"bruschetta" salad

I have wanted to start this blog for quite some time, and now we are in full growing season here in Rhode Island, so I figured I'd better get my act in gear. In this blog I plan to post photos and recipes of the foods that we eat that have a local source. This being Rhode Island, I often consider New York and Maine part of my definition for "local", but if it is grown in Rhode Island that is always my first choice. Granted, during the winter not all of our meals are locally grown, but a balance of local and organic where available.



Yesterday I visited Morris Farms: http://www.farmfresh.org/food/farm.php?farm=15
to get some of their delicious butter & sugar corn. If you ask me, they have the sweetest corn that I have ever had the joy of eating. While I was there I also picked up some tomatoes and some of their romaine lettuce. Luckily they did not have the tomato blight that has been so widespread in Rhode Island this year. I also picked some of my yellow grape tomatoes from my own garden, and put together the following salad. Bruschetta is one of my favorite summer treats, but I have been trying to limit my bread and pasta consumption, so I thought I'd try my bruschetta topping in a different way:

"BRUSCHETTA" SALAD (Serves 2)
Topping:
2 med. tomatoes, diced
4 garlic cloves, minced
juice of 1/2 lemon
1 tsp. salt
2 Tbsp. olive oil
1 dozen large basil leaves

Salad:
Romaine lettuce
1 med. cucumber
kalamata olives (optional)
2 Tbsp. Parmesan, grated (optional)

Mix all topping ingredients in a medium size bowl. Cover & let sit for at least a half hour to blend flavors (not in the refrigerator).
During this half hour wait, wash & rinse salad greens and put into individual salad bowls. Add cucumber slices and kalamata olives. Grate cheese over all. When ready to serve, spoon topping over salad & serve.


To complete this meal I served steamed corn on the cob and carrot sticks.