(y)our food choices™

Cool, sweet watermelon might just be the most exquisite thing on a hot summer afternoon. We all grew up with those cool wedges at summer outdoor gatherings – 4th of July picnics, family reunions, and camping trips. While we can find it nearly everywhere at just about any time of year these days, it is still best when it accompanies the rest of Summer’s garden staples.

This savory Greek salad of melon, tomato, cucumber, and feta takes advantage of two true summer stars. The fun combination of sweet and savory juices along with the crunchy texture of cucumber makes for a refreshing warm weather salad. Simply dressed, topped with crumbled salty feta cheese and embellished with chopped fresh herbs like tarragon, dill, basil or oregano.

We like to serve this take on a classic Greek salad on a bed of peppery watercress or arugula. The sharp greens add both taste and texture. We tend to prepare more than we can eat in a sitting, so we didn’t toss the greens with the melon and tomatoes. They wilt pretty quickly and we don’t like having to pick limp strings out of the leftovers. The watercress is particularly tender and likely to dissolve into the juices of the salad

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Watermelon and Watercress Salad

3 Persian cucumbers, cut into 1/2″ pieces
1/2 pint cherry tomatoes, halved
1/2 small seedless watermelon, cut into 1/2′ pieces
1 tablespoon white balsamic vinegar
3 tablespoons olive oil
A handful watercress or arugula
1 avocado, cut into 1/4″ pieces
4-6 ounces feta cheese, cubed
salt and pepper

optional: fresh herbs like, tarragon, parsley, cilantro, basil, or mint

Add the cucumbers to a bowl, and the tomatoes into another. Divide the vinegar and olive oil over each vegetable, add a little salt and pepper, and set aside to marinate for 20 minutes or so.

When ready to assemble the salad, mix the tomatoes, cucumbers and watermelon together. Taste and season with more vinegar, olive oil, salt and pepper. In a serving bowl, place the watercress or arugula in the bottom of the bowl, add the watermelon salad mixture with the accumulated juices. Top with avocado, feta cheese, and fresh herbs.

Galettes are one of the easiest things to bake at home. It’s basically a rustic free-form pie. No edges to crimp. No exact measurements of the size and shape of the rolled out crust. And, no worries that the crust will fail and the juices from the pie will overflow. They’re supposed to bubble over a bit.

This recipe is easy to whip up any day of the week, and it’s delicious. We’ve used this recipe since the cookbook and PBS show, Baking with Julia, was first published. We’ve adapted the pastry recipe, omiting the original corn meal (we didn’t have any in the pantry!) and replacing it with oat flour. Oat flour always reminds us of steel cut oats and breakfast and we love it’s nutty flavor.

You can use just about any fruit in liu of blueberries. Exact measurments are unecessary for this style of baking. So have fun with it and include your currious budding epicures. These are hands-on treats!

Blueberry Galette
adapted from Baking with Julia

Pastry
3 tablespoons kefir or yogurt
1/3 cup ice cold water
1 cup all purpose flour
1/4 cup oat flour
1 teaspoon sugar
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
7 tablespoons cold unsalted butter, cut into 14 pieces

11 ounces blueberries, rinsed, dried, and stems removed
1 tablespoon butter
2 tablespoon turbinado sugar
2 tablespoon honey

Mix the kefir and water together, set aside.

In a food processor add the flours, sugar, and salt. Pulse a few times. Take off the lid and add all the butter. Pulse a few more time. You’ll want the consistency of very course sand. You may need to break the butter up with your hands a little. Through the feed tube, with the machine running add most of the liquid. Turn the machine off. Remove the lid and check to see if the dough comes together. If more liquid is needed, pour the contents out in a large bow and finish mixing by hand.

Divide the dough into two pieces. Wrap each piece in plastic wrap. Squish until it becomes a round disc. Set in the fridge to chill for at least 2 hours.

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Once the discs are chilled, Carefully unwrap the disc onto the plastic wrap and place another piece of plastic wrap on top of the dough. Using a rolling pin, roll out the dough, moving the disc a quarter turn each roll, and flip the dough over and continue to roll. Roll the dough out to about 10 inch diameter, about 1/8 inch thick. Place the rolled dough onto a cookie sheet and place in the freezer for 5 minutes.

Remove the disc from the freezer and remove one of the pieces of plastic. Place the disc on a parchment lined baking sheet with edges. Remove the other piece of plastic. Do the same with the second disc, on the same baking sheet or another one. Place half the blueberries in the center of each disc. Pinch off pieces of butter and put on top of the blueberries. Add a drizzle of honey and sprinkle 1/2 the sugar over the berries. Fold over the edges and press the sides in a little to form to keep its shape. Sprinkle the rest of the sugar around the edge of the pastry.

Place the tray in the oven and bake for 30-40 minutes, or until golden brown. Remove the pan from the oven. Allow to cool before serving.

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