Two Garden Summer Meals with Jen Lazzaro

Roasted Beets slicked with herbed olive oil and fresh oregano.

Dry chorizo sausage is first rendered slowly in a pan with onions and bell peppers, then stewed with chickpeas and garlic. At the end of cooking, split cherry tomatoes are stirred into the soupy beans.

Bread and aged balsamic and oil for dipping, natch.

A very refreshing starter is a chilled cantaloupe soup. As above, 1 melon - peeled and cubed - is blended with 2 cups of ice, lime zest and the juice of 1 lime. Stir in a bit of sugar or honey and black pepper and chill for several hours. Serve garnished with minced jalapenos, red onion and shredded basil.

Cured meats and Cafe Drake's pickled okra.

Semi-vegetarian Lucy Lazzaro waits patiently for garden-fresh table scraps.

Boiled eggs frying in olive oil (see full recipe below).

House-made Honey and Ginger Cuke Pickles are brined and canned with golden raisins and green chili peppers.

Crispy jicama salad.

Pan frying baguette slices in good olive oil makes a nice change from oven-baked croutons. use for soups, cured meats, cheeses etc.

Jen looks well pleased with her chilled Cantaloupe Soup.

Sopressata and cheese.

Intrigued by a recipe from Lynne Rosetto Kaspar, Cafe Drake prepared eggs the Sardianian way: slice in half hard-boiled eggs then fry till slightly crispy/toasty in olive oil. Splash with white wine vinegar and cook for 1 more minute. Remove from pan, add more oil and quickly stir-fry minced garlic, chopped parsley and some bread crumbs. Pour all over eggs, salt and pepper well and serve warm. Delish.

Cafe Drake loves the Summer Southern dinner staple known as the "Vegetable Plate", a medley of whatever's freshly picked then carefully cooked, supplemented by pickles, relishes and bread or dinner rolls. Our own versions lately have included everything from pitchers of Sweet Tea with Lemon Verbena to bottles of dry Rose, slow-simmered chickpeas with tomatoes and dried chorizo sausages, radish and zucchini carpaccio, icy classic gazpacho, roasted beets with oregano and olive oil and more. Throw in good company and a functioning window unit a/c an evening to remember. In a good way.