Having a recipe that you prepare seasonally can make entertaining easier for you. In addition, a seasonal recipe makes it more special for your family and guests. Even if your kids don’t eat gazpacho or the seasonal dish you prepare, watching you cook it, eat it and share it with others year after year creates a ritual that they will remember. It also teaches them about seasonal foods. Plus, when you make a recipe over and over again it gets easier to prepare as it is woven into the fabric of the season.
Michael Tuohy has an article called Is it Tomato Season Yet on Frontburner: all about food that explains how supermarket tomatoes are “grown in hot houses, picked hard as a rock green, gassed to turn the color red, packaged and shipped.” Fresh, local heirloom tomatoes that are found at farmer’s markets and farmstands are at their peak in August and nothing like the supermarket tomatoes. Sliced thickly with salt and pepper and a drizzle of balsamic vinegar and oil and a chiffonade of basil, heirloom tomatoes have always been a signature dish at our summer table.