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.
Serve immediately.
No comments:
Post a Comment