“In My Kitchen” August 2023

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.