Improvising

New recipe, courtesy of the good folks over at Epicurious, who've been helping me for several years now learn how to pronounce, say, paillard (PI-yahrd, meaning a veal scallop or thin slice of beef quickly sauteed or grilled) or find excellent recipes when I only have a few ingredients at hand and no idea how to make them interesting. So when I unpacked our farmer's CSA box yesterday afternoon and stared at the fresh produce, waiting for an inspiration to hit, I eventually decided to type in some terms and hope for a hit. Zucchini and some garbanzo beans were to be the two key players.

After some moderately amusing skips across the website, I finally hit upon a recipe that caught my eye - Black-Eyed Pea and Pumpkin Salad. Trouble was, I had zucchini at hand, not pumpkin. And certainly no black-eyed peas. The recipe also called for a plum tomato (none in the house), lime juice (nope), a red onion (uh-uh) and a green bell pepper (sorry). I also needed to bake the non-existent pumpkin in the oven at a temperature much higher than what Jane had already set for her bread. I seemed to be out of luck.

And yet.
-Zucchini and pumpkin are both gourds, so why not substitute one for the other?
-Instead of baking in the oven, why not slice and dice the zucchini extra thin, and saute them over the stove top in olive oil with some chopped garlic?
-Garbanzo beans taste just as good as black-eyed peas.
-We might not have any limes in the house, but we do have a lemon tree growing in the backyard, and while the flavor profile of limes and lemons may differ, both would equally offer a nice zesty citrus kick.
-A few chunks of diced canned tomatoes certainly never hurt anybody.
-Red onion, white onion, whatever.
-Screw the green bell pepper.

So...

Gently saute diced zucchini with some olive oil and minced garlic. Leave to cool in the refrigerator.

Whisk olive oil and lemon juice together. Season with salt and pepper.

Finely dice a small white onion and a cucumber. Add a few spoonfuls of diced canned tomatoes, along with their juices. Chop up a handful of fresh basil leaves. Combine ingredients, stirring in drained garbanzo beans. Season.

Stir in cooled zucchini. Toss and season.

It may not have had much resemblance to the original online recipe, but it had the fresh crisp taste one would hope for in any salad at the end of a long hot October day (this is San Diego, October can be hot). With freshly-baked bread and a nice bottle of wine from Walla Walla (Sapolil Cellars, check them out), it was a fine meal. Thanks CSA box. Thanks Epicurious. Thanks improvisation.