Category:
Salads

Seasons:
June, July, August

Courtesy of Chefs Todd Duplechan and Jessica Maher, Lenoir

This salad takes a lot of summer vegetables and combines them in such a way that each one has a starring role, depending on your bite. The tomato water has an intensity of tomatoes enhanced by the smoky pasilla and mushrooms.

Suggested wine pairing: Adami Prosecco di Valdobbiadene Frizzante Sur Lie, Italy, 2011

Super easy

For the tomato-pasilla water:

4 cups chopped overripe tomatoes
1/2 shallot
1 basil stem with leaves
1/2 cups white cooking wine
1 whole pasilla chili, steeped in hot water until soft
2 teaspoons tequila
Salt and pepper, to taste

For the bean salad:

1 cups purple hull peas, blanched
1/2 pounds Chinese long beans, trimmed and blanched
2 medium-size pattypan squashes, cut into 8 pieces each and roasted
1/4 pounds oyster mushrooms, smoked over mesquite chips, then roasted quickly in a pan
1/4 pounds cherry tomatoes, charred over a flame
3 tablespoons olive oil
Salt and pepper, to taste
Turk’s cap flower petals, to garnish

Summer Bean Salad with Tomato-Pasilla Water, Smoked Mushrooms & Roasted Squash Directions

Combine the tomato-pasilla water ingredients in a blender and puree until smooth. Using several layers of cheesecloth and a strainer, strain slowly in the refrigerator overnight (you can also use an old T-shirt, but make sure it’s clean, of course!).

The next day, the tomato water should be a slightly orange hue or a clear liquid that smells and tastes strongly of smoky tomatoes.

For the bean salad, combine all of the vegetables with a little of the tomato water and the olive oil and salt and pepper, then divide into 4 bowls and top with a few petals of Turk’s cap.