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Fennel and Apple Salad

7 Nov

Just when I thought I’d exhausted every side salad recipe known to man, I randomly came up with this one. Crunchy and licoricey fennel  tossed with a crispy and tart apple, then coated in a lemony vinaigrette with salty parmesan cheese. A bright, summery and light salad that can be enjoyed even when the weather is none of the above.

Fennel and Apple Salad

What you need:

  • 2 fennel bulbs, fronds reserved, quartered, cored and cut into matchsticks
  • 1 granny smith apple, cored and sliced into matchsticks
  • 1 lemon, juiced
  • 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
  • Salt and freshly ground pepper to taste
  • 1/8 cup freshly grated parmesan cheese
How you do it:

  1. In a large bowl, toss the fennel and apple together with lemon juice and olive oil. Add salt, pepper and parmesan and combine until well coated. For garnish, add a tablespoon or so of chopped fennel fronds.
  2. For the best flavor and texture, let the salad sit in the refrigerator for an hour before serving.

Cantaloupe Caprese

15 Aug

Nearly five years ago, my husband and I went on a cruise for our honeymoon. Cruises are notoriously famous for an overabundance of food, and I was more than happy to overindulge. One of my favorite cruise treats was the prosciutto wrapped cantaloupe that was served at nearly every buffet. I loved the sweet and savory flavor profile, as well as the textural contrast. I’d never had cantaloupe served that way before.

This caprese recipe showcases the same play on flavors as the prosciutto wrapped cantaloupe that I enjoyed on the cruise. It’s a nice twist on the traditional caprese salad, and I think you’ll agree that the sweet melon is particularly good with the balsamic reduction.

Cantaloupe Caprese (serves 2 as a main course; 4 as a salad course)

What you need:

  • 1/3 cup good balsamic vinegar
  • 2 or 3 of the best tomatoes you can find, cut into wedges
  • Half a cantaloupe, seeded, peeled and cut into slices about the size of your tomato wedges
  • Half a large ball (or more if you’re feeling frisky) of hand-pulled mozzarella, generously sliced
  • A handful of basil leaves, cut into chiffonade
  • A drizzle of good olive oil
  • Coarse salt and freshly cracked pepper, to taste

How you do it:

  1. In a small saucepan over medium heat, bring balsamic vinegar to a slow boil and allow to reduce by half; about 5-7 minutes. Set aside to cool.
  2. Meanwhile, toss tomatoes, cantaloupe and mozzarella together on a large serving platter. Top with basil chiffonade, a drizzle of olive oil, a hefty pinch of coarse salt, a few grinds of freshly cracked pepper and a generous drizzle of balsamic reduction (use as much as you like — I ended up using a good 3 or 4 spoonfuls).
  3. Serve with crusty bread.

Arugula, Watermelon and Avocado Salad with Spicy Lime Vinaigrette

2 Jun

Last weekend, while my BFF was in town, we enjoyed a delicious dinner at Mana Food Bar, a small plates-style vegetarian restaurant in Chicago’s Wicker Park neighborhood. One of the items we ordered was the arugula, tomato and avocado salad, and we both agreed that it was one of our favorite dishes of the night.

I decided to put my own spin on that salad by swapping the tomato with some juicy, refreshing watermelon (because what says summer more than watermelon?), and giving the dressing a kick of spice with some cayenne pepper.

Let’s just say it’s total summer yum.

Arugula, Watermelon and Avocado with Spicy Lime Vinaigrette

What you need:

  • 5 ounces arugula, washed and spun dry
  • 2 cups cubed seedless watermelon
  • 1 avocado, cubed
  • 1/8 cup extra virgin olive oil
  • The juice of 1 lime
  • 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
  • Salt and freshly ground pepper

How you do it:

  1. In a large salad bowl, toss the arugula and watermelon. Set aside.
  2. In a medium bowl, whisk together olive oil, lime juice, cayenne pepper and salt and pepper to taste. Add cubed avocado to the vinaigrette and toss very (very!) gently. This step prevents the avocado from browning in the salad.
  3. Add vinaigrette and avocado to the salad bowl and lightly toss to combine. Top salad with freshly cracked pepper before serving.

Summer Wheat Berry Salad with Strawberries and Basil

31 May

When I was a freshman in college, my roommate was obsessed with Food Network — Emeril in particular. At any given hour, you could hear “BAM!” or a round of applause whenever the word “garlic” was mentioned echoing from our dorm room. Up until that time, my skills in the kitchen were pretty much limited to the microwave and the can opener, and I definitely give credit to Food Network for teaching me the basics.

I rarely watch Food Network anymore (most of the chefs drive me crazy), but occasionally I’ll land on FoodNetwork.com to dig for ideas. That’s how I came across this salad. I tweaked the original recipe quite a bit, but the summery-ness of it still remains. Slightly sweet and slightly savory with a variety of textures and colors, it’s a dish that’ll leave you feeling satisfied.

Summer Wheat Berry Salad with Strawberries and Basil

Adapted from Giada De Laurentis

What you need:

  • 2 cups uncooked wheat berries, rinsed and drained
  • 4 cups vegetable stock
  • 2 cups water
  • 1 teaspoon kosher salt
  • 1/2 cup fresh orange juice (from 2 oranges)
  • 1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil
  • 2 tablespoons orange zest (from 1 orange)
  • 2 tablespoons honey
  • 1/4 cup basil leaves cut into chiffonade
  • 1 teaspoon kosher salt
  • 1/2 teaspoon freshly cracked pepper
  • 10 strawberries, hulled and sliced
  • 1 orange, cut into segments
  • 1/3 cup crumbled feta cheese
  • 1/2 cup hazelnuts, toasted and chopped

How you do it:

  1. Bring wheat berries, vegetable stock, water and salt to a boil. Cover, reduce heat to simmer, and cook for one hour. Drain wheat berries and set aside to cool in a large mixing bowl.
  2. Meanwhile, in a small bowl, make the dressing by whisking together the orange juice, olive oil, orange zest, honey, basil chiffonade, salt and pepper.
  3. Add the dressing, sliced strawberries, orange segments, feta and hazelnuts to the wheat berries and toss to combine, making sure the dressing is evenly distributed.
  4. Serve at room temperature or slightly chilled.

Is it Summer Yet? Spicy Mexican Chopped Salad with Crab

30 Mar

 

If you’ve spent more than a week reading my blog, you already know that I’m seriously into salads. In fact, I’ve proclaimed my love for the salad bar many times, as it’s a great place to try new things and discover new flavor combinations.

This Spicy Mexican Chopped one of my favorite summer salads. Yeah yeah, I know — it’s not summer yet. But pretending that it is and making summer-inspired recipes can’t hurt, right? This salad is great topped with grilled chicken or fish, but I thought it would be fun to add crab meat this time — something a bit sweet to balance out the spice from the cumin and jalapeno. The salad itself (sans crab) is great for picnics and summer parties as it doesn’t have any mayo, cheese or other heat and sun-averse ingredients, plus fresh veggies are always better in the summer anyway — especially corn!

So summer, if you could please make your appearance now, I’d be very grateful. Until then, I’ll continue making this salad. XOXO.

Spicy Mexican Chopped Salad with Crab (makes four meal-sized salads)

What you need:

  • The juice of one lime
  • 1/4 cup olive oil
  • 3/4 teaspoon cumin
  • 15 ounce can of black beans, rinsed and drained
  • 2 cups of frozen corn (or fresh if you’re lucky enough to have it available this time of year), thawed
  • 1/2 a jalapeno, seeded and chopped into small pieces
  • 1 red bell pepper, seeded and chopped into chunks
  • 1 plum tomato, seeded and chopped into chunks
  • 9 ounce bag of baby spinach
  • 8 ounces of lump crab meat
  • Salt and freshly cracked black pepper

How you do it:

  1. In a large bowl, combine lime juice and cumin. Whisk in olive oil and season with salt and pepper.
  2. To the same bowl, add the beans, corn, jalapeno, bell pepper and tomato. Toss to combine. (I like letting this mixture marinate overnight for added flavor, but that’s completely optional.)
  3. Before serving, toss the spinach with the veggie and dressing mixture. Divide evenly into four portions. Top each with the crab meat and a grind or two of freshly cracked black pepper.

Roasted Sweet Potato Salad with Black Beans and Gorgonzola

9 Mar

 

I should have added the word “random” to the title of this post because that’s how this recipe came about — if you even want to call it that. (Hence the lack of pictures. Sad.)

I eat salads often — especially for lunch. And since they’re always a part of my meal rotation, I’m constantly thinking about different ways to prepare them. You know — keep it interesting. So last week, when I made that Sweet and Spicy Hash, I had some of the potato mixture left over. Naturally I decided to throw it on top of some greens, top it with balsamic vinaigrette and call it a day. But wait — it was good! Really good. So this week, I decided to replicate that idea (with some enhancements, of course) for lunches throughout the week. Here’s how I did it.

Roasted Sweet Potato Salad with Black Beans and Gorgonzola

What you need:

  • 1 large sweet potato, peeled and diced into 3/4″ chunks
  • 1 small red onion, diced
  • 1 tablespoon olive oil
  • Salt and freshly ground pepper
  • Salad greens
  • Black beans, rinsed and drained
  • Crumbled gorgonzola
  • Balsamic vinaigrette

How you do it:

  1. Preheat the oven to 425 degrees.
  2. Place sweet potatoes and onion on a large baking sheet. Add olive oil, salt and pepper; toss to combine. Roast, stirring occasionally, until potatoes are cooked through and slightly browned; approximately 20 – 25 minutes. Set aside to cool slightly.
  3. Top salad greens with potato and onion mixture, black beans, crumbled gorgonzola and balsamic vinaigrette. Finish with a few grinds of freshly cracked black pepper.

Note: Potato and onion mixture makes enough for about 4 meal-sized salads.

Rainbow Chopped Salad

31 Jan

My 30th birthday weekend has officially come to a close. It’s no longer acceptable to go out to dinner every night and eat cake several times a day (sigh…). A sincere thank you to everyone who wished me a happy birthday and helped celebrate with me.

My friend Mer, my BFF from high school, was one of those people. She was kind enough to make the 2.5 hour drive into Chicago to spend some time with me. Plus, she made me this cake.

Pretty awesome, huh? Chocolate cake with Nutella mousse, Frangellico, and chocolate ganache. Luckily I took a picture of it before this happened…

Lesson learned — DON’T attempt to move a cake after you’ve had a few drinks. I dropped it. On the floor. Ugh. Breaks your heart, doesn’t it? I hate to see a good cake go to waste, so I attempted to salvage it. Five second rule, right? Maybe? Er…anyway…

Before the Great Cake Catastrophe of 2011, we made this salad for dinner.

And dang, was it good. I happen to love salad, but I’m pretty sure this recipe could make any salad hater sing its praises. Not only does it look beautiful, but the combination of sweet fruits, bitter radicchio, crunchy hazelnuts, creamy gorgonzola and tangy dressing makes this salad interesting and delicious.

Rainbow Chopped Salad (serves 4 main course portions)

Adapted from Bon Appetit

What you need:

Dressing:

  • 1/4 cup red wine vinegar
  • 1 1/2 tablespoons finely chopped shallot
  • 1/2 tablespoon honey
  • 1 tablespoon dijon mustard
  • 1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil

Salad:

  • 3 romaine hearts, chopped
  • 1 head of radicchio, quartered and sliced
  • 1 large Fuji apple, halved, cored, diced
  • 1 Asian pear, halved, cored, diced
  • 1 mango, peeled, diced
  • 3/4 cup hazelnuts, toasted
  • 1/2 cup dried cranberries
  • 1/2 cup crumbled gorgonzola

How you do it:

Dressing:

  • Whisk vinegar, shallot,  honey and mustard in small bowl to blend. Gradually whisk in oil. Season dressing to taste with salt and freshly ground black pepper.

Salad:

  • Combine romaine and next 7 ingredients in very large bowl; toss to blend. Add dressing (I didn’t use all of it) and toss to coat. Serve topped with freshly ground black pepper and a side of crusty bread.

Make Friends with Salad

17 Dec

Over the past few months, I’ve had this really unusual craving for beets. I couldn’t tell you where it came from, but I can tell you that I often satisfy it at the Whole Foods salad bar. They have these balsamic roasted beets that are just delicious (of course there are a few of them in the picture). Anyway…

There’s something to be said about a good salad bar.

Sure, it’s a great, healthy meal, but the plethora of choices also gives you the opportunity to try new things and experiment with different flavor combinations.  It was at the salad bar where I discovered that I liked kale — so much so that I rarely eat lettuce salads anymore. I also discovered that I dislike combining blueberries and balsamic vinegar. You win some, you lose some.

The salad bar can also be a great source of inspiration for new recipe ideas. I recently tried mixing sweet potatoes, apples and fennel, which sparked a new recipe idea that I’m currently work on.

If you find that your food situation is in a rut, I encourage you to try mixing it up at the salad bar. If you look hard enough, you’ll find an endless number of delicious possibilities hidden amongst the iceberg, cucumbers and ranch dressing. I promise.

Where do you find your foodie inspiration?

Roasted Butternut Squash Salad with Warm Cider Vinaigrette

8 Dec

Last year around this time, I visited my BFF Mer in central Illinois. She’s a foodie too, so we’re often discussing and sharing recipes. We also share the same love for Ina Garten, better known as the Barefoot Contessa. During my visit, we made this salad — a recipe from Ina’s Back to Basics cookbook — and I was inspired to make it again this fall. Slightly more time and ingredient-intensive than your average salad (but it’s worth it — trust me), this roasted butternut squash version isn’t only delicious, it’s beautiful. Perfect for a main course (which is how my husband and I enjoyed it) or as a starter course, this salad is a great way to showcase butternut squash — one of my favorite fall foods.

Roasted Butternut Squash Salad with Warm Cider Vinaigrette (serves 4 appetizer salads; or 2 main course salads)

Adapted from Ina Garten’s Back to Basics

What you need:

  • 1 small butternut squash, peeled and diced into approximately 3/4-inch cubes
  • 2 tablespoons plus 1/4 cup olive oil
  • 1 tablespoon pure maple syrup (use the good stuff!)
  • Salt and pepper
  • 3 tablespoons dried cranberries
  • 3/4 cup apple cider
  • 2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
  • 1 large shallot, minced
  • 2 teaspoons Dijon mustard
  • 6 oz arugula
  • 1/2 cup walnuts halves, toasted
  • 1/2 cup freshly grated parmesan

How you do it:

  1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.
  2. Place the diced butternut squash in a bowl and add 2 tablespoons olive oil, maple syrup, and salt and pepper to taste. Toss to combine and place squash on a sheet pan. Roast the squash for 20-25 minutes, turning once while roasting, until fork tender. Add the cranberries to the pan for the last 5 minutes.
  3. While the squash is roasting, combine the apple cider, vinegar, and shallots in a small saucepan and bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Cook for 6 to 8 minutes, until the cider is reduced to about 1/4 cup. Off the heat, whisk in the mustard, 1/4 cup olive oil, and salt and pepper to taste.
  4. Place the arugula in a large salad bowl and add the roasted squash mixture, the toasted walnuts, and the grated Parmesan. Spoon just enough vinaigrette (you probably won’t use it all) over the salad to moisten and toss well. Sprinkle with salt and pepper and serve immediately.

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