K’s Kitchen: 3 farmers’ market salads

By Kathryn Reed

This is the second day in a row I will be in food heaven. That’s because I know what’s in the fridge – three salads made mostly with ingredients from Tuesday’s farmers’ market.

The added bonus is I was disinvited from a lunch today that would have meant less than good mass produced casino food or something I wouldn’t eat. Things have a way of working out.

Immediately after getting home from yesterday’s market in South Tahoe I started unloading my canvas reusable bag that I know how to wash if it gets dirty.

I started the green beans boiling. Then the lettuce started to be torn into bite size pieces. Fresh lettuce — oh my. It’s so tender and flavorful. It’s like the nutrients ooze out with each bite.

I chop up carrots, cucumbers and a tomato to go on top. I go out back to my pathetic barrel of herbs to get some spearmint. Yes, chopped mint on a salad is yummy. (It works well on vanilla ice cream and some chocolate sauce too.)

This first salad gets covered and goes into the fridge.

Beans are done, so they go into the colander to cool.

Next up is the tomato salad. (Recipe below.) It had been a while since I have taken the recipe card out. I usually just toss some things in and call it good. What I had forgotten is that it calls for onion and garlic salt. Because I use fresh minced garlic and don’t use much salt in my diet I skipped both of these and instead used some coarse salt with the fresh garlic.

The recipe also calls for basil and oregano – dried. I tend to forget the oregano, but think I’ll start remembering it. I’ll always try to use fresh basil.

I had also been using balsamic vinegar instead of wine vinegar. The latter changes the flavor. I think I will go back to it. The balsamic has the salad tasting more like bruschetta.

The recipe, from my Mom’s longtime friend Bev Adams, says to quarter the tomatoes. Even though I buy small ones, I cut them into bite size wedges, which is sometimes more than quarters.

Adams doesn’t give measurements for the ingredients. It really depends on how many tomatoes you use. It’s best if you can make this a couple hours before serving so all the flavors meld. It’s a hit at summer barbecues. I only make it with farmers’ market tomatoes – none of those waxy things from the grocery store.

A little tip – if your knife doesn’t easily cut the skin of the tomato, it needs sharpening.

The third salad is spicy green beans. I toss some rice wine vinegar, sesame seed oil, hot chili oil and toasted sesame seeds together. When I have slivered almonds, I add those to the green been mixture.

Tomato Salad – by Bev Adams

Fresh tomatoes, quartered

Wine vinegar

Olive oil

Sweet basil

Oregano

Onion salt

Garlic salt

Add all ingredients. Let chill a couple hours.