Cherries Revisited

This was an interesting week. We had a storm on Monday that did a lot of damage all across the Chicago area. Nearly a million people were without power, I was one of them. It came back just under 48 hours. I packed ice in my freezer to try and save as much as possible. It worked quite well, only a few things needed to be thrown away. I can't say the same for my refrigerator. Pretty much everything went in the garbage, including my cherry preparations from the weekend. I redid the recipes for Cherry Salsa and the Lentil Cherry salad. Here is what was on my table this weekend:

Cherry Salsa with Grilled Grouper
Spicy Vegetable Soup
Pesto
Lentil-Cherry Salad

The salsa went very nicely with the grouper and I expect it will be good with the grilled chicken breast tonight.

The soup is one that can be served hot or room temperature. Onion is sauteed in EVOO and some smoked paprika. A large box of vegetable broth is stirred in along with diced plum tomatoes, yellow summer squash, butternut squash, Yukon gold potatoes, green beans and a package of frozen spinach. When the vegetables are cooked and the mixture cooled, red-wine vinegar is added. The soup is served with pesto as a garnish. My friend JoAnn gave me a nice bag of basil and the pesto was made with walnuts, sunflower seeds, garlic, salt and pepper. This is blended with the basil while EVOO is added and grated Parmesan. Salt and pepper to taste. It made quite a bit so I filled an ice cube tray with it and froze it for use later.

The cherry-lentil salad was simple and is very tasty. The lentils are cooked until they are just tender. Drain and cool. The dressing is red wine vinegar, EVOO, sea salt and fresh ground black pepper. One bunch of green onions is sliced and stirred in with the cooled lentils. At serving the cherries are cut in quarters and put on top as a garnish.

This week is to be very hot; upper 90's and very humid. I have a feeling next weeks table will be light and mostly cold. Stay cool!