This Week’s Harvest, 6/16
Don’t you just love the fruits of late spring? The sweet strawberries, the juicy cherries, the perfumed apricots, the… apple juice? Don’t get me wrong, I drink a glass of fruit juice every morning, and I’m happy to have organic apple juice in the house, but come on!
My first thought for that cucumber is “pickles!” I’ve never been a huge fan of cucumbers, but I have managed to find a couple of ways they can be palatable. One is in a mixture with yogurt, be it Greek tzatziki, Bulgarian tarator, or Indian raïta. The other is doused in salt and vinegar, either in the form of pickle brine or a strong vinaigrette. Which reminds me that they make a not-too-shabby cucumber crudité salad here in The France, with crème fraîche and chives. I have crème fraîche in the fridge, and methinks those green onion tops could definitely stand in for the chives…
In a similar vein, I’ve recently “discovered” that stirring chopped spring onions into a tub of fromage blanc makes a delicious and super-easy dip, perfect for radishes, carrot sticks, or slices of baguette. A little parsley and mint in there help keep the fire out of your breath.
We’ve been having no trouble eating up all our lettuce lately, which I guess means salad season is officially upon us. On a related note, the sweet new carrots of spring need pretty much no adornment. This bunch is perfectly sized for snacking (or dipping), though I think they’d be good candidates for glazing, too. (Nick claims he doesn’t like glazed carrots, but he once said that about mashed potatoes and I managed to convert him.)
I’m excited about the zucchini, but I can’t decide whether I want to revisit the savory zucchini bread that was such a hit at the end of last summer, or try a summer variation on that savory squash crumble from last fall. Life’s full of tough decisions.
Originally published on Seasonal Market Menus.
Seasonal Market Menus 
My fav thing to do with zukes that size is to cut them into fans, brush them with olive oil and stick them on the grill. Usually next to a piece of salmon. Tastes like summer to me.
For some reason my brain tried to make a logical connection between your first and second paragraphs, and so I kept waiting to hear how you were going to use apple juice to make pickles. I still think it could work… actually, no, it probably wouldn’t. But points to my brain for trying, right?
LauraTurtle – Grilled zucchini is a thing of beauty.
Hannah – It could, if I wanted to make sweet pickles, perhaps. Hmmmm…