Summer Garden Salads

Three days ago, Megan and I got the first Chioggia Beets of the season out of our garden. These were five relatively large beets with very leafy tops attached to them. I decided that I would make a salad out of them with a nice light vinegar dressing. The result was sweet, acidic, and tasty, and the salad was a nice pairing to our barbecue meal of hamburgers and baked potatoes. We saved the beet tops for a stir fry later on.

Beet Salad With Mint

Ingredients

5 medium to large beets
3 tbsp water
3 tbsp white vinegar
1 tsp white granulated sugar
6 to 10 mint leaves, julienne
salt and pepper to taste

Directions

1. Parboil the beets with a tiny bit of vinegar or lemon juice in the water to prevent the colour from running.
2. Peel the beets and slice them very thinly.
3. In a bowl, emulsify the water, vinegar, sugar, salt and pepper.
4. Toss the beets in the dressing and garnish with the julienne mint leaves.

I also chose to make a cucumber salad with one of my mom's garden cucumbers. This was inspired by the cucumber salad that my Oma makes which has a vinegar dressing as opposed to a mayonnaise one.

Cucumber Salad

Ingredients

1 cucumber, peeled and thinly sliced
1 small white onion, finely diced
3 tbsp water
3 tbsp white vinegar
1 tsp white granulated sugar
salt and pepper to taste 

Directions

1. Emulsify the water, vinegar, sugar, and salt and pepper in a bowl.
2. Toss the cucumber slices and onion in the dressing.

Jennifer