A plethora of peppers inspired the theme for this week’s food plan. Poblanos and habaneros, followed by Watsonia Farms sweet corn, Sea Island sweet onion, grape tomatoes, Italian eggplant, basil, baby rainbow carrots, and Harvest Moon potatoes—a harvest that really says summer!

Who doesn’t think chile relleno at the sight of a poblano? My mind went straight to the Mexican classic and this easy to follow recipe from The Kitchn. If short on time, try Deborah Madison’s roasted chile tacos you can whip up in minutes.

Recalling that I had a still-super-fresh box of sheshito peppers (plus a couple habaneros) from an earlier bag in the fridge, I declared a south of the border party! With peppers and corn in hand, I headed over to the kitchen of pals Susan Lucas and Gregg Hoffman, with whom I’ve spent many an hour happily cooking up good food and conversation.

With the emphasis on party, we made a dialed down version of chili relleno that omitted a few steps to get us out of the kitchen more quickly.

We slathered the corn with mayonnaise after boiling the cobs for 7 minutes, rolled each one in grated cotija cheese and finished them with a pinch of cayenne.

While Gregg toasted the sheshitos in a little olive oil, salt + pepper for the easiest and tastiest pepper appetizer, we snacked on a batch of ratatouille I’d made—the second in a week, ‘cause the first was spectacular—that handily incorporated the eggplant, tomatoes, onion and basil in the week’s bag.

A fun fiesta was had by all!

My thoughts for the carrots: a simple and always tasty solution, especially in a time crunch, is the trusty sheet pan. The rainbow variety also makes a very pretty presentation. Slice large ones length wise and leave small ones whole, toss with a healthy glug of good olive oil, salt + pepper, and roast at 400 degrees for about 20 minutes. The tomatoes are fantastic roasted till a bit charred, as well

And because the Harvest Moon potatoes are a show stealer all on their own, I left them alone, and simply steamed them for about 15 minutes and served them with a little salt + pepper and dill.