An Easy Summer Cucumber & Tomato Salad

Summer cooking fits this free-form and easy salad which goes well with any main dish. In cooking, we think of ‘free-form’ as something where measuring is not essential, and the ingredients can be varied. In this case, we had a leftover red onion half, some basil leaves and fresh mozzarella (a rare event in Nan’s Test Kitchen), so it became an easy, healthy and tasty salad!

We have also made a version of this salad with our Passion Fruit White Balsamic Vinegar. The Passion Fruit marries well with both tomatoes and basil and gives a tropical summer flair.

Again, this is one of those recipes where more or less is fine - feel free to increase, decrease or change the quantities depending on your taste and what you have on hand.

ingredients

• 1 cucumber, quartered lengthwise and sliced thin
• 1 ½ cups cherry tomatoes, halved
• 8 ounces fresh mozzarella, ½ inch cube
• ½ cup red onion, thin slices
• salt & freshly ground black pepper
• 5 to 10 basil leaves, chiffonade
• Pastamore Basil Parmesan Olive Oil, to taste (about 2 tbs)
• Pastamore Barrel-Aged Balsamic Vinegar, to taste (about 2 tbs)
  
  

Prepare and combine first four ingredients in a large salad bowl. Sprinkle with salt and freshly ground black pepper. Add the slivered basil and mix to combine. Drizzle with the basil Parmesan oil and combine. Finally, drizzle the balsamic vinegar, and combine once more. Allow to stand in the fridge for an hour before serving for the flavors to meld.

Serves 4 as a side salad.

Strawberry Balsamic Red Wine Sangria

It surprises our fans, but we extol the virtues of using good balsamic vinegar in cocktails all the time. Sangria is another example.

This recipe represents one of two styles of sangria - red wine sangria. Our recipe is a Traditional Spanish-style sangria, with a red Rioja base - it tends to be fuller and richer, which is why we chose a traditional thick rich dark balsamic. We also have a recipe for a lighter Sangria Blanca, with a white wine base. You can find that recipe here.

ingredients

• 1 bottle dry bold, fruity red wine (can be on the slightly sweet side - think Rioja, zinfandel or syrah)
• ¼ cup vodka
• ¼ cup Pastamore Barrel-Aged Balsamic Vinegar
• 2 ½ cups strawberries, sliced
• 1 peach, peeled, pitted and sliced
• ¼ cup super-fine sugar, or to taste
  

Combine all ingredients in a pitcher, add ice, and stir until the sugar is dissolved.

Some notes:

1. Depending on how sweet you prefer things, you may want to omit or add less sugar.
2. We used our Traditional Barrel-Aged Dark Balsamic for this recipe, but most dark traditional 'flavored' balsamics will work. We loved this with our Black Cherry Balsamic, and our Raspberry Balsamic.
3. Feel free to interchange the fruit to the season and your liking.

White Balsamic Sangria (Sangria Blanca)

It surprises our fans, but we extol the virtues of using good balsamic vinegar in cocktails all the time. Sangria is another example.

This recipe represents one of two styles of sangria - white (blanca). Our recipe below is for Sangria Blanca, with a white wine base - it is usually lighter, lending itself more to a white balsamic, which tend to be more elegant. We also have a recipe for Traditional Spanish-style sangria, with a red Rioja base, which you can find here.

ingredients

• 1 bottle light fruity white wine, chilled (think Riesling, Moscato or Chenin Blanc)
• ¼ cup brandy
• ¼ cup Pastamore Pear with White Balsamic Vinegar
• 1 lemon, sliced
• 1 cup strawberries, sliced
• 1 lime, sliced
• 1 peach, peeled, pitted and sliced
• ¼ cup super-fine sugar, or to taste
  

Combine all ingredients in a pitcher, add ice, and stir until the sugar is dissolved.

Some notes:

1. Depending on how sweet you prefer things, you may want to omit or add less sugar.
2. We used our Pear White Balsamic for this recipe, but we had wonderful results with our Passion Fruit and Ruby Red Grapefruit White Balsamic as well.
3. There is nothing hard and fast on which fruits to use, citrus works well, of course, but pears or berries would also be fantastic.

Lemongrass Yogurt Dessert Topping

We developed this simple, healthy dessert topping as an accompaniment to a fruit salad we made for a large gathering in a trifle bowl.  That recipe is here.

Our Lemongrass Yogurt Topping paired with a fruit salad with basil

We use our Lemongrass White Balsamic for this recipe, as lemongrass is amazing when paired with basil as it was in the picture above. This same heart healthy topping for fruit, pie or cakes is wonderful when you use our Pear White Balsamic as well.

ingredients

• one seven ounce container of Greek Yogurt (we prefer Fage)
• 3 tablespoons Lemongrass White Balsamic Vinegar

directions

In a small mixing bowl whisk together the yogurt and balsamic vinegar.  Allow to sit in the fridge for a couple hours for flavors to meld.  Serve in a small serving bowl.

Fruit Salad with Black Cherry Balsamic & Basil

This is an adaption of a Rachel Ray recipe. She used individual trifle dishes, however, we wanted to make this for a holiday brunch, and used a large traditional trifle bowl. In either case, just have clear sides so you can see the beautiful layers.

Industrial Sized for the Family Gatherings

We chose our Black Cherry Balsamic Vinegar for use with this, given its wonderful slight tartness, but our other dark Balsamic Vinegars would also work well.  In particular, our Raspberry and our Fig would make it shine.

The idea is a seasonal fruit selection, and we suggest you vary the colors. Here are the fruits we suggest:

• cherries, halved & pitted
• strawberries, hulled & quartered
• red grapes, halved
• raspberries
• blackberries
• blueberries
• pineapple, cut into ½ inch chunks

ingredients

• 1 pound each of 5 of the fruits listed above
• 4 tablespoons Pastamore Black Cherry Balsamic Vinegar
• slivered fresh basil leaves (about 20, or to taste)
• lemongrass yogurt dessert topping (optional, recipe is here)

preparation

Arrange the first fruit in the bottom of a trifle dish or a medium bowl. Layer fruit #2 on top, then fruit #3; sprinkle with half the basil. Drizzle half the Cherry Balsamic. Top with fruits #4 and #5. Drizzle remaining balsamic; top with the remaining basil.

Serves 6 or more.