Dinner outside: mostly local and mostly raw

Tonight’s dinner was a simple one. First, tomato salad with parsley and basil (all from the garden), topped with local chevre (this kind), olive oil and pepper.

Then, a smoothie: banana, beet greens (from the garden), nectarines (Ontario) and blueberries, blended with hemp milk.

Delicious!

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Sautéed beet greens

One of the things I love about growing beets is that you get a lot of value for the space: you eat the roots, you eat the greens. Better yet, even though beets need some space to grow (so the root can get bigger), you can plant them thicker from seed and thin them when the greens are big enough to eat.

The reddish leaves near the back of the planter are my beets.

Beets are related to chard and the greens are similar to swiss chard, so you can cook them in the same way and the same recipes. The easiest way is to sauté them. I like to do them in olive oil and garlic, then when they’re cooked, add a bit of lemon juice or balsamic vinegar, then serve. Delicious!

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What do I do with all these greens?

Now that summer’s in full swing, I’m suddenly faced with having to use what I have, quickly. Unlike winter’s cabbages, which are perfectly happy if you ignore them for days or weeks, summer greens are best when just picked. So when the box from Plan B arrives with a ton of lettuce and salad mix, that means a few days solid of salads. (Not that I’m complaining. The latest batch of salad mix has some yummy spicy mustard greens mixed in.)

And strawberries? Better eat those within 5 minutes of picking, if you can.

I just made a lovely mostly local salad: greens, some green onions, *ahem* avocado, and halloumi, red peppers and strawberries that I picked up at the market this morning. I made a dressing suggested by a besthealthmag.ca reader (in the comments): just sprinkle on some olive oil, balsamic vinegar and maple syrup, and toss. And with that, I don’t think I’ll make a “proper” salad dressing for a long time – it’s super easy and delicious.

I also accidentally made these little fried green things. Their official name is “subrich”, which is Piedmontese for “how to fatten up your grandchildren”. I say accidentally because I was looking for something to make that included greens and eggs – I picked up duck eggs at the market today too – and was already halfway through the recipe before I realized how fried they are. Not that they don’t taste good, but I wouldn’t eat the whole batch by yourself. I used a mixture of beet greens and spinach, and some basil, parsley, thyme and chives from the backyard planters.

And speaking of beet greens, pickling beets has suddenly moved to my to-do list. The beets I planted in the community garden are big now and I’m going to have to do something with them soon. I got my mother’s basic pickled beet recipe and I guess I’ll have to freeze some of the greens. I also picked a few handfuls of peas and a couple of carrots today, but somehow they didn’t make it home…

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