Summer Dinner Party Exploiting Your Tomato Bounty + Lazy Summer Deliciousness

I accidentally forgot to take pictures of the food -- three amazing Summer recipes you will LOVE that looked absolutely bellissima -- so you are getting pictures of the flower arrangements instead.

For the first year in a long time I don't have tomato plants, but I found these adorable baby tomatoes on a vine at the Farmer's Market.  Check out how cool they look nestled in with flowers!  It's OK to snack on these arrangements!

 The recipes I tried were super easy other than chopping, which I happen to love to do and cleaning shrimp, which you can have done for you.  If you don't have time to wait as I didn't, you can just use it as a Zen meditation and/or sit in front of a movie.  It was very meditative to do while I listened to "The Women" (the original, of course),a movie I've seen a lot so I could look up from the deveining and shelling from time to time. 

I have never pickled nectarines before.  YUM!  And, with Burrata? You've got to be kidding!  The first two recipes were due to a miraculous find at the gym.  Bon Appetit Magazine August 2013 issue was miraculously laying around so I found these two during my bike ride:

I have never pickled nectarines before. YUM! And, with Burrata? You've got to be kidding!

http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Pickled-Nectarine-Salad-with-Burrata-51178630


Super duper easy and brilliantly inspired recipe.  I grilled ahead of time on an open fire with a grill over it to give extra smoky flavor and to have the grilling DONE before guests arrived:

http://www.bonappetit.com/recipes/2013/08/grilled-harissa-shrimp


A friend made this recipe recently for a dinner party I attended.  Just amazing.  I couldn't find currents so I chopped dried blueberries and cranberries up together.  Really great substitution.  Also I forgot Pecorino cheese so I used SHAVED parmesan.  I would not use grated cheese on this recipe, just because I'm not a fan of grated cheese on raw greens, but that's me. Genius recipe with just the right amount of heat.

http://abc.go.com/shows/the-chew/recipes/King-Greens-Salad-Daphne-Oz

Then I grilled corn also on the grill on the fire.  I left the fire going so I could throw them on right before serving to warm them up too.  If you aren't slightly retarded like I am you won't drop any in the fire!

I made herbed butter to slather on warmed grilled corn:

1 stick butter at room temperature
Course Salt
Cayenne Pepper
About 3/4 cup chopped cilantro

Do the salt and cayenne to taste, but it wasn't too warm.

All in all a very pretty dinner plate with all the colors: Greens, Reds, Purples, Oranges...oh my!

Buon Summer Appetito to all!