Five Minute Gazpacho for One

In order to keep up with my farmers' markets in August problem, every meal we eat at home must have a produce dish. Here's my new lunchtime side for as long as the tomatoes are excellent.

Coarsely chop 2/3 pickling cucumber and two small tomatoes. Put in bowl. Find the garlic press, and press one clove garlic, 1/3 pickling cucumber (in thick slices), one slice hot pepper (or more to taste), and two small tomatoes, halved. Add the gruesome product of your pressing to the bowl. Add the juice of one lime, to taste. Stir and season with salt and pepper.

Pesto Potato Salad

I've been making a lot of pesto. I think "Ooo, I want to make tomato basil napoleons and this bunch of basil is only a dollar!" I buy two bunches. I use ten leaves. It wilts. I make pesto. I might as well make another kind of potato salad, right? What is this, six?

This pesto salad is best with either 2/3 cilantro and 1/3 mint (C: too minty) or all arugula or the really oily pesto one buys in stores if one does not have a produce fixation. Boil one pound of potatoes until tender- try to use a sweetish potato, like white potatoes or German butterballs or Yukon golds. Destem one half pound green beans and cut into inch long pieces. Blanch the green beans until tender- about two minutes.

Slice the potatoes into bite sized chunks. Add green beans. Dress with olive oil, lemon juice, and 1/4 cup pesto. (I suppose you could use less pesto, but at this point I'm just dumping it into everything. Oil and lemon are to taste- a dollop and a half lemon, probably.)

It's a pretty good potato salad, but I like all potato salads. Obviously.

Corn Salad

My husband is not American. Or he's not a United Statesian- he is from that other America, that continent and change that is so easy to overlook. Thus, he is weird. He doesn't like puppies, or sunshine, or swimming. Or corn on the cob.

Yes. I married a man who hates summer.

So this is corn off of the cob, although it is still too sweet. Because he doesn't like sweet corn either.

Take two handfuls of sweet peppers. Char in an unoiled pan until soft and remove. Cut the kernels off of four ears of corn. Add 1 tbs. oil to pan, and saute corn until soft. Chop the peppers into 1/2 inch sections and add to corn. Stir.

See, if we weren't hanging out with other cultures, we would have never made something this tasty.

Roast Peaches with Rosemary

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Halve apeach and place in a baking dish. Drizzle with honey, sprinkle with salt, and put a sprig of rosemary where the pit used to be. Bake until as tender as desired- 10 to 30 minutes. (C prefers that his peaches be either barely warm or baked into submission. He accepts nothing intermediate.)

Serves two. I'd suggest adding some Rice Dream, or ice cream, or even my unhealthy obsession of the summer: pouring custard.

Corn and Peach Salsa

It is the best salsa. If you make it without hot peppers, it is also very popular with small children.

Dice one onion, one jalapeño pepper and two ripe peaches. Slice the kernels off of two ears of corn. (There is discussion over whether it is better to cook the corn first. Since I am the one chopping interminably, I go for raw.) Add the juice of two limes and some salt. Stir. Serve.

Peach Onion stir fry

We have too many peaches.

Cut one sweet onion into slices. Saute over medium heat in a little bit of oil until somewhat brown. Add two sliced peaches and cook, stirring, until peaches are tender. Serve over brown rice.

Greens with bacon stir fry

Our farmer's market is right next to a Ranch 99 superstore- which means we have a greater variety of produce, more reasonable prices, and the actual ability to buy all of the produce that one will eat in a week. I love multiculturalism and the long-term consequences of poorly conceived wars.

There are usually three to seven types of greens for sale- huge two hand bunches for a dollar. I'm terribly unclear on the names (and occasionally the families) but I tend to prepare them all the same way:

Chop one slice of fatty bacon into small bits. Fry on medium-high heat until crispy. Add one bunch chopped greens and stir until greens are tender. Serve.

Sometimes I fry a little onion or garlic with the bacon. Real vegans could just do that and add some oil. I sometimes garnish with lemon juice, chili paste, green onions, or cilantro.

As a pro tip- Ipomoea aquatica is absurdly tasty, the stems of bitter melon and chayote are not.