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Summer Salads

Tabouleh

This has been a favourite dock party salad for a few decades now. The original recipe is from Moosewood – the vegetarian cookbook that gets my vote as the best ever in that genre. My particular spin on this recipe is adding the feta cheese – and if you can get it, add Bulgarian or Macedonian sheep feta.

Ingredients

  • 1 cup bulgur wheat
  • 1 1/2 cups boiling water
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
  • 1/4 cup fresh lemon juice and/or lime juice
  • 1 tsp garlic, crushed
  • 1/2 cup chopped green onions, include greens
  • 1/2 tsp dried mint flakes
  • 1/4 cup olive oil, good quality
  • fresh black pepper to taste
  • 10 cherry tomatoes, halved
  • 1 cup fresh parsley, chopped and packed
  • 6 oz sheep feta

Directions

  1. Combine bulgur, boiling water, and salt in a bowl
  2. Cover and let stand 15-20 minutes, or until bulghar is chewable.
  3. Add lemon juice, garlic, oil, and mint, and mix thoroughly
  4. Refrigerate 2-3 hours
  5. Just before serving add the vegetables and feta cheese and mix gently
  6. Correct seasonings to taste
  7. Garnish with olives, and halved cherry tomatoes

Grilled Asparagus and Panzanella Salad

This recipe comes from a great site Windset Farms a new favourite foodie site. Our twist on this one is to add ¼ cup of thinly sliced red onion.
If asparagus is not available, this bread and tomato salad also works well with grilled eggplant or zucchini and the salad is delicious on its own.

Ingredients

  • 2 lb asparagus, ends trimmed
  • 1/4 cup thinly sliced red onion
  • 2 tb olive oil
  • 1/2 tsp kosher salt
  • 2 cups Windset farms Concert grape tomatoes, halved
  • 1 small or half a large day-old baguette, cut into 1 inch cubes
  • 1/4 fresh basil, torn into pieces
  • 3 oz goat cheese, crumbled

Vinaigrette

  • 2 tsp garlic, minced
  • 3 tbsp balsamic vinegar
  • 1 teaspoon honey
  • 1 tbsp shallots, minced
  • 1 tbsp fish sauce (can be found in Asian food section of grocery stores)
  • 1 cup olive oil

Directions

  1. Whisk together the garlic, shallots, balsamic, honey and fish sauce. Slowly add the olive oil. In a bowl, add the bread cubes, basil and the Concerto™ Grape Tomatoes. Pour ¼ cup of the dressing over the bread salad and set aside.
  2. Toss the asparagus with the olive oil and salt. Oil the grill rack on your barbeque and grill asparagus until just cooked. Remove the asparagus and place on a platter. Drizzle the asparagus with some of the dressing and top with the bread salad mixture. Add more dressing, if desired (there will be dressing left over) and top the salad with the crumbled goat cheese.

Pesto and Feta Fusilli Salad

This is a really fast summer salad and is fantastic with home-made pesto. But if you can’t make it yourself, there are store-bought varieties that work.

  • 1 lb fusilli pasta (uncooked)
  • 4 oz crumbled feta
  • 20 kalamata olives
  • 2 tbsp pesto

Directions

  1. Cook pasta in salted water.
  2. When pasta is cooked al dente, drain in a colander and then put it back into the pasta pot.
  3. Add the pesto while the pasta is still hot and stir.
  4. Once the pasta has cooled, crumble in feta cheese and toss.
  5. Stir in kalamata olives.

 

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