I was at my parents’ house recently, and my mom was making me take home tomatoes from their garden. (That makes it sound like a bad thing--it’s not.) I guess we were talking about what to do with tomatoes when she announced that a gentleman they know has the best...
Restaurant-Style Salsa
It’s so easy to grab a jar of salsa at the store. I used to do it all the time. That is, until the day I came home from the grocery store without it. By the time I realized my error I had enchiladas in the oven, rice on the stove, and I was setting the table for...
Mediterranean Shrimp with Tomatoes and Feta
Mediterranean Shrimp with Tomatoes and Feta is based on a classic Greek dish, Shrimp Saganaki. In Greece it’s predominantly served as an appetizer, often as part of a mezze (i.e., appetizer) platter. The word “saganaki” refers to the two handled-pan typically used to...
Tomato and Artichoke Galette
Everybody I know loves a tomato pie. It’s summertime right now and no one will shut up about it. Tomato pie this, tomato pie that, etc, etc, and then they look at me, and I’m all like . . . What??? I don’t make that kind of tomato pie. Those of you who have been...
Fresh Roasted Tomato Soup
It’s summertime in Baldwin County, Alabama, and I hope you’re absolutely inundated with fresh local tomatoes. And when it gets too hot for tomatoes on the coast here in a minute, I hope you’ll buy silly amounts of Sand Mountain, Alabama tomatoes, which are the next...
The Best (and Easiest) Homemade Marinara Sauce
Does anybody else have those weeks where you’ve been as busy as the dickens, busier than a one-armed wallpaper hanger, certainly too busy to cram in one more thing (especially laundry), but you still don’t quite know what you’ve managed to accomplish? If anything?...
Gazpacho, and Smoked Paprika Shrimp
Good lord, it’s hot. But we still have to eat, evidently. Aside from Frozen Grapes in Ice Water, Gazpacho (garnished with Smoked Paprika Shrimp, of course) is one of the coolest dinners I know. AND, you can actually serve this to company if you have any. You can make...
Spicy Sausage in Tomato Basil Cream
Spicy Sausage in Tomato Basil Cream has been a house favorite here for many years. Lots of our friends are familiar with it because I’ve served it to dinner guests numerous times. It’s easy to make, it doesn’t take long, and calls for ingredients I nearly always have...