(Dolen Perkins-Valdez, hardback). From the title you might think this is a book about the s-x word. It’s not. By a long shot. But the story, set in about 1852, is about a black slave woman, and her somewhat misguided “love” for her master. About the children she bore him, under the eagle eye of the master’s wife. But it’s all tied together with a yearly journey made to a place called Tawawa House, a rural inn of sorts in southern Ohio (a free State), that for some years allowed white slave owners to stay at the resort in rustic cottages with their black slaves, as couples. This place existed, according to the author’s afterword, and finally closed because some of the regulars (white couples who stayed in the main house) didn’t fancy this concubine business going on out in the woods. It’s about Lizzie’s relationships with the other slave women, about their desire to run to safety through the local underground, about them secretly meeting some free blacks, finding out more about abolition, and about the hardships all these black mistresses endured, and how little their lives were valued. A real stunning book. (I was sent this book as a perk from Harper Collins – because I had mentioned The Help. No strings attached – I could choose to mention this book, or not, here on my blog. I’m glad to because it’s a very good read.)
(Jamie Ford, on my Kindle). A poignant story about a Chinese-American, growing up in Seattle at the beginning of World War II. Henry falls in love with a young Japanese girl before her family is interned in a relocation camp. It a very secretive relationship because his parents would highly disapprove. The story goes back to the 40’s and forward to the 1980’s when Henry is in his 50’s and his wife (not the Japanese woman) has just died of cancer. The story pulls you in from the first page, especially when some artifacts are found in the basement of an old hotel which contain personal belongings from several Japanese families who were suddenly taken away back in 1942. You can see where it’s going, can’t you? I heard criticism of this book that it was just a little bit contrived. Halfway through I’m enjoying it very much.
(Kathryn Stockett on my Kindle, an excellent read); 
by Jetta Carleton (Kindle edition, eh); 
by Susan Richards (Kindle edition, good book); 
by Sally Gunning (Kindle edition, very good read)
; 
; 
(Mario Batali & Gweneth Paltrow); 
; 
.
I know – this picture doesn’t look like a layered salad. I forgot to take a photo of it in its layered form. This pix was taken the next morning – the leftovers – which we thoroughly enjoyed with our dinner the next day. I took the layered salad to the home of friends – our hostess was serving a rotisseried turkey, so I wanted a side dish salad that wouldn’t overwhelm. I turned to my kitchen library and pulled out this cookbook.
I forget about this cookbook because it’s relatively small. But it’s a treasure of great recipes. I bought it some years back when my DH was really into vegetable and fruit gardening. We ordered a lot of seeds and flowers from Shepherd’s Garden Seeds. The company was sold some while back, but Renee Shepherd subsequently started her own smaller company selling just what she wanted to. You can visit her website, Renee’s Garden Seeds. When it was Shepherd’s, they produced a really lovely catalog, with great descriptions of everything they sold. We ordered some tomato varieties from them that just made headlines at our house (Dona and Carmelo). I also ordered one of Renee’s two cookbooks, Recipes from a Kitchen Garden. And over the years I’ve turned to this cookbook several times for some good veggie recipes.
This salad isn’t anything like the 7-layer one that became so popular about 15 or so years ago – the one with peas on top and then covered with a sweetened mayo dressing? Remember that one? No, this isn’t a THING like it. Except that it’s layered. First you make the easy dressing. It’s just stirred together. Nothing fancy, really, except it’s seasoned with cumin and oregano, and highlighted with lemon juice. You know how I am about lemon juice. I pulled out a small frozen container of my Meyer lemon juice I made about a month ago.
Then you make this thing called a “Seasoning Mixture.” It’s green onions, fresh mint, Kalamata olives and Feta cheese. That combo gets sprinkled on top of every layer of veggies. Interesting, huh? I added copious amounts of mint because I like it. The quantity is up to you, surely.
Then you make the veggie layers themselves. First up (oops, down) is cucumbers. The original recipe called for two cukes (I used the big European type), but I used just one. On went some of the seasoning mixture. Then it was red bell pepper, then more seasoning mixture. And so it went. The tomatoes go on top, then you drizzle the salad with dressing, seal up with plastic wrap and chill for at least 30 minutes, or up to a few hours. I decided to enhance the salad with some radicchio, but I didn’t put that on top until the very end (so it wouldn’t wilt), and it didn’t have any dressing on it. No matter – it got plenty when it was served. Because I really enjoy fattoush, the Syrian salad, that has mint and toasted pita in it, I decided to add some toasted pita chips to this layered salad. Ideally, just put enough pita chips on the salad for that salad – they quickly soak up liquid and become soggy if left in the salad. They add a nice crunch, though.
My opinion: this is a sensational salad. It’s not some new taste sensation – I don’t mean it that way. It’s just served in a different style, by mincing up all the layers of veggies, and with the lemon juice dressing. Well, it was just fantastic. I will mention, though, that chopping up all the vegetables took me nearly an hour. Since I wasn’t preparing the whole dinner, I didn’t mind, but if you have any helping hands, this would be a good time to ask for assistance! It IS best when it’s fresh – the next day it wasn’t quite so good, but then often leftovers aren’t. So my suggestion is to make just enough to consume in one meal, if you can estimate well enough. Otherwise, save the different layers separately (without dressing) and make more the next day. Next time I’ll make it with the all-lemon-juice dressing from my fattoush recipe: 1 small clove garlic, 1 teaspoon salt, 1/2 cup olive oil, 1/4 cup lemon juice — or more if preferred, 1/2 teaspoon ground allspice, and 1 tablespoon zahtar. Hope you enjoy this as much as we did.
Layered Greek Salad
Recipe: Inspired by a recipe in Recipes from a Kitchen Garden by Shepherd and Raboff
Servings: 8
DRESSING:
1 clove garlic — minced
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons lemon juice
3 tablespoons white wine vinegar
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
1/2 cup olive oil
1 teaspoon fresh oregano — or 1/2 tsp dried
1/8 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
SEASONING MIXTURE:
1 bunch green onions — sliced, including tops
1/2 cup fresh mint — or more if you like mint [I used an entire bunch]
1/2 cup Kalamata olive — pitted, chopped
8 ounces Feta cheese — crumbled
SALAD/VEGETABLE LAYERS:
1 large cucumber — peeled, diced [I used one European type]
1 whole red bell pepper — diced
1 whole yellow bell pepper — diced
4 large tomatoes — seeded, diced small
1 head radicchio — thinly sliced [optional]
GARNISH:
3 tablespoons parsley — chopped
1 cup pita bread — chopped, toasted, crushed [my addition]
1. DRESSING: Combine dressing ingredients in a bowl and set aside.
2. SEASONING MIXTURE: This mixture is layered inbetween each veggie layer. Combine ingredients in a bowl and set aside.
3. SALAD: In a tall (rather than wide) glass bowl (a Trifle bowl would be ideal) place the cucumbers. Top with 1/4 of the seasoning mixture, sprinkled evenly over the vegetables. Do the same with the red bell pepper, then the seasoning mixture, etc. As you arrange the layers, do them as decoratively as possible so the bowl is attractive and doesn’t have any smears on the side. Finish with the tomato layer (do not put on the radicchio).
4. Spoon the dressing on the salad, drizzling it all over the salad so it goes through many layers. Cover with plastic wrap and chill until you’re ready to serve. This should be chilled for at least 30 minutes, or up to a couple of hours.
5. Add the radicchio on top of the salad, then sprinkle with the garnishes.
6. GARNISHES: Separate the pita bread, roughly chop and place on a baking sheet. Spray with olive oil spray and bake at 450 for about 7 minutes until they’re toasted but not burned. Set aside to cool, then store in a sealed plastic bag until ready to use. Crush them gently in the plastic bag (so they’re all about a small bite size) and sprinkle on top of the salad. Sprinkle the parsley on top and serve.
Per Serving (assumes you use all the dressing): 348 Calories; 24g Fat (61.3% calories from fat); 8g Protein; 26g Carbohydrate; 3g Dietary Fiber; 25mg Cholesterol; 855mg Sodium.
printer-friendly pdf
jancd
said on August 13th, 2008:
How dare someone copy your blog!!!!
This salad looks delicious. We’re having a soup and salad luncheon at church on Tuesday and this may be the one I take. Something different and pretty!
Jancd
Carolyn
said on August 14th, 2008:
Hope you do make the salad – it really was good, and if you have a tall glass bowl to put it in, it’s even prettier to look at.
kate
said on August 16th, 2008:
I did something similar to this with grilled eggplant and chickpeas. The recipe should post in the coming week. Yours looks great!
Kate – interesting . . . eggplant? Did you pan-saute it, or how did you cook that part? And certainly chick peas, or any kind of bean could easily be added as a layer in this salad. It might even make it a complete meal. . . . Carolyn