Greens in the Kitchen

I have spent almost every Sunday in the last few months at the farmer’s market in Marina, CA. I volunteer with a wonderful local non-profit, Everyone’s Harvest, whose mission is “to create healthy vibrant communities and equitable food webs”.  Everyone’s Harvest puts on a number of farmer’s markets in the Monterey community. At the market I help out with the set-up and clean-up of the market as well as sitting at the kid’s table or at the information table.  Although it takes a little bit of extra energy to get up early on a Sunday (I arrive at the market at 8:30), it is all worth it to be a part of this great organization.

One cool thing that they do is the Edible Education program.  Once a month, Everyone’s Harvest invites local chefs to their markets to do a cooking workshop.  During these grant-funded workshops, participants assist the chefs in cooking up delicious and healthy dishes, created from produce bought at the market. During the last workshop, the lovely Kari Bernardi (aka The Supernatural Chef) showed participants how to make Stone Fruit Salsa and Lettuce Tacos. I’d like to share her recipe with you because it is absolutely “peachy” and colorful.

Here’s What You Need:

For the Stone Fruit Salsa:

1 cup peaches, nectarines and pluots, chopped

1-2 small avocados, chopped

1/4 cup various colors of tomatoes, chopped

2 tablespoons cilantro, minced

2 tablespoons purple onion, minced

1/4 cup mixed citrus juice (lemons, oranges, tangerines)

Pinch of sea salt of Himalayan salt

6 Romaine hearts or other lettuce leaf

1/4 cup basil, cilantro, mint or Italian parsley, minced

3 cups mixed sprouts and micro-greens (sunflower, arugula, broccoli, chard, kale)

Here’s how: 

For the Stone Fruit Salsa:

Mix all salsa ingredients in a mixing bowl with a fork. Set aside to allow the flavors to marry while you prepare the lettuce tacos.

For the Lettuce Tacos:

1. Rinse lettuce hearts under running tap water. Remove base of lettuce heart and rinse again. Let dry on paper towels.

2. Rinse micro-greens and fresh herbs in bowl of cool water; let drain in colander.

3. Mince fresh herbs.

4. Make lettuce boats out of each leaf and layer with a scoop of Stone Fruit Salsa, a small handful of micro-greens and a sprinkle of minced fresh herbs.

OR

Tear lettuce into bite size pieces and gently toss lettuce, fresh herbs and micro-greens together in salad bowl. Serve with Stone Fruit Salsa as the dressing.

*In this particular workshop, she used minced peppers instead of micro-greens.

Enjoy!