Summer Produce

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Eight excellent eggplant expressions: These recipes coax the purple polyglots into off-the-charts deliciousness

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Baked Kofta with Eggplant and Tomato from ‘Falastin’ by Sami Tamimi

By Leslie Brenner

No one ever craves eggplant. (Do they?!) And yet eggplant — or aubergine, as it’s more mellifluously called on the east side of the pond — is an integral part of so many enticing dishes. Here are eight recipes that push those big, shiny lunks into the realm of the irresistible.

‘Falastin’ Baked Kofta with Eggplant and Tomato

I fell in love with this recipe when I reviewed Falastin — Sami Tamimi and Tara Wigley’s wonderful 2020 cookbook featuring the foods and flavors of Palastine. Because the dish requires a fat slice of ripe tomato on top of each lamb-and-beef patty, it’s the perfect time of year to make it: that moment when tomatoes are still in high season and eggplants are starting to beckon. Where’s our star player? A substantial slice of meltingly roasted eggplant sits under each meat patty. Spiced tomato sauce goes on top, the whole thing is baked to lusciousness and topped with herbs and toasted pine nuts.

I made it again a few nights ago, and it was so good I nearly fainted.

A Magnificent Moussaka

If I had to choose only one way to eggplant for the rest of my days, it might well be this moussaka. Again, the eggplant consorts with lamb, tomato and spices — but in moussaka’s case it’s pulled together with rich, cheesy béchamel and a layer of potatoes. Our recipe, we venture to suggest, is hard to beat, which is why we call it Moussaka for the Ages.

Bring on the Baba Ganoush

Late-summer-into-fall is the perfect time to throw whole eggplants onto the coals of a Weber grill or (almost as good) in your broiler. After their almost unimaginable transformation to smoky, velvety unctuousness, stir in tahini whisked to fluffiness with lemon juice and season with garlic. Then swipe a warm pita bread through one of the world’s most spectacular dips.

Unreasonably Good Roasted Ratatouille

Traditional ratatouilles can be good (ish). Roast the vegetables to concentrate flavors and preserve textures, and it becomes outstanding. Now is prime season for all the relevant ingredients: Zucchini, bell peppers, tomato, and, you know, eggplant.

Anjali Pathak’s Charred Baby Eggplants

Cute little purple-and-white-striped fairy tale eggplants (shown below) are ideal for these outrageously good Charred Baby Eggplants from Anjali Pathak’s The Indian Family Kitchen. The eggplants are melty-soft and the coconutty, spicy topping — with dabs of yogurt and delicate curry leaves — turns them into something super special. Find the curry leaves in a well stocked Indian grocery or supermarket, if you’re lucky enough to have one handy.

Fairytale eggplants can sometimes be found in farmers markets or Indian groceries.

Zap ‘Em and Make ‘Em Dance!

Fairy tale or other baby eggplants are also perfect for the chef José Andrés’ crazy-delicious, umami-forward Dancing Eggplant, but everyday globe eggplants work great for this as well. Zap them in the microwave or grill them, slather them with a Japanese-inspired sauce and top with bonito flakes that seem to dance for an uncannily good snack or starter. We adapted it from Andrés’ 2019 book Vegetables Unleashed.

Tangy Eggplant Salad with a Creamy, Rich Tahini Swirl

This glorious dish from Reem Kassis’ The Arabesque Table would surely take top prize at a mezze potluck, if such a thing exists. Pomegranate molasses is responsible for the zing.

A Dreamy Eggplant-Lentil Situation from Ottolenghi

Eighth (but by no means least!) is this fabulous vegetarian main course from one of our favorite cookbooks, Ottolenghi Simple. Pretty little green lentils from France share the spotlight in the dish with melty, roasty eggplant and charred cherry tomatoes. Tangy yogurt adds cool creaminess, and fresh oregano makes it interesting. Perfect weeknight dinner material heading into the fall.

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5 favorite dishes for summer-into-fall

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Shrimp Sauté with Texas Vegetables celebrates late-summer flavors.

By Leslie Brenner

Oh, happy day — we’re out of triple digit-weather in North Texas, where I live. It’s not a moment too soon, as it’s such a delicious season produce-wise. All the corn and tomatoes and zucchini and eggplant, with incredible flavor bursting every-which-way — it’s enough to make a person pull out the knife sharpener, dust off the stove, polish the pepper grinder and get chopping.

Here are a few dishes I’m loving this summer-into-fall moment:

Shrimp Sauté with Texas Vegetables

To celebrate these flavors a few nights ago, I put together a quick sauté of shrimp and late-summer Texas vegetables. It’s inspired by two dishes: one I grew up with, Rosa de la Garza’s Texas Chicken, and a dish I love from Adán Medrano’s Don’t Count the Tortillas: The Art of Texas Mexican Cooking, Camarón con Fideos de Calabacita. The resulting easy sauté is pictured up top. If you believe what we read about the health benefits of eating things of many hues, you’ll certainly feel great about this. The taste benefits? Take a bite, and you’ll see.

Roasted Ratatouille

Have you ever made (or even tasted) a great ratatouille? I thought not. Last year, I cracked the code of how to make one — and it’s easier than the normal way. Pro tip: This approach involves letting your oven concentrate the flavors and safeguard the textures.

Ottolenghi’s Stuffed Zucchini with Pine Nut Salsa

Anyone bored by zucchini will have a life-changing moment upon tasting this. It has been Cooks Without Border’s most popular recipe since we wrote about it two years ago.

Chicken Musakhan

The national dish of Palestine is traditionally prepared during olive harvest season to celebrate the olive oil harvest. This version, from Ottolenghi’s partner Sami Tamimi’s 2020 cookbook Falastin (written with Cooks Without Borders’ friend Tara Wigley) is insanely delicious.

José Andrés’ Corn on the Cob with Elote Slather

Not ready to turn on the stove or light your grill just yet? Here’s an outstanding dish you can achieve with just a quick pass in the microwave. It’s from superstar chef José Andrés’ Vegetables Unleashed.

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The 15 best things we *didn't* cook in August

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Tomato Burrata Salad: no heat required!

By Leslie Brenner

We’ve done a lot of not-cooking this insanely hot month — and loved it! Opening a tin of sardines, squeezing a lemon, arranging greens, slicing height-of-the-season tomatoes: That’s the kind of low-stress prep it takes to make something delightful without going near the stove.

Especially this time of year, when there’s so much great produce. That’s right — we’re talking about dishes you can accomplish without so much as coddling an egg or toasting bread.

Put a few of them together — add a bottle of rosé or orange wine, if you’re so inclined — and you’ve got a royal spread.

1. Mikie’s Marinated Olives

Whether you scoop up your favorite selections from the olive bar, or just open a jar of Castelvetranos, this easy toss with fresh herbs, citrus and garlic is welcome at any gathering.

Every French home cook has this tangy raw carrot salad in their bag of delicious tricks.

RECIPE: Carottes Rapées

3. Amá’s Guacamole

Every guac is great this time of year — from a traditional one to a Thai-inspired renegade. The celery-happy version in Josef Centeno’s wonderful Amá cookbook is lovely, light, and particularly summery.

RECIPE: Amá’s Guacamole

4. Leela Punyaratabandhu’s Green Papaya Salad

The combination of lime juice, fish sauce and peanuts makes Southeast Asian green papaya salad highly craveable during summer. Leela Punyaratabandu’s excellent version from Simple Thai Food gets the balance just right.

Cool and satisfying, with some richness from raw almonds or cashews and tang from sherry vinegar, this chilled soup is one of our favorites ever. It’s vegan — and unlike traditional bread-thickened Gazpacho Sevillano, it’s gluten-free.

RECIPE: The Greenest Gazpacho

6. Cucumber, Radish and Feta Salad

A touch of orange-blossom water makes this minty little number transportingly good.

RECIPE: Cucumber, Radish and Feta Salad

7. Marinated Goat Cheese

Keep a log of organic goat cheese in the fridge (unopened, it keeps for ages) as an insurance policy for when you need this quick app on the fly. (Follow the “skip the heating” suggestion in the recipe.)

RECIPE: Marinated Goat Cheese

8. Fuchsia Dunlop’s Spicy Sichuan Chicken Salad

This jazzy, sesame-fragrant cold chicken salad is one of our favorite dishes from one of our favorite cookbooks, Fuchsia Dunlop’s Every Grain of Rice. It’s a great use for store-bought roast chicken.

I usually have everything on hand to make this delicious toss of an Italian-inspired salad: a can each of tuna and cannellini beans, a red onion, some parsley and celery. A squeeze of lemon or drizzle of vinegar adds lift and bounce.

RECIPE: Tuna and Cannellini Bean Salad

10. Sabzi Khordan (Persian Herb Platter)

The platter of herbs that accompanies just about every Persian meal can make a fabulous meal on its own — especially when it includes good feta and walnuts and it’s served with a nice flatbread.

RECIPE: Sabzi Khordan (Persian Herb Platter)

11. Tomato and Burrata Salad

This is the moment for the classic salad, as tomatoes are bursting with flavor. Use mozzarella or ricotta if you can’t find burrata.

RECIPE: Tomato and Burrata Salad

12. A16’s Raw Zucchini Salad with Green Olives, Mint and Pecorino

Mint, green olives and salty Italian cheese come together harmoniously in this unusual and pretty fabulous raw zucchini salad. It’s adapted from Nate Appleman and Shelly Lindgren’s A16 Food & Wine cookbook, inspired by their San Francisco pizza place.

RECIPE: A16’s Raw Zucchini Salad

13. Smoked Trout ‘Rillettes’

Make this once or twice — after that, you’ll be able to whip it up with your eyes closed. It’s so delicious, we make it every couple of weeks, all year long.

The Levant region’s minty, sumac-y green salad has crispy pita; our bread-less one may infuriate purists, but we think it’s pretty swell — and gluten-free.

RECIPE: Fattoush-ish

15. Gazpacho Sevillano

Help yourself to our award-winning version of the world’s most famous cold soup!

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Tomato love fest: our favorite ways to celebrate ripe beauties at the late-summer height of their season

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Easy heirloom tomato tart with goat cheese and thyme, made using all-butter frozen puff pastry.

By Leslie Brenner

Summer Produce Special Part III: Tomatoes

Ripe and bursting with flavor, tomatoes do not want to be fussed with. That’s why some of the most delicious things you can do with them don’t require a recipe.

• Slice them, arrange them on a plate, strew Maldon salt on them, grind black pepper generously, drizzle your best olive oil and serve with crusty bread.

• Want to get fancier? Add dollops of fresh ricotta, or slices of mozzarella, or pull apart a ball or two of burrata and arrange it on top. From there you can add torn basil, a flurry of mixed fresh herbs, or a big handful of baby arugula. If you go the arugula route, a drizzle of really good balsamic wouldn’t be a bad idea.

• Peel, seed and dice ripe tomatoes, put them in a bowl with a good dollop of great olive oil, salt, pepper and lots of torn basil, let it sit an hour or so, then use to toss with pasta. Grated parm or cubed mozzarella optional.

• BLT. This is the best time all year to eat the iconic sandwich. That slab of gorgeous red tomato with all its juices mingles meaningfully with the mayo on perfect toast, hopefully one of those sourdoughs your friend or partner has been perfecting, or good whole-wheat. Cool crunch of iceberg, chewy-crisp, salty-smoky warm bacon: This is sandwich nirvana. To get one made with the proper care and love, you’ll probably have to make it yourself. Eat it alone and enjoy every bite.

• Make a simple, beautiful, easy tomato tart: Roll out thawed frozen puff pastry, poke holes in it with a fork, cover with slices of tomato (lay them first on paper towels, salt them and let them sit a few minutes to get rid of moisture), salt, pepper, thyme leaves and crumbled goat cheese. Bake 25 minutes at 400. Slice and eat. This one gets a recipe.

• I’m not saying you should do this, but one of my mom’s favorite things to eat was juicy slices of tomato on white bread slathered with mayo. Call it a poor man’s BLT. Other times she would hold a large ripe tomato in her hand, take a bite, sprinkle the rest of it with salt and eat it like that, out of hand. This, she told me, was how she liked to eat tomatoes when she was a kid and she picked them, warm and ripe and bursting with flavor, from her victory garden at home in New Jersey during World War II.

Tomatoes à la Provençale, from a Julia Child recipe

Tomatoes à la Provençale, from a Julia Child recipe

• Invite them to the South of France — by way of Tomatoes à la Provençale. Make a filling of bread crumbs, herbs, chopped shallots, garlic, olive oil, salt and pepper and stuff that into half-tomatoes you’ve emptied of seeds and juice. Roast 10 or 15 minutes at 400 and eat. Here’s Julia Child’s recipe, which I’ve been making my whole life.

• Blitz up a batch of Gazpacho Sevillano. Maybe you tried this in May, hoping to usher in summer, but the tomatoes weren’t quite in the mood yet. Now they are. Three pounds of tomatoes, a cuke, a red bell pepper, torn-up day old bread, Sherry vinegar, a couple or three garlic cloves put through a press, a pinch of red pepper, more salt than you think: Into the blender they go, and whirr away. Drizzle in some olive oil while the motor’s running. Some people let it chill in the fridge so the “flavors meld”; I usually can’t wait and just eat it like that, garnished with another drizzle of olive plus diced veg, especially avocado.

Classic Gazpacho Sevillano

• Try a less common cold Spanish soup, Salmorejo, which is Córdoba’s version of gazpacho, garnished traditionally with chopped hard-boiled egg and Serrano ham. Our recipe is adapted from one by superchef José Andrés.

Palestinian Chopped Salad (Salata Arabieh), from ‘Falastin’ by Sami Tamimi and Tara Wigley

Palestinian Chopped Salad (Salata Arabieh), from ‘Falastin’ by Sami Tamimi and Tara Wigley

• When the tomatoes get ripe, the smart go chopping. Ripe tomatoes are fabulous in the chopped salad that’s ubiquitous on Levantine tables, including Palestinian ones. Cucumbers, bell peppers (red in this case), scallions, parsley, mint and serrano or jalapeño chiles, garlic and lemon join the fun. Our recipe is adapted from Falastin, by Sami Tamimi and Tara Wigley.

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Zucchini coming out of your ears? These 8 stupendous dishes will make you wish you had 5 more pounds

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Stuffed zucchini (courgettes) with pine-nut salsa from Ottolenghi Simple

Summer Produce Special, Part II: Zucchini

We feel your zucchini abundance-state here at Cooks Without Borders, where we’ve been grating, shaving, slicing, dicing, salting, draining, sautéing, roasting, steaming and sashimi-ing zucchini round the clock to help you make the most of the season’s inevitable bumper crop.

• One dish — Stuffed Zucchini with Pine Nut Salsa — is so outstanding it shook the two courgette-fatigued fellows with whom I shelter out of their summer-squash stupor.

“Amazing,” said the older one. “I would eat this again tomorrow!” (We did.)

“Wow,” said the younger. “Whose recipe is this?” Ottolenghi’s, I replied — from his 2018 cookbook Ottolenghi Simple. “He is a genius,” proclaimed the younger zucchini critic.

I had been skating on thin ice with the vegetable when this show-stopper saved us. It was maybe only day 3 of zucchini trials, but junior and elder had already hit the zucchini wall. They are weak, after all, and lack summer squash stamina.

I had set my sights, this particular evening, on two possible Ottolenghi recipes. The exhausted eating panel chose the Stuffed Zucchini, pictured above. Excellent call: Its filling is rich with Parmesan and egg, bright with height-of-season heirloom cherry tomatoes, plumped with bread crumbs and set with a golden-brown crust inside a perfectly roasted shell that maintained integrity but melted at fork’s touch. On top of that, a deeply herbal salsa — at once dusky (oregano) and bright (thanks to lemon) — made meaty and crunchy with toasted pine nuts.

Do try it; I think you’ll love it. It’s so delicious, you can let it stand proudly as centerpiece main dish, even probably for dyed-in-the-wool carnivores. (But oh, yes, it would also be great with lamb. Or chicken.)

Once your swooning subsides, consider the possibilities for your next zucchini triumph. For you know there will be more zucchini!

Here are other faves:

• Raw Zucchini Salad with Green Olives, Mint and Pecorino. I first learned the joys of raw zucchini in the early 00’s from Russ Parsons, the L.A. Times’ longtime columnist (“The California Cook”), who taught us that salting thin-sliced or shaved raw zucchini and letting it sit a few minutes turns it delightfully silky and slippery, seeming almost to cook the flesh while keeping it firm.

For years I had a Parsons salad in my arsenal and pulled it out often. Slice zucchinis in half vertically, then cut them into thin half-moons. Toss with salt in a colander and let sit for 15 or 20 minutes. Transfer to a bowl and dress with minced garlic, lemon juice, olive oil, freshly ground black pepper or red pepper flakes and fresh herbs — mint is especially nice, but you can do any combo of mint, dill, parsley or basil. The Ottolenghi recipe makes me think oregano would be smashing as well.

Raw Zucchini Salad with Green Olives, Mint and Pecorino from A16 Food + Wine

Raw Zucchini Salad with Green Olives, Mint and Pecorino from A16 Food + Wine

Nate Appleman and Shelly Lindgren took the salting-raw-zucchini technique to delicious heights in a recipe published in their 2008 cookbook, A16 Food + Wine, named for their beloved Southern Italian spot in San Francisco. Their salad marries ribbons of zucchini carpaccio with a brilliant trio of complementary flavors. I’d never have thought of green olives and mint together, but the combination sings — especially with the bright, pure flavor of Castelvetrano olives (green Cerignolas would be great, too). Earthy pecorino smooths it out and pulls it together.

• We’ve been thinking about Barry’s Insanely Delicious Zucchini Fritters since test-driving the recipes in José Andrés’ Vegetables Unleashed led us to a zucchini fritter recipe that didn’t quite do it for us (the batter was thin and the fritters ran all over the pan). Barry’s Insanely Delicious are little flavor-bombs, soft and packed with herbs (dill, mint and parsley) on the inside, crisp on the outside and warm, served with a cool and tangy yogurt sauce. Pop one in your mouth and it’s hard to stop there. They’re brilliant bites for your next Zoom Happy Hour, if that’s still a thing.

Barry’s Insanely Delicious Zucchini Fritters

Barry’s Insanely Delicious Zucchini Fritters

• Speaking of José Andrés, another zucchini recipe in that cookbook turned out to be one of our favorites ever: Grilled Zucchini with Lots of Herbs. It’s as simple and wonderful as it sounds and looks, with a sprinkle of za’atar — the Levantine herb and spice mix — to keep things zippy.

Grilled Zucchini with Lots of Herbs from José Andrés’ ‘Vegetables Unleashed’

Grilled Zucchini with Lots of Herbs from José Andrés’ ‘Vegetables Unleashed’

Camarón con Fideos de Calabacita (Shrimp with Zucchini Ribbons) from Anán Medrano’s ‘Count the Tortillas’

Camarón con Fideos de Calabacita (Shrimp with Zucchini Ribbons) from Anán Medrano’s ‘Count the Tortillas’

• Another dish that probably has roots in the Texas Mexican cooking known as comida casera, Rosa de la Garza’s Texas Chicken is an easy, delicious pseudo-braise that makes luscious use of abundant zucchini (and any other summer squash that needs a home), along with corn, tomatoes, onions, cilantro and serrano chile. It has been one of my favorite late-summer dishes since I was a kid growing up far from Texas, in Southern California. (It’s a pseudo-braise because you don’t actually add liquid; the juices that end up braising all come from the vegetables.)

Rosa de la Garza’s Texas Chicken (the chicken formerly known as The Chicken that Killed Grandpa)

Rosa de la Garza’s Texas Chicken (the chicken formerly known as The Chicken that Killed Grandpa)

• A super-flexible dish we call Warm Summer Salad Without Borders is another late summer stunner — and a great way to feature as much zucchini as you want to throw at it, along with grilled corn, tomatoes and — if you like — grilled okra. It makes a lovely light dinner when it’s still blazing hot, or a warm pick-me-up for when you’re a little sad the season is on the way out.

And hey — I sometimes toss some grilled okra on top of Rosa de la Garza’s Texas Chicken, too. The Warm Summer Salad is kind of like a vegetarian salad version of that dish.

Warm Summer Salad Without Borders

Warm Summer Salad Without Borders

• Last but certainly not least — as it’s one of my favorite things in the world to cook and to eat — a Chicken and Lamb Couscous will usher summer into fall, pulling a pound or two of zucchinis in its wake. As the season changes, keep it in mind. We offer an easy version that uses canned garbanzos and five-minute couscous grains and slower OG version that has you soak dried chickpeas overnight and steam and fluff the couscous grains two or three times. Both are tucked into the same recipe, as you might want to combine them (dried chickpeas + quick couscous grains, for instance). On our to-do list: Creating or turning up a stellar harissa recipe.

Chicken and Lamb Couscous (with . . . zucchini!)

Chicken and Lamb Couscous (with . . . zucchini!)

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Summer Produce Special Part I: Our eggplant extravaganza channels India, Japan and the Levant

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Fairytale eggplants

It’s the most delicious time of year to be a vegetable-lover — don’t you agree? We’ve got wonderful recipes to help you make the most of summer produce, whether it comes from your insanely productive garden, the farm stand, that large haul of zucchini your neighbor gifted you, or the supermarket. This first in a series of stories is our Summer Produce Special — a bumper crop of our best recipes featuring the vegetables of the moment. Today that would be . . . eggplant!

Got eggplants?

• If you have the gorgeous baby kind featured in the photo above, and if you can get fresh curry leaves, you can make the outrageously good Charred Baby Eggplants from Anjali Pathak’s The Indian Family Kitchen. (We’re working on a mini-review of the book, coming soon!) This is one of the best things we’ve eaten all year. And it has been a long year. The eggplants are melty-soft and the coconutty, spicy topping — with dabs of yogurt and delicate curry leaves — turns the into something super special.

Anjali Pathak’s Charred Baby Eggplants with coconut, curry leaves, mustard seed, chives and yogurt

• Make ‘em dance! Those babies are also perfect for the chef José Andrés’ crazy-delicious, umami-forward Dancing Eggplant. Nuke or grill them, slather them with a Japanese-inspired sauce and top with bonito flakes that seem to dance.

Shaved bonito (katsuobushi) ribbons animate ‘Dancing Eggplant,” from José Andrés’ ‘Vegetables Unleashed’

• Throw any eggplants, large or small, in the bottom of your grill (or your broiler) and make the best Baba Ganoush imaginable.

Baba Ganoush — eggplant dip from the Levant

• Baba-ed out? Make a lively Charred Eggplant Salad, zingy with lemon.

Charred Eggplant (Aubergine) Salad from ‘Zahav’ cookbook

• Medium-sized eggplants are perfect for a fabulous Baked Kofta with Eggplant and Tomato, from Sami Tamimi’s new Falastin cookbook. Each kafta (lamb patty) crowns a stack of tomato and eggplant, so best if the eggplants aren’t too fat.

Baked Kofta with Eggplant and Tomato from ‘Falastin’ by Sami Tamimi

Next up in our Summer Produce Special series: Zucchini. Watch this space: It’s coming to Cooks Without Borders soon!

RECIPE: Baked Kofta with Eggplant and Tomato

RECIPE: Charred Eggplant Salad

RECIPE: Baba Ganoush

RECIPE: Dancing Eggplant

RECIPE: Anjali Pathak’s Charred Baby Eggplants