New potatoes are potatoes harvested before they reach maturity—some are as small as a thumbnail; they are never larger than a ping-pong ball, never larger than three inches in diameter. They are firm and moist and their skins are paper thin—they don’t require peeling before cooking and serving (but you can). Like corn and peas when harvested young, they are low in starch and full of natural sugars. (Starches don’t begin to form until after harvest.)

Any waxy potato round red, yellow, or white potato makes an ideal new potato: Yukon Gold is buttery sweet, Rose Gold is creamy delicious, Yellow Finn is buttery and sweet, Rose Finn Fingerling and Banana Fingerling both have fine flavor (fingerlings potatoes are shaped like thin fingers), Reddale is bright red and tasty as well, and Cranberry Red is red-skinned with a smooth textured red flesh.

Harvest: New potatoes are dug up in the spring—the year’s first potato harvest, and stay through most of the summer. In warm winter climates, new potatoes can be harvested as early as late winter.

New potatoes are ready for harvest and eating soon as the potato plant begins to bloom. (Mature, full-grown potatoes are harvested when the potato plant begins to dry and die in late summer and autumn.) Because new potatoes are young, thin-skinned, and high in moisture, they should be cooked and eaten within two days of harvest.

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Cooking new potatoes

New potatoes are easily cooked: steamed, sautéed, boiled, baked, roasted, and grilled.

Ratio: Eight to sixteen small new potatoes (depending upon the size of each) equal a pound or a pound and a half and will serve three people.

Steam new potatoes

Steam new potatoes in a steamer basket or an adjustable vegetable steamer set in a deep pan with just enough water to come almost to the bottom of the steamer—about a cup of water for 12 potatoes.

First, give the potatoes a good soak and a light scrub to remove any soil. There is no need to peel them, but you can use a paring knife to remove a little belly band of skin from around the center of each one to prevent bursting.

Arrange the whole potatoes in a single layer in the steamer. Bring the water to a boil then reduce the heat to a simmer, cover, and steam until tender when pierced with a knife or fork, about 15 to 35 minutes.

Drain the saucepan of water and return the pan and potatoes over low heat for 10 to 15 minutes to remove any remaining moisture; give them a little shake occasionally to keep them from sticking.

Steamed potatoes are tasty served warm tossed in just enough butter or cream to coat them lightly, or let them cool, then slice, and toss in vinaigrette (not mayonnaise), and serve with a sprinkling of fresh herbs (try chopped flat-leaf parsley or dill). Add a pinch of coarse salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste.

Baby carrots and sugar snap peas make can be matched with new potatoes for steaming. Steam the potatoes first, then the carrots—tops trimmed, and then the snap beans—ends trimmed. Steam each until just tender-crisp. Transfer each vegetable to an ice bath to stop cooking, then drain and dry on paper towels before combining in a serving dish and lightly tossing to just coat each vegetable in a vinaigrette or dressing.

Sauté new potatoes

New potatoes are easily sautéed. Soak or rinse and lightly scrub the potatoes clean. Dash the potatoes with salt or paprika and chopped chives or parsley. Add two or three tablespoons of olive oil, vegetable oil, or clarified butter to a large sauté pan, add the wet potatoes so they all touch the bottom of the pan, shake them lightly so they are coated with the oil or butter, cover, and cook slowly over low to medium heat until just tender—the skins will brown and wrinkle in 15 to 25 minutes–shaking the pan from time to time to prevent sticking.

When the potatoes are just tender when pierced, drain off the hot oil, and return the pan to the heat until their skins have just dried.

Remove the potatoes to a serving bowl and sprinkle with coarse salt or toss to coat with salt and olive oil. Serve sautéed new potatoes with horseradish sauce or a dash of lemon juice or shallots and garlic or green beans or summer greens dressed with a creamy vinaigrette.

Vegetable sautés: New potatoes can be added to any vegetable sauté. The key to a good vegetable sauté is gauging the cooking times of the vegetables you plan to use; always start with vegetables that require the longest cooking time. Baby onions are a good sauté match for new potatoes; they are aromatic and flavorful. To onions and new potatoes, choose one or two additional vegetables in season to add to the mix: artichoke bottoms or baby artichokes, mushrooms, eggplant, leeks, green or red peppers, small tomatoes, chayote, edible-podded peas or sugar snap peas, salsify, broccoli flowerets, kohlrabi, Brussels sprouts, or tiny radishes.

New potatoes and onions will be sautéed tender in 20 to 25 minutes (always test for tenderness). Tender green vegetables—spinach, fine-cut green beans, shelled green peas, asparagus tips—will cook tender in just 4 to 5 minutes.

Once cooked, stir in additional butter to taste, add salt and pepper and any herb you desire, and toss thoroughly.

Boil new potatoes

New potatoes can be boiled. Rinse and lightly scrub the potatoes and peel a narrow band of skin away around the center to prevent splitting. Place the potatoes in a medium saucepan and just cover them with salted water. Bring the water to a boil, cover,  then lower the heat and simmer until the potatoes are tender when poked with a fork, about 20 to 30 minutes. Make sure the potatoes do not stick.

Drain the potatoes dry in a colander. Place them in a serving bowl, add some butter or olive oil, and a handful of chopped herbs like parsley and marjoram and chives or green onions, and shake it all around.

Equal parts of new potatoes and French beans can be boiled together in salted water; add the beans 5 minutes after the potatoes. Fresh green peas are a good match to boiled new potatoes. Boil the green peas—half again as many as the potatoes–separately in water or chicken broth and then toss them with the potatoes in sweet butter and season with fresh herbs and salt to taste. Braised white or red baby onions are another great match.

Boiled new potatoes can be served immediately or covered with a clean damp towel and hold for an hour or two before serving.

To liven up the dish, use a mix of new potatoes: red and white, round red and fingerling, or round white.

Mustard dressing: Try this mustard dressing with boiled potatoes: in a small bowl—whisk 1 teaspoon Dijon mustard, ½ tablespoon fresh lemon juice, 1 tablespoon white wine, and salt until the salt dissolves, then whisk in a few drops of olive oil– 4 tablespoons in all; add a few drops then a slow steady stream until it begins to emulsify and thicken. Fold in the potatoes and accompanying vegetables allowing the dressing to disperse fully; taste for seasoning, and let marinate for up to 2 hours at room temperature.

Serve boiled new potatoes with grilled chicken or sautéed or grilled salmon steak. Add an herb-infused vinaigrette over garden greens. Garnish the potatoes with chopped parsley, mint, or chives.

Quick-bake new potatoes

New potatoes can be quickly baked in 20 to 30 minutes. Preheat the oven to 425°F while bringing a large pot of lightly salted water to boil over high heat. Make a thin slit around the center of each potato with a sharp knife (to prevent bursting), add the potatoes to the boiling water, and par-boil them until barely tender, about 10 minutes. Drain and dry the potatoes then place them in a single layer in a baking pan. Drizzle olive oil evenly over the potatoes so they are just coated. Place them in the oven and bake until golden brown, about 20 to 30 minutes. Serve baked potatoes with butter and salt and pepper to taste or with a small side bowl of sour cream (regular or low-fat) and chopped chives or crisp, crumbled bacon with salt and pepper to taste.

Roast new potatoes

Roast new potatoes whole or halved. First, scrub and pat them dry then slice in half or quarter or leave whole. Coat the potatoes lightly with butter or olive oil or pan drippings from roasted meats then sprinkle them with chopped fresh herbs (thyme, rosemary, marjoram, oregano, or sage) and salt and freshly ground pepper to taste.

Place the potatoes in a shallow baking or roasting dish or pan alone or with chicken, beef, or other meat and cook in a preheated 375°F to 400°F oven until well browned and tender. Taste the potatoes to be sure they are tender. If they are not quite done in 40 to 60 minutes or so raise the heat to 425°F and roast until crisp and brown on the outside and fork-tender on the inside. Turn them often—every 15 minutes or so—so that they cook evenly crisp and brown. Serve roasted new potatoes hot. Leftovers can go into a potato salad.

Grill new potatoes

New potatoes can be grilled whole or cut in half lengthwise. Coat the potatoes with olive oil and sprinkle them with salt, freshly ground pepper, and chopped herbs—dill is a good choice. Arrange the potatoes on one-half of three or four layered sheets of heavy-duty foil, either whole or cut side down. Fold over the foil and crimp the edges. Place the packet on the grill over direct medium heat 350° to 450°F (place your hand 6 inches over the heat—you’ll be able to count to 5 or 6). Cook until the potato skins or cut sides are just brown and are tender when pierced with a fork—about 20 minutes (be sure to rotate the packet halfway through the cooking).

Season new potatoes

Garnish or season new potatoes with a sprinkle of minced herbs or a seasoning that suits your taste—taste until you find the flavor combination you like: basil, caraway seed (toasted), cardamom, cayenne, cheese (try Cheddar, Monterey Jack, Parmesan, Swiss, feta or blue), chives, cilantro, dill, fennel, garlic, mint, mustard, nutmeg, olive oil, onion, oregano, parsley, rosemary, tarragon, thyme, or vinegar.

Serve new potatoes

Serve new potatoes hot, warm, or cold in their skins with sweet butter or coarse salt and pepper and a glass of milk or some white wine and fruit. You can substitute a few tablespoons of butter with very good olive oil or just before serving toss new potatoes with minced zest and the juice of one lemon.

Also of interest:

Seven Ways to Cook Potatoes

How to Plant, Grow, and Harvest Potatoes

Garden Planning Books at Amazon:

• Vegetable Garden Grower’s Guide
• Tomato Grower’s Answer Book
• Vegetable Garden Almanac & Planner
• Kitchen Garden Grower’s Guide Vegetable Encyclopedia

The post How to Cook New Potatoes with No Recipe appeared first on Harvest to Table.

Cooking fresh-shelled peas can be difficult: you will want to eat them fresh out of the pod before you ever get near the stove. But if you do get to the stove, cooking shelled peas—and peas in the pod, for that matter—is short, sweet, and easy.

The season for shelled garden peas—also called English peas—is short. They are grown and harvested in spring when the weather is cool. Snap peas and snow peas which are eaten pod and all can tolerate a bit of heat and last to early summer.

Fresh peas should be small, bright green, tender, and sweet. The pods should look crisp. Choose peas that squeak when the pods are rubbed together. Small, young peas will have the best flavor—their sugars have not yet turned to starch.

Peas are a tasty match to eggs, bacon, beef, chicken, lamb, pork, shellfish, smoked fish, white fish–and just about any other spring vegetables: asparagus, onions, carrots, parsnips, new potatoes, and the list goes on.

How to Cook Fresh Shelled Peas with No Recipe

Ratio: One pound of peas in the pod will yield one cup of shelled peas which will serve two people. You will need 3 to 4 pounds of peas in the pod to yield enough shelled peas to serve 4 people.

Preparation: Fresh garden peas should be shelled just before cooking. Rinse the pods under cold running water; rub the pods gently to remove the soil. To shell peas, snap off the stem end of the pod. You will see the green natural string running along the inner seam of the pod; give it a pull then press the seam of the pod and pop it open. Run your finger down the pod, pushing out the peas. Do not wash the shelled peas before cooking. (Sugar snap peas and snow peas are commonly cooked whole; see all the way below.)

Cooking: Peas like all vegetables are most flavorful and tasty cooked to just crisply, tender—that is slightly undercooked. Simmer young shelled peas for 2 to 5 minutes. Steam young-shelled peas for 5 to 10 minutes.

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Simmering peas in water or light stock. Bring ⅛ to ½ inch of water or light stock (about ⅛ inch of liquid per pound of peas) to boiling in a medium saucepan. Add shelled peas; they should be just covered with water. Cover the pan, and turn the heat down to low. Simmer until the peas are just tender and bright green—about 2 to 5 to 7 or 10 minutes or so, depending upon the number of peas.

When the peas are just tender, drain the water if there is any left, and toss the peas with melted butter or hot cream so they are just coated. Sprinkle with chopped fresh herbs, parsley, or especially mint.

To this basic method of simmering peas you can also: add a pinch of sugar to give the peas extra sweetness; add two or three peas still in the pods to deepen the flavor; add a few drops of lemon juice to help preserve color. Salt peas only after they are cooked.

Finish cooking simmered peas in butter. Rather than tossing peas in butter, place butter in a medium or large skillet and turn the heat to medium as you are simmering the peas as described earlier. When the butter melts, turn the heat to low and add the simmered peas to the heated butter and toss the peas until they just are coated in warm butter, 2 or 3 minutes. Add salt and pepper to taste or an herb to the peas and butter, add a clove or two of garlic minced if you like, or add several slivers of prosciutto. Give the skillet a gentle shake occasionally, just until the peas are hot and coated with butter and seasoning.

Seasoning and serving cooked peas

Peas can be seasoned with salt, pepper, onion, garlic, dill, marjoram, turmeric, savory, basil, chervil, cilantro, paprika, oregano, tarragon, allspice, mustard, caraway seed, sesame seed, nutmeg, mint, parsley, sage, rosemary, or thyme. Season to your taste.

Peas can be served plain or topped with plain or flavored butter or margarine, extra virgin olive oil, vinaigrette dressing, peanut oil, sesame oil, plain or flavored mayonnaise, white sauce, melted cheese or cheese sauce, sour cream, or plain yogurt.

Serve peas alone or mixed with cooked carrots, onions, potatoes, mushrooms, tomatoes, corn, celery, lettuce, sweet bell peppers, pimientos, winter squash, water chestnuts, sliced almonds, bacon, prosciutto, or ham.

Steaming peas in lettuce

Rather than simmering peas in liquid, you can use the moisture of lettuce leaves to cook them tender and sweet. Wash but do not dry several thick leaves of lettuce. Melt the butter in a heavy saucepan and cover the bottom of the pan with the damp lettuce leaves. Place the peas on top of the leaves and add a pinch or two of salt and sugar then cover with additional damp lettuce leaves. Use a pan that cups the leaves to hold the peas. Cover the saucepan tightly and simmer over low heat until the peas are just tender, about 20 to 30 minutes. Serve the peas with or without the lettuce. If you find the moisture of the lettuce is not enough to steam the peas, you can add just ⅛ inch or less of hot water or light stock to the pan. If you like, you can let the peas and lettuce gently stew in a lump of butter for a few minutes—it will form a sort of creamy sauce–before removing them from the pan. Serve immediately. (Steaming or braising the lettuce tenderizes the peas and imparts a subtle flavor.)

Cooking peas with heavy cream

Melt a dab of butter in a heavy saucepan and add the shelled peas. Cover the peas with heavy cream and cook gently until the peas are tender, about 6 to 8 minutes. Just before serving, add salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste. Add finely chopped parsley or chopped mint or both if you wish. Serve immediately.

Cooking peas with carrots

Peas and carrots can be cooked and served together—a classic combination. Place shelled peas in a saucepan and just cover with cold water then bring to just a boil over high heat; immediately lower the heat and simmer until the peas are just tender—a few minutes. Drain well and place the peas in a serving bowl.

Peel one or two medium carrots and cut them into matchstick shapes, or chop them into rounds or small cubes. (Don’t use so many carrots that they overwhelm the peas.) Bring salted water to a boil in a second saucepan. Add the carrots, return to a boil, reduce heat to a simmer, and simmer until tender. Drain, refresh the water, and drain again.

Mix the carrots and peas together. Add a dab of butter and a pinch or two of salt and pepper to taste. Toss over heat until the vegetables are hot and coated with butter. Add parsley or the herb you prefer and toss to mix. Serve immediately.

Cooking peas with onions

Pearl or tiny pickling onions or scallions, shallots, or leeks can be cooked and served with peas. If you choose pearl onions, blanch or parboil them in salted boiling water in advance—only 20 to 30 seconds. Drain and refresh under cold water and drain again. Peel the onions.

Melt a couple of dabs of unsalted butter or warm a couple of tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil in a separate pan. Add the peeled onions or scallions and a spoonful of water and simmer for several minutes or until the onions are just tender; don’t fry the onions. Add the peas and ½ cup water or so and salt lightly. Stew until the peas are just tender, about 3 or 4 minutes. Season or garnish to taste. Serve immediately.

Cooking peas with new potatoes

Peas and new potatoes are a flavorful spring dish. Combine small new potatoes—about 8 to 16 new potatoes to a pound, with water to cover and a dash of coarse salt in a medium-sized saucepan over medium-high heat and bring to a boil; cook until the potatoes are just tender when pierced with a sharp knife or fork, about 15 minutes for a pound of potatoes.

Drain away the water and return the potatoes to the saucepan along with enough cream to cover. Place the pan over medium heat and swirl the potatoes around so they are coated with the cream and the cream just starts to bubble. Reduce the heat to low, add the peas, and stir. Simmer until the peas are just tender, about 2 or 3 minutes. Remove from heat, and season to taste with salt and pepper. Serve immediately.

Cooking peas with mushrooms

Melt butter in a heavy saucepan. Add mushrooms—coarsely chopped chanterelles, shiitakes, or button mushrooms—an equal amount to the peas you plan to cook. Sauté the mushrooms until just soft. Add crème fraiche—about a cup for each pound of peas you plan to cook–and reduce by one-half. Add freshly shelled peas and simmer over low heat until the peas are just tender, about 20 minutes for a pound of peas. Season to taste with salt, freshly ground black pepper, and your herb of choice; try chopped leaves of cilantro, tarragon, parsley, or mint.

Cooking peas with a medley of seasonal vegetables

Any vegetables that can be simply boiled or steamed and dressed with butter are a good match to freshly shelled peas: asparagus, celery, cabbage, green or yellow beans, lima beans, beets, cauliflower, broccoli, Brussels sprouts, beets, kohlrabi, parsnips, rutabagas, or turnips. Add any two of these to peas to prepare a medley of seasonal vegetables.

Follow the cooking instructions above to prepare each vegetable. Prepare the more solid vegetables first (use the list above in inverse order); root vegetables such as beets, kohlrabi, parsnips, rutabagas, and turnips are prepared much like carrots. Less solid vegetables are prepared much as mushrooms. Prepared separately they are transferred in the final step to a serving bowl and mixed with the hot peas and tossed with butter and seasoning.

Cooking peas in the pod

Snow peas and sugar snap peas are commonly cooked in pods. The string must be removed from sugar snap peas before they are cooked. Snap off the stem end and pull the string away easily. Steam, sauté, stir-fry, or boil snap and snow peas until the pods are tender-crisp. Taste to be sure. Serve them separately or mix them tossed with butter or sesame oil until just coated and seasoned to taste. Serve immediately.

Related articles:

How to Plant, Grow, and Harvest Peas

How to Harvest and Store Peas

Garden Planning Books at Amazon:

• Tomato Grower’s Answer Book
• Vegetable Garden Almanac & Planner
• Kitchen Garden Grower’s Guide Vegetable Encyclopedia
• Vegetable Garden Grower’s Guide

The post How to Prepare Spring Peas with No Recipe appeared first on Harvest to Table.

Roasted root vegetables make for a sweet and savory side dish.

Roots great for roasting are carrots, turnips, celery root, rutabagas, parsnips, kohlrabi, and fingerling potatoes. To these you can add garlic bulbs and thick slices of butternut squash if you like.

Toss root vegetables with a bit of olive oil and salt and set them in the oven preheated to 400°F. Just browned roasted root vegetables will be sweet flavored.

Tips for flavorful roasted root vegetables:

Shape in which they are cut: winter root vegetable should be peeled and cut into pieces about the same size for even cooking; don’t cut them too small or the flavor will be cooked out; avoid thin edges so they don’t burn before the centers are done

Seasoning and oiling: coat roots for roasting lightly with olive oil—just enough oil that it doesn’t collect in the bottom of the bowl. Toss the vegetables using a spoon or your hands. Add a bit of salt and season to taste. Lay the vegetables out on a large baking sheet with sides. Use a sided baking sheet so turn the vegetables while they are cooking.

Try different seasonings—not just salt; add thyme, rosemary, and black pepper with a dash of vinegar to the olive oil.

Cooking temperature: Preheat the oven to 400°F—not so hot that the vegetables burn, not so low that they have to cook longer and as a result dry out. Cook the vegetables until they are tender (pierce a root with the tip of a knife to test) and nicely browned; stir or turn them during cooking—move the vegetables on the edges of the baking sheet to the center.

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Small winter squashes such as butternut, Delicata, and acorn can be roasted in halves to serve right in the shell.

Preheat the oven to 400°F.

Halve the squash and scoop out the seeds. No need to remove the skin.

Place the halves cut side up on an oiled rimmed baking sheet or shallow roasting pan, drizzle lightly with olive oil and sprinkle with salt. Turn the cut side down and roast about 30 minutes without disturbing.

Turn the squash over and roast until tender, another 20 minutes or so depending on the variety.

After turning the squash cut side up, baste the pieces generously with oil or melted butter every 10 or 15 minutes for added moistness and flavor. Baste with (1) olive oil or butter or (2) equal parts oil and orange juice or (3) two parts oil, one part lemon juice, and sugar or honey to taste.

Add a few dashes of cinnamon, nutmeg, or allspice to the basting mixture if you like.

The skin will be soft after roasting and just fine to eat.

Unpeeled butternut or Delicata squash, once halved and seeded can be cut into long slices and laid on an oiled baking sheet to roast as well.

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Choose Brussels sprouts that are dark green, tightly formed, and of uniform size–smaller, not bigger is best.

Cook the same day they come off the stem or use the sniff test to tell you they are fresh–avoid sprouts that are cabbagey smelling.

Many recipes tell you slice Brussels sprouts before cooking–but they won’t be as showy as those you cook whole. Whole sprouts steamed, stir fried, or roasted are beautiful and tasty.

To prepare whole Brussels sprouts for cooking, closely trim the stem end and remove any yellowing outer leaves. Cut an X in the stem end to bring heat to the centers more quickly.

Here are three ways to cook Brussels sprouts whole:

Steamed Brussels Sprouts

A very easy way to steam Brussels sprouts is in a sauce pan. Add ½ inch of salted water and bring to a boil. Add the Brussels sprouts, cover, and reduce the heat to medium-low. Cook until the sprouts yield to the tip of a knife and the water is just evaporated—about 5 minutes. These sprouts will offer some bite, but won’t be mushy. For the best, nutty flavor don’t over-steam Brussels sprouts—over-steamed sprouts can have a strong cabbage flavor (and smell).

The tried-and-true method of steaming Brussels sprouts is in a pot with a steamer basket. Bring about an inch of water. Put the sprouts in the steamer basket, set over the boiling water, cover, and steam until tender to the bite, about 5 minutes.

Transfer the sprouts to a bowl. Season with salt and freshly ground black pepper and toss with butter and chives. Alternatively, spritz them with lemon juice or toss them in toasted sesame oil.

Serve hot or warm.

Stir-Fried Brussels Sprouts

Steam the Brussels sprouts until barely tender, then rinse and set aside. (See above)

Heat a wok or heavy pan over medium heat.

Add a tablespoon of olive oil and bacon chopped into small bits. Cook until the bacon is brown, but not crisp. Remove the bacon with a slotted spoon and set to the side. To make this vegan, use chopped hazelnuts instead of bacon.

To the oil add one small diced onion and cook until the onion is soft and translucent but not brown.

Turn the heat to medium-high, add the Brussels sprouts cook, stir, and toss until the sprouts are heated through and just starting to brown—about a minute or two.

Add the bacon (or nuts) and toss. Season with salt to taste.

Serve hot or warm.

Roasted Brussels Sprouts

Preheat the oven to 450°F.

Roasted Brussels sprouts is a combination of steaming and roasting.

Once the sprouts are steamed (see above), put them in a large ovenproof skillet with ¼ cup of virgin olive oil added and put them in the oven. Roast for about 30 minutes occasionally shaking the pan until the sprouts are brown and tender.

Drizzle with lemon juice or balsamic vinegar and season with salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste.

Serve hot or warm.

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Pumpkin with curry combines the sweetness of the winter squash with the savory-spiced flavor of curry. It is a warming match appropriate for the crisp days when pumpkins and other winter squashes come to harvest.

Pumpkin and other yellow-fleshed winter squashes such a kabocha or butternut squash are best cooked until they are just tender but not mushy. Baking and braising (or sautéed until lightly browned) are the best ways to cook pumpkin and other winter squashes.

Curry is a word from Southern India which means sauce and in English has come to denote a savory and spiced sauce. There are many Indian dishes made with curry (usually curry powder). Traditional South Indian curry does not have a fixed set of ingredients, but the typical mixture incudes curry leaf, coriander, cumin and mustard seeds, red and black pepper, fenugreek, turmeric and sometimes cinnamon, cloves, or cardamom—these are roasted and ground to powder.

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Grilled and roasted corn is most flavorful when it is cooked fresh—very fresh.

As soon as an ear of corn is picked, its sugars start converting to starch. As the sugars turn to starch, the sweetness of corn is lost—though it is true that some new breeds of corn will retain their sweetness for days.

Choose ears that are plump and fat with husks that are tightly closed. Choose husks that are bright green with golden brown silks streaming from the tops of the ears. Look for stems that are moist and pale green. Peel back the husk and check for tight, small plump kernels

Slathering grilled corn with sweet butter is almost always a necessary indulgence. Flavored compound and seasoned butters may just put your grilled corn over the top.

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Use tomato sauce on pastas, pizzas, vegetables, or soups.

The key to flavorful tomato sauce is ripe, juicy tomatoes—the fresher the tomatoes the more flavorful the sauce, but that’s not to say you can’t make a tasty sauce from frozen tomatoes.

Herbs commonly matched with tomatoes in sauce are bay leaf, oregano, marjoram, thyme, basil, parsley, rosemary, and cumin.

Vegetables easily matched with tomatoes in sauce are the warm-season vegetables that grow in the garden alongside tomatoes– onion, celery, peppers, eggplant, mushroom, garlic, summer squashes, and zucchini.

Tomato sauce can be seasoned with salt, pepper, and sugar.

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Cabbage colcannon is a traditional Irish dish of mashed potatoes with milk, butter, and cooked finely chopped onions and cabbage. Easily you can substitute leeks for the onions and kale for the cabbage.

Colcannon is a warming and hearty dish commonly served alongside corned beef, boiled pork, or bacon.

The Irish often serve colcannon on Halloween, if you do, you can substitute out a third of the cabbage with shredded carrots.

Be careful not to overcook the cabbage; it leaves the kitchen smelling like rotten eggs. Kale is a great substitute for cabbage in this recipe; it’s loaded with calcium, iron, and vitamins A, C, and K. Use Tuscan, also called dinosaur kale—the variety called Lacianto.

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