Culinary Guides

This is a one-pan late-summer dinner that leans entirely on the garden. Salmon bakes on a bed of burst cherry tomatoes, red onion, and sweet corn, then gets a generous pour of bright basil vinaigrette right before serving. Make it while corn and tomatoes still overlap.

Ingredients

For the basil vinaigrette

• 1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
• 1 1/2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
• 1 tablespoon water
• 1 to 2 cloves of garlic, minced
• Hefty pinch of sea salt
• 2 cups loosely packed basil leaves

For the baked salmon

• 1 pint cherry tomatoes
• 1 clove of garlic, minced
• 1/2 small red onion, thinly sliced
• 4 sprigs fresh thyme
• 3 1/2 tablespoons olive oil, plus more for brushing
• 2 pounds skin-on salmon fillet
• 1 1/2 cups fresh corn kernels (from about 2 ears)
• Hefty pinch of salt and pepper

Directions

Make the vinaigrette

1. Blend the olive oil, red wine vinegar, water, garlic, sea salt, and basil until smooth, thinning with a little water if needed. Taste, adjust, and set aside.

Roast the tomatoes

1. Heat the oven to 350F (175C). Toss the cherry tomatoes, garlic, red onion, and thyme with 3 1/2 tablespoons olive oil and season with salt and pepper.
2. Spread in a large cast iron skillet or baking dish and roast about 7 minutes, until the tomatoes soften.

Add the salmon and corn

1. Meanwhile, season the salmon with salt and pepper and brush with olive oil.
2. Move the tomatoes to the edges of the skillet and set the salmon in the center. Spoon some tomatoes and onion over the fish and scatter the corn over everything.
3. Bake 12 to 15 minutes, until the salmon flakes easily and the tomatoes have burst. Cook a little less for medium-rare.

Finish

1. Drizzle the basil vinaigrette over the salmon, corn, and tomatoes and serve straight from the skillet.

Grower's tip: Basil is best picked before it flowers. Once a plant starts to bolt the leaves turn bitter, so pinch out the flowering tips and harvest in the morning when the oils are strongest; that is when a vinaigrette like this really sings.

A few torn basil leaves or a squeeze of lemon over the top just before serving keeps it fresh and bright.

Almost everything but the fish grows in a summer garden. Plant tomatoes, corn, basil, and onions and this dinner is mostly homegrown.