Happy pickle day to those who celebrate

I was informed that today was National Pickle Day, said to be derived from International Pickle Week, held in May. (National Pickle Month is celebrated in July, which makes more sense, since that's when pickle-able produce matures.) Luckily this useless bit of trivia was conveyed to me before lunch time, so I was prompted to get some of the refrigerator pickles on the table. Quickles aren't forever, after all.

This recipe is a staple. While it's best made during garden season, I have been known to make it with store-bought mini cucumbers in winter because they make such a nice complement for sandwiches.

Quick garlic dill pickles

From "The Complete Book of Year-Round Small-Batch Preserving" by Eleanor Topp and Margaret Howard via Epicurious. I usually cut this recipe in half since I put up so many kinds of refrigerator pickles that it eats up a lot of refrigerator space.

Note: If you're packing this in pint jars as called for, you'll want to make sure your cucumbers are short enough to come less than a half inch from the top of the jar.  Otherwise you'll find part of the cucumbers aren't covered by the liquid and it will intrude into the head space if you opted to can these. If your cucumbers are taller, you could use quart jars and up the vinegar/water/salt mixture accordingly. 

Ingredients

8-10 small pickling cucumbers (about 3 pounds)
4 small garlic cloves
4 heads fresh dill or 4 teaspoons dill seed (I use both, along with dill fronds, because I like dill pickles to be very dilly indeed; I would omit the fronds if doing a hot water bath preserving method)
2 cups white vinegar
2 cups water
2 tablespoons pickling salt

Method

Cut a thin slice from the ends of the cucumber so they'll stand up in the jar more easily. You can leave them whole if you prefer, or slice them into quarters if you want spears.

Add a garlic clove, head of dill and/or 1 teaspoon dill seed to each jar. Pack in the cucumbers vertically. 

Place vinegar, water and pickling salt in a non-reactive pan and bring to a boil. Pour mixture over cucumbers, top with lids and let cool before refrigerating. 

Note for the uninitiated: It's not unlikely that the lids placed on the hot jars will pop to form a seal. This does NOT mean they're OK to leave out on the counter; it takes a full sterilization/hot water canning routine plus those satisfying pops to be shelf stable. It does mean you've got a nice seal, however, which never hurts for frig longevity.

(Alternatively, you could sterilize the jars before packing in the garlic, dill seed and cucumbers, pour over the boiling mixture, leaving a half-inch space at the top, then process in boiling water in a canner for 10 minutes for pints and 15 minutes for quarts.) 

Rating: These are definitely puckery pickles. Super fast way to get nicely dilly, garlicky cucumber spears. Really couldn't be simpler.

Another garden season in the books

Oh, Henri. This was one of the last clematis flowers hanging on until last night.

Except for cleanup on the aisles of the garden, nature has officially closed up shop. We dodged frost until overnight last night, but you can't expect the growing season to last forever in Minnesota. Dave noted that the hydrangea is now a bye-drangea, and the petals on that Henri plant dropped like flies. This first frost was way later than most years, but not quite as late as the record of Nov. 18, 2016. I was probably ready for garden season to be over that year too.

All the heavy terra cotta pots filled with herbs have been painfully schlepped inside, including a non-hardy hibiscus that is now taller than both of us and has to fit between the rafters of the basement ceiling under grow lights. It's one of many things that grew like a weed this year, including, well, the weeds.

It wasn't a bad year, as gardening goes, although there were certainly times I questioned whether I really want to have a garden anymore, given that so much of it is at ground level and the weeds flourish in weather in which I wilt. But I really want to have fresh garden produce available outside my back door, and since I lack a garden staff, donning garden gloves is really my only alternative.

I, of course, had grand visions of finally getting my garden into some sort of shape after years of backsliding late in my working life. I may have moved it closer to striking distance for next year, but didn't move the needle nearly as much as I'd hoped. But I am closer to a vision of what I want it to be, and with any luck will enter next year more in attack mode than recovery mode. 

I will say this, one of my stated goals for retirement is to be more present in my garden, and remaining weeds aside, I can honestly say I was out there more often and got to enjoy more moments of comparative Zen. I also captured more of the herbage for use in more ways in the kitchen than I've had time for in previous years. 

And if garden success was measured by number of pollinators per square foot, this was a ridiculously successful year. In addition to the usual suspects, we let way too much of the arugula reach the flowering stage, and I have never seen such a feeding frenzy on any other plant than the wild asters. One of the plants to benefit from the pollinator plethora was a volunteer cantaloupe. We only got one to come to full size, but it was free.

The price was right.

Next year. No really, I mean it.

Using up herby goodness

I look at the lush herbs on the patio and then peek at the forecast, and don't like the inevitable long-range result. Many will make the trip inside for the winter, but only so many will survive with grace, so it's time to be profligate with them.

Herb cheese spread

From "The Complete Kitchen Garden" by Ellen Ecker Ogden. This is the perfect book to turn to during the growing season when you've got an abundance of garden produce to use, whether from your backyard, the farmers market or CSA. It's also a delightful book to turn to in deep winter, when you're looking for the promise of spring you get from garden planning. It features more than a dozen kitchen garden designs with an array of sizes and produce types, and a plant list and recipes accompany each. 

Ingredients

2 tablespoons chopped fresh dill
2 tablespoons chopped fresh basil
1 tablespoon chopped fresh chives
2 garlic cloves, chopped
1 8-ounce package cream cheese, room temperature

Method

Combine dill, basil, chives and garlic in a food processor. Pulse until fine. Add cream cheese and process until well blended. Put in a serving container, cover and refrigerate at least 2 hours. Serve on crackers or crostini. The book suggests a nasturtium garnish.

Rating: Yummy. Super fast. Uses up precious herbs. Can be made well ahead and keeps for an extended time. You can make it fancy by spreading on crostini and giving each a blossom garnish. Works like a cheat code as a sandwich spread for a panini. Really no downside to this stellar recipe.

Georgian cilantro sauce

From "Saveur: The New Classics Cookbook." This is Georgian as in the country thereof.

Ingredients
1½ cups fresh cilantro
½ cup fresh basil leaves
½ cup  fresh dill leaves
½ cup fresh flat-leaf parsley leaves
½ cup fresh tarragon leaves
½ cup walnuts
¼ cup fresh lemon juice
2 tablespoons apricot preserves
4 garlic cloves, crushed
2 green onions, chopped
1 cup walnut oil (or hazelnut, in a pinch)
Dash of cayenne pepper

Method

Combine cilantro, basil, dill, parsley, tarragon, walnuts, lemon juice, apricot preserves, garlic and green onion in a food processor until smooth. With motor running, gradually add oil, processing until thick.
Transfer to a bowl and season with cayenne pepper, salt and black pepper to taste.

Rating: Very nice. It has a subtle complexity of flavors going on. The recipe suggested serving it on grilled meats or crudites. We spread it on salmon and chicken before baking, used it as a veggie dip and swirled some into a roasted veggie soup. 

This herb butter was made with two-thirds parsley, one-third tarragon and the zest of half a lemon.

Herb butters are one of the easiest and most versatile ways to use up herbs and keep them around longer. Use either one kind of herb alone, or a combo pack there of: tarragon and parsley; thyme, chives, oregano and parsley; sage, parsley and chives (parsley is kind of a generic herbal note that works as a good base). Mix and match as you like.

Herb butter

From "The Herbal Pantry" by Emelie Tolley and Chris Mead. If you're really looking for ways to truly exploit your herbal patch, this book will explore everything from vinegars and cordials to spice mixes, teas, mustards and honeys. I'm still finding new recipes to try in this 1992 book that I've turned to ever since I had a place to have a potager. It's still available used for a reasonable price and well worthwhile.

Ingredients

½ pound butter (I personally prefer salted Hope Creamery butter for this purpose, but I suppose that depends on your butter)
⅓ cup finely chopped fresh herbs (or 5 teaspoons dried herbs)

Optional add-ins:
1 teaspoon lemon juice or a zest of half a lemon
Salt (if using unsalted butter), white pepper, or dry mustard, paprika, cumin
1 tablespoon finely chopped shallots or 1 small garlic clove, minced

Method

Beat butter (this will be slightly easier if you've left it out on the counter for a bit ahead of time) with a mixer until creamy. Stir in herbs and any desired add-ins. 

Form into desired shapes. You can just put it in a serving container such as a ramekin, or you can roll it into logs to slice later. You can also roll it out flat like a cookie dough and chill it slightly and then use a small cookie cutter to cut it into decorative shapes for individual serving. Or roll it into small balls and use a grooved butter paddle to create interesting edges. Or go all in with butter molds or butter stamps. This is one of those things you can really geek out about but luckily, also one of those things you really don't have to.

Refrigerate or wrap well and freeze for long-term storage. Set it out in advance of serving to bring up to spreadable temperature if you're going to need it spreadable form. Otherwise if you're just looking to add a slice or dollop to a grilled cutlet or to finish a sauce, there's no need to soften it first.

Note: You may be tempted to try this entirely in a food processor. I was, since I figured it could chop the herbs first and then add the butter for creaming. But it honestly was more irritating than using a mixer to cream the butter separately and then add the chopped herbs because the blades just spin around below the butter and you have to keep stopping and taking out the chute to try to push down the butter so it can get in reach of the blade, yet again, and again. Creaming butter is, after all, something a stand or handheld mixer excels at.

Rating: Flavored butter rocks even more than good plain butter, and that's saying something. Useful to make a quick topping or sauce for meat, to spread on a warm biscuit or cheese scone, or to enrich a pasta sauce when you're taste-testing it at the end and think it needs a bit of what's-it to push it over the top. 

Tomato basil feta soup and fresh tomato sauce

 

Why mess with a sure thing? Maybe because at least in the kitchen, there's always the possibility that a slightly better version is possible, even if it's not really necessary because the first version is just dandy. This approach clearly should not apply in relationships or investments, but can sometimes pay dividends in the culinary realm.

So when transforming yet another tray of farmers market tomatoes into what has essentially become a house soup that I pull out of the freezer as needed throughout the winter, it occurred to me to try swapping the usual canned tomato sauce in the recipe for a possibly more elevated version, one that is marinated rather than cooked.

Christos tomato-basil soup with feta

This recipe from the Christos Greek restaurant in Minneapolis was published in the Star Tribune in 1997, as provided by Gus Parpas and executive chef at the time, Mohamed Armeli. This appeared as part of a reader request feature the Taste section used to run, reaching out to restaurants on behalf of a reader query for a recipe for a favorite dish. (I would link to it, but it's not on the Strib site.) Christos is an Eat Street mainstay, opening in 1988 and surviving COVID closures and ICE mayhem. I see the soup still shows up on at least some daily special menus there. It's been awhile since I've been there, so I can't vouch for how faithful this is to the original; I know sometimes chefs needed to modify a recipe they supplied for practical home use.

I have long since deviated slightly from the original, which I am presenting as first reported, and will note that where applicable. For one thing, seeding tomatoes is just not anything I feel moved to do, but if they bother you, by all means knock yourself out. (I also generally don't peel tomatoes in most recipes, but in this one, you'll be happier if you do; otherwise you might want to pass the soup through a food mill or sieve after pureeing it.)

I also have two different approaches to this, depending on whether I'm making it to serve immediately, in which case I more or less follow the original, or whether I'm making this in peak fresh tomato season to freeze to pull out in winter to pair with panini, toasted cheese sandwiches or other warm comfort food. I find that avoiding basil and feta in the frozen soup base and adding it later yields better results in that case. I'll note the "freezer" method after the original.

Ingredients

¼ cup olive oil
1 cup chopped onion
½ teaspoon salt
1 bay leaf
3 cloves garlic, chopped
5 to 6 ripe tomatoes, cored, peeled, seeded and diced
3 cups chicken stock
½ cup fresh basil, chopped (or 3 generous stems, if using freezer approach), plus more for optional garnish
1 cup crumbled feta cheese
2 cups tomato sauce
Black pepper to taste

Method

Heat olive oil in a large saucepan. Add onions and cook until translucent. Stir in salt. Add bay leaf and garlic and cook for 2 more minutes. Add tomatoes and stock, bringing to a boil and cooking over high heat for 20 minutes, stirring often. Remove from heat and remove bay leaf. When slightly cooled, puree in a blender or food processor until smooth. You might need to do this in batches, depending on the size of your blender or processor. Pour soup back into saucepan and stir in basil, feta, tomato sauce and black pepper. Simmer for 20 minutes. Makes 6 servings.

Method for freezing

When adding the tomatoes and stock, add the basil stems at the same time. Remove them when you remove the bay leaf before pureeing. (This infuses the soup with the basil flavor up front but keeps the basil from darkening while frozen.) After pureeing the soup and returning it to the pan, stir in tomato sauce and heat through. Remove from heat, cool, and store in preferred serving sizes. When ready to use, thaw the soup, add feta and reheat. Serve garnished with sliced basil. (If I'm feeling time-pressed, sometimes I'll just add feta crumbles to individual soup bowls, top with warm soup and then the basil garnish; still tasty, but less creamy.)

Rating: However you choose to make it, there's a reason this is more or less our house soup. It's just smooth and creamy comfort, and pairs well with so many dishes. Only downside: If you get used to this, the canned tomato soup is just such a devastating disappointment.

Fresh tomato sauce

From "Olive Oil: Fresh Recipes from Leading Chefs" from Periplus Editions. This recipe was designed to swirl around the base when plating an elaborate dish that would no doubt be spectacular but would also definitely set you back several hours cooking prep time and even more doing the dishes. Maybe some day. It can be hard to psych yourself up for so much effort for one dish when you could make three quite nice meals in the same amount of time. One suspects a kitchen staff would help overcome that. Makes about a quart.

Ingredients

10 ripe plum tomatoes, diced
½ cucumber, peeled, seeded and diced
1 red pepper, diced
½ red chile
1 teaspoon sugar
1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
1 tablespoon olive oil
½ cup tomato juice
1 tablespoon tomato paste
1 to 2 teaspoons fresh basil 

Method

Combine all ingredients in a large bowl. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 10 to 12 hours. Puree mixture and pass through a fine sieve. At this point you can stir in a bit more olive oil if desired.

Rating: As a tomato sauce, very fresh tasting. You definitely get the pepper and cucumber flavors coming through. If you're in the market for something with more flavor than a canned tomato sauce, it has some merit, and you can make this one ahead. I think it would be very nice with fish.

But as for using it the soup above, well, it was noticeable, but I would say it neither enhanced or detracted from the usual flavor overall, just made it different, so I'm sticking with opening the convenient can when it comes to this use case. So now I'm more certain about the sure thing.

Appetizers, but for lunch

I'm a sucker for a good appetizer, and think cocktails/wine and app parties are one of the very nice parts about being a grown up because you get to decide what to eat and when. But there are only so many of those parties to go around, and making a supper array of appetizers just for two people can seem like a lot of work and generate a lot of leftovers and preparation dishes that make it seem less fun.

So if I want to try out a new appetizer recipe ahead of one of those parties, I find making one for a weekend lunch to be a good alternative. Paired with a soup and fruit, one appetizer can be the star of the show.

Smoked salmon cheesecake

This no-bake cheesecake-ish recipe is from Kateryna's Cafe site. It called for a six-inch springform pan, which I don't own, so I opted for using two 4½-inch tartlet pans with a removeable bottom. Because the volume isn't the same between the two, I ended up with two tartlets of lower height, but they still looked reasonably looky paired on a plate with crackers. I considered making them in six of my mini cheesecake pans, but didn't feel like fussing that much, although I think it would make a dandy one-serving first course for a sit-down dinner situation.

Ingredients

2 ounces Ritz crackers (or use Schar's entertainment crackers if you want to make it gluten free)
1 large handful arugula
1 teaspoon olive oil
8 ounces cream cheese, softened
4 ounces smoked salmon, divided
1 tablespoon finely chopped chives
Zest of ½ lemon
Fresh dill for garnish

Method

Blend crackers, arugula and olive oil in a food processor until finely chopped. Press mixture into the bottom of your pan or pans, depending on available pan size (see headnote). 

Combine cream cheese, 2 ounces of smoked salmon, the chives and lemon zest. Spread over the crust. Refrigerate until lightly set. I gave it several hours since I was making it well ahead, but the recipe said to allow at least 15 minutes. Remove from pan and top with remaining 2 ounces smoked salmon and garnish with fresh dill.

Rating: Fine. It's fast to fix and reasonably looky on a plate. It's not the wower I expected based on its ingredient list, however. As I say, it's fine, but just fine. Maybe some finely chopped red onion in the cream cheese mixture would help, or maybe shallots? The zest of the entire lemon? I feel like it's just a nudge away from living up to its looks.

Baked ricotta with tomatoes

Adapted from "Vegetarian Heartland" by Shelly Westerhausen

Ingredients

1 pound ricotta
1 teaspoon honey
1 egg
3 garlic clove, minced
2 teaspoons fresh thyme leaves, divided
Zest of 1 lemon
½ teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon black pepper
5 ounces cherry tomatoes, halved
1 tablespoon butter

Method

Preheat oven to 400. Grease a 9-inch round pie plate or dish.

Combine ricotta, honey, egg, garlic, 1 teaspoon fresh thyme, lemon zest, salt and pepper. Spread mixture in prepared dish. Push tomatoes into the mixture, cut side down. (Arranging them in concentric circles would make it prettier than the randomness I achieved the first time I made it.) Bake for 30 minutes, then top with the butter, tilting the pan to distribute it once it melts. Bake for 10 more minutes. Garnish with remaining 1 teaspoon thyme leaves and a bit more pepper.  Serve warm.

Rating: The first time I made this, it was fine, but blander than I might have expected. I barely detected the garlic, so I tried it again and tripled the amount of garlic. I wanted this to be a winner because it's so fast and comparatively pantry friendly. I also added the zest of a lemon the second time. There was a reference I didn't pick up on until later because it's in neither the ingredient list or instructions in the original recipe, but the note on top of the recipe recommends using an organic lemon for the otherwise unmentioned zest, and adding it made a significant difference. 

Tuna mousse

From Food & Wine magazine's 2001 cookbook

Ingredients

1 6-ounce can tuna packed in olive oil, drained
¼ cup mayonnaise
2 tablespoons finely chopped onion
2 tablespoons cream cheese, room temperature
1½ teaspoons fresh lemon juice
1 tablespoon chopped fresh parsley
Sliced toasted baguette for serving

Method

Combine tuna, mayo, onion, cream cheese and lemon juice in a food processor. Pulse until smooth. Add parsley and pulse to combine. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Refrigerate for at least an hour. Serve on toasted baguette slices.

Rating: This is why I generally aim to try new recipes in advance of giving them to guests, just in case there's a dud. This works flavorwise, but while it sets up a tiny bit in the refrigerator, it never reaches a consistency I would call a mousse. As Dave said, it's more of a tuna sauce. I opted to turn the rest of it into the sauce for a tuna noodle casserole and call it a day, because I don't think this one is worth trying to finesse. It's a pity, because I really wanted to like this. When Dave asked what I was making and I told him tuna mousse, he said that sounded like an odd animal combination and went away muttering something about fish with antlers. I think fish with antlers would have been a charming nickname for an appetizer, but alas, it's not to be.

Crabbies

From "The Healthy Carb Diabetes Cookbook," by Jennifer Bucko and Laura Rondinelli, a book I picked up when a family member was diagnosed so I could more carefully cater appropriate options.

Ingredients

1 8-ounce can lump crab meat
1 8-ounce container lite cream cheese with chives and onions
5 whole wheat English muffins, halved

Method

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Combine crab meat and cream cheese. Spread mixture over open face English muffin halves. Place on a parchment-lined baking sheet and bake for 30 minutes. Slice each half into quarters if you want to serve them as appetizers. They're figuring two of those quarters a person as a serving for a total of 7 carbs.

Rating: It's certainly very fast to make. Flavorwise, it's reasonably tasty and if you have one un-quartered open-faced English muffin as lunch along with a bowl of soup and fruit, probably still not too horrible dietwise for those of us who aren't slavishly carb-watching. But while cutting it into quarters makes it more diet-friendly, it also makes it unappetizing on a plate. Small appetizers can be cute, but these are just ragged looking, I can imagine a plate full of these things sitting among an array of appetizers on a table and being the ones no one tried, becoming more sad as they cooled. (I do think they were best served warm.) I suppose if I added some chopped chives as a garnish it might help, but again, I think I'm not thinking this one is worth trying to finesse, especially given the price of a can of crab meat.

Leftovers: Since I wasn't about to bake off all five muffins, we have leftovers. I'm thinking it could make a good stand-in as a base for a crab meat rangoon pizza, which would be tasty, but definitely not as diet friendly.

Using up basil bonanza, one course at a time

Leaving a few flowering heads on some of the basil keeps the pollinators happy. This bumble bee was one of many that paid a visit to the basil, and then to my flowering vine crops nearby.

This year was a stellar basil year for us, both in the planters close to the house and the monster plant out in the raised beds that's among the largest basil plants I've ever seen in our northern climate. So obviously we've been enjoying our share of pesto and caprese salads. But given that prime basil season will soon fade during fall weather, I've been turning to recipes to use up copious quantities while it's in its full glory. Here are some basil-intensive recipes across a range of courses.

Creamy lemon basil pasta

From Food & Wine June 2026, adapted from "The Pasta Book" by Marc Vetri and David Joachim. Serves 4.

Ingredients
¾ cup butter, cut into chunks
1 pound fresh tonnarelli pasta (or dried bucatini or thick spaghetti)
1 cup fresh basil leaves, plus more for garnish
2½ tablespoons poppy seeds
2½-3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
¾ cup finely grated Parmesan cheese, plus more for garnish
8 thin prosciutto slices, torn (about 4 ounces)

Method

Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil.

In a deep large pot, melt butter over medium low. Add 2 cups of the hot salted water to the pot. Bring to a boil and cook until slightly reduced.

When the water in the pot boils, add pasta and cook until just tender. Drain, reserving liquid in case you need it. Transfer pasta to butter mixture in the pot and cook 2 to 3 minutes to coat pasta. Add basil, poppy seeds and 2½ tablespoons lemon juice. If needed to make a creamy sauce, add some of the reserved pasta water. Taste and adjust seasoning with lemon as needed. Stir in ¾ cup grated Parmesan. At this point, the original recipe called for plating the pasta in 4 bowls and then folding in the prosciutto to each serving, but that was annoying, so I recommend adding it to the main pasta pot and distributing it well. Garnish with grated Parmesan and more fresh basil leaves.

Rating: Hard to go wrong with those ingredients of lemon, butter, basil and prosciutto. Substantial, thanks to the bucatini we used, and well, that's a lot of butter. A fairly fast fix.

Gin basil smash

We enjoyed a trip to the Minnesota Beethoven Festival this year in Winona and had this perfect drink for a muggy hot day at Muddled Thyme, a craft cocktail and brick oven pizza joint downtown that I would haunt if I lived there. Highly recommend, both the restaurant and the drink. (Also, don't sleep on the Marine Art Museum while you're in town.) We found this recipe from Difford's Guide when we got home to try to re-create that cocktail.

Ingredients

12 basil leaves, divided
2 ounces gin
¾ ounce fresh lemon juice
⅓ ounce rich simple syrup (made with a 2-to-1 sugar to water ratio)
Seltzer water (optional)

Method

Set aside three basil leaves for garnish. Muddle remaining basil leaves in a cocktail shaker. Add gin, lemon juice and simple syrup and shake with ice. Strain into a Collins glass and top with seltzer if desired. (The recipe didn't call for it, but the restaurant's website lists it as an ingredient and it did seem to have a bit of fizz to it.) Garnish with basil leaves.

Rating: I'm not sure if it's exactly like the one we had, but it's close, and very refreshing.

Basil parsley garlic sea salt

From Healthy Eats by Elena on Instagram. There are other similar variations out there that use basil and no parsley, and some of which call for blanching the basil briefly to set its color.

Ingredients

1 cup basil leaves
1 cup parsley leaves
1 cup sea salt
3 cloves garlic, chopped

Method

Preheat oven to 225. Place ingredients in a food processor and pulse until fine. Spread on a parchment-lined rimmed baking sheet, Bake for 35-40 minutes until dried. Remove from oven and let cool completely. Transfer mixture to the food processor to process until smooth (the baked mixture sets up a bit into chunks so this restores it to salt consistency). Store at room temperature.

Drying the salt mixture in the oven extends its shelf life, but it makes it clump up, so it gets a second blending once it's cool.

Rating: It brings something more to the party than simple salt. Pack some into a small jar for presents, since it keeps for about a year at room temperature.

Tomato basil butter

From Salt Coast Kitchen on instagram. The quantities weren't specified, so this is a guess based on the video.

Ingredients
1 pint cherry tomatoes
2 tablespoons olive oil, divided
A generous handful of fresh basil
2 garlic cloves
¾ cup butter, room temperature

Method
Heat oven to 375 degrees. Place cherry tomatoes in a small baking dish. Drizzle lightly with some of the olive oil and a sprinkling of coarse salt. Bake for 10 minutes. Let cool slightly.

Put roasted tomatoes, remaining olive oil, basil leaves, garlic and butter in a food processor or blender and blend well. Transfer to a dish, cover and chill until set. 

Rating: Tasty as a sandwich spread. Also works as a topping for grilled chicken or as a pasta sauce. The basil flavor comes through nicely.

Lemon basil dressing

From May.Eighty.Five on Instagram. 

Ingredients

3 tablespoons basil leaves
1 garlic clove, chopped
4 tablespoons Parmesan cheese
1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
½ cup olive oil
4 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
1 teaspoon honey or maple syrup
Salt and pepper to taste

Method

Combine all ingredients except salt and pepper in a food processor or blender. Blend until combined and emulsified. Season to taste with salt and pepper. 

Rating: Tasty, versatile. Stays blended while stored. This recipe is now on repeat at our house.

Basil quick bread

From Hello Canola, a Canadian site showcasing recipes involving canola oil. 

Ingredients
3 cups flour
3 tablespoons sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
2 teaspoons dry mustard powder
1 teaspoon salt
3 tablespoons chopped fresh basil leaves
3 large eggs
1½ cups milk
⅓ cup canola oil

Method

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour a bread pan.

In a large bowl, whisk together flour, sugar, baking powder, mustard and salt. Stir in basil leaves.

Combine eggs, milk and canola oil. Stir into dry ingredients just to combine. Pour into prepared pan and bake for 60 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Remove from oven and let cool for 15 minutes before removing from pan to cool completely. 

Rating: An admirable, well-behaved loaf. Nice just with a smear of butter. Makes a reasonable toasted cheese sandwich base.

More options

That by no means exhausts your options for sneaking in some of the bounty of seasonal basil. I'm thinking basil blueberry muffins for breakfast and lemon basil poke cake for dessert. Or basil sugar pound cake or basil oil.

A rose by any other name

Nope, not one of mine. 

A few weeks we escaped our routine and played hooky. We got a takeout lunch, found a shady bench facing the Lake Harriet rose garden and strolled around the garden and fountains after our picnic. The roses have a pretty spread-out bloom time, so there's still plenty to see and smell.  Peak bloom times are said to be mid-June to early October.

The roses all seem to be Zone 5, so I'm not likely to try to plant any of them at home because I'm still sticking with at least Zone 4 hardiness ratings. I wish I could replicate the rose garden's terra cotta rope edging, but a brief search showed me a flat of terra cotta rope edging costs and weighs 400 £/pounds, so that's right out. They do sell molds to make your own tinted concrete versions, but since I have a hard enough time making myself weed along our crumbling edging, taking the time to make new edging seems most unlikely.

I've grown roses a time or two, but the only thing that's stayed bought for more than about five years is a miniature rose in a hanging pot, duking it out with tree seedlings in its clothes-line perch. It overwinters in the basement and comes back from twig form in late winter.

Lisianthus make fabulous, long-lasting cut flowers.

The closest thing I've got to looking like a rose planted in the ground this year are lisianthus, aka prairie gentian. I ordered 12 of them from Burpee this year, and waited and waited. (They are very slow growing, and hence, slow to ship.) They chose to ship them in early June when we were up north, so I had to ask a neighbor to intercept the package and tend to them. We hustled them into the ground on our return, and then we've waited and waited for them to bloom. Last week some of them finally did. Next year I might try growing them from seed, but it takes five to six months lead time for blooms so I better put it on my calendar for January.

While I won't say they are now thriving, they're doing better than the boulevard elm, which last week got tagged by the city for removal. I won't miss all the tree seedlings it drops throughout the garden, but we'll certainly miss that welcome shade. It's the second elm we've lost since moving in and the fourth big tree to go down on this end of the block.

Bye bye, elm. This is never a sign you want to see on your property.