Surprising Summer Salad: Watermelon and Feta!

Trust me, this sounded weird to me too. Watermelon and feta?! Really?! I had never had watermelon in any kind of savory context. Having both ingredients in the fridge, I decided to experiment. Why the hell not?

An unexpected combination results in a refreshing and totally delicious salad!

The result was way beyond expectations -- absolutely delicious. Refreshing. New. Incredible. The salty and creamy crumbly feta brought out the sweetness of the watermelon in new ways. I added a few mint leaves from my little window garden and a drizzle of olive oil and voila -- added layers of complexity and flavor in what is definitely going to become one of my summer staples.

I came back from work feeling hot and tired the other day and just made a new batch in minutes, scooping chunks of watermelon with a spoon straight into the bowl, crumbling the feta over it with my hands and adding the mint leaves and olive oil. I also tried a bit of balsamic vinegar the second time and that tastes wonderful too -- I can't wait to try a bit of lemon juice... I had a quick, healthy and refreshing snack in no-time and it felt so sophisticated too! 

I hope to play around with this recipe some more this summer, as the possibilities seem endless...

Gourmet Salad with Mango

This is my first salad creation of the summer, and a follow-up on my post about the 5 rules for making a full meal of your salad!

My salad consists of some lettuce from my very own roof-top veggie garden, and the usual culprits: ripe tomatoes and carrots. But the extra protein and fruit I added are what really made it special!


Color:
The bright summer colors did a lot to make this salad visually appealing and beautiful!


Protein:
I added a mix of walnuts and almonds as my protein #1, and cubes of feta cheese as protein #2.

Fruit:
I added juicy, ripe mango as my fruit -- it added an unexpected sweetness to this savory salad and balanced out the salty feta cheese really well!

Texture:
Crispy fresh lettuce, juicy soft mango, the crunch of the nuts and the dry crumbliness of the feta made for a great variety of textures that kept this salad interesting and exciting!

Homemade Dressing:
I made a simple oil and vinegar dressing for this salad, but the key was using balsamic vinegar. This type of vinegar has a natural sweetness that went really well with the mango flavors and really enriched the salad!

This colorful salad had enough variety to make for a full meal, and the protein kept me sated even though it was all relatively light.

Let me know if you have experimented with any delicious salad combos of your own! Post comments and recipe suggestions in below and I will be sure to follow up. Happy eating!

Lettuce Celebrate the Harvest!

I started a veggie garden in my roof this spring having no clue what I was doing. I just ordered some seeds on Taobao, bought some pots and soil and planted in a pretty haphazard way.

I've always been a but of a green thumb and growing things I can eat is something I have always enjoyed, but I never really tried growing things beyond my kitchen herbs. I was pleasantly surprised by how easy it was, and how rewarding!

I felt bad initially about digging up my lettuce plants, but have been able to eat salad from my rooftop now and again by simply snipping a few leaves when the need arises. This past Friday I finally dug up my lettuce plants and some baby spinach for the most locally sourced meal I've ever had!

Mostly the weather is getting too warm for the lettuce to stay happy, so it was time to say goodbye. Making room for my summer crops like basil, tomatoes, peppers and cucumber.

Happy eating local!

Basil's got Back!

I trimmed my basil back a few weeks ago only to find that it bounced right back and was starting to get really tall again!


I also noticed that as the plant was getting taller, some of the leaves were losing their dark green color and fragrance as the plant was spending a lot of its energy growing upwards. The stems were also getting thicker and the leaves fewer and more far between!

Slightly out of focus, I know... but you can still see the green, right? This photo does not do justice to just how awesome this SMELLED!

I intervened with a pretty dramatic trimming and made this delicious basil pesto that I just had to eat immediately with fusilli and a glass of Italian wine!

I had about 4 cups of basil leaves and added a pinch of salt, a clove of garlic, and a good amount of olive oil and just put it all in the food processor. Once it was done I added about 1/4 cup of grated Parmesan cheese and served it over pasta. So good!

Fusilli :D

I am hoping after the big trim that I can get another basil harvest before the cold sets in. I'm also going to try to see if my basil plant can survive the winter in a hold Chinese apartment... Any tips would be greatly appreciated!

Rosemary's (my) Baby!

My Rosemary sprig, which I had placed in water for weeks, suddenly grew little roots!

I was so excited I immediately planted the little tyke, and now I am worried I might have done it too soon! I guess time will tell, but I am hoping this hardy little plant will pull through!

As you can see, I had to improvise a little home for her :)

Basil, Pestle, Pesto Presto!

The little bit of basil I harvested the other day turned into a little bit of pesto! I used a mortar and pestle, which I don't usually do for larger quantities because it is too laborious, but I was weighing the relative advantage of doing a little more work to squish the basil vs. having to clean my food processor just because of a tiny bit of pesto... Well, I am a reluctant cook after all!

First you smash it, you smash it!

To make the pesto I added a bit of salt and one clove of garlic, crushed through the press. Then I drizzled olive oil ad added a bit of black pepper.

Since everything was done in minimal quantities, this turned out to be a very intense little bit of pesto, super concentrated and perfect for spicing up any dish or sandwich :)

Harvest Time for Mint & Basil!

Today was a day to harvest some mint and basil! My plants have been growing quickly in the summer sunshine, and they need to be trimmed often to stop them from getting too leggy and scraggly.

My outta control little basil plant!

Mint should be trimmed from the top and the cut should be made right above the node containing some new leaves. This can encourage the node to sprout new branches rather than growing straight up, so your plant will become bushier rather than really tall. This means more leaves!

Basil should also be trimmed often. It's important to stop the plant from flowering, since this makes it stop producing leaves and changes the flavor of the leaves that are left over. Unless you want the plant to flower so you can harvest seeds, you should trim the basil often to prevent buds from forming at all.

To trim basil, look for a node where several tiny leaves are starting to grow all close together and trim just above that. This usually causes the branch to split into two new branches, making for bushier plants, and also stimulates new leaf growth. Doing this often is also supposed to stop the stems from becoming woody!

Mint and Basil, likely to turn into something yummy sometime this week, so stay posted!

A Light Dinner for the Rained In: Caprese Salad

I rushed home from work last night due to the imminent threat of Typhoon Anemone, which was zoning in on Shanghai last night... Found myself at home with little to eat since I have not been to the market yet this week (sheer laziness, and also I had some leftover fresh produce from last week), and I wasn't really feeling the urge to cook anyways.

A light summer salad seemed like the meal of choice, and the fresh mozzarella cheese I had bought at the Avocado Lady's stand a few days ago beckoned to me from the fridge. Summer is the season of succulent, vine-ripe tomatos, and my basil plant has been yielding some fresh, fragrant leaves recently that I just have to make use of! A caprese salad seemed like a no-brainer!

Caprese Salad: fast, easy, light and delicious!

Caprese Salad Recipe:

• Fresh, ripe tomatos, sliced
• Fresh mozzarella cheese, sliced
• Fresh basil leaves
• Olive oil (the good kind!)
• Salt
• Cracked black pepper

How to:

1. Slice the tomatos onto a plate
2. Slice the mozzarella and place the slices over the tomato slices
3. Place basil leaves over the mozzarella
4. Add salt and pepper to taste
5. Drizzle liberally with good olive oil

Enjoy!

Prep Time: 2min

In My Kitchen Window

From left to right: Basil, Rosemary&Thyme, Spring Onion and Mint!

These are my kitchen herbs, Mint, Basil and hopefully the Rosemary and Thyme cuttings I got a hold of will sprout and join the party soon. The little Spring Onions are an experiment of sorts, since I have seen them grow outside even in the dead of winter and they seem like a cute, low maintenance addition to my collection :)

I don't think keeping kitchen herbs is necessary in most situations, as you can easily buy them pretty fresh at the grocery store. However in China, where these herbs are not used very often in the home, they can be really hard to come by at most grocery stores and vegetable markets!

I have cooked with dry herbs quite a bit here, especially since my first attempts at growing herbs was a bit of a disaster. But I have a bit more experience now and my herbs seem to be happy, at least for the time being.

My kitchen window faces East which means my herbs get plenty of light in the morning and then more indirect light in the afternoon. They seem happy with this arrangement, since they don't bake in the afternoon heat! Basil and Mint get watered every evening, until water drains from the bottom of the pot.

I also learned that the secret to keeping them healthy and growing lots of new leaves is to just use them as often as possible! I cut off here and there whenever I start seeing them getting a little tall and like magic, new little leaves start shooting off the stems just a couple of days later. If they don't get trimmed back, they end up growing really tall and scraggly, with fewer leaves and woodier stems, eww!

The Thyme and Rosemary I bought fresh at one of Shanghai's best-kept non-secrets, the Avocado Lady (I promise to post about her next!!)

Rosemary & Thyme looking happy and fresh!

I trimmed off the leaves at the bottom of the stems and put them in water to see whether or not they will grow roots. Opinion online seems to vary about whether or not this is likely to succeed, but I take it as a good sign that they do not look as though they are drying out!