Skip to content

Posts from the ‘Salad Dressings’ Category

Dec 5

BeetGoatCheeseSaladHempSeed-2
31 Comments

beet & goat cheese salad with toasted hemp & sesame seeds

If it’s Wegetables, it must be Vednesday.

Confession: with waning light this time of year, in order to photograph in natural light, I’ll often prepare some dinner-ish item and eat it all by myself for lunch. If it’s a salad of sorts I’ll usually dress just enough of it to satisfy my lunch appetite, save the rest and share it with the guinea pig when he gets home. You’re getting the picture…this time of year, I’m my own guinea pig. (To be perfectly honest, I don’t mind the job. And today, I flat out loved it. I halved the recipe and ate it all. Drop the “guinea”, keep the “pig”…thank you very much!)

Ever taste hemp seeds? – ok maybe that’s the wrong question – Have you ever bought packaged hemp seed at the grocery store and used your debit card to pay? Toast these little things and they’re about the nuttiest nubbins  you’ll ever eat. Plus, as if taste weren’t enough (and let’s be honest – it really isn’t) they’re jam-packed with nutrition (especially Omega-3′s and -6′s, so super good for your heart and brain!) Add them to your cereal in the morning, your muffins or other baked goods, into your soup, into your … well, whatever!  (I swear to you, these do not taste like hay…or even like grass!)

If you can buy your beets with the greens still attached, that’s a good idea for 2 reasons – decent looking greens means the beets don’t belong to last month, and braised beet greens are the bee’s knees.

You can use a mixture of fresh greens for this salad, but the bitters are so delicious with the sweetness of the roasted beets and the creamy tang of the goat cheese. And then you’ve got all that nutty goodness going on. My goodness, this is good!

Roasted Beet & Goat Cheese Salad with Toasted Hemp & Sesame Seeds

BeetGoatCheeseSaladHempSeed-1enough for 4

for the salad

small to medium beets – 8

hemp seeds – 2 teaspoons

chicory, or baby arugula, or add a bit of radicchio or spinach – about 7 oz. total

goat cheese – 12 to 16 slices

a handful of mustard greens and water cress

sesame seeds - 2 teaspoons toasted

~

for the dressing

red wine vinegar (I used sherry vinegar) – 1 Tablespoon

Dijon mustard – 1 Tablespoon

Hemp Seed Oil – Or Walnut Oil – 1 Tablespoon

Olive Oil - 3 Tablespoons

Parsley, coarsely chopped – 2 Tablespoons

Salt & Pepper to taste

BeetGoatCheeseSaladHempSeed-2

Preheat the oven to 375° F. (190°C.)

Prepare the dressing. Mix the vinegar and the mustard together and then add the oils. Stir the parsley in and then season with a good grind of pepper and a sprinkle of salt.

Read more

Jul 18

NoodledTangleThaiSalad-2
48 Comments

noodled & tangled Thai salad

Oh what a tangled web we weave

when first we practice to conceive

a noodled salad of garden things

kitty-kimboed together,  dressed with zing!

Once scattered with nuts it’s declared as  g o o d

Pray tell – who then shall make it – for

clearly, easily, anyone could!

~

by Wilma Shakespoon

~

Today’s Wegetable Vednesday offering:

An entire vegetarian meal, loaded with raw fresh vegetable goodness, textured and colorful, brimming with citrusy, nutty & Thai chili flavors, tossed into a bed of cushiony yakisoba noodles.

This recipe can be endlessly adapted to whatever is fresh and overflowing from your garden, or whatever inspires you at the produce stand. (Maybe you’ll add slivers of sweet or snow peas, or thinly sliced cabbage or radishes. Or you might decide to even replace the cherry tomatoes with red grapes. You could also add cubes of fried tofu or cooked chicken breast  if it pleases you.)  The dressing you will love,  just as it is.

Noodled & Tangled Thai Salad

Serves 4 as a meal

Simply cut the vegetables into sticks as thin and long as you can, or use a mandolin which will make quick & neat work of it.

  • 1 package of yakisoba noodles
  • 1½ cups very thinly sliced matchstick carrots (or grated into long slivers)
  • 1½ cups zucchini (prepared as carrots above)
  • ½ red bell pepper, cut into match-sticks
  • ½ – 1 cup Jicama (grated into long pieces)
  • 1 cup cherry tomatoes (cut in half if large)
  • 4 tbsp (¼ cup) Peanut Lime Dressing  (recipe follows)
Garnish:
  • ½ English cucumber thinly sliced or thinly matchsticked
  • chopped toasted unsalted peanuts
  • lime wedges
  • chopped or torn cilantro

Prepare the noodles as you like – if dry, you can either boil and simply strain, or strain and then quickly stir fry in a touch of oil (sesame or coconut are good…just go light.)  OR, if you’re using pre-cooked Yakisoba noodles, quickly stir fry. Noodles can be warm or room temperature or chilled. All are equally good.

Place cooked noodles in a large, shallow serving bowl or platter.

Pile the carrot, zucchini, jicama, red bell pepper and cherry tomatoes (and/or any other vegetables) on top the noodles and drizzle with dressing. Toss.

Garnish with the cucumber, peanuts, lime, and cilantro.

You may want to drizzle with drops of sriracha sauce if you love the heat, and some might like an additional bit of tamari or soy. But most, including kids, will like it just as it is.

This dressing is delicious… Read more

May 16

CauliflowerSpinachSalad-1
32 Comments

grilled cauliflower & spinach salad

I hadn’t intended to limit my posts during these renovation weeks to vegetables and salads – wouldn’t you much rather see photos all oozy, fruit syrupy, coconut-sprinkled, chocolate-slathered, honey creamy rich swallows of sweetness that you’d gladly over-consume a day’s worth of calories to sink your face into? Of course you would. And HOW I disappoint - cauliflower, of all things! (So in hopes of making it up to you, may I direct you to a couple kitchens where they’re still putting wildly luscious things on the table that will have you drooling like a toddler cutting teeth? Merci beaucoup, Movita Beaucoup! I NEVER leave your place without a huge smile on my face and dreams of hand-feeding those I love with what you’ve just baked! And Smidge, who NEVER does things by dribs or drabs or “just a smidgens” – but goes ALL out with her exquisite cakes and cake-lets! If you don’t know and love these women already, may I suggest you should?)

Still…you don’t want to forget your vegetables completely do you? And here it is already Wegetable Vednesday!

I don’t know if you knew, but cauliflower ‘s quite the pacifistic vegetable. Mild and meek, ever-open to compromise, never jumping off the fork to assert itself. It’s SO compliant in fact, we can whip it into something very closely resembling mashed potatoes. Though it can be rather bland (flat out dull when boiled) clever humans have discovered various ways to color these pale flowers delicious. Fact is, it’s child’s play since cauliflower virtually never puts up a fight.

Grill it and toss it, while still warm, in a mustard & caper vinaigrette, tumble  in colorful spinach and tomatoes, toss fresh dill at it, and you have a scrumptiously hearty, fresh-as-Spring salad. (And though some are loathe to hear it, it’s chockablock full of vitamins too!)

Grilled cauliflower & Spinach Salad with Tomato, Dill & Capers

  • 2 Tablespoons capers, drained & coarsely chopped
  • 1 Tablespoon French wholegrain mustard
  • 2 garlic cloves, crushed
  • 2 Tablespoons apple cider vinegar
  • ½ cup (120 ml) extra virgin olive oil
  • 1 small cauliflower, divided into florets
  • 1 Tablespoon chopped fresh dill
  • 3½ ounces (100 grams) baby spinach leaves
  • 25 cherry tomatoes, cut in half
  • coarse sea salt & freshly ground black pepper
  • ½ teaspoon mustard seeds (black or brown) OPTIONAL
  • the juice of ½ lemon – at the end

Prepare the dressing: By hand or in a food processor or blender – mix together the capers, mustard, garlic, vinegar and some salt and pepper. Whisk vigorously or run the machine while adding HALF the oil (¼ cup) in a slow trickle. What will result is a thick, creamy dressing. Taste and adjust the seasonings. Set aside.

Read more

May 9

Grapefruit Avacado Salad
1 Comment

Grapefruit & Avocado Salad

Via the rinds is an odd way to enter the subject of tasty foods made with grapefruit, but sometimes Spree does things backwards. There’s no hiding from the fact that this subject DID begin with the rinds – but we can’t let it end there. The other day, I went to the market and filled my cart with about a dozen of the heaviest-for-their-size, juiciest and prettiest organic ruby red grapefruits I could squeeze. I had several things in mind (besides the candied rinds to go with Yaya’s ouzo). It was going to be an entire dinner centered around the grapefruit. Each part turned out so lovely I’ve got to share them with you now! Beginning with the salad…..(and ending tomorrow with a sweet/tart surprise.)

Grapefruit & Avocado Salad

This salad is light, fragrant, and as pretty as Spring.  You’ll probably need a couple of grapefruits for it.

Grapefruit Vinaigrette

  • 1/4 cup fresh grapefruit juice
  • 1 Tbl. champagne vinegar (or other light vinegar such as rice or raspberry)
  • 1 t. minced shallot
  • 2 Tbl. olive oil
  • 2 pinches of salt

The Salad

  • Butter or Bibb lettuce
  • Pink grapefruit segments
  • Avocado
  • Optional: little sprigs of fresh dill or fennel fronds

Prepare the grapefruit segments as you would for any citrus: cut off the top and bottom ends of the whole grapefruit. Setting the grapefruit on one end and using a sharp paring knife, go down along the inside of the rind and remove the white pith as well as the thin outer membrane of the segments. Then, holding the fruit over a small bowl, run the knife along the inside membranes, releasing the fruit and juice into your bowl. Set aside the juice that collects for your vinaigrette.

Either cut or scoop pieces of avocado into the bowl containing the grapefruit segments.

Prepare the vinaigrette by whisking the ingredients together.

Read more

May 9

Salad-Cilantro-Lime

Cilantro-Lime Green Salad

Cilantro-Lime Green Salad

This salad was the accompaniment to the grilled cilantro-lime chicken featured below. All the flavors played happily together, and it was just so dang pretty!

Green Salad Ingredients

  • Lettuce – either mesclun blend or cut romaine
  • Avocado, cut in chunks
  • Tomato, cut in shapes you like
  • Red onion, a few slivered slices
  • Some cilantro sprigs
  • Pumpkin seeds (pepitas)
  • Cilantro-Lime Dressing (below)

If your pepitas are raw, put a small skillet on the stove on medium low. Add pepitas and slowly dry roast them in the pan, stirring frequently. As they begin to firm up and color a bit, add just a few drops of olive oil and a shake or two of salt and pepper. Continue roasting and stirring, watching carefully. They will start to pop and plump. This only takes a few minutes. Combine the salad ingredients (except for pumpkin seeds) in your salad bowl. Add some of your salad dressing – a little less than you think you’ll need – toss. You can add more if you need it. Serve with a scattering of crunchy little pepitas and a few whole leaves of cilantro and extra cut limes.

Cilantro-Lime Dressing

  • 1/2 cup olive oil or grapeseed oil
  • 3 Tbl. fresh lime juice
  • 1 Tbl. red wine vinegar
  • 2 cloves of garlic, roughly chopped
  • 2 Tbl. fresh cilantro leaves
  • 1 tsp. dijon mustard or dry mustard
  • 1/2 t. salt
  • freshly ground pepper

Drop all the dressing ingredients into your blender and process until a creamy, bright and beautiful spring green. Taste for balance of flavors, using a clean lettuce leaf for dipping.  (What you’re most interested in here is a balance between the salt and acidic lime juice and vinegar. Adjust if necessary.) Covered, this will keep in your refrigerator for 5 days to a week.

~ ~ ~
(for printer-friendly version, click  here.)
~ ~ ~

Follow

Get every new post delivered to your Inbox.

Join 1,675 other followers