Are you up to your ears in tomatoes? Is the glorious love apple gracing your table at least once a day? You should be gorging on them now, the one time of year we can actually get the real deal: perfectly ripe, sweetly fragrant tomatoes dripping with juice. None of those pink, mealy things we'll avoid like the plague between October and August. The season for tomatoes is so short! If you don't can, then at least consider freezing. You can take Romas, slice off one end, squeeze out the seeds and, just like that, pop them into a ziploc bag. Or make big batches of sauce and freeze that. You'll love yourself for this come January, trust me. Right now, gazpacho's the thing. This classic cold soup hails from Andalucía and there are various kinds, one made with garlic and grapes, one with fava beans and of course the red tomato version. They all include bread, olive oil and vinegar—three key ingredients that really set this apart from V8. It's almost as if you took the classic Italian bread-&-tomato salad, panzanella, and put it in the blender. Almost.

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Have you been trying to follow Michael Pollan's edict? "Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants." It's easier in the summer when amazing produce is practically falling at your feet. Even you city folk have access to farm-fresh vegetables—corn, actual ripe tomatoes, baby lettuces... Just the other day I was reading the new issue of Lucky Peach and laughing along with Wylie Dufresne as he made fun of "farm-to-table" and "ingredient-driven" cooking, but I had to eat a little crow along with last night's dinner. Because all I did was take a few farm-fresh ingredients and let them drive the bus. It was nothing fancy, really. I just used only what was straight from the garden (mine or someone else's) and let those pure flavors shine. Not a whole lot of technique was involved, and yet it was such a satisfying meal. I haven't even written out real recipes for you, because I want you to have that feeling of creating as you go, putting together dishes from your imagination according to what's in front of you. I'll walk you through what I made and maybe you'll be inspired to do the same with your freshest ingredients. Which will probably include a whole lot of sweet green peas right about now...
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There's scarcely a better way to combat a heat wave than with a cold soup. The recent rise in mercury has prompted a spate of dinners at home consisting of nothing more than salads, so the occasional soup is a nice substitute or supplement. They keep fairly well and can be easily transported to work in a glass jar or thermos. (Try to wean yourself from phthalate-ridden plastic containers; invest in a set of these.) Food52's cucumber challenge several weeks ago prompted a number of cold soups but most of them contained dairy, which we're currently avoiding because of G's latest protocol. Fellow blogger and extremely talented chef Pork to Purslane (currently residing in Amsterdam) submitted one that is rendered supremely creamy with the use of avocado. I adapted it according to my what I had on hand and my craving for a bit of spice.
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I got some free broccoli last week when my friend Laquita's husband Tim was on a photo shoot where they used 30 cases of the stuff to create a "forest." They dropped off a huge bag and I had to think fast. It was a hot day and I decided to make a cold soup. As we slide into warmer weather, cold soups make great lunches, snacks and first courses, and they're an ideal way to showcase fresh vegetables. Once the tomatoes are ripe it will be all about gazpacho, but for now broccoli, asparagus, spinach, sorrel and pea all make brilliant green soups. The basic steps are simmer the vegetable (or a combination) in chicken stock or water; puree it in a food processor; stir in some buttermilk, yogurt or cream (or a combination); jazz it up with some ground coriander, fresh mint or basil, lemon zest, vinegar, etc; and chill. If it needs thinning, use water, stock or more cream. You don't need to overthink this. I served mine garnished with a dollop of creme fraiche and a sprinkle of piment d'Espelette.
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