Heat Wave Harvest Cooking

If you missed me last Monday, it was because I spent the day riding through the high country of Grand Teton National Park with family. It was a short break, but a well-needed one. I grew up trail riding and truly feel at-home on the back of a horse in a wooded meadow. I hope you’re getting out of the valley for some cool adventures this summer.

A view of the Tetons from Oxbow Bend

The heat in Boise has been cranking up, and we’re entering two straight weeks of 100-degree days in the forecast. I’m not sure if this is a heat wave, or if it’s just that our hot season has settled in earlier than normal. Either way, I’ve had some requests for what to do with summer harvests when it’s too dang hot to be cooking.

I’m a cookbook collector and avid food-blog-follower. My three go-to food blogs/cookbooks are Love + Lemons, Smitten Kitchen and Local Dirt (Dishing Up the Dirt). These recipes are from those folks and are credited below. I hope these heat wave meal ideas are helpful to you as you pull greens, herbs, onions and root veggies from your garden. Stay cool! Ripe tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers and squash are on the horizon.

A glimpse of summer in my client Gina’s garden

Love + Lemons’ Anything Goes Green Smoothie

In the Love + Lemon’s cookbook, there’s a smoothie matrix full of recipes for whatever you’ve got on hand or in season. This is what I blended together this morning. Feel free to sub in any fruit, green and milk/milk-alternative you’ve got:

1 Frozen Banana + 1 Cup Water + 1/2 Cup Yogurt + 1 Cup Blackberries + 1/4 Cup of Mint + 1 Big Handful of Kale + 2 Tablespoons Nut Butter

Add all of these to a blender with the soft items first (kale, mint, yogurt, water, etc.) and blend until smooth.

Local Dirt’s Chimichurri Sauce + Garden Pesto

Chimichurri is a classic way to use up greens or herbs (or both in this case) in your garden. It’s a nut-free pesto, so if you have nuts on hand, toast them lightly and add them in for more filling spread or sauce. I add Andrea Bemis’ (Dishing up the Dirt is her blog and she wrote my new favorite cookbook Local Dirt) chimichurri to anything I’m eating like eggs, and I also thin it with vinegar and olive oil for a quick salad dressing. I also add it to cooked pasta for an easy weeknight meal, just thinning it with some pasta water. Here’s a simple recipe you can feel free to adjust to your liking:

2 Chopped cloves of garlic + 1/2 Teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes + 3 Tablespoons red wine vinegar + 1 Cup coarsely chopped parsley (trimmed stems are good, too!) + Salt + Pepper + 1/2 Cup extra virgin olive oil (or other neutral oil) + additional to thin if needed

Combine everything above in a food processor and store in the fridge.

I’m also loving her chilled beet soup recipe from the cookbook. This is a similar recipe on her blog for you to check out.

Smitten Kitchen’s Caesar Dressing

Whenever I get into a food or cooking rut, the only thing I want to eat is Caesar Salad. I don’t know why, but it comforts me and feels healthy. I never get tired of the flavors. Smitten Kitchen’s Deb Perelman has never steered me wrong in a recipe, and her recipe for no-anchovy-needed Caesar dressing is a staple in my house. I often make a large batch by doubling/tripling the recipe below:

2 tablespoons mayonnaise + 1 small garlic clove, minced + 1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce + 1 teaspoon smooth dijon mustard + 1 to 2 tablespoons (15 to 30 ml) lemon juice + 1/4 cup (60 ml) olive oil + Salt and freshly ground black pepper

Combine these in a jar and shake them up. It keeps in the fridge for a week or so, but I doubt it’ll last that long.

I also tried a new salad recipe from Smitten Kitchen yesterday that I’m adding to my rotation. Click this link to check it out: Carrot Salad w/ Harissa, Mint + Feta

Summertime Shelfie: Chilled (golden!) beet soup, chimichurri, pesto and Caesar dressing in my fridge ready for the week

I hope you all stay cool this week. Keep your garden watered early in the morning, and if it still looks droopy at night, give it some more water at the soil line. Avoid wetting the leaves of your plants, as this spreads disease. Add some compost if your soil is looking parched - this improves moisture and nutrient retention. Healthy plants can handle more than you think, so focus on plant health this week and you’ll make it through. Have questions? Send me a message and I’ll answer it on the blog next week!