Chow Vegan

I finally managed to tear myself away from the wonderful strawberries and peaches that I’ve been eating lately to focus on some of the other summer fruits that abound. Next up, is watermelon. Instead of the usual wedges, I made a refreshing, two-toned chilled watermelon soup.

I got the red watermelon at the local farmer’s market. Unfortunately, I didn’t see the yellow ones and had to get that at the grocery store. It wasn’t quite as sweet as I expected, but I’m hoping to find it at the farmer’s market to try as it’s supposed to be sweeter than the red.

Red and Yellow Watermelon Soup
Serves 2

4 cups ripe red watermelon, seeded and cut into pieces
4 cups ripe yellow watermelon, seeded and cut into pieces
2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lime juice
Agave nectar to taste
Salt to taste
Fresh mint sprigs for garnish

In a bowl, combine the red watermelon, half of the lime juice and the agave nectar and salt to taste. Blend until smooth, place in a covered container to chill in the fridge for at least an hour. Keeping it totally separate, do the same for the yellow watermelon.

To serve, hold one container in each hand and pour at the same time so that there’s one color on each side. To make a fancy decoration, use a toothpick to swirl a bit of one color into the other. Garnish with a mint sprig and serve.

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While I’m not a big fan of heat waves, I do enjoy what else summertime brings - a bounty of fresh, delicious, sweet fruit.

Since I got all of the fruit (except the lychees) from the local farmer’s market, it doesn’t really need much more to make it any better - just a bit of lime juice and mint.

Minty Summer Fruit Salad
Serves 2

1 white peach
1 pint strawberries
6 lychees, fresh or canned
1 lime
1 tablespoon mint, minced
Agave nectar

Chill the fruit before using, wash and slice the peach and strawberries. Slice the lychees. In a mixing bowl, juice the lime. Add the mint and a drizzle of agave nectar to taste, mix well. Add the fruit to the bowl and make sure everything is well coated.

To plate, fan out the peaches. Pile the strawberries on one side, top with the lychees. Garnish with additional mint.

No Croutons Required is a monthly food blogging event hosted by Tinned Tomatoes and Lisa’s Kitchen. This month’s theme is a vegetarian soup or salad showcasing your favorite herb or one you haven’t experimented with yet.

Minty Summer Fruit Salad is my entry for the event. Mint is one of my favorite herbs, but I usually add it to savory dishes (I don’t know why, it’s just how I am). The minty fruit salad is a refreshing change from my normal usage of the herb, so it’s an favorite and kinda an experiment. And now it’s my favorite experiment.

Lately, fresh lychees have started to pop up at the Asian grocery store. Beneath the red bumpy skin is a sweet, fragrant, juicy, translucent grape-like white fruit. If you’ve never tried them before, they’re quite the summertime treat.

Fresh lychees are so good as is, I’ve never been able to bring myself to actually use them in a recipe. They have a freshness that the canned version doesn’t quite capture. With such a short season (a few weeks) I must eat them before they’re all gone.

To eat, just stick a thumbnail in towards the top to break the skin (be careful not to squirt juice all over the place) and the rest of the skin should easily be peeled off. I like to eat them as I’m peeling them - watch out for the smooth, shiny, hard pit in the middle.

I also remember eating bags of dried lychees as a kid. Although I haven’t seen the dried lychees at any store for years. The whole lychee is dried with the skin on. When dried, the skin turns a cinnamon-brown color and becomes somewhat brittle and the inside becomes dark brown and raisin-like. They were mighty tasty and fun to eat too.

I was down south in the Central Coast area last week, and picked up a half flat of farm fresh strawberries from Okui’s Strawberry Stand in Grover Beach. They’re locally grown, actually in the field right there behind the stand. Can’t get any fresher or sweeter than that.

A half flat of strawberries contains 6 pints - that’s a lot of strawberries. I’ve been eating them plain as a snack. I’ve been eating them with cereal for breakfast. I’ve been drinking them in smoothies. I even convinced my Mom to try some in her salad. She thought I was kidding but it really is tasty in green salads.

But there’s still a lot left, I’ll have to think of something else to do with them strawberries. Any suggestions? Oh, I think I hear the freezer calling their name.