Harvest Basket and Simple Salsa

As autumn begins displacing summer, the garden is offering up the last few vegetables of the season. After many weeks of harvesting, you may have a few garden items that you'd like to share with others. One idea to use the bounty is to bring a simple salsa to a friend's house during a weekend visit.

To make a similar version, chop up a white onion, a red onion and several tomatoes; you might use a couple of cherry tomatoes, and one each of the red and green variety. Squeeze out the seeds. Add a few sprigs of parsley and cilantro to taste. To give the salsa some bite, chop up one jalapeño pepper and one serrano and habañero chile. Add the juice of a lime, and allow the mixture to sit in the refrigerator for a few hours or overnight.

Apples II

Pork and Apple Quick Cook

Discover some unusual varieties of apples and learn which apples to use for cooking and which are best enjoyed eaten out of hand. Plus learn how to make sweet Apple Fritters and a Quick Cook recipe--Pork Chops with Apples and Sautéed Cabbage.

Healthy Cooking with Michael Milken

Join cancer survivor Michael Milken to learn the importance of soy as he creates a rich Spinach Cannelloni in Tomato Sauce and tosses a Caesar salad. Plus, Michael's taste test and learn some surprising ways to change the way you eat.

Italian Pot Roast Dinner

Italian Pot Roast

Master Italian Pot Roast, an acclaimed dinner classic, sweet vegetables, including carrots, potatoes and fennel. Plus, boneless pork shoulder, simmered in a rich broth. Learn about a rare and unusual tool for enjoying savory marrow.

Grilling Tomatoes with a Grill Pan

Grilled whole tomatoes, a summertime favorite, can be prepared indoors on your stovetop with the aid of a grill pan. The ridges on the bottom of the pan replicates the effect of an electric indoor grill or a charcoal outdoor grill. Rub ripe, juicy tomatoes with olive oil, and cook them in the heated pan until they're slightly charred and fragrant. For a delicious sandwich, layer grilled whole tomatoes with basil, olive oil and balsamic vinegar between two thick slices of hearty bread.

Grill pans are widely available in department stores, cookware stores and chef's catalogs.

SOURCES

11-inch square Calphalon grill pan
12-inch round Claphalon commercial nonstick grill pan

Available at cooking-supply stores

Garden Harvest

When late summer rewards gardeners with a bounty of fresh produce, they can finally savor the fruits of the labor that began last winter when they planned their gardens. Now is also the time for gardeners to contemplate their successes and failures, and start thinking about next year's gardens.

Enjoy a colorful array of eggplants, like violet-colored Japanese, orange-tinted Turkish, and crisp white varieties like Solanum melongena 'Snowy.' Or try exotic 'Blue Cocoa' string beans, which turn a familiar green when cooked. Experiment by making a simple stew of white and orange beets flavored with celeriac. Your own vegetable garden should foster pride and offer any culinary possibilities.

Preserve your cornucopia by canning, pickling, or freezing--come January, you'll be very happy that you did. And don't forget your friends, who will appreciate baskets of vine-ripened treats that are still warm from the summer sun. A summer harvest also frees up space for a late planting of baby lettuces and herbs, which mature quickly, or hearty cabbages and root vegetables like radishes and carrots, which can withstand the first frost.

SOURCES

Heirloom seeds

Southern Exposure Seed Exchange
P.O. Box 170
Earlysville, VA 22936
800-973-4703

Preserving Herbs with Salt

If the advent of winter leaves you longing for fresh herbs, this Tuscan technique will preserve plenty of basil, rosemary and sage--even as snow covers your garden. Alternate half-inch layers of herbs in a covered glass container, beginning and ending with coarse salt. The salt absorbs mold-breeding moisture and stalls the action of enzymes that turn fresh herbs brown. Refrigerate. Before using, rinse the herbs with water, and pat dry. You'll be savoring the flavors of August well into December.