This has been an unusually mild summer. I’ve hardly had the air conditioning on all summer except for a few nights. There’s been a calm breeze and sometimes even a bit chilly at night. Still, with longer days, slaving away at a stove to make dinner isn’t exactly ideal. Sometimes raw is the way to go. I’m not talking crazy fancy, restaurant raw food but a simple chopped salad. One of the best things about fresh produce is it needs very little seasoning to make it spectacular.
This month the Secret Recipe Club introduced me to Shockingly Delicious by Dorothy. Her recipes are inviting and uncomplicated and look delicious. With the weather warming up, I was looking for something light to bring to work. Sandwiches are a bit of a bore, never mind the fact that they never taste as good when packed as freshly made. And I’ve found myself making smaller, non-leftover appropriate dinners (read: individual steaks, fish) so lunch has become a lot of takeout. The thing about working in midtown is that there are few decent choices outside of chain fast food joints, and even fewer where you can get lunch that will satisfy you for hours for less than $12. A quickly, easily transportable brown bag option was in desperate need.
I’ve been a bit obsessed with turkey burgers lately. I don’t know if it stems from the fact that I can cook them better than regular burgers (at least in a Brooklyn apartment) or if subconsciously I know it’s healthier. But for the past few month’s I’ve been playing around with new spins on the original turkey burger, like pesto, fresh herb and cheese stuffed. My latest invention? Mediterranean Turkey Burgers!
There’s something about watermelon that I can’t really put my finger on. The sweetness, the juiciness, I just love it! While eating it right off the rind is good enough for me any day, I still like finding creative ways to prepare it. One of my favorite and SIMPLEST preparations is Watermelon Salad. And when sugar melons start popping up at the Greenmarkets, I probably make this once a week. It’s really just three ingredients plus seasoning:
Brooklyn Locavore 