Tag: Salads
lentil salad with Indian spices
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I tried a few different side dishes with the stuffed red peppers before I landed on this subtle lentil recipe, and I think I finally got it right! It’s not too spicy, so you can really taste the stuffed peppers, but they have just enough interesting spices and vegetable colors (pink and orange!) to make them a perfect accompaniment. Of course, you can serve this salad with other things, as well; it’s wonderful with the spicy roasted cauliflower with red peppers and cumin, for example! Or you can serve it with a dollop of chutney or a dish of salted, garlicky yogurt and a piece of pita bread.
This recipe is a variation of a salad in Annie Somerville’s Fields of Greens. If you make this salad ahead of time (which is always a good idea with legumes—the flavors deepen and meld together), don’t add the cilantro until just before serving. You’ll need to bring it to room temperature, and then taste the salad again before serving. It will likely need more white wine vinegar and salt before serving—the lentils will soak up the seasonings as they sit, and will need more sparkle. Oh—and if you don’t have the cilantro, that’s OK—make the salad anyway!
1 ½ cups French green lentils
1 bay leaf
3 cloves garlic, peeled and crushed or minced
1 medium red onion, diced
white wine vinegar
4 large carrots, peeled and diced
zest and juice from a lemon
1 ½ teaspoons cumin seed, toasted and ground
¼ teaspoon ground coriander
1 ½ teaspoons sea salt or kosher salt
1/8 teaspoon cayenne
1/8 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
¼ cup coarsely chopped cilantro
1. Rinse the lentils and place them in a medium-sized saucepan; cover generously with cold water and add the bay leaf and garlic. Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat and simmer until tender, 15 to 20 minutes. Make sure not to undercook them (you should be able to squish them between your tongue and the roof of your mouth) but don’t let them turn into mush.
2. Meanwhile, bring another pot of water to a boil. Drop the diced onion in for about 30 seconds, then scoop out with a strainer and toss the onions with a generous splash of white wine vinegar. Add a little salt to the water and drop the carrots in for 4 or 5 minutes, until they are just tender-crisp, then drain and toss in with the onions.
3. In a small bowl, whisk together the lemon juice, zest, 1 tablespoon white wine vinegar, spices, salt, cayenne, and black pepper.
4. Drain the lentils when tender; remove the bay leaf and immediately toss them into a large bowl with the vegetables and the dressing mixture. The lemon flavor will be strong at first, but the lentils will absorb it. Add more salt and vinegar to taste—make sure the flavors are nice and sparkling! Toss in the cilantro just before serving.
salade nicoise with roasted beets & potatoes
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When I find myself with a refrigerator full of beautiful Alaskan produce (and sometimes, some fresh seafood), I often prepare this salad to make a big dent in it. Just pick several of the vegetables to prepare. I usually make a huge salad and invite friends over to help eat it, since it’s so beautiful—I just have to share it! It’s a meal in itself if you add plenty of vegetables and serve it with toasted whole wheat bread dunked in olive oil!
lemony vinaigrette
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 small red onion, minced fine
juice of one lemon
¼ cup white wine vinegar
2 tablespoons Dijon mustard (if you have grainy mustard too, you can use 1 tablespoon of each)
1 tablespoon honey
½ to 1 teaspoon sea salt or kosher salt
¼ teaspoon cracked pepper
½ cup extra virgin olive oil
Whisk together all the vinaigrette ingredients, except the oil, in a small bowl. Slowly drizzle in the oil while whisking. Season with salt and honey to taste, then set aside.
vegetables (pick 5 or 6 of the following to prepare)
2 pounds garlic-roasted potatoes (see following recipe)
1 pound green beans, blanched in salted water until just tender. Drain the beans and immediately spread them out on a baking sheet spread with a dishtowel. (This allows extra water to evaporate, and the beans stop cooking almost immediately.)
1 pound roasted beets (see following recipe), peeled, sliced into wedges, and tossed with some of the lemony vinaigrette
1 pint cherry tomatoes or several slow-roasted tomatoes (see “tomatoes” section)
4 hard-boiled eggs, peeled and quartered (See perfectly cooked hard-boiled eggs in the “sandwiches and things to eat on toast” section.)
1 pound grilled asparagus (see “asparagus” section)
4 roasted red peppers (see following recipe)
1 large cucumber, sliced thin and tossed with some of the lemony vinaigrette
3 large carrots, grated and tossed with some of the lemony vinaigrette
optional fish (pick one if you’d like to include fish in your salad)
fresh Alaskan scallops, threaded on skewers, sprinkled with salt and pepper, and grilled on a clean, oiled rack just until done
kippered salmon, flaked
fresh salmon, seasoned with salt and pepper or lemon pepper, and grilled
fresh halibut, seasoned with salt and pepper or lemon pepper, and grilled
salad
½ cup kalamata olives, pitted
2 tablespoons capers, rinsed and drained
12 cups of assorted salad greens
cracked pepper
Compose this salad on a large serving platter. Toss the salad greens with some of the lemony vinaigrette, and make a bed of lettuce on the platter. Attractively group each vegetable on the lettuce. Have fun with all those colors! Drizzle vinaigrette over all the vegetables. Scatter the olives and capers over all, and sprinkle cracked pepper over the top. Enjoy!!
garlic-roasted potatoes
2 pounds small Butterball potatoes (or other yellow, waxy potato)
garlic oil (recipe in Step 1.)
sea salt or kosher salt and freshly-ground pepper
1. Make garlic oil: Mash or mince 3 or 4 garlic cloves and cover with ½ cup extra-virgin olive oil. Let steep for 30 minutes if you have time. Strain out the garlic and store the oil in the refrigerator.
2. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Cut the potatoes into halves or quarters. Toss them in a bowl with a few spoonfuls of garlic oil, then sprinkle with salt and pepper. Toss again.
3. Lightly oil a large baking dish or sheet pan, and transfer the potatoes onto it, making sure that a cut side of each potato is touching the pan. (The side touching the pan will brown nicely). Roast the potatoes until tender and browned, 35 to 40 minutes.
roasted beets
1. Put the beets (unpeeled) in a baking dish and put ¼” of water in the dish. Cover with foil, and bake them until tender when stabbed with a paring knife. Usually they take 40 minutes or longer, but young beets might be quicker, depending on how big they are. In the fall, when the beets are bigger, they may take much longer—up to an hour and a half. Remove from the oven and let cool until you can pick them up without burning yourself.
2. When the beets are cool enough to handle, slip their skins off. Cut in halves lengthwise and then crosswise into ¼-inch thick slices, or in wedges—as you prefer.
roasted red peppers
1. Preheat your grill or broiler. Roast the red peppers, turning them as each side gets blackened.
2. When they are blackened all the way around, place them in a big bowl and cover it with a lid or a plate until the peppers are fairly cool (this steams and cooks the peppers the rest of the way).
3. Peel the skins from the peppers and remove the seeds, but don’t rinse the peppers—just rinse your fingers as you peel the skins off. Slice the peppers into ½” wide pieces.
carrot & mint salad with currants
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This recipe looks so pretty, and tastes AMAZING, even though it’s very simple. Just go ahead and make a double batch—it keeps fine in the fridge for a couple of days. You might be making this every week, just wait and see. This isn’t one of those recipes that you can skip the mint, though. It’s definitely mandatory. The recipe is based on one from Peter Berley’s Fresh Food Fast.
I love this salad with the Indian-spiced red lentils with zucchini, or the spicy roasted cauliflower with red peppers and cumin. It’s also great as a side salad with sandwiches—like the toasted cheese sandwich with sundried tomatoes, red onions, and crisp romaine lettuce with balsamic dip.
2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice
1-2 teaspoons extra-virgin olive oil
2 tablespoons chopped fresh mint
1 tablespoon minced fresh chives (or scallion greens)
coarse sea salt or kosher salt
1 pound carrots, peeled (if the peels are tough) and grated
¼ cup dried currants
1. Steam the currants over boiling water for 5 minutes.
2. In a salad bowl, whisk together the lemon juice, oil, mint, chives, and ½ teaspoon of salt. Add the carrots and currants and toss well.
3. Add more salt to taste. If the carrots weren’t very sweet to begin with, feel free to add a drizzle of maple syrup, honey, or sugar to bring the carrot flavors up and make the mint sparkle.
caesar salad with whole-wheat garlicky croutons
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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.
wilted spinach salad with olives & garlic-balsamic vinaigrette
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This is a great recipe any time of year. It makes a meal with just the addition of a couple of slices of bread—and I have to say that I’m quite fond of our kalamata olive bread with this salad, echoing the olives in the salad. If you want to heat the whole loaf up (rather than just toasting individual pieces), put the unwrapped loaf in the oven at about 350 degrees for 15 minutes or so, and you’ll have a crusty crust and a hot, moist interior, even if the bread’s been thawed from the freezer.
So, about the salad--you can heat up the vinaigrette and toss the spinach in it right before serving, so the spinach is wilted just enough to soften the leaves a bit. This is great for spinach that is fairly robust. But if you have very tender little spinach leaves, you don’t need to heat the dressing--just use it cold, and it’ll wilt the leaves anyway. There are several ingredients that I feel are optional in this salad—it’s great even if you’re missing lots of them. Although this salad is fantastic if you have mint, it’s still great without it. I also generally omit the feta. I think that the salad is rich and crunchy enough without the pine nuts (because of the red peppers), although it’s very yummy with the nuts, as well. I’ve also made the salad without the red peppers—just with the red onions and olives, and it’s still tasty! The photo at right is of the salad with the mint, olives, and onions, and I used toasted almonds instead of pine nuts! So just go with whatever you have, and be fearless about buying large quantities of spinach!
I make a pretty large batch of this vinaigrette because I like to use it for a couple of meals, but if you think it’ll be too much, you can halve the recipe. The recipe is based on one from rebar modern food.
vinaigrette
6 garlic cloves, chopped coarsely
½ cup balsamic vinegar
2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
1-2 tablespoons honey
1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
1 teaspoon sea salt or kosher salt
½ teaspoon cracked pepper
¾ cup extra virgin olive oil
In a blender jar, combine all the ingredients except the oil. Puree until completely smooth. Slowly add the oil while the blender is running. Taste, and add salt, honey, and/or mustard to taste.
salad
1 pound spinach leaves, washed and stemmed
¼ cup kalamata olives, pitted and sliced
1 red pepper, seeded and julienned
½ red onion, halved and cut into very thin half-moon slices
¼ cup chopped mint (optional, but very nice if you have it)
¼ cup pine nuts, toasted in a skillet (optional)
½ cup crumbled feta cheese (optional)
1. Put the sliced onions in a small bowl, and pour a cup or so of boiling water over them. Let them sit for about 30 seconds, then drain the water off. (This takes some of the spicy acid edge off the onions, but will still leave them crunchy and flavorful.)
2. Combine the spinach, olives, peppers, and onions in a large salad bowl.
3. Just before serving, if your spinach leaves are fairly thick and a little bit tough, heat ½ to ¾ cup of the dressing—as much as you think you’ll need—over medium heat in a small skillet. When it begins to simmer, remove from the heat and drizzle over the salad, then toss well to combine and wilt the spinach slightly. Heat and add more if you like it saucier. If your spinach is very tender, just use the dressing cold or at room temperature.
4. Gently mix in the fresh mint, and if you’re using the nuts and feta cheese, sprinkle them over the top. Serve immediately with slices of bread or toast, if you like.
green salad with hazelnut dressing and toasted 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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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.
spinach salad with hazelnuts and rosemary-balsamic vinaigrette
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Here’s an easy salad with really bright, pungent flavors that will inspire you to eat lots of greens! It’s based on a recipe from rebar modern food, one of my favorite cookbooks for salads. You don’t have to use spinach for this salad—lettuce or baby greens work great, too!
This salad tastes fantastic with toast made from our walnut bread or our toasted seed bread. Or you can follow the rosemary theme and use our rosemary bread! Or you can just use regular 100% whole wheat sourdough levain. Whichever bread you decide on, you can use it to sop up extra dressing. I think the salad is plenty delicious without the blue cheese, but it is a very nice addition. I love this salad with the lentil soup, or the tomato soup, or almost any soup, really.
vinaigrette
2 garlic cloves, coarsely chopped
3 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
4 teaspoons red wine vinegar
4 teaspoons Dijon mustard
2 teaspoons honey
½ teaspoon sea salt or kosher salt
½ teaspoon cracked pepper
2-4 tablespoons fresh rosemary leaves, picked off their stems
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1/3 cup extra-virgin olive oil
Put all the ingredients except the oil in the jar of a blender. Whirl everything until it is completely smooth—this might take a little while because of the rosemary. Slowly pour in the oil as the motor is running to make a smooth sauce. Adjust salt and honey to taste.
salad
10 ounces spinach leaves, or a large head of lettuce, or a bowlful of mixed baby greens
½ small red onion, cut in half and sliced very thinly
¼-½ cup hazelnuts
½ cup blue cheese (optional)
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. Put the sliced onions in a bowl and cover them with boiling water for 30 seconds. Drain them and set aside.
3. Just before serving, place the greens and onion in a large salad bowl. If your spinach is mature and rather toothsome, serve this salad as a wilted spinach salad: gently heat the vinaigrette in a small skillet until it starts to simmer, and drizzle as much as you’d like over the salad. Toss well. If you’re using tender young spinach, or other salad greens, just drizzle the dressing on cold and toss well.
4. Sprinkle with nuts and cheese (if using), and serve with toast.
red cabbage salad with green peas
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This is a recipe that I adapted from one that my friend Colleen emailed me. Hers used radicchio and cider vinegar, but I didn’t have any radicchio—so this salad was born! Both recipes have peas in common, though! If you happen to have access to those fantastic fresh peas from the Valley right now, use them—or if you’re lucky enough to have frozen them last summer, make sure and use them! The frozen ones in the store are mushy compared with frozen Alaskan peas—ours taste sweet, delicious, and fresh, even out of the freezer. See the “peas” section for a method to process them for freezing.
If you don’t have red cabbage, you can use green cabbage, too—it’s pretty, still, with the different colors of green. Since this is a wilted salad, but the cabbage still retains some of its crunch, it’s great as a leftover salad the next day. I love eating this salad as a side to an avocado toast with balsamic vinaigrette and pickled red onions.
vinaigrette
¼ cup white wine vinegar
1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
1 teaspoon sea salt or kosher salt
¼ teaspoon freshly-ground pepper
1-2 tablespoons honey
salad
½ a head of red cabbage, sliced very thin
1 ½ cups fresh or frozen green peas
½ bunch of scallions, sliced thin (or substitute ¼ cup of minced red or yellow onion)
1. Put the cabbage and scallions into a large salad bowl.
2. Combine all vinaigrette ingredients in a small saucepan. Bring to a simmer to dissolve the honey and salt. Add the peas to the vinaigrette and cook for 1-2 minutes (maybe a bit longer if the peas are still frozen), just long enough to warm and cook the peas a little bit. Don’t cook them so long that they start to turn grayish-green; this is just to infuse them with the vinaigrette and soften the skins a little.
3. Pour the hot dressing and peas over the top of the cabbage and toss to mix well. The dressing will wilt the cabbage a little. Taste and add more salt, pepper, and honey as needed to make a vibrant salad.
butterball potato salad with green beans and thyme
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This recipe is modified from a recipe in Annie Somerville’s Everyday Greens. If you serve this recipe at a picnic, I predict that people will be neglecting the burgers. Or do like we do, and just make this salad and another vegetable or salad to go with it, like grilled zucchini or the carrot & mint salad with currants. I like a high proportion of green beans to potatoes, but if you’d prefer the salad to be heavier on the potatoes, use fewer green beans.
2 pounds garlic-roasted potatoes (recipe follows)
garlicky red wine mustard vinaigrette (recipe follows)
½ medium red onion, minced (about ½ cup)
red wine vinegar
1-2 pounds green beans, cut into 1” pieces
1 ½ tablespoon capers, rinsed and drained
½ tablespoon fresh thyme, coarsely chopped, or ½ teaspoon dried thyme
1. Make the garlic-roasted potatoes.
2. Make the vinaigrette.
3. Bring a pot of water to boil and salt lightly. Place the onions in a small bowl and scoop a little boiling water out of the pot, just enough to cover them. Let the onions soak for 30 seconds, drain, and toss with ½ tablespoon of the vinegar. This takes away the sharp bite of the onions, but leaves great flavor and crunch.
4. Drop the green beans into the boiling water and cook until just tender (2-5 minutes). Drain the beans and immediately spread them out on a baking sheet spread with a dishtowel. (This allows extra water to evaporate, and the beans stop cooking almost immediately.)
5. Transfer the roasted potatoes to a large bowl with the onions, capers, thyme, and several large spoonfuls of vinaigrette. Add the green beans just before serving (so their color won’t fade from the acid in the vinaigrette) and adjust the seasoning with more vinaigrette, salt, pepper, and/or a splash of vinegar, if needed.
6. If you’ve made enough for leftovers, only add the green beans to the portion you’ll be serving right away, to keep them nice and green.
garlicky red wine mustard vinaigrette
This might make more dressing than you need, but it keeps very well in the refrigerator. See the other uses for this salad dressing in the salad greens section, under green salad with garlicky red wine mustard vinaigrette.
6 tablespoons red wine vinegar
2 tablespoons Dijon mustard
4 medium cloves garlic, chopped coarsely
1 teaspoon sea salt or kosher salt
1 tablespoon honey
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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 and/or honey.
garlic-roasted potatoes
These potatoes are great with all kinds of things, and are the basis of the previous potato salad recipe, as well as a possible component of the salade nicoise and the tostadas three ways recipes. The garlic-infused oil really makes a difference in the taste! Use these instead of mashed potatoes or rice with any dish. This is an especially fantastic recipe if you use Alaskan Butterball potatoes. Make an effort to buy them, if you can, because they make the very brownest, most caramelized potatoes of any I’ve ever eaten, I think because they have a slightly higher sugar content.
2 pounds Butterball potatoes (or other yellow, waxy potato)
garlic oil (recipe follows, in Step 1.)
sea salt or kosher salt and freshly ground pepper
1. Make garlic oil: Mash or mince 3 or 4 garlic cloves and cover with ½ cup extra-virgin olive oil. Let steep for 30 minutes if you have time. Strain out the garlic and store the oil in the refrigerator.
2. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Cut the potatoes into halves or quarters. Toss them in a bowl with a few spoonfuls of garlic oil, then sprinkle with salt and pepper. Toss again.
3. Lightly oil a large baking dish or sheet pan, and transfer the potatoes onto it, making sure that a cut side of each potato is touching the pan. (The side touching the pan will brown nicely). Roast the potatoes until tender and browned, 35 to 40 minutes.
chopped greek salad with garlicky croutons
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This recipe reminds me of a salade nicoise (the recipe for my salade nicoise is in the farmers market cookbook, and on the web), but it’s inspired by Greek flavors, and it’s a lot easier to do, since you don’t have to cook the green beans and roast the potatoes. It’s inspired by a recent recipe in Fine Cooking.
It goes without saying that I like to make my croutons out of Rise & Shine Bakery whole-grain sourdough bread! They make such flavorful little morsels—crunchy and delicious. You can leave the anchovies and/or feta cheese out for a vegetarian or dairy-free meal!
garlicky whole-grain croutons
5 slices hearty whole-grain bread
3 tablespoons olive oil
3 cloves garlic, minced or pressed in a garlic press
¼ teaspoon sea salt or kosher salt
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.
2. Spread the bread cubes out on a baking sheet and bake for 15-25 minutes, until the croutons are crispy and golden-brown.
dressing
¼ cup minced shallots
1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
¼ teaspoon sea salt or kosher salt
½ teaspoon dried oregano, or 1 teaspoon chopped fresh oregano
¼ cup fresh-squeezed lemon juice, or white wine vinegar
½ tin of oil packed anchovies, chopped and mashed (about 4 fillets)—optional
----------------------------------
6 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1. In a bowl, whisk together all the vinaigrette ingredients except the oil. Continue whisking while slowly drizzling in the oil.
2. Correct seasoning to taste—if it’s too sharp and lemony, add a bit more salt and/or oil.
salad
6-8 cups of young arugula, washed and dried (or substitute any salad greens)
2 cups fresh tomatoes, diced into ½-inch pieces
1 English cucumber, seeded and diced into ½-inch pieces
½ cup Kalamata olives, pitted and quartered
½ cup feta cheese, diced into ½-inch pieces—optional
1. Compose this salad on a large serving platter. Toss the arugula or salad greens with a couple of spoonfuls of the dressing, and make a bed of lettuce on the platter. Then toss the cucumber with a little more of the dressing. Attractively group each component on top of the greens. Drizzle a little more vinaigrette over all the vegetables, if you like. Sprinkle cracked pepper over the top, and enjoy!!
2. 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 lightly coated. Sprinkle with the optional Parmesan cheese, toss again to mix, and then toss in the croutons. Sprinkle with pepper and serve right away, before the lettuce wilts.
caesar salad nouveau (egg- and dairy-free version)
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This is the alternative to the classic Caesar with eggs and Parmesan cheese, and while it’s not exactly the same, it’s really delicious! If you’re trying to be a little healthier, but you love to eat Caesar salads as much as I do, you could do this version sometimes, and make the classic version for special occasions!
This recipe is altered quite drastically from the one that inspired me in a cookbook called Veganomicon. It’ll make a meal if you make this salad big enough! Sometimes I’ll slice some cabbage to put in with the lettuce if I don’t have quite enough romaine for everyone I need to feed.
dressing
1/3 cup raw whole almonds
3 cloves garlic, peeled
¾ pound silken tofu (one whole box of tofu in those little aseptic shelf-stable boxes)
¼ cup olive oil
¼ cup fresh lemon juice
1 heaping tablespoon capers, drained
1 teaspoon salt
1 ½ tablespoons Dijon mustard
1. Pulverize the almonds in your blender. Add the garlic, and blender until the garlic is chopped up a bit. Add the tofu and oil and blend until creamy. (You might have to use a spatula to get it to mix up thoroughly—I recommend only stirring with a spatula when the blender is turned off.)
2. Add the lemon juice, capers and mustard and pulse until blended. (Again, you might have to use your spatula.) Adjust the lemon juice and salt to taste. Cover and chill in the refrigerator until ready to use.
garlicky whole-grain croutons
5 slices hearty whole-grain bread
3 tablespoons olive oil
3 cloves garlic, minced or pressed in a garlic press
¼ teaspoon sea salt or kosher salt
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.
2. Spread the bread cubes out on a baking sheet and bake for 15-25 minutes, until the croutons are crispy and golden-brown.
salad
1 to 2 large heads romaine lettuce
¼ of a small green cabbage, sliced thinly (optional)
fresh ground pepper to taste
1. While the croutons are baking, wash the lettuce, dry the leaves and tear or slice into pieces, and place in a large salad bowl with the sliced cabbage.
2. When you’re ready to sit down and eat, spoon some of the dressing over the leaves and toss, adding more dressing as needed until all the leaves are nicely coated. Since the dressing is thick, make sure you toss very thoroughly before adding more dressing—it takes a while to fully coat the leaves.
3. Toss in the croutons, sprinkle with pepper and serve right away, before the lettuce wilts.
chickpea salad with kalamata olives
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I love this recipe! It’s based on one in Patricia Wells’ Bistro Cooking. It’s so easy (once you cook the chickpeas—and that’s just letting them simmer for a while on the stove), and so delicious! I haven’t tried it with canned chickpeas—let me know if it tastes good, if you try it! You can make a lot of chickpeas at once and then freeze them, ready to make salads. Or you can make this salad and then freeze the leftovers! It makes quite a bit, but it keeps well in the ‘fridge and freezes nicely. You can always halve the recipe if you don’t want to make so much—but why? It’s hardly any more bother to make the big batch and have it for later!
This is a great salad in which to use the really good olive oil you’ve been saving for a special occasion. If you don’t already have some really good stuff, they sure have a nice variety at Summit Spice & Tea Co., at 1120 E. Huffman Road.
for the chickpeas
3 cups dried chickpeas, soaked at least 4 hours or overnight
1 onion, quartered
4 garlic cloves, peeled
2 bay leaves
1. Drain the chickpeas. Put them in a pot, cover with fresh water by about an inch, and add the onion quarters and garlic and bay leaves. Make sure the water covers the onions. Bring to a boil, then turn down the heat and simmer, partially covered, until the chickpeas are completely tender. This could be as short as an hour, or as long as an hour and a half or two. The peas should be quite soft—soft enough to easily mash between your tongue and the roof of your mouth. If you have time, let the chickpeas sit in their cooking liquid and cool—they will absorb more of the flavorful broth and have a creamier texture.
2. Pick out the onions and garlic and bay leaves and discard. Strain the chickpeas, reserving the broth. You won’t need any of the broth for the salad, but it makes fantastic vegetable stock to make soups or stews—freeze it until you’re ready to use it!
for the salad
¼ cup red wine vinegar
10 garlic cloves, finely minced
¼ cup finely chopped minced fresh herbs, such as rosemary, thyme, and parsley (just use whatever you have)
sea salt or kosher salt
freshly-ground pepper
¼ to ½ cup extra-virgin olive oil (to your taste)
1 cup pitted Kalamata olives (or you can use black oil-cured olives, if you can find them)
2 medium onions, finely minced
1. Prepare the vinaigrette: Combine the vinegar, garlic, herbs and a teaspoon of salt. Mix, and slowly whisk in the oil. Season to taste with pepper and more salt, if desired.
2. When the beans are cooked and drained, and while they are still warm (just reheat them if you’ve let them cool), add the olives, onion, and the vinaigrette; toss. Season to taste (they will probably need quite a bit more salt), add more olive oil if you like, and serve. You can serve this salad warm, or at room temperature.
spinach salad with garlic-roasted oyster mushrooms
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I made this salad with two different dressings—first with a balsamic dressing, and then the next day, with my garlicky mustard dressing. I preferred the mustard dressing because it is a little milder, and didn’t overpower the delicate flavor of the roasted mushrooms. If you want, you could add some toasted pine nuts, as well, but I loved it just with a big pile of mushrooms. You can toss the mushrooms in the roasted garlic oil, or just use the simpler version with raw garlic (both recipes are included, below). If you already have the garlic oil and mustard dressing in the ‘fridge (I almost always do.), this recipe is very quick to make. I make it a habit never to run out of that mustard dressing. You can even freeze pint jars of the dressing if you want to make a double batch. (I always do.)
salad
large bowl of spinach leaves
garlicky mustard red wine vinaigrette (recipe follows)
roasted mushrooms (recipe follows)
toasted pine nuts (optional--toast them in a small skillet over medium heat until golden brown)
1. Toss the spinach with vinaigrette to your taste.
2. Scoop the dressed spinach into individual bowls. Top each bowl with roasted mushrooms and a sprinkle of pine nuts, if desired.
garlicky mustard red wine vinaigrette
6 tablespoons red wine vinegar
2 tablespoons Dijon mustard
4 medium cloves garlic, chopped coarsely
1 teaspoon sea salt or kosher salt
1 tablespoon honey
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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 and/or honey.
roasted mushrooms
1 pound oyster mushrooms (or other mushrooms)
2 tablespoons garlic oil (either of the two versions, below)
¼ teaspoon sea salt or kosher salt
1. Preheat the oven to 450 degrees and coat a heavy rimmed baking sheet with cooking spray.
2. Slice the mushrooms into ½-inch slices, cutting off the ends of any particularly large stems.
3. Toss the mushroom slices with the the oil and salt and spread out in a single layer on the baking sheet. If they don’t fit in a single layer, use an additional baking sheet, because they will steam instead of roast if they aren’t directly on the sheet.
4. Roast for 10 minutes, remove from the oven and flip them all around with a spatula. If they are brown and crispy in places, and completely tender, they are done, but if not, continue roasting until browned and perfect. (See the photograph on the website if you like.)
olive oil infused with roasted garlic
several heads of garlic, cloves peeled
olive oil (you don’t need extra-virgin olive oil for this—the garlic imparts so much flavor that you can use regular olive oil)
1. Put all the whole peeled garlic cloves in a heavy pot. Cover the garlic cloves completely with olive oil.
2. Bring to a simmer over medium heat. Give the garlic a stir, and then turn the heat down to the absolute lowest possible heat, cover the pot, and simmer just at a bare bubble. Stir the garlic occasionally and continue to cook until the garlic cloves are completely soft and tender, and you can easily squish them against the side of the pot with a wooden spoon. This will probably take an hour or more, but check after 45 minutes.
3. Uncover the pot and let cool. Strain the garlic from the oil. This garlic can be used in any recipe that calls for roasted garlic (for example, in the Southwest Caesar Salad, or in the Hummus in the cookbook or on the website). If you make a soup or a stew that needs a little extra pizzaz, just scoop out a few cloves, mash them with a fork, and add them to your dish to really pump up the flavor. You can freeze the garlic indefinitely (I keep it in pint-sized canning jars in the freezer), and just take it out when you need it.
garlic oil
3-4 cloves of garlic, peeled
½ cup extra-virgin olive oil
1. Mash or mince the garlic cloves and cover with the olive oil. Let steep for 30 minutes if you have time.
2. Strain out the garlic and store the oil in the refrigerator.
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There is nothing better than a fresh salad with homemade salad dressing, and the South Anchorage Farmers' Market is full of recipes for them! I especially love Alison's green salad with garlicky red wine mustard vinaigrette, so fresh and full of flavor. I also love the spinach salad with hazelnuts and rosemary-balsamic vinaigrette. Spinach is so healthy for you and tasty too! Thanks for all your wonderful recipes, Alison!
