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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.