Guess what? We gang of Summer Fest people decided we were having a lot of fun with this ’round the web market basket — and with you — so we shall continue the merriment through the fall months (when it will become Fall Fest). Be patient and wait for the equinox, people — the devil is in the details.

Anyhoo, Peter Piper may have picked a peck of pickled ones, but we like peppers in all varieties. Sweet, hot, crunchy, roasted, and resplendent with color, we find the versatile pepper impossible to pass up — especially in desserts. OK, and mashed potatoes. We could keep going, but why torture you when we can just give you the links, and you can explore on your own.

For starters, we’ve got a dossier on the subject. If you’ve been following us through Summer Fest, this should not be a surprise. We’re geeky like that.

• Peppers: Taste the Rainbow

And of course, we encourage you to use peppers in every possible course — including (and especially) in cocktails.

• Theobroma Chocolate Cocktail
• Embrace: A Valentine Cocktail
• Calabacitas
• Chipotle Mashed Sweet Potatoes
• Chipotle Corn Chowder
• Classic Mexican Mole (with Grilled Chicken and Cashews)
• Grilled Chicken Ciabatta Sandwiches with Roasted Pepper Duo
• Peppers Stuffed with Roasted Vegetables, Halloumi & Pine Nuts
• Pumpkin Flan with Chile-Spiced Brittle
• Sea Bass en Papillote with Sweet Chile Hoisin Broth
• Sicilian Sausage and Peppers
• Roasted Garlic & Red Pepper Hummus

******

Here’s what our other Summer Fest friends are doing with peppers. Go take a peek and leave a comment or recipe. You can also follow along on Twitter with the hashtag #summerfood.

Alison Sickelka: Food2
Making Hot Pepper-Infused Tequila
@ali_s

Michelle Buffardi: Cooking Channel’s Devour
A Peck of Perfect Pepper Recipes
@mbuffardi

FN Dish: Food Network
Chiles Rellenos and More Stuffed Peppers

Healthy Eats: Food Network
10 Ways To Eat Sweet Peppers

Margaret Roach: A Way to Garden
Oven-roasted peppers, and freezing how-to

Caroline Wright: The Wright Recipes
Homemade Harissa & Sweet and Spicy Peperonata
@chefcaroline

Nicole: Pinch My Salt
Pickled Serrano Peppers
@pinchmysalt

Caron Golden: San Diego Foodstuff
Consuelo’s Hot Chile Sauce and Hatch Chiles
@carondg

Paige Smith Orloff: The Sister Project
Grilled Tomatillo Salsa with Jalapenos
@paigeorloff

Food Network UK
It’s Chili Weather

Alana Chernila: Eating from the Ground Up
Homemade hot sauce, and why gloves are a good idea
@edability

Cate O’Malley: Sweetnicks
Summer Panzanella
@cateomalley

HOW YOU CAN JOIN IN SUMMER (AND FALL) FEST:
Each Wednesday for the rest of the summer and fall, a group of blogging friends including those above will swap our recipes and tips about the following harvest-fresh ingredients. Here’s the schedule:
9/8 Garlic
9/15 White Potatoes
9/22 Spinach
9/29 Apples
10/6 Fall Salads

We each post something and then link to one another, so that you can travel around the combined effort, gathering the goodies. Sharing makes the experience even better, so if you have a recipe or tip that fits any of our weekly themes, you can do either of the following:

• Leave a comment on participating blogs with a link to your recipe/tip
• Publish a post of your own, and grab the juicy Summer/Fall Fest 2010 badge (illustrated by Matt Armendariz of Mattbites)

We hope to see you in the kitchen!

This is our favorite, favorite, favorite week of Summer Fest — and summer in general. For us, tomatoes are like summer lovers we can’t wait to meet each year and renew our steamy affair. We reserve all of our tomato lust for this time of year, as we think there is no other time to eat a tomato than in season. That supermarket baseball variety simply doesn’t work for us.

Our tomato celebration this week includes the following:

• Tomato Primer: Overview of the different varieties of tomato with recipes
• An Ode to Tomatoes: A love letter to the little summer rubies I live for
• The Tomato Parade: Some people love tomatoes enough to march in their honor

More importantly, here are the recipes:

• Tomato & Nectarine Timbale
• Summer Tomato Salad with Creamy Garlic Vinaigrette
• White Pizza with Shrimp, Crab & Asparagus
• Basil Pasta Rags with Four-Cheese Filling and Basil Sauce “Mignonette”
• Salmorejo

Enjoy these waning days of summer, darlings.

******
Here’s what our other Summer Fest cohorts are doing this week with stone fruits. Go take a peek and leave a comment or recipe. You can also follow along on Twitter with the hashtag #summerfood.

Margaret Roach: Away to Garden
More than one way to ripen a tomato

Michelle Buffardi: Cooking Channel’s Devour/The Blog (Scripps)
Easy Summer Tomato Tart
@mbuffardi

Alison Sickelka: Food2 blog (Scripps)
Heirloom Tomatoes
@ali_s

FN Dish: Food Network
Tyler’s Ultimate Tomato Salads

Healthy Eats: Food Network
Top 10 things to do with summer tomatoes

Cate O’Malley: Sweetnicks.com
A Loaded Bowl (filled with brown rice, Jersey fresh tomatoes, buttery avocados and more deliciousness)
@cateomalley

Paige Smith Orloff: The Sister Project
3 substantial, healthy, vegetarian tomatoey main dishes
@paigeorloff

Diane and Todd: White on Rice Couple
Sun-dried tomatoes (actually dried in the sun!)
@whiteonrice

Kelly Senyei: Just a Taste
Tomato Jam
@justataste

Caroline Wright: The Wright Recipes
Savory Tomato Crumble
@chefcaroline

Caron Golden: San Diego Foodstuff
Chunky Garden Gazpacho with Flowered Corn Tortillas and Melissa Clark’s Tomato Tarte Tatin
@carondg

Tigress in a Pickle
Over 50 ways to preserve tomatoes in jars
@tigressjampickl

Alana Chernila: Eating from the Ground Up
Roasted Green Salsa (green zebras and tomatillos), and how late August makes her hurt for New Mexico
@edability

Judy: Divina Cucina
Tomatoes the Italian Way
@divinacucina

Shauna Ahern: Gluten-Free Girl and the Chef
Heirloom Tomato Tart with Parmesan Crust
@glutenfreegirl

Tara: Tea & Cookies
Making Peach Jam

Nicole: Pinch My Salt
What to do with slow-roasted tomatoes
@pinchmysalt

Food Network UK
The Seven Deadly Tomato Sins

Marilyn: Simmer Till Done
Cherry Tomato & Maytag Blue Beignets

HOW YOU CAN JOIN IN SUMMER FEST:
Each Wednesday for the rest of the summer (and probably longer), a group of blogging friends including those above will swap our recipes and tips about the following harvest-fresh ingredients. Here’s the schedule:

7/28: Cukes ‘n Zukes
8/4: Corn
8/11: Herbs, Greens and Beans
8/18: Stone Fruit
8/25: Tomatoes

We each post something and then link to one another, so that you can travel around the combined effort, gathering the goodies. Sharing makes the experience even better, so if you have a recipe or tip that fits any of our weekly themes, you can do either of the following:

• Leave a comment on participating blogs with a link to your recipe/tip
• Publish a post of your own, and grab the juicy Summer Fest 2010 tomato badge (illustrated by Matt Armendariz of Mattbites)

We hope to see you in the kitchen!

The Tarte Tatin, named after the Tatin sisters, who served the dish in their tavern in the Loire Valley, is a classic French dessert using apples. This reinterpretation uses peaches, which are in season during the summer, paired with preserved ginger. This easy yet satisfying dessert always pleases, and can be made without much fuss. The key is caramelizing the sugar to just the right point.

6 servings

Ingredients

6 ripe peaches
½ cup castor sugar
4 tablespoons sweet cream butter, unsalted
3 tablespoons preserved ginger, chopped

For the pâte brisée (pie crust):
1¼ cups all purpose flour, plus extra for dusting
½ teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon sugar
8 tablespoons chilled unsalted butter (one stick cut into small pieces)
2-4 tablespoons ice water, plus extra if needed
1 egg, slightly beaten

Equipment

10-inch heavy-bottomed skillet (oven safe)
Rolling pin

Preparation

Prepare the pie crust:
Mix the flour, sugar and salt in the bowl of a food processor and pulse to mix well. Add the chilled butter pieces and pulse in short bursts to cut the flour and the butter together. The mixture should resemble crumbs. Do not overmix. Slowly drizzle in ice water a little at a time, and process just until the mixture comes together into a ball. If it’s a little dry, add just a splash more of the ice water, being careful not to add too much. The mixture should just hold its shape. Wrap the dough in plastic and refrigerate for 30 minutes, or freeze for 10.

Prepare the peach filling:
Preheat the oven to 375° F.

Boil a pot of water on the stovetop, and score a small “x” on the bottom of each peach and boil for about 10 seconds, then refresh in cold water. The peels should come off rather easily. Cut each peach in half and remove the stones.

Sprinkle the sugar in the bottom of a 10-inch ovenproof skillet and heat over medium heat until it begins to caramelize. Shake the pan back and forth a little if necessary, but do not stir. When the sugar turns a dark caramel color, remove it from the heat and dot with 2 tablespoons of the butter and half the chopped preserved ginger.

[Chef’s Note: Sugar will go from caramel to burnt in a split second, so it is important to watch it very carefully. Once it starts to brown, be ready to take it off the heat, and be careful not to burn yourself. Sugar burns are the most painful.]

Place the peaches cut-side up on top of the caramel. Be sure to pack them together as tightly as possible. Sprinkle with the remaining ginger and tuck a few pieces of the ginger in the gaps between the peaches. Cut the remaining butter into small pieces and dot over the peaches. Return the pan to the stove and cook over low heat while you roll out the pastry dough.

Sprinkle a clean countertop with a little flour and roll out the pâte brisée from the center outward, rotating occasionally, until the dough is about 11 inches in diameter (a little larger than your skillet) and ¼-inch thick. Use a little more flour, as necessary, if the dough becomes sticky.

Lay the pie crust over the peaches and tuck the edges into the sides of the pan. Brush lightly with the egg wash and bake for 20-25 minutes until the pastry dough is well browned and flaky.

Remove from the oven and allow to rest on the stovetop for about 5 minutes.

Service

Place a large serving plate over the skillet and invert onto the plate. The caramel will drip over the top of the peaches. Serve with ice cream or whipped heavy cream.

Variations

This recipe is infinitely variable. You can use plums, pears, and of course the classic apples. You may also use puff pastry or phyllo dough in this dish.

Recipe and photo by Mark Tafoya

This week our test kitchen is filled to the rafters with peachy, plummy, cherry, nutty goodness. It’s stone fruit season, and it seems that everyone’s busily trying to figure out what to do with those baskets of jewels. We even discovered some surprises on that list of drupes, including coconut and almonds. This is why we love playing in the kitchen, because we always learn something new, and hope that our investigations give you some fresh knowledge, too.

And though we didn’t realize it, we have a slew of stone fruit recipes, from Gingered Peach Tarte Tatin and Cardamom Rice Pudding to Classic Mexican Mole to the Love & Honor Cocktail. Yes, we’ve covered all our bases.

Those recipes, along with a bit of history, can be found in our newest test kitchen dossier, Stone Fruit: Drupey Drawers of Goodness. Come on, the title was screaming at me. Now go read and cook something.

******
Here’s what our other Summer Fest cohorts are doing this week with stone fruits. Go take a peek and leave a comment or recipe. You can also follow along on Twitter with the hashtag #summerfood.

Margaret Roach: Away to Garden
What is stone fruit, anyway? Plus: Clafoutis revisited

Michelle Buffardi: Cooking Channel’s Devour/The Blog (Scripps)
Savory Stone Fruit
@mbuffardi

Alison Sickelka: Food2 blog (Scripps)
Peachy Party Foods
@ali_s

FN Dish: Food Network
Paula’s Perfect Peach Cobbler

Healthy Eats: Food Network
Puttin’ Up Peach Pickles, Compote and More

Cate O’Malley: Sweetnicks.com
Blueberry Peach Smoothies
@cateomalley

Paige Smith Orloff: The Sister Project
A Summer Fruit Whatchamacallit – Not a pie, not a crisp, but delicious
@paigeorloff

Diane and Todd: White on Rice Couple
Riesling Poached Pluots
@whiteonrice

Kelly Senyei: Just a Taste
Peaches & Cream Cupcakes
@justataste

Caroline Wright: The Wright Recipes
Ginger & Vanilla Poached Peaches
@chefcaroline

Caron Golden: San Diego Foodstuff
Grilled Peach Parfait and Coconut Peach Gazpacho
@carondg

Tigress in a Jam
Nectarine Preserves with Summer Savory
@tigressjampickl

Alana Chernila: Eating from the Ground Up
Stone Fruit Slump
@edability

Judy: Divina Cucina
Chocolate Amaretti Baked Apricots
@divinacucina

Shauna Ahern: Gluten-Free Girl and the Chef
Gluten-Free Peach-Blueberry Buckle
@glutenfreegirl

Tara: Tea & Cookies
Making Peach Jam

Nicole: Pinch My Salt
Peaches
@pinchmysalt

Food Network UK
How to Poach a Peach

Marilyn: Simmer Till Done
Cherry Apricot Pie with Ginger-Almond Crunch

HOW YOU CAN JOIN IN SUMMER FEST:
Each Wednesday for the rest of the summer (and probably longer), a group of blogging friends including those above will swap our recipes and tips about the following harvest-fresh ingredients. Here’s the schedule:

7/28: Cukes ‘n Zukes
8/4: Corn
8/11: Herbs, Greens and Beans
8/18: Stone Fruit
8/25: Tomatoes

We each post something and then link to one another, so that you can travel around the combined effort, gathering the goodies. Sharing makes the experience even better, so if you have a recipe or tip that fits any of our weekly themes, you can do either of the following:

• Leave a comment on participating blogs with a link to your recipe/tip
• Publish a post of your own, and grab the juicy Summer Fest 2010 tomato badge (illustrated by Matt Armendariz of Mattbites)

We hope to see you in the kitchen!

What is more mortifying than to feel that you have missed the plum for want of courage to shake the tree?
- Logan Pearsall Smith

Etymology
Most stone fruits are members of the Prunus genus from the Latin prunus for plum. Stone describes the pit that is found in the center of the fruit.

Origin
Originating in China, stone fruits date back to 1000 BCE. We would like to thank the Silk Road not only for spreading wonderful Chinese spices and silks, but also for sharing stone fruits with Western neighbors in Persia. After making their way to Europe, stone fruits arrived in the Americas via Spanish settlers in Florida in the 16th Century. Several immigrant groups, predominantly Spanish and Russian, introduced California to stone fruits, and we imagine that their deliciousness encouraged expansion to sunny pockets of the United States and eventually into multitudes of mouth-watering dishes.

Description
Beyond coloring our landscapes with clusters of elegant blooms, stone fruit trees produce sweet and utterly juicy treats. What botanists call a drupe, stone fruits have a single hard pit in the center that provides both physical and nutritional support as the fruit grows on the tree. Freestone and clingstone are two types of drupes referring to the ease to which the center pit is freed from the flesh. What is and is not classified as a drupe can get scientific and confusing, so we’ll leave it at the following list of our favorite stone fruits.

Many of the following heavenly ingredients can be made into jams or jellies, or play a leading role in some of our favorite desserts, so we’d like to inspire you with the impetus for kitchen exploration. ‘Tis the season for stone fruit celebration, and our test kitchen is overflowing with all kinds of color.

Types

Peaches
With a “don’t hate me because I’m beautiful” attitude, peaches are the most popular of the stone fruit family. With a fuzzy exterior skin, fragrant and soft peaches have no need for sugar, heat, or dressing when ripened sufficiently on the tree. With delicate, round velvety cheeks, they are one of nature’s sweet gifts, and biting into a perfectly ripened one can make us delirious. But just because they don’t need to be manipulated does not mean we don’t like to. When cooking peaches, it is best not to overdo it as their texture can be easy to lose. When we want peaches halved and intact, we use the freestone variety so the pit is cleanly removed. You can see from our test kitchen dossier on peaches that we like to experiment. For example: Use peaches instead of apples in a classic Tarte Tatin and pair with ginger; or slice peaches, slather with coconut milk and cinnamon, and grill to caramelize that delicious sweetness. And the peach celebration would not be complete without a tasty Ever After cocktail with peach and rosemary essence!

Nectarines
A close relative to the peach, nectarines are the smoother-skinned of the two; for culinary purposes, nectarines can be substituted for peaches, as the flesh is quite similar. Their skin can vary widely in “blush” which refers to the dark red color that covers the skin, and indicates variety rather than ripeness. Choose those that give a little to the touch and have a fragrant, sweet scent. Nectarines can be incredibly juicy when ripe — and we are talking about the kind of juicy that runs down your arm when you take a bite. Given their super-sweet syrup, we would highly recommend the juice of nectarines for a sweet cocktail; or cut one up and serve in a fresh salad with feta cheese, prosciutto and balsamic vinaigrette.

Apricots
Say hello to the little jewels of the stone fruit family. With a skin like fine velvet, apricots vary in color from deep orange to yellow. If you are lucky enough to live near an apricot farm, 95% of which are in California, you will enjoy the euphoria of tree-ripened apricots instead of those that have ripened in transit. As close relatives, apricots and almonds pair well in poultry and pork dishes, and for added texture, choose the dried variety. Like all of our stone fruit friends, apricots make fantastic dessert combinations as in our Champagne Apricot Sorbet.

Cherries
With festivals dedicated to their glory, cherries are a nutritional and culinary super-fruit. Rich in symbolism, cherries and their blossoms signify feminine beauty, love and the cycle of life. Sweet Bing cherries can be enjoyed raw, and we don’t hesitate to indulge around their peak season. The American classic cherry pie is made with smaller, more sour cherries. Cheesecake or ice cream can be one step above heavenly with a generous pour of Cherry Port Sauce. Try dried cherries in duck, pork, or chicken dishes for a tart and sweet taste or serve with almonds in a side of jasmine rice. Of course, sometimes simple is best, as in cherries poached in red wine over vanilla bean ice cream. Do try it.

Plums
We drool over the sight of purple plums. Plums originated in Asia and have undergone much crossbreeding, which as resulted in the jeweled colors of yellow, orange, red and purple-colored beauties. Plums can sit in for pineapple in upside-down cakes or pureed (minus the skins) for a frozen plum sorbet. We’ve also been asking ourselves why we don’t use prunes more; although they might sound like a quest for a geriatric, high-fiber diet, they are sweet little treats, and as with many dried fruits, can be used to infuse balsamic vinegar during reduction. (Remove the prunes halfway through the reduction process.)  Like dried cherries, prunes are lovely with duck, pork or poultry. Plums are also a pleasant complement to pears, which we discovered in creating our Foie Gras Terrine with Mulled Plums and Gingered Pears. And we ask that you have a glass of Champagne with said foie gras to toast the stunning plum.

Almonds
Almond cultivation is quite an impressive process. Almond trees are not self-pollinating, so the almond farmer must round up a swarm of bees to do the grunt work. To further complicate almond things, at least two different varieties must be grown in the orchard for cross-breeding. Throughout the growing process, beautiful flowering trees give way to green pods and later dried hulls, and the pods are eventually shaken off their trees in late summer and early fall. It’s a process that we as fans of the almond think is worth all the trouble. With a fairly sweet taste on their own without being overpowering, almonds fit magnificently in desserts: puff pastry, cake, ice cream, chocolate, biscotti, cookies. Pair them with fruits, in salads, or with goat cheese. With a smooth, buttery texture, almonds pair well with chicken, lamb, and Indian cuisine. And of course we like to keep a stash of them around as snacks when we’re tempted to reach into the cookie jar.

Coconuts
Stirring things up in pina coladas and the world of botany, coconuts are part of an ongoing debate. Are coconuts a fruit, nut or drupe? Nuts are technically fruits, so maybe they’re both. Drupes have pits and sweet, juicy flesh, and coconuts don’t quite fit in. In order to make them fit, some botanists have categorized it as a dry drupe and called it a day. Regardless of where they fall categorically, we wanted to give a little love to the coconut. After all, when we are biting into chocolate-covered coconut paradise, do we really care if it’s a nut, fruit or dry drupe? The coconut shouldn’t worry about fitting in, as it fits in just fine with Thai curry, citrus fruits or ginger. Thai Red Curry Beef and Pumpkin puts creamy coconut milk to perfect use. Shredded coconut and our friend cilantro will liven up a fruit salad. And sometimes a little taste of coconut is as close as we get can to the beach in December.

Our Approach
We commend stone fruits for helping us create delicious desserts, however we like to branch out a little, too. Use dried stone fruits in savory dishes. Make a stone fruit cocktail. Go out on a limb — after all, isn’t that where the fruit is?

Recipes

Peaches
Tipsy Pork Chops with Bourbon-Laced Peach Chutney
Spicy Peach & Ginger Grilling Sauce
Grilled Peaches with Coconut Milk and Cinnamon Sugar
Gingered Peach Trifle
Gingered Peach Tarte Tatin
Ever After Cocktail

Nectarines
Tomato & Nectarine Timbale

Apricots
Champagne Apricot Sorbet

Cherries
Cherry Port Sauce

Plums
Vanilla Pancakes with Roasted Vanilla Plums
Foie Gras Terrine with Mulled Plums and Gingered Pears

Almonds
Lavender Biscotti with Almonds
Olive Oil Poached Sablefish with Citrus & Thyme
Pan de Higo (Fig Cake)
Persian Honey Almond Brittle
Classic Mexican Mole (with Grilled Chicken and Cashews)
Love & Honor Cocktail
Hazelnut and Fig Linzer Cookies
Almond Tarragon Cake

Coconuts
Avocado Coconut Pudding
Grilled Peaches with Coconut Milk and Cinnamon Sugar
Avocado Crème Shrimp
Cardamom Scented Rice Pudding
Thai Red Curry Beef with Pumpkin

Sources
California Tree Fruit Agreement
Sweet Georgia Peaches
University of Rhode Island Greenshare Factsheets
Is a coconut a nut or a fruit?
Almond Board of California
Choose Cherries
The Worldwide Gourmet

Dossier and photo by Kalle Guinn

Sweet dark cherries simmered in ruby port wine with a hint of star anise and cinnamon is the ideal topping for a perfect ending dessert. Serve over ice cream, as a filling for éclairs, or a spread for cheesecake.

4 servings

Ingredients

1 cup ruby port
¾ cup sugar
1 lb fresh or frozen pitted cherries
1 cinnamon stick
¼ teaspoon ground star anise
5 teaspoons cornstarch
5 teaspoons water
1 teaspoon vanilla

Equipment

Small saucepan, cherry pitter (or paring knife), plastic gloves, plastic cutting board

Preparation

Prepare the cherries:
Pit the cherries using a cherry pitter or paring knife. To use a paring knife, cut around the circumference of the cherry, pull the halves apart and remove pit.

[Chef’s note: Cherry juice will stain. Use care when pitting the cherries by using plastic gloves, cutting boards and frequently wiping up juice spills on your counter.]

Make the sauce:
Combine the port wine and sugar in a small saucepan and bring to a boil. Add the cherries, cinnamon stick and star anise and simmer for 5–10 minutes until the mixture reduces and starts to become syrupy.

[Chef’s note: If using frozen cherries, you might need to simmer a bit longer to defrost the cherries and reduce the resulting water.]

Mix the cornstarch and water together to make a slurry, stirring until completely dissolved. Add the cornstarch slurry to the sauce and bring to boil. Reduce the heat, and continue to simmer until the mixture is thick and shiny. Remove from the heat and cool completely. Cover and chill until ready to serve.

Service

Serve over your favorite ice cream or creamy rice pudding. The sauce can also be spread over cheesecake.

Variations

For a great homemade Cherries Jubilee Ice Cream, bring a quart of good-quality vanilla bean ice cream to room temperature, mix the Cherry Port Sauce with the ice cream and place back into a freezer-safe container. Freeze 24 hours, then serve.

Recipe and photo by Lia Soscia

Given that we like to run amok with herbs, I’m a little giddy about this week’s Summer Fest topic. If you’ve been hanging around here a while, you know we love to get lost in the scents and flavors of fresh herbs, myself in particular, as I can’t seem to keep an herb plant alive. It fosters a constant state of longing.

One of the hidden gems of the Gilded Fork, which will be given much more prominence in our upcoming site redesign, is our set of test kitchen dossiers. We try to give you a quick-yet-substantial overview of the ingredient in question, its origins and etymology, flavor profiles, uses in the kitchen, and recipes we’ve come up with over the years. There are a whole lot of them on our Ingredients page if you want to take a peek. I’ll wait.

For this week’s particular theme, we’ve created a virtual herb garden for you. (Don’t worry, these are safe from my black thumb.) We encourage you to sniff, chiffonade, infuse, finely chop and nibble your way to ecstasy with these herbaceous delights. Then you can start to build flavor combinations like the ones in our featured recipes this week, which are two of the most popular on our site. Oh my, yes.

Featured recipes:

Lavender Pound Cake with Lemon Glaze
Rosemary & Honey-Roasted Pears

Featured dossiers:

Fabulous Fennel
Cilantro: Herb with an Attitude
Sweet Blooming Lavender
Lemongrass: Perfumed Allure
Rosemary: The Scent of Inspiration
Sensually Satisfying Sage
Tarragon: The Sweet Taste of Spring
Basil Primer

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Here’s what our other Summer Fest cohorts are doing this week with herbs, as well as with beans and other greens. You can also follow along on Twitter with the hashtag #summerfood.

Margaret Roach: Away to Garden
Storing a year of herbs & one-pot Farinata: a polenta dish with greens

Michelle Buffardi: Cooking Channel’s Devour/The Blog (Scripps)
The Best Bean Salads
A French Take on Greens, Beans and Herbs
@mbuffardi

Alison Sickelka: Food2 blog (Scripps)
Leftover Herb Solution (Pesto!)
@ali_s

FN Dish: Food Network
The “Other” Summer Greens

Healthy Eats: Food Network
Top 6 Herbs

Cate O’Malley: Sweetnicks.com
Fresh Green Bean Salad with Herb Vinaigrette
@cateomalley

Paige Smith Orloff: The Sister Project
Aloha, Pesto
@paigeorloff

Diane and Todd: White on Rice Couple
Mint Chocolate Chip Ice Cream
@whiteonrice

Kelly Senyei: Just a Taste
Fresh Herb Ricotta
@justataste

Caroline Wright: The Wright Recipes
Wax and Butter Bean Herbed Salad
@chefcaroline

Caron Golden: San Diego Foodstuff
Kale & Feta Empanadas and Roasted Romano Beans
@carondg

Tigress in a Jam
Preserving–book giveaway, and ways to put up greens, beans, herbs
@tigressjampickl

Alana Chernila: Eating from the Ground Up
Shirred eggs with fresh herbs: the affinity between eggs and herbs
@edability

Judy: Divina Cucina
Tuscan Butcher’s Blend of Herbs
@divinacucina

Shauna Ahern: Gluten-Free Girl and the Chef
What to do with fava beans
@glutenfreegirl

Tara: Tea & Cookies
Clean Out the Fridge Summer Frittata

Nicole: Pinch My Salt
Green Beans with Balsamic Browned Butter
@pinchmysalt

Food Network UK
On the edge with beans and greens

HOW YOU CAN JOIN IN SUMMER FEST:
Each Wednesday for the rest of the summer (and probably longer), a group of blogging friends including those above will swap our recipes and tips about the following harvest-fresh ingredients. Here’s the schedule:

7/28: Cukes ‘n Zukes
8/4: Corn
8/11: Herbs, Greens and Beans
8/18: Stone Fruit
8/25 Tomatoes

We each post something and then link to one another, so that you can travel around the combined effort, gathering the goodies. Sharing makes the experience even better, so if you have a recipe or tip that fits any of our weekly themes, you can do either of the following:

• Leave a comment on participating blogs with a link to your recipe/tip
• Publish a post of your own, and grab the juicy Summer Fest 2010 tomato badge (illustrated by Matt Armendariz of Mattbites)

We hope to see you in the kitchen!

“…O cruelty,
To steal my Basil-pot away from me!”
- John Keats, “The Pot of Basil”

There is no way for me to say this without sounding like a complete maniac, so I’ll just come out with it: Nothing gets my blood flowing like basil. I don’t mean that it is pleasing to my palate (it is); or that it is my favorite ingredient (it is); but that I am utterly obsessed with its arresting fragrance.

As soon as the basil in my mother’s garden is ready for picking, I am out there like a wanton lover, inhaling its scent so hard that I become deprived of oxygen, and feel myself swaying in a dreamlike haze. After tearing up the leaves to sprinkle over a bowl of tomatoes, my fingers are perfumed for the rest of the day, and I can return to my basil daydreams with the mere wave of a hand.

I’m not sure I’ve experienced a lust quite like it — I simply cannot get enough. This year I’ve experimented with adding the torn leaves to my bath so I can smell its ethereal aroma in my hair; I even keep a few leaves on my desk so I can rejuvenate my senses during the workday, allowing the captivating scent to coat my palate as I muddle through the tasks at hand. Perhaps some sort of twelve-step program is in order, because my greed is out of control.

My heritage is partly Mediterranean, so my entire lifetime of summers has been resplendent with this herbal perfume; with just a whiff, I become a woman possessed. Are my ancestors haunting me with some strange gene mutation? I had to know more about the history of this verdant demon that held me so firmly in its grasp. Was it just me, or was there some sort of addictive chemical reaction involved?

The discoveries I made were steeped in folklore, and involved cursing, yelling, love, and madness. Not necessarily in that order.

With the volume of myths surrounding this herb, I had a difficult time keeping them all straight. Depending on which reference you read, basil’s name is potentially derived from the Latin basilicum or the Greek basileum, both of which refer to it being “worthy of a king.” However, in other texts it seems to refer to one becoming crazed by its scent. I was on to something.

Now, I was familiar with an old Italian wives’ tale about cursing at the basil while planting it, then screaming at the plant while plucking the leaves from its stem, but I thought perhaps those odd ancestors of mine had partaken of either a bit too much wine or Mediterranean sun — or both. (Given some of the folklore I had to wade through, this actually seemed like one of the saner explanations.) But from whence came all this hollering?

From what I have been able to gather, it seems those crazy Romans believed basil contained the demon spirit of a basilisk (big, ugly, dragon creature), and in order to prevent the onset of madness, one had to scream curses at the basil while picking its leaves in order to keep the demons at bay. Or perhaps it was to scare away the scorpions purportedly living inside the plant. I’m still not clear on that one. There is also a myth about a girl, Isabella, whose lover was murdered, so she planted his head underneath a basil plant to keep it close to her, and her tears kept the plant watered. The Keats poem above refers to her brothers stealing the pot, which I imagine must have been quite traumatic for the poor girl.

This romantic myth may be part of the reason for basil’s connection with love; it is a potent symbol in many cultures, and when given as a gift, is seen as a fervent expression of amorous inclinations. In days of old, pots of it were placed on the balconies of women looking for a suitor. Since my mother has an entire garden full of basil plants, this gives me new ideas. Perhaps it would look inviting adorning my entire fire escape and sidewalk.

After a lengthy investigation, and many conflicting details, the only conclusion I can make with absolute conviction is that basil has tempted and tormented the senses of mankind — on many continents — since its first leaves were pulled from the ground. Its fragrance is timeless, its hint of anise bewitching, and its sweetness a joy to behold when complemented by citrusy, acidic partners in the dance of flavor.

And since I can find no clear explanation — or remedy — for my madness, I will simply have to keep indulging myself until a cure is found. And I am decorating that fire escape.

To learn more about basil and its uses in your kitchen, see our test kitchen’s Basil Primer.

This article was originally published in August 2005. Jennifer has still not caught a husband with the basil, because she keeps killing it. (The plant.)

Photo: Kelly Cline

This hearty soup offers the perfect segue from summer to autumn, making use of those last fresh ears of corn from the farmer’s market. The chipotle and chorizo sausage add a subtle, smoky heat and spice combination that is a perfect foil for the soup’s creamy richness. You can also substitute frozen corn if winter leaves you yearning for a belly-warming bowl of goodness.

Serves 4

Ingredients

4 tablespoons unsalted butter
2 small chorizo sausages (dried)
3 1/2 cups fresh corn kernels (can substitute frozen)
1 large onion, finely chopped
1 garlic clove, finely chopped
1 1/4 cups chicken stock
2 1/2 cups heavy cream
1 (or more) chipotle pepper, canned, packed in adobo sauce
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
Salt
Cilantro, chopped, for garnish

Preparation

Melt the butter in a sauce pot over medium-low heat. Add the chorizo and corn, turning to coat. Cook for about 15 minutes until the mixture starts to brown slightly. Add the onion and garlic, stirring frequently, until the onion is soft and the mixture begins to stick.

Remove from heat, add the chicken stock and scrape the bottom of the pan to loosen the caramelized pieces. Using an immersion blender, blend some or all of the mixture, depending upon your preference, for a chunky or smooth puree.

Add the cream and place the pot on medium-low heat. Bring almost to a boil (when bubbles start to form around the edges of the pot). Season with a pinch of salt and allow the soup to bubble gently until it is reduced by about 1/4.

Finely chop the chipotle pepper into a mash and add a tablespoon at a time to taste. Continue cooking for 5 more minutes.

Serve with chopped cilantro as a garnish to add a citrusy sparkle of flavor.

Recipe & photo: Jennifer Iannolo

I’m so excited to be the one to post this week’s Summer Fest entry, because I’m often accused of being corny. This is my chance to OWN IT!

It’s that time of year again when we are up to our EARS in corn, and we find ourselves looking for ways to use it all. Growing up in Albuquerque, New Mexico, I spent every summer on our family plot, where we had a small orchard and an acre that we planted as a garden. In addition to tomatoes, zucchini, yellow squash and green chile, every year we planted corn, and it really was as high as an elephant’s eye! Of course, all these ingredients go into the classic New Mexican Calabacitas, a popular recipe we have here at The Gilded Fork, and one that’s very dear to my heart. (I’ll be sharing it along with other recipes from my childhood at ShareYourPlate.org, a new project I’m starting with a bunch of my blogging friends. Go check it out!)

In the middle of summer, when the bounty was huge and we didn’t know if we would survive another corn-filled week, we’d struggle to find ways to use the fresh corn, as well as preserve it for the winter. There was nothing like fresh-cut corn blanched lickety-split, then chilled fast and put into freezer bags and frozen so we’d have that sweet, fresh taste in the winter. I’m sure many of our fellow food bloggers and Summer Festers will be doing write ups on how to preserve it (see the links below), so I’m going to give you some tips for grilling and using it fresh!

We’ve also posted a corn dossier fresh from our test kitchen, which includes tons of other ideas and recipe links.

• Buying Corn: There’s nothing so sweet as freshly picked summer corn. Like many other vegetables, once picked, the sugars start to convert to starch, and most supermarket corn just doesn’t taste as sweet. So if you can, buy your corn fresh picked at the farmer’s market. Some farmers I know even eat it raw right off the cob in the field, while it’s still sweet as candy!
• Grilling Corn: Some people like to roast their corn on the grill or in the ashes of a bonfire with the husks still on. Here’s a tip for making that easier: You can gently peel back the husks without ripping them all the way off, then remove as much of the corn silk as possible. Put the husks back into place and soak the ears of corn in water for about 1/2 hour. This will create steam once they’re on the grill or in the ashes, and cook the corn, while protecting the flesh from burning. This method isn’t really my style — I love it grilled and caramelized, so I remove the husks and silk, and give my corn some color!
• Roasting Corn: The best thing ever is fresh roasted corn w/butter, salt, pepper and cayenne pepper. If you’re not firing up the grill, you can roast it under the broiler in your oven until nearly blackened. Drizzle with a little olive oil first, with just a dash of the spices, and turn once each side has blackened. Don’t be afraid of getting it black! To serve, use butter and more of the spices. You can even do this with tongs on the direct flame, but do it naked and add the butter and spices after. Here’s one of my audio tips telling you just how to do it: Fire Roasted Corn
• Elote: If you want it really Mexican style (we call it elote): After grilling your corn, mix about 1/4 cup mayonnaise with the juice of 1/2 lime, 1/2 teaspoon smoked paprika or chile powder and salt to taste. Brush the mixture all over the corn. Then roll the corn in crumbed white cotijo anejo Mexican cheese. Que Sabroso!

Grilled corn photo by Alan Barnett

Here are some other great corn recipes:

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Tropical Corn, Black Bean, and Mango Salad with Honey

Serves 4

Ingredients

1 15 oz. can black beans
salt, to taste
1 teaspoon lime zest
1/3 cup freshly squeezed lime juice
2 tablespoons sherry vinegar (or cider vinegar)
1 tablespoon honey
2 teaspoons Dijon mustard
3/4 teaspoon cumin
1 garlic clove, minced
1/2 medium jalapeño pepper, minced
8 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
2 ears of freshly grilled corn
1/2 cup sliced scallions
1 tablespoon minced cilantro
1 ripe mango
1 red onion, diced

Preparation

Whisk together lime zest and juice, vinegar, honey, Dijon mustard, cumin, garlic and jalapeño. Then slowly drizzle in the olive oil while constantly whisking (the mustard helps to create an emulsion). Taste and adjust flavorings with salt and pepper as necessary. The dressing should be tangy and sweet, with a slight kick from the jalapeño. Dice the mango into 1/4″ dice. Cut corn off of the grilled ears and mix with the black beans, green onions, red onion and cilantro. Toss with just enough of the vinaigrette to coat. You can have more vinaigrette on the side when serving.

Photo by Bill Dreitlin

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Butter-Baked Corn

Serves 4

Ingredients

6 ears fresh corn
2 teaspoons kosher salt
4 tablespoons unsalted butter
1/4 tsp kosher salt (for the top)

Preparation

Preheat your oven to 400° Fahrenheit. Using a corn creamer placed over a large, wide bowl remove the kernels and juices from the corn. Make sure you scrape the corn a few times on each side, working closely to the cob.

[Chef's Note: If you don't have a corn creamer, take the kernels off the cob with a sharp knife, then use the back of the knife to scrape the additional flesh and "milky juices" into the bowl.]

Once you have finished the corn, add the salt and stir to combine. Pour the corn into a clean 7 x 11-inch baking dish, being careful of the sides, as any bits that splatter up tend to burn.

Smooth it out carefully, add the butter and sprinkle with a bit more salt.

Bake for 40 to 45 minutes at 400° Fahrenheit, or until the corn is bubbly and the edges turn golden brown. Once done, remove from the oven and let rest for a few minutes before serving.

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Santa Fe Corn Fritters

Serves 4

Ingredients

5/8 cup flour
1/4 cup cornmeal
1/4 tablespoon salt
1/2 tablespoon sugar
3/4 tablespoon baking powder
3/4 tablespoon coriander, ground
2 large eggs, slightly beaten
1 1/4 pounds corn
1/8 cup green onion, minced
1 small onion, diced fine
1 1/4 tablespoons cilantro, minced
1 small garlic clove, minced
oil (for frying)

Preparation

Sift together the dry ingredients: flour, cornmeal, salt, sugar, baking powder, and coriander. Mix eggs, corn, onions, cilantro, and garlic together. Then add to dry ingredients, stirring just to combine. Place oil (1/2″ deep) in a large skillet. Heat over medium-high heat until the temperature reaches 350° Fahrenheit. Drop spoonfuls of batter into the hot oil and cook till golden on all sides and cooked through middle. Drain well on several layers of paper towels.

Recipes by Mark Tafoya

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Here’s what our other Summer Fest friends are doing with corn. You can also follow along on Twitter with the hashtag #summerfood.

Margaret Roach: Away to Garden
Vintage corn Americana slideshow, and no-frills creamed corn

Michelle Buffardi: Cooking Channel’s Devour/The Blog (Scripps)
Browsing Corn Porn
@mbuffardi

Alison Sickelka: Food2 blog (Scripps)
Freezing Corn
@ali_s

FN Dish: Food Network
Creamed Corn-Off: Battle of the Southern Cooks

Healthy Eats: Food Network
Candied Corn and 4 more easy recipes

Cate O’Malley: Sweetnicks.com
Corn and Spinach Stuffed Portobello Mushroom Caps
@cateomalley

Paige Smith Orloff: The Sister Project
Memories of Corn Pancakes Past
@paigeorloff

Diane and Todd: White on Rice Couple
BBQ Chicken and Fresh Corn Pizza
@whiteonrice

Kelly Senyei: Just a Taste
Caramel Corn (plus pics of corn in its various popping stages)
@justataste

Caroline Wright: The Wright Recipes
Pickled Corn with Summer Onion and Basil
@chefcaroline

Caron Golden: San Diego Foodstuff
Chino Corn Risotto with Chanterelles and Burrata
@carondg

Tigress in a Jam
Cream Corn Scones (the perfect way to use up left over roasted or boiled corn)
@tigressjampickl

Alana Chernila: Eating from the Ground Up
Corn on the Kabob (a recipe from her artist husband)
@edability

Judy: Divina Cucina
Fried Polenta Crostini with Porcini Ragu
@divinacucina

Shauna Ahern: Gluten-Free Girl and the Chef
Sweet corn risotto (and how to make corn stock with husks and mirepoix)
@glutenfreegirl

Tara: Tea & Cookies
Farro Corn Salad with Tomatoes and Fresh Herbs

Nicole: Pinch My Salt
Creamed Corn with Bacon & Rosemary
@pinchmysalt

HOW YOU CAN JOIN IN SUMMER FEST:
Each Wednesday for the rest of the summer (and probably longer), a group of blogging friends including those above will swap our recipes and tips about the following harvest-fresh ingredients. Here’s the schedule:

7/28: Cukes ‘n Zukes
8/4: Corn
8/11: Herbs, Greens and Beans
8/18: Stone Fruit
8/25 Tomatoes

We each post something and then link to one another, so that you can travel around the combined effort, gathering the goodies. Sharing makes the experience even better, so if you have a recipe or tip that fits any of our weekly themes, you can do either of the following:

• Leave a comment on participating blogs with a link to your recipe/tip
• Publish a post of your own, and grab the juicy Summer Fest 2010 tomato badge (illustrated by Matt Armendariz of Mattbites)

We hope to see you in the kitchen!