Summer dinner ... clams, tomatoes, grits

This post is to make up for the last one, a cranky reflection on the things browsers say and do at craft shows. Next up on the show circuit is Art in the Park on Sept. 8, a nice little show in City Square Park, in the Charlestown neighborhood of Boston. I'll be in a better mood then.
But while the big slab platters are drying and the bisque kiln is cooling, I wanted to post something about the summer local food bounty. My tomato plants have been producing well, in spite of the kind of neglect that results in a tomato plant jungle in the garden outside my window here. Hard to tell the difference between the tomatoes, the tomatillos, the cucumbers and the peppers. Still, rummaging in the greenery produces a daily supply of stunningly sweet Sungold cherry tomatoes and a number of other, larger varieties. We're not overflowing with tomatoes, but we've got plenty right now.
So many, in fact, that I roasted a panful of tomatoes yesterday. Tomatoes, olive oil, a little garlic, salt and pepper, then set the oven at 425 and give it about 30 minutes to do its work. Lovely stuff. Hard to believe the Sungolds could be better cooked than just off the plant, but it seems to be true. I combined them last night with garlic, fresh chopped jalapenos, local steamed corn cut off the ear and the olive oil from the roasting to make a very good salsa to serve with corn chips.
That was the appetizer last night when friends Mike and Tammy came over for dinner before seeing "Beasts of the Southern Wild." (Go see it, by the way. Great film.) We had all been clamming Sunday, so Tammy made a fresh tomato/clam sauce and brought it over. I cooked up a pot full of North Carolina grits and we had a nice clam 'n' grits meal, with her green beans added to the mix.
Warm summer night, good food and friends, good movie afterward. Not bad.