Tag: Lettuce

carrots

peanuts

peanut butter

napa cabbage

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This recipe is based on one from Deborah Madison’s Local Flavors: Cooking and Eating from America’s Farmers’ Markets. It’s a great one to take to a picnic, or to make ahead and serve at a barbecue. It makes a big batch, so you can either make it all and feed it to a crowd, make a half-batch, or make it all and just dress the portion you want to eat at one time, and eat it a couple of nights in a row. (That’s what I do.) This is a fantastic recipe with any kind of grilled fish and some brown rice, especially if you do an Asian marinade on the fish, and maybe serve a fruity salsa on the side.

salad

2 large carrots, peeled (if the skins are tough) and grated
8 cups thinly sliced Napa cabbage
4 cups slivered lettuce leaves
1 bunch of scallions (including the green tops), sliced thinly
1 cup chopped cilantro
¼ cup chopped mint leaves (optional, but fantastic)
¼ cup chopped Thai basil or sweet basil (optional)
½ cup dry-roasted, salted peanuts, chopped coarsely

dressing

1 jalapeno chile, halved lengthwise, seeds removed with a spoon, and finely diced
½ cup rice vinegar (I prefer brown rice vinegar)
1 tablespoon sugar
1 teaspoon sea salt
¼ cup peanut butter
2-4 tablespoons roasted peanut oil (Loriva brand has great flavor. Don’t use refined peanut oil—it doesn’t have the flavor you want.)

1. Combine the cabbage, lettuce and carrot with the rest of the salad ingredients except the nuts.
2. Whisk the dressing ingredients together, season to taste, and toss with the greens. Taste the salad and add more salt and sugar to taste.
3. Garnish with peanuts and serve.

green salad with garlicky red wine mustard vinaigrette

salad

salmon

mustard

pepitas

avocado

dressings

pumpkin seeds

smoked salmon

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This dressing is one that I make a lot of at once, and then keep in the refrigerator to use all the time. It keeps really well, is yummy and creamy without any eggs or cream in it (mustard is the emulsifying agent), and is great with a variety of different salads. These are two of my favorites—to eat as a meal, with the fish and avocado, or to make more simply, and to eat as a side with soup, beans, or open-faced toast sandwiches. You can also toss the dressing onto steamed broccoli or green beans and top them with toasted green pumpkin seeds.

dressing

6 tablespoons red wine vinegar
2 tablespoons Dijon mustard
4 medium cloves garlic, chopped coarsely
1 teaspoon sea salt or kosher salt
1-2 tablespoons honey
------------------------------
½ cup extra-virgin olive oil

Put first 5 ingredients in a blender and blend until completely smooth. Slowly pour in oil to make a creamy emulsion. Taste and season with more salt or honey if it needs it.

salad—for a meal, with smoked salmon and avocado

1 large head lettuce, washed, dried, and torn into bite-sized pieces, or a large bowl of baby salad greens or stemmed baby spinach
½ cup pepitas (green pumpkin seeds), toasted in a skillet until puffed and golden
1 avocado, peeled and cut into cubes
1-2 cups kippered salmon, flaked (I love to use buttery-rich Alaskan king salmon)

1. Toss the salad greens with dressing to your taste, then add the avocado and salmon. Toss again.
2. Sprinkle toasted pumpkin seeds over the salad and serve.

salad—as a side, with toasted pumpkin seeds

1 head lettuce, washed, dried, and torn into bite-sized pieces, or a bowl of baby salad greens or stemmed spinach
¼ cup pepitas (green pumpkin seeds), toasted in a skillet until puffed and golden brown

Toss the salad greens with dressing to your taste, then sprinkle the pumpkin seeds over the salad and serve.

caesar salad with whole-wheat garlicky croutons

lettuce

bread

croutons

mustard

anchovies

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This is a fun salad—and it makes a head of romaine into a complete meal. You can make a double batch of this dressing and refrigerate the leftovers in a jar for a meal later in the week, so you’re cooking once for two dinners.
It’s a great dish for company, and it’s very easy to bring it along to a potluck dinner—just bring all the components separately, and don’t dress the salad until you’re ready to sit down and eat. (Otherwise, the lettuce will wilt before you eat it.) It’s based on a recipe from Peggy Knockerbocker’s book Olive Oil: From Tree to Table.

I generally just serve this as an entire dinner, because who wants to eat anything else? However, if you feel you need a little extra protein, it’s very nice topped with slices of grilled chicken breast or halibut (season with salt and pepper before grilling).

dressing:

half of a 2-ounce tin of oil-packed anchovy fillets, drained, rinsed and blotted dry on paper towels
3 cloves garlic, chopped coarsely
1 egg (optional)
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
1-2 teaspoons Dijon mustard
¾ cup extra-virgin olive oil
fresh-ground pepper

In a food processor or blender, combine the anchovies and garlic and process to mix. Add the egg, most of the lemon juice, and the mustard and process to combine. With the motor running, slowly pour in the olive oil in a thin, steady stream. Season with pepper and process again. Taste, and add as much of the remaining lemon juice as needed to get a good balance of flavors. Refrigerate until you’re ready to eat.

salad & croutons:

¼ cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese
1 to 2 large heads romaine lettuce, or 3 hearts of romaine
5 slices hearty whole-grain bread (preferably whole-wheat sourdough)
3 tablespoons olive oil
3 cloves garlic, minced or pressed in a garlic press
¼ teaspoon sea salt or kosher salt
fresh ground pepper to taste

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Mash the garlic with the salt in the bottom of a medium-sized bowl. Stir in the olive oil. Cut the slices of bread into ½” cubes and toss them in the garlicky oil until the oil is thoroughly absorbed and distributed. Spread the bread cubes out on a baking sheet and bake for 15-25 minutes, until the croutons are crispy and golden-brown.
2. While the croutons are baking, wash the lettuce, dry the leaves and tear into pieces, and place in a large salad bowl.
3. When you’re ready to sit down and eat, drizzle some of the dressing over the leaves and toss, adding more dressing as needed until all the leaves are coated. Sprinkle with the Parmesan cheese, toss again to mix, and then toss in the croutons. Sprinkle with pepper and serve right away, before the lettuce wilts.

green salad with hazelnut dressing and toasted hazelnuts

lettuce

hazelnuts

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This is a nice salad that was in a springtime Rise & Shine Bakery Bulletin as a component of my unconventional (but by now, traditional) Easter dinner. For the complete menu, see the recipe for egg salad sandwiches in the “sandwiches and things to eat on toast” section. It’s also just a nice salad anytime, though, even in the winter—hazelnuts are sometimes only found seasonally, so when you can find them, try this very simple and delicious recipe.
You can get roasted hazelnut oil at Summit Spice & Tea Co. If you don’t feel like making a special trip, you can use toasted walnut oil and use toasted walnuts, instead. You can get Loriva toasted walnut oil at most grocery stores. (Don’t use refined nut oils—they won’t add any particular flavor to your dressing.)

hazelnut oil vinaigrette

2 tablespoons sherry vinegar
2 shallots, finely diced (or substitute half a yellow onion)
sea salt or kosher salt and freshly-ground pepper
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
1 teaspoon honey
2 tablespoons roasted hazelnut oil
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

Combine the vinegar, shallots, and ¼ teaspoon salt in a bowl and let stand for 15 minutes. Stir in the mustard and honey, then add the oil in a thin stream while whisking. Whisk well until the dressing is thick and smooth. Taste and adjust the amount of vinegar, honey and salt.

salad

bowlful of nice salad greens
½ cup hazelnuts

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Roast the hazelnuts until golden-brown and fragrant, about 15 minutes. After the nuts are toasted, you can rub off some of the loose skins in a kitchen towel if you want, but they won’t come completely clean—that’s OK. Chop the hazelnuts coarsely.
2. Toss the greens with dressing to your taste, and top the salad with toasted, chopped hazelnuts.

southwest caesar salad

lettuce

salmon

bread

pepitas

chipotle

avocado

roasted vegetables

pumpkin seeds

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This is a favorite salad of mine, and the dressing is based on a recipe in a cookbook called rebar modern food. Often we’ll just eat this salad for dinner. It makes a fantastic main course if you add the salmon, or you can omit the fish for a lighter salad if you want to serve other Southwestern-themed dishes with it.

Because this recipe uses roasted garlic, it takes a little planning ahead. If you can remember to do it, you can roast the garlic up to a few days ahead of time, whenever you’ve got the oven turned on for something else. Just keep the garlic refrigerated until you’re ready to use it for the dressing. The dressing keeps well in the refrigerator for a week or so, so you can eat this for a couple of meals, if you like.

Look for the cans of chipotle chiles in adobo sauce in the Mexican food section of the grocery store. You make the chipotle puree by pureeing a whole 7-ounce can of the chiles and sauce in the blender. Then, just store a jar of the puree in your refrigerator or freezer. Or, if you don’t think you’ll have much use for the puree, just fish out a chile from the can and toss that in the blender with the rest of the dressing ingredients. Make sure not to get a really big chile, though! They are spicy! You can freeze the remaining chiles in a flattened plastic ziploc bag, and just break a chunk off as you need it.

This salad is fantastic with slices of golden, crispy toast made from Rise & Shine Bakery’s golden maize pan loaf! It’s also really nice with black bean chili (don’t add the salmon to the salad, if serving with the chili).

dressing

1 bulb roasted garlic (recipe follows)
1 tablespoon lime juice
1 tablespoon rice wine vinegar
1 tablespoon capers, rinsed and drained
1 ½ teaspoons Dijon mustard
1 garlic clove, chopped coarsely
½ teaspoon sea salt or kosher salt
¼ teaspoon cracked pepper
1 tablespoon chipotle puree (see note in recipe introduction, above), or 1 of the whole chiles from the can
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½ cup olive oil

Squeeze out the contents from the roasted garlic bulb and combine with the other ingredients, except the oil, in the bowl of a blender. Blend until smooth. With the motor running, slowly drizzle in the oil until thick and creamy. Correct seasonings to taste.

salad

1 very large head romaine lettuce or 2-3 hearts of romaine, washed, dried, and torn into bite-sized pieces
½ cup pepitas (green pumpkin seeds), toasted in a skillet until puffed and golden
1 avocado
1 cup kippered salmon, flaked (I love to use the buttery-rich Alaskan king salmon) or canned salmon, flaked [optional—use the fish if you want this to be a main dish]
slices of golden maize sourdough bread

1. Peel and dice the avocado.
2. Toast slices of golden maize sourdough bread.
3. Toss lettuce with dressing to your taste, add avocado and flaked salmon (if using). Toss again.
4. Sprinkle with toasted pepitas, and serve the salad with toast on the side.

roasted garlic
You can make several heads of this garlic when you bake it, and spread the soft, sweet cloves on toast, or add to other dishes, like soups, or hummus, or beans.

whole heads of garlic
olive oil
salt and pepper

1. Pre-heat the oven to 400 degrees (or whatever temperature at which you’re baking something else). Slice the top off the garlic bulb, just enough to expose the tops of the garlic flesh. Center the bulb on a square of aluminum foil. Drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Wrap the bulb securely and pop it into the oven.
2. After 45 minutes or so (longer if it’s at a lower temperature), you should start to smell the roasting garlic, but depending on the size of your bulb, it may need a bit more time. Test by unwrapping it and slipping the sharp point of a paring knife into one of the cloves. If it slides in effortlessly, or the cloves are starting to poke out of their skins, then the garlic is ready.

strawberry-mint salad with honey-balsamic dressing

lettuce

mint

strawberries

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This recipe is a variation on a recipe in Audrey Alsterberg and Wanda Urbanowicz’s rebar modern food. If you’re skeptical about putting fruit in a dinner salad, this salad will change your mind. If you can get really sweet, fragrant strawberries, there is no reason to eat anything other than this salad until the strawberries run out. I eat it every day until really fantastic strawberries are no longer available, then I just wait until next year.

If you want to eat this with something else, try it with any kind of a sandwich or toast with a topping. I tend to like eating so much of this salad for dinner that a nice fat slice of toast (I love to use our Rise & Shine Bakery’s toasted walnut or seed bread) drizzled with olive oil or spread with hummus is all I really need. But you could also make roasted red peppers and goat cheese on toast, and that would be a divine combination!

dressing

1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
2 tablespoons honey
1/3 cup balsamic vinegar
½ large white or purple onion, minced very fine
¼ teaspoon sea salt or kosher salt
¼ teaspoon pepper
--------------------------------------
1/3 cup extra-virgin olive oil

Whisk all the dressing ingredients together, except the oil. Slowly drizzle in the oil while whisking. Season with more salt and/or honey to taste. I usually make a double batch of this and keep it in the refrigerator—it lasts quite well. If the dressing separates, just bring it to room temperature and whisk it back up to combine.

salad

3-4 cups ripe, fragrant strawberries
2-3 stalks fresh mint
10-12 cups of leaf lettuce or baby greens, washed, dried and torn into bite-sized pieces

1. Cut strawberries into slices.
2. Pick the leaves off the mint, wash them, and just before serving, chop them finely.
3. Fill a big salad bowl with the greens. Toss with dressing to your taste, then add the mint and strawberries, toss once more, and serve immediately.

peach-almond salad with honey-balsamic dressing

lettuce

chevre

peaches

almonds

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This recipe is a variation on a recipe in Audrey Alsterberg and Wanda Urbanowicz’s rebar modern food. If you’re skeptical about putting fruit in a dinner salad, this salad will change your mind.

I always toast a lot of almonds when I make this recipe because they make such nice snacks. I don’t usually use the cheese—I don’t think it’s necessary with the richness of the almonds, but it is a lovely addition. One of my favorite meals in the summer is to invite friends over and make several trays of halibut fish sticks and a gigantic bowl of this salad. I never bother with another side dish, because I want to save more room for salad and fish, but you could serve slices of whole wheat bread or toast if you like.

dressing

1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
2 tablespoons honey
1/3 cup balsamic vinegar
½ large white or purple onion, minced very fine
¼ teaspoon sea salt or kosher salt
¼ teaspoon pepper
--------------------------------------
1/3 cup extra-virgin olive oil

Whisk all the dressing ingredients together, except the oil. Slowly drizzle in the oil while whisking. Season with more salt and/or honey to taste. I usually make a double batch of this and keep it in the refrigerator—it lasts quite well. If the dressing separates, just bring it to room temperature and whisk it back up to combine.

salad

½ cup or more whole almonds
2 or 3 ripe peaches (or pears)
large bowlful of salad greens
crumbles of soft chevre (goat cheese), optional

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Toast the raw almonds for about 20 minutes, until very fragrant, and light brown inside when you cut one in half. When they cool, coarsely chop up as many almonds as you’d like to garnish the salad.
2. Cut up the peaches or pears into bite-sized pieces.
3. Fill a big salad bowl with 10 cups or more of mesclun mix or leaf lettuce, torn into bite-sized pieces. Toss with dressing to your taste, then add the peaches or pears and toss once more.
4. Top with chopped nuts and cheese (if using); serve immediately.

green soup of sorrel, beet greens, and lettuce

potatoes

soup

chard

sorrel

beet greens

garlicky croutons

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Have you always wondered what to do with those lovely long-leaved bunches of sorrel greens you see at the Farmers’ Market? I ran across this recipe last winter, reading Deborah Madison’s new cookbook about soups, and bided my time, waiting for sorrel season. It’s the perfect thing to use the beet greens left over from using the beets in the beet pilaf recipe! One warning: this soup is sort of an army green color—not the most beautiful color—plus it darkens with time, so it’s homelier still when you eat it as leftovers the next day. However, the flavor is fantastic and vibrant, especially with garnishes of garlicky croutons. The crouton recipe is from rebar modern food.

The second time I made this recipe, I didn’t want to do croutons (I was serving this with the eggplant crostini), so I just sprinkled toasted hazelnuts on the top, and then drizzled a little roasted hazelnut oil over the top… Very yummy! You can find roasted hazelnut oil at Summit Spice & Tea Co.

If you’re using water for the recipe instead of vegetable broth, it might be a little too bitter. The second time I tried this recipe with water, instead of using my very oniony and sweet bean-cooking broth, and it needed a little sweetness. I tossed in some caramelized onions that I had in the freezer, but if you don’t happen to have some of them on standby, try sprinkling a little sugar in the soup to even out the flavors a little.

soup

1 tablespoon olive oil
1 large onion, chopped
2 small potatoes (about 1 cup), thinly sliced
2-3 garlic cloves, minced
1-2 bunches of beet greens or chard, stems removed and leaves sliced
1 large bunch of sorrel, leaves sliced (about 2 cups)
4 cups chopped lettuce
2 tablespoons chopped parsley
sea salt and freshly ground pepper
6 cups of water or vegetable stock (I use the leftover liquid from cooking white beans or chickpeas with onions and garlic)
fresh lemon juice to taste

croutons

5 slices hearty whole-grain bread (preferably whole-wheat sourdough)
3 tablespoons olive oil
3 cloves garlic, minced or pressed in a garlic press
¼ teaspoon sea salt or kosher salt

1. Heat the olive oil over medium heat, then add the onion, 1 teaspoon salt, potatoes, and garlic. Cook for several minutes, then add the greens and parsley. Give them a stir, add the liquid, and bring to a boil. Simmer, partially covered, until the potatoes are tender, about 20 minutes.
2. Puree the soup in a blender (let it cool down a bit, first, and don’t fill the blender too full). Taste for salt, season with pepper, and add a few drops of lemon juice to sharpen the flavors, if you like.
3. While the soup cooks, make the croutons. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. With a fork, mash the garlic with the salt in the bottom of a medium-sized bowl. Stir in the olive oil. Cut the slices of bread into ½” cubes and toss them in the garlicky oil until the oil is thoroughly absorbed and distributed. Spread the bread cubes out on a baking sheet and bake for 15-25 minutes, until the croutons are crispy and golden-brown.

potato and onion salad with smoked salmon

potatoes

salad