​Recently I received more tomatoes and peaches in my Dreyer Farm CSA box. In my search on the NYT Cooking app, I found a recipe by Alexa Weibel for Tomato and Peach Salad with Whipped Goat Cheese.
 
As crazy as the combination sounded, it was outstanding and perfect for a summer lunch, starter salad or as a bruschetta on top of grilled Italian or sourdough bread. For the recipe you’ll need extra virgin olive oil, sherry vinegar, whole-grain mustard, fresh lemon juice, lemon zest, kosher salt, freshly ground black pepper, small red onion, goat or feta cheese (I used goat cheese), heavy cream, 2 large heirloom tomatoes, 2 medium peaches, and, optionally, mâche or watercress. If you can’t find either, you can substitute arugula or baby spinach. 

Today lunch was a delightful platter of roasted vegetables. I had a Spanish onion, cubanelle pepper, eggplant, grape heirloom tomatoes and a small beefsteak tomato that were cooked outside on the grill.  I placed the cooked vegetables on a platter, seasoned with sea salt and drizzled with extra-virgin olive oil. I added a ball of burrata for my husband and I. We enjoyed it on our porch where there was a light breeze and peaks of sun from behind the clouds. 

​My Dreyer Farm’s CSA offerings this summer have been wonderful; a great selection of produce to try out new and varied recipes. Recently, on The New York Times website, there were several recipes that I found to go along with my vegetables. One was a recipe by Kay Chun for Eggplant Parmesan Pasta. Also, I found a recipe for Skillet Tortellini with Corn and Crispy Rosemary by Ali Slagle and Roasted Beets with Moroccan Spices by Mark Bittman.
 
Eggplant Parmesan Pasta takes just 35 minutes to prepare and packs a lot of flavors. For the recipe you’ll need extra-virgin olive oil, panko bread crumbs, kosher salt, black pepper, a yellow onion, fresh garlic, eggplant (peeled and cut into 1/2-inch cubes, about 8 cups), 28-ounce can of tomatoes (crushed), fresh basil spring plus chopped basil, dried oregano, pasta such as mezzo rigatoni, fusilli or shells, freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese and fresh mozzarella. 

The calendar says that June 21st is the start of summer, but here at the Jersey shore, it’s been very breezy today, overcast and the temperature is in the mid 60’s. I decided that with the yellow squash that came in last week’s Dreyer Farms’ CSA, I would make a Summer Squash Soup with Parsley Mint Pistou that I found on the Smitten Kitchen website. For the soup you’ll need unsalted butter, an onion, salt, 2 pounds yellow summer squash, 2 carrots, 1 yellow fleshed potato (1/2 lb.) and four cups of chicken stock or reduced sodium chicken broth.
 
The soup is quite simple to prepare. You’re sautéing the onion in the butter until softened, adding the vegetables and stock and cooking until they’re soft. When done, you can either use a blender or immersion blender to purée the soup.

My participation in a CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) program sometimes means I carryover produce from one week to the next. I don’t always have time to use everything up in one week and occasionally items such red leaf lettuce and some greens can manage to stay fresh longer than a week.
 
Last week I used the golden beets I received and roasted them to concentrate their flavor. From there I found a recipe on The New York Times Cooking website for Golden Beet Salad with Cider Vinegar Dressing. In addition to the beets you’ll need extra virgin olive oil, apple cider vinegar, sea salt, mâche or other tender greens, walnut oil, freshly ground black pepper, toasted walnuts, ricotta salata or fresh goat cheese.

Last week I was getting through my produce from a shared CSA box. So far I’ve received asparagus, lettuce, radishes, kale, spinach, eggs, golden beets, shiitake mushrooms and rainbow Swiss Chard. For the kale in the box, I found a recipe on Lidia Bastianich’s website, www.lidiasitaly.com for Barley, Kale and Butternut Squash Risotto. The spinach was used in a recipe from the website www.modernproper.com for Stuffed Chicken Breasts with Spinach, Cheese and Sun-Dried Tomatoes. For the radishes and the arugula, I prepared White Beans with Radishes, Miso and Greens, a recipe by Colu Henry via The New York Times and their column, “Five Dishes to Cook This Week.”
 
Although risotto can be filling, using pearl barley made for a lighter tasting risotto. For the recipe you’ll need kosher salt, fresh bay leaves, pearled barley, chicken stock, extra-virgin olive oil, a carrot, two stalks of celery, dry white wine, one bunch of kale, butternut squash, butter and Grana Padano cheese.

​“May, more than any other month of the year, wants us to feel most alive.”— Fennel Hudson
 
Now that the weather has improved, don’t you feel more alive, energetic? I feel that way about cooking, fresh garden vegetables are becoming available, time to try variations on familiar vegetables. That being said, I picked up a bunch of radishes at the Asbury Fresh Farmers & Makers Market in Asbury Park. The produce at Rolling Hills Farm is always beautiful.
 
The reason for the radishes was I had a package of Alexian Pâtés’ Sage and Pork Mousse with Vermouth and was undecided on serving ideas. This is a creamy and spreadable mousse with hints of sage and subtle notes of delicate herbs. There’s a richness to the mousse that I felt needed a counterpart. I debated various preparations but finally settled on pickled radishes. I thought