Tag: salad

Categories
Recipes

shaved asparagus and parmesan salad

The only thing more spring that fresh strawberries might be raw asparagus. This salad is perfect, simple and balanced.  The nuttiness of the parmesan and the sharpness of the dressing compliment the asparagus wonderfully. This was out first foray into raw asparagus territory and it turns out that the distinct asparagus flavor is actually more mild when it’s raw. I also was worried about the asparagus being tough, but you shave the spears so thin that they become really tender – think asparagus fettuccini.

Shaved Asparagus and Parmesan Salad, from the Chez Panisse Cafe Cookbook

1 shallot, diced
2 T white wine or champagne vinegar
2 T lemon juice
salt
1/3 cup olive oil
1 bunch asparagus spears
pepper
Parmesan cheese, shaved

Dice the shallot and let it marinate in vinegar, lemon juice and a pinch of salt.

Carefully shave the asparagus spears into thin ribbons. I used a japanese mandolin, but you could also use a vegetable peeler or a very sharp knife. This step takes a while, but the end result is worth it. The asparagus is so tender and wonderful and not stringy at all. Jordan also suggested using a mandolin to cut the spears into asparagus coins instead of ribbons as a time saver. You could cut multiple spears at once and your fingers are in less danger as you cut. We think this would be just as tasty.

Whisk the olive oil into the shallot mixture. Pour over the asparagus and toss to coat. Plate each serving and top with generous amount of shaved parmesan.

-Emily

Categories
Recipes

spring salad with snap peas and radishes

This recipe is borrowed from our friends Matt and Alexa. We went over to their place for dinner on Friday and loved this salad. Lucky for us, they are generous with the recipes and also belong to the same CSA so we already had the ingredients in our fridge. We liked it so much, we had it for lunch the next day.

Spring Salad with Snap Peas, Radishes and Mint
1 basket of snap peas, or about two handfuls, sliced
1 bunch radishes, sliced
1 T mint, sliced thinly
1/4 cup almonds, quickly browned in a saute pan and chopped

For the dressing
1 T lemon juice
2 T olive oil
salt and pepper

Slice the veggies and combine in a bowl. Roast the almonds in a dry saute pan over low heat until browned, 5 – 10 minutes. Slice the almonds and toss with the salad. Dress lightly with the lemon and olive oil. Sprinkle with salt and pepper.

All of these ingredients marry so well. Jordan and I may not have paired them (the credit all goes to Matt and Alexa on this one), but we sure will make it again if we get another week of snap peas – a short season on those little guys! The salad is perfect and so spring. I loved it (like almost anything spring-y right now)!

-Emily

Categories
Recipes

steak salad with mango dressing

Last week for girls’ night we inaugurated Robin’s grill – a pretty momentous occasion in the life a grill, at least from my experience. Robin had been talking about making a grill purchase for over a month and finally the weather was nice enough to merit it. We decided to make a steak salad. Robin strong-armed grilling the meat and I made the salad and the dressing.

For the steak
1 lb flank steak
Salt, pepper, balsamic vinegar

Salt and pepper the steak. Marinate the steak for about 15 minutes in some balsamic vingar. Heat your brand spankin’ new grill to high. Cook the steak 8 – 10 minutes per side, or until the internal temperature is 130 degrees for medium rare. Rest for about 10 minutes and slice against the grain.

For the salad
1/2 jicama, cut into batons
1 bell pepper, diced
mixed greens

Mango Dressing
1 mango, peeled and seeded
1 t red wine vinegar
1 t rice wine vinegar
1/4 cup olive oil
salt, pepper

Puree the mango in a food processor. Add the vinegars and mix. In a slow stream, add the oil until the dressing has emulsified. You may need less or more oil depending on your mango’s juiciness. Season with salt and pepper. Toss with salad just before serving. Top with the steak.

While we overcooked our steak slightly, the grill’s maiden voyage was a success! (We need a bit more practice to master the grill’s temperature range). This salad is easy, quick and tasty. To be honest, I think I could skip the mango dressing. My mango was pretty mild and did not impart nearly enough tropical flavor into the dish for the amount of work it is to get the flesh off those suckers. Maybe if I knew how to pick a good mango, I’d try it again. I think next time we are going to make a strawberry-champange vinegar dressing!

-Emily

Categories
Recipes

girls’ night

Jordan stays late working hard in the psych lab on Thursday nights. I get together with my cousin Katie and my neighbor/new favorite person Robin. We make cocktails and dinner and have a grand old time just us girls, Willow and Honey included.

This Thursday, Robin took the reigns and made a delicious barley and mushroom risotto. I made a salad with arrugula, baby spinach, blood orange and candied nuts. Today, I’ll share my recipe for candied nuts that are perfect in just about any salad.  This recipe was inspired by incredible green beans that my friend Katie Norton made for me while we were in college. (Katie is now a pastry chef in D.C. and you can visit her blog here). Oh how I wish she could attend our girls’ nights!

Candied Walnuts, great for salads or as a ice cream topping
1/2 – 3/4 cup walnuts
2 T butter
1/2 cup sugar, white or brown
2 t worcestershire sauce
a dash of paprika
a dash of salt

In a heavy bottomed saucepan, melt the butter over medium heat. Add the sugar. Melt the sugar, stirring occasionally until it becomes carmel in color. Add the paprika, salt and worcestershire sauce. Stir. Turn off the heat and add the nuts. Stir to coat. Pour the nuts onto a parchment-lined baking sheet. As they cool, you can break them into appropriately sized pieces. Toss with salad and enjoy!

-Emily

Categories
Recipes

lobster day

Lobster is one of those rare foods for special occasions.  Sadly, Emily has never had lobster before and I only once.  With no birthdays or anniversaries in sight, we thought we would create our own special day called “lobster day” that would be held every October 15th in celebration of … well, nothing really, aside from delicious crustacean.  (As a side note, it is now also a celebration of Willow, a new member of our family; she’s a greyhound we rescued on October 16th, but more on that in a separate post).   So with this idea planted in our minds, we got things started.  I rode my bike down to Sun Fat Seafood (the same place I got the shrimp and scallops in “paella, per se”) and picked up two live lobsters and transported them home in a cooler strapped to my back.  Needless to say it was an awkward ride home, but the thought of sweet lobster kept me going.  Cooking them couldn’t be easier.  Simply rinse them off, throw them in a steamer basket over a pot of boiling water, and wait.  There are a few signs lobsters give you to let you know they’re ready to be devoured: their shells turn bright red, the legs come off easily, and the fat starts to ooze out of the torso right in front of the tail.  We ate them with butter and bread.  I think there was a salad and some wine involved too, but all I really remember was the lobster.

-Jordan

There was a salad by the way, I made a simple yet classic caesar salad.  It was a really nice and salty counterpart to the sweet and buttery lobster.

Categories
Recipes

pizza, pizza, pizza

Friday night we had a couple friends over to our place for dinner.  Emily and I discussed a dinner menu; we knew we wanted something casual that would be a crowd pleaser.  Obviously, the perfect answer was pizza.  (On a more personal note, I think pizza is one of the two perfect foods in the universe.  Maybe I’ll discuss the other later, but for now, I’ll keep you in suspense).  When making homemade pizza, I usually assume one pizza per two people.  It seems like a lot, but it’s really difficult to make large pizza at home (more than 12″) and I make pretty thin crust, so it’s not too filling.

I’m going to make a confession right away.  I bought the dough from Whole Foods.  I know it’s a terrible thing to do, but to be perfectly honest, their dough is really good.  I’ve made my own before and it only comes out okay in my opinion.  As an added bonus, they only cost $1.30 each.  I’ve also heard that Trader Joe’s dough is tasty too, but I’ve never tried it.

To make up for my store bought dough, I did make the sauce from scratch.  This is something I highly recommend because it’s super easy, cheap, it tastes better than jarred sauce, and you can make a batch as large as you want and just freeze it for at least a year.  I made a very basic version where I simply sautéed an onion, a carrot and a few cloves of thinly sliced garlic.  Then I deglazed with some red wine vinegar (probably about 1/4 cup) and added two 28oz. cans of whole tomatoes.  Let that simmer for a couple hours and puree to your desired consistency.  Season with salt, pepper, chile flake, and a couple tablespoons of sugar (to cut the acidity).

Now for the fun part.  Preheat your oven as high as it will go (If you have a pizza stone, which is highly recommended, preheat for about an hour so the stone gets good and hot).  I like to take the dough out of the fridge about a half hour before baking to make it a bit easier to work with.  Stretch it out with some flour on the counter and get it to a nice thin disc about 12″ in diameter.  Put some cornmeal on your pizza peel and lay the dough on it (I leave about an inch hanging over the edge of the peel as the dough seems to slide off more easily that way, that could just be me though).  Then you just throw on your toppings.  The only advice I can really give here is that less is more.  Just use a little bit of sauce, a good quality cheese (I like fresh mozzarella) and no more than 4-5 toppings.  We made three pizzas: one was sausage (pork of course), olives, and cherry tomatoes; basic mozzarella and basil; and bacon, sautéed chanterelles, goat cheese, garlic, and onion (I also threw some fresh tarragon on after it came out).

Conclusions:  We’ve done this before and we will do it again.  It’s super fun and not too difficult (your friends will love you for it too).  If you’ve never made homemade pizza before then just give it a try; it seems really hard at first, but the more you do it, the easier it gets.

P.S. We had a salad too.  Just spinach and arugula with more cherry tomatoes and a balsamic vinaigrette.  Tasty.

-Jordan

Categories
Recipes

just too cute

Now, those pear tomatoes are too cute! They remind me of stacking dolls. Jordan thought they looked like penguins. Yep. Cute.

This salad celebrates the end of summer with fresh tomatoes, quickly blanched green beans and a tarragon, shallot and white wine dressing.

Conclusions: Jordan and I both liked the tarragon quite a bit.  It’s not an herb we use often and it added a surprisingly satisfying anise flavor. Tomatoes and green beans are two of my absolute favorite ingredients and so I was pretty sold on this salad. It made a great accompaniment to the cous cous with sauteed mushrooms and pan-seared cod we also enjoyed, but were too beige to post a picture of.

-Emily