I should have re-arranged the salad (aka bread) so you could see the lovely mound of heirloom tomatoes in the bottom of the bowl. You can see the bread (toasted croutons, actually), the basil, red onions, corn and fresh mozzarella cheese. Oh, and the little tiny drizzle of extra-good EVOO.

This recipe came from a contributor (Georgia Pellegrini) on The Pioneer Woman’s website. It’s not on Ree’s own blog, but the recipe section of her website where people all over contribute their own recipes. There’s a huge treasure-trove of recipes there if you haven’t ever looked. Anyway, this has been in my to-try file for awhile. I adore panzanella salad (the Italian bread salad with tomatoes, garlic and basil) and with good tomatoes starting to be available, they’re so perfect for this kind of salad. And although this bears a great resemblance to a panzanella, this isn’t the same thing. I also took some liberties with the salad – I was serving it to 4 girlfriends for lunch – as an entrée – and I wanted it to have a bit more substance, so I added in the fresh corn and fresh mozzie.

What makes this salad different is the making of “tomato water.” I know, sounds weird. Into a blender you put 3-4 tomatoes (heirlooms or extra ripe and tasty red ones, juicy ones), a bunch of basil, a bunch of cilantro, half of a red onion, sliced thin, garlic and some white wine vinegar. This gets blended up into a sludge. It seems like a waste – I know, I know – but trust me on this. The end result is worth it. It may seem like you’re throwing away a good bunch of tomatoes. The picture at left is what the sludge looks like. It’s draining in a strainer lined with cheesecloth. In the photo it looks just awful, I know, but I used some green zebra tomatoes and yellow ones, and only one red tomato, so of course it’s going to look green and muddy. If you want it to be clear and bright, maybe with a slight pink tinge, use all red tomatoes. I saved the sludge – don’t know for what yet – maybe soup? Gazpacho?

Now, after half an hour of draining, you end up with about a cup of tomato water. Here’s a photo of what that looked like. Not very pretty either.

BUT, it’s really tasty stuff. Trust me on this one. I took a tiny teaspoon of it – so I’d know what it tasted like – and was very pleasantly surprised at how flavorful it was. It’s not like tomato juice at all. Each person got about 1/4 cup in the bowl. Then you start adding all the other ingredients, with the croutons added last, along with a few pretty basil leaves. I think I probably used too many croutons, so you can vary how many based on your family’s likes/dislikes.

When you bake the bread croutons – do try to leave them so they’re slightly soft in the center – I followed the recipe and the croutons were rock hard, so each of us had to mush the bread around into the tomato water at the bottom of the bowl to soften it some. But then, that’s the whole idea anyway. I could have tossed it all together, but it wouldn’t have looked quite so pretty.

What’s GOOD: well, I love panzanella, so I knew it was a sure-fire thing I’d like this. My friend Joan said she liked the freshness of it and that it was extra healthy. The tiny drizzle of EVOO on top was the only fat – although you do use some to brush on the croutons too. Still not much. I think my recipe program says there are 9 grams of fat in the salad. I think the extra work of making the tomato water was well worth it.

What’s NOT: maybe just the time spent making the tomato water. A bit of a nuisance, but it adds a lot on the flavor scale. Otherwise, it’s something you could make any evening for a quick meal. I had my granddaughter and her cousin work on pushing the sludge through the cheesecloth – it takes awhile to drain otherwise.

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If you’re a convert to the joys of Brussels sprouts (I’ve always been a fan) that are pan sautéed, then you’ll like this recipe a lot. It uses halved Brussels, a whole-grain mustard vinaigrette and some chopped up dried cranberries and almonds for crunch and flavor. Really delish.

With a package of Brussels sprouts in the refrigerator and a dinner to prepare, I hunted through my to-try recipes and came across this one. I adapted it some (didn’t have dried blueberries; opted to pan sauté them rather than cook them in water first; didn’t have Manchego so I subbed Parm). The mustard vinaigrette was first on the list to do – an easy mixture. It was a bit too oily for me, so I added in a little more lemon juice than called for. I also used more garlic. The original recipe comes from a restaurant in Pasadena called La Grande Orange, located adjacent to the main-stop train station there. It’s a great restaurant (have eaten there and enjoyed their signature sangria and salads). Anyway, this is a veggie dish, but can also be dubbed a salad too. I served it hot, but you know Brussels sprouts – they cool quickly, so they were at room temp within a couple of minutes.

In the original recipe the Brussels were simmered in water. I like pan roasted ones, so I added a tablespoon or oil to a huge nonstick frying pan and got them nice and brown-blackened. Meanwhile I made the vinaigrette, chopped up the dried cranberries (very few) and the almonds (raw, only a little bit) and shredded Parm. I did add a bit of water to the Brussels to get them just cooked through, then dumped them out into a serving bowl and drizzled on the tiny bit of dressing and added the garnishes. Done. Easy. Definitely a make again veggie!

What’s GOOD: Well, I love Brussels sprouts almost any way they come. My DH’s good friend Joe was here for dinner and he said he wasn’t much of a fan of Brussels sprouts anytime, but he really, really liked these. He had 3 servings if that tells you anything. I gave myself a very small serving at first, but I dug in for a few more myself. And I’ll be having the last few for tonight’s dinner.

What’s NOT: nothing, unless you don’t like Brussels sprouts!

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You can thank Kalyn Denny of Kalyn’s Kitchen for this recipe. She posted it last year sometime. I wanted a salad for a hot evening. It was hot like mid-summer around here. It was so hot we couldn’t even eat outside. I cranked down the A/C and we ate in the dining room in perfect cool temperatures. A refreshing salad for a warm night.

One of our daughters was coming to visit. Hmmm. It’s a whole new language . . .I can’t seem to ever remember to say MY daughter rather than OUR daughter. You can’t turn around 31  years of marriage language in a few weeks – a language of saying “us” and “we” and “our.” It’s so hard, this widow thing. So, I’ll start over here – one of my daughters (Sara) was coming to visit with her daughter, my granddaughter (Sabrina). I made dinner and dessert. We spent the evening together, which was good fun. We heated up the jacuzzi and talked and talked and talked. I knew I had some ground turkey in the freezer. I had Romaine lettuce. I went to the store for fresh mint (my new crop isn’t big enough to harvest any yet), fresh cilantro, fresh limes, a fresh jalapeno chile and a shallot. It took no time at all to make this salad from beginning to end. Maybe a little more than half an hour, but not by much.

First you mix up garlic, shallots and finely minced jalapeno into the ground turkey meat. Then it’s cooked slowly in a NON-STICK pan, with a little bit of peanut oil, until it’s just cooked through. Meanwhile you make a dressing – an oil-free dressing composed of fresh lime juice, Sriracha sauce, Vietnamese fish sauce and some sweetener. The only fat in this entire salad comes from the tiny bit of peanut oil used in the pan, and what little fat there is in ground turkey breast. Not much!

The green part is Romaine lettuce, the fresh cilantro and mint and I added radishes. Kalyn didn’t, and probably radishes aren’t traditionally Thai, but I wanted some crunch, so I added them anyway. The dressing is divided in half – well, you just pour half of it into the pan with the turkey (and try to drizzle it all over so it doesn’t concentrate on one section of turkey – with the sriracha sauce you could get a few really hot bites. The other half I served at the table, but we actually didn’t need it. Since the salad isn’t tossed, I was concerned it would taste “dry” but it didn’t at all. Next time I might toss the 2nd half of the dressing on the lettuce and toss it before I scooped it onto plates. The turkey mixture is spooned on top, then you add chopped salted peanuts as garnish. And add a lime slice to squeeze over it all. Very delicious. Thank you, Kalyn!

What’s GOOD: how healthy it is, and easy to make. You might have to go to the grocery store for fresh mint and cilantro, and a jalapeno. Maybe for the ground turkey. The mixture is super-tasty with kind-of Thai flavors. You know it’s Asian inspired anyway. I’d definitely make this again. I have enough left over for one more serving – yippee.

What’s NOT: nary a thing. I liked it all.

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Don’t you just love this season of the year when asparagus is at its peak? Actually, here in California, we can buy asparagus nearly  year ‘round, but at least 6 months of the year I suppose it’s shipped north from South America somewhere, and the price and quality are commensurate with the long distance. Anyway, here’s a new take on an asparagus salad. That’s Feta cheese you see sprinkled all over the top and toasted pine nuts. Dig in.

This salad was served at the little gourmet dinner we had just a week or so before my dear darling DH had his stroke. He was fit as a fiddle that evening, enjoying the wine, conversation and the food, of course. My friend Cherrie served this, and I promptly came home and made it myself a few days later. It’s great. This was another of those Sunset Magazine 25 all-time favorite recipes they did in a recent issue.

It makes a pretty presentation with the dark green of the asparagus, the white of the cheese (you could probably use goat cheese too) and the contrast of the toasted pine nuts. It has a very easy dressing that’s poured over it just before serving.

What’s GOOD: well, asparagus is good anytime, anywhere. I think it’s my favorite veg. With green beans a strong second. Loved how pretty it looked, so it’s great for a gathering. It’s easy to do and everything can be prepared ahead – just toss before serving and add the cheese and nuts on top.

What’s NOT: nothing whatsoever.

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Oh gosh, this salad is just SO good. I think I could eat this every other night for the rest of my life and not get tired of it. Does that tell you anything? Like – – you need to make this? It’s that good!

So what is this stuff? It’s mostly Napa cabbage cut into narrow shreds, a whole bunch of radishes, some snow peas (or sugar snap, because that’s what I had on hand), some green onions and toasted almonds. All that cloaked in a really delicious mayo-based dressing that’s sweet with a little bit of sugar, sour with a bit of white wine vinegar (I used white balsamic), and flavored with ground ginger, a bit of cayenne, a garlic clove and just a smidgen of toasted sesame oil and soy sauce. Then you add a cup of mayo. The salad part can be made ahead; so can the dressing; then you just combine them before serving, although you don’t use all the dressing. The salad is best served immediately, or within a few hours. The next day the cabbage is somewhat wilted, but the salad is still edible. Not at its peak, but still tasty. I don’t eat left over green salad cuz the green leaves just get limp – and to me they’re inedible. This cabbage salad was nowhere near that, so it IS definitely edible one day later.

The CRUNCH? It comes from the cabbage, the radishes, the peas and even the toasted almonds. All of it is crunchy. The origin of this recipe is Sunset Magazine. A month or two ago the magazine did a 25-year retrospective of their favorite recipes. This recipe – THIS ONE – was the #1 nominated recipe (from both readers and editors). More reason to make it. Again and again and again.

What makes it special? I’d say it’s the salad dressing. It has just a hint of Asian flavor (from the soy sauce and toasted sesame oil) but it’s very subtle. Truly, it is subtle. And I particularly liked the hint of sweet in it too. And the faint hint of heat from the cayenne. And it’s probably from the variety of veggies. The combo is just different. I don’t know who came up with this recipe, but I tip my hat to her/him.

What’s GOOD: absolutely everything. Love-love-love this salad. It’s going to go onto my favs list if that’s any indication of just how good it is.
What’s NOT: Nothing, other than the time required to slice and shred the veggies. But worth it, for sure.

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When we did our Israeli dinner a couple of weeks ago, we surely needed salad. With all the richness from the lamb and sides, I was looking forward to fattoush. I have another fattoush on my blog – it’s called Syrian Pita Bread Salad. And it’s a favorite of mine (from my friend Joanne) that I’ve been loving for over 20 years – mostly because of the greens and the lemon juice dressing. But this fattoush is altogether different because it’s about the veggies.

In some Middle Eastern cultures, a fattoush salad is mostly about the BREAD. In others it’s more about the GREENS with the bread almost as a garnish (and that’s what the Syrian Pita Bread Salad is). In this salad, it’s all about the VEGETABLES. In the cookbook, Jerusalem: A Cookbook the authors explain that throughout Israel an every meal must-have is some kind of vegetable salad – tomato, cucumber and onion. It’s what they call an affliction! What a strange word to use for a food!

In some previous post I know I mentioned that when we visited Egypt in 1997 (we were IN the Valley of the Kings a mere 2 days before the massacre there . . . wow, was God ever looking out after us on that trip!), and then for 3 weeks in Turkey, we both enjoyed (yet got tired of) the breakfasts offered to us: platters of tomato wedges, big blocks of very salty Feta cheese, bread (pita, rolls or bagels) and hard boiled eggs. And little bowls or shakers of the herb mixture za’atar. That’s when I first tried za’atar and liked the lemony taste (from the sumac in it). So, I learned how important tomatoes are, for sure. Middle Easterners [it seems to me] eat tomatoes 365 days a year – not an altogether bad thing, but I think I’d get tired of it if I ate it daily at one or more meals.

Anyway, this salad – is a predominantly vegetable salad (tomatoes, cucumbers, radishes), with an ample amount of stale flatbread, herbs (mint and sumac) and soaked with a yogurt and buttermilk dressing. The dressing contains both lemon juice and vinegar, and olive oil is drizzled all over the top before serving. It sounds complicated, but it’s not. My friend Cherrie made this, and she tossed it just before serving.

What’s GOOD: I liked the yogurt-buttermilk dressing. I liked how it soaked into the bread, but not completely, so there was still some crunch (wouldn’t have been, though, with the left overs, so make only what you know you’ll eat). I liked all the fresh veggies. I liked the mint. Would I make it again? Maybe, but I know I’d probably fix the Syrian Pita Bread Salad first. The two salads are hard to compare because this one is so vegetable-centric and the Syrian one is greens-centric. So it’s like comparing apples and oranges.

What’s NOT: there are a lot of ingredients, for sure. But once you get everything all ready, it’s easy to put it together at the last minute. It just needs 10 minutes sit. And if your tomatoes are not at their peak, this salad would be lacking in flavor.

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Folks from the Middle East, and in this case, Israel, do know their carrots. They prepare them in a multitude of ways. from raw to cooked, even to dessert. This, however, is just a side dish, a salad to serve with a full dinner. They were absolutely outstanding mixed with some arugula.

Our quarterly gourmet group gathered at our house recently for a fun evening of Israeli food. Since I was the hostess, I got to decide what we’d make, and this time I chose to have a menu from Yotam Ottolenghi’s newest book, Jerusalem: A Cookbook. I chose the recipes (based on a leg of lamb as the main course), scanned the recipes and emailed them to everyone in the group. Each couple brought 2 dishes and a bottle of wine. You’ll see all of the recipes here in the next week or so.

The first bite from our main dish plate was a carrot. I loved them. Often in a Middle Eastern restaurant you will find a small platter (a mezze) of tidbits to nibble on. Appetizers. And carrots are frequent. Here on my blog I have a fabulous carrot salad – it’s a favorite of mine called Algerian Carrots. They’re so much of a favorite that they’re on my list of Carolyn’s Favs you can click to with all my favorite recipes on my blog. Those carrots have a vinaigrette on them, but it’s mostly lemon juice and garlic that predominate. I could eat those carrots every single day.

These carrots were somewhat different – they contained different spices (cumin, caraway and harissa) and it used cider vinegar instead of lemon juice. Harissa is a red chile pepper condiment – many upscale markets carry it now. The jar I have I bought from Williams-Sonoma some years ago (keep in refrigerator). So the flavors were altogether different. But good. And this one has some arugula tossed in at the end. We decided that to serve these straight away, without the greens, would almost be too heavy. We liked the arugula which cut the oil and vinegar a little bit.  The recipe says that often in Tripoli (where this recipe originates, Ottolenghi says) it’s made with pumpkin or butternut squash – or carrots.

Nothing about this is difficult. You do have to cook the onion, combine the spices, and cook the carrots. But once combined, they can be made ahead at least a day and that part of your meal is finished. Toss with the arugula just before serving.

What’s GOOD: well, I love carrots anyway, so it was a no-brainer that I’d like them. Good carrot flavor, just enhanced with the spiciness from the harissa and the cumin and fennel. They’ll keep for several days – just toss in fresh arugula on subsequent servings, if you have any left.
What’s NOT: nothing at all. Delicious.

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As I look at that picture above, my mouth is watering. I can’t wait to have some more of it. I won’t eat it for breakfast, but I could. This salad is very, very different – of course – you need to like Brussels sprouts since you eat them raw (finely shaved) in this salad.

Numerous times I’ve mentioned recipes I’ve acquired as a result of reading Farmgirl Fare’s blog. Susan and her husband own a farm in the middle of Missouri never-never land (meaning they live way out in the sticks). They raise sheep, hay, and donkeys, dogs and cats as well as a myriad of their own vegetables every summer. Susan shares their seasonal changes (including a gushing river during springtime), farm stories and interesting photos every single day, particularly of Susan’s beloved donkeys. One of my all-time favorite recipes is a Susan one – Garbanzo Bean, Feta and Cilantro Salad. I could eat that salad every day for the rest of my life, I think. Which reminds me that I need to make it again very soon.

But on to THIS salad. Knowing that Susan’s an expert at salads, when I read about this one I knew I’d have to try it. Admittedly, I have a number of Brussels sprout recipes on my blog already, but this one – well, it’s certainly unusual – but that’s what makes it so good! Not everyone likes Brussels sprouts, I know, and especially raw ones at that. Which is why you need to cut/slice/shave the sprouts as thinly as possible. It helps to have a mandoline or a slicer blade on your food processor (I used the latter, though I have both – I just thought doing 2 lbs. of Brussels would be faster in the food processor). I used my middle-thin slicer.

The Brussels I bought were large – larger than I prefer – but that’s what was available. So I recommend that you halve them if they’re big, AND cut out the core. On the large sprouts, the core was well developed – just like a big honkin’ cabbage kind of core on a small scale – it was tough, so you do need to take that extra step – a nuisance, I know – but necessary.

Don’t be dismayed by the long ingredient list here – half of it’s the dressing (make double and use on green salads). The salad itself contains the Brussels sprouts, of course, Pecorino cheese, chives or green onions, lemon juice, and a number of optional additions to suit your taste (like dried cranberries, which I used), garbanzo beans (one of Susan’s favorites), raisins, almonds. I made this a few hours before a summer barbecue party recently, and I loved it, but I think I liked it even better the following day. In that time lapse, the dressing had softened the sprouts a little bit. The salad is chewy – know that going into it. It has to be healthy with all the cruciferous vegetable in it, although maybe offset by the fat grams in the dressing. But it’s altogether delicious!

What’s GOOD: the combo of flavors from the chewy Brussels sprouts, to the sweetness of the dried cranberries (or raisins), to the garlicky dressing that is just delish. The Pecorino cheese adds a kind of nuttiness to the flavorings – those dry Italian cheeses often do that. I loved it all, and even better the 2nd day.
What’s NOT: nothing really, unless you don’t like Brussels sprouts or the chewing of them when they’re raw. It’s not going to break your jaw – it’s just a chewy salad, that’s all.

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Revisiting this salad was a not a tough decision. In between making new things to post about on my blog, I also crave some of my old favorites. This one? I got a craving for it the other day – the day our weather turned from pleasant to hot and I wanted salad for dinner.

So this time I decided to ramp up the flavor just a bit – I added a poblano chile to the roasted veggies – and I added a few shallots to the mix as well. Other than that, the recipe is identical to the one I posted 4-5 years ago. But since I know many who have come to my blog somewhat recently haven’t ever gone back to look at old recipes, it’s a good time to revisit this one. It’s been on my Favs list all this time, and I always make it at least once every summer. It just begs for a nice piece of grilled chicken or pork. Even a juicy steak. Or ribs for that matter. If you want to read about my original post, you sure can.

Here’s a quick review of the recipe: you combine raw, peeled sweet potato, red onion, shallots and a poblano chile, toss them with a little bit of olive oil and roast them just until they’re tender. Meanwhile, you rinse and drain a can of black beans and make a spicy jalapeno dressing in your blender. I didn’t make any additional dressing – it seemed to be enough for the added ingredients. You can make this several hours ahead, and it keeps for a couple of days. Just return it to room temp before serving – that way the olive-oil based dressing will be loose enough to toss a bit better. I think I also added some green onions to the finished salad.

What’s GOOD: there’s something special about the sweetness of the potato countered by the heat of the dressing and the lovely color from the black beans. The onions are sweet too. Even though the dressing is made with jalapeno chiles, you’d hardly know it – it must be the sweet potatoes temper the heat somehow. But then, sometimes jalapenos are hotter than other times. Perhaps this one was particularly mild. I also love that it can be made ahead – in the morning when your kitchen is cool. And it really does keep for at least a day or two.
What’s NOT: nothing that I can think of. If it’s been on my Favs list for years, you know it must be a keeper!

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This recipe title is misleading. It isn’t really a salad dressing, which is what you’d think from the word VINAIGRETTE. According to wikipedia, the word can also mean a sauce or marinade. In this case it’s more like a sauce, but it’s a “fresh” sauce, not a truly cooked one, although it is cooked a bit. I know, very confusing . . . read on for a better description.

I have to laugh – within one week, at different times, once reading a newspaper, and another time reading Bon Appetit, I clipped out two recipes for cherry tomato vinaigrette. Having never heard of it before, it took me a few days before I realized that on one side of my kitchen island I’d put one, and on the other side I’d put the other. Only after I started making the one did I notice the other clipping. I compared the two. Hmmm. Almost the same (tomatoes, vinegar, S & P, olive oil and herbs). So I combined them both. One had you cook all the tomatoes. The other one had you cook half and add raw, whole ones at the end. I cut all of them in half and cooked half and added the other half at the end. One called for basil; the other one chives. I used both. One recipe did suggest this for a green salad, so I kind of made up what I wanted to do with it along the green salad line. I wanted these tomatoes to be the “star of the show” on a green salad with rather sturdy greens.

Tomatoes are just beginning to show up in ripe fashion at our supermarkets and at Trader Joe’s. I nearly bought a dozen gorgeous heirloom varieties the other day ($4.99/pound) but wasn’t sure what I’d do with them, so I held off. But I did buy a big box of mixed-color and mixed-variety cherry tomatoes at Trader Joe’s. They are SO sweet and delicious. The box contained 2-3 cups of them – just the right amount for this recipe.

First I fixed the tomatoes, which didn’t take long. If you’ve never used the quick and easy method of slicing cherry tomatoes, go to this youtube video and watch these 2 guys. I learned this at a Phillis Carey cooking class several years ago, but some people have never seen it or done it. It’s SO simple – it took me about 2 minutes to cut all of the cherry tomatoes in half using a serrated knife.  Then I sautéed the shallot in olive oil, added half the tomatoes and cooked them just a bit, then added the red wine vinegar. Once cooled, I added the other raw tomatoes (I wanted the texture of some raw and fresh tomatoes, not all mushy ones).

Do use it within an hour or so, otherwise refrigerate it (without the herbs). According to the recipes, you can serve this in a variety of ways – on top of a steak as a kind of salsa thing – in an omelette with Ricotta cheese – on top of pasta (I think I’d add a bit more oil) – or on top of a skirt steak or flank steak – or you can use it in a green salad as I did, below.

GREEN SALAD: I combined a variety of sturdy stuff – Romaine, some celery, green onions, sugar snap peas, a tiny bit of multi-colored mixed greens just for color, AND some goat cheese. First I piled the tomato mixture on top of the salad and tossed it. I tasted it that way, but felt there wasn’t enough dressing, so I added the last of my new favorite Molasses Honey Vinaigrette to the salad. Not very much, as it didn’t need much. Then I sprinkled the top liberally with chopped basil and chives.

The dinner also included a nice big chunk of pork that my hubby grilled. If you haven’t prepared this yet, do try it – Grilled Rack of Pork with Rosemary, Garlic and Sage (except I didn’t use garlic or sage this time, just rosemary and chives). I guess each Costco store is different, but at one of ours we can buy a long, long rack (about 14-18 inches long) of pork chops on the bone. I cut it up into manageable portions, vacuum seal it and freeze. We had a guest for dinner, so I pulled out a 3-bone roast, which took about half an hour on the grill. I also made a raw apple-sauce in my new Vitamix blender. It was delicious, although it turned an awful shade of brown. And I made one of my old favorites – a sweet potato and black bean salad. I’m going to write up a re-do of that recipe in the next day or two. It’s so darned good it’s worth re-visiting.

What’s GOOD: If you have an abundance of cherry tomatoes, this is a great way to showcase them. We all loved, loved the salad. It’s nice to be able to make the tomatoes ahead of time. The salad ahead of time too. Then you just have to toss it all at the last minute. Do have some dressing on hand in case it needs a bit more than what’s in the tomatoes.
What’s NOT: nothing at all.

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