Friday, June 8, 2007

Grazing out of the Garden


The Spring garden is really chugging along; we've been enjoying asparagus, tender lettuce and radishes, dill, arugula, cilantro and chives and looking forward to some peas soon.

While the kids are still devotees of iceberg lettuce, Dan and I really enjoy a lovely salad fresh from our garden soil, topped with some lavender chive blossoms and loaded with snippets of dill and chives. A fresh salad deserves a homemade dressing. A light vinaigrette is always good and if you make it in your brand-name cruet picked up second-hand at a yard sale or thrift shop, as the Gallumphing Gourmand recommends, it tastes even more scrumptious.

Here's a salad dressing recipe that we enjoy in between mustardy vinaigrettes and plain old olive oil and red wine vinegar:

Creamy Tomato Dressing

In a food processor or blender, puree 3-4 seeded plum tomatoes or 1/4 cup canned diced tomatoes, 1/4 cup chopped parsley, 1/4 cup cider vinegar, 1/4 cup mayonnaise, 1 Tbsp. chopped fresh basil, 1 Tbsp. Dijon mustard, 1 minced garlic clove and 1 tsp. sugar. Blend in 1/2 cup olive until smooth. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

Makes 1-1/2 cups of dressing.

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