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Bucatini with Roasted Eggplant and Cherry Tomato Sauce

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Bucatini with Roasted Eggplant and Cherry Tomato Sauce turns fresh summer produce into a hearty dish that’s perfect for the transition to fall. 

bucatini with roasted eggplant and cherry tomato sauce recipe

Yet again, I went a little crazy at the farm market and bought all the things. Much like the squirrels, who seem to know that summer is reaching its end, I’m running around stocking up on my fill of the season’s best; in my case, heirloom tomatoes and Fairy Tale eggplants.

We’ve had some chilly days over the past week here in New Jersey. I wore long sleeves and closed-toed shoes for most of Labor Day weekend! The cool evenings have begged for comforting dinners. How better to warm up than with a bowl of bucatini?

In this late-summer pasta dish, I make an heirloom cherry tomato sauce by sautéing the tomatoes with garlic until they burst. Tossed with roasted eggplant cubes, fresh herbs, and a grating of Ricotta Salata, this pasta is some of the best flavors of summer, wrapped up in a dish that’s comforting for fall….

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Simple Sweet Corn Succotash

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Sweet Corn Succotash is the best of summer in a bowl! With fresh corn, lima beans, and cherry tomatoes, this simple succotash recipe is a perfect way to utilize your farmer’s market haul.

simple corn succotash recipe

Local produce season is in full swing! As is usually the case this time of year, I’ve been spending the weekends exploring farm markets, filling my burlap bags to the brim with summer’s best treasures.

Warm, lazy Sundays + fresh produce = perfection.

Juicy heirloom tomatoes are just starting to reach their prime and the Jersey-fresh corn has been extra sweet this year. My grandmother’s tomato salad has been in regular rotation in my kitchen, as has my Mexican Street Corn Soup. Let’s just say, we’ve been eating well!

I also love to combine two of my favorite market staples—corn and tomatoes—in this Sweet Corn Succotash recipe. It’s a colorful, flavorful dish that’s simple to make; less than 30 minutes from start to finish!

sweet summer corn cobs

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Josephine’s Tomato Salad

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My grandmother’s Tomato Salad is a light and simple way to savor some of the best summer flavors. Don’t forget the bread to dip into the sweet-tangy tomato juices!

Josephine's Tomato Salad recipe

There hasn’t been a summer of my adult life when I haven’t waxed poetic about tomatoes. Is there anything in the world like biting into a warm, sweet, juicy tomato, plucked fresh from the vine? It’s one of nature’s finest gifts.

As I mentioned a few years ago, I have many fond memories of the tomatoes my grandfather grew when I was a child. It simply wasn’t summer until dinner included a bowl of my grandmother’s salad, made with the tomatoes Grandpa had grown in his garden.

Josephine (“Nanny”) taught me that beautiful summer produce doesn’t need much in terms of “extras” to be enjoyed to its fullest. Her salad is a simple one, combining wedged tomatoes with extra-virgin olive oil, thinly-sliced Vidalia onions, fresh herbs, and salt. It’s a recipe that defines summer in my heart and on my palate, reminding me of warm evenings spent on my grandparents’ patio, and the abundance of love that was shared around their table.

Heirloom Tomatoes in handcrafted maple bowl

With so many different and unique heirloom cultivars available at farm markets today, it’s easier than ever to create an artful tomato salad with a vibrant mix of colors and flavors. The salad photographed here includes selections from the “Cocktail Tomato Bar” at Sansone’s Farm Market in Hopewell, NJ (a recent find for me and a stop that I highly recommend if you’re in the area), and straight-from-the-garden organic tomatoes that my neighbor gave me.

By tossing the salad and letting it rest for 15 minutes before serving, the salt will draw out some of the tomatoes’ juices, which will pool in the bottom of the bowl. Liquid gold, I tell you. Give me a wedge of crusty artisan bread for dipping and I’ve died and gone to heaven.

We love to serve tomato salad alongside grilled meats and seafood, but I often eat it on its own, with a few slices of piquant, imported provolone or a round of burrata. Paired with cheese, tomato salad is perfect for a light lunch that is as beautiful to look at as it is to eat….

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Mediterranean Pearled Couscous Salad

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This couscous salad is a bright and fresh side dish or meatless main dish that’s perfect for a weeknight dinner or easy summer entertaining.

Mediterranean Pearled Couscous Salad recipe


Late last summer, I came home from a long day of appointments had no clue what I was going to make for dinner. I hadn’t made the grocery stop I’d planned and found myself staring down a whole bunch of nothing in the dinner department when I opened the fridge. Bordering on “hangry,” I decided to make a bowl of my favorite Chickpea and Feta Salad for a quick meal. With no bread on hand for dipping (I was batting zero, I tell you!), I spied a box of pearled couscous in the pantry and decided to throw it into the salad. Rummaging around my refrigerator, one thing led to another, and in went the leftover cherry tomatoes and Kalamata olives from a mezze platter I’d made for friends over the weekend, a few leaves of basil, a shallot, and a handful of baby arugula (tender, peppery arugula leaves make everything better in my book!). Within half an hour, I was sitting down to a beautiful and filling Mediterranean Pearled Couscous Salad that I’ve made at least ten times since. Don’t you love when off-the-cuff meals become favorites?

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