Summer Salad Series: Garden Caprese

And just like that, we're at week three, the end, of vorace.'s Summer Salad Series!

For the last three weeks of July I've been posting recipes I prepared for my dad's celebratory engagement dinner - recipes I came up with using ingredients from our local farmers' market & home garden.  Today I'm sharing the last salad in the series.

As a part-Italian gal, it will come as no suprise to you that I love LOVE love caprese salad. A perfectly reddened, ripe, juicy tomato is my idea of the quintessential summer ingredient. There's nothing like picking a tomato fresh from the vine, slicing it open, and eating it while it's still got the sun's warmth inside it. Perfection. Basil happens to be my very favorite herb, hands down. And fresh mozzarella? Fuhgetaboutit. Caprese salad is basically the trifecta of perfection for me. Add to that some Italian extra virgin olive oil and a sprinkle of fresh cracked black pepper - I'm in heaven!

So how could one so enamored of this classic Italian staple improve upon it? Well, it can't be done. So that's not even what I'm trying to do with today's recipe. Today's recipe is about enjoying fresh, local ingredients in the best way possible: raw, unaltered, completely natural. No cooking involved here. We're letting these healthy ingredients be themselves and loving them just the way they are!

My friend and web designer of my photography business's website (shameless plug: www.rachelehphotography.com) gave me some tomatoes straight out of her garden when I was at her house for a WordPress tutorial, days before this dinner with my dad. How fortuitous! And as I've mentioned, my boyfriend is growing a variety of veggies and herbs on our balcony, including basil. He's also growing beets. Yes, beets. He read that the leaves of the beets (beet greens) are edible and pretty tasty, so we tried them one night and they were good! Kind of like a cross between arugula and spinach, I'd say. Since we have quite of few beet plants blooming, he decided he could spare some greens to make a salad. Great idea! It makes me really happy to know that all of the ingredients used to make this dish came from homegrown gardens!

OK everyone, let's get going!

Tomato / Basil / Beet Greens
Servings: 4
Prep time: 10 minutes
Cooking time: n/a

Ingredients:
2 vine ripened tomatoes, sliced
1 handful cherry tomatoes, sliced
3 large beet green leaves, thick julienned
2 small beet green leaves, julienned
4 large basil leaves, julienned
2 teaspoons extra virgin olive oil (EVOO)
1/4 teaspoon fresh cracked black pepper (FCBP)
2 pinches pink Himalayan sea salt

Layer the vine ripened tomato slices to cover the bottom of your serving plate.

Sprinkle the cherry tomato slices over the first layer.

Drizzle 1 teaspoon EVOO over the tomatoes and sprinkle with a pinch of salt & 1/8 teaspoon FCBP.

 Place a mound of juilienned beet greens in the center on top of the tomato layer.

Sprinkle the julienned basil over the entire dish.

Top with a drizzle of EVOO, pinch of salt, and the remaining 1/8 teaspoon FCBP.

Serve immediately.

Salute!

Summer Salad Series: Peaches n' Glaze

Welcome to week two of the vorace.'s Summer Salad Series!

Last week I filled you in on my dad's engagement and the casual summertime southern barbeque inspired meal my boyfriend and I hosted to celebrate. I turned the side dishes I made into a series of salad recipes I'm sharing with you for the remainder of July, my very favorite month.

This week's recipe might've been the group favorite. I got many compliments on this dish and everyone had seconds. This recipe, with only four ingredients, is a true testiment to the idea of simple is better. It was inspired by a few things. First, it's definitely peach season in this area and I remember getting the juiciest, sweetest, best tasting peaches from the farmers' market years ago to make this recipe the first time. Since I knew we would be making a trip to the FM to buy ingredients for this celebratory dinner, I decided to add peaches to my list. Using in-season, fresh, organic ingredients always makes for the best tasting dishes, so taking advantage of peach season was a must! Next, my friend Paloma introduced me to the whole balsamic-on-fruit idea a few years ago after her trip to Italy. She kindly shared with me some special aged balsamic vinegar that we happily drizzled over fresh strawberries - and it was to.die.for. That particular balsamic was naturally slightly sweet, thus paired well with the berries. Since finding that type of specialized ingredient here in the States is either 1. impossible or 2. expensive, I decided to recreate the flavor by making a balsamic reduction to drizzle over our farmers' market peaches. Reducing the vinegar makes it into a mildly sweetened syrup while maintaining the unmistakable pungency & flavor of balsamic.

And lastly, the sage element. I know I've mentioned before, but my boyfriend has quite the balcony garden blooming this year, and he grew sage from seeds. I decided that the earthy flavor of sage would pair well with the sweetness of the peaches, and I was correct! All of the flavors of these ingredients came together to create the perfect sweet and savory dish.

OK, let's get reducing!

Peaches & Sage with Balsamic Glaze
Servings: 4
Prep time: 10 minutes
Cooking time: ~18 minutes

Ingredients:
6 ripe peaches - peeled, pitted, and sliced
5 medium sized fresh sage leaves
1/2 cup balsamic vinegar
Pinch pink Himalayn sea salt

Place a small pot on the stove over high heat. Make sure to turn on the vent fan! My boyfriend was none too pleased with the pungent aroma of boiling vinegar wafting throughout our apartment...

Pour in the balsamic vinegar and bring it to a boil.

Allow the vinegar to boil for a full minute, and then reduce the heat to low.

Let the vinegar reduce and thicken over low heat, stirring occasionally, until it forms a thick syrup - about 15 minutes.

While the vinegar is reducing, make the rest of the salad.

Add the sliced peaches to your serving bowl and sprinkle with a pinch of salt.

 Stack the sage leaves on top of each other on a cutting board and run through them with a sharp knife several times, mincing them.

Sprinkle the sage over the peaches and toss.

Once the vinegar has formed a syrup, remove from the heat and pour over the sliced peaches.

Refrigerate until ready to serve or serve immediately. (The vinegar will become less syrup-y when refrigerated but the flavor will still remain!)

Salute!

Summer Salad Series: Cucumber & Herbs

Summer is in full swing and we are smack in the middle of my favorite month: July. I love July because it hosts my favorite holiday, Independence Day, and because it's typically hot*hot*hot! This year another reason was added to the list of why July is my favorite month and why Independence Day is my favorite holiday: my dad let me know this 4th of July that he had asked his longtime girlfriend to marry him! Weeeeee!

I was so excited to hear this news and wanted to celebrate with them as soon as possible! Since my boyfriend, puppy, and I were out of town in the Outer Banks for the holiday...

 ... I quickly set up a plan to have them over for dinner the following weekend. My dad loves this barbeque joint near our house, so we planned to pick up some samis & cornbread from there and I volunteered to make healthy, southern-inspired side dishes. I knew my boyfriend and I were planning to go to the local farmers' market the morning of our dinner, so I quickly brainstormed several side dish ideas all based around ingredients I knew we could pick up at the FM.

For the last three weeks of July, I'm going to throw it back to the Farmers' Market inspired posts from a few years ago and post one of these summer salad side dish recipes each week. These salads are all healthy, light, refreshing, and of course, delicious! They were a big hit at our dinner and perfectly complemented the southern flare of the meal. They would each work as a side dish to any summertime dinner and would be great to take to a potluck or picnic.

The first recipe I'm posting is this cucumber/herb salad. They make a similar one at the barbeque place we went to, but the one there tends to be a little oily. I wanted to create a homemade version where I could control the ingredients, make sure I was using organic cucumbers, and get everything fresh from the farmers' market. My version turned out to be just as light and refreshing as the restaurant one, and less greasy to boot!

No spoilers, but here are the ingredients you can look forward to seeing in the following two Summer Salad Series posts: peaches, beet greens, tomatoes, basil, balsamic glaze, sage... yum! Make sure to check back each week to see how these ingredients shake out!

OK y'all, let's get cookin'!

Farmers' Market Cucumber Salad
Servings: 6-8
Prep time: 15 minutes
Cooking time: n/a

Ingredients:
5 small organic cucumbers (or 2 English cucumbers), peeled and sliced into rounds
2 teaspoons sliced red onion
1 handful fresh mint leaves
1 handful fresh Italian parsley

Dressing:
4 teaspoons champagne vinegar
2 teaspoons raw apple cider vinegar
6 teaspoons grapeseed oil
1/8 teaspoon fresh cracked black pepper (FCBP)
Pinch pink Himalayan sea salt

Add the cucumbers & sliced red onion to a food storage container with tight fitting lid.

Place the mint & parsley leaves on a cutting board together, and run through them with a sharp knife several times until the herbs are finely chopped.

Add the herbs to the cucumber/onions and toss.

To make the dressing, add all ingredients to a small food storage container with tight fitting lid. Place the lid on the container and shake vigoroursly for bout ten seconds.

Drizzle the dressing over the cucumbers/onions/herbs.

Place the lid on the container and gently shake it so that everything mixes together and the cucumbers are thoroughly coated in the dressing.

Refrigerate for about two hours before serving so that the flavors of the onions and herbs can infuse with the cucumbers.

Serve alongside your favorite summertime meal and enjoy!

Salute!