Our friends Annie and Andre came to spend the weekend and our fridge was overflowing with vegetables.

I used my ten step plan to make a pot of Curried Summer Squash Soup that chased the chill and absorbed some of the squash overload. Here’s how I did it: … read more

In April every radish is a treasure, in May the appearance of spinach seedlings brings joy, in June it is delightful to create a salad of tender greens, in July the garden and the kitchen are in harmony, in August tomatoes and squash are overflowing, in September, apples, pears and plums appear along with school buses, and the CSA share that seemed modest in the spring is overwhelming.

Cucumbers and parsley are turning to slime in the bottom of the fridge, tomatoes are being passed back and forth between friends like fruitcake in December, zucchini and yellow squash are nearly the size of canoes and there is a bunch of rainbow chard lurking around every corner.

Whether you call it Vegetable Overload, Squash Surplus, Garden Glut, or CSA Bounty, it is imperative to have a strategy to survive this delightful dilemma. I suggest soup. Call it Empty the Refrigerator Soup, Wilted Vegetable Soup or Garden Delight Soup but don’t delay, it’s time to start chopping, sauteing, simmering, serving and storing soup.

I have a ten-step game plan that I follow whenever I make soup. The steps are the same whether I’m making a simple, pureed broccoli soup or a hearty vegetable soup. I adjust ingredients, quantities and proportions according to the contents of my fridge, my pantry, and also include vegetables that have been left in my unlocked car by generous friends. Here’s my soup game plan:

1. Heat oil in stockpot
2. Saute aromatic vegetables in oil in the stockpot until tender but not browned
3. Add meat and cook until browned
4. Add herbs and spices
5. Add liquid
6. Add vegetables and simmer until tender
7. Puree (if desired)
8. Add additional liquid to thin soup to desired consistency
9. Adjust seasoning
10. Serve with appropriate garnish

The oil can be butter, olive oil, grape seed oil, vegetable oil coconut or any combination, and should just coat the bottom of the pot. Onions, leeks, garlic, scallions, shallots, carrots and celery are all aromatic vegetables and any combination will work. Meat is optional, it may be ground, or cut in small pieces or one large piece that is be sliced when the soup is served. The liquid for Step 5 can be water, broth, or stock or a combination but, because it will be simmered to cook the vegetables and meat, it should not be a dairy product. The liquid in Step 8 can include cream, milk, sour cream, yogurt, or coconut milk. In Step 9, adjusting seasoning may mean adding a bit more salt or pepper or other more exotic flavors like a bit of bourbon, orange zest, lime juice, hot sauce, etc. Garnishes may be as simple as a thin slice of lemon or as luxurious as a chunk of lobster. Raw fish or shellfish can be added for the last five minutes of Step 6. Refrigerate or freeze leftover soup for another day.

For many gardeners, Town Meeting is the reminder that it is time to plant tomato seeds. The tender seedlings must wait on windowsills to be transplanted until the threat of a late May frost has passed. And then, with a balance of sun and rain, a presence of pollinators and an absence of blight and hornworms, local tomatoes thrive and come to market at the end of July.

Last weekend, my friend Veronica gave us a basket of tomatoes from her garden, our first Vermont tomatoes of the season. After the tomato blight of last summer, local tomatoes are even more of a treat. An heirloom tomato, still warm from the sun, eaten out of hand with a pinch of salt is one of summer’s great pleasures. I used thin slices of white bread, a thick slather of mayo, two layers of tomatoes and lots of sea salt and freshly ground pepper to make a platter of tomato sandwiches. Longing for the flavor and scent of just picked tomatoes is a desire that never seems to fade.

When we lived in Singapore, our English neighbor, Philip, was on an endless quest for “a proper English tomato”. The tomatoes grown in Singapore were hard and pale orange with green patches. Although they looked like tomatoes, they didn’t have much flavor; the imported tomatoes, called airflown in Singapore, from more temperate regions were perfectly red, perfectly round and perfectly tasteless. Philip decided to grow tomatoes with seeds taken from a very expensive imported tomato. The seeds sprouted quickly and he soon had half a dozen seedlings. He tied each seedling to a stick and waited for tomatoes to appear. In three weeks, all of the seedlings had died but each of the sticks had rooted and was sprouting leaves. For the rest of his time at the university, he longed for tomatoes from England.

Fortunately, here in Vermont, during the late summer, I satisfy my tomato desire with trips to farm stands, markets and friends’ gardens. When Susan and Bob stopped by with tomatoes from their garden, I invited them to stay for dinner. I made fresh tomato sauce for pasta in the time it took for the water in the pasta pot to come to a boil. Here’s how I did it:

… read more