Classic Pesto

Pesto is one of my favorite condiments. It makes everything taste better and can be used a thousand different ways – tossed with pasta, as a sandwich spread, as sauce on a pizza, mixed into mayo (great with frites!), and the list goes on and on. Because you need lots of basil to make a small amount of pesto, summer is the time for making lots of it. Huge bunches of basil are incredibly cheap at the farmers market right now, so I buy lots of basil and make pesto, which I then freeze so that I can unearth it in the dead of winter when basil is expensive. (Tip: freeze it in an ice cube tray, then put all the cubes in a Ziploc bag so you can take out just a little bit at a time without having to defrost the whole container.)

Marinated Zucchini with Basil

This past Sunday at the market, I noticed that the stand next to my tomato purveyor of choice had tons of zucchini and squash on the cheap: they were selling baskets of 4-6 of them at 3 for $5, so I got one basket each of green zucchini, yellow zucchini, and summer squash. I had a lot of zucchini on my hands; actually, they were technically on my boyfriend’s hands because he was kindly serving as my shopping cart. (Side note: do not expect your boyfriend to be amused when you hand him a 3-ish-pound bag of zucchini when he’s already carrying well over 10 pounds of produce and it’s 90 degrees outside and you’re at the insanely crowded Baltimore Farmer’s market.)

Baked Corn Fritters with Sweet Chili Dipping Sauce

I've been buying lots of corn at the market lately – it’s so sweet and tender this time of year but I’ve grown tired of grilling it and slathering it with butter, cilantro, lime juice, and cayenne pepper. Don’t get me wrong, it’s delicious that way, but it gets tiresome after a while. This summer, I’ve run across a few recipes for corn fritters, but they all involve frying, which 1) I really do not enjoy doing (because hot oil + corn = spatters that cause burns, and also because it fills my tiny apartment with the not-so-nice smell of hot oil), and 2) is not particularly healthy.

Eggplant and Lentil Stew

Of course my first recipe on here has to feature eggplants! Eggplants have always been one of my favorite vegetables, and I've been buying lots of lovely heirlooms at the market this summer. I have found them to be more tender and less bitter than the traditional purple-skinned variety.