a second glimpse of veggie heaven

As promised in yesterday's post, we made good use of the offerings of my dad's co-worker's garden for last night's dinner. Though it wasn't a meatless meal, there were a lot of vegetables invited to the party. The main event was sausage and pepper sandwiches, which we made with sweet Italian turkey sausage (grilled) and a bevy of onions and Italian frying peppers (sliced and sauteed, and pictured). I was especially excited about the peppers, because I've had a years-long half-assed interest in trying them since I worked at a farm stand during high school and college. I love their fierce green color, and their scent gives me the impression that they'd be spicy to eat, but I've never cared enough to actually purchase and cook some. They weren't spicy at all, which was a bit of a disappointment. But they were good!


As a side to our sandwiches, I threw together this salad with the gorgeous red and yellow cherry tomatoes as the centerpiece. We didn't have enough tomatoes to make a salad large enough for everyone, so to stretch it out I added: quartered cucumber slices, torn fresh basil, some itty bitty balls of fresh mozzarella, a drizzle of olive oil, kosher salt and black pepper. Mmm! A big bowl of freshness.

And finally, here is a recipe I made over a week ago with my partner in culinary crime, Julia, that I failed to post (and photograph, as it happens). It is super simple, especially because we used canned beans, and lightly filling. In other words, exactly what you feel like making and eating on a hot and humid summer evening.

Four bean salad with vegetables
Adapted from Simply Recipes
Yield and time: A lot and a little. (Whoops, I didn't keep track of either!)

1 15-oz. can kidney beans, rinsed and drained
1 15-oz. can cannellini beans, rinsed and drained
1 15-oz. can chickpeas, rinsed and drained
1 15-oz. can butter beans, rinsed and drained
2 celery stalks, chopped fine
1/2 red onion, chopped fine
1 c. cooked corn kernels
1 c. chopped flat leaf parsley
1/3 c. apple cider vinegar
1/3 c. granulated sugar, or to taste (I really liked that the dressing was sweet, but next time I'd prefer it a little less so)
1/4 c. extra-virgin olive oil
1 1/2 tsp. salt
Freshly ground black pepper to taste

1. Combine beans, celery, onion, corn and parsley in a large bowl.

2. In a small bowl, whisk together vinegar, sugar, olive oil, salt and pepper. Add to salad, and toss to coat.

3. Serve immediately or, if you have time, let salad chill in the refrigerator for several hours so beans and veggies can absorb the flavors of the dressing. Serve cold or at room-temperature.

Julia and I cooked up a batch of wheat berries and ate them alongside the salad. But when I ate some of the leftovers later in the week, I threw the wheatberries right into the salad and much preferred it that way. I like the presence of their chewiness with the beans and crunchy veggies, and the grain gave the salad more visual interest by adding another color to the mix.

We also brainstormed some further variations on this: the addition and/or substitution of black beans; making a dressing of orange or lime juice, honey, olive oil and a little cumin, and possibly also replacing the parsley with cilantro; more and/or different vegetables, such as green or wax beans, grape tomatoes, chopped cucumber . . .