When I look at this combination of produce, I see gazpacho! Everything but the carrots are an ingredient in gazpacho, as I describe in my post on celebrating tomato season. I’d normally use some sweet red pepper instead of shishitos, but I’ll have to wait a little longer until they are in season. Shishito peppers are among the earliest to arrive at market, and they will do fine. I’m going to give the tomatoes a couple more days of ripening and then make that gazpacho.
That will only use a few shishito peppers. I’m also growing some shishito peppers in my garden and the first are ready for picking. Between the ones remaining from the CSA delivery and those from my garden, there will be enough to grill. If you’ve never tried shishito peppers, they are one of the easiest and tastiest things to do on the grill. Simply toss them with salt, pepper and olive oil, then throw them on super high heat. When the first side chars a bit, flip them over. When the second side chars a bit, they are done. Super fast. Eat them as finger food. Pick them up by the stem and use your teeth to pull the pepper from the stem. Chew them up and savor every bite. You can also do this inside, stir fry style. Inside, I keep the pan dry, heat it really hot, and then dump the peppers that have been tossed in salt, pepper and olive oil. Leave them still to get some blisters, stir, blister, stir, blister… In just a few minutes they are ready.
The remaining cucumbers and some of the onion will go in a cucumber and tomato salad using the first of the cherry tomatoes that I’m picking from my garden. The carrots, a go to snack is simply to dip them in hummus and crunch away.
No Oil Tomato, Cucumber and Red Onion Salad
The concept of a quick pickle improvised to make a salad. Marinate the cukes and onions as you start preparing dinner. Add the tomatoes as you are finishing dinner prep.
