Summer Platter

The plate finds a simple way to enjoy the vegetables I bought at the Farmers’ market. Green and violet pole beans are boiled with salt until just cooked. Little baby potatoes are roasted in the oven with paprika and salt. Large juicy, tangy green tomatoes are cut across and sauteed in olive oil with a touch of chili powder.
Salmon and scallops are cooked with white wine and some vegetable broth. Creamy Pesto Paste is generously layered on the salmon and the scallops. The scallops sit on a bed of lemony delicate Purslane leaves.


Creamy Pesto Paste recipe
Ingredients
One large bunch of fresh basil leaves
1 shallot sauteed
3 cloves of garlic also sauteed
A handful of walnuts ( 1/2 handful if you are a man)
1 teaspoon soy sauce
5 squeezes of a cut lemon
1 dried red chili (optional if you are weak at heart about spice)
olive oil for desired consistency
Grind all of the above for a creamy, tangy, spicy pesto.

Thick meaty pole beans from the Framers market

Boil in water with salt

If you want the violet beans to stay violet add some vinegar upfront

Slice large green tomatoes longitudinally

A touch of chili powder on top and saute

Salmon cooked with white wine and vegetable broth
You could use the same water used to cook the beans

Scallops cooked with white wine and broth

Delicate lemony Purslane leaves
They go well with potato salad too

Oh so simple and ahh so beautiful

Summer happiness