Summer Mediterranean Salad

August is the last month of full summer. This morning as we were driving back from our morning hike from the mountains I noticed a few colors on the trees, which looked pretty, a sign of change. It feels a little strange this year, we went into lockdown early spring and here we are in August and things haven’t changed much with this pandemic. Nature continues like nothing happened.

I feel there’s a lot to learn from this pandemic, about nature and existence of humans on this planet. To take my mind of the harsh reality of the situation I have been focusing on work, my garden, yoga practice and lots of reading. It has certainly helped ease how I view the situation and also given a lot of food for though about discovering myself and the world around me. Not to get all heavy about it lets talk about this large plate of summer bounties.

I called it a summer Mediterranean Salad because it’s eaten all around the Mediterranean in some form or the other. This salad leans towards Cyprus and Turkey. The flavors are very similar to the Provençal Niçoise, but here the veggies are steam cooked and marinated in the dressing to give it more flavor, plus there’s more dressing to cover everything. I particularly love canned tuna for the protein component.

Anchovies in the dressing make this salad very authentic, but I understand not many people like anchovies. I use a little trick to mellow the flavor of anchovy by slowly melting it with garlic in warm olive oil. I say give it a try at least once even if its half the amount recommended, it may just change your mind. This actually is my husband’s and my favorite summer salad and we have it at least once week. It’s well balanced, substantial and super nutritious. Hope you’ll give it a try.

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Summer Mediterranean Salad SERVES 3-4

INGREDIENTS

DRESSING/ MARINADE

• ¼-½ cup cold pressed extra virgin olive oil, get the best you can, use as much as you like
• 2 oil-packed anchovy fillets* SEE NOTES, drained, totally optional, I love it here
• 2 large garlic cloves, grated
• ½ cup lemon juice approx. 2 lemons
• 1/2 teaspoon sumac
• sea salt and black pepper as needed

VEGETABLES

• 1/2 lbs potatoes, about 2 medium regular or baby sized
• Handful French green beans, haricot verts or asparagus, ends trimmed 
• 1 large carrot, diced on an angle
• 2-3 cups cauliflower, about 1/2 medium head or broccoli
• 2-3 large tomatoes or 1 cup cherry tomatoes, quartered if large
• 2 cooked medium sized beets 
• Small red onion, thinly sliced
• 1/2 cup herbs, such as parsley and a little dill or mint
• ½ cup olives, pitted, I like Kalamata here
• 1-2 cans really good, sustainable canned tuna or even smoked wild salmon is great
• 1 14 oz canned white beans
• 2-4 hard-boiled eggs, sliced (optional)

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Heat one tablespoon olive oil. Add the garlic and anchovies and cook on very low heat for a few minutes till the anchovies have melted and garlic has softened. Set it aside to cool. Once the anchovy mix has cooled add the remaining dressing ingredients and mix well. 
2. To make the Vegetables. Place the potatoes and a tablespoon of salt in a large pot and fill with water. Bring to a boil over high heat and then reduce the to heat to medium, simmer 10-15 minutes or until the potatoes are just fork tender. Pull them out.
3. Cook the beets*SEE NOTES in the same water or you can start over. Cook till the beets are fork tender.3. While still warm, cut the potatoes in half and add to a large serving bowl, tossing them with ¼ of the dressing. In an another bowl cut the beets in quarters and toss with 1/4 of the dressing. 
4. Steam cook the carrot, cauliflower, green beans till fork tender. Add the white beans and allow it to heat through in the residual heat. 
5. Arrange the cauliflower, green beans and white beans in the middle of a large platter. Place the chopped tomatoes, beets, potatoes around neatly.
6. Place the canned tuna to one side. Place the eggs around the platter, if using. 
7. Drizzle the remaining dressing over the salad. Scatter sliced red onions, more chopped parsley, squeeze more lemon juice and olive oil if needed, you can never have enough. Serve slightly warm or at room temperature. 

RECIPE NOTES

• *If the anchovies are not your thing, then you can omit them, but I would add a splash of additional lemon juice or vinegar + salt to make up for the missing flavors. 
• * Beets should be cooked seperately to prevent the color bleeding over other vegetables.