If you have a little container garden in your backyard or on your windowsill, you know the satisfaction of creating something delicious around your homegrown harvest. We gardeners know there is something so affirming about snipping herbs, pulling up scallions or picking peppers. Creating a menu around the ripe tomatoes on-the-vine or a profusion of deep, green parsley is also, just – fun!
Tess and I incorporate the summer’s bounty into our recipes as much as possible. Adding fresh picked ingredients elevates any recipe’s flavor profile, but there are definitely stand outs! Some of our favorites include: a crisp parsley-scallion salad (because it’s taking over our garden), savory garlic rosemary fries, and “the most” soul-satisfying stuffed peppers. Hungry yet!?!
Mixing and Matching with Your Container Garden
Let’s start with the salad. A few cups of fresh, flat leaf parsley, scallions and lemon juice is all it takes to pull this one together. Serve it next to a sizzling steak hot off the grill – and you have the perfect, effortless summer evening meal. Yet, if you feel like adding some “frites” – our garlic rosemary fries can be baked, fried or air-fried. Fresh rosemary and LOTS of garlic make these fries a crowd pleaser (make extra – you’ll be glad you did!). Last but not least, Moments Stuffed Banana Peppers. These are mouthwatering, summer comfort food. Put them together on a cooler evening, pop them in the oven and instantly your kitchen will smell heavenly. We use the peppers from our container garden (they have some heat), add spicy Italian sausage, cover in marinara and cheese and bake until brown and bubbling.
P.S. The fries are great with these too!
Parsley-Scallion Salad
Ingredients
- 2 cups loosely packed fresh flat-leaf parsley
- 1/4 cup thinly sliced scallions
- 2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice
- 2 teaspoons olive oil
- Kosher salt
Instructions
- Toss the parsley, scallions, lemon juice, and oil in a bowl. Season to taste with salt.
Rosemary Garlic Fries
Ingredients
- 1 28 ounce bag Alexia House Cut Fries with Sea Salt
- 1/4 cup canola oil
- 1/8 cup minced garlic
- 1/2 tablespoon minced, fresh rosemary
- 1/2 tablespoon minced parsley
- 1/2 teaspoon Kosher salt
- 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 400°F.
- Spread the fries evenly on a baking sheet and bake for 15-20 minutes or until crisp, stirring halfway during cooking, or drop in preheated fryer for 6 minutes tossing occasionally.
- While the fries are baking, mix the canola oil with the garlic and rosemary and 1/8 teaspoon of the kosher salt.
- Remove the fries from the oven and transfer to a large bowl with the garlic, rosemary and oil mixture and season with the remaining kosher salt and ground pepper. Toss well with tongs until combined and serve immediately.
Spicy Sausage Stuffed Banana Peppers
Ingredients
- 6-8 banana peppers (depending on the size)
- 2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
- 2 pounds hot Italian sausage
- 1 medium yellow onion (Vidalia in the summer)
- 4 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 tablespoon dried oregano
- 1 tablespoon dried basil
- crushed red pepper flakes (optional)
- Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
- 2-3 cups marinara sauce (we like Rao's)
- 8 ounces low-moisture mozzarella cheese, torn or shredded
- Fresh basil leaves, for serving
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400 °F.
- Arrange the peppers, cut-side up, in a 9×13-inch baking dish.
- Add two tablespoons extra virgin olive oil into the pan. Combine the sausage and onion in a large skillet over medium heat. Cook, breaking up the meat with a wooden spoon, until the meat is browned. Stir in the garlic, oregano, basil, and a pinch each of salt and pepper. Cook, until fragrant, 1 minute more. Remove the skillet from the heat.
- Divide the meat filling among the peppers, then slather the marinara sauce all over the peppers. Top with the mozzarella. Bake until the cheese is melted and getting bubbly and brown 20-25 minutes.
- Garnish the peppers with fresh basil and serve.
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