Summertime, and the eatin' is local. Tonight was the first time this year for fresh sweet corn, homegrown tomatoes, green beans, and basil, all from the farmers' market. We also had local black raspberries for dessert. And the mozzarella was made fresh today at our local supermarket. The olive oil and chicken thighs I already had on hand, or I could have purchased them from local purveyors, as well.
When I sat down to supper tonight, I had a powerful experience of my long-dead mother's presence, for this was exactly the combination of foods she would serve us on summer evenings long ago. Oh, how we looked forward to the first corn and beans and tomatoes from the garden, that sweet snap of the tender kernels between our teeth and the butter dripping down our chins, the tomatoes soft and sweet as honey and bursting with a flavor we had almost forgotten was possible for tomatoes. We didn't have extra-virgin olive oil or freshly made mozzarella in the Michigan farmland of my childhood, but we did have cold heavy cream on our raspberries for dessert. Unless there was fresh peach pie. Nobody worried about cholesterol then.
Let Proust have his madeleines. It's sweet corn and homegrown tomatoes that bring the past alive for me. Yum!
3 comments:
Just a wonderful time of year, isn't it. Especially the raspberries - such a short season.
Oh my gosh, I'm salivating as I read this. What a fantastic caprese salad! You're reminding me to check my neighbor's black raspberries--I forget how well into the summer we are! And local sweet corn, yes!! I've been watching the peaches come north in our food co-op, first from Georgia, then the Carolinas, and now Pennsylvania. Soon they'll be coming from the Hudson Valley. So many great images, including your childhood memories.
Absolutely delish!
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