Pink Summer Salad

Growing up this pink salad was one of my favorites. I forgot all about it until a few weeks ago when I came home from Red Dog Farm with tomatoes, cucumber and onions and saw Mom, who triggered the memory. I promptly asked if she would show me how to make it for dinner. Her response was to ask if I was sure since it involved Sweet 'n' Low and mayonnaise.

It's true that I don't use artificial sweeteners and only in recent years started using mayo sparingly, but I couldn't resist the delicious memory. Thank goodness as, Sweet and Low be damned, this still is a great salad. It is comes together in a snap, especially if you don't get all OCD about dicing the veggies, and is so satisfying with its crispness, sweetness and tang. I'm salivating as write about it. In fact, I suspect by the time you see this post I'll have made it again for lunch.

Moving on now. In the picture below, I used equal amounts of tomato, cucumber and onion but I have decreased the onion in the recipe by half. If it would make you more comfortable, you probably can swap sugar or another sweetener for the Sweet and Low, but I'm not going to break with tradition. Mom got this loose recipe before I was born from a church picnic (nearly 30 years ago!) and I see no reason to change it now.

Pink Summer Salad
2 cups chopped Tomatoes (no need to seed them, you want the juice)
2 cups seeded, chopped Cucumber
1 cup chopped Onion
3 tablespoons Mayonnaise
2 tablespoons White Vinegar
1/2 to 1 packet of Sweet and Low
Salt and Pepper to taste

1. Combine the chopped vegetables in a large bowl. Sprinkle with Sweet and Low. Stir.
2. Add the mayo, white vinegar and salt and pepper. Stir until the liquid turns pink and the taste meets your approval.
3. Consume a generous portion and look forward to finishing it the next day.

Cabbage, Squash and Spring Onion Pie

Way back in 2008 Deb at Smitten Kitchen raved about Tomato and Corn Pie, I didn't bookmark it. Leslie made the pie, substituting greek yogurt for mayo, and said it was amazing. Still I ignored the recipe, though I did bookmark an adapted version Jeannette at Everybody Loves Sandwiches made using her favorite biscuit dough. I guess I was afraid of pie crust after attempting a lattice on my first pie.

2011 rolls around, Leslie still says Tomato and Corn Pie is one of her favorite dishes and Rachel informs me Peter loves it too. So I finally decide to try it out, only at the time tomato and corn weren't in season. Since I had cabbage, squash and red spring onions courtesy of my farming internship, I changed the filling to include those items. The filling's bright lemon flavor, hint crunch from the cabbage and overall vegetal sweetness were a hit with my taste testers.

For trial one, I used Smitten Kitchen's Cream Biscuits for the pie's crust. If, like Jeannette, I had a favorite biscuit dough recipe I could make in my sleep this would have indeed been easy. Instead it was a bit messy to put together. That said the resulting pie "crust" was doughy and a little flaky. I also added a sprinkling of feta on top of the vegetables.

For trial two, I stuck to the original crust recipe and OMFG (remember that controversial ad campaign from Gossip Girl Season 2) the resulting flaky, golden crust was SO good. I don't think you can beat butter. It also was super easy since I used the food processor to assemble the crust and it rolled out nicely. As the feta hadn't added a significant flavor I skipped it.

Final thoughts... Take whatever produce you have, throw it in Epicurious' buttery crust and call it dinner, lunch and snack. The meal time won't matter; this pie and its original crust are a little bite of heaven and it reheats pretty well. I can't wait to try the tomato and corn version for the first time next week while vacationing. As for the heavy cream biscuits, I would make them again too if I had cream on hand but not butter and need a biscuit.

Cabbage, Squash and Spring Onion Pie
Adapted from Tomato and Corn Pie from Gourmet 2003 at Epicurious with reference to the recipes linked above

3/4 cup Unbleached All-Purpose Flour
3/4 cup Whole Wheat Flour
1 tablespoon Baking Powder
1 3/4 teaspoons Salt
3/4 stick (6 tablespoons) Cold Unsalted Butter, cut into 1/2-inch cubes, plus 2 teaspoons melted
3/4 cup Whole Milk
2 tablespoons Mayonnaise
Zest of a Lemon and juice from 1/2 of it
1 medium to small Summer Squash
1/2 head Cabbage
4 Red Spring Onions
Salt and Pepper

1. Slice the summer squash into circles, I aimed for 1/8 inch or less, sprinkle it with salt and set aside. Slide the onions into circles. Chop the cabbage up thin ribbons, then go back over it to break it into small pieces. (You may not be able to fit all the veggies into your pie, if not they'll be great for stir fry.)
2. Add unbleached all-purpose flour, whole wheat flour, baking powder, and 3/4 teaspoon salt in the bowl of a food processor and pulse until it resembles wet sand. Add milk and continue to pulse until a dough forms, then remove from the food processor and make it into a ball. (This can be done by hand. See the original recipe for instructions).
3. Place one sheet of plastic wrap on the counter and place the dough ball on it. Divide the dough in half. Wrap half in plastic wrap and place it in the refrigerator. Cover the remaining dough with a sheet of plastic wrap, then roll it out into an approximately 2-inch round that is 1/8 inch thick. Remove top sheet of plastic wrap and lift dough using bottom sheet of plastic wrap and invert into a 10-inch glass pie plate, patting with your fingers to fit. Set the plastic wrap aside.
4. Preheat oven to 400°F.
5. Stir together mayonnaise, lemon juice and lemon zest. Pat the water off the squash. Arrange a layer of overlapping squash in crust, then a layer of onions and finally the cabbage. Spread approximately half the mayo mixture over top and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Then repeat the layering process.
6. Remove the remaining dough from the refrigerator. Spread out the plastic wrapping it, place another sheet of plastic on top and roll it out into an approximately 2-inch round that is 1/8 inch thick. Fit it over the filling and pinch it into the bottom crust. Cut steam vents in the top and brush with melted butter.
7. Place the pie in the oven on the middle rack and bake until crust is golden, approximately 35 minutes, then cool on a rack. Serve warm or at room temperature.

P.S. If you have any must try ideas for first time visitors to Cape Cod, please leave them in the comments. I leave Friday morning!

Whole Wheat Pita Pizza with Roasted Apples, Sweet Potato and Caramelized Onion

Though I don't feel compelled to become vegan it intrigues me, so when The New York Times referenced vegan Thanksgiving dishes I clicked over to Chef Chloe's Web site to check them out. What really caught my eye once there was her Flatbread with Roasted Apples, Butternut Squash and Caramelized Onion. I knew I had to make it immediately.

I wasn't disappointed by this decision in the least; it is seasonal and satisfying with the crunchy crust, garlic's bite and sweetness from the caramelized onions and roasted vegetables. This flatbread can be a meal on its own but I presented it as a first course and suspect it would also make a great appetizer.

I didn't follow Chef Chloe's recipe exactly as I was feeling lazy but I didn't change it substantively either. I substituted whole wheat pitas for pizza dough and a diced large sweet potato for butternut squash as they are a bit easier to handle. To make up for using pre-baked bread, I roasted my vegetables on their own while the onions caramelized, then topped the pita with everything and heated it for approximately 5 minutes.

Having prepared the components separately enabled me to enjoy fresh flatbread several days in a row, which is a plus! I managed to eek out 7 pita flatbreads from the ingredients. I highly recommend that you try this recipe out.

Whole Wheat Pita Pizza with Roasted Apples, Sweet Potato and Caramelized Onion
Adapted from Chef Chloe's recipe

Whole Wheat Pitas (alternately you can purchase or make pizza dough)
Garlic White Bean Puree
    1 (15-ounce) can Cannellini Beans, rinsed and drained
    1/4 cup Olive Oil
    2 tablespoons Water
    1 tablespoon Lemon Juice
    2 Cloves Garlic
    1/2 teaspoon Dried Thyme
    1 teaspoon Sea Salt
    1/2 teaspoon Freshly Ground Black Pepper
Pizza Topping
    4 tablespoons Olive Oil
    1 Onion, thinly sliced
    Sea Salt
    Freshly Ground Black Pepper
    1 large sweet potato, diced
    1 cup spinach
    1 apple, peeled and thinly sliced

1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit.
2. In a large skillet, heat 2 tablespoons oil over medium-high heat. Once the oil is hot, add the onions and sprinkle them with salt. Saute until soft and lightly caramelized, about 30 minutes. If they are getting dry, yet haven't browned, you can add a tablespoon or two of water at a time instead of additional oil.
3. While the onions caramelize, toss remaining 2 tablespoons oil with sweet potato and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Transfer to a large rimmed baking sheet and roast for 30 to 35 minutes until squash is fork tender, turning once or twice with a spatula.
4. While the onions caramelize and the sweet potatoes roast, place all the garlic bean puree ingredients in a food processor and process until smooth. If you don't have a food processor, you could put them in a bowl and use an immersion blender. You probably could use a regular blender too.
5. Remove the sweet potatoes from the oven and set aside. Place the whole wheat pitas on a baking sheet and spread a thin layer of the puree over each one's surface. Place the spinach, caramelized onions, sweet potato and apple slices on top.
6. Bake for 5 minutes, rotating midway, until the pitas warm.