Chickpea Nectarine Salad with Honey Lime Dressing

Our Summer routine: morning walk, visit the garden, figure out what to do with the cucumbers we picked. Yesterday, we harvested 6 cucumbers, which brings our total to approximately 48 pounds for the season.

The basil is ready to harvest, which means it's time for pesto! We’re still enjoying beets, turnips, summer squash, and yesterday I picked the season's first eggplant; so ratatouille for dinner tonight. 

Most of the tomatoes are still green; although the Cherokee Purple and 4th of July are ripening, and we have some cherries, but other than that, green. We need temperatures below 85 and moderate humidity to get the ripening party started. 

Last night it was warm and humid, and I wanted something light and refreshing, so I chopped some cucumbers (of course) and nectarines, added some scallions and a can of chickpeas, and made a lime dressing. I garnished it with feta and mint - it was tasty. 

Ingredients:

Salad:

• 1 (15-ounce) can chickpeas, rinsed and drained
• 2 ripe nectarines, pitted and sliced
• 2 scallions - finely chopped
• 1/2 cup cucumber, diced
• 1/4 cup fresh mint leaves, chopped
• 1/4 cup crumbled feta cheese 

Dressing

• 3 tablespoons lime juice, freshly squeezed 
• 2 tablespoons honey 
• 2 tablespoons olive oil 
• 1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

Instructions:

Combine dressing ingredients in a jar with a lid, and shake to combine.

On a plate or in a bowl, scatter the nectarines, onions, cucumbers, and chickpeas. Fifteen minutes.

Before serving, dress the salad and top it with mint, feta, and a few grinds of black pepper. 

Enjoy!

A Bountiful Summer Harvest

After our morning walk yesterday, we headed out to the garden to see what needed to be harvested, and if you’ve been following along, you can guess it in one; cucumbers, 5 to be exact. To date, we have harvested about 41 pounds of cucumbers, and the neighbors are starting to avoid me (well, some of them). 

We’ve pulled out the last of the green beans, which ended up in tonight's salad, found a few more beets, turnips, some yellow and zucchini squash, and a lovely kohlrabi - I love Summer produce, there are so many things to enjoy!

At some point, I’ll need to harvest the basil and make pesto. The tomatoes are still slowly ripening, the eggplant is just about ready to pick, and the peppers - well, they are still ignoring me; I think I’ll skip them next year. 

I was looking for a salad recipe that wasn’t the traditional greens, tomatoes, … and I found one - but I didn’t have all the ingredients. So I made some substitutions, and added my own spin - it was delicious; Dan even said the beets in the salad were the best he’s ever had. 

Ingredients:

1½ lbs fresh green beans, trimmed and cut into 2–3 inch pieces
8 - 10 baby beets 
Kosher salt (for boiling water + seasoning)
4 cups finely chopped green onions
2 tbsp balsamic vinegar
4 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
¾ cup chopped fresh basil leaves
Crumbled feta
Freshly ground black pepper, to taste

Instructions:

Preheat the oven to 400. Trim and scrub the beets. If large, cut them into a consistent size. 

Roast the beets until they are fork-tender

While the beets are roasting, bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Add green beans and blanch for 2–3 minutes until bright green and crisp-tender. Drain and immediately transfer to an ice bath to stop cooking. Drain again and pat dry.

In a large bowl, whisk together balsamic vinegar and olive oil. Add onion and green beans and toss until coated. Top with roasted beets, basil, and feta. Season with salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste.

Enjoy!