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A fruit and vegetable summer salad by Heather Forsyth

I wouldn't normally presume to give a "recipe" for salad, but I had two salad revelations recently that I thought were worth sharing.  First, as lovers of peach salsa have already figured out, tomatoes and peaches are great together (perhaps because a tomato is actually a fruit?!).  Second, you can slice fresh, raw okra and put it in a salad!  It's the new kiwi!  Really!  Choose small, tender okra, slice into rounds, give them a quick cold water bath to rinse off the okra goo, and you have cute little crisp disks that add a wonderful visual element as well.  So this recipe is the result of my "aha" moments -- it's a great summer salad because it holds up in the heat much better than leafy greens, it's picnic-friendly (can be served at room temp) and goes great with grilled foods.

Farmers Market Salad with Peaches

Ingredients:

• 1/2 small sweet onion, peeled and thinly sliced
  
• 1/2 medium cucumber, peeled, cut lengthwise into quarters, and seeded
  
• 1/2 lb. tender green beans, topped and tailed, cut into 1 1/2 inch pieces
  
• 1 big beefsteak (or similar) tomato, sliced thickly
  
• 2 ripe peaches, peeled, pitted and cut into bite-sized chunks
  
• 10-12 small okra, sliced horizonally into 1/2" disks
  
• spash each of olive oil and lemon or lime juice
  
• 1/4 c. thinly cubed feta (optional)
  
• salt, to taste

Directions:

1. Blanch the green beans in boiling water for 1 minute (and only 1 minute!), plunge into cold water, drain and dry.
   
2. Slice okra (discard "hats") and swish the slices around in a bowl of cold water for a minute or two, drain, then repeat, to rinse off the goo.
   
3. After you've peeled and seeded the cucumber, and sliced it lengthwise into quarters, cut each "stalk" into 1/2" disks.
   
4. Cut thick slices of tomato into quarters (you want these pretty hefty so they don't fall apart).
   
5. Combine onions, cucumber, green beans, tomato, peaches and okra in a salad bowl.
   
6. Add the feta if you'd like.
   
7. Dress with a splash of olive oil and a couple of good squeezes of lime (or lemon), more or less to taste.
   
8. If you've used the feta, you probably won't need salt, but add to taste (carefully, too much salt will throw off the flavors of this particular salad).

These quantities make about 6 servings.

A cool, refreshing way to use some of the season's bounty of cucumbers by Heather Forsyth.

The first cookbook I ever bought was an early vegetarian cookbook called The Vegetarian Epicure, by Anna Thomas.  It was published in 1972 (yes, I was a child cook!) and was one of the first vegetarian cookbooks that offered (for the time) a more sophisticated approach to vegetarian cooking -- not a piece of tofu in sight.  There's a lot of butter, cream and cheese, far more than most cooks would use today, but my tattered copy is still on my bookshelf, and I've made many recipes, some over and over again, from its pages.  Soups, salads and sauces are especially good.  If you can get your hands on a copy, I recommend it, both for the recipes and for her fun approach.  It's the only cookbook I know of that talks about passing a joint around before dinner -- she's obviously a child of the 60's!

This cucumber salad is one of Anna's recipes.  I use yogurt instead of sour cream, and usually add a little chopped mint as well -- I've made it at least once every summer for over 30 years.  It's easily modified to make more or less, this version serves 4-6.

Cucumbers in Sour Cream

Ingredients

• 4-5 medium cucumbers
  
• 1 1/2 T. salt
  
• 2 Tbs. sour cream (or yogurt)
  
• 1 T. chopped fresh chives
  
• 2 T. chopped fresh dill
  
• 1 T. chopped fresh mint (optional)
  
• 1 clove garlic, put through a press
  
• fresh ground black pepper

Directions

1. Peel the cucumbers, quarter them lengthwise, and scrape out the seeds.
   
2. Slice the long strips at an angle, into even little disks.
   
3. Add the salt, mix well, and set aside for 1 hour.
   
4. Rinse the cucumbers well and blot off excess liquid.
   
5. Stir in remaining ingredients (black pepper to taste).
   
6. Chill at least one hour, stir again, then serve.