How many of you remember vegetable gardens at your Grandmothers house? In many cases, those gardens were the sole source of what vegetable was going to be one their kitchen table during the winter months. But as much as home canned vegetables are good, there is still nothing like picking something off the vine to eat right away. Imagine a tomato that drips down your chin with the first bite, or biting into a cucumber and having a fine mist spray with the first crunch.Our three children no longer live at home, and every year our garden gets bigger! Funny how that works .... I think the Awesome Other Half said our garden was 30' by 15' this year. I could go out and measure, but I'd rather sit here and chat with you. Just take my word for it, it is a grand ole size, with the knowledge that next year it may be a bit bigger.
The first picture shows the veggies that will be going into a marinated salad. Three Zucchini, five heirloom tomatoes, three small white onions (they carry a wallop of a bite this year, and three is most definitely enough!), three cucumbers and two peppers.
Courtesy of Mrs. Grosch of Worland, Wyoming:
Garden Fresh Marinated Vegetable Salad
The chopped and sliced vegetable mentioned above (or your own combination) placed into a large bowl.
In a smaller bowl, whisk together:
3/4 cup salad oil (I used basil oil)
1/3 to 1/2 cup wine vinegar (I used white wine vinegar)
1 1/2 tsp. course ground salt (Kosher)
1/2 tsp freshly ground pepper
1 tsp sugar
1/4 tsp powdered mustard
Poor over veggies and marinate at least two hours in refrigerator. You can make this the night before you need to.
As a variation, we thought this would be good with chopped salami, cubed mozzarella and black olives for a type of Antipasto Salad.
The yellow tomato you see in the salad is a new one we planted this year. It is an heirloom called Pineapple Tomato . The flesh is yellow and has the sweetest flavor. They also get to be the size of a salad plate which makes them fun to show off to your co-workers and neighbors! We will be planting this variety again!
Grandma lived, and gardened, in northern Wisconsin. The garden was huge for a family of 13. During the winter she kept veggies in a tin bin buried in the ground. Thanks for sharing this wonderful recipe and bringing back great memories!
ReplyDelete