It’s the peak of our Israeli Spring season and suddenly the Summer heat surges, and the first fruits make their delicious debut.
"Suddenly it's Summer" (borrowed and loosely translated from a famous Hebrew song), and the harvest baskets are quickly overflowing with an abundance of yellow and green zucchinis wearing their delicately folded flowers, multi-colored bean shoots, cucumbers, eggplants and fresh fragrant basil. As the Summer “moves on” our wheelbarrows become slow and heavy with the thirst-quenching watermelons, melons and the heavenly sweetcorn we bring down from the fields to our farm shop shelves and our kitchen.
The first to appear arrive just in time for Shavuot (aka the Jewish ‘holiday of the First-fruits’), and as such, are most naturally placed at the center of the festive holiday table, traditionally decorated with the offerings of the local harvest as a symbol of hope. The customary white of the ‘holiday of newness and beginnings’ is embodied in the simplicity of our stark white cotton trimmed table clothes, and in the gorgeous white ceramic dishes and centerpiece vases we fill with wildflowers from the field.
A pink dahlia from the garden in a white ceramic vase by Adi Nissani.
3 Beautiful Debut Recipes You Have to Wear White to Enjoy
Asian Green Bean and Mushroom Salad:
Ingredients:
250 g fresh green garden beans
One packet of king oyster mushrooms/ button mushrooms
1/4 cup soy sauce
1 tsp grated ginger
2 cloves chopped garlic
1 medium onion cut into strips
1 tsp of organic ethnical honey
2 tbsp sesame oil
2 tbsp roasted sliced almonds
A handful of coarsely chopped basil
Some parmesan for garnish
Preparation:
Blanch the beans in a small pan of boiling water for a few minutes and then immediately transfer them to ice water. This process will help to maintain their vibrant green color and crunch.
Slice the mushrooms into coarse pieces and sauté with the onion slices until browned.
For the dressing, mix soy, ginger, honey, garlic, sesame oil, salt and pepper.
Assemble the dish, add the dressing and sprinkle the almonds and parmesan over the top.
Asian Green Bean and Mushroom Salad:
Zucchini, Dill and Almond Salad
Ingredients:
3 zucchinis, washed but not peeled
3 washed, unpeeled zucchinis
1 leek
1 bunch fresh dill/ parsley
Handful of roasted coarsely chopped almonds
Salt
Black pepper
2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
Preparation:
Using a peeler or a mandolin, slice the unpeeled zucchini into thin strips.
Flatten the thin strips d on a tray and salt them for about 5 minutes to remove liquids, and finally rinse.
In a hot pan, sauté the leeks in high-quality olive oil until they turn translucent and golden, then add the zucchini. Stir-fry lightly in black pepper and salt.
Chop half a bunch of the dill or parsley and add to the pan.
Arrange the hot vegetables on a plate.
Add roasted almonds and the remainder of the fresh herbs over the top.
Zucchini, Dill and Almond Salad
Zucchini Feta Bread
Ingredients:
3 medium zucchinis
1 medium onion
250 grams of Feta cheese
2 tsp salt
800g 70% spelt flour
13 grams dry yeast
1 Tbsp sugar
2/3 cup olive oil
250 ml of water
Preparation:
Chop the onion into strips or small cubes.
Grate the zucchini with a grater and squeeze out the liquids.
Pan sear the onion in olive oil until golden and add a teaspoon of salt and then the grated zucchini for another 5 minutes until gently softened.
Set the zucchini and onion aside to cool.
In a large bowl, mix the flour, yeast, sugar and another teaspoon of salt.
Into a dimple you make in the flour mixture, and add the oil, the grated Feta cheese and the fried zucchini and onions.
Add water gradually and knead until a smooth and pleasant dough is obtained.
Then give the dough about 20 minutes of manual kneading or 10 minutes of kneading in a mixer with a kneading hook.
Leave the dough in the mixing bowl to rise for about an hour or until doubled in volume.
After an hour, punch the air out of the dough divide it in half.
Roll the dough into two balls and then into a loaf shape and place in a strong, floured bread loaf pan.
Let the dough rise once more for about half an hour or until it doubles in volume once again. Then lightly flour the top of the bread and, using a sharp knife, score the top of the bread (gently, so as not to deflate).
Bake for 30 minutes in an oven preheated to 200 degrees.
Zucchini bread served with a side of butter A “Double Loaf” offering for the Shavuot holiday
Once we finished this post, we sliced the second loaf of bread on our gorgeous chopping and serving board and devoured it with some lovely end-of-season avocado…
Now it’s your turn - grab your summer zucchinis and get to work!
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