Garden Tomato, Charred Peach and Cucumber Salad

(Serves 4)

Note: you can easily make this salad for as many folks as you like—just adjust the ingredients—it’s all about the mix, not about exact quantities.

Sorghum, Soy and Benne Seed Salad Dressing
Note: “Benne” is the West African word for what many Americans know as “sesame”. These Anson Mills Benne Seeds are heirloom seeds traced back to the original benne seeds brought from Africa. Their flavor is unparalleled and while you can use other sesame seeds in this recipe, the result will be drastically different. You can read about and buy these benne seeds at www.ansonmills.com

Make... ½ cup

¼ cup sorghum
¼ cup soy sauce
2 tablespoons Anson Mills Benne Seeds

In a small skillet placed over medium-high heat, toast the benne seeds, shaking constantly for 1-2 minutes until lightly toasted. Transfer to a small plate immediately to stop the cooking. In a small mixing bowl, whisk together the sorghum and soy sauce and then stir in the benne seeds. This dressing may be stored, refrigerated for up to one week.

For the salad:

2 large, ripe peaches
2 large summer tomatoes, sliced
10-15 cherry tomatoes of any variety
8 baby cucumbers or 1 large cucumber, sliced
Cucumber blossoms (if available
1 bunch fresh purslane or arugula or watercress
2-3 bachelor button blossoms, petals torn off (or other edible flower)
Salt and pepper to taste
Heat a dry, cast iron skillet over high heat. Peel the peaches and place them directly onto the surface of the heated skillet. Roll them around until they are lightly charred. You can also do this with a blowtorch or by skewering the peaches and rotating them over an open flame. The idea is to char the outside without cooking the inside. Allow the peaches to cool slightly, slice them in half, remove the pits and then slice each half into 4-6 wedges.

Slice the larger tomatoes into rounds, halves or wedges and keep any tiny tomatoes whole. If using large cucumbers, peel and slice in whatever shape you like. The idea is to have an interesting variety of shapes for visual and textural interest.

Assemble the salad on a large platter or individual plates by arranging the peaches, tomatoes and cucumbers first and then tucking in a few green leaves of purslane, watercress or arugula here and there. Sprinkle in any cucumber blossoms or other edible flowers. Drizzle the Sorgum, Soy and Benne Seed Dressing over the salad. The soy sauce in the dressing already has a lot of salty flavor but add any salt and fresh ground black pepper to taste. Serve immediately.

Chef Joseph Lenn, Executive Chef of the Barn