Summer harvest winding down

Switching gears - slowly, but surely, the summer crops in the garden are putting on the brakes.  This week we saw the last of the Patty Pan squash, and today I picked the last 5 cucumbers - a sad occasion for me.  As far as I am concerned, nothing compares to a freshly picked cucumber.  I'm never satisfied with cukes from the grocers.  I optimistically left one of the cuke plants in the ground with the hope that the predicted warm weather for later this week might encourage it to put out just one more precious cucumber.  We'll see.

While the squash and cucumbers are coming to an  end, I am happy to report that our late summer planting of salad greens have taken hold and are now providing us with lovely tender salads once again. We are also still picking tomatoes.  We have three plants of  cherry-type tomatoes that have been very disappointing this year.  The plants are producing lots of tomatoes, but for some reason they are all splitting just as they get ripe.  In past years this has happened when the tomatoes got wet from rain, and we did have rain in late August, but they just keep splitting.  It has seemed that the only way I have gotten any to eat has been foraging in the garden and eating them out of hand just before they are really ripe.

Today I managed to find just enough undamaged fruit to demonstrate one of my late Summer/early Fall standbys.  I love the tartness and intense flavor of cherry tomatoes and have found that the flavor can be measurably enhanced by a quick saute.  I like to use a variety of tomatoes for the flavor and color.  This is an easy, last minute dish that is really a special treat.

Flash-in-the-pan Tomatoes

Cherry tomatoes, a variety is nice
1 tbsp olive oil
2 garlic cloves, slivered
1 sprig of basil, leaves chopped

Wash and removes stems from tomatoes.  Place oil and garlic in saute pan,  gently cook garlic for a few minutes until fragrant.  Increase heat to med-high.  Toss in the tomatoes and basil, cook, stirring or shaking the pan, until the tomatoes become very fragrant, soften and the skin splits.  Sprinkle with salt and serve while still very warm.  This dish is best when prepared right before the meal is served.  Oh, so good!