Simple Summer Salad

What could be simpler than chopping up some fresh garden vegetables with basil and a little vinegar and agave marinade for a refreshing meal on a sunny summer evening?  If you still have basil, here is a quick and delicious way to use it up.  This is a very flexible "use what you have" recipe.  Every vegetable in here is replaceable with whatever you have or like - tomatoes, red onion, zucchini you name it.







Simple Summer Salad

1 can cannellini beans (white kidney beans), drained and rinsed

3 scallions, chopped

2 sweet banana peppers, seeded and chopped

1/2 cucumber, chopped

1/4 to 1/2 cup chopped fresh basil

3 large garlic cloves, minced

1/2 cup red wine vinegar

1 Tbs agave nectar

salt and pepper to taste

Place all vegetables in a medium to large bowl.  Drizzle vinegar and agave over the vegetables and add a little salt and pepper.  Stir to combine everything.  This salad is even better after it has marinated for a few hours.

Cauliflower Steaks

This might just be the finest looking cauliflower I've ever received from Clarion River Organics.  When you see a specimen this big and beautiful you've got to think cauliflower steaks.  Yes.  You read that right.  I did say cauliflower steaks.  This is a very simple idea that I read about in the paper a few years ago.  It requires just a handful of ingredients and a grain to go along with it.  I chose buckwheat because I love the texture (a bit like couscous) and the nutty flavor. The toothsome texture of the buckwheat with the soft roasted cauliflower is a terrific combination.  Also try rice, quinoa (technically not a grain), millet, or freekah.  The leftovers the next day make a nice cold plate lunch topped with some of the heirloom tomato slices, a drizzle of olive oil, salt, pepper and more fresh cilantro.  

Cauliflower Steaks - Serves 2-3

1 head CRO Cauliflower
2 Tbs olive oil
1 tsp chopped or grated fresh ginger
1 tsp ground cumin
1/2 tsp turmeric
chopped cilantro, for garnish, optional
2-3 cups cooked grain of your choice (about 1 cup dry depending upon the grain)

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.  Remove outer green leaves from the cauliflower.  You can save these to make cauliflower chips (see my previous post about Beet Green Chips for the technique).  Rinse cauliflower and pat dry.  Slice the cauliflower down from top to bottom into 1/2 to 3/4 inch slabs so they will lay flat in a pan.  Reserve any florets that break off from the edges for another use.  Heat 1 tbs of the olive oil in a large frying pan over medium heat.  Brown the cauliflower slices for 2 minutes on each side.  Meanwhile combine remaining 1 tbs olive oil, ginger, cumin, and turmeric in a small dish.  When cauliflower has browned on each side remove slices to a cookie sheet covered in parchment paper.  With a spoon for brush spread the olive oil mixture on the top side of each slice.  Bake in preheated oven for 20 minutes.  They should then look like this:

Roasted Cauliflower Steaks

While the cauliflower is roasting in the oven, cook your grain of choice according to package directions.  When cauliflower is done, place a generous portion of the cooked grain on a plate and top with a cauliflower slice or two and chopped cilantro.

Cauliflower Steaks over Buckwheat with Cilantro

Leftovers topped with heirloom tomato slices,
olive oil, and cilantro

Beet Green Chips

This is my third season as a Clarion River Organics CSA subscriber. I have blogged the previous two summers about my experience as a subscriber and how I have used the produce including recipes.  I don't plan to post nearly as much this summer as I have in the past two for a couple of reasons.  First, I already have more than 60 recipes on this blog giving CRO subscribers lots of ideas for how to use the items received.  Just search in the upper left on any item and you will most likely find what you are looking for.  Second, an illness in my extended family is requiring much of my time at the moment so I am simply not cooking as much or I just use my "go to" recipes already shared on this blog.  For example, given the great bounty of rhubarb we have received I simply made these rhubarb muffins and this rhubarb salad dressing so I wouldn't have to take the time to find new uses.  

That said, I thought I'd pass along this simple idea to use up some of the greens we have been receiving recently.  I have been making simple kale chips since last summer when I devised a fabulously easy way of preparing them based on an appetizer I had at a Marriott hotel in Atlanta (see that post here Kale Chips in Atlanta ).  But given that I am a bit overwhelmed with greens right now and don't like to waste anything I thought I'd use the same prep technique using the beet greens we received last week.  The result?  Fantastic!  They have a richer flavor than the kale chips but take just a bit longer to get crisp.  The patience pays off.  If you like kale chips, then you'll like these!  You can use this same technique for any greens - spinach, collard greens, even the broccoli leaves.

Beet Green Chips 

Beet Greens from the tops of one bunch beets, center  rib removed and torn into 2 inch pieces
Olive oil cooking spray (or 1/2 tbs olive oil)
Salt, pepper to taste


Preheat oven to 275.  Line two cookie sheets with parchment paper to make clean up easy (optional).  Spread torn beet greens on two cookie sheets.  Don't worry about overcrowding them.  They will shrink as they bake and will not stick together.  Spray beet greens with olive oil to coat (or toss with the olive oil).  Sprinkle on salt and pepper to taste.  Bake on cookie sheets for 18 minutes switching the sheets on the oven racks half way through cooking time.  Serves 2 as a snack/appetizer.

Spread beet greens on two cookie sheets.