peach crumble pie

As the peaches rolled into the Farmers' Market I wanted to bake a peach pie. But, I also wanted to have a peach crumble. What to do? I made a one crust pie with a crumble topping!

summer weekend dinner

With the wonderful peaches from the local farmers, some organic New Mexico lamb, zucchini from my garden, and leftovers in the refrigerator - I crafted this dinner. Here you see crab-mango-avocado salad, spiced grilled lamb chops and peaches, and grilled zucchini with bagna cauda sauce.

double cheeseburgers; chocolate chip cookies

I loved these Double Cheeseburgers with Caramelized Onions (Food and Wine magazine) http://www.foodandwine.com/recipes/double-cheeseburgers-with-caramelized-onions - and then I made these amazing Browned Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies for dessert.

fig-blue cheese- arugula-pear flatbread

I made some jam from the fresh figs just coming into the market and used that mixture as the base on this pizza dough. I sprinkled some blue cheese on it and, after it was baked, topped it all off with a simple salad of arugula and pear. This served about 6 people as a savory appetizer.

tea time for dinner

We were enjoying the Summer Olympics from London and so decided to have our own version of a tea meal. I had also visited a local tea shop and was trying (and loving) this aromatic green chai-like tea. The sandwiches are mango-crab, the side dish is roasted figs sitting on a pool of local honey, garnished with blue cheese and fresh rosemary.

grilled chicken salad

I made a garlic confit to baste the chicken thighs for grilling, then some of that garlic confit also went into the vinaigrette for the salad. Eggplants were just coming into the Farmer's Market so I did a tomato-zucchini-eggplant mixture to go with the salad.

peppers, pork, and plums

I have been delighted to occasionally find shiseido peppers at the local Farmers' Market. We like to pan saute them in olive oil with garlic. Here I had them as a side dish with pork scallopine that has a plum-port sauce on top. Keeping with the plum theme, I made a sweetened mixture of vanilla, plums, and blackberries served over shortbreads for dessert.