CCC – It’s June! tomatoes, potatoes, eggs and herbs

I thought that with my busy June schedule, I’d pick recipes that were related somehow. With a common thread connecting them. I do that all the time with dinner parties and celebratory feasts – if there’s something that provides a degree or two of separation to other items on the menu, then you can be sure everything will come together harmoniously.

Um, that seemed like a great idea, and also a way to take advantage of some of the ingredients included in the recipes. What I didn’t really take into account is that I don’t always eat the same things/ingredients. Thankfully, all of the recipes were terrific, but I may not need to eat a potato for a while…

First up, I made the pizza with potatoes, rosemary and blue cheese. I already had the dough for the pizza in the freezer, and was anxious to see how it turned out after freezing, as well as how it would work if I actually did take the advice of rolling it very thinly. I had rosemary from the garden, so this was easy. The main time-consuming thing was making the caramelized onions. I should probably do a big batch and freeze them, I just forget.

Luckily I had a reasonably not-so-hot day, so that I could heat my oven up to cook the pizza. There might not be too many more of these for a bit, but everything came together with the pizza sliding from the peel to the stone satisfyingly, and the whole thing getting tasty and bubbly in no time.

On the same day, I decided I should make the honey-roasted cherry tomatoes. I thought that they would be nice to accompany the pizza. I’ve made similar recipes before, but the honey-garlic sweet-savory topping sounded great. After assembly, they get a quick roast.

I served both together, and it was a great combination. The tomatoes contrasted with and complimented the flavors of the pizza.

Another recipe for this month was the frittata with summer veg and goat cheese. The recipe suggests a few vegetables, and certainly the method. This is another that relies on potatoes, eggs and herbs. Fortunately, I brought back a bunch from my place in Sedona, so was able to enjoy those fresh flavors. What I did not have were a lot of green vegetables, I decided to just rely on some peas, and a few more of my leftover roasted tomatoes. I subbed out some red onions for scallions, and added some fresh yellow peppers to add a bit more color. I used fresh thyme and oregano, along with a few chives.

The vegetables get sautéed in a bit of olive oil, based on the amount of cooking required, then arranged in the pan with the herbs. The beaten eggs go on top, and cook until about 2/3 set, topped with the cheese, and popped into the oven for a few minutes to set.

Once out of the oven, the frittata sits for a few minutes, and indeed can be cooled to room temperature for serving. In this case, I was hungry… so the first piece was served hot!

My final recipe for June was the new potato, tomato and boiled egg salad. This is an arrangement of those ingredients, generally room temperature, mixed with a mustardy vinaigrette. The trick here is to not-quite hard boil the eggs (7-minute eggs!), and smash them a bit with the dressing.

This is something that I would definitely make again, though I might tweak the dressing a bit. I don’t even know what “English mustard” is, but used traditional American yellow. ?? But I thought it might be improved with a pickle-ish element, either my home-made ones, or some capers. But really, and excellent concept. It was delicious, fast and filling, so it was a perfect lunch. I could see this for dinner too.

Altogether, these were delicious recipes this month. I really liked every one of them, though I could see a tweak here or there – but even as presented, they suited me. I learned a few new things along the way, and was reminded of a few more. A delicious experiment!

I can hardly wait to see what recipes July brings! If you’d like to see what other participants in the Cottage Cooking Club made, you can check them out online.