Last week, Robert and I decided to tackle some tomatoes from his garden. He came over with a variety of ripe, just-picked heirloom and smaller tomatoes  We decided to make two different kinds of tomato sauce.  One of the recipes had been in my canning folder for years. It came from a 2006 Gourmet magazine article named "Grandma’s Tomato Sauce" and was edited by Edith Guerino.  I changed the recipe a bit by adding more sugar and a large carrot to offset the acidity. It turned into a wonderful creamy sauce.  For the second sauce recipe, I used Alton Brown’s recipe but changed several ingredients and how the sauce was roasted and completed.  The roasted sauce has a tart flavor but a rich tomato taste and is great to put over fish.  Robert brought his tomato device that separates the seeds and the skin from the fruit, a clever machine that saved us time and aggravation. I made a large faro salad with tomatoes and herbs using Giada De Laurentis' recipe.  For over a week, I kept the tomatoes on a cookie sheet in my cold downstairs office. One night I made a platter of tomato slices with mozzarella and another night we had lamb chops with Julia Child’s "Tomates A La Provençal."  Absolutely delicious!

Here are some thick sliced tomatoes on a bed of lettuce, topped with fresh mozzarella, pesto, slow -baked tomatoes, and sprinkled with fresh basil, balsamic vinegar, olive oil, and salt and pepper.

 I have been slow roasting tomatoes for several years.  I use them like a marmalade on different appetizers. They taste great just by themselves and keep in the refrigerator for about a week .

I am not a big pesto fan, but I love using it in my seafood pasta dish—and basil is abundant in the summer. I make a batch and freeze whatever is leftover. 

This is my signature dish. The presentation is lovely.  I frequently prepare it for my friends and family, who always seem to enjoy it. I cook it differently according to the season. In the spring, I use asparagus. In the winter, I use  sun-dried tomatoes  from Trader Joe's. But right now, I have some wonderful tasting tomatoes from Robert's garden. You can make this with shrimp only and it will be just as good. Omit the seafood and you have a vegetarian entree. I use my homemade pesto when preparing this dish.c. At this point , my cooking is much better than my photography. You get the picture. I assemble everything on one plate. My husband broke my antique round serving plate one evening when washing the dishes, so all I have now are oval dishes. I have to tell you, he always cleans up my mess and washes the dishes after a meal. Bless his heart! I wouldn't do half the cooking if I had to clean up by myself.