August has been a weird month so far here in Oklahoma. We’ve had record highs and almost record lows and LOTS of rain recently. I hope I don’t jinx it.
In the summers, I love to sneak away to my favorite art museum, Philbrook, for my lunch break. It’s just nice to stroll through the galleries (which many times are empty) and wander the gardens (if there is time). The once and only time I was able to do make a visit this summer, I found this cute book in the gift shop.
This book was a totally spontaneous buy. I wish there were more recipes though. It’s a cute book and would make a great gift. It does list each herb with a description and suggested usages, discusses growing and harvesting with a few recipes for butters, oils, rubs, soups, etc. There’s a section on cordials and teas, too. The best thing about the book is the chart in the back that lists foods and then suggests accompanying herbs. The Cook’s Herb Garden would make a great gift with a pot of herbs.
I did try the tarragon butter from the book. It was great on corn on the cob.
I’ve been getting a lot of produce from our gardens.
Lots of cucumbers and tomatoes.
I made two quarts of refrigerator pickles.
With the extra tomatoes and cucumbers, I’ve been revisiting this Berbere Vegetable Salad. I also made Juicy Tomatoes with Italian Chile Crisp. I highly recommend this recipe as well. (You’ll just have to trust me on that last one. I made it, plated it beautifully and then promptly served it without any photos.)
I’ve also processed and frozen about 15 cups of roasted tomato sauce.
Preheat oven to 425F. Place tomatoes and whatever other veggies you like along with a couple of heads of garlic. (This batch also had some shallots, some sweet cayenne peppers and a few green onions.) Drizzle with olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Roast for about 20 minutes.
Remove from oven and let cool. Remove charred tomato skins, and squeeze out roasted garlic cloves. Place everything in a blender and process until smooth. Use right away or freeze for later.
I also picked enough peaches to make 5 cups of pulp which was frozen to make jam at a later time.
We had house quests recently so I whipped up a Cherry-Walnut Galette. I morphed these to recipes: Flaky Pie Crust and Rustic Cherry Galette and added some walnuts. No real recipe but it was good and I would try to recreate it again.
My curveball this month is still from the garden.
We’re growing gourds and this might be our most prolific planting. I see lots of bird houses in our future.
In My Kitchen is hosted by Sherry’s Pickings. Please stop by to see what is going on in kitchens (and gardens) around the world.
Beautiful produce! Your recipes sound delicious.
best, mae at maefood.blogspot.com
I love pickles! and a roasted veg sauce is the bomb! The galette looks so tasty, and what about those gourds? So amazing. thanks for joining in. cheers Sherry
Love all your garden produce which I am sure tastes wonderful. An interesting looking gourd, have not seen these before 🙂
Everything looks amazing. I/ in awe of your tomato crop and so in the mood for refrigerator pickles. Is there a recipe?
Yes, I use the one in the Ball Complete Book of Home Preserving book.
I have two herb books on my desk right now, and The Cook’s Herb Garden sounds like one I should add to the pile. I love the sound of tarragon on corn. I shall have to wait for mine to come up again in summer 🙂
Your produce is beautiful! Those gourds are really popular in China, and I remember when I was small people in the countryside still used to use them as drink bottles. We used to have half a dried gourd as our rice scoop at home!
What a bounty you have from your garden! There’s nothing better than home grown. Everything looks delicious but I only have eyes for the pickles! Nom!