Trish's Tangy Summer Cucumber Garden Salad

Today, my friend Trish Watlington celebrates the third anniversary of the opening of her two Mission Hills restaurants, The Red Door and The Wellington Steak and Martini Lounge. In that scant amount of time, these two places--and Trish herself--have become fixtures in the San Diego food scene, even as the restaurants themselves have evolved. The most dramatic change has been that Trish brought in Karen Contreras and her landscaping company Urban Plantations to build and maintain a large garden at Trish and her husband Tom's Mt. Helix home.

Friends Trish Watlington (l) and Karen Contreras (r) at the recent Le Diner event in June

In the span of about a year I've watched the garden grow from conception to a full-on producing farm that supplies both restaurants with an abundance of gorgeous produce imaginatively used by chef Miguel Valdez. They even have bee hives on site housing bees that do double duty, as bees do, pollinating the plants and creating honey.

So, it was no surprise to me when I invited Trish and some other friends to brunch a few weeks ago that she brought a salad filled with her garden's bounty. I loved this salad. Filled primarily with cucumbers, it's a huge augmentation of a favorite hot weather snack I make--thinly sliced Japanese or hot house cucumbers marinated in rice wine vinegar. I also toss in red pepper flakes and toasted sesame seeds.

What Trish did, though, was combine the crisp summery cucumbers with crunchy radishes, sweet red onion, and juicy cherry tomatoes to round out the flavors and textures. Then she make it all pop with fresh mint and basil leaves, and flavored balsamic vinegar before smoothing it out with unctuous extra virgin olive oil. The best part is that it's one of those salads that tastes just as good on day two as when it's first prepared. In fact, it could easily be the topping to a bowl of room temperature quinoa or wheat berries for a full meal.

Now, I've got Trish's recipe below, but like most salads it can be altered to suit what you have or have access to. I do have Sweet 100 tomatoes in full ripeness, but didn't have any purple basil or apple mint in my garden. So I substituted that with what's in containers on the patio: variegated basil and mojito mint, which served the purpose just fine, as did conventional radishes. Did I have fig and orange balsamic vinegar? Nope. But I did have some luscious blackberry balsamic from We Olive to use instead. I can also imagine adding slices of daikon, apple, celery, or other crisp produce to the mix.

Oh, and one of the best tools I used to make this dish is my little hand-held Kyocera adjustable mandoline slicer. I can't remember where I bought it (perhaps on Amazon, which I've linked to) but it makes perfect thin--not ultra thin--slices and cost no more than $25.

Happy anniversary, Trish! Here's to many more years for The Red Door and The Wellington!

Trish's Tangy Summer Cucumber Garden Salad
(printable recipe)

4 large cucumbers, thinly sliced
Fresh breakfast radishes, thinly sliced
Red onion, thinly sliced
Apple mint, chopped
Purple basil, chopped
Cherry or pear tomatoes, thinly sliced (I just sliced mine in half)

For dressing
1/2 cup seasoned rice vinegar
1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1 tablespoon fig and orange balsamic vinegar
salt and pepper to taste

Combine the vegetables. Mix the dressing ingredients in a jar and shake. Pour onto the salad. Serve.

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Gardening at the Grant

Farm and fork are growing closer in proximity. Chefs searching for even more inspiration for their dishes are taking on a new role as gardener. It's no longer good enough to buy from the farmers market when you can actually select seeds, then grow and harvest your own produce.

San Diego is seeing a proliferation of restaurant gardens and even farms. I just visited Bistro West and West Steak & Seafood's one-acre farm in Carlsbad--at the same time that my friend Trish Watlington, owner of The Red Door and The Wellington was breaking ground on her property in Mt. Helix on a large garden for the restaurants, designed by Karen Contreras of Urban Plantations.

It's not just a suburban phenomenon. Last week I visited the U.S. Grant Hotel in the heart of downtown San Diego to see the rooftop garden that a company called Brickman installed last summer. Now the garden has become the passion and responsibility of Grant Grill Chef de Cuisine Chris Kurth and Mixologist Jeff Josenhans. The two are literally watering, pruning, feeding, and harvesting their little culinary oasis.

What are they growing? They're heading into a new season, but when I was there tomatoes and peppers were ripening. There was cabbage, broccoli, fennel, and the remnants of Brussels sprouts. Dwarf kumquat, tangerine, and Meyer lemon trees were dripping with fruit. And, there were lots of herbs: basil, cilantro, thyme, chives, tarragon, and anise--all grown from seed.

It was impressive to taste the bounty, too. I sampled a lovely light Persian cucumber soup (see recipe below) and a petite tomato tart, both made by Kurth.

 
Josenhans was handing out Cinnamon Basil "French" Julips, made with Pierre Ferrand cognac, Moet Chandon, muddled cinnamon basil, and orange blossom sugar. And, there was the Rooftop Garden Tour, a cocktail combining Angelica-infused Tangueray Sterling vodka, muddled Russian tarragon and Florence fennel, and white peach puree.

Grant Grill's Cucumber Soup
(printable recipe)

Serves 4

16 peeled and seeded Persian cucumbers, roughly chopped
2 yellow bell peppers, seeded and chopped
1 jalapeño pepper, seeded and chopped
2 tablespoons chopped cilantro
1 1/2 tablespoons chopped mint
1 1/2 tablespoons chopped dill
2 cloves garlic, crushed
2 teaspoons kosher salt (add more or less, depending on taste)
1 1/2 cup yogurt
1 cup sour cream
3 teaspoons tarragon vinegar (add more or less, depending on taste)
Extra virgin olive oil to taste (about 2 tablespoons)

Add all of the ingredients except the oil and vinegar into a high-speed blender and blend until smooth. Pour the soup into a mixing bowl and adjust the seasonings. Next add the olive oil and vinegar to taste. Chill one hour before serving so the flavors can meld.

If you'd like to get a taste of the garden, mark your calendar for the week of July 15, when the Grant Grill, located at 326 Broadway, will be holding harvest/mixology dinners.



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