Summer is here!

Summer is here and with it come the fruits and vegetables of summer and time for preserving and making salads.

I have been making Zucchini Pickle (you might call it Relish) every summer for abut 30 years.  It is a recipe that my friend Kathy gave me. It is fairly quick and easy to make. Zucchini Pickle is my husband's favourite pickle so I make it every year around this time of year when zucchini's are plentiful and cheap. He likes to give his fishing mate a jar every Christmas - it is his favourite too!

Zucchini pickle is great for having with summer salads and cold meats, or in a sandwich, or just on fresh bread with cheese or cold meat. It is also wonderful for giving to friends or family as a homemade gift.  It has some fabulous spices in the recipe - you can see them ready to go in the mosaic, and the finished product waiting for their lids. Don't you just love the yellow colour!

 You will need:

1lb (450g) brown onions, chopped and sliced finely
4lb (1.8kg) zucchini sliced finely (about 6 zucchini)
2 pints (12000ml) white vinegar 
2lb (900gm) white sugar
2 tablspn mustard powder
1 teaspoon mixed spice
t tblspn salt
1 tblspn tumeric
1 teaspn white pepper
1 cup plain flour (you could probably use cornflour or a gluten free flour)

 Don't use the really big zucchinis as the skin is too tough. 
Slice the zucchinis lengthwise and cut out the seeds. Then slice the zucchinis finely. No need to peel, but I take off any damaged skin. A food processer helps with the slicing.

Put the onions, zucchini and half the vinegar into a large pan. Cook until tender. Mix the dry ingredients with the rest of the vinegar and mix into the pan. Add the sugar. Cook for about 10 minutes stirring constantly. 

Most important to stir constantly! Otherwise it will stick and burn if you don't stir constantly!
Bottle and cover immediately. 

Summer has begun, and our tomatoes are starting to ripen in our garden. Here are some radishes, and little tomatoes. The green bunch of tomatoes tore off the vine accidentally when I tried to pluck a ripe one - oops!

I was chasing the light the morning I photographed this last week, or should I say trying to find somewhere that wasn't so bright! I should have gotten up 2 hours earlier! The sun seems to be coming up around 5.30am now! When the sun went momentarily behind a cloud around lunch time, and I grabbed this shot. Clouds are a great diffuser - especially in the harsh Australian summer sun!

I saw three slightly different variations of the salad shown below in three places last week - Tartelette - www.tarteletteblog.com; The Red Bistro - www.theredbristro.com; and in my fabulous new cook book - Ed Halmagyi's The Food Clock - The Food Clock (fabulous food pics!).
So I guess it was telling me something - that I would need to make and photograph it.

The salad includes, mixed salad leaves, radishes, fennel, pomegranate, red onion, green apple, walnuts, feta. With a drizzle of vinaigrette over it, or your favourite salad dressing, just before serving.

The salad certainly has some lovely summer colours. And Christmassy too with the red and green! Photographed here in natural morning light on my patio. The bowl is "Depression" glass from my mother-in-law's china cabinet. She always used to use this bowl for salads.

And just something a little different - Just playing around with colour and radishes and a different slant on things! Do you like the effect? 
Colour enhancement courtesy of RadLab

Thank you for stopping by. What is your favourite summer salad?
I look forward to hearing from you. Have a fabulous week.

I am linking up to Mary and all the fabulous photographers at Mosaic Monday at Little Red House - please click on the link here to visit - Mosaic Monday

You might also like - please click on the link here -

Summer tomatoes