Published by mel on September 12, 2008 in entree, recipe and sides & bites.
This week I saw some things at the grocery store that I’d never seen before. They were in the produce department, right next to the cartons of black mission figs (buy one get one free this week! yay!). They were big, round, purple and the label said they were grapes. Muscadine grapes. But, these were unlike any grape I’d ever seen before.
First of all, they were huge. About the size of a big gumball, I’d say. The skin looked more like the skin of a plum than a grape. And they were very, very dark purple — almost black. I bought some because I was intrigued, and because they were half price. I was so intrigued that I ate one as soon as I got home and immediately googled them. According to Wikipedia and the label on the inside of the carton, Muscadine grapes are native to the U.S. and reach their peak during the hottest months of the summer. They thrive in hot and humid places, which explains their appearance at my local grocery store. Muscadines are used to make wine and preserves and are full of healthy goodness.
And the taste? Delicious. Same juicy sweetness of a purple grape, but much meatier, like an apricot. The only downside is their size. Muscadines aren’t very conducive to popping in your mouth like regular grapes. These are definitely 2-bite bad boys, which rules them out for snacking in my book.
I contemplated using them to make a sauce for pork chops, but didn’t have any pork in the fridge. I did have some fresh greens and goat cheese, though. So I candied some pecans and made a salad. A really good salad. The sweet and juicy grapes were a perfect contrast to the tangy goat cheese, and the spiced and candied pecans added just the right amount of sweet crunch. I could eat this salad every day.
Muscadine grapes get an A+ in my book, but this salad would be just as delicious with your standard red or purple grapes. I think the pecans steal the show anyway…
Continue reading ‘green salad w/grapes, goat cheese & candied pecans’
Published by mel on September 9, 2008 in entree, recipe and sides & bites.
I’ve long proclaimed my love of farro. I especially love its chewy texture and the way it absorbs flavors while still maintaining its own subtle nutty taste. A perfect grain for make-ahead salads.
As I was leafing through the latest Food & Wine magazine this weekend, I spied a recipe for a prosciutto cafilulower farro salad and immediately bookmarked it. I bookmark a lot of recipes on websites, in magazine, in cookbooks. I email them to myself and print them out, but never seem to get around to making them. Mostly they sit in my Inbox, or get sandwiched between my cookbooks for months. So, I think this might be a record for me. Bookmarked on Sunday, eating by Tuesday…It looked that good.
But as with every recipe, I couldn’t leave it alone. In fact, I swapped some of the ingredients and left most of them out. They just didn’t seem necessary. Instead of cubed prosciutto (cubed prosciutto is wrong - very, very wrong), I used bacon. Really good Niman Ranch Applewood smoked bacon. I love the sweet smokiness it added to the salad and it played very well with the cauliflower. I also added some arugula because a salad needs its greens, and some lemon juice to brighten it up.
I had this salad for lunch and absolutely love it as main dish. It’s rich and hearty, but still feels light and healthy. How can it be? I don’t know. It just is.
Update: Added pecans to this, which made it even better.
Continue reading ‘farro salad w/bacon & cauliflower’
Published by mel on August 20, 2008 in recipe and sides & bites.
Everyone’s had a classic Waldorf salad right? Sliced or julienned apples, celery, walnuts and mayonnaise? Wikipedia says the Waldorf salad dates back to 1893 and was first served at The Waldorf Hotel (later the Waldorf-Astoria of many-movie fame). It’s sweet and tangy and crunchy. Perfect for a summer BBQ, you can make it a few hours in advance and best of all, you only need four ingredients.
The classic Waldorf is great. If you’ve had it, you know it’s pretty perfect. But some people don’t like mayonnaise. Some people want something more inventive. Some people (me) just can’t leave a recipe alone. So, I’m proposing some variations and twists on the original recipe. There’s really no way to mess this up, so feel free to play with the proportions and substitute anything you think might work here. Just make sure you taste it constantly so you know you’re on the right track.
Some twists on the classic (recipe for that below):
- Substitute thinly sliced fennel for half of the apple amount
- Add tarragon to the classic
- Add thinly sliced Napa cabbage (or sub for half the apple amount)
- Substitute plain Greek yogurt for the mayonnaise
- Add some curry powder to the classic (or yogurt version)
- Substitute any other nuts for walnuts
- Add fresh basil, cilantro and mint (would be perfect in combination with the Napa cabbage)
- Make it your own
Continue reading ‘classic waldorf salad, plus some twists on the original’
Published by mel on August 15, 2008 in entree, recipe and sides & bites.
Phew! I’m back from vacation! I was actually back on Monday, but have been so busy working and running around that I’ve neglected the blog, which is very very bad of me. But here I am, and so ready to start cooking.
I ate so well on my trip! We had farm-fresh salad, pork loin, blue cheese and tons of wine in Napa. Delicious chorizo and polenta mussels in Portland, which I am dying to recreate. Fried chicken on biscuits with honey, mustard and pickles (awesome!). Chilled fennel soup with dungeness crab, avocado and grapefruit in Vancouver. Oh! and Japanese-style hot dogs with terriyaki, kewpie mayonnaise and toasted nori (best hot dog ever!). And so many micro-brewed beers and local wines! I can’t wait to re-create all of those flavors.
But for now, I’ve got 2 recipes to post. (I’m trying to make up for being such a slacker.) The first is a pretty fig and fennel salad with shaved pecorino cheese and a lemony dressing. It’s a light and easy meal perfect for summer and fancy enough to serve guests. But you have to make it now before figs go out of season!
The second is a 10-minute honey mustard chicken. It’s honestly as simple as five ingredients and a hot pan. The result is a sweet and tangy chicken perfect for a side of potatoes or on top of a salad. So easy and I bet you have the ingredients in your fridge right now.
This weekend, I’ll be making some new things inspired by my Pacific Northwest trip. I’m hoping they come out well enough to post some fun new recipes.
Continue reading ‘fennel & fig salad | 10-minute honey mustard chicken’
Published by mel on July 9, 2008 in dessert, recipe and sides & bites.
Nothing says summer like watermelon and mint. Watermelon is a summer staple - so juicy, sweet and refreshing. Ricotta salata is a firmer, saltier version of standard ricotta and resembles feta in texture, though it’s slightly creamier. It’s also the perfect contrast to the sweet melon.
I love this salad because it’s so versatile. You can serve mini versions as an hors d’ouevre as I did on Saturday night. Or as an appetizer, snack or even dessert. Depending on how your serving it, you can season it differently. If you’re going savory, drizzle the salad with some good-quality olive oil and a pinch of salt. If you’re serving it as a dessert or snack, drizzle it with honey and a sprinkle it with a coarse, finishing sugar.
Either way, it’s a delicious and unique salad perfect for hot summer evenings.
Continue reading ‘watermelon, ricotta salata & mint salad’
Published by mel on June 23, 2008 in entree, recipe and sides & bites.
Wikipedia says that “The arepa is a corn-based bread from the northern Andes in South America …” In reality, an arepa is more similar to a savory corn pancake, and depending on who’s making it, it’s sometimes filled with gooey cheese. Down here, every street festival has an arepa cart which sells very greasy, very cheesy Colombian-style arepas. There’s even a semi-permanent arepa stand at Hobie Beach on Virginia Key that I’m sure gets lots of business from the multitude of hungry cyclists, runners and beach-goers that crowd the area during the summer.
Anyway, there are infinite recipes out there, all using different amounts of butter, cheese, milk and oil. I opted for a lighter version of the original, omitting the butter and cheese and keeping it as simple as possible to let the corn-ness (is that a word?) really shine. The result was just as flavorful, but way less greasy than the arepa cart.
Since I was trying to keep this meal light — it was lunchtime after all — I served my warm arepas with a refreshing crab and avocado salad. I loved the crab salad as an alternative to tuna and egg salads for the summer months. It would make a perfect lunch with some whole grain toast and leafy greens. It also elevates the arepas from small and snack-like to a full-blown meal, perfect for hot and humid evenings.
Continue reading ‘arepas w/crab & avocado salad’
Published by mel on June 20, 2008 in entree, recipe and sides & bites.
You know those days when you open your fridge and find that there isn’t much in there. Or, there’s plenty of food, but you’re not in the mood for any of it. Steak? Nah. Sausages? Nope. Pasta? Not again…
So you turn to your pantry and start poking around for something, anything, that seems appetizing. Last night, that happened to be a can of chickpeas, some bulgur and a bag of greens. Ah, a perfect summer salad. But I didn’t want a simple salad - that wouldn’t do. I wanted a salad that felt like a meal. Something hearty, but also refreshing.
The result was a chickpea and bulgur salad topped with a soft boiled egg and fresh, homemade breadcrumbs. I mashed half the can of chickpeas so that they’d hold together with the bulgur. Otherwise, those little suckers are impossible to get on your fork unless you chase them around your plate. Too much effort for a weeknight, really.
The breadcrumbs were a sort of ode to croutons. For some reason, whenever I try to make homemade croutons, I cut enormous chunks of bread and the salad ends up more like a panzanella. These breadcrumbs added a much more subtle crunch. And the soft boiled egg was perfect, coating everything with a glossy yellow richness that made the salad feel substantial and just a bit indulgent.
Cilantro and a lemony shallot vinaigrette brightened it all up for a delicious summer dinner.
Continue reading ‘chickpea & bulgur salad w/soft boiled egg & breadcrumbs’
Published by mel on June 16, 2008 in entree, recipe and sides & bites.
I just got back from a weekend away in beautiful Maine. I was hoping to post this before I left, but never got around to it. Here it is in all of its delicious glory.
Summer’s here and the stone fruits are starting to appear in huge quantities. I love nectarines and often bring them to work for my mid-morning snack. Although tasty, they’re really not ideal for eating at your desk. Usually, I end up bent over the trash can as the juices run down my fingers and drip everywhere. Not very attractive.
If you want to avoid creating such a scene at work, another way to eat those nectarines that I’m sure are piling up in your fruit bowl (aside from a delicious crumble) is to use them in a salad. They provide a nice substitute for the juicy tomatoes which have unfortunately disappeared from stores nationwide, lest we all become infected with salmonella.
The jerk chicken is a nice compliment for the sweet nectarines and goat cheese and vinaigrette give it enough of a bite to curb the fruit’s sweetness. Just add some walnuts for crunch and you’ve got a perfectly well-rounded summer salad.
Continue reading ‘jerk chicken, nectarine & goat cheese salad’
Published by mel on May 28, 2008 in entree, recipe and sides & bites.
Usually potato salad means boiled potatoes and globs of mayonnaise. (Um, duh.) And while this kind of potato salad can be just the thing for a backyard BBQ, it’s not exactly what you want to eat for lunch everyday. I posted a vinaigrette-based version a few weeks ago, and when I saw the pretty, locally-grown fingerlings at the grocery store, I snatched them up for more potato salad.
This time, a simple green salad with oven-roasted fingerlings, greens, feta cheese and pistachios dressed with a lemony vinaigrette. A lighter alternative to the standard potato salad that works equally well as an entree or side. And honestly, roasted potatoes are just perfect for a salad. Hearty and creamy and perfectly satisfying.
Continue reading ‘a different kind of potato salad’
Published by mel on May 1, 2008 in entree, recipe and sides & bites.
I bookmarked this potato salad a few weeks ago and finally got around to making it for lunch. Potatoes, green beans, salmon and hard boiled eggs with a sharp Dijon-y dressing. I’m usually tempted to add all manner of exotic spices or unexpected ingredients to recipes, but I didn’t want to mess with this salad much. I only tweaked the dressing and omitted the capers.
It’s a nice balance of starch, vegetables and protein that filled me up but didn’t feel too heavy. Honestly, it’s a perfect lunch since it doesn’t even require that strenuous trip down a flight of stairs to the microwave. So glad I’ve got leftovers for tomorrow!
Continue reading ‘dijon potato & green bean salad’
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