Menu

Farmers Market Chopped Salad Feast

Submitted by Rachel Levitt, age 12, from Northampton, for the Local Hero Challenge Recipe Contest.

Rachel writes: “One thing that I love to do is go to the Farmers Market with my Mom. The taste difference between local fruits and vegetables rather than off season long distance shipped foods is amazing.

I have two older brothers, ages 15 and 18, who both do not experiment with food as much as I do. They would rather warm up a frozen pizza when I would make a goat cheese and avocado sandwich. My mom says that I was born a foodie. Both my parents have taught me about cooking. From how to cut a onion to how to knead bread. Neither of my parents enjoy cooking as much as I do, but they love eating home made meals by me.

Here is how I was inspired to come up with this recipe. A few weeks ago my Mom and I were just starting making dinner and we realized we did not have any lettuce for a salad. I thought that we could just not use lettuce and use up all of the delicious veggies we had. As we looked through our fridge we found tomatoes, red peppers, cucumbers, and avocado. These ingredients were the start of my recipe.”

Farmers Market Chopped Salad Feast

Serves: 4

Salad:

3 ripe tomatoes
4 persian cucumbers
1 avocado
1 red pepper
1 head of corn
1/4 cup diced red onion
2 small pieces whole wheat pita bread or 1 big piece of whole wheat pita bread
1 tsp Extra Virgin Olive Oil

Dressing:

1/4 cup red wine vinegar
1/2 cup Extra Virgin Olive Oil
1/8 tsp maple syrup
salt and pepper to taste
1 clove of pressed garlic

1. Cook the corn. Then let it cool down. And Preheat the oven to 375.

2. Peel and chop the cucumbers. Chop tomatoes, red pepper, red onion. Take the kernels off the head of the corn. Mix all together in a large bowl. Wait to put in the avocado till right before you serve.

3. Once the oven is preheated cut the pita bread in half. Lightly drizzle olive oil on both sides of the pita. Sprinkle salt and pepper on each side. Cook the pita for a total of 10 minutes in total, flipping them over once at 5 minutes.

4. Mix together the red wine vinegar, 1/2 cup olive oil, maple syrup, garlic, salt and pepper.

5. Once the pita is done, crumble in into 1/2 inch pieces and mix in how much you want. Cut up the avocado and put on top of the mixed salad. Once everything is in bowl, drizzle a little bit of dressing. There will be extra dressing, but you can keep it in the fridge for salads… Season with salt and pepper as needed.

6. Enjoy!