I pulled the season’s first tomato off the vine at a friend’s farm this weekend, a firm, sweet Sungold that was still a little warm from the sun, and popped it right into my mouth. It was heaven. So tomato season has begun here in the Northeast, though, for me, BLT season has to wait for August’s juicy heirlooms. Until then, I find ways to make the most of the perky early summer tomato crop, including Kay Chun’s one-pot chicken arroz rojo.
Kay riffs on a classic arroz rojo, usually made with tomato paste and garlic, by adding fresh tomatoes and corn for sweetness. She throws in large pieces of boneless chicken thighs and makes everything sizzle with a few slices of jalapeño. Kay cooks her dish in a pot on the stove, but the Instant Pot people can also check out easy directions from Edith, a reader, in the notes. Either method will get you through to BLT season in fine style.
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One-Pot Chicken Arroz Rojo
More food for thought
Swordfish with tomatoes: Here’s another way to show off your summer tomato haul. Brett Anderson takes inspiration from Italy, where garlic, tomatoes, olives and anchovies habitually share a pan with any number of sea creatures. Searing the swordfish only briefly, and then simmering it slowly in a winy sauce, ensures that it stays juicy. Serve it with bread, pasta or rice to catch the tangy sauce.
Roasted eggplant salad: Use either the broiler or the grill to make David Tanis’s smoky, peppery, cumin-scented salad. For the silkiest texture, make sure to let the eggplant skin get black and wrinkly so the flesh has a chance to turn soft and spoonable. Don’t forget a pita to scoop it all up.
Pasta with green bean ragù: Splashing a little pasta cooking water into the pan is an age-old technique for adding body to pasta dishes. Eric “Going Green” Kim adds even more oomph by cooking green beans in the salted water before adding the pasta to the pot. The resulting green-bean broth gives a sweet, fresh vegetable flavor to the sauce here, which features pork sausage, Parmesan and lemon.
Broccoli soba salad: Hetty Lui McKinnon strikes again with a hot take on cold noodles. For this one, she borrowed from yamitsuki, a.k.a. “addictive cabbage,” made by scrunching up raw cabbage leaves with salt, pepper, garlic and sesame oil. Hetty gives broccoli that same salty-scrunchy treatment, and then adds bouillon powder for an umami blast and tosses it with nutty soba noodles for a cooling dish that’s hard to stop eating.
Vegan banana bread: The intense, almost caramel-like flavor of Genevieve Ko’s easy loaf bread comes from the overripe bananas that supplant the eggs. Ultra-moist on the inside, with a crunchy, nutty topping, it’s one of those not-too-sweet treats that shine as breakfast or dessert.
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That’s all for now. I’ll see you on Monday.
Melissa Clark has been writing her column, A Good Appetite, for The Times’s Food section since 2007. She creates recipes for New York Times Cooking, makes videos and reports on food trends. She is the author of 45 cookbooks, and counting.
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