Even though it’s mid-October, I am still picking tomatoes off my plants.  Yesterday I had an entire gallon-sized bag of tomatoes that I wanted to use up. So ripe, juicy and sweet- I knew  these tomatoes would likely be the last of the season and therefore needed to be used in a special dish. Earlier I had bought some wild salmon, fresh herbs, a sweet onion and some chanterelle mushrooms. Normally, I wouldn’t pair a delicate flavor like chanterelle mushrooms with rich salmon or tomatoes, but I was in a risky mood. What could those flavors be like together? Would the chanterelles get completely lost in the dish? I decided to find out.

I sliced about two cups of the tomatoes in half and gently coated them with olive oil, salt and pepper and fresh thyme leaves. Next I spread them out on a sheet tray and put them in the oven to roast. When sweet tomatoes are slow cooked, they get even sweeter. Candy-like actually. To really slow cook them, I would have had to cook them in a 200 degree oven for two hours, but most week nights don’t allow for that kind of time. So I put these in a 400 degree oven for 10 minutes and reduced the heat to 300 degrees and cooked them for another 10 minutes.

While the tomatoes were cooking, I sauteed the onions and mushrooms with olive oil, added some garlic, salt and pepper and a little more fresh thyme. Once the tomatoes were done, I added them to the mushrooms and onions. Then I seared the salmon separately, just to medium rare, with only olive oil and salt and pepper. I placed the salmon on a plate and covered it completely with the rich tomatoes, chanterelles and onions. For a second I was like, oh man, you took something so great and you wasted it by drowning it in sweet tomatoes! But you know what- it worked! Juicy-sweet layers of flavor capturing the end of summer and the beginning of fall in one dish.

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It’s a change in the seasons. Labor Day weekend is upon us. Families are packing up the car for one last road trip, final camp out or mini-vacation before comfortably settling into school and work routines. Are you planning to go out with a bang and savor all that there is left of summer? Or are you already thinking of cool harvest nights and (gasp!) thumbing through holiday cookbooks!?

I say fire up the grill and roast those weenies with gusto! Hit the trail with a summery picnic and relish every last bit of summer that you can, because before you know it, you’ll be pulling out the sweaters from the winter clothes box and wishing for sweet summer sun. Of course for all you die-hard grillers who choose to grill in the snow, wind and rain, the changing of the weather doesn’t mean then end of grilling, it only means one thing- it must be tailgate season! Here are some recipes to take with you camping, to make for lounging in the hammock or for the back yard barbecue.

Off to the campground!

Laying in a Hammock all Weekend

Summer Barbecue Tributes

What are you planning to cook this weekend? We’d love to hear about it! Here’s what some other folks are preparing for this Labor Day weekend:

RecipeGirl Labor Day Menu

Delish Labor Day Sticky Ribs

Martha Stewart’s Perfect Grilled Veggie Kebabs

Above photo by Cape Cod Cyclist

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