ultimate summer quinoa tabbouleh

plus a video tutorial on trellising peppers, eggplant & tomatoes

Before diving into the good stuff today, I want to share a quick but very heartfelt note of gratitude for all the kindness y’all showed me after last week’s newsletter – it was scary to share what’s been going on behind the scenes in this season, but hearing from so many of you made me feel way less alone. Thank you for being here. :)

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It’s official, summer veggies have ARRIVED. This week brought the *very first* harvests of cherry tomatoes, green beans, eggplant, okra, shishito peppers, etc… as a farmer, it’s genuinely thrilling (and such a relief) to finally see months worth of careful tending come to literal fruition. I know that in a few weeks, I’ll be up to my elbows in summer veggies and the novelty will wear off, but let me just say… every season, the very first juicy bite of a sun-warmed sungold tomato is a truly transcendental experience.

Honestly, I’m still feeling a bit too overwhelmed to spend much time in the kitchen right now, and I’ve found myself sticking to a rotation of super easy, super quick, super delish summer recipes that have kept us fed on these long summer days.

Here are links to all my go-to summer recipes at the moment:

• Roasted Ratatouille

• Mediterranean Sheet Pan Chicken & Summer Veggies

• Shaved Summer Squash with Herbs, Lemon & Parmesan

• Roasted Tomato & Basil Soup

• Chilled Cucumber & Avocado Soup with Fresh Summer Herbs

Trellising 101

For all you home gardeners, I’ll bet your peppers, eggplant, and tomatoes are growing like crazy and starting to become laden with heavy fruits. It’s important to provide support for these fruiting summer crops, so today I’m sharing a very quick video tutorial for how to easily trellis your summer veggies, using just t-posts and twine. This method is called the “Florida Weave” – you just need to pound 6-foot tall t-posts in your rows (spaced every 8-10 feet), then use twine to weave between the plants to provide support as they grow. See below for the video tutorial (it makes more sense when you see it), and if you have any follow up questions just drop them in the comments!

Last but not least, here’s a peek at what our CSA members received in their large-sized boxes for Week 2 of our Summer CSA: lettuce, eggplant, regular & lemon cucumbers, fresh red onions, zucchini, purple potatoes, and first of the blackberries. A very “purple” week!

Need some culinary inspiration for the weekend? Here’s my weekly round up of seasonal recipes from around Substack (and my ever-growing recipe index) to help you eat like a farmer:

• Slow Roasted Cherry Tomato Confit by yours truly (one of my all-time favorites)

• Strawberry Cornbread by

  Clare de Boer
  /
  The Best Bit

• Elote Pasta Salad by

  Hetty Lui McKinnon
  /
  To Vegetables, With Love

Keep reading for today’s recipe for summer quinoa tabbouleh, available for paid subscribers.

A key part of eating like a farmer means having a few staple recipes in your repertoire that are highly adaptable and can evolve with whatever growing season you’re in. The kind of recipe that you can crank out with confidence, relying on whatever veggies + herbs are abundant to dictate the direction you’ll go.

Case in point – I have a version of this quinoa tabbouleh salad for every season, and it never, ever disappoints. The spring version is filled with the first green shoots of asparagus, peas, and radishes with a bright, lemony vinaigrette, and the fall iteration features roasted butternut squash with apples, kale, and a cozy apple cider vinaigrette.

Today’s *summer* take on this quinoa salad is packed with fresh corn, juicy cherry tomatoes, crunchy cucumbers, creamy avocado, salty feta cheese, and tons of summer herbs, all tied together with a simple balsamic vinaigrette. The best thing about these quinoa salads is they last for several days in the fridge, so I highly recommend making a big batch to enjoy through the week.

This salad is hands-down my most repeated recipe all summer long, and I hope you love it as much as we do!

Keep reading for the full recipe (and a handy 1-page PDF for easy printing).

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Summer Quinoa Tabbouleh

Serves 6