Garden Salads

RECIPES MEGAN PRISCOTT | IMAGES BRYDIE THOMPSON

At this time of year our vegetable garden is overflowing with beautiful homegrown produce. I love that I can go out and pick a bunch of fresh ingredients and throw together a meal. If your fingers are not that green or your plot too small for a vegie patch, the good thing is these vegetables are also super cheap at this time of year. So make the most of the salad days, before you know it, it will be winter.

AUSTRIAN CUCUMBER SALAD This salad is fresh, simple and takes about 10 minutes to make. It pairs well with Weiner schnitzel and potato salad. I enjoy it as part of a mixed salad plate, with grated carrot, chopped radish, watercress and potato salad, finished with a boiled egg.

3x medium cucumbers 1 tbsp dill chopped 2 tbsp chives chopped ½ tsp salt ½ tsp freshly ground black pepper 1 tsp grainy mustard ½ cup thick Greek yoghurt

Finely slice cucumbers (skin on) using a mandolin. Put in a sieve for 30 minutes to drain any excess juice.

Mix all the other ingredients into a bowl and gently fold through the cucumbers.

MIDDLE EASTERN FREEKEH SALAD You can really adapt this salad to use what’s available in the garden. I chose the ingredients below as they are usually all abundant in my garden at the same time. With this in mind, courgettes are a great addition or substitute. You can also swap the freekeh for quinoa to make it grain free. Top it with watercress and you have a meal, although we love it with roast chicken.

1½ cups grain (freekeh, farro) 2 red capsicums

2 eggplant

1 fennel bulb

2 cloves garlic crushed

juice & zest of 3 lemons ¼ cup parsley basil leaves

¼ cup mint

¼ cup olives

1 /3 cup hazelnuts or pistachios, toasted

6 carrots 1 tbsp cumin seeds 2 tbsp honey olive oil

Cook freekeh or farro with plenty of boiling water until tender. Cool, drain and set aside. Cut the eggplant and red capsicum into 2cm cubes, toss with garlic, olive oil and salt and roast at 180°C until tender and broken around the edges.

Peel and cut carrots into quarters lengthways, toss with cumin seeds, honey and olive oil and roast.

Finely slice the fennel on a mandolin. Combine the freekeh with the prepared vegetables along with the herbs, lemon, olives, salt and pepper. Top with toasted nuts.

Note: I use Al Brown’s Lemon and Fennel Olive Oil, it just adds another flavour dimension and keeps it interesting

GABRIELLA I don’t really know what to name this salad; garden salad is too broad and boring, it’s not Greek or Mexican, so let’s go with Gabriella. You really can go with what is seasonal and available, think Mediterranean when you substitute any ingredients so it stays balanced and not confused. I keep it mainly raw for the crunch and contrast. It’s great served with the other salads on this page as part of a meat free lunch. The addition of feta is really nice. Tuna and watercress are also a good combo. Capsicum, range of colours Green beans Sweetcorn, cooked and cut off the cob Cherry tomatoes Radishes Spring onions Cucumber Basil, little leaves 1 tsp little fresh thyme leaves Oregano, little leaves Salt and pepper Olive oil (I use Al Brown’s Oregano and Lemon)

Quarter the cucumbers lengthways, take the seeds out (these can make the salad a bit watery) and cut into small cubes and add to a bowl with the corn.

Cut the beans, capsicum and radishes into small cubes, and add to the cucumbers. Cut the cherry tomatoes in half and add along with finely sliced spring onion, a glug of olive oil, the herbs, salt and cracked pepper. Give it a good stir and pop it into a beautiful bowl to serve.

Megan Priscott www.redkitchen.co.nz Megan is mum to Lily, Lennox and Lincoln. Along with husband Mathew she owns and manages RedKitchen in Te Awamutu. Megan loves good food and wine and holidays with the family. Whangamata is their favourite spot where Megan says a huge paella on the beach is the perfect way to finish a summer's day.