The title of this recipe says it all. It's an easy chopped salad using a lot of great summer garden produce, with the capers adding a little salty kick to the mix. It's a salad you really can't go wrong with (you can almost never go wrong mixing mozzarella cheese with tomatoes, basil and garlic, period) -- so feel free to eyeball how much of each ingredient you want.

In case you need reminding, here are the ingredients:

Mozzarella (a big ball of the soft mozzarella works best)
Basil
Onions (red or white)
Garlic
Capers
Tomatoes
Balsamic vinegar and extra virgin olive oil

The capers that I used when I made this salad were sent from a friend in Italy and heavily salted so I first rinsed them thoroughly -- letting them soak and changing the water a few times. This step can probably be skipped depending on how you feel about the brine your capers are in.

I then chopped the onion, garlic, basil and mozzarella cheese and put them all in a bowl to marinate in balsamic vinegar and a little olive oil.

Then I chopped the tomatoes and strained and patted them with a paper towel to get rid of the excess water. I put the tomatoes into a separate container and into the refrigerator, then added the capers to the marinating onion, garlic, basil and mozzarella and put them into the refrigerator as well.

When it was time to serve I added the tomatoes to the marinating mix for what was now a chopped tomato, onion, garlic, basil, caper, mozzarella salad.  Voila! or -- since this is really an Italian salad -- Ecco!

As a way to continue living into its motto of “Food with Integrity,” the Chipotle restaurant chain recently announced a commitment to source at least 35 percent of its produce, including bell peppers, jalapenos, romaine lettuce and red onions, from within 200 miles of each restaurant (the industry average is 1,500 miles) This is an increase of 10 percent last year before, when the program was initiated.

I recently spoke with Chris Arnold, a spokesperson for Chipotle, on the program, how they keep the ingredients consistent and tips for home gardeners on working with peppers and chilies. He was also nice enough to give us their recipe for spicy guacamole (click "read more" and the recipe will be at the bottom of the post).

What made you decide to embark on this program?

We have been on a journey for about the last 10 years looking to find more sustainable sources for all of the ingredients that we use. It started by using naturally raised pork and has grown from there. We serve more naturally raised meat than any restaurant in the world. Now we have been increasing the amounts of organic and locally grown produce – and have committed to buying at least 35 percent of at least one produce item from local farms. The food tastes better and it’s better for the animals and the environment.

Carrot greens are pretty tough customers, and that reputation is well earned—you’ll be giving your jaw a workout if you try to chew them straight off the carrot. They’re often tossed into a juicer as a “why not” ingredient for something like carrot/apple juice, and they’re definitely overlooked as a primary component in salads.

With some preparation though, they make an excellent addition to a summer salad, especially after you’ve used all your carrots in other dishes. I add carrot greens to raw fennel, diced onion, chopped basil, halved grape tomatoes, and diced feta cheese, tossed with a citrus-infused olive oil, and an herb-infused balsamic.

The anise flavor of the fennel combines nicely with the mild, grassy sweetness of the carrot greens. The onions add an aromatic bite, the feta adds a salty, creamy component, and the grape tomatoes add a bit of acid. It’s a tasty balance of flavors.

Just like radish greens, you want to soak and spin the carrot greens before chopping to remove all the dirt present. Also, chopping the carrot greens takes a bit of effort. You want them to resemble finely chopped dill when you’re done. I chop the fennel stalks and the carrot greens at the same time so they have a similar consistency.

We’ve all seen them -- those impossibly large zucchinis that someone should have picked weeks ago, but they just looked so nice on the vine that they didn’t get harvested until they became the size of small children or pets. Zucchinis are squash, not gourds, so they don’t keep forever either as evidence of your prowess at growing monster fruits of the vine.

So, what to do? Strata, of course! Strata is kind of a lasagna without pasta. It involves cheeses, often eggs and veggies, all layered and baked. Now, I had someone’s zucchini concoction at our Labor Day party in the garden last summer and it was delicious, so I decided to try making something like it on my own, no recipes, just intuition, a very large zucchini and as much stuff grown in my garden as possible.

Here’s how I did it (click "read more"):