Looking for ideas for a late-summer CSA box? See how I used tomatillos, Thai basil, husk cherries, heirloom tomatoes, jalapeños, poblanos, cantaloupe and cherry tomatoes, with tested recipes, simple no-recipe preparations and practical preservation tips that help turn an overflowing farm share into memorable meals all week long at home.
Wondering what to make with a summer CSA box? This practical guide shares tested recipes, no-recipe ideas, and preservation tips for tomatoes, zucchini, romaine, baby leeks, eggplant, sweet corn, red potatoes, and cherry tomatoes, helping you use peak-season produce before anything gets forgotten in the crisper drawer all week long.
For my summer panzanella, I toss juicy tomatoes, toasted sourdough, charred corn, quick-pickled shallots, basil, and goat cheese in a bright tomato-Dijon vinaigrette. It’s my ideal warm-weather bread salad for July Fourth cookouts, tomato season, or any dinner that needs something fresh, crunchy, and satisfying.
This Israeli Vegetable Salad is the ultimate no-cook summer dish. A bed of garlicky hummus with a touch of Sriracha is topped with juicy heirloom tomatoes, cucumbers, red pepper, and onion. Finished with mint and lemon vinaigrette, it’s perfect with pita or crackers.
I’ve never met a vodka sauce I didn’t love, and a new favorite is Lidey Heuck’s Saucy Shrimp alla Vodka!
I mean, how can you not love a simple homemade tomato sauce infused with shallot, garlic, crushed red peppers, and, of course, vodka combined with a little heavy cream and parmesan?!
Roasting is my favorite way to enjoy a non-peak-season tomato. For this simple dish, bread cubes are toasted in bacon fat before being combined with diced tomatoes, a little sugar, garlic, and basil, then topped with parmesan cheese, and baked until golden and bubbly.
Before stumbling upon Smitten Kitchen’s Skillet Piperade Eggs recipe in Keepers, I was unfamiliar with piperade—a dish that feels like the Basque version of shakshuka!
Lidey jokes that this is her husband’s favorite salad because it doesn’t contain any lettuce – and on this point I couldn’t agree more, many of my favorites are lettuce-less.
This vibrant salad combines chickpeas and Kalamata olives with diced tomatoes, bell peppers, cucumbers, red onion, capers, scallions and parsley all tossed in a garlic and oregano red wine vinaigrette.