Yeah and I know it’s not the season but still these pickled garlicky red peppers over at Smitten Kitchen look great.

Smitten Kitchen gives Viennese cucumber salad.

Andrea Gentl hooks up a slammin’-looking tomatillo salsa over at Hungry Ghost.

I’ve been eating kale like it’s going out of style lately. Usually, I  saute it in olive oil along with some garlic for a few minutes. Salt n serve.

This salad looks nice. From Food 52.

Olive oil, wine vinegar (or lemon), salt.

[Photo Via Young and Whatever]

The good peoples at Food 52 have some ideas about how to flip butternut squash into something special.

I sure do love me some cucumbers.

[Photo Credit: frOzenpizza]

Soup

…and Salad

from Nicole Franzen.

Serious Eats gives us sweet pickled daikon radish.

Indeed.

An apple a day? For me, it’s more like a carrot a day. If you asked me what my favorite vegetable was I don’t know that I’d say carrots but I eat more carrots than any vegetable, that’s for sure. Go figure.

What’s your go-to veggie?

Over at Saveur, dig these carrot recipes.

Food 52 keeps it simple and light.

An apple a day, the old saying goes. But I eat a carrot every day. Or almost every day. Don’t ask me why, but it’s been that way for years.

David Lebovitz has a good recipe for grated carrot salad.

Dig in.

Saveur offers 16 refreshing cucumber recipes.

Dig ‘um, smack.

[Photo Credit: The Kitchen Sink]

Food 52 gives us this simple pleasure from the great Patricia Wells.

I found these at the farmer’s market a few weeks back. At first I thought they were baby tomatillos but they are called huskberries. Beautiful, bright color. Unwrapping a bunch of them is tedious but also like opening little gifts.

They have the most peculiar taste. I can’t do justice to the flavor, they are  a cross between a cherry tomato and a gooseberry. It is a little strong for me so I’ve been using them in salads along with regular cherry tomatoes and they provide a nice accent. I spoke to a chef last week who said she’d dip them in chocolate. Why not?

Fun.

Can you be a slut for a restaurant? Course you can. And that’s just what I am for L’Artusi, the Italian restaurant in the village. It’s run by chef Gabe Thompson and his wife, Katherine, who does the desserts. They are s0me kind of talented pair, boy.

All of the food is tasty. I’ve mentioned the crispy potatoes and the spaghetti with green chilies before.

The olive oil cake alone is reason to make the trip. And so is this salad with tomatoes and watermelon over a slab of pancetta. The saltiness of the pork is balanced by the sweetness of the watermelon, the acid from the tomatoes, and there is an extra kick from little cubes of pickled watermelon rinds. It’s the kind of dish that makes you wish summer would last indefinitely.

 Oh, and the service is warm, the wait staff knowledgeable and friendly. Again, can’t recommend this jernt enough. And if you like it, dig Dell’Anima, also in the west village, owned by the same good folks.

Represent.

‘Tis the season.

At the famrer’s market this morning.

Salsa Verde with Avocado from the outstanding food blog, The Year in Food.

Smitten Kitchen offers up another sure shot: tomato salad withe crushed croutons.

Over at Food 52, Amanda Hesser demonstrates two ways to peel a tomato. Kitchen skills, one time for your face.

[Photo Credit: Foodrepublik.com]