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Last weekend to wear white, last party weekend of the summer, last three day weekend until Columbus Day--Labor Day weekend means a lot of things to a lot of different people. What I think we might forget is why we celebrate the weekend in the first place. Unlike most of our national holidays which are tied to either military endeavors or religious observances, Labor Day was created with the pure intention of recognizing those laborers who built the country we now enjoy.
So with a party weekend devoted in theory to the contributions of laborers, it would seem fit that our Labor Day weekend menus recognize the work of those who made our table spreads possible: the farmers and artisans who bring their wares from field to table. Think about it: so many years of our lives shopping at markets with rows of perfectly shaped peaches, Styrofoam trays carrying precisely formed rows of pork chops, every item perfunctorily cleaned and lined up with nary a speck of dirt to suggest the farming locale it originally came from.
So this Labor Day while wearing your white linen pants and enjoying the last Sunday for awhile where you don’t have to wake up for work the next day, make a menu that glorifies the ingredients, their freshness, and the people who made that food possible.
It is fitting that the end of the summer is the time when the fruits of the labors of the farmers really shine. Tomatoes are at their peak, corn is never so sweet, zucchinis and eggplants are tender and almost sweet like no other time of year. If you have a farmer’s market near you, this is the time to go. (Although far from a perfect website, www.farmersmarket.com has a fairly extensive list of local farmers markets.) If you can’t find a farmer’s market and are forced to resort to the standard local shopping market, this might be the time to branch out of your hothouse tomato comfort zone.
When looking at tomatoes, let the tomato show its stripes, that is if that tomato is a Green Zebra tomato, one of over 400 varieties of heirloom tomatoes that can be found these days everywhere from the farmer’s market to the supermarket. With their misshapen bodies and sometimes mottled color, heirlooms can be intimidating to the first time buyer. Just make it fun. Buy a variety and discover for yourself the full spectrum of tomato possibilities.
To assemble a tomato-centric dish at home, try white balsamic instead of the usual red balsamic with a tomato and mozzarella salad. The lower acidity of the white balsamic really lets the fruit show its full character. Or chop some tomatoes and throw them into a pan with garlic and olive oil for just a minute before adding al dente angel hair pasta and a chiffonade of basil. The just warmed through chopped tomatoes will hold their character instead of disintegrating into a sauce.
It is the end of stone fruit season right now but it has been such a good run this year I feel obliged to keep the peaches , nectarines, apricots, and plums in full cooking rotation until the very end. Of course all these fruits are lovely when eaten out of hand, but trying them as a savory accompaniment lends a twist that is not seen as much as it should be.
Try nectarines in a chicken salad dressed with honey-lemon vinaigrette. Make an apricot chutney with all those ripe ones left over and serve it immediately alongside grilled lamb, or can it and keep it for the winter. Or peel and chop some peaches, tossed with chopped green onion, minced jalapeno, and a bit of cilantro, and you have an easy salsa to serve alongside thin cut pork chops or simply scooped up with a tortilla chip.
When it comes to meat, especially in this economy, it is easy to just look for what’s on-sale. But in honor of those who are taking their farming craft back to its pre-industrialized roots, this weekend might be a good time to splurge on that grass-fed beef or hormone free pork.
Plus, we are so accustomed to our over-sized, and overly flavorless, boneless skinless chicken breasts that it is easy to forget, or to never have known, what that meat tastes like in an unadulterated state. A free-range, organic chicken breast will not be as big as its hormone-filled cousin, but the taste will be distinguishably more chicken-like, a welcome re-introduction to the bird.
Sometimes in our supermarket world of peaches shaped like golden orbs and tomatoes the size of red baseballs, it is easy to forget the path that fruit took to get to the table. There was the farmer who worked the field, the migrant worker who helped with the harvest, the trucker who drove the load to the central warehouse for the grocery chain where it was sorted by yet another fellow who redistributed it onto different trucks to be unloaded at your market. There it was handled by the produce department staff, whose job it is to make that mountain of peaches look so perfect that you have to buy one. So many laborers make our nightly dinner possible it is fitting on this weekend to make a meal that honors the fruits of those labors.
©2026 CDKitchen, Inc. No reproduction or distribution of any portion of this article is allowed without express permission from CDKitchen, Inc.
To share this article with others, you may link to this page:
https://www.cdkitchen.com/cooking-experts/amy-powell/753-labor-day-cooking/
The Fruits of Our Labor Day Weekend
Last weekend to wear white, last party weekend of the summer, last three day weekend until Columbus Day--Labor Day weekend means a lot of things to a lot of different people. What I think we might forget is why we celebrate the weekend in the first place. Unlike most of our national holidays which are tied to either military endeavors or religious observances, Labor Day was created with the pure intention of recognizing those laborers who built the country we now enjoy.
So with a party weekend devoted in theory to the contributions of laborers, it would seem fit that our Labor Day weekend menus recognize the work of those who made our table spreads possible: the farmers and artisans who bring their wares from field to table. Think about it: so many years of our lives shopping at markets with rows of perfectly shaped peaches, Styrofoam trays carrying precisely formed rows of pork chops, every item perfunctorily cleaned and lined up with nary a speck of dirt to suggest the farming locale it originally came from.
So this Labor Day while wearing your white linen pants and enjoying the last Sunday for awhile where you don’t have to wake up for work the next day, make a menu that glorifies the ingredients, their freshness, and the people who made that food possible.
It is fitting that the end of the summer is the time when the fruits of the labors of the farmers really shine. Tomatoes are at their peak, corn is never so sweet, zucchinis and eggplants are tender and almost sweet like no other time of year. If you have a farmer’s market near you, this is the time to go. (Although far from a perfect website, www.farmersmarket.com has a fairly extensive list of local farmers markets.) If you can’t find a farmer’s market and are forced to resort to the standard local shopping market, this might be the time to branch out of your hothouse tomato comfort zone.
When looking at tomatoes, let the tomato show its stripes, that is if that tomato is a Green Zebra tomato, one of over 400 varieties of heirloom tomatoes that can be found these days everywhere from the farmer’s market to the supermarket. With their misshapen bodies and sometimes mottled color, heirlooms can be intimidating to the first time buyer. Just make it fun. Buy a variety and discover for yourself the full spectrum of tomato possibilities.
To assemble a tomato-centric dish at home, try white balsamic instead of the usual red balsamic with a tomato and mozzarella salad. The lower acidity of the white balsamic really lets the fruit show its full character. Or chop some tomatoes and throw them into a pan with garlic and olive oil for just a minute before adding al dente angel hair pasta and a chiffonade of basil. The just warmed through chopped tomatoes will hold their character instead of disintegrating into a sauce.
It is the end of stone fruit season right now but it has been such a good run this year I feel obliged to keep the peaches , nectarines, apricots, and plums in full cooking rotation until the very end. Of course all these fruits are lovely when eaten out of hand, but trying them as a savory accompaniment lends a twist that is not seen as much as it should be.
Try nectarines in a chicken salad dressed with honey-lemon vinaigrette. Make an apricot chutney with all those ripe ones left over and serve it immediately alongside grilled lamb, or can it and keep it for the winter. Or peel and chop some peaches, tossed with chopped green onion, minced jalapeno, and a bit of cilantro, and you have an easy salsa to serve alongside thin cut pork chops or simply scooped up with a tortilla chip.
When it comes to meat, especially in this economy, it is easy to just look for what’s on-sale. But in honor of those who are taking their farming craft back to its pre-industrialized roots, this weekend might be a good time to splurge on that grass-fed beef or hormone free pork.
Plus, we are so accustomed to our over-sized, and overly flavorless, boneless skinless chicken breasts that it is easy to forget, or to never have known, what that meat tastes like in an unadulterated state. A free-range, organic chicken breast will not be as big as its hormone-filled cousin, but the taste will be distinguishably more chicken-like, a welcome re-introduction to the bird.
Sometimes in our supermarket world of peaches shaped like golden orbs and tomatoes the size of red baseballs, it is easy to forget the path that fruit took to get to the table. There was the farmer who worked the field, the migrant worker who helped with the harvest, the trucker who drove the load to the central warehouse for the grocery chain where it was sorted by yet another fellow who redistributed it onto different trucks to be unloaded at your market. There it was handled by the produce department staff, whose job it is to make that mountain of peaches look so perfect that you have to buy one. So many laborers make our nightly dinner possible it is fitting on this weekend to make a meal that honors the fruits of those labors.
Pork Chops With Peach Salsa
Made with salt and pepper, pork chops, vegetable oil, peaches, green onions, jalapeno pepper, cilantro, lemon, sugar, salt
Made with salt and pepper, pork chops, vegetable oil, peaches, green onions, jalapeno pepper, cilantro, lemon, sugar, salt
Serves/Makes: 4
- 2 peaches
- 3 green onions
- 1 jalapeno pepper
- 1/4 cup finely chopped fresh cilantro
- 1 lemon, juiced
- 2 teaspoons sugar
- 1 pinch salt
- 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
- 4 pork chops (1 inch thick)
- salt and pepper
Peel peaches, remove pit, and cut into a small dice, 1/4-inch by 1/4-inch, then place in medium bowl.
Finely slice white part of green onion plus one inch of the green, add to bowl. Remove seeds and ribs from jalapeno and finely mince. Add half to all of the minced jalapeno depending on your desired level of spiciness.
Add cilantro, lemon juice, sugar, plus pinch of salt to the medium bowl. Stir all ingredients to combine and set aside.
Preheat a large skillet with vegetable oil over medium high heat. Pat pork chops dry with paper towels then season on both sides with salt and pepper. Add pork chops to pan, cooking for about 3 minutes per side until golden brown and just cooked through.
Serve each pork chop with a portion of the peach and green onion salsa.
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©2026 CDKitchen, Inc. No reproduction or distribution of any portion of this article is allowed without express permission from CDKitchen, Inc.
To share this article with others, you may link to this page:
https://www.cdkitchen.com/cooking-experts/amy-powell/753-labor-day-cooking/