat three tablespoons of olive oil over medium high heat in a large Dutch oven or saucepan, and add onions, sage and thyme and cook stirring occasionally for about 5 – 8 minutes.

Scoop the flesh from the cooked squash into the pan (discard skin) and squeeze out the roasted garlic from their peels into the pan as well (discard peels). Stir together, add vegetable broth and apple cubes and bring to a boil briefly before lowering the heat to a simmer. Simmer soup for 20 minutes before pureeing in batches in a blender or with an immersion blender. Taste for additional seasoning and serve.

I’m back! Every now and then you just have to take a break. That was the case for me last week. After pushing hard in August to maintain my blogging schedule of posting twice a week and working to win the 2009 Black Weblog Awards for best food blog (which I did – thank you!), I had to slow down for a moment to regroup. Also, I had to make an adjustment to a new endeavor added to my schedule – yoga teacher training.

I’ve written about my interest in dance and yoga before, which both go hand in hand with my passion around food, nutrition and good eating. All of these things are about nurturing your health and well-being. I study dance and movement regularly (multiple classes a week) and have been practicing yoga on some level since 2000. So wanting to deepen my own yoga practice and prepare myself for teaching others about using movement for feeding mind, body and spirit, I’m now working on my 200-hour-level certification with Shakti Mind Body Studio.

This has inspired me to share the recipe for this post – a quinoa-millet hot breakfast cereal, which I first came across during a recent yoga retreat I attended. Definitely uncommon and associated with health food stores, you might be wondering, ‘what in the world is quinoa (pronounced keen-wah) or millet?’

Quinoa is a grain-like seed native to South America and high in protein and various minerals. It’s fluffy when cooked and has a nutty flavor. It can be eaten like oatmeal as in my recipe or like rice or cous cous. Millet is a grain that’s also a substitute for rice or cous cous and can be used in baked goods such as breads and muffins.

Cooked together in water, similar to how you might make oatmeal; this combination makes a great hot breakfast cereal that adds some variety to your mornings – variety in taste and in the nutrients provided. I’m from the south, so I love grits for breakfast (savory preferred – butter and salt), but I also enjoy oatmeal topped with chopped nuts, brown sugar and dried fruit. That’s exactly the same approach I use when making quinoa-millet cereal. Give it a try and let me know what you think.

Quinoa-Millet Hot Cereal
Makes about 4 servings

1/2 cup quinoa, rinsed and drained
1/4 cup millet, rinsed and drained
2-1/2 cups water
Chopped nuts
Currants, raisins or cranberries
Dried apricots, diced

Bring water and a pinch of salt to a boil in small sauce pan. Add quinoa and millet, stir, cover, reduce heat, and simmer for about 30 minutes. Add a little hot water if it cooks too quickly. The cereal should be neither too watery nor dry (more like porridge).

Serve in a bowl with chopped nuts, dried fruit such as raisins, currants and apricots, along with one to two tablespoons of maple syrup or agave nectar. You can also use brown sugar instead.

Roasted French green beans with cherry tomatoes; this is truly a seasonal dish. These tender, yet crisp green beans, also known as haricots verts or French filet beans, are thin and slender and as a result, cook quickly. That should be some solace over the fact that they can be a little hard to find.

I bought these beans at the farmers’ market this past Sunday along with some bright red cherry tomatoes that were very tiny, but full of flavor. In fact, I’ve never tasted a cherry tomato that tastes so good.

I know that I’ve made some similar comments in several of my posts over the summer, but believe me, it’s the honest to goodness truth. I guess that’s just a testament to how much there is to discover about food that’s fresh picked and in season.

Inspired by a recipe for roasted vegetables by Ina Garten in her latest cookbook, I simply tossed these beans and cherry tomatoes with a little extra-virgin olive oil and kosher salt, and then roasted them at 425 degrees F for 10 minutes. They came out of the oven cooked, but still a little crispy with the warm tomatoes bursting their tart, yet sweet flavor onto the pan.

If you aren’t a big fan of crisp green beans, you can boil the beans first for about five minutes before roasting them with the tomatoes.  I wouldn’t roast them for more than 10 minutes because then they tend to wilt and overcook.

Also, if you can’t find French green beans, the next best thing are young, small green beans. Since these beans aren’t always readily available in supermarkets, so don’t plan to make this recipe and then shop. Go shopping first, and if you come across some beautiful haricots verts or small green beans that catch your eye, come back to this reference on how to enjoy them.

French Green Beans and Cherry Tomatoes
Adapted from Ina Garten’s Oven-Roasted Vegetables

1 pound of French green beans
1/2 pint cherry tomatoes
1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
1 teaspoon salt
Fresh cracked black pepper

Preheat oven to 425 degrees F. Rinse and drain vegetables and spread them out in one layer on a baking sheet. Drizzle olive oil over the beans and tomatoes and sprinkle with 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt. Toss the vegetables to coats, and then sprinkle with the other half teaspoon salt. Place the pan in the oven and roast for 10 minutes. Remove pan from oven, add a little fresh cracked black pepper and serve.

Lucky me! After getting up at the crack of dawn this past Sunday to work eight hours in the hot August sun at the farmers’ market, helping to bring fresh, locally grown produce to Washingtonians, I was greatly rewarded. One of the gracious farmers gave me a box full of beautiful, organic heirloom tomatoes!

This gift was right on time. I had just finished thinking about how I wanted to take advantage of the season’s tomatoes by either canning some tomatoes, or making and canning tomato sauce. That way, I could have peak tomato flavor even after the summer ended.

Every good cook and cookbook I’ve come across that talk about tomatoes always say that if  you’re going to make fresh sauce, do it with vine-ripened, freshly picked tomatoes. Otherwise, go for store-bought canned tomatoes, which are canned at peak season (if you can’t can your own, which is time consuming I know).

So I used six pounds of my tomatoes (the ones that were of a plum variety) to try my hand at marinara sauce. It turned out pretty well – absolutely delicious in fact! As I tasted my final product, I thought, “Man, where has fresh, homemade tomato sauce been all my life?!”

Cooking the basil and thyme seasoned sauce took a little longer than I expected. I thought I could get away with just simmering it for an hour, and I could have, but I wanted a thicker sauce that was more like the consistency I’m used to. Still noticing a little wateriness, I continued to simmer the colorful mixture, which had my place smelling wonderfully from beginning to end, for about an hour and 45 minutes.

I wasn’t quite ready to attempt the canning process yet. Thankfully, I still have half a box of tomatoes left from which I’m going to make more sauce to can and hopefully have my own little stash of marinara sauce to use when the weather’s cold, but my taste buds want to be reminded of summer.

Do any of you have experience with canning? Also, the color of my sauce wasn’t as red as I expected (it turned kind of orange). I’m still researching why that was the case. If you have any info on this, please share!

Summer Fresh Marinara Sauce

6 pounds ripe plum or Romano tomatoes
1 /4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
1 large onion, diced
1 celery stalk, minced
4 cloves garlic minced
8 sprigs of fresh thyme, leaves striped and chopped (discard stems)
1 handful fresh basil leaves
2-1/2 teaspoons salt
Fresh cracked black pepper

Fill a large non-reactive stockpot or Dutch oven with water and bring to a boil. Add tomatoes. After 15 seconds, immediately transfer tomatoes to a large bowl of cold water. Now you should be able to easily pull the skins right off the tomatoes.

Seed the peeled tomatoes by cutting off one end and squeezing the seeds out or cutting tomatoes into quarters and removing the seeds with your hands. Roughly chop tomatoes and set aside.

Wipe pot clean and add olive oil over medium heat. Add onions and cook for about eight minutes. Then add celery and garlic, and cook for another 2 – 4 minutes. Add 1/2 teaspoon of salt and stir.

Add chopped, seeded tomatoes, a pinch of sugar and stir. Stir in the thyme and remaining salt. Take half of your handful of basil and chop it, then add to pot. Stir the pot, slightly reduce heat and simmer uncovered.

After 30 minutes, chop and add remaining basil. Continue to simmer for 1 hour to 1 1/2 hours stirring occasionally. The longer the sauce cooks, the more the water cooks out of it and the thicker the sauce, so cook to your desired consistency. Finally, lightly puree the sauce with an immersion blender or pour the sauce in a regular blender in batches. Taste for additional salt, pepper and sugar if needed.

Serve over pasta or vegetables. Sauce can be kept refrigerated for up to four days.

This past Sunday as I worked my part-time job as a market manager for the Dupont Circle farmers’ market in steamy 95 degree weather, the last thing on my mind was soup. However, just a few short weeks ago at the market, I was slipping in tastes of the guest chef’s papa al pomodoro – tomato and bread soup – in between handing out samples to eager market shoppers waiting to taste the seasonal flavors being featured that day.

That weekend’s heat was no match for this past Sunday, but it was warm none the less. One would think that warm soup is an odd offering during the summer, but the flavors of Sara Polon’s (Souper Girl, the guest chef) soup left many people delighted. I was one of them.

Papa al pomodoro is a traditional Italian soup that makes use of day old bread and the bright flavors of fresh summer tomatoes and basil. My adaptation of Sara’s recipe uses vegetable broth instead of water. You could also try chicken broth instead. In addition, my version adds parsley and rosemary for more layers of flavor.

Since it is summer, I wouldn’t serve this piping hot, but warm. It makes a great lunch and would also do well for dinner served with a salad or roasted chicken.

As Sara recommends, uses the freshest tomatoes you can find. At this time of year, that’s easy – get them out of your garden (in my case, I wish) or pick them up at your nearest farmers’ market! Buon Appetito!

Papa al Pomodoro (Italian Tomato and Bread Soup)
Adapted from recipe by Souper Girl, Sara Polon
Serves 5 – 8

6 large, fresh tomatoes (about 3 pounds)
1 medium onion, diced
4 gloves garlic, minced
4 cups vegetable broth
1/4 cup chopped flat leaf parsley
2 sprigs rosemary
1 cup fresh basil leaves, coarsely chopped or chiffonade
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil plus more for drizzling
1 1/2 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon sugar
1/3 loaf of day old country bread (Italian or French)

Bring a large stockpot of water to a boil. With a large spoon, gently add unpeeled tomatoes to the water. After 30 seconds, remove tomatoes with spoon and plunge into a bowl of cold water. Tomatoes should now peel easily by hand. Coarsely chop peeled tomatoes (core them also) and set aside along with their juice.

Empty water from stockpot and wipe clean. Add olive oil to pot and set over medium heat. Add onions and cook until translucent (stir occasionally), about 8 – 10 minutes. Add garlic and cook for another 3 minutes (remember, never burn garlic or it will ruin the entire dish).

Add tomatoes, including their juice to the pot along with 1/2 teaspoon salt and bring to a simmer (about 5 minutes). Add vegetable broth, parsley, rosemary sprigs and basil. Stir to combine and bring to a simmer. Add a drizzle of olive oil and 1 teaspoon salt, 1/8 teaspoon sugar, and simmer for about 10 minutes.

Meanwhile, cut bread up into 1″ size cubes. Taste soup for flavor. Add another sprinkle of salt if necessary. Stir in bread being sure to submerge the bread. Remove pot from heat, cover and let sit for 15 minutes. Remove rosemary sprigs and serve. Garnish with a little basil chiffonade (optional).

Sometimes, ripe fruits and vegetables are just too good to be cooked or sugar coated. They’re delicious in their own right and packed with nutrition. I came real close to featuring a pound cake with peaches in syrup or a peach cobbler (I probably will later), but in honor of the peak of summer and the bounty of seasonal produce available, I dedicate this post to the unadulterated peach.

This season especially, I’m coming to realize that ripe, fresh picked fruits and vegetables have so much more flavor than the produce you normally find in the grocery store year round. The latter has often been prematurely picked and is several days or a week old before it gets in your shopping bag, which means less flavor and less nutrients.

Fresh, local peaches are just now beginning to show up on market stands, and they’ll be with us through August. I couldn’t be happier. Their fragrance reminds me of home and when I used to help my grandfather sell South Carolina peaches at the local farmers’ market. Oh, and that’s a helpful tip for you when purchasing peaches — if you can’t easily smell their fragrance, then they’re probably not going to be the best pick. That I knew, but here are a few other tips: 

“Look for ones with a creamy to gold undercolor that indicates ripeness. The amount of red on peaches depends on the variety, it is not always a sign of ripeness. Look for fruit that has a well-defined crease and a good fragrance. Unripe peaches have a green undercolour and will never ripen.”

- The Fruit Pages

Originally from China (fascinating), peaches are high in potassium and contain vitamins C and A. They also contain fiber, are low in calories, have high water content, and are considered to be a natural diuretic. All good for you and your taste buds, so find yourself a good peach and indulge in the natural beauty of summer.