Pull Up a Chair
Welcome to The Jersey Nonna. Your Friday guide to seasonal cooking, simple living, and a little bit of farm stand magic.
Before we sit down together on Fridays, I want to give you something useful right now.
The Jersey Nonna is a weekly publication about cooking seasonally, living simply, and finding beauty in ordinary weekends. Every Friday, Weekend Gathering arrives in your inbox — a farm stand report, a weekend menu, a featured recipe, a little essay, a kitchen planner, and a quiet thought to carry into your weekend.
But first — this.
A guide to the Jersey farm stand, spring through early summer. What’s ready now, what’s coming, what to do with all of it, and how to shop the way your grandmother did — by what looks good, not by what’s on a list.
It’s yours, free, with my compliments.
Weekend Gathering No. 1 arrives this Friday, June 26th.
I’m glad you found your way here. Pull up a chair.
— Kathy
The Jersey Nonna
What’s inside your guide:
June — Strawberries at their peak. Last call for asparagus. Fresh herbs in abundance. The quiet before summer’s full arrival.
July — This is what you waited for. Jersey beefsteak tomatoes. Sweet corn the day it comes in. Peaches you smell before you buy. Blueberries at their peak. Buy more than you think you need.
August — Buy everything. This is the month to put things up. Eggplant silky and sweet. Heirloom tomatoes in every color. Fresh garlic by the head. The farm stand at its most generous — and its most fleeting.
From the Farm Stand
The Jersey Nonna’s Guide to Summer’s Best — June, July & August
“The best things at the farm stand don’t wait. Neither should you.”
— The Jersey Nonna
A Note from the Nonna
It is June. The farm stand just opened. The strawberries are here — dark red, fragrant, the real ones — and the herbs are abundant and the asparagus is making its last appearance before it disappears until next spring.
The tomatoes are coming. The corn is coming. The peaches are coming.
But right now, in early June, there is already so much worth stopping for.
This guide will grow with you all summer. Come back to it every week.
What’s in Season and When
JUNE
Early season. Strawberries peak. Herbs abundant. Asparagus last call. The quiet before the summer abundance.
Strawberries — peak, dark and fragrant. Go every week until they’re gone.
Asparagus — last chance until next spring
Sugar snap and snow peas — eat raw
Fresh herbs — basil, dill, mint, parsley. Buy more than you think you need.
Spring lettuces and arugula
Radishes — with butter and salt
Spring onions and scallions
Rhubarb — jam, crisp, or sauce
Farm eggs — always worth buying
JULY
Peak season. Everything is here. This is what you waited for. Buy more than you think you need.
Jersey beefsteak tomatoes ★★ — the whole reason
Sweet corn ★★ — ask when it came in. Same day only.
Peaches ★★ — smell before you buy
Zucchini ★ — small ones, hand-length or shorter. Always.
Blueberries ★ — New Jersey’s state fruit, peak now
Green and wax beans — freeze half
Cucumbers — salads and quick pickles
Fresh basil — buy in abundance
Bell peppers — starting to appear
AUGUST
Late season. Buy everything. This is the month to put things up. Freeze, can, preserve. August will not last.
Eggplant ★ — peak, silky and sweet
Heirloom tomatoes ★★ — buy the ugly ones
Hot peppers — roast, pickle, preserve in oil
Cantaloupe — smell the stem end
Late sweet corn — still worth buying
Blackberries — peak in August
Butternut squash — early ones arriving
Fresh garlic ★ — buy plenty, it goes in everything
Shishito peppers — blister in a hot pan
★ = Worth going out of your way for
★★ = Do not leave the stand without this when in season
What Changes Week to Week
The best farm stand shoppers don’t plan meals and then shop. They go to the stand, see what’s extraordinary today, and plan from that. Ask the farmer what came in this morning. Ask what they’re eating for dinner. The answer is always the thing to buy.
Early June — strawberries, herbs, snap peas, last asparagus. Lighter, fresher cooking.
Late June — first zucchini, blueberries starting, corn beginning in warm years.
All of July — tomatoes, corn, peaches, blueberries all at once. The most abundant month.
August — eggplant, heirlooms, hot peppers, garlic. Deeper flavors. Time to preserve.
The Nonna Essentials Checklist
Print this. Bring it. Check things off. Come home and cook.
These are the things I look for every single week. Not all of them will be there in June. All of them will be there in July. By August I am buying everything on this list and more.
☐ Jersey strawberries — June only. Buy every week until gone.
☐ Fresh herbs — a big bunch of basil, all summer. Never enough.
☐ Jersey beefsteak tomatoes — July through August. The whole reason.
☐ Sweet corn — 6 ears minimum. Ask when it came in. Same day only.
☐ Zucchini — small ones only. Hand-length or shorter. Always.
☐ Peaches or nectarines — smell before you buy. Trust your nose.
☐ Fresh garlic — buy plenty. It goes in everything.
☐ Green or wax beans — blanch and freeze half for winter.
☐ Cucumbers — salads, quick pickles, snacking.
☐ Blueberries — mid-June through August. Freeze some.
☐ Eggplant — August. Silky and sweet when truly in season.
☐ Fresh flowers — for the table. Always for the table.
☐ One thing you’ve never tried before — ask the farmer what to do with it.
☐ Something for someone else — tomatoes are a love language.
Recipe No. 1 — June
Jersey Strawberry Shortcake — With Real Biscuits and Two Kinds of Berries
Not the Bisquick version. Half the strawberries are cooked down into a deep glossy syrup. The other half stay fresh and macerated. The biscuits have sour cream, lemon zest, and nutmeg. The cream is barely sweetened. A splash of Grand Marnier if you’re in the right mood. You probably are.
Serves 6 · About 1 hour · Worth every minute
The Strawberries — Two Ways
3 lbs fresh Jersey strawberries, hulled
⅓ cup sugar, divided
1 tsp fresh lemon juice
Pinch of fine sea salt
2 tbsp Grand Marnier, Chambord, or Cointreau — optional but not really
The Biscuits
2 cups all-purpose flour
3 tbsp sugar
1 tbsp baking powder
½ tsp salt
¼ tsp freshly grated nutmeg
8 tbsp cold butter, cubed
½ cup cold heavy cream, plus more for brushing
¼ cup cold sour cream
1 tsp vanilla
1 tsp lemon zest
The Cream
1½ cups heavy cream, very cold
2 tbsp powdered sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
To Make
Divide strawberries — 1 lb for the syrup, 2 lbs for fresh. Cook syrup portion with 2 tbsp sugar and lemon juice over medium heat 12 to 15 minutes until thick and glossy. Stir in liqueur while warm if using. Cool slightly.
Slice remaining 2 lbs of strawberries. Toss with remaining sugar and salt. Let sit 30 to 60 minutes at room temperature until they release their juice. Fold into the warm syrup.
Make biscuits: preheat oven to 425°F. Whisk dry ingredients together. Work cold butter in with your fingers into flat shards — not crumbs. Some pieces pea-sized, some almond-sized is correct.
Whisk heavy cream, sour cream, vanilla, and lemon zest together. Fold into flour mixture just until the dough comes together — shaggy is correct.
On a floured surface, press dough to ¾ inch. Fold in thirds. Rotate, press, fold again. One more time. Cut into rounds or squares — press straight down, never twist.
Brush tops with cream. Sprinkle with coarse sugar. Bake 15 to 18 minutes until deeply golden. Cool 5 minutes.
Whip cream to soft billowy peaks — barely sweetened. Split warm biscuits with a fork. Pile strawberries over the bottom half. Add cream. Lean the top half at an angle. Serve immediately.
Nonna’s Notes: The cooked berry syrup is what makes this extraordinary — it concentrates every bit of flavor from the best strawberries of the year. The nutmeg in the biscuit is the thing people taste and cannot identify. Don’t leave it out. Don’t add more than ¼ tsp. Leftover biscuits the next morning with butter and the remaining strawberry syrup — not a bad situation to be in.
Recipe No. 2 — June
Classic Jersey Basil Pesto — The Real Thing, Made Simply
When the basil is abundant and fragrant and the bunches are enormous and cheap — buy three. Make pesto. Use some this week. Freeze half in ice cube trays. In February, when the world is grey and there is no farm stand and the grocery store basil smells like nothing, you will pull a cube from the freezer and for one moment it will be June again.
Makes 1½ cups · 15 minutes · No cooking · Freezes perfectly
Ingredients
4 cups fresh basil leaves, packed — about 2 large farm stand bunches
½ cup good olive oil
⅓ cup pine nuts or walnuts, toasted
3 garlic cloves
½ cup freshly grated Parmesan
¼ cup Pecorino Romano
½ tsp kosher salt
Squeeze of fresh lemon juice
To Make
Toast pine nuts or walnuts in a dry skillet over medium heat, about 3 minutes, shaking constantly. They burn in seconds. Watch them the entire time. Remove the moment they’re golden.
Wash basil leaves and spin completely dry in a salad spinner. Wet basil makes watery pesto. Take the extra minute.
Pulse garlic and toasted nuts in a food processor until roughly chopped. Add basil and pulse until finely chopped, scraping down the sides once or twice.
With the processor running, stream in olive oil slowly. Process until combined but not completely smooth — a little texture is correct. Pesto should not be a paste.
Add both cheeses, salt, and lemon juice. Pulse to combine. Taste. Adjust salt. It should be intensely basil-forward with brightness from the lemon.
Transfer to a jar. Pour a thin layer of olive oil over the top to prevent browning. Refrigerate up to 5 days.
To freeze: spoon into ice cube trays. Freeze solid, then transfer to a zip bag. Label with the date. Drop directly from frozen into soups, pasta, and sauces all winter.
Nonna’s Notes: Walnuts are a perfect substitution for pine nuts — slightly earthier, a fraction of the cost. No regrets. The two-cheese combination — Parmesan and Pecorino — is what gives depth. Use both if you can. Make a double batch. Every cube in that ice tray will be used. Make more.
Recipe No. 3 — July
Jersey Tomato Salad with Red Onion, Herbs, and a Little Attitude
Not a caprese. Caprese is lovely but everyone makes it. This salad is loud and unapologetic — the way a good Jersey tomato in July deserves to be treated. Ten minutes. No cooking. Make it the day you buy the tomatoes. Eat it with crusty bread. There is nothing better.
Serves 4 · 10 minutes · No cooking · Make day-of
The Salad
3 to 4 large Jersey beefsteak tomatoes, about 2 lbs — room temperature, always
½ red onion, very thinly sliced
1 cup fresh basil leaves, torn
¼ cup flat-leaf parsley, roughly chopped
¼ cup Kalamata olives, halved
1 Persian cucumber, sliced — optional
The Dressing
3 tbsp good olive oil
1½ tbsp red wine vinegar
1 garlic clove, minced
½ tsp dried oregano
Salt, pepper, and red pepper flakes to taste
To Finish
Flaky sea salt · Crusty bread — non-negotiable
To Make
Slice tomatoes in thick rounds or rough wedges. Room temperature is non-negotiable. A cold tomato is a sad tomato. Never refrigerated.
Soak red onion in cold water for 5 minutes. Drain and pat completely dry. Takes the raw edge off without losing the crunch.
Whisk olive oil, vinegar, garlic, oregano, salt, pepper, and red pepper flakes until emulsified. Taste. It should be bold.
Arrange tomatoes on a wide plate or platter. Scatter red onion, basil, parsley, olives, and cucumber over the top.
Drizzle dressing over everything. Finish with a generous pinch of flaky sea salt.
Let sit 5 to 10 minutes before serving. The tomatoes will release their juice into the dressing. That is the whole point.
Serve with crusty bread. You need it to catch everything on the plate.
Nonna’s Notes: Make it the same day you buy the tomatoes. Room temperature is everything. Never the fridge. Strain the leftover juice the next day and toss with pasta. Do not waste a single drop.
When You Get Home — The Action Plan
Right away
Tomatoes on the counter, stem side down — never the refrigerator
Fresh herbs in a glass of water like flowers
Peaches on the counter if not fully ripe
Corn in the refrigerator unshucked — cook within 1 to 2 days
Within 2 to 3 days
Make the tomato salad while the tomatoes are perfect
Grill or blanch the corn — freeze half off the cob
Sauté zucchini with garlic and olive oil
Make the shortcake — you deserve it
For the freezer
Blanch green beans 2 minutes, freeze flat in bags
Cut corn off the cob, freeze in 2-cup portions
Freeze sliced peaches on a sheet pan then transfer to a bag
Freeze pesto in ice cube trays — summer in a cube
Nonna’s Farm Stand Rules
Never refrigerate tomatoes — counter only, stem side down. Cold destroys flavor and texture. Eat within 3 to 4 days.
Smell before you buy — peaches, cantaloupe, basil, strawberries. No scent means no flavor. Your nose never lies.
Talk to the farmer — ask what came in today. Ask what their favorite is. The best things aren’t always on display.
Small zucchini only — once it’s longer than your hand it’s watery and tasteless. The small ones are sweet and tender.
Buy herbs in abundance — basil, dill, mint. More than you think. Use generously. Freeze the rest in olive oil.
Go early or go late — early means first pick of the freshest. Late means farmers discount what’s left. Both win.
Bring cash and a real bag — you always buy more than planned. That is not a problem. That is the whole point of going.
One thing never tried before — every week. Ask the farmer what to do with it. This is how you stay curious.
Weekend Gathering No. 1 is live today — your first Friday at The Jersey Nonna’s table. Find it right here on Substack.
Every Friday from now through summer, I’ll be back with a farm stand report, a weekend menu, a featured recipe, a little essay, and a quiet thought to carry into your weekend.
I’m glad you’re here. Pull up a chair.
— Kathy
The Jersey Nonna
