12 Tomato Recipes To Enjoy Now & Later

This time of year is a bonanza for anyone who enjoys cooking - or eating. Our garden is still moving at full steam, churning out zucchini, lettuce, arugala, eggplants, and herbs. And TOMATOES!

We planted eight tomato plants this season - two cherry varieties and six that are a mix of paste, a yellow-shouldered beefsteak, and another variety that produces adorably round and red little 'maters.

Although this is fewer plants than we've grown in years past, it's enough to produce a steady stream of delicious red fruit (yes, tomatoes are fruits, odd as that seems) that's keeping us in sauces and salads with some weekly harvests that are big enough to roast on sheet pans with garlic and herbs to freeze and I've also done one big batch of salsa that's now lining the shelves of our pantry. If the mild temps of fall stretch on long enough (a recent trend driven by climate change that I consider to be one of it's few silver linings), I hope to have enough to also process a batch or two of pureed tomatoes to can for the winter.

After years of facing an (over)abundance of tomatoes, I've developed a treasure trove of ways to enjoy them - both now and also later in the year, when the memory of these warm, sunny days and the pungent smell of the tomato plants' slightly sticky leaves and stalks is hazy and distant.

Here are seven of my favorite tomato recipes to make right now while the supply is strong and they are at their peak and five ways you can preserve summer's perfect tomatoes to enjoy all winter long.

---

FOR NOW

1. Tomato Corn Pie With Butter-Brushed Biscuit Crust

Like everything Deb at Smitten Kitchen makes, this pie is heart-stoppingly delicious. Biscuit topping, sweet corn, tomatoes, and cheddar cheese make for serious summer-themed comfort food.

2. Summer Pasta with Tomatoes, Sweet Corn, Basil & Arugula (+ Optional Bacon)

This easy late summer meal is packed with great flavors and a nice mix of textures—crunchy corn, juicy tomatoes, crispy bacon (optional!), and just-tender pasta. Fresh arugula adds a nice peppery green counterpoint to the sweetness of the onions, corn, and tomatoes. A perfect weeknight dinner for the busy first few weeks of school.

3. Grilled Eggplant Stacks With Tomato, Feta & Basil

These leaning Tower of Pisa-esque delights are an easy way to make the most of the season's bounty. Grilled eggplant and tomato slices are drizzled with basil-infused olive oil, layered with sliced basil and feta cheese, seasoned with salt and pepper, and stacked for layers of melting-gooey-sweet-savory-herby yumminess.

4. Tomato Tart Two Ways (Or Invent Your Own Way)

Inspired by a recipe in one of the Canal House Cooking books that my fairy godmother, Kali makes, these impressively fancy-looking tarts are made very simple by the use of frozen puff pastry. Inspired by a recipe in one of the Canal House Cooking books that my fairy godmother, Kali makes, these impressively fancy-looking tarts are made very simple by the use of frozen puff pastry. Sweet ripe tomatoes, good cheese (either goat cheese or Gruyère), caramelized onions, and fresh thyme make these tarts a decadent treat. If you prefer a different treatment for the tomato toppings, go for it - the concept is simple and customizable.

5. Roasted Eggplant & Tomato Gratin

This is basically a healthier, lighter, and actually tastier take on eggplant parm that comes from Martha Rose Shulman's NYTimes series. It's packed with flavors, very hearty, and deeply satisfying. I consider it a must-make.

6. Provençal Vegetable Tian

This classic French tian is as gorgeous to look at as it is to eat. You alternate thin slices of tomatoes, zucchini, and eggplant in neat rows, drizzle generously with good olive oil, garlic, and fresh herbs, and let it slow-bake in the oven. The vegetables soften and caramelize in their own juices, creating a deeply flavorful side dish that pairs with almost anything.

7. Marcella Hazan's Tomato Sauce with Onion & Butter

This sublimely delicate, rich, yet fresh-tasting sauce is made with tomatoes, onion, and butter.Using butter instead of olive oil makes the sauce so rich and smooth and, well, buttery. It is a perfect way to elevate end-of-the-season tomatoes.

FOR LATER

1. Simple Tomato Sauce with Garlic & Herbs

Canning is a Project but you'll thank yourself on a cold, dark night when you haven't had a minute to think about what to make for dinner and can just grab a jar of this sauce from the shelf to go with your favorite pasta and a salad. I think of it as "summer in a jar."

2. Easy Heirloom Tomato Salsa

This recipe was given to me by my husband's beloved (and sadly departed) Aunt Maggie. It's just like her - refreshingly unfussy and undeniably awesome. We try to can enough jars to make it through the year until tomato season swings around again as storebought is for the birds after you've tried this recipe.

3. Roasted Tomatoes with Garlic & Herbs 

This is my go-to when I have too many tomatoes to eat and don't want to deal with canning anything. You can store them in a glass jar topped with a glug of olive oil and pop them in the freezer to defrost later in the year.

4. Tomato Soup - Like Campbells But Better

What better late fall or winter lunch is there than tomato soup? Line your pantry shelves with jars of this much better than Campbells soup to make you feel rich all winter long.

5. Tomato Jam

Remember when I mentioned earlier that tomatoes are fruits? Well, they make a fantastic jam - spiced, sweet and rich. Just the thing to take any cheese plate to eleven or give as a gift at holiday time.

---

Easy, Cheap, Delicious: Homemade Granola with Nuts & Seeds

The best storebought granola brands have gotten SO pricey over the years that I can't bring myself to buy the stuff. Especially not with the looming specter of paying for two kids to go to college starting next year. GULP.

Fortunately, it's ridiculously easy to make my own granola just the way I like it -- lightly sweetened, made with hearty-healthy olive oil, and filled with nuts and seeds without any dried fruit. I do it roughly every two weeks and eat a bowl of this nutty crunchy goodness with fruit and yogurt every morning.

Saving money is great but don't underestimate how nice it is to have granola custom tailored to suit your tastebuds. As long as you have rolled oats, an oil (I like olive oil because I have to focus on heart healthy fats these days but you can use coconut, grapeseed, avocado, sunflower, canola, walnut or almond oil), and a sweetener (I prefer maple syrup because we make our own and usually have it on hand but you can also use honey, agave, or brown sugar), you can play around with all the add-ins (almonds, pecans, walnuts, pepitas, sunflower seeds, dried coconut, dried cranberries, dried blueberries, raisins, currants, orange or lemon zest, cacao nibs, cocoa powder, and more) to make your ideal granola.

The recipe below is a little different from the one I first posted way back in October 2007 right after I started writing this blog - how time flies! Although my current recipe cuts the sweetener in half, I think it still tastes plenty sweet. 

I've included all the variations you can use to make this basic recipe into your own favorite granola - go forth and customize!

-- print recipe --

Homemade Nut and Seed Granola
Makes about 5 cups

Ingredients

• 4 cups old-fashioned rolled oats (NOT instant or steel cut)
• 1/2 olive oil or other neutral oil of your choice
• 1/2 cup maple syrup or sweetener of choice
• 1 cup sliced almonds, walnuts, or pecans (omit if you don't like nuts or have a nut allergy)
• 1/4 cup raw sesame seeds (omit if you don't like sesame or have an allergy to seeds)
• 1/4 cup raw pepitas
• 1 teaspoon sea salt
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• Optional: 1 cup raisins, currants, dried cranberries, dried cherries, dried apricots, dried blueberries, coconut flakes, etc.

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 F.
2. In a medium to large mixing bowl, combine the oats, nuts, seeds, brown sugar, salt and cinnamon.
3. Pour in the oil, sweetener, and vanilla and mix well until everything is well-coated
4. Spread the mixture on a heavy baking sheet in a single layer.
5. Bake for about 22-25 minutes, stirring once at 10-12 minutes into the baking. If you want to add coconut flakes, add them at the halfway point so they get a little browned. The goal is to get everything browned but not burnt.
6. Remove from the oven and let cool completely.
7. If you're adding dried fruit, stir it into the granola once it's fully cool.
8. Store in an airtight glass container. It should keep for 1-2 weeks, if it does not all get eaten before then.

* GLUTEN-FREE FOLKS: Although oats are naturally gluten-free, they are often contaminated with wheat, barley, or rye during farming, transport, or processing. To make your granola gluten-free, seek out and use certified gluten-free oats. 

You might also like:

Braised Kale, Tomato & Egg Sandwich

Savory Ham & Cheese Waffles with Fresh Rosemary

Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Pecan Cookies

---

Want more recipes, green home, and gardening tips? Sign up for emails from The Garden of Eating and follow me on Facebook and Instagram.

Basil Pesto

What does summer taste like? 

PESTO! Bright, nutty, herbaceous, and full of flavor. 

Fortunately, pesto is delicious both when you first make it and also freezes beautifully for months when well-sealed, so you can enjoy it long after summer is over. You'll thank yourself on some cold dark December day when you're feeling uninspired about making dinner.

Follow these simple instructions and feel free adapt it to suit your tastes and dietary needs. The only musts are oil, basil, and salt although I'd make a strong case for garlic. You can make it without nuts and/or without cheese with excellent results. 

Things you can play around with:

• Type of nuts - pine nuts, roasted cashews, walnuts, roasted almonds are all options.
• Herbs - carrot tops make a delicious pesto, ditto cilantro, and you can add parsley, too. Adding some wild ramp leaves or garlic mustard greens also gives pesto a different flavor and zip when those are in season.

I like to make a batch without nuts and a batch without cheese to freeze so I can accomodate those who can't eat nuts or dairy. To keep them straight in my freezer, I label the dairy-free batch Pesto Daniel in honor of a family member who can't eat dairy and the nut-free batch Pesto Luca in honor of our son's friend who has a nut allergy. 

Here is a quick video showing my process (speeded up a bit!)

If you're feeling fancy, feel free to grind this all by hand in a mortar and pestle but as I am usually short on time and also dealing with a huge amount of basil to process, the food processor is my tool of choice.

-- print recipe --

Basil Pesto
Makes 2/3 cup

Ingredients

• 2 cups (packed) fresh basil leaves, washed and dried thoroughly
• 1 clove of garlic , peeled and chopped
• 1/4 cup pinenuts
• 1/4 cup parmesan or romano cheese, grated (optional)
• 1/3 cup 4xtra virgin olive oil
• Sea salt to taste

Directions

1. Place the basil leaves, pine nuts, garlic and cheese in the bowl of a cuisinart or other food processor and add the salt.
2. Turn the food processor on and add the olive oil in a steady stream. Blend/process until smooth or to desired consistency.
3. Taste the pesto and adjust the salt as needed. Transfer to an air tight jar or container with a tight lid and top with olive oil to slow oxidation, preserving that bright green color.
4. Store in an airtight container in the fridge for up to two weeks or in the freezer for several months. The top of the pesto will turn brown as it oxidizes but it is still good and if you dig down below the top, the rest should still be that lovely brilliant green.

You might also like:

Grilled Eggplant Stacks with Tomato, Feta & Basil

Eat Your Weeds: Garlic Mustard Greens Pesto

Summer Pasta with Tomatoes, Corn, Basil & Bacon

---

Want more recipes, green home, and gardening tips? Sign up for emails from The Garden of Eating.

Make Marigold Chains to Bring Summer Indoors All Year Long

For anyone with a vegetable garden, planting marigolds is a win-win. Not only can you enjoy brilliantly yellow and/or orange blooms for months, the pungent oil in their leaves act as a natural pest deterrent, repelling insects like aphids and whiteflies, and their root systems suppress harmful root-knot nematodes. Plus they attract pollinators. They're an ideal companion plant to tomatoes, cucumbers, squash, basil, and peppers.

One year, I had such a riot of these sunny blooms that I decided to try preserving them in a marigold flower chain like the ones used to decorate Day of the Dead ofrendas in Mexico and to bedeck brides and grooms in South Asian wedding ceremonies. 

I got my boys to help me and we sat out on the picnic table with our needles, gently spearing flower after flower on two long lengths of thread.

When we'd strung all the flowers, we hung the garlands up to dry inside. They brought a little much-needed light into our home during the dark months of winter for a full two years before I finally took them down and laid them to rest in the compost. It was fun for the whole family and well worth the effort.

Materials: You will need shears or sharp scissors to snip the flowers off their plants, a strong needle, and some sturdy thread. 

1. Pick the flowers. Cut only good-sized flowers that are in the prime of health.
2. Prep the flowers. Use your scissors or shears to snip off the stems right at the base of the flower.
3. String the flowers. Tie a large knot at the bottom of your thread (you can also use a bead to anchor it all if you like) and thread the other end through your needle. Pierce the needle through the middle of the green bottom of the flower head (the base) and bring it out through the top.
4. Slide and repeat. Slide the flower down to the knot and continue adding blooms until the chain is your desired length
5. Finish. Tie a loop on both ends so you can easily hang your finished garland over doorways or on walls.
6. Hang up & enjoy! Hang the garland up somewhere dry that does not get a lot of direct sunlight where people can ooh and aah over it.

You might also like:

How To Clean & Season Your Cast Iron Skillet

The BEST Kids' Books About Food, Cooking, and Gardening

Make a Lavender Wand -  a Step-by-Step Tutorial

---

Want more recipes, green home, and gardening tips? Sign up for emails from The Garden of Eating.

How to Make Lavender Wands from Flesh Flowers, a Step-By-Step DIY Tutorial

A few years back, my co-workers gifted me three lavender plants that I nestled in a sunny area of our yard. Although it took them a few years to get established, the plants hit their stride last summer and began putting out beautiful, fragrant spikes of flowers in the early summer and again in the fall.

Last year, I harvested them and hung them up to dry, thinking that I'd have pretty bundles to give away in the winter. But when I took the bundles down, I discovered that they were verrrry delicate and the flowers dropped their buds at the slightest touch. The bunches do look pretty but they're quite messy, making them a less than ideal way to enjoy the flowers.

This summer, I decided to try out another option to preserve and enjoy these fragrant blooms—lavender wands.

I love that this method uses the plants’ own stems to contain the flowers - so neat and compact. The woven wands also smell divine.

If you have access to fresh lavender, you can easily make your own lavender wands - here's what you do.

Big thanks to my son, Will for making this video tutorial for me. You can find more of his work at willfoxfilm.com.

Materials: You’ll need a pair of scissors or garden or kitchen shears, a yard of roughly ¼-inch width ribbon, and a bunch of lavender flowers.

Step 1: Harvest the flowers

Try to cut the lavender stems as long as you can without cutting away any healthy leaves on the plant. If possible, do this when the flowers are fresh (I waited a little too long, next time, I'll do it sooner) as the stems will be most pliable when they're greener. And keep in mind that you’ll need an odd number of stems to make each wand.

You can also harvest all of the flowers as that's good for the plant. Anything that’s too short or too irregular to use for your wands, you can just hang up to dry and then use the dried flower buds to make sachets with.

Once you've harvested all your flowers, it’s time to sort them into sizes - you want to keep them roughly the same size and length and prioritize full, straight flowers over ones that are curving to one side.

Step 3: Remove the leaves

Now that you're all sorted out, remove the leaves from each stem as they’d get in the way when we’re weaving the wand. The leaves come right off - very easy.

All your stems should be bare now and you're ready to sort them into a group for your wand. You want either 11 or 13 stems for the wand. You just need an odd number. You can use more if you want it to be a bit fatter - it will just take longer to weave.

Step 5: Line the stems up and trim

Line them all up so that the heads of the flowers are at the same point (not the ends of the stems). Then tie your ribbon just below the flower heads. Once they’re secure, trim the ends of the stems to match the length of the shortest one.

Step 6: Lightly crimp the stems for ease of folding

Take the dull edge of your shears or some other blunt object and gently press each stem just below the ribbon to soften it in that spot. Doing this will help you bend the stems backwards without them breaking. Make sure you get them all.

Step 7: Make the cage

One by one, bend all of the stems down over the flowers to create the little cage that will encase the flowers through which you'll weave the ribbon. Try to space them evenly. It’s a little fiddly.

Now that you've got your cage of stems, it’s time to start weaving the ribbon through them. The first time around is the hardest - definitely a little awkward but then it gets easier. Since you have an odd number of stems, you will keep going over and under, over and under, around and around in a downward spiral.

Step 9: Tie off the ribbon

When you reach the bottom (aka the actual top of the flowers but they're pointing down inside the cage), it’s time to tie a knot to close it off. You can also wrap the ribbon around the end the stems to the end of those and then tie it off. I prefered to end mine at the bottom of the flowers, though.

And voila. Mmmm, it smells so good!

Hang your wand(s) up in a dark, dry spot for about two weeks. It will shrink a little bit as it dries so I may need to gently pull the ribbons to tighten them up later.

Once it’s dry, you can use it as a sachet and a moth repellent in your closet or in a dresser drawer. Or just hang it up anywhere you want to catch a whiff of lavender. It smells wonderful

.

Share photos of your completed wands and tag me if you make one. I'd love to see your finished product!

You might also like:

How To Clean & Season Your Cast Iron Skillet

The BEST Kids' Books About Food, Cooking, and Gardening

Hooked on a Frieling: Best French Press

---

Want more recipes, green home, and gardening tips? Sign up for emails from The Garden of Eating.

Best Veggie Burgers - Packed with Flavor (Vegan & Gluten-Free)

These veggie burgers are delicious—a little sweet, a little savory, a little spicy, and they're packed with nutritional goodness from quinoa, black beans, sweet potatoes, and oats. I found them in Cookie and Kate's cookbook, Love Real Food, and am sharing her recipe below with a few minor changes.

Making these yummy burgers is a bit time-consuming, unless you happen to have a lot of the main ingredients on hand as pre-cooked leftovers -- something that happened to me once and was awesome!, but they freeze well so I recommend doubling or tripling the batch to get more bang for your burger prep buck.

A few notes:

• I never have quick cooking oats so I followed Kate's note and pulsed a bunch of regular rolled oats (do not use steel cut oats here) in the food processor until they were chopped but before they turned into flour.
• I recommend using seasoned black beans instead of plain canned beans as the flavor of the burgers will be better. Seasoned black beans are another thing I like to make in bulk in the Instantpot and freeze in quart-sized mason jars to make future meals easy.
• I am a huge fan of Japanese yellow-fleshed sweet potatoes. In my humble opinion, they have the best flavor and texture and are not overly sweet. If you have access to this variety, I reommend using them over Garnets or yams. And I would not recommend using purple sweet potatoes for this recipe as they're a lot more starchy than they are sweet. 
• These burgers can be fried, grilled, or baked. I baked mine since it requires less oil and creates a lot less splatter. 
• Don't skimp on the toppings!

I hope you enjoy these toothsome veggie burgers which happen to be gluten-free and vegan.

-- print recipe --

Best Veggie Burgers
Makes 8 burgers

Ingredients

• 1 ½ pounds sweet potatoes (2 medium or 3 small)
• ½ cup quinoa, rinsed in a fine-mesh colander (or 1½ cups cooked quinoa)
• 1 cup water
• 1 Tbsp Better than Bullion vegetable broth
• 1½ cups cooked black beans (or one 15-oz can of black beans)
• ½ cup chopped red onion (about ½ small red onion)
• ⅓ cup chopped fresh cilantro
• 3-4 cloves garlic, pressed or minced
• 2 tablespoons adobo sauce (I get mine from the sauce in a can of chipotle peppers)
• 2 teaspoons smoked paprika
• 2 teaspoons ground cumin
• 2 tsps sriracha sauce
• ½ teaspoon salt
• 1 ¼ cups quick-cooking oats (you can pulse rolled oats in a food processor until roughly chopped if you don't have quick-cooking oats, you'll need more than 1 ¼ cups but you can measure as you go)
• Extra-virgin olive oil, for brushing

Directions

1. Roast the sweet potatoes. Preheat the oven to 400° F. Rinse the sweet potatoes and slice them length-wise down the middle. Rub a little olive oil on the bottom of each and place cut-side down on a baking sheet and bake for 30-40 minutes until soft when you give them a little squeeze then set them aside to cool. Here's one of the ways my recipe differs from Kate's -- please do NOT use parchment paper! Not only is it unnecessary and wasteful, it's also not really paper but paper coated with a thin layer of silicone which is a type of plastic. None of us need more plastic or its thousands of chemicals in our food or bodies. You can clean the pan, instead.
2. While the sweet potatoes are baking, make the quinoa. In a small pot, combine the rinsed quinoa with the water and the Better than Bouillion and bring to a boil over medium-high heat, then reduce the heat as needed keep the quinoa at a gentle simmer. Cook, uncovered until the water has been absorbed, 12-15 minutes. Remove from heat, cover, and let the quinoa steam for 10 minutes.
3. Once the sweet potatoes have cooled down enough to handle, remove the flesh from the skins and add to a large bowl, along with the quinoa, black beans, onion, cilantro, garlic, adobo sauce, smoked paprika, cumin, garlic powder, onion powder, sriracha, and salt. Mix them with a potato masher to mix this all together well. Don't worry about the beans getting smashed as that is fine.
4. Sprinkle the oats over the mixture and then mix together with a large spoon until well incorporated and the mixture holds together well when you form a patty. If you're not going to be cooking the patties right away, cover the bowl tightly and refrigerate.
5. Shape the burgers using a half cup measure and shaping it into a patty, using your fingers to smooth the edges and flatten the patty. The mixture should make 8 good-sized burger patties.
6. Preheat the oven to 400° F. Brush the burgers with olive oil on top and bottom and place on a heavy metal baking sheet and bake until golden, flipping once, for about 35 minutes.  To fry, heat a tablespoon of grapeseed or peanut oil in a large heavy-duty skillet over medium heat until shimmering, then fry the patties for 3-4 minutes on each side, until golden.

You might also like:

Grilled Portobello Burgers

Socca: A Savory Vegan Chickpea Flour Pancake

Curried Lentil & Sweet Potato Stew

---

Want more recipes, green home, and gardening tips? Sign up for emails from The Garden of Eating.

Kale Caesar Salad with Garlicky, Lemony Tahini Dressing

This salad is a flavorful, nutrition-packed riff on a classic Caesar salad. I've swapped antioxidant-rich kale in for lettuce, fiber-filled whole grain croutons for white ones, and coated each bite in a rich, garlicky, lemony tahini dressing that's actually good for your heart.

The result is flavorful, filling, and packed with fiber, vitamins, and minerals. Best of all, you will feel full in a good way. I adore a classic Caesar salad but often feel pretty gross after eating one. This version carries none of the stomach cramps, bloating, sleepiness, or brain fog that can accompany a meal that's too rich. 

You can make the dressing in advance and store it in the fridge for a week or two in a glass jar with a screw on lid. My fridge is full of repurposed Bonne Maman jam jars holding a variety of dressings and sauces.

If you wish to make this salad vegan, replace the Parmesan cheese with nutritional yeast. 

If you want to turn this salad into a main, try adding roasted chickpeas (you can also use regular old cooked/canned chickpeas if you're in a hurry) or top with some ripe avocado slices.

Don't be intimidated by making the croutons. And if you have stale bread, so much the better as it's already dried out plus you're not wasting food. But if you're short on time, you can certainly use store-bought croutons in this salad, too.

Enjoy.

-- print recipe --

Kale Caesar Salad with Garlicky Lemony Tahini Dressing
Serves 4

Ingredients

For the dressing

• 1/4 cup tahini
• 3 Tbsps fresh lemon juice (you'll need at least one lemon)
• 3 Tbsps organic olive oil
• 2 cloves garlic, pressed or minced
• 1 tsp Dijon mustard
• 1/4 tsp sea salt
• 1 tsp maple syrup
• 1 tsp Worcestershire sauce
• 2 Tbsps water
• Freshly ground black pepper

For the salad

• 1 bunch of kale, rinsed and dryed, thick inner ribs/stems removed
• 1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
• 1/4 cup roasted, salted pepitas (you can also used toasted almonds or pine nuts if you prefer)

For the croutons

• 2-3 cups of whole grain bread, cut into cubes
• 2 tsps organic olive oil
• Sea salt
• Dried oregano, thyme, and basil
• Garlic powder

Directions

1. Start making the croutons. Preheat the oven to 400° F. Lay the cubed bread out in a single layer on a baking sheet and bake for 8-10 minutes until crispy but not burnt. Turn off the heat and remove from the oven to cool.

2. Make the dressing. If you have a mini food processor, whiz all the ingredients in it until smooth. If not, combine all the ingredients in a small bowl and whisk until blended. Season with freshly ground black pepper to taste. If the dressing is too thick to pour, stir in a spoonful more of water.

3. Finish making the croutons. In a large bowl toss the toasted bread cubes with the olive oil and spices until well coated. Heat a cast iron pan over medium heat until shimmering then add the bread cubes and cook for 3-4 minutes, stirring frequently.

4. Prepare the salad. Roughly chop the kale leaves and place in whatever bowl you plan to serve the salad out of. Sprinkle the kale leaves with salt and massage them with your fingers until the leaves have turned a darker green and the volume of the kale has shrunk by about a third. Drizzle with the dressing and stir to coat. Add the croutons and pepitas (and optional roasted chickpeas or avocado) and stir again. Top with grated Parmesan cheese and serve.

Hearty Salad with Mexi Green Goddess Dressing & Crispy Tortillas

As winter stretches on, I'm increasingly desperate for fresh veggies and herbs. This hearty salad 'ticks all the boxes', as Paul Hollywood is fond of saying on the Great British Bake Off. On that note, although I'm genuinely sad that Prue's leaving the show as I've grown to love her and will miss her wonderfully uppercrust accent, calm presence, and exceedingly ugly outfits, I'm very curious to see what Nigella Lawson will be like, aren't you?

But back to this delicious salad. I used some of the seasoned black beans that I make in large quantities in the Instant Pot because it magically imparts a lot of flavor with minimal effort (though you do have to plan ahead as it takes over an hour.) Every month or so, I'll cook up 5-6 cups of dried beans at a time in the Pot, then freeze the leftovers in glass quart jars to defrost when I need them. Very handy! But you can absolutely use a can of good old black beans here, too.

I had part of a bag of corn tortillas that were growing stale in the fridge which I cut into strips and fried to add a delicious crispy element and avoid wasting food. You could sub tortilla chips if you're not in the mood for frying things. A sprinkling of roasted, salted pepitas added even more crunch and a nice nuttiness.

Lettuce, grated carrots, chopped red onion, and some surprisingly sweet grape tomatoes made up the body of the salad. And, last but definitely not least, I tossed it all with a generous amount of this Mexican-Inspired Green Goddess dressing to coat each bite with creamy, rich, herby, garlicky goodness.

I first tasted green goddess dressing back in those hazy, hard-to-recall days before I had kids when my husband and I lived in northern California. It was love at first bite—so much flavor, so unusual. 

This Mexican-inspired Green Goddess dressing is a departure in many ways but has the same addictively herby, creamy punch of the original. I've subbed lime for lemon, roasted salted pepitas for anchovies, cilantro for tarragon, and avocado and Greek yogurt for mayo and sour cream. I've also added some smokey heat and a little sweetness by adding a charred jalapeño pepper and a splash of sriracha. The result is really tasty. 

As we've been running our woodstove non-stop for last few months, I charred the jalapeño on top of it, turning frequently with a pair of tongs but if you live somewhere warmer or have a different heating system, you can also blacken the pepper over a gas burner or char it under the broiler. A large ripe avocado is a must for this dressing/recipe. I hope you enjoy both the dressing and the salad. 

-- print recipe --

Black Bean & Tortilla Salad with Mexi Green Goddess Dressing
Serves 4

For the dressing

Ingredients

• 1 ripe avocado, skin and pit removed
• 1 large clove of garlic, roughly chopped
• Juice of 1 large lime (or 2 small)
• Plain yogurt
• Olive oil
• 1 Tbsp white vinegar
• 1 cup fresh cilantro leaves and stems, washed and dried
• 1/4 cup salted, roasted pepitas
• 1 charred or roasted jalapeño pepper, stem, seeds and ribs removed, roughly chopped
• 1 tsp sea salt
• 1/4 cup water to thin

Directions

1. No need for nit-picky prep here: add all the ingredients except for the water to the bowl of a mini food processor or blender and process until smooth, adding water to thin the dressing to your liking as you go.
2. Taste and adjust the seasonings, if needed. You can store this in a glass jar with a tight lid for a couple of days in the fridge.

For the salad

Ingredients

• 1 head of romaine or red leaf lettuce, washed, dried, and chopped or torn
• 1 large carrot, grated
• 1/4 red onion, thinly sliced
• 1 cupful of grape or cherry tomatoes, halved or quartered, depending on their size
• 1/4 cup roasted, salted pepitas
• 1 1/2 cups cooked black beans, drained
• 1 1/2 cups crispy tortilla strips or chips

Directions

1. Place the lettuce, carrot, onions, tomatoes and beans in either a large bowl or on a good-sized platter. Toss with several heaping tablespoons of the mexi green goddess dressing until all ingredients are coated. Top with the tortilla strips and roasted pepitas and serve.

You might also like:

Red Cabbage, Lime & Cilantro Slaw

Quinoa Salad with Corn, Lime & Jalapeño

Esquites Salad (aka Mexican Street Corn in a Bowl)

---

Want more recipes, green home, and gardening tips? Sign up to receive posts from The Garden of Eating.