RECIPE: A tasty way to graze through lazy summer days
On Memorial Day, this home cook will shut down the oven and embrace summer sustenance. For the next three-ish months, our dinners will be grilled or chilled, and that’s if I make any effort at all. Are you curious what is the absolute minimum amount of cooking that will feed a family, or – hint, hint – a Memorial Day crowd? It’s a grazing board.
No doubt you’ve heard of charcuterie trays, which are gorgeous platters of meats and cheeses. Unfortunately, those little cubes of deliciousness get as sweaty as we do in the hot summer sun. A better choice is a beautiful buffet of meat-free, dairy-free treats that can be enjoyed all day long. While it’s tempting to shake your produce drawers onto the table and call it a day, a nutritionally balanced board full of color and flavor will satisfy the heartiest appetites.
Assemble your grazing board with the same nutritional components of a sit-down dinner. Nuts of all varieties put protein at your fingertips. A savory white bean dip, like the recipe below, does double duty as a cracker sandwich spread, and offers 6 grams of protein with every serving. This dip gets its dairy-free creaminess from skillet-roasted garlic and onions; if you can’t stand the heat, skip the frying pan and substitute a little garlic and onion powder instead.
Sides of dried fruit and fresh vegetables are easy; sides of pickled fruits and vegetables are sublime. Pickled peaches with hot peppers, either DIY or from the grocery store condiment aisle, offer an unexpected combination of sweet and spicy. Pickled red onions are such a crowd-pleaser that they didn’t make the photo because someone put an empty jar back in my fridge.
For starch, you could make crostini out of stale bread and olive oil, or just buy some bagel chips. I’ve also served microwave popcorn and snack packs of Goldfish crackers. When it comes to summertime grazing, easy tastes so good.
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- ½ yellow onion, diced
- 5 whole garlic cloves
- 2 (15.5-ounce) cans cannellini beans, drained and rinsed
- 3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
- 2 tablespoons loosely packed chopped fresh basil leaves, plus extra for garnish
- 1/2 teaspoon sea salt
- 1/8 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
- 3 grape tomatoes, quartered
- In a heavy-bottomed skillet over medium-low heat, warm olive oil 1 minute. Add onion and garlic cloves, and reduce heat to low. Cook, using tongs to frequently stir onion and flip cloves, about 10 minutes, until onions and garlic are brown and soft. Remove skillet from heat and set aside.
- In the bowl of a food processor fitted with the S-blade, add beans, lemon juice, basil, salt and pepper and pulse to combine. Add contents of the skillet, including the olive oil the garlic and onions cooked in, and process until smooth. Taste and adjust seasonings. Spoon bean dip into a serving dish and garnish with tomatoes and fresh basil. Makes 2 cups.
Nutritional information
Per serving: Per 1/4-cup serving: 131 calories (percent of calories from fat, 28), 6 grams protein, 18 grams carbohydrates, 5 grams fiber, 4 grams total fat (1 gram saturated), no cholesterol, 471 milligrams sodium.Read more stories like this by liking Atlanta Restaurant Scene on Facebook, following @ATLDiningNews on Twitter and @ajcdining on Instagram.
