Watermelon, Feta, Red Onion and Basil Salad with Balsamic Glaze

Of all the foods I associate with summer, watermelon takes the prize.  Crisp, sweet, running off your chin juicy, sitting on the back porch spitting seeds.... nothing brings me back to childhood summers like watermelon.

It's hot today, and I had a taste for watermelon, but not just a big wedge. A chilled watermelon was in the fridge so I decided to make the treat a little more grown up. It's super simple and you can modify it anyway you'd like. The title of the post says it all in terms of the ingredient list. If you don't have balsamic glaze you could make some by cooking down balsamic vinegar until thick.

Cut the watermelon however you'd like, crumble some feta, thinly slice the red onion, make a chiffonade of basil.

Add a drizzle of glaze  on the plate and assemble.

This was refreshing and elegant. Crisp watermelon , the salty tang of feta, the sharp bite of red onion, all pulled together by the silky sweetness of the balsamic glaze. The watermelon could have been darker red, but you never can tell what will be inside!

A great starter or a tasty light snack. Make this salad this summer!


Until next time, Eat Well & Keep Digging.



The Gastronomic Gardener
Garden blog http://amidwestgarden.blogspot.com/
Cooking blog http://ihopeyouarehungry.blogspot.com/
Twitter - www.twitter.com/DavidPOffutt
http://www.facebook.com/TheGastronomicGardener

The Beet goes on - Beet, Orange, and Red Onion Salad

I've grown more fond of beets as time goes on. From the oven roasted tiny jewels from last summer, to the Beet Ginger relish, I love the earthy flavor and beautiful colors.

This next one is adapted from the Financial Times food columnist Rowley Leigh January 14, 2011 article "Acid Beets"

I've left out a few things he included, namely mint and black olives, but it is still delicious. This elegant salad is simple as can be.

Ingredients:

Beets

Oranges

Red Onion

Olive oil

Red wine vinegar

Salt and pepper

Steam the beets until tender, then peel and cut into slice about 1/4" thick

Put the beets in a bowl, add a pinch of salt and and a splash of the vinegar. Toss  very gently.

Cut the ends off the oranges and cut the peels of lengthwise. Slice peeled oranges about as thick as the beets.

Next, slice the red onions into thin rings. I used a mandolin instead of a knife.

Assemble the salad by putting down a layer of sliced beets. followed by a layer of orange slices topped by a pinch of salt, grind of black pepper, dash of vinegar and dribble of olive oil. Add a layer of the sliced onions.

Repeat.

Top with a little more olive oil if you choose.

Enjoy! Sweet, tangy, earthy, tender and crunchy, this salad has great flavor and textural contrasts. Plus, once the beets are cooked, it's ready in about 10 minutes.  Try it as a sophisticated starter, or with some crusty bread as a light meal.

Until next time, Eat Well & Keep Digging!

The Gastronomic Gardener
Garden blog http://amidwestgarden.blogspot.com/
Cooking blog http://ihopeyouarehungry.blogspot.com/
Twitter - www.twitter.com/DavidPOffutt
http://www.facebook.com/TheGastronomicGardener

Of salads and compost

After all the meat of the past couple weeks, tonight I'm craving a big salad.

Aside from making cake mixes, salad making  is where I started, with a small knife, standing on a stool helping my mother by chopping vegetables. She had enough to do trying to feed 12 people, so truthfully, by the time I was helping, a couple of the older siblings had likely moved away. But a big tossed/chopped was a mainstay of our dinner table.

Salad making is a lot like making soup. You root around in the fridge and pantry to see what can go into the bowl or pot.  Tonights' offering is romaine, carrot ribbons, mushrooms, onion, yellow bell pepper, chick peas, celery, tomato and avocado. I'll add the tomatoes and avocado later so as not to make the salad too soggy now.

When making a salad there are always scraps. Some are OK for eating, others I do not want to.

I keep a "soup bucket" which is just a quart container from yogurt or cottage cheese in the freezer, so usable vegetable trimmings, left over rice or pasta for example, may be saved to make a soup in the future. When the bucket is full, I make soup.  I don't like to throw food away so this works for me.

The material that is unsuitable goes into another bucket that ends up in the compost heap.

As I said the other day in my gardening blog, we pay to have our trash hauled away. It doesn't make any sense to me to have it in a landfill when I, with a little patience can improve the soil I am growing yet more vegetables in.

It keeps the circle intact, I don't have to pay to have it hauled away, and in the end it improves the soil. Conservation at every level!

Now about the dressing.....

Eat well!

As this post is pertinent to both  blogs I am double posting.


My garden blog  http://amidwestgarden.blogspot.com/

My cooking blog http://ihopeyouarehungry.blogspot.com/