Summertime Salad

We used the jalapeño and cucumbers from our garden to make this refreshing watermelon-cucumber salad. The recipe makes about 6 servings, but the two of us ate the whole bowl in one sitting.

Ingredients:

4 cups watermelon seeded and cut into generous 1/2 in cubes
2 large cucumbers, peeled, seeded and cut into 1/2 in pieces

3 1/2 tablespoons fresh lime juice
3 tablespoons hoisin sauce (I didn't have any on hand)
2 teaspoons seeded and finely diced jalapeño, or to taste
1/3 cup chopped flat-leaf parsley
1/2 teaspoon salt, plus more to taste
Cracked black pepper

1. Combine melon and cucumber in a colander set over a medium bowl. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate at least 30 minutes and up to 4 hours.

2. Transfer melon and cucumber to serving bowl. Whisk lime juice, hoisin sauce, jalapeño and salt in a small bowl and pour over cucumber and melon. Add parsley and toss gently. Add black pepper to taste and additional salt if needed.

Currant Affair

White currant tomatoes are 1/2 the size of cherry tomatoes and unbelievably sweet, making them the perfect addition to a summer salad. Ours were growing so well at first, but like so many of our plants this summer the heat finally got to them.

Patio Pickles

I chose to grow kirby cucumbers this year for one specific reason: Pickles! I love pickles and anything soaked in vinegar. Our four plants have already produced about a dozen cucumbers. The best thing about watching them grow is that they already look like pickles while still on the vine.

I made three different pickle recipes, each very different from the other: Quick pickles, Refrigerator Pickles and Half-Sours.

I'm most proud of the half sours because they taste like "real" deli pickles and involved a 2-day fermentation method, which sounds way more complicated than it is.

Seasonal Greens

Last night we picked our first leaves of lettuce greens. The red mustard and frisé benefited from all the recent rain and were finally big enough to pluck without leaving them too bare.

To make a simple salad, we combined the tender greens with a little olive oil, freshly squeezed lemon juice and sea salt.