Friday, September 4, 2009

End of summer salads

When I’m not cooking or eating or blogging about it, I’m often busy being the librarian for a large public high school. This week I’ve tried hard to get back into the academic-year routine but it’s been a rocky start. Our new library is going to be gorgeous, however right now its salient characteristic that it is under construction. I have it from a reliable source that the building will be fit for human habitation by next week, but this week was frustrating in the extreme. What’s a librarian with no library?

I’ve pledged not to think about it this weekend. Labor Day offers the last opportunity to ignore real responsibilities before the treadmill revs up (speaking of treadmills, my new routine will include an hour at the YMCA every morning– you heard me say it, folks). So let’s have a picnic and I’ll bring the salad. Here are two more of my family’s current favorites.

Watermelon-feta salad was everywhere a couple of years ago. I’ve seen it billed as a Greek dish (it’s not), or Mexican when made with cotija instead of feta cheese; Nigella Lawson puts in some black olives and calls it Israeli. But I’m pretty sure some American just made it up. In any case it’s light and refreshing on a hot day, and very simple to make. There are recipes that include balsamic vinegar instead of lime, cilantro or basil instead of mint, and numerous other variations. I like this particular version because I can remember it without looking it up in my file. I think of it as the 4x4 salad (that would be a dumb name, but it makes it easy to remember the proportions) – 4 cups of watermelon plus ¼ cup each of the other 4 ingredients. If the agribusiness aura doesn’t put you off too much, get one of those cute little personal-size Dulcinea watermelons , or else use up the rest of that giant melon you regret buying because it’s taking up half your refrigerator.

Watermelon-Feta Salad

4 cups watermelon, cubed (seedless, or remove seeds)

¼ C lime juice

¼ C finely chopped red onion

¼ C finely chopped fresh mint leaves

¼ C feta cheese, crumbled


Toss all ingredients together. Chill.



The green beans in our garden are ripening by the bucketful right now. I found this recipe on Epicurious – it was originally from Gourmet magazine, April 1995 – and made it take to the Pink Martini show at Britt last week. After we ate all the green beans Andreas couldn’t bear to throw out the dressing that had dripped to the bottom of the bowl; he was inspired to pour it on some blanched chard the next day. Very tasty indeed.

By the way – if you don’t already, keep your fresh ginger root in the freezer. It’s easy to grate off what you need while it still frozen, then put the rest back in the freezer for next time.

Green Bean Salad with Asian-Style Dressing

Dressing

3 T white-wine vinegar

2 T rice vinegar

2 t soy sauce

1 garlic clove, minced

1-inch piece of fresh ginger root, peeled and minced (about 1 T)

2 t sesame oil

1/3 C canola oil


Salad

1 T sesame seeds

2 lbs green beans, trimmed

2 scallions, chopped fine (about 2 T)


In a small bowl, whisk together vinegars, soy sauce, garlic, ginger root, and sesame oil. Add canola oil in a stream, whisking until emulsified. Season dressing with salt and pepper.


In a small dry skillet toast sesame seeds over moderate heat, stirring, until golden and transfer to a small bowl.


In a large saucepan of boiling salted water, cook beans until crisp-tender, about 4 minutes. Transfer beans to a colander and rinse under cold water. Drain beans well.


In a large bowl, combine beans, scallions, sesame seeds and dressing and toss well. Serve salad chilled or at room temperature.

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