Or, in this case, fingerling potatoes with arugula, asparagus and a vinaigrette version of gribiche. Altogether delicious.

What is gribiche, you ask? It’s a dressing, but traditionally it’s made with mayo, or a kind of emulsion with cooked egg yolks (a mayo of sorts). It’s unique ingredients include minced hard boiled egg, little slices of cornichons (those French baby pickles – see photo below left), and some capers. Definitely a savory kind of dressing, but here, Tarla Fallgatter made the dressing using EVOO, sherry vinegar and a bit of honey mustard. Definitely a departure from the standard gribiche. It’s French, and no, I’m not certain how it’s pronounced, although I think it’s greh-beech. And oh yes, it was really good with the fingerling potatoes that had been oven-roasted, the asparagus and tossed with arugula. We jokingly tease Tarla that nearly every class needs to contain something with arugula and usually chocolate.

This could be a beautiful side/salad for some kind of grilled meat (chicken, pork chops, even fish or lamb, and definitely for steak) and would cover you for both salad and a carb. Tarla made the dressing ahead of time, had roasted the potatoes and asparagus, so it was easy to finish up the last of things like mincing hard boiled eggs, slicing the cornichons, draining the capers. If you’re interested in learning a bit more about gribiche variations, read Daniela Galarza’s blog post about preparing it in various restaurant kitchens. And her advice that you can make gribiche the main attraction, like an open-faced egg salad sandwich. My mouth is watering just thinking about that. Photo above of cornichons from finecooking.com.

What’s GOOD: there were lots of good flavors melding in my mouth – from the capers, the cornichons and the sweet/savory dressing. As most of you know, I don’t make many potato salads, but this one was a winner. I’d definitely make this for a nice company dinner too.

What’s NOT: nothing other than you do need to roast the potatoes and asparagus, and mince up the eggs. Not too hard, and definitely worth it for the flavor burst in your mouth! I think this dressing would need to be eaten the day you make it – though it might hold for one day.

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This is the kind of salad you could make as dinner if you’re inclined to do that. It’s got lots of good stuff in it. You could easily add some chicken if you want some protein.

Usually I’m not a big fan of spinach salad. Spinach served and eaten raw makes my teeth squeak. Anyone else notice that about spinach? But this one didn’t both me much that way – maybe because it was baby spinach? I have no idea why. Maybe because there is sugar in the dressing? Who knows. In any case, this is a really delicious salad, one it’s definitely worth the time to make.

There are a few things that are unique about this – the sweet/sour salad dressing is made with powdered sugar. Why? Tarla Fallgatter told us at the cooking class when she prepared this, that it’s because it dissolves easily. Yes. For sure it would. Did she use that method in other salad dressings? No. And the second thing is the use of grilled artichoke hearts (if you have Trader Joe’s near you, they’re bottled, marinated in the veggie section). And for me, the golden raisins just “made” this salad. This salad is one that Tarla said she’s been making for years, decades maybe, but had never shared at a cooking class before. She doesn’t always use bacon, but she did for the class. I love bacon, so liked that too.

The dressing is mostly normal ingredients, although you don’t usually see ground ginger in a sweetened vinaigrette kind of dressing. I like it a lot. This salad would be great to make to take somewhere, as you could have everything prepped ahead of time, including the dressing, and it’s just a matter of opening up 2 packages of baby spinach, adding it all together and you’ve got salad.

What’s GOOD: loved the dressing. Loved the golden raisins and the artichoke hearts and the crunch of nuts. Everything about this salad was delish.

What’s NOT: Not much . . . I thought this was a super salad.

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The kind of salad you could make as  your dinner – it’s definitely filling enough and satisfying, though it doesn’t have any meat in it!

Do you buy Delicata squash very often? I don’t – although my local Trader Joe’s has them – they do have a season and now’s the time. It has a delicate (hence the name Delicata?) rind (meaning that it’s not tough and thick, like the skin on a butternut squash, which you have to remove). In this case, you get to eat the rind – where a lot of the nutrition lies.

The squashes are cut into rings and halved then roasted in a hot oven for about 20 minutes. It’s easier to remove the seeds then – after they’ve cooled for 10 minutes or so. Mix up the vinaigrette while you’re baking the squash, and get out the blue cheese.

This recipe came from a cooking class with Tarla Fallgatter, and she had purchased some German blue cheese – called Grand Blue (currently available at Trader Joe’s). This cheese is not the mouth-stinging, deep flavored type, but it’s mild, without any tannins. It’s not of the soft blue style (like Brie) either, as it’s the normal crumbly type, but I liked it a LOT. I can’t eat regular blue straight – it’s just too strong for me, which makes it perfect, to my way of thinking for a salad. I love blue cheese in a salad, though. I’m just not fond of the ultra-strong flavored type unless it’s “cut” with a toasted baguette slice or fruit or something else with it.

When Tarla served it, the squash was still slightly warm. She tossed the arugula salad with the salad dressing, added the dried cranberries and pecans, then plated each salad with 2-3 half-rings of the squash and a lovely wedge of the Grand Blue. If you wanted to take this to a gathering, I’d chop the squash into smaller pieces, as well as the cheese and toss it all together in a large bowl. The only difficulty with that is that some people won’t get a full portion of the squash or the cheese.

What’s GOOD: the mild flavor of the squash was perfect with the arugula salad. Loved the addition of dried cranberries and pecans. I particularly liked the mild blue cheese with it also. Very pretty to look at, would make a lovely holiday salad. It’s also quite filling, so would be (for me, anyway) a perfect dinner all by itself.

What’s NOT: nothing, other than having to roast the squash and mess with removing seeds and strings, etc.

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That photo just doesn’t do justice to this rice salad. Even though I use Photoshop to crop and work with my photos, sometimes you just can’t make brown food look wonderful. 

Behind the scenes of any blog, or maybe I should say a food blog with recipes, is a whole lot of file administration. You might not think so, but there are many, many steps to getting a story written, photos worked on, sized correctly, inserted in the right places, recipe itself prepared, stripped of formatting, uploaded and then put into a finished format on the blog. It’s not seamless. And all that is to say that this recipe that I made months ago somehow got lost in the mix. At least it didn’t get deleted. I can’t even remember when I made this (photo properties says I took the photo on August 5th), or for what family occasion (it was probably our group family birthday we do about that time of year). I wouldn’t have made it just for myself; that I know. But as soon as I glanced at the photo, I remembered eating it, and my mouth was watering.

The recipe came from cooks.com and has no attribution. But I used some white rice in it too, so am not sure where I found the recipe, or if I adapted it myself. In years past, I’ve made the Silver Palate’s wild rice salad numerous times (but never written up here), and I have another one here on my blog from a museum restaurant in D.C. The Mitsitam. And yet another one that’s a copycat one from a local restaurant here in my neck of the woods that contained fresh corn. But this one is just a simple-enough wild rice and white rice salad enhanced with pecans, golden raisins, green onions, orange juice and zest. And it’s downright delicious.

I won’t tell you that this salad is cinchy quick – it has several steps, and you have to watch the rice carefully that it doesn’t overcook. That would be a crime, since you want the wild rice to still have some tooth. But once the rice is made, the other ingredients are straight forward and easy. A lovely honey vinaigrette is added and it can sit for awhile. You can eat it warm or cold, and leftovers are still good, although the pecans sometimes get a bit soft. But worth making? Yes.

What’s GOOD: a great salad for a crowd. Can be made ahead. Delicious warm or cold, or room temp. Leftovers still taste good, too. Of all my wild rice salads I’ve made, this probably wasn’t my favorite, but I liked the orange zest and juice in it. And the green onions.

What’s NOT: a few steps to make, but not hard at all.

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What a heavenly combination. You just don’t know they’re one of those matches made in heaven unless you’ve had green beans and pears together. The shaved Parm puts it over the top.

Since green beans are available all year ‘round, there’s no reason you can’t make this salad any time of year. It calls for Bosc pears, which are also available year ‘round, so see, you need to try this. I think it would make a beautiful salad for Thanksgiving or Christmas, if you have a big celebration. Or a small one, for that matter. I’ve offered to make this for Thanksgiving at my son and daughter-in-law’s home. It will go well with turkey, I think.

You can use haricot verts beans, or regular sized – but I’d cut the regular sized in half. They are cooked just barely – so they’re al dente (or you can cook them to whatever tenderness you prefer). Cool off in cold and/or icy water, drain and set aside. Then, you make a vinaigrette with walnut oil and Sherry wine vinegar. Add some chives and parsley, plus finely minced shallots too. And some fresh, shredded basil. Toast some walnuts, shave the Parmesan and lastly cut up the pears. You’ll want to make this just before serving. Toss together then add the shaved Parm on top. That’s it. You’ll be happy to have this recipe in your collection, I promise. It came from a cooking class I did last month with Susan V, although I found the recipe online at farmflavor.com.

What’s GOOD: the food combination (pears, green beans and Parm are just super together). You can make just about everything ahead of time and cut up the pears at the last. If you’ve used Bosc pears, the salad should keep well for a day (leftovers). Altogether wonderful.

What’s NOT: There are a few steps to this (preparing dressing, toasting walnuts, preparing the green beans, shaving the Parm, etc) but it’s all worth doing.

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A pasta salad – served at room temp – with an unusual type of pasta, like little twigs. The salad is all about tomatoes.

It’s been about 6 weeks ago I went to a cooking class – I’m now attending a relatively new one for me, with a group of homemakers, offered in a home, and my friend Cherrie and I have been invited because the chef is our friend, and because the group has room to grow a little bit. Tarla Fallgatter is the chef, and we can always count on a really delicious meal to enjoy whenever she cooks.

This salad was really big on tomato flavor – it has what’s called a confit (kan-fee) added to it, which means a method of cooking food in fat, oil or a water syrup at a low temperature, usually cooked down to a soft pulp. Most commonly it refers to goose or duck, but in this case it’s about cooking and softening the sun-dried tomatoes and dried tomatoes both, in a flavorful mixture that coats the pasta well (see the orange/red color). What was unusual about this dish, though, was the pasta. Tarla passed around the bag of pasta – one of those more expensive, imported-from-Italy types.

The pasta shapes look a lot like pale twigs, and the only thing I’ll say is that it’s important to cook them to the right consistency. If you sample one of the tiny twig ENDS, it might be done, but the thicker center of the twig pasta will still be too firm. So test it by eating the center, thicker part. And when it’s done, the narrow ends are actually overcooked, but it can’t be helped.

The confit is easy enough to make – the two types of sun-dried tomatoes, shallot, basil, some spices, olive oil and red wine. You could easily make this ahead and set aside. Toast the pine nuts and set aside and cut up the little heirloom tomatoes to add in later.

Cook the pasta – you can use any kind of pasta you want, but Tarla thought this abrezzese was just so very fun (and different). Otherwise, orzo would be good with this too. Cook it, drain it, then add the tomato stuff, add the chopped tomatoes and pine nuts. Done. Taste for seasoning. Make this as a side dish for an outdoor dinner, or a potluck lunch. Whatever.

What’s GOOD: this has a different flavor – intense with the sun-dried tomatoes in it, but also because of the pasta shape. Delicious salad. Nothing extraordinary, but really good nonetheless. Easy to make – takes a bit of chopping here and there, but not hard.

What’s NOT: nothing at all. Don’t stress if you can’t find the abrezzese pasta – just use orzo.

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The best halloumi I’ve ever had – grilled and served with watermelon and arugula and mint, plus pine nuts and a balsamic glaze drizzled over the top.

My only experience with Halloumi (see Wikipedia info here) has been at a local Greek restaurant, where they serve it fiery hot in a small pan with some bread. My take-away (that one and only time at least 20 years ago) was that it was so salty I couldn’t eat it. Since then I’d never tried it! What I’ve learned is that people in the “west” prefer a less salty version. I suppose the Greek restaurant serves it the way they do in Greece where it’s aged and cured some, so the salt content is more pronounced. (FYI: the 4-ounce package I bought when I finally did locate some shows an ounce of Halloumi contains 673 milligrams of sodium. A lot. Some brands contain less sodium – look for them if you can.) My guess from my reading is that if you buy a U.S. made version, it will likely be less salty. You might check the sodium level before you buy it. Halloumi is usually made from a mixture of cow and sheep milk.

Recently my friend Joan invited me to a cooking demo at our local Wolf/Sub-Zero Demonstration Kitchen. I said SURE, I’d be happy to go along. We had much fun with seats right in front of the chef. She was a fountain of information (mostly about Wolf kitchen appliances, though they also have Sub-Zero refrigerators and freezers – the two companies are merged somewhat). My Sub-Zero freezer (separate unit) and refrigerator (also separate) are models that date back 15 years or so. Newer ones have lots of new features not available when I had to replace the ones in this house I’m in (that was in about 2004). When we remodeled the kitchen in ‘06 I kept the two, obviously, since they are very pricey! Though I’m very happy with them – I’ve been a fan of Sub-Zero since I bought them for our previous house when we remodeled it in 1990.

Anyway, Joan and I watched as the chef took out nice little rectangles (measuring about 3” x 3” by 1/4”) of halloumi and placed them on the olive oil greased Wolf flat grill. (I was very impressed with the grill – wish I had it in my kitchen – it kind of looked like a mini-restaurant flat grill). My stove top is made by Dacor and then I have 2 Dacor matching ovens under my kitchen island. I’m not in the market for any new appliances, but Joan is, as she’s about to remodel her kitchen. (If any of you are considering remodeling your kitchen, I’d recommend  you at least look at Wolf – their appliances are pretty darned amazing and you can attend a cooking class in their demonstration kitchens without having purchased any of their units.)

The chef grilled the cheese at a very low heat, so it just barely bubbled and sizzled and got just gorgeously golden brown (see photos). The Wolf grill top can be set to a specific temperature (nice) which was 375°. She prepped the salad first by laying the little strips of sweet watermelon on the plate, then the little mound of arugula and mint which she dressed with a bit of olive oil. Then she just placed the hot halloumi on the side. Then she sprinkled the toasted pine nuts on top and drizzled it with balsamic glaze (I buy it at Trader Joe’s, but you can make your own if you want to – you can find lots of recipes online for how to do it).

The cheese was just outstanding – I wanted more, it was so good. I’ve been looking for halloumi at my local markets since this class and so far have not found it. I’ll need to go to a more upscale market or a Whole Foods or Bristol Farms to find it, I suppose. I want some!! It keeps frozen for months and months.

This dish could easily be a light entrée and if you served it with more of the cheese, it could be dinner, for sure. In this case, at the class, it was a first course as we were served fried chicken (done in the Wolf deep fryer) and delicious mashed potatoes. Then we were served a fresh peach half with a bread crumb, nut and brown sugar topping on it (done on convection bake in one of their numerous Wolf ovens). All delicious. But this salad won the day for me. I’ll be making this if only for myself.Perhaps you live in a location where there is a substantial Greek population and Halloumi is very popular. I don’t, so it’s a bit harder to find. Seek out a store that carries a goodly selection of world cheeses.

What’s GOOD: if you find the less-salty halloumi, this is a winner of a recipe. All prep-able ahead of time, so easy to serve with just a few minutes of arranging and drizzling.

What’s NOT: nothing that I can think of.

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How many superlatives can I use here – oh my, fantastic, off the charts, amazing, is it possible, so good!

The other day I was looking through my to-try recipes for a salad to take to a function. I paused at this recipe I’d downloaded some time ago. I read it through. So easy. Could it really be that good? It doesn’t LOOK all that wonderful – kind of bland looking, really. And considering the ingredients (saltine crackers, tomatoes, green onions, hard boiled egg, mayo, salt and pepper) you might wonder. So I went to Paula Deen’s webpage and there is a video clip of her making this, with her son. She talked about its origins (Albany, Georgia) and that occasionally they feature this at the salad bar at their restaurant.

BUT – the reservation here is that it MUST be eaten immediately after you toss it together. Well, I could do that. All you have to do it chop up some fresh tomatoes (use good tasting ones, please) and chop up some green onions. Oh, and make 1-2 hard boiled eggs. And scoop out some mayo to add at the end. And crush a sleeve of saltine crackers (do it while it’s still in the paper sleeve). Nothing about this is hard. I had this all figured out in about 2 minutes. As I write this I haven’t taken it to the luncheon yet, but since I bought the ingredients, I just bought more and served it for a dinner I did here at home with friends.

OMGosh! This salad is just so crazy good. I made one recipe (using one sleeve of saltine crackers), one heirloom tomato, 2 hard boiled eggs, 3 green onions (using most of the tops too), pepper, maybe some salt, and the last thing you do is add the mayo. Have everything all ready ahead – I’d chopped the tomatoes and green onions, plopped the eggs in on top and just let that sit. I’d also put out about the amount of mayo I thought it needed and at the very last second it got tossed. I served it as a side salad. Paula Deen says where this recipe is from it’s served as an appetizer (or light lunch) with cold shrimp all around it. I think this would be hard to eat as an appetizer unless you served it with small plates and forks to eat it.

When I made it, I used about a cup of mayo. The recipe called for 1 1/2 cups, and I noticed in the video they added more as it was needed, and they may not have used a full portion either. I’d start with 1 cup and only add more if you think it really needs it.

When I take this salad to my function, I’m going to add a couple more chopped eggs on top (sliced, that is) instead of shrimp. What it will look like is a potato salad. But definitely it’s NOT! I can’t wait to make this again!

What’s GOOD: every single solitary smidgen of this is delicious. Worth making. Don’t eat a lot of it, then you won’t feel guilty for all the fat grams you’re eating. I’ll definitely be making this again soon.

What’s NOT: nothing other than the calories!

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This could have been a light meal – it’s just so very tasty – but then I love arugula. This salad has some strips of roasted bell peppers and toasted pine nuts, in addition to the stuffed mushrooms.

Sometimes I have difficulty using up a bag of arugula (and it doesn’t seem to have a long life in the refrigerator, once you open the bag), since I don’t make salad with JUST arugula in it – I put in lots of other stuff. But if I made this salad two days in a row (and I’d have no difficulty eating that up) I’d have used the entire bag. This salad JUST has arugula (as the greens) in it. If you don’t like arugula, use another green, even Romaine or leaf lettuce would be fine too. What makes this salad are two things: the goat-cheese stuffed mushrooms and the delicious mustardy vinaigrette. Well, and the light crunch of the toasted pine nuts. If you don’t want to pay the premium, these days, for pine nuts, use walnuts or hazelnuts. I wouldn’t use pecans, but if you’re a fan of them, go ahead!

The dressing is easy enough to make – just shake it up in a small jar. The nuts do need to be toasted, and the bell peppers (use whatever color you have, but Tarla Fallgatter used both red and  yellow, in the class when she prepared this) need to be cut open, flattened out in one long, wide strip and the seeds and ribs removed and roasted.

The mushrooms are roasted in the oven with a filling of goat cheese, a few red chili flakes, salt, pepper and some fresh basil leaves. Once the mushrooms are stuffed, you sprinkle the tops with Parmesan (it doesn’t need much). They’re baked about 15 minutes and they’re perfect – just barely cooked through and the filling just heated and nicely warm. Then you basically toss the salad together and add the hot mushrooms on the plate and serve. Altogether nice.

What’s GOOD: the flavor is certainly first and foremost – loved the blend of arugula with the mustard and sherry wine vinegar dressing. And the mushrooms – oh gosh – I could have eaten an entire plate of them. Hence, this salad could easily be a light meal if you are willing to eat a meatless salad. Maybe serve a few more mushrooms per person if you did make it a meal. SO SO good.

What’s NOT: there are several steps to making this, but none is difficult or all that time consuming. Even making the goat cheese filling takes about 3 minutes total. Or less. Nothing to complain about at all.

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What a different combination. Watermelon and nectarines. Then with a kind of Asian dressing poured over it and tossed with a lot of mint. Really unusual but very tasty.

New recipes are made when you’re missing something and you decide to substitute, or you’re lucky enough to be a genius about conjuring up an original recipe. Me, not so much the latter, but the former. When I decided to make this salad I was sure I’d just read a recipe for combining watermelon and nectarines, but when I went hunting for it I couldn’t find it (still can’t). So I just had to use the recipe that was in my MasterCook file that I’d just downloaded from the Food & Wine website, but instead of pea shoots (which I didn’t have) I used nectarines.

This is a very unusual salad, and if you’re at all put off by combining fruit with a kind of Asian twist on a dressing, you may want to pass this one by. But it was really delicious. I mean, really delicious. It would go best with a simple protein of some kind, maybe a teriyaki glazed chicken breast, or even a really plain piece of fish. In which case this salad would almost serve as a salsa. What I served it with didn’t go, particularly, with it, so I ate it separately. I finished my entrée, then I ate this salad, and that way it was fine.

It came together in a flash – chopped up watermelon, sliced nectarines, fresh mint, then a whisked together dressing of unseasoned rice wine vinegar (meaning it doesn’t have sugar in it), shallot, oil, sesame seeds, and a little splash of Asian fish sauce. Very different for a fruit salad, but it works.

What’s GOOD: the combo was really different. Next time I’d probably cut the nectarines into bite-sized pieces (halving the slices) as they were too big to eat in one bite. The dressing is oh so very different for a fruit salad, but I’d do it again. Because I knew there was fish sauce in it, I could taste it, but am not sure others would/could detect it. It comes together very quickly – if you have the ingredients this will make itself in about 5-6 minutes. Try it before watermelon season is gone.

What’s NOT: If you’re not a fan of fish sauce, you might not like it so much – it’s different, I’ll give you that. I enjoyed it a lot. I may make it again since I still have more watermelon and another nectarine.

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