Caprese!

Photo by Levi Brown


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The farm share for Glade Road Growing for the week of September 29 will include tomatoes.  With fall coming on, I thought I would include a recipe for one of my favorite salads before it's too late for this year.

Insalta Caprese ("Salad of Capri") is said, by some, to mirror the colors of the Italian flag.  Others accord that honor to Insalata Tricolore, which adds arugula. Caprese is traditionally served as an antipasto. While some demand summer tomatoes grown in the mineral rich soil near Vesuvius, tomatoes from our local farm will do quite nicely.

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Serves serves four.

1.  Finely chop two tablespoons of pitted kalamata olives.  In a small bowl stir together with 
two tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil.

2.  Cut three medium tomatoes into four 1/4-inch-thick slices.  Cut one eight ounce ball of fresh mozzarella (traditionally buffalo mozzarella) into eight 1/4-inch-thick slices.  Wash 16 fresh basil leaves and pat dry.  Place a slice of tomato on each of 4 small plates; sprinkle lightly with kosher salt and fresh ground pepper. Top each with a slice of mozzarella, then a basil leaf. Repeat layering one more time. Top each stack with a slice of tomato and garnish with basil leaves.


3. Drizzle olive dressing over each stack. Serve immediately.

Watermelon, Juliet Tomato and Carmen Pepper Salad with Feta and Lime-Ginger-Kalamata Dressing

Photo by Pornchai Mittongtare for Simply Zov, Rustic Classics with a Mediterranean Twist by Zov Karamardian as featured in Jaden Hair's SteamyKitchen.com



The September farm share for Glade Road Growing is expected to include:  eggplant, Juliet tomatoes, lettuce mix and red carmen peppers.

While it's still summer I wanted to include a recipe for a salad that included watermelon.    The Juliet tomatoes are slightly larger than a grape tomato and shaped like a Roma.  They are sweet and perfect for this salad, although the photograph shows larger mixed heirloom tomatoes. Do not refrigerate them (or any fresh tomatoes) as they will get pulpy.

The vinaigrette is my own and I use basil, rather than mint and dice my onions fine and keep the cuke's skins and seeds (unless the seeds are large, then I scoop them out with a spoon.)

Lime Ginger Dressing:

1. Mince one tablespoon of fresh ginger.  Grate the zest off of one fresh lime. Finely chop two tablespoons of Kalamata olives, pits removed.

 2.  In a small bowl, whisk together the ginger, zest and 2 tablespoons of lime juice and 2 teaspoons of demerera sugar.  Gradually whisk in 1/3 cup of extra virgin olive oil.  Stir in olives and add fresh ground pepper to taste.  If you want, you can store this in  tightly-sealed jar in the refigerator.  Let the dressing stand at room temperature until the olive oil liquefies, about 20 minutes, before shaking to blend.

Salad:

1.  Peel alternating strips of a small cucumber.  Slice thinly.  Peel and cut off stem of one small onion and finely dice.  Cut the Juliet tomatoes in half.  Cut peppers in half and remove stem, seeds and white membrane.  Cut into bite-size chunks.  Thinly slice 1/2 cup of fresh basil leaves.  Place in a large bowl.

2.  Remove rind and seeds from watermelon and cut into bite size chunks to make an equal volume with the veggies in step one and add to bowl.

3.  Drain and rinse 7 oz. of feta and cut into 1/2 inch cubes and add to bowl.

4.  Just before serving, add enough dressing to coat and toss lightly.  If you'd like serve on a bed of  lettuce mix or thinly sliced kale or spinach.