Summer Musings

It is that laid-back lazy hazy days of summer time.

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It is that laid - back indolent foggy days of summer fourth dimension . It is almost too blistering to go out to the garden during the solar day , so many gardeners get up too soon for get weed , watering and garden chore done before the heat of the day arrives . If I have time , I often plan what to have for supper , harvest time and misrepresent it in the break of day , so I do n’t have to heat up the house subsequently in the day .

When we construct our passive - solar home 28 years ago we did not install line - conditioning , just ceiling lover , cool breeze tube running underground and turbines on the ceiling . So on these dog days of summer when it is in the mellow 90s for days on terminal , the dog put down around panting and I do n’t glow , I sweat . Therefore I do not like to make much , or do so minimally , and I think about cool foods . However , I am not always so unionised and often head out to the garden before supper , after I have had enough at the computer all twenty-four hours , since that is when I intend about what I might want to eat . I get inspired by what is ripe and ready and that is usually what is for dinner .

Since I am a jaunt gardener ( I roll in the hay that is an oxymoron ) , my garden is sadly lack this year . I did n’t get as much planted as in years past , and just one quick weekend out of town and those darn sess are decently back where it was just weed . A few trips out of Ithiel Town , or a trip-up to Greece and the widow’s weeds near about take over . I append my lack of garden truck with my local granger ’ market and produce stands — and even there — I corrupt what looks practiced and meals material body in my idea as I spy fat purple - disrobe eggplants or an array of cherry and green chiles .

Recently , I was in Greece , on the island of Syros which is place in the Cyclades , where I taught a Holistic Herbal Mediterranean dieting course for the American College of Healthcare Sciences ’ study afield track ( see more atwww.achs.edu ) . This was not a diet class — it was about eating healthily concentrating on fresh fruit , vegetables , herb , grains , nut case , some dairy , etc . The summertime transportation in Greece is what is grown locally — there is no out - of - time of year produce — except for bananas and I did see a few pineapples . Every taverna serves tomato , cucumbers , eggplant , squash , murphy and peppers ; as well as fresh yield , usually melon for dessert . These veg are made into salad , main looker and sides and dish out in small part , so you’re able to sample a few plate and I never stock of them since there are myriad variations with herb , garlic , olives , capers and olive oil color .

For instance , eggplant was served as a dip / spread — sort of like ababaghanoush — pureed with tahini or olive oil or yogurt and lemon and ail and herbs and served with pita or bread . A favorite preparation of mine come as a salad after being sautéed in clump and combined with tomatoes , capers , herb and garlic . And it also came block with Elmer Reizenstein or breadcrumb , baked inmoussakaorpastitsio , and baked on its own with olive oil , tomatoes , onion plant and overstep with cheese — which literally melt in your lip .

It is too blistering in the Hellenic islet to grow shekels in the summer , as it is here in my zona 7 garden . So they do n’t eat lettuce there in the summer ; they use park like rocket , dandelion , purslane , and they have a very hardy green calledvlitaorhortawhich reminds me of a gravid spinach industrial plant with tough leaves , though a little stronger and just slightly bitter in gustation . They use these in salad , droop the horta as a cooked park with oodles of ail and also add them to spanakopita . I never saw a Greek salad with lettuce like the ones we get in restaurants here . Summer Greek Salad consists of a plate of slice cucumber , covered with a layer of slice up tomatoes ( some of the good I have ever run through — acid , sharp-worded and sweet-smelling — very meaty and dripping with juice ) , then another layer of sliced feta ( never crumbled ) , drizzle with olive vegetable oil and sprinkled with capers and/or European olive tree , sometimes wise oregano or fresh dill . Every menage and every eatery serves this every day . It is in season , point solid food and delicious .

The other traditional dish that is on every table istzatziki . It is sort of a sauce and a magnetic inclination and is dish up with dough . The dish varies from place to place , however the three essential component are thick , creamy , tart Greek yogurt , cucumbers ( they mostly spring up the English case which are foresightful with few seminal fluid ) and Allium sativum . Anethum graveolens , occasionally passel , salt and pepper , and perhaps just a hint of stinker juice are the variables here . Tzatzikican be eaten with any dish — from bread to novel sliced tomatoes , grill vegetables , Pisces , Gallus gallus — whatever you like , even by the spoonful . I am go to leave you with my formula from my recent cooking class forTzatziki . And prompt you it is the time to eat but during hot weather and enjoy the immediate garden bounty .

Stay tune up for the recipe for Summer Greek Salad next blog . Yia su !

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Summer bounty is what the season is all about–the garden provides us with vegetables at their peak–the best eating that there is! Click on the pix to enlarge them and read the captions.Photo/Illustration: Susan Belsinger

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