late summer kitchen (the most delicious pasta sauce)

After digging trenches and putting in new, fresh, organic earth... we planted a few raspberry bushes this spring. And we had beautiful berries this summer - a wonderful surprise. I had thought it would take the plants at least until next year to produce fruit.

This delicious treat helped make up for the sad news that our beloved (and very young) cherry tree was recently hit by lightning and felled to the ground.

Our tomato plants are six feet tall.  We have bowls of big, strong beans. This is incredibly exciting for a family of newbie gardeners, who are learning by experimentation, and very, very inexperienced.

I recently picked up a bitter melon from a local farmer, having never tried one before. The fruit is one of the most bitter there is, but also eerily pretty with its warty texture and oblong shape. I'm waiting for it to ripen fully, and then I will use it in stir fries (with yogurt handy of course).  Does anyone have any recipes using bitter melon?

There's more organic corn from local farmers than I've ever seen before. For a few weeks, this is what we'll be eating, because once it's gone, it's gone until this time next year. In Ottawa (officially, I learned, one of the coldest capital cities of the world), that feels like a very, very long time.

So we made these (very corny) corn muffins (with fresh corn kernels!).

Here is my recipe for caramelized, wondrous tomato sauce. I make it with cherry tomatoes, but I've also tried it with cut-up larger tomatoes, and it works quite well.

Chop up a few cups of tomatoes, placing them in a baking dish.

Also chop up some garlic cloves (I use plenty, at least 6) and onion if desired.

Drizzle on some olive oil, adding some salt, pepper and a sprinkle of sugar. You might also add some balsamic vinegar.

And fresh basil - lots of it!

Roast in the oven very slowly, uncovered for at least an hour at about 300F.

It will be quite watery, so you can remove much of the liquid and reduce this down on the stove. I use this sauce with pasta, and just add some fresh pepper and grated parmesan cheese. It keeps very well in the fridge for a few days (arguably tastes more delicious as the flavors blend).

What's in your kitchen these days?