"O! she doth teach the torches to burn bright"

Juliet is producing - big time! - and her fruits are a bright reddish orange - so beautiful. So many were dropping off onto the ground that I decided to halve and bake them in the oven for a couple of hours to preserve them for a few more days.

Drizzled with a very little olive oil and sprinkled with just a hint of salt, they roasted for 2 plus hours at 200 degrees, losing water but retaining sweetness.

They are great on pizzas or in salads, or just popped into the mouth as a snack straight from the fridge. I've been told they freeze well, too, but ours never made it that far.

I'll bet Shakespeare loved tomato season, too.

Energizer Bunny of the Garden World

Leave a waning veggie garden for ten days and look what you get upon return - six dark green zucchinis (I didn't photograph the baseball bat-sized one) and two green tomatoes which refuse to redden but which dropped off the vine into my hand, signaling their readiness.

I'll give some of the zucchini to my neighbor to thank her for watching the house but I'm at a loss as to what to do with the two green tomatoes. I've tried fried green tomatoes - maybe it's just me, but they were underwhelming - and I have no other good ideas. Guess I'll go online this afternoon and see what looks yummy, unless you have some suggestions...

The Blessings of Orangette

There are reasons why I read Orangette regularly and await each week's new post with anticipation. That girl can write!

She makes even simple dishes sound like a piece of heaven and often gives the reader insight into her life while writing about what she's cooking this week. She gives me inspiration to try dishes I might never otherwise attempt. I find that if Molly says they are good, they are really, really good!

An example is these roasted tomatoes stuffed with rice, about which she blogged last week. I've tried stuffed peppers, zucchinis and mushrooms but I had never tried stuffing tomatoes, except fresh ones filled with shrimp salad or the like. The dish was so simple that I actually had all the ingredients (except the fresh basil, which I borrowed from a neighbor) on hand so I followed Molly's stern orders and tried them out.

These are killer tomatoes. Absolutely rich tasting, despite the simple ingredients. The tomato shells relax and turn a little sloppy in the oven but they retain their beautiful colors. I used three different kinds of heirloom tomatoes and all were lovely, just perfect beside whatever else you're serving, or terrific on their own. Molly's recipe, which she borrowed from the Wednesday Chef (I love that about the interweb - trading recipes with friends you've never met) asks for fine bread crumbs but I went for coarse ones just to be contrary, and either would be fine.

The last few blessings of really ripe tomatoes are upon us - make the most of yours by preparing them this way!

Ratty Touie

Not being a lover of eggplant, still I love the rest of ratatouille, so sometimes I fudge it a little and make what I call Ratty Touie, a bastardized version of the real thing. The ingredients change a little each time - there's not a lot you can do to ruin Ratty Touie!

This time, I got a little creative, mostly because I didn't have all the ingredients in the house but had some other stuff that sounded fun and Mediterranean-ish - so, what the heck?

I sliced fairly thinly zucchinis, pattypan squash, fresh tomatoes and marinated artichoke hearts, the kind that come in a squat bottle, and peeled the papery skins off some of my slow-roasted tomato* halves.

I quartered some large shallots through the root end and minced two big cloves of garlic. After sauteeing the shallots and garlic in a little olive oil, I skimmed the bottom of a deep, lidded casserole with more olive oil, then layered the veggies in it one by one, alternating the shallot-garlic mixture with the other layers and sprinkling each layer with herbes de Provence. When I got to the top layer, I poured about half the vinaigrette from the jar of artichoke hearts over the whole thing, put on the lid and baked it in a 350 degree oven for about an hour - you'll know when it is ready as the whole house smells of the perfume.

All the veggies relaxed against each other and mingled like guests at a good party where everyone knows everyone else and no one is out to dominate, except perhaps those slow-roasted tomatoes - they are such showoffs! Sweetly oniony and softly savory, it was one of the best things I've made this summer, even if it is a little ratty.

*If you don't have slow-roasted tomatoes on hand, I think sun-dried ones might work but I'd layer them toward the bottom of the casserole where the juices from the other veggies would moisten them.

Chili from Chile(brown)

Was his blogging name the inspiration for this chili, or was it his and Ms. Goofy's gift of tomatoes and chili peppers? Or perhaps his helpful suggestions regarding the judicious use of said peppers? Guess it doesn't matter. What matters is the killer chili made from the products of his garden.

I halved and roasted some of his tomatoes in a slow oven (200 degrees) for about 10 hours, sprinkling them first with a little olive oil and sea salt. They were reduced to the Essence of Tomato by the time they came out.

The next day, the tomatoes were easy to slip out of their skins. In a big pot, I thoroughly browned a pound of Marin Sun Farms ground beef in batches so it really browned instead of grayed, added two chopped onions and two minced garlic cloves, a 16 ounce can of tomato sauce, two similar-sized cans of chili beans and three of Chilebrown's jalapeno chilis, finely chopped, and coarsely chopped the roasted tomatoes before adding them. Cooked it all together for three hours on low. Let it stand for two more hours. Reheated before serving with avocado slices on top and corn tortillas broken up for crunch.

We had to restrain ourselves from having thirds.

The roasted tomatoes gave the chili such a rich, deep flavor and the jalapenos lent just enough heat for us heat wimps. It was rich, mellow and quietly spicy, easily the best chili I have ever made. And the best part is that it made enough for tomorrow's lunch, as well, and possibly another dinner.

Thanks, Chilebrown, for the food and the inspiration.