July Grows the Meal

 Everything on this tray came out of the ground this morning. Scallions, washed and laid out on parchment. New potatoes, skins still thin enough to rub off. The first real tomatoes of the season.

Supper this time of year is barely cooking. Boil the potatoes. Char the scallions under the broiler until the edges blister. Slice the tomatoes thick and salt them. Good oil over all of it.

July grows the meal. We just carry it in.

Recipe below.

• 1.5 pounds new potatoes, scrubbed
• 2 bunches scallions, trimmed and washed
• 3 ripe tomatoes
• 3 tablespoons olive oil, plus more for finishing
• 1 teaspoons flaky salt, plus more for the potatoes' cooking water
• 0.5 teaspoons black pepper, coarsely ground
• 2 teaspoons red wine vinegar (optional)

Steps

Boil the potatoes: Put 1.5 pounds new potatoes, scrubbed in a pot, cover with cold water, and salt it well. Bring to a boil and cook until a knife slides in easily, 15–20 minutes . Drain and halve the larger ones.

 Char the scallions: Heat the broiler. Toss 2 bunches scallions, trimmed and washed on a parchment-lined sheet pan with 3 tablespoons olive oil, plus more for finishing, a pinch of salt. Broil until the tops blister and char at the edges, 4–5 minutes . They should be soft at the white end, crisp at the green.

 Slice the tomatoes: Slice 3 ripe tomatoes thick. Lay them on a platter and scatter with some of 1teaspoons flaky salt, plus more for the potatoes' cooking water. Let them sit while everything else finishes — the salt draws out the juice.

 Bring it together: Pile the warm potatoes onto the platter with the tomatoes. Lay the charred scallions over the top. Finish with more olive oil, the rest of 1 teaspoons flaky salt, plus more for the potatoes' cooking water, 0.5 teaspoons black pepper, coarsely ground, and 2 teaspoons red wine vinegar (optional) if using. Serve warm or at room temperature.

Notes

If the grill is already going, the scallions are even better over a hot fire — same timing, turn once. Day-old leftovers, chopped rough with a spoonful of mayonnaise, make a good potato salad.

(opens in new tab)

High Summer

 

 

The zinnias are taller than the fence now. We cut flowers before the heat comes up and set up the stand.

And Saturdays, the crew loads the truck for New Haven.

The tomato rows have closed in — you walk them sideways, crate on your hip. The first heirlooms are in, split shoulders and all. 

The harbor holds the last light.  August is close.

Full House

 

The heat came first. Then word of the storms.

This is the week summer stops being a promise and becomes a fact. The air is heavy by nine. By afternoon the sky goes green at the edges and everyone watches the west. We move the hoses. We check the ties on the tallest stems. We wait.

The plants do not wait. They grow into all of it — the heat, the wet, the wind that comes down the field ahead of the rain. The snapdragons are shoulder-high and every color at once. The dianthus runs in a pink line all the way to the hoop house. The tomatoes have closed their rows into a hedge. Whatever the weather is doing above, the growing goes on below.

And the house is full.

There are bikes leaning against the trees again, the way there have been bikes leaning against these trees for years now. Seven of them this season — people I did not know in the spring, who know the beds by name now. They rise early. They pick before the heat. They eat at the long table and they laugh at things I don't always catch. The work moves faster with more hands, but that is not the reason to be glad of them. The reason is the fullness itself.

I have watered this ground alone and I have watered it with a crowd. The crowd is better.

Tonight the storm will come. We will bring in what needs bringing in and we will let the rest take the rain. In the morning the field will be washed and bent and heavy, and there will be more hands than I have to set it right.

That is a good way to meet a summer.