Weekly Menu 1
VEW
Fresh and Light Summer Foods

Mediterranean quiche, field greens and nectarine salad with cranberries & rice wine vinaigrette

Grilled steak salad with green beans and blue cheese

Turkey burgers and apple-fennel salad with parmigiano


Day 1
This quiche is more like a savory tart. In fact I’ve made it in a fluted tart pan and it makes a beautiful presentation. http://www.emerils.com/recipes/by_name/mediterranean_quiche.html
The salad is pretty self explanatory and provides a good way to use up any summer fruit you have around—peaches work as well as nectarines; you could even use pears. Toss field greens, or any mixture of lettuces with fruit slices, dried cranberries, walnuts, and a vinaigrette made by combining seasoned rice wine vinegar with olive oil. I like to top this salad with a sprinkle of fleur de sel.

Day 2
This is a recipe a friend forwarded to me that sounded too simple to be as good as she said it was…but knowing what a fabulous cook she is, I gave it a whirl and loved it. Mid-summer is a great time to find green beans and wax beans at farm stands, and they are a great stand in for the haricot verts this recipe calls for. This is a great one dish meal that makes a pretty enough presentation to serve at a dinner party. http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/recipe_views/views/105157

Day 3
These burgers provide an elegant and healthy alternative to a beef burger. Alfred Portale of New York’s Gotham Bar and Grill has yet to disappoint me as far as his recipes go, and they’re unique as well. Both of these recipes are from his Simple Pleasures cookbook. The burgers call for juniper berries which you can get at Penzey’s Spices; I have substituted dried currants with good results. The apple fennel salad is really tasty and fresh—I am not a huge fan of licorice-tasting fennel, but the combination of flavors works to dull it just enough so that everything melds wonderfully.