Slightly Savory Watermelon Salad

Seasons aren't the most fair entity here in the North East. For about six months a year the earth provides us with nothing, and then in June the fresh produce begins to trickle in: parsley, asparagus, lettuce, strawberries, garlic scapes... By August, the trickle becomes a torrential rainbow-like flood. We don't "just" have watermelon, there are yellow and red melons, beets in gold, and red, and stripes, tomatoes in purple, green, zebra, and so on. There are so many wonders and joys to thoroughly explore with all of your senses!

Unfortunately there is a little bit of a bottle neck in what the human body can consume in a given period of time, no less a limit on the time one has to cherish and worship this bounty in a manner it deserves. The best I can do is incorporate the wealth of my CSA.

Today's recipe is a veganized version of a pairing familiar to foodie dorks, mozzarella and watermelon. Yet, for some reason it has never quite become that popular; likely because watermelon seems to be regarded as a summer-season only produce that we wont hack nature to distribute in winter. This salad doesn't contrast the sweetness of the watermelon, rather compliments it with some slightly sweet slightly sour slightly savory flavors... The saltiness of the ume plum vinegar gives it a nice complexity, the black peppers and basil give it a little substance, and the tofu provides a fantastic textural contrast to the fleshy, juicy bursts of watermelon.

Before I go into the actual recipe, I want to give a little public service announcement on the watermelon rind. If you have the divine grace of getting your hands on an organic watermelon do NOT discard the rind. While the toughness of the green outer skin varies (the above is fairly tender and chewable, I have found solid dark green watermelons to be a little thicker in the rind), the flesh is similar to that of a cucumber. While I am sure there is no shortage of things to do with watermelon rinds, I eat them along with the sweet flesh. Pickling is something I intend to do one of these years...

Slightly Savory Watermelon Salad

1 small watermelon
1 medium bunch basil
1/2 pint of grape tomatoes
8 oz of silken or soft tofu, drained, dried
1 T umeboshi plum vinegar
Pink Himalayan sea salt
Pepper
Pistachio Oil*

Cut the melon flesh off of the rind, and cut into cubes. Halve the grape tomatoes, Chiffonade the basil. Cube the tofu. Place in a bowl. Sprinkle with vinegar, oil, a few grinds of fresh pepper and a couple of gratings from a salt stone to taste... Toss gently, trying not to break up the tofu.

Serve. I consumed with chop sticks.

Simple Heirloom Tomato Salad

Heirloom tomatoes are not just candy for the mouth, but candy for the eyes as well. Above is a Marvel Stripe tomato. These varieties are best used raw, in large slices. They are pretty yellow things with red bleeding upwards. Cooking them will break down their lovely visual presence. The flavor is not strong, but like all heirlooms it is there and can be coached out to your taste buds with a little bit of salt and olive oil. This is an easy, scalable recipe that works well for individuals with gardens.. Because, really, who grows tomatoes without also growing basil?

So... a simple little first-course, salad, lunch, snack, candy-for-your-camera, whatever you want it to be...

Simple Heirloom Tomato Salad
Serves 2

• 1 very large heirloom tomato, or 2 medium heirloom tomatoes
• A couple of sprigs of fresh basil
• Good sea salt*
• Black Pepper
• Extra virgin olive oil

Step 1: Slice the tomatoes about 1/3 an inch thick, then layer with fresh basil leaves on a plate.
Step 2: Drizzle with oil, sprinkle with a pinch of salt, give a fresh grind of pepper. Serve.

*I used Chardonnay Smoked Fleur De Sel, as currently I am a fan of all things slightly smokey.

Red is Stop. Green is Go. Pink is Yum.

Waugh firefox crash just sucked my post into a void :(
Needless to say, I have a serious problem.
Pictured above is a sorbet, an ice cream, and a frozen yogurt. Not pictured is another four or five ice creams, another sorbet, and well.. probably some other stuff, too. My fridge is full of ice creams... FULL! Well, onto the recipes...

Red Wine Strawberry Sorbet with Black Pepper

• 2 pounds strawberries, hulled and washed
• 1/4 c fresh lemon juice
• 1 c dry red wine
• 2 c sugar
• 1 T vanilla paste
• 1/2 fresh ground black pepper
• 1 t balsamic
• 1/2 t citric acid (if strawberries are out of season, or to taste)

Toss strawberries with lemon juice, balsamic, vanilla, and citric acid, set aside. Meanwhile put wine, sugar, and black pepper on the stove. Warm over medium heat until sugar is dissolved. Pour syrup over strawberries, stir, let cool to room temperature then refrigerate until chilled.
Puree or blend strawberries until smooth, then prepare according to ice cream manufacturer's instructions.


Thai Basil Coconut Ice Cream
**Under Construction!**: Re: I didn't log it, and it needs work anyway... I want to say I based it off of this recipe from Kitchen Therapy but looking at the recipe to say I based them off one another is a very very loose interpretation...

Strawberry Frozen Yogurt

• 1 pound plus 2 oz fresh strawberries, hulled and washed
• 2/3 c sugar
• 2 C strained plain vegan soy yogurt
• 1 T agave
  
• 1 t lemon zest
• 2 T red wine
• 1 t balsamic vinegar
  
• 1 t vanilla extract
• 1/2 t citric acid
  
• pinch salt
  
• dash lecithin

OK I should say straight up, pretty much every ingredient after the yogurt is semi-optional, if you don't have it, don't stress it. Don't have open red wine? Use kirsh, or vodka, or rum, or nothing, or whatever. And so on... HAVE FUN! Anyway, that said, dice the strawberries, toss them with the sugar and liquor. Let sit for 2 hours.
When two hours have passed, blend with the rest of the ingredients, chill in refrigerator. When chilled, prepare according to manufacturer's directions.

I am going to say that the posted recipes are 'sketches.' These are rough guidelines I followed in the kitchen. I often find recipes restrictive and when it comes to flavouring, I explore with abandon. Not having some things listed rarely stops me from making something. In the case of the strawberry sorbet, rather than opening a bottle of red wine I used 1 C of a red wine black pepper sorbet I had left over, which was very dry without much sugar. In that red wine sorbet I used some leftover concord grape sorbet. I am constantly using things as much to get rid of them as I am to explore and experiment. I do advise you to do the same, though admit my boldness may be bolstered by my compression-based ice cream maker that does not need recuperation time to make a second batch...

Remember, failure is just an excuse to cook even more, and if you are sticking to the sort of ingredients life happened to hand to you it isn't like you invested any money in the recipe... Speaking of things being handed to you, next up is going to be the Brown Sugar Ice Cream with Dark Chocolate Covered Graham Crackers...