Seasonal {Summer} Side Dish!

Soybean and Cherry Tomato “Salad”

To be honest with you, had my Aunt Shelly not come from her farm bearing freshly picked edamame last weekend, I would not have known that it was harvested in the summer. In fact, I probably would have continued to assume that edamame came from somewhere in Asia (yikes). All the better, I suppose, because I was going to share this recipe anyway and call it seasonal!

This is the simplest of simple side-dishes, and one that I have come back to over and over again throughout the summer. You can buy fresh or frozen edamame, but it must be shelled. I typically go for frozen and microwave it because it makes things SO simple, but of course, I will leave that decision up to you! I apologize if you are growing weary of tomatoes, but in the summer I take full advantage and eat at least one per day.

Here is what you will need:

-1 pound fresh or frozen shelled edamame

-3/4 cup buttermilk

-1 clove of garlic, finely chopped or grated

-2 tbsp. olive oil

-2 cups cherry tomatoes (halved)

-a generous handful of fresh basil, chopped

-salt and pepper

Here is how you will make this:

-Boil (for about 5 minutes in salted water) or microwave (according to the package directions) your shelled edamame. Shake in a colander to remove excess water.

-In a bowl, mix the buttermilk, olive oil, and garlic with ½ tsp. salt.

-In another bowl, combine the edamame, cherry tomatoes and basil.

-Mix your two bowls and season to taste with salt and pepper.

This is great as a side dish (paired here with chicken sausage on a homemade tortilla) but I have made it a meal-sized salad by adding leftovers to some chopped romaine lettuce (just add any other vegetable you have on hand and it's already dressed). Yum. I think I may wander off to find the ingredients for this right now...

Recipe here. One of my favorite food blogs!