Summer is here.

My all time favorite peaches come from Dwelley Farms out of Brentwood, there is nothing else like them. Juicy, white, sweet gems. Stone fruit season is the symbol of summer and all my favorite things, especially the 4th of July. I love the tradition of fully enjoying my home town, biking about and playing tourist for the day. Summer Solstice starts the celebration of beach days, longer sunshine hours, and alfresco dinners.

flank steak cubes. roasted summer squash. grilled peach salsa. shishito peppers

lime+tequila+basil+kiwi

Ah-mazing

Grilling peaches caramelizes the natural sugar in the peaches with the added flavor from the grill. Cut the peaches in half, remove the pit, add a little olive oil to the grill and leave on for 8-10 minutes. While the peaches are grilling:

dice 1-2 cloves of garlic

half a red onion also diced

chopped cilantro

1 jalapeño, seeded and diced

1 serrano pepper, seeded and diced

Combine ingredients with fresh lime juice and the cooled peaches

For the flank steak cut into cubes and season with salt and pepper. Use a cast iron pan to cook until done.

Summer squash is my favorite, pretty and yummy. Season with salt and olive oil and throw on the grill or  use your broiler.

I wish I could quote my dear friends, because I think they said it was “the best meal ever” but I had one to many delicious kiwi/lime margaritas and I cannot recall their exact words.

Last Summer I was enthralled with Padrón peppers. Incredibly easy to prepare, the Padrón pepper is a little like playing Russian roulette, most are sweet but every once in a while you get a HOT one. Invariably my heat sensitive bestie would nab the hottest one and set her pretty little mouth on fire. There is no rhyme or reason to their heat, size and shape do not matter, but they are so ridiculously yummy and worth the suspense. Last weekend I was lucky enough to spend it camping in Yosemite with some of the best people on the planet, and I brought a few pounds of Shishito peppers to throw on the BBQ. Shishito peppers are very similar to the Padrón pepper, a little thinner and oiler, but with the same 1 out of 10 odds that you will get a spicy one. I drizzled olive oil and lemon salt into a plastic bag full of these delectable veggies, put them in a grill basket and let them blister on the fire. They are also perfect for skewers if you do not have a grill basket. Enjoy Shishito peppers year round.

A simple salad with amazing lettuce options, like this Scarlett Butter  lettuce that is unbelievably delicious and delicate, paired with oven roasted gold beets makes a perfect accompaniment to any meal. I am obsessed with all the specialty greens from Mann’s packing, out of our very own Watsonville. Currently this company is growing these greens year round, sourcing their seeds from Europe and growing out of the Yuma. The price is right, they are picture perfect and the small heads make an easy meal for a chef or home cook.

I used my mom’s simple salad dressing, oven roasted gold beets, and black sesame seeds. Simple. Quick and delicious. You can roast the beets ahead of time and have then on hand to add to salads all week.