Published by mel on January 20, 2010 in entree, recipe and sides & bites.
We’re in the throes of winter! Actually, we’re not here in Miami. After the ridiculous cold last week, it’s been a crisp and beautiful 70 degrees every day. This is why I live here! But enough bragging. For most of you, it’s still freezing outside and that makes salads really unappealing. Cold vegetables? No thanks. You want something warm and rich, like a lasagna. Or like this warm winter vegetable salad.
You start with rutabaga (or potatoes), carrots, leeks and brussel sprouts. Those get roasted with some olive oil, salt, pepper, fresh herbs and just a little bit of applewood smoked bacon. You know, because it’s winter and you need bacon in the wintertime. Once they’re caramelized and delicious-looking, you toss everything with some whole wheat orzo and drizzle with a balsamic reduction.
This salad doesn’t mess around – it’s bold and rich from the roasted vegetables, woodsy from the herbs and a little smoky from of the bacon. It’s everything you could ever ask for in a salad – except for lettuce.
Continue reading ‘Warm Winter Vegetable Salad (with bacon!)’
Published by mel on August 12, 2009 in entree, recipe and sides & bites.
I rarely make the same thing twice in a month. Even rarer for me to make something four times in a month. And it’s quite possibly unheard of for me to serve the same dish to guests twice in a week. Well, I think I’ve made this salad five or six times in the last month. And since it’s become Tom’s favorite, he’s been asking for it constantly, and I’m finding myself more than happy to oblige.
So, what is it about this salad that makes it so irresistible? I think it’s the bright and slightly sweet dressing, the freshness of the mint and cilantro and the fact that you can eat a whole heap of it and still feel really good about yourself. It’s one of those rare meals that is immensely delicious and really healthy. Best of all, it keeps in the fridge for a few days, even after it’s been dressed, making for some tasty leftover lunches.
I like top mine with some sliced steak, but it’s equally good with grilled chicken, pork or shrimp – just use whatever you happen to have on hand. It’s the ideal salad for the end of summer heat.
Continue reading ‘Tom’s Favorite Vietnamese Noodle Salad’
Published by mel on May 28, 2009 in entree, recipe and sides & bites.
Now that Memorial Day is over, I assume it’s fair to say that summer’s here. I know, I know. Summer’s not officially here until June 21st, but it’s hot, humid and I’m at the beach every weekend. To me, that means Summer is Here. And with summer comes cookout season. That means you’ll most likely be asked to bring a side dish or two to a backyard BBQ soon.
Pasta salad has long since been a favorite potluck dish. It’s easy, you can make it well ahead of time and needs nothing more than a spoon to serve. It’s perfect.
And of course, everyone has their favorite version. Some are dressed with mayo and some with vinaigrette. Some are tossed with fruit, some with veggies and many with both. I was really craving cold soba noodles, but wanted to translate those flavors into something a little less…slurpy. Something that would be great on a buffet table.
I made this simple pasta salad with whole wheat shells, shredded carrots, green beans, green onions, cashews and a delicious tahini dressing. Topped with fresh herbs, this is going to be the pasta salad I bring everywhere this summer. It’s light and refreshing, but still unique and addicting. Best of all, it would be great with all manner of seasonal vegetables. Hello summer!
Continue reading ‘Asian Pasta Salad’
Published by mel on March 4, 2009 in entree, recipe and sides & bites.
This past weekend I was on a weekend cruise to the Bahamas for my cousin’s bachelorette party. (I know, life is hard.) Cruises mean food 24 hours a day. Breakfast buffet, snack, lunch, snack, 3-course meal, the bar and late-night pizza. All in all, more food (and beverage) than I’m used to. So, this week is all about detox for me, and I made this super tasty chopped salad with a slightly sweet miso dressing. I felt healthy just looking at it…and eating it was was no chore either.
A chopped salad is so much more pleasant than one with big, chunky toppings. Especially when you eat it at your desk and your office has no walls. Much neater. This salad starts with some baby spinach, small enough that chopping isn’t necessary. Pile on your favorite chopped veggies and proteins — radishes, hard-boiled egg, Canadian bacon, Havarti cheese and carrots in my case. Then drizzle with a little miso dressing and dig in.
I’m posting this salad and others this week as part of The Cruise Cleanse. Stay tuned for Taco Salad later this week.
Continue reading ‘Chopped Salad with Miso Dressing’
Published by mel on February 27, 2009 in entree and recipe.
On this busy, busy week I’m experimenting with new ways to get dinner on the table faster. Or in this case, lunch into my lunchbox in record time. This beef stew went from fridge to photograph in 45 minutes. Including vegetable washing and chopping. One of the many reasons I love my pressure cooker. That and I never, ever remember to soak beans.
I used the pressure cooker because I wanted my stew fast, but this recipe would be equally good cooked in a dutch oven with a little more time. Either way, it’s a simple hearty stew made with flank steak, potatoes, carrots, celery, leeks, garlic, rosemary and wine. Simply season and brown the meat, add the remaining ingredients and walk away. Twenty minutes in the pressure cooker (or 1 hour in dutch oven), and you’ve got a hearty, flavorful and healthy meal.
I’m really not a fan of too many kitchen gadgets, but if you’re thinking about investing in a pressure cooker, I’d highly recommend it. I love the idea of putting everything into a pot and walking away. I also love throwing dried beans, a ham hock, onions and dried chipotle peppers into the cooker for 45 minutes for some of the tastiest beans around.
Continue reading ‘Pressure Cooker Beef Stew’
Published by mel on January 7, 2009 in entree, recipe and sides & bites.
I heard somewhere that eating lentils on New Year’s Day is supposed to bring you wealth and luck in the upcoming year, so I did a little poking around. Wikipedia confirms that this is in fact a tradition on the island of Malta, and the tradition goes all the way back to Roman times. Does it still count if you eat them just a few days after New Year’s Day? I think so, but if I’m wrong at least lentils are as tasty as they are good for your health and wealth.
For a really healthy mid-week dinner, I simmered French lentils with sauteed carrots and onions and spiced them up with Madras Curry Powder. A little lemon and olive oil and you’ve got a beautiful base for grilled fish. The Mahi fillets were marinated all day in olive oil, soy sauce and mustard seeds, which makes for a super moist fillet with a little bite to it. A perfect way to ring in the New Year and hopefully bring a little luck to your 2009.
Continue reading ‘Grilled Mahi over Curried Lentils’
Published by mel on November 12, 2008 in entree, recipe and sides & bites.
Some people are born to bake. They know how to follow instructions, can measure quantities with surprising accuracy and are patient enough to do things like let dough rise or bring ingredients to room temperature. Others are a bit more implusive, too impatient to wait for their ingredients (but I want cookies now!), too rebellious to follow a recipe’s instructions, tweaking and changing things as they see fit. These people may turn out some good cookies and cakes, but they’ll never be bakers at heart.
I think I fall into the latter category, and so my attempts and cookies and muffins are never as successful as attempts at soups, mains and sides. Whenever I’m baking, I feel like I’m throwing everything into a bowl and crossing my fingers. I can’t taste and adjust, add a little more of some ingredient, try different accompaniments. I’m coming to terms with it. I’ll never be a baker at heart.
Tangent over, now back to regularly scheduled programming…Thanksgiving. I mentioned on Monday that I’m using this week to test out some new Thanksgiving recipes. The first was a rousing, raging success: Carrot Pumpkin Soup with crushed hazelnuts. (Thanks again to Oh! Nuts for those hazelnuts! They’re so very delicious!)
I had some ground rules for this soup recipe. Since it’s just me and my mom cooking for a large crowd, it had to be somewhat simple. No simmering for hours, straining, simmering or making a roux. There will be enough of that with all of the other Thanksgiving dishes. This soup is super simple — a quick saute of shallots, carrots and garlic, then add some canned (or pureed) pumpkin and stock and simmer for awhile. Run it through with an immersion blender, then stir in some cream, smoked paprika and sherry vinegar. Top it all off with a good drizzle of olive oil and some crushed hazelnut and you’ve got a bright orange, smoky sweet soup that’s perfect for a Thanksgiving first course.
Continue reading ‘Thanksgiving Test Recipe: Carrot Pumpkin Soup’
Published by mel on May 14, 2008 in entree, recipe and sides & bites.
I love summer rolls for a number of reasons.
1. They’re pretty
2. They’re hand-held
3. You can dip them in sauce
4. They’re healthy
5. They are super tasty
I don’t like summer rolls for a few reasons.
1. They’re a pain to wrap
2. The rice paper is delicate as all hell and a pain to wrap
3. Man, are they ever a pain to wrap
I’ve always loved summer rolls. I just never got why they were so expensive. Five or Six dollars for some vegetables wrapped in rice paper? Why? I finally found some rice paper wraps at Whole Foods and thought I’d give them a go. How hard could they be?
Turns out, they’re not so easy. The five or six bucks is for labor, not ingredients. You have to dip the rice paper in warm water to soften it up. You can’t do more than one at a time or they’ll stick together (at least in my experience). And you have to be careful wrapping the little suckers or they’ll break and you’ll have to start all over again.
But they are tasty. Very tasty. Like a hand-held salad you dip in dressing. Maybe I just have to get the hang of it. Maybe, like dumplings, they just take practice. I’m sure I will try and try again until I get them right (I still have like 50 rice paper wraps in the pantry). Next time, I’ll also throw some shrimp in there. I think they need it. Everything is better with shrimp.
Continue reading ’summer rolls w/ spicy peanut & sesame basil dipping sauces’
Published by mel on February 7, 2008 in entree and recipe.
Last weekend I did something I’ve never done before. Something I’ve been wanting to do for awhile, but have been too intimidated to take on. I roasted a chicken. A whole chicken. And guess what? It was really easy! It took me about 10 minutes to prepare it and toss it in a pan with potatoes, yellow carrots and garlic cloves. Then it was into the oven for a while and out came a whole dinner. All I had to do was wait around, peek inside the oven from time to time, and then dig in.
I’ve had many a roasted chicken from take-out places, the grocery store and Whole Foods, but I’d never tasted one with such juicy meat and crispy skin. Obviously, I’d never had such a fresh-from-the-oven treat. It’s true that it wasn’t quite as tasty the next day when the meat had dried up and the skin had turned into the unappetizingly brown soggyness you get at the store (the kind you should definitely peel off and throw away). The roasted vegetables were also pretty delicious. The potatoes were browned and toasted and the carrots had caramelized nicely in the bottom of the pan.
A roast chicken definitely should be eaten moments after it’s taken out of the oven, but the leftover meat is good for tacos, chicken salad, soups, etc. I don’t recommend eating the leftover skin.
Continue reading ‘Roast Chicken w/fingerlings & carrots’
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