Before we get into the bustle of fall—and the many, many new cookbook conversations coming your way soon—I need to spend one more moment soaking in summer.
For me, that means really reveling in tomatoes. That means eating all the corn. That means sharing this conversation with Pierce Abernathy, whose farmers’ market hauls are always glorious.
And while I’m thrilled to share his recipe for the ultimate tomato toast below, his new book, Every Leaf, Every Stem, might also convince you to love the less-shiny vegetables, like celery root and rutabaga. Which is to say: this is a cookbook you’re going to want by your side when the winter doldrums kick in, too.
This week’s podcast conversation will get you excited about making confit mushrooms to spin into a dip, or threading mushrooms onto skewers to crisp on the grill.
Pierce will also help you actually eat those beets that arrived in your farm box last week.
“Beets always take a lot longer to cook than you expect,” and at 6 p.m., he says, “I’m not going to cook a beet for an hour to then transform into a salad. But if you just cook all of your beets on the first day when you’re doing some other meal prep, then you have such a shortcut to go into making something fresh.”
Before you start working on Pierce’s beet tartare under a flurry of fresh grated horseradish, let’s just focus on that corn butter…
Scroll down for the recipe. And tune in for so many more produce-focused dinner ideas from Pierce.
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When you sign up as a paid subscriber to this newsletter by end of day Wednesday, August 19, 2026, you’ll be entered to win a copy of Every Leaf, Every Stem.
🥈 Free subscribers can also enter the giveaway by sending in a “what’s in my fridge right now” voice memo for us to play on The Dinner Plan podcast. It’s fun! We’ll come up with a dinner idea just for you based on what you have around. Follow the instructions here by end of day Wednesday, Aug 19, 2026.
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Sardines (Pierce likes King Oscar and Bela)
Hot sauces (Pierce likes Zab’s and Secret Aardvark)
Roasted radishes (IG)
Curry chickpea wrap (IG)
Armenian pilaf (IG)
Stone fruit and tomato salad with whipped Corn (reprinted on Food52)
Please Pass the Pilaf—Pierce wrote about this one on Food Processing
Jacques Pépin, La Technique (Thriftbooks here)
Alice Waters, The Art of Simple Food (Bookshop here)
Savory pancake (IG)
Find CookShelf on iOS and Android, and use the code DINNERPLAN for 25% off your first year.
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Shilpa Uskokovic’s Sweet Corn Butter Mochi (BA)
Kiano Moju’s Thread on recipe-testing coworking days
Reprinted with permission from Every Leaf, Every Stem: Craveable, Creative Vegetables All Year Round by Pierce Abernathy with Ben Mims © 2026. Published by Clarkson Potter, an imprint of Penguin Random House.
Corn and tomato are THE two quintessential summer ingredients. A lot of people love tomato toast with olive oil or mayo, but I like this summery corn butter because it’s refreshing and adds this deep, hearty sweetness to the crisp summer flavor of fresh tomato. Despite us thinking corn is a veg, it’s actually a grain, so along with its sweetness comes a grain’s heartiness—when introduced to fatty butter, you get an ingredient that delivers a well-rounded umami punch.
What else can I say? This dish comes together in no time, and I could eat it for breakfast, lunch, or dinner. I want to put the corn butter on everything. And well, I kinda do, because it has made a variety of appearances in my summer cooking for a few years now. Once you make a batch for this toast, I hope you find lots of ways you like to use it too.
No-Waste Tip: Save any tomato skins and pieces; they can be frozen and used for No-Waste Veggie Broth, a tomato sauce, or in a slow braise.
Corn compound butter:
1 ear of corn (about 12 ounces)
½ cup (1 stick/4 ounces) chilled unsalted butter
2 teaspoons kosher salt
2 teaspoons sugar
Tomato toast:
½ perfect heirloom summer tomato
2 massive pieces of toast
Flaky sea salt
Make the corn compound butter: Shuck the corn and remove all the silks; compost the husks and silks. On a cutting board, slice off the kernels. Cut up the butter into tablespoon-size pieces.
Heat 1 tablespoon of the butter in a medium skillet over medium-high heat. Add the corn, kosher salt, and sugar, and spread the corn in a single layer, and cook, without stirring, for about 5 minutes, until the kernels are slightly blistered on the bottom and cooked through on top. Transfer the warm kernels to a food processor, add the remaining butter, and process until smooth and thick. Scrape the butter into an airtight container and refrigerate until cold.
Make the tomato toast: Slather a generous, heaping spoonful of the butter on each piece of toast; save the rest in an airtight container for up to 5 days. Cut slices from the tomato half then layer them on each toast over the butter. Season the tomatoes with flaky salt and serve.
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