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Posts Tagged ‘salad’

We grew a nice variety of lettuces in the garden last spring, and most of them did very nicely. We had salad from the garden regularly all spring and into the summer.

This is a composed salad I made one day last summer. Since the high is supposed to be about 42*F today, I’m hoping the thought of a cool salad on a hot day might warm me up. If not, I’ll make some hot chocolate.

This is for Photo Friday’s weekly photo challenge. This week’s topic is Homemade.

As you can see, we have lots of really big cucumbers coming in right now, so I’ve been looking for new recipes to use them in. I came across this “Spicy Chinese Cucumber Salad” recipe that sounded really good and decided to try it. Delish!

It could use a bit more seasoning, but we liked it. Dan was worried it would be too vinegary, because I *love* vinegar-soaked cucumbers, but this had only a few tablespoons of rice vinegar, which is less acidic than the white vinegar I usually use, and other ingredients as well. It turned out very good, but I think I will double the chili-garlic sauce next time.

Spicy Chinese Cucumber Salad

1 large cucumber
1/2 tsp salt
2 tbsp rice vinegar, to taste
2 tsp sesame oil, to taste
2 tsp sugar, to taste
2 tsp soy sauce, to taste
1/2 tbsp chili paste, to taste (optional)
2 tsp sesame seeds, toasted

Wash and then peel the cucumber skins in alternating stripes (or peel completely or not at all). Slice the cucumbers in half lengthwise and scoop the seeds and pulp out with a spoon. Slice the cucumbers into 1/4-inch pieces. Sprinkle the cucumber slices with the salt and toss to coat evenly. Cover and place in refrigerator for an hour.

After an hour, squeeze the cucumber slices of as much liquid as possible with your hand. In a medium bowl, combine the cucumber with the rice vinegar, sesame oil, and sugar. Add a little soy sauce and mix the salad. Taste and add more soy sauce until you reach the desired saltiness. Stir in the chili paste and serve cold; it will taste even better if you let it marinate overnight in the fridge. Just before serving, sprinkle with sesame seeds

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This is my contribution to Grow Your Own, the food blogging event that celebrates growing and preparing our own food. It was originated by Andrea of Andrea’s Recipes and is hosted this time by Graziana from Erbe in Cucina (Cooking with Herbs). The roundup of all the tasty recipes is here.

This is one of my favorite potato salads to make – it’s delicious and good for you, and one of the main ingredients came from our own garden: the peas.

Ever since we started a vegetable garden many years ago, we’ve been growing peas. Dan especially likes them – in fact, he’ll eat them raw right out of the garden! But this year, they were especially prolific, so he got some, I got some, and there’s lots more in the freezer for later We planted both snow peas and sugar snap peas this year, and they both did great.

Peas in the garden

So to go along with a grilled dinner, I made this potato salad with peas and roasted red peppers, a take on this recipe from Rachael Ray. I changed the dressing for this one, and it was excellent

Potato Salad with Peas and Peppers

2 1/2 pounds white thin skin potatoes, peeled and diced
2 tablespoons red-wine vinegar

1/2 cup reduced-fat mayonnaise
1 tsp. Dijon mustard
1/2 cup chopped celery
2 tbsp. snipped chives
1/4 cup chopped parsley, plus 2 tbsp.
Salt and pepper

1 (6-ounce) jar, roasted red peppers, drained and chopped
1 cup frozen sweet peas

Put potatoes into the cold water and bring to a boil, sprinkle with 2 tsp. salt, and boil for 10-12 minutes or until tender; drain. Meanwhile, in a small bowl, mix together mayonnaise, celery, herbs, and salt and pepper to taste. Set aside.

Put drained potatoes into a large bowl and sprinkle with vinegar. Allow to cool for a few minutes, then carefully mix in the dressing. Add the peppers and peas and mix, being careful not to break up potatoes. Chill until ready to serve; garnish with reserved parsley.

This is my contribution to Grow Your Own, the food blogging event that celebrates growing and eating our own food. It was created by Andrea of Andrea’s Recipes and is hosted this month by Zora of gardenopolis.

I wanted a nice, healthy side dish for grilled tuna and scallops, and put together this delicious noodle dish with some of the dozens (it seems like) Asian condiments in my refrigerator. Good stuff.

Chinese Starry Noodles

1/2 lb. spaghetti

1 tsp. soy sauce
1 tsp. oyster sauce
1 tbsp. dry sherry
1 tsp. chile puree with garlic
1/8 tsp. ground star anise
1/8 tsp. cinnamon

1 tbsp. canola or peanut oil
1/2 cup each red and green pepper and onion, thinly sliced and cut into 1/2-inch pieces
1 large or two small cloves of garlic, minced (about 1 tbsp.)
1 tsp. grated fresh ginger
sliced green or red pepper and 1 whole star anise, for garnish

Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil; boil spaghetti 8-10 minutes or until al dente. Combine soy and oyster sauces, sherry, chile puree, star anise and cinnamon in a small bowl and set aside. Heat oil in a large skillet and lightly saute peppers, onion, garlic and ginger. Set aside to cool.

Drain spaghetti and rinse with cool water. Place in a large bowl and combine with the sauce. Mix in vegetables and pour into a serving dish. Garnish with pepper and star anise. Cover and refrigerate until ready to serve.

A couple of weeks ago, some friends had a sushi party, where they made several types of sushi for a wonderful dinner. Thanks again, Bill and Barbara, for a fun, delicious dinner!

I brought a Japanese shrimp-noodle-cucumber salad I discovered last year and really enjoyed. It went over well I used green onions from our garden in this dish.

Japanese Noodle, Shrimp and Cucumber Salad

Dressing
2/3 cup rice wine vinegar
1/4 cup soy sauce
1/4 cup vegetable oil (I used peanut oil)
3 tbsp. sugar
1 tsp. dry mustard
1 pinch cayenne pepper

Salad
1 lb. fresh bean sprouts
14 oz. dried chuka soba noodles (I used spaghetti, broken in half)
1/4 cup toasted sesame oil
2 lb. cooked bay shrimp
3 large cucumbers, peeled, halved, seeded and thinly sliced
6 green onions, sliced
1 tbsp. black sesame seeds, for garnish

Dressing: Whisk together vinegar, soy sauce, oil, sugar and mustard in small bowl. Season with cayenne pepper. (Can be prepared 1 day ahead. Cover and leave at room temperature).

Salad: Bring large pot of salted water to boil. Add noodles and boil until tender, stirring occasionally, about 3 minutes. Blanch bean sprouts in boiling water 30 seconds. Drain and refresh in cold water. Drain well.

Place noodles and sprouts in a large bowl. Add sesame oil and toss to coat. (Can be prepared up to 6 hours ahead. Cover and refrigerate bean sprouts and noodles separately.) Add bean sprouts, shrimp, cucumbers and onions to noodles. Drizzle with dressing. Toss gently to combine. Sprinkle with sesame seeds.

This is my contribution to Grow Your Own, the twice-monthly food blogging event that celebrates home-grown food. It’s hosted this month by the founder, Andrea of Andrea’s Recipes.

Joelen of Joelen’s Culinary Adventures has an unbelievable array of food blogging events going – don’t know how she keeps up with the round-ups. There are lots of tasty-looking recipes from previous events to read about and maybe try.

Right now, at the height of the summer, the event she has going on is Summer Produce, and we have lots. The basil and roma tomatoes are really coming in now, and the cucumbers are catching up. So I made a sort of caprese salad over greens for dinner one night. I know, using vinegar isn’t traditional, but I just love red-wine vinegar with this, so that’s what I use

Fresh basil, cucumber and roma tomato from the garden

Caprese-inspired Green Salad

3 cups chopped romaine
1 small cucumber, chopped
2 roma tomatoes, chopped
1/2 cup fresh mozzarella cheese, diced
1/4 cup fresh basil, julienned
3 tbsp. red wine vinegar
3 tbsp. extra virgin olive oil
salt and pepper to taste

Layer half of romaine, cucumber, tomatoes, cheese and basil in each of two bowls. Whisk together vinegar, oil, salt and pepper and drizzle over salads.

We had a really delicious dinner last weekend – grilled romaine, tuna and peaches. Yum, yum and yum

It fits in perfectly with Joelen’s food blogging event Tasty Tools – the theme this month is Basting Brush, and of course, you need to oil up most foods before grilling them, so they don’t burn or stick to the grill grates. So here’s Dan ready to take the food out to the grill:

And, not my best photo, but here’s the tasty result:

This really doesn’t even require a recipe. For two servings, cut one romaine heart in half, keeping the root end intact, to prevent it from falling apart. Cut a ripe peach in half and remove the pit. Sprinkle the about 8 oz. of fresh tuna with Paul Prudhomme’s Blackening Seasoning (we didn’t really have enough – time to get some more), and brush it and the romaine and peaches with olive oil. Then, while Dan was grilling, I made a balsamic vinegar reduction – took about 1/3 cup balsamic vinegar, brought it to a boil in a small saucepan, and simmered till it was reduced by half.

Then we cut up the tuna, put it on top of the romaine and topped that with salad dressing – Italian for me and bleu cheese for Dan. We drizzled the balsamic reduction over the peaches and that was dinner. As I said – yum, yum and yum

Back in March, Dan and I went to see Bobby Flay do a cooking demonstration in downtown Norfolk. It was lots of fun, and I got an autographed copy of one of his books: “Bobby Flay’s Mesa Grill Cookbook: Explosive Flavors from the Southwestern Kitchen.” I’ve made several recipes from the book and loved them all – although I’ve tweaked a couple

We both really like this recipe for Southwestern Potato Salad – I’ve made it three or four times now. This last time, I used green onions, a red onion, and cilantro from our garden. I know the cilantro looks a little funny, but it’s trying to bloom and I’m trying to stop it

I’m trying to expand my taste horizons, so I went ahead and added the red onion, even though I don’t like the flavor of raw onion. Guess what? I still don’t. But Dan does, so next time, I will just dice an onion for him and he can add it to his portion.

Also, the recipe says to add one jalapeno pepper, finely diced. If you like a lot of heat, go ahead and do this. I made it this way the first time, and it was too hot for us. The second time, I removed the seeds and membrane first, and it was too mild. The third time, I cut the pepper in half and removed the seeds and membrane from one half, leaving them in the other half. This time, it was just right

Bobby Flay’s Southwestern Potato Salad

2 lbs. small new potatoes (I used Yukon Gold potatoes)
Kosher salt
1 cup prepared mayonnaise
2 tbsp. Dijon mustard
2 tbsp. fresh lime juice (about 2 limes)
2 tbsp. ancho chile powder
1/2 tsp. cayenne pepper
1 large ripe beefsteak tomato, seeded and chopped (I used 2 roma tomatoes)
1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro
1 jalapeno pepper, finely diced
3 green onions, white and green parts, thinly sliced (I used two)
1 medium red onion, halved and thinly sliced
4 cloves garlic, finely chopped
Freshly ground black pepper

Put the potatoes in a large pot and add enough cold water to cover. Add 1 tbsp. salt and bring to a boil over high heat. Cook until the potatoes are tender when pieced with a knife, 12 to 15 minutes.

Drain well, let cool slightly, and slice 1/4 inch thick (I cut into 1/2-inch chunks). Put in a large bowl and cover with aluminum foil to keep warm while you prepare the dressing.

Stir together all remaining ingredients except black pepper in a medium bowl. Pour the mixture over the warm potatoes and mix gently until combined. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Serve cold or at room temperature. This can be made up to one day ahead and refrigerated.

We had this with cole slaw and our first smoked BBQ ribs. It was a great meal.

This is my contribution to the Grow Your Own food blogging event, hosted by Andrea of Andrea’s Recipes.

Leftover Tuesdays is a food blogging event where you make a dish and make sure you have extra to make a new dish with the leftovers. This is my first entry, and it’s also an idea I’ve had for a while but I never actually made it before – the salad, I mean. It turned out really well.

So one day I made salmon poached in water and white wine with tarragon sauce. Then I used the leftover tarragon sauce and salmon to make salmon salad.

Poached Salmon
2 cups white wine
2 cups water
1-1/2 pounds salmon

Bring water and wine to a simmer in a large skillet. Season salmon with salt and pepper and poach gently, skin side down, for 8-9 minutes, until just cooked through. To serve, spoon some Tarragon Sauce onto dinner plates and place a serving of salmon on top. Pass remaining sauce at the table, reserving some for the salad.

Tarragon Sauce
1/2 cup fresh tarragon, chopped
1/4 cup fresh parsley, chopped
1 large shallot, coarsely chopped
1 cup mayonnaise
1/3 cup white wine vinegar

Put all ingredients in the food processor and process until the sauce is smooth. Season with salt and pepper. May be made one day ahead and chilled.

Salmon Salad with Tarragon Sauce
2 cups leftover poached salmon, flaked
1/4 cup leftover Tarragon Sauce, or to taste
1 stalk celery, finely chopped

Mix celery with tarragon sauce, then gently mix flaked salmon with the sauce. Serve on crackers as an appetizer or on bread or rolls for sandwiches.