First Time With Friends
Written by: Sabine Roggermeier; Gluecklich Im Sein
It’s officially summer. What makes me say that is actually not the weather report or a look on the thermometer. It is that I finally have my garden furniture out! I had to sand everything off and varnish it. Now I can sit outside again. I am doing so right now enjoying a lunch with lots of raw veggies cut up and sprinkled with smoked Hickory salt I had bought last week on my trip to the Viktualienmarkt—a 240,000 square feet food market in the heart of Munich. Some Bavarian sausage deliciously accompanies the veggies. A quick no-cook meal that is tasty. Just the right thing for a sunny summer day.
This, however, is not the summer dish I meant to tell you about, as there is one I enjoy even more: a nice, easy to make salad I adapted from one I once had in an Italian restaurant. This year it got even better by using the salad and the arugula that’s growing in my garden!
We have already had a few heat waves here in Germany. On one of those hot days a friend of mine, an eight-year-old girl who used to live next door, came by as she was visiting with the part of her family that still lives here. On my way to the garden, she asked me what I was doing. “I want to harvest some salad and herbs so I can fix myself a salad.” “Can I come with you and help you harvest?” Sure she could. I told her what to do and we talked about the salad she is growing at her house for the first time this year. I showed her all my herbs. Some of them are specifically for making teas and drinks and we enjoyed their amazing aromas.
As I had been gone for a few days there was so much salad we gave some to her family and then she enthusiastically asked, “Can I prepare the salad with you?” So off we went into the kitchen to get started. She had been to my home many times before but this was the first time we ever fixed a meal together! She got herself a stool so she could reach the sink and started washing all the produce, while I was getting the salad spinner ready. We ripped the salad leaves into small pieces and cut the tomatoes. The fun part: getting the spinner going, all the chatter we kept up while working, and her little sister’s visit in order to see what we were doing! At the end, I added the homemade dressing and some tuna.
All that was left to do was to eat it! Boy, was it delicious, maybe even more than usual due to the wonderful kitchen help and company! I was so happy to hear she liked it, too, despite tuna not being her favourite. It was so good in fact we had to take a picture and send it to her mother who wasn’t present that day. It was really fun to have this surprise guest added to my dinner plans. Girl, I’ll fix and eat this salad with you again any day!
So here is the recipe. Bear with me as measurements are eyeballed for this in my house!
Green salad: about three cups
Arugula: about one cup
Cherry tomatoes: about 1,5 cups
Tuna: a whole can
Herbs: such as basil, cilantro or anything to your liking
Dressing: Olive oil (preferably lemon flavoured), Aceto Balsamico, honey, salt and pepper
