My 2 favorite "summer-meets-fall" recipes 🍂☀️
Tomato toast + smoky butternut squash soup are the two meals I'm eating on repeat lately
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What a lovely past month we have had. We started our September with a twelve-day road-trip that nourished and inspired pretty much every part of me (I’m hoping to dedicate a whole post to that soon, with our itinerary + all my favorite parts written down just for you).
When we returned home, the subtlest feelings of fall were in the air. The mornings were cool, football Sundays were back, the leaves had the lightest tint of new colors, and the sunlight had that special golden hue that it only has in autumn. It wasn’t officially fall yet, but I could feel the energy shifting.
AND YET… our garden was just starting to peak, just beginning to come into its own special magic. In our two years since being gardeners instead of farmers, we seem to start way behind schedule… getting plants into the ground in early to mid-June, at least a month after everyone else. But honestly, I think I’m in love with this flow. We waited to plant until we felt inspired to play in the soil in late May, essentially ignored the garden in summer’s most full and busy months (aside from weekly trips to turn on the drip irrigation and the occasional weeding visit), and now, post-vacation, as my mood turns cozy and inward, we are met with such abundance.
Since vacation, we’ve been hauling in nearly a hundred pounds of tomatoes each week, bringing home crates upon crates of mixed peppers for freezing (and using for salsa!), and just started curing a ridiculous, prolific (hilarious) winter squash bounty. My main activity on the nights and weekends has been food preservation (which has mostly taken the form of tomato preservation) and so the meals have stayed simple, repetitive, and focused on enjoying the wonders of our garden and CSA boxes before they’re gone.
I’ve been enjoying the massive yellow brandywines from our garden as tomato toast at least once a day (no, really, every single day since we returned from our road-trip) and when I’m not eating tomatoes, I’m making soup. Because fall. And ease. And cozy.
The recipe for my (ridiculously easy) Tomato Toast is below, along with a special bonus recipe for my current favorite soup: a Smoky Butternut Squash Soup that is roasted first with sweet red and yellow peppers and garlic.
Enjoy friends and happy October! Here’s to more fall magic ✨
-Lauren
Tomato Toast
For this recipe, the primary flavor is coming from the tomato so you are going to want to get a good one. Yellow Brandywine is our tried and true absolute favorite slicing tomato for tomato toast or BLTs. It’s large enough to cover a whole sandwich or piece of bread and the flavor is bright and tart like a massive sungold. If you don’t have a Yellow Brandywine, any other very large beefsteak tomato will do - or something that’s an heirloom variety. As an absolute last resort, you can try it with a grocery store tomato, but sadly, it will not be as good.
Serves 2-4 (depending if you’re a one or two piece of toast kind of person)
Takes 5 minutes
1 very good very large tomato or 2-3 medium-sized ones, cored
4 pieces sourdough bread (the good stuff is essential here)
4 tablespoons mayonnaise
2 tablespoons dried minced onion
1 tablespoon toasted sesame seeds (white or black, or better yet, a combination)
1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
Cut your tomato into thick (at least a 1/2-inch) slices.
Toast your sourdough and then swipe each piece with a generous layer of mayo. Add tomato slice(s), ideally enough to cover most of the surface area of the toast. If you don’t have enough, slice another tomato.
In a small bowl, mix together minced onion, sesame seeds, and red pepper flakes. Sprinkle mixture evenly over tomatoes. Finish with salt, again, evenly divided between the pieces of toast.
Eat more.
Smoky Butternut Squash Soup
Serves 4-6
Takes 1 hour
1 head garlic, top cut off
3 tablespoons olive oil, divided
1 large butternut squash, halved
3 yellow or red peppers
2 tablespoons butter
4 cups chicken stock
1 teaspoon kosher salt
2 tablespoons minced fresh sage
1 tablespoon smoked paprika
1 cup heavy cream
Toasted pepita seeds, optional
Preheat oven to 450 degrees.
Place garlic on a sheet of foil and drizzle with 1 tablespoon olive oil. Wrap tightly in foil and place in oven for 50 minutes.
Drizzle a baking sheet with remaining 2 tablespoons of olive oil. Add halved squash flesh-side down and whole peppers. Roast for 35 minutes, rotating the peppers throughout roasting for even charring. When finished, remove peppers to a bowl and cover with a plate or towel.
Melt butter over medium heat in a large stock pot. Scoop flesh from squash into the pot. Add stock, salt, sage and paprika. Bring to a simmer over medium heat.
Remove garlic from the oven, unwrap, and let cool for 10 minutes.
While the mixture comes to a simmer, use your hands to remove the skin, seeds and stem from each pepper. Roughly chop and add into the butternut squash mixture.
Squeeze roasted garlic into the pot. Let mixture simmer 5 more minutes and then puree with an immersion blender, food processor, or blender until very smooth.
Stir in cream and enjoy warm, with toasted pepitas if you like.