Over at Kosher on a Budget (one of my favorite blogs), Mara shares an amazing recipe for Potato Kale Gratin. It looks really, really good. She mentioned that she’s using summer vegetables, since she belongs to a CSA (lucky her!).
That got me thinking about seasonal foods. I’m clueless as to what’s in season when. Someday, when I’ll belong to a CSA, then I ‘spose I’ll know. Until then, I have to do a Google search. In doing so, I came up with this great resource. Check it out!
With the following in-season foods, I could make a kickin’ salad. While chopping the veggies and putting them into the salad raw probably offers more nutrients, I like to spice things up a bit and add sautéed and/or roasted foods to my salads.
Yummy Summer Veggie Salad:
- Romaine Lettuce (quantity depending on how many you want to feed)
- Spinach (ditto that)
- 2 Carrots, sliced
- 1 head Garlic
- 2 Parsnips, sliced
- bunch of Radishes, chopped
- Olive Oil
Preheat oven to 350. Sliced bottom off of garlic, wrap in foil and roast for about an hour (I learned this from my friend MB). Put some olive oil in a skillet and sautée the carrots and parsnips. I like to add some fun spices like cardamom, turmeric or cumin, depending on my mood. Or, if you want to keep it simple, plain old salt and pepper are great. Place all ingredients in a bowl and dress with a little olive oil, salt, pepper, garlic powder, onion powder. Enjoy!
Rivki Silver ~ thoughts & music 
Thanks so much for linking up. I LOVE that picture – gorgeous! You know, I had no idea that there even *was* a season for produce (embarrassing as that is to admit) until I lived in Israel – and noticed that you couldn’t get oranges or strawberries or watermelon year-round. Living in America, unless you pay attention to the price cycles, there’s really no telling just from availability. Sauteeing the veggies in the salad reminds me of those yummy mukpatz salads I used to get in Israel.
I don’t think I have ever sauted vegetables before adding them to a salad. I’ll have to try.
I love parsnips and this recipe seems like a great way to highlight them. Thanks for sharing!
Mara – that makes me feel better! It’s certainly nice, yet confusing, to have so many foods available year-round.
Ilana – it’s super-yummy, and worth getting a skillet dirty for. :)
Rivki – I was completely unaware of parsnips until I got married. Now they’re one of my favorite veggies. Like candy carrots!
sounds delicious, although I’m not much of a radish fan… any thoughts on an alternative?
Anything crunchy. Celery, or water chestnuts (then you could add soy sauce to the dressing – mmmm), or good old bell peppers, or maybe some sprouts.
love the colorful pic.
That pictures is TOO COOL!!