Each summer, our suburban garden bursts into life, and tomatoes quickly become the stars of the show. From tiny cherry varieties to big heirlooms, we grow them all—and every year feels like a new adventure. This post is a little peek into our tomato-growing season, which started in January with tiny seedlings in the greenhouse to the final jars of sauce. 

Two pans of tomatoes, roasted for several hours and then strained, yielded five quarts of the most delicious sauce. I tucked them into the freezer, where they’ll keep beautifully for the year ahead. By the end of summer, I’ll have 30 plus quarts—plenty to last us the year and enough to share with friends. I use the sauce for tomato soup, lasagna, spaghetti Bolognese, and more. You can find my full tomato sauce recipe here.

We grow many varieties of tomatoes—most of them heirlooms. There are reds and pinks, bright oranges and yellows, deep mahogany-colored ones, and rainbow types streaked with starbursts of color. During the summer, we have BLTs (that’s bacon, lettuce, and tomato sandwiches) at least once a week, and we never tire of them. We wait patiently for the big slicers to arrive in mid-July, and when we cut into the last one in late September, we always shed a little tear.

Next Saturday, we’re hosting my husband’s golf friends and their spouses for a BLT party. This week, we’ll be babying the tomatoes, green beans, and flowers so everything looks just right on party day. I already know what linens I'll use for the table (patchwork!) but I still need to hunker down and plan the rest of the menu. I’m thinking of serving my mom’s classic potato salad, pickled cucumbers and green beans, and a summery salad of burrata, cherry tomatoes, and sliced peaches. And for dessert? Maybe homemade brownie ice cream sandwiches. Doesn’t that sound like summer?

Last week, our monthly dinner group met, and I was asked to bring an asparagus and tomato salad. I had green beans ready in the garden, so I used them along with some store-bought asparagus. I poached the beans and asparagus in boiling salted water for just two minutes, then transferred them to an ice water bath. They turned a bright green and were cooked through but still had a satisfying crunch.

I arranged the vegetables on a platter and topped them with generous scoops of roasted tomatoes. I also added a few sliced fresh tomatoes and served the dish at room temperature. We had 14 people, and not a morsel was left.

To make the roasted tomatoes, place cut up fresh tomatoes into a large roasting pan and tuck in whole basil leaves. Add chopped garlic, salt, and pepper—be generous with all three. Pour about ¾ cup of olive oil over everything and roast in a 350°F oven for a few hours, stirring every half hour or so. They’re done when they’ve cooked down and released most of their excess water. These are amazing spooned over vegetables, but also make a wonderful appetizer served with a sliced baguette.

Look at this gorgeous appetizer! To this same party, a friend brought over a stunning combination of burrata, nectarines, and peaches served over toasted baguette slices. She gave it a light drizzle of honey and sprinkled it with toasted pine nuts—and we absolutely inhaled it!

Basil is an annual I grow from seed, starting it in the greenhouse each January. My success with it is usually hit or miss, but this year I got lucky—dozens of sturdy little seedlings sprouted, and I felt positively rich in basil. I tucked them recklessly throughout the garden, and now I have so much I hardly know what to do with it all.

I check on the plants several times a week, since it’s best to harvest before any blossoms appear—and those tiny flowers seem to pop up overnight! I’ve been making batch after batch of pesto (I have a paragraph on that below) for the freezer and stirring fresh basil into my roasted tomato sauce. But once I had enough pesto stashed away, and the basil just kept coming—it became a real force to be reckoned with—I decided to try my hand at drying it.

My first attempt was simple: I hung bunches of basil and oregano in a corner of the kitchen that gets soft morning light and plenty of air circulation. It took just over a week to fully dry, and while the process was slow, the bundles looked so pretty hanging there. But with so much more to harvest, I needed a faster, more efficient method.

Next time, I picked the leaves from the stems, laid them out on trays, and placed them outside in the shade on a hot day. In just two days, they were perfectly dry—this method was the clear winner, not only for speed but for volume and flavor, too. I crumbled the leaves by hand, releasing the most divine fragrance, and stored the dried basil in a glass jar tucked away in the dark pantry. I imagine it will be lovely to have all year long.

I wrote a post about how I make my pesto sauce, so I won’t repeat it all here—but I will say this: at the beginning of summer, I buy one bag of pine nuts from Costco. It’s a 1.5-pound bag and costs around $27—definitely a splurge! I toast the whole bag in a dry pan, let them cool, then store them in a jar in the refrigerator so they’re ready whenever I need them.

Every time I harvest a good batch of basil, I make a batch of pesto and freeze it in 4 oz. mason jars. I liked this set of jars because it also comes with the plastic lids so no need to purchase them separately for use in the freezer! Once I’ve made 12 jars, I call it done—that’s plenty to last us through the year. I usually have a little stash of pine nuts left over, and I love sprinkling them on salads for a buttery crunch.

Pesto is one of those magical sauces that’s endlessly versatile—it adds flavor, freshness, and richness to so many dishes beyond just pasta. I stir it into soups, meatloaf and meatball mixtures, marinades, rice and eggs. I also use it as a sandwich spread and slather it on top of chicken and fish.

I started making bread crumbs regularly when I realized we never eat the ends of a loaf—for some reason, we just don’t like the “butts.” So when we finish a loaf, I toss the bag with the two leftover ends into the freezer. Once I’ve collected a few and run out of crumbs, I pull them out, defrost them, tear them into big pieces, and blitz them in the food processor.

You can use them fresh like this and store them in the fridge for up to a week, but I prefer to toast them and season them so they last longer and are ready to go whenever I need them. And have you seen the price of pre-made breadcrumbs lately? Making your own from something you weren’t going to eat anyway feels like getting them for free!

How to Make Seasoned Bread Crumbs

1. Process the torn bread into crumbs using a food processor.

2. Toast the crumbs: Spread them in a thin layer on a baking sheet and bake at 275°F for about 30 minutes, stirring occasionally, until completely dry and crisp.

3. Season: Return the toasted crumbs to the processor and add your desired mix of dried herbs and spices (see below).

4. Cool completely before transferring to an airtight jar.

Basic Seasoning Ratio (per 1 cup of dry breadcrumbs)

• 1 tablespoon dried herbs (your favorites or a mix—basil, oregano, thyme, rosemary, parsley, sage)

• ½ teaspoon salt

• ¼ teaspoon black pepper

• 1 teaspoon onion powder

• 1 teaspoon garlic powder

• Optional: 1 teaspoon paprika and/or ¼ teaspoon dried chili flakes for a bit of heat

• Optional: Add 1–2 tablespoons of finely grated Parmesan cheese for extra richness (store in the fridge if you do)

Storage

• Fridge: Store seasoned, toasted breadcrumbs in an airtight jar or container in the refrigerator for up to 3 months.

• Freezer: You can also freeze unseasoned or seasoned crumbs for up to 6 months. Just let them come to room temp before using.

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