Recipes for Summer

The incredible bounty of fresh, luscious, drool-inducing summer produce is upon us!
Here in the Northeast USofA, recent years have seen a vast proliferation of small farms sprouting seemingly full grown from the soil.

This is not to minimize the back-breaking, time consuming work of farming, but merely to point out that if you go to any local weekend farmers market, you are likely to find an abundance and variety of fruits, vegetables, herbs, tubers, breads, cheeses, honey, jams, etc, that will give you whiplash trying to take in the cornucopia of earthly delights!

Rule #1: Buy as much fresh, local produce and naturally raised meat as you can prepare and stuff into the eager mouths of your family.
If at all possible, buy at a farmers market from family farmers. Besides the culinary ecstasy you experience, you will also be helping to insure responsible stewardship of the soil and bypassing the industrial petro-farms who poison the land and water with a plague of chemicals, abuse their animals and eagerly kill you and your families with carcinogens, hormone disrupters and who knows what other synthetic abominations.

Rule #2: Eat 'em raw or choose recipes that are quick and easy to prepare, with minimal non-farm ingredients, to enhance nutritional value and allow the gorgeous flavors of freshness to dominate. I often look for ideas at searchable recipe websites such as  Epicurious and FoodieView.  Chow is best known for their restaurant comment boards, but their recipe section has some great stuff.

If you want to dig deeper into the small farm food movement and can stomach reading about the homicidal depredations of large-scale industrial agriculture,  
The Cornucopia Institute , Slow Food USA and La Vida Locavore are all excellent resource sites. You will also find shopping advice and some recipes at these communities.

Now, forthwith, here is a sampling of my favorite summer recipes:

SUMMER CORN CHOWDER WITH BACON
Makes 6 servings

6 slices bacon, chopped (Okay, if you must, use turkey bacon or fakin' bacon)
6 cups fresh corn kernels(cut from 6 to 8 ears)
1 1/2 cups chopped fresh fennel bulb
1 cup diced yellow zucchini or crookneck squash (about 2)
1 cup 1/2-inch cubes peeled russet potatoes
3 cups (or more) low-salt chicken or vegetable broth
1/2 cup heavy cream (optional- but really nice in here)
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
2 tablespoons chopped fresh chives, basil, parsley, scallions or a combination

Sauté bacon in large pot over medium-high heat until crisp and brown.
Using slotted spoon, transfer bacon to paper towels to drain.
Add corn, fennel, zucchini, and potatoes to drippings in pot.
Sauté 5 minutes. Add 3 cups broth and simmer uncovered
over medium heat until vegetables are tender, about 20 minutes.
Transfer 3 cups soup to blender. Holding blender top firmly,
puree until smooth. Return puree to soup in pot.
Stir in cream, if using, and cayenne. Bring chowder to simmer,
thinning with more broth if too thick. Season to taste with salt and pepper.
Ladle chowder into bowls and sprinkle with bacon and herbs.



SAUTEED GREENS
Serves 4-6

2 bunches farm fresh greens, alone or in any combination, such as chard, collards, kale of any color ( I love red Russian), turnip or beet greens, broccoli rabe, young poke salad, or just about anything green and leafy.
2 or 3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1 shallot or small onion, diced
1 large clove peeled and thinly sliced garlic
1 small tomato or plum tomato, diced
1 or 2 tablespoons cider vinegar

Wash greens thoroughly in cold water.
Drain and wash again to remove grit, sand and mud.
Cut away thick part of stalks. If using chard, keep thinner parts of stalks and slice thin across the stems.
Stack greens and slice once from tip to bottom, then slice across leaves into 1/4" ribbons.

Put oil in a large pot and add onion or shallot, garlic, and sliced chard stems if using.
Turn heat to medium-low and cook, stirring occasionally, until onion softens. If garlic starts to brown, lower heat.

Add diced tomato and a little salt, stir, cover pot and simmer for 3 or 4 minutes.

Add greens a couple of handfuls at a time, stirring each batch until wilted before adding more.

When all greens are in the pot, add a little more salt, stir well, cover pot and simmer for 10-20 minutes, or until greens are tender. Uncover pot, add cider vinegar, stir well, remove from heat and serve hot.

This stuff tastes even better with a little crumbled bacon on top.

I got plenty more where these come from. Leave your fave recipes in Comments below the post.