Delectables...
My list changes from one season to the next. I live in Charleston, which has what must be the richest, blackest soil on the planet. Right now the summer crops are coming in, so we have the very freshest of the following:
tomatoes
cucumbers
yellow squash
zucchini
melons of all types
green beans
eggplant
fresh chiles of all types, including bell peppers.
A typical dinner around here will be gazpacho and/or pasta primavera with nice pecorino romano cheese sliced on top. We've also had a couple of tempura nights, where I go crazy and batter fry all the nice fresh veg. I also have my own smoker, and the fresh pork and chicken available right now are off the chain. So I make lots of pork barbecue, ribs, whole chickens, and the occasional brisket.
My favorite thing right now, though, is
TOMATO SANDWICHES. With mayonnaise, salt, pepper, and american cheese. Mmmmmmm... I eat those things until they give me stomach cramps.
And beans. We have fresh baby limas, which go in my vegetable curry with potatoes, squashes, rutabagas, tomatoes, fresh green beans, and everydamn thing else I can get my paws on.
Then there are pots of black beans, which get served the first night with a sofrito made from fresh onions, peppers, and garlic along with my secret spices. They are accompanied by sliced tomatoes and sliced or chopped onions. I put out cheese for those who are so inclined. Leftovers get made into fritters or refried and rolled into burritos. Occasionally a churrasco gets thrown down in the midst of all the beans.
Tomatoes are everywhere. Fresh ones. Green ones, which get fried and served with my homemade pimento cheese on top.
And watermelon or homemade orange sherbet for dessert.
Ask me again in the fall and winter when the cruciferous vegetables really start to come in, and I'll have a completely different list.
I cook and eat everything, though. There's too much variety available year-round not to take full advantage of it.
Oh, and: Fried green tomatoes taste like pussy. There's nothing finer.