Tomato Melon Salad

Mid-Summer we went to a fairly new restaurant here in Denver called Hedge Row. Everything we ate there was delicious and presented very nicely. One dish captured our attention over the others, that was their Tomato Melon Salad with white balsamic and olive oil dressing. So simple and refreshing. Tomatoes are still out in the stores and a wonderful dish to keep summer going into Fall.

Tomato Melon Salad at Hedge Row, Denver, Colorado

Tomato Melon Salad Recipe

You could make this salad for however many people you wanted. The photo was designed to serve one or two people. Just a wedge of watermelon and honeydew, a bunch of tomatoes cut in half with a sprinkle of micro greens or basil. The restaurant served their salad with a sweet sesame cracker that they made themselves—very delicious!! Since I did not make a homemade sesame cracker I showed it with a store bought one that gave the salad a bit of crunch.

1 small wedge of watermelon cubed

1 small wedge of honeydew cubed

22 tomatoes of varying colors and sizes sliced in half

Toss tomatoes in 3oz of white balsamic with a 1 1/2 oz of olive oil-then plate

5 basil leaves (you could use more if you like) or micro greens

One to two sesame crackers cracked

Pole Bean Salad

My husband and I went to New York City in July.  There were two art exhibits that we wanted to see and one was going to end at the end of July. Not the best time of year because it is so hot and humid.  So what possessed us!!!!  The Irving Penn, famous photographer, at the Metropolitan Museum was worth the heat and humidity.  As young aspiring photographers, Penn was and still is a source of inspiration for us.  The other exhibit was the Georgia O’Keefe at the Brooklyn Museum.  Equally as beautiful and interesting.  Of course being in New York City there is a plethora of restaurants that were desirable to try.  The restaurant at the Whitney Museum called, “Untitled” had this wonderful summer salad with grilled white and green pole beans, sliced peaches, pickled ginger, white balsamic vinegar and peach puree on top.  A refreshing summer salad to start the evening.  Side note, we saw Martha Stewart and family there!!!

The challenge in making this salad was finding the pole beans.  Never could locate white pole beans here in Colorado but did locate green pole beans at Whole Foods.  Instead of grilling the pole beans we steamed them for a good twelve minutes and then let them marinate in the white balsamic vinegar for about a half hour.  We did grill the peaches and I also made peach puree to drizzle on top.  And a few sprinkles of pickled ginger on top. Delicious!!

Pole Bean Recipe      Serves two

6 green pole beans (steamed for 12 minutes and marinate in white balsamic vinegar 30min)

6 white pole beans (steamed for 12 minutes and marinate in white balsamic vinegar 30min)

1 peach peeled and slice then grilled till markings show

Sprinkle pickled ginger

1 tsp. of black sesame seeds

Additional drizzle of white Balsamic on top of salad

2 peaches peeled and placed in a blender to puree   Then drizzle puree on top.

New York evening in July

Irving Penn Exhibit at the Met

Georgia O'Keefe Exhibit at the Brooklyn Art Museum

Flammkuchen

     In late May my husband and I met friends in Germany to take a bike ride along the Mosel river.  It was so beautiful-green, green and green. So green I had to take two Claritins a day.  It was just great fun rolling along the river listening to all the birds and admiring the Riesling vineyards.

 At the end of each day we really looked forward to a shower and a wonderful dinner.  One of those dinners involved Flammkuchen which is German pizza.  This pizza had tomato sauce, red onions, black olives, mush- rooms, pepperoncinis and a sprinkling of chives on top.I guess you would say this was a veggie pizza but what we found so interesting was the crust.  It was thin and crispy and felt like we were eating a light pizza—not heavy.  So we recreated it but added meat and cheese and made it slightly heavier and delicious!!

Mosel River, Germany

Bike path and vineyards along the Mosel River.

PIZZA CRUST RECIPE

The pizza crust recipe was from “Cracker-Crust Mushroom Pizza Recipe /My Recipes” I only used the crust recipe and added our items to it.

After cooking the crust for 5 minutes we spread the pizza sauce over the crust leaving a 1/2 inch border.  Then we put crumbled goat cheese, sliced artichoke hearts (leaving a bit of the oil they are soaked in),  pepperoni, sliced grape tomatoes, sliced olives.  Place it back in oven for another 4 to 5 minutes or until crust is golden.  Top off with fresh basil.

Have a slice!!!