Fresh Tomato & Cucumber Salad

It was prime tomato season and I was asked to bring a salad.  My aunt used to make a simple but delicious salad in the summertime, with tomatoes picked from her garden.  This was reminiscent of those salads.  Unfortunately, the tomatoes are on the bottom and can't be seen. Get creative and adjust to your liking.

2-3 large farmers' market tomatoes, peeled and sliced
1-2 cucumbers, scored, slice about 1/4-1/2" thick
1/2 small red onion, halved and sliced very thinly
1/2 cup pitted olives, black or kalamata
1/3 cup crumbled feta cheese

2+ tablespoons olive oil
1+ tablespoon balsamic vinegar
2-3 tablespoons fresh basil leaves, thinly sliced

Layer tomatoes, cucumbers, and red onions in a shallow bowl. Drizzle olive oil, and balsamic vinegar over the vegetables.  Sprinkle with the olives and cheese.  Garnish with basil leaves.

Panzanella-- Bread Salad, top with grilled fish

Over the years, I've seen recipes for Panzanella, but I couldn't quite figure out the flavor and whether it would really work.  Then we had some in a restaurant topped with grilled wild salmon.  (Find out about sustainable seafood here. )  Delicious!  So I went on a hunt for a similar recipe.  It is especially good in warm weather, either alone or topped with some protein.  Start this one several hours before your meal so the ingredients can soak in the dressing.  To get even more veggies, layer this on a bed of salad greens of your choice.  Add in your favorite salad goodies or omit something if you don't have it.

4 cups sourdough bread, lightly toasted
*

1 medium cucumber, peeled, seeded and chopped# 


2 medium-sized tomatoes, seeded and chopped#

1 small sweet pepper (any color), seeded, deribbed and chopped

1 medium-sized red onion, finely sliced


1 cup pitted Kalamata olives (or your favorite olives), chopped

½ cup parsley, chopped

1 tablespoon chopped fresh basil, or 1 teaspoon dried


2 hard-cooked eggs, cut into wedges for garnish, optional**


2 tablespoons Parmesan cheese



Dressing


1/2 cup olive oil


3 tablespoons red wine vinegar


1 medium garlic clove, finely chopped


salt and pepper to taste

1 1/2 tablespoons capers

Optional: piece of grilled fish

Make the dressing by beating together the olive oil, vinegar, garlic, salt and pepper. Mash the drained capers; add to the oil/vinegar mixture.

Put dressing in a large bowl, then add the cucumber, tomatoes, pepper, onion, olives, parsley, and basil. Toss gently, cover, and refrigerate for several hours.

About 30 minutes before serving, add bread cubes and toss again.

Garnish with hard-cooked egg wedges, if using. When ready to serve, remove from the refrigerator and sprinkle with the Parmesan cheese.

*Preheat oven to 350 or dry in a skillet on the stove if you don't want to heat up the kitchen.  Trim bread of tough bottom and end crusts.  Cut loaf into ½-3/4” cubes.  Spread on ungreased baking sheet and toast for 8-12 minutes, moving them around with a spatula so they dry evenly.  (This step can also be done with 3-4 tablespoons of melted butter or olive oil tossed with the bread cubes.  It should not toast, just dry out and get crunchy.  Remove from oven and cool.  Store in an airtight container if made before hand.

**If using other protein such as grilled meat or fish, skip the eggs. 



Note: # In this recipe, it is important to seed the cucumbers and tomatoes before adding to the dressing, as you want this salad to be as dry as possible. The dressing -- rather than any liquid from the vegetables -- should provide the moisture. 


http://www.kingarthurflour.com/recipes/panzanella-and-tuscan-bread-recipe ** with adaptations from KAF book, and other recipes.

Seafood watch: Seafood Watch consumer-guides

Deconstructed Wedge Salad

This recipe came from the Smitten Kitchen Cookbook, p. 61.  (smittenkitchen.com)  I had checked her website at various times.  I was looking for books to check out from the digital library on my iPad and this book came up.  I thought, "Why not?"  Well, reading a cookbook on an iPad is not ideal.  You see about half a page at a time, with very small photos.  But I liked the recipes and thought that I would buy the book.  

Well, I bought the book, and it is SO much better than trying to read on the iPad.  There are lots of good recipes that I want to try.  

This salad is on a dinner plate and easily serves 4 to 6.  I ended up cutting it into wedges for ease in serving, but it made for a colorful and inviting salad.

Instead of cutting into wedges, Deb Perelman slices the head of lettuce into 6 big slices and layers them, adding dressing and topping on each before adding the next layer of lettuce.  For me, this is more about the presentation than recipes. 
   

Corn Salad

My neighbor brought over some corn salad soon after they moved in.  Since she doesn't make it from a recipe, she just told me what was in it.  I promptly forgot about it since it was in the middle of winter.  Now that fresh corn is in the stores, I found a version in Susan Branch's Summer Book.  Here is MY version of it.



4 ears of white corn or 3 cups frozen, cooked        
1/2 bell pepper chopped, (any or all colors)
1/4 cup diced red onion        
1/4 cup finely chopped cilantro

Dressing:
1/4 cup olive oil                          3-4 tablespoons lime/lemon juice
1/2 teaspoon smoked paprika     1 small garlic clove, minced
salt and pepper to taste

Cook the corn in the microwave. (See ** below)  After you have de-husked the corn, put into a bowl of cool water, while you chop the remaining ingredients.  Remove the corn when it has cooled, and cut the kernels off the cob.  Prepare dressing by combining ingredients in a jar.

Toss corn with remaining ingredients.  Pour dressing over and refrigerate several hours or until chilled.

**To microwave corn on the cob, check out this video.

Rotini with Garbanzos and Feta

This is a good vegetarian dish, but you can add cooked chicken, salmon, shrimp or tuna to make it more meaty.  Adjust seasonings to your taste.  You can make it ahead of time and chill it to serve as a salad.

• 6 oz rotini ( spiral-shaped pasta)
• 1 T + 2 T olive oil
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 6 cups coarsely chopped spinach
• 1 (15-ounce) cans chickpeas, drained
• 3/4 cup crumbled feta cheese
• ¼- ½ cup sliced olives (black or kalamata)
• 1/3 cup sliced sun-dried tomatoes
• 2-3 T fresh lemon juice
• 1-2 t Italian seasoning (basil and oregano)
• Salt to taste  (feta and olives will add saltiness)
• Freshly ground pepper to taste
• Lemon wedges (optional)  
• Parmesan cheese (optional)  

Preparation

1. Cook pasta according to directions.
2. Saute garlic until light golden, about 1 minute.  Remove, then add spinach.  Turn off heat.  Stir and cook slightly.  Remove from pan and place in bowl.
3. Combine all ingredients in a large bowl; toss well.
4. Garnish with lemon wedges and parmesan cheese, if desired.

Cobb Salad with Dressing

For those of you who are interested in making the salad, here is the recipe.  The interesting thing was that all the lettuce was chopped, and they brought it to the table with the toppings laid out, but they tossed it, which I thought makes a lot of sense, and of course, it tasted better with the ingredients mixed together.

½ head Iceberg lettuce                       6 strips crisp bacon

½ bunch watercress                           1 avocado

1 small bunch chicory                         3 hard boiled eggs

½ head romaine                                 2 Tbsp chives, chopped

2 medium tomatoes, peeled              ½ C bleu cheese, crumbled

½ breast turkey, poached                  1 C dressing * (seems like a LOT)

Chop all greens finely and arrange in salad bowl.  Cut tomatoes in half, remove seeds, and dice fine.  Also fine dice turkey, avocado, and eggs.  Arrange the above ingredients, including the bleu cheese and bacon crumbles, in straight lines across the salad.  Arrange chive diagonally across the above lines.  Present this at the table, toss the salad with the dressing and place on chilled plates.

Makes 4-6 servings.

* See Brown Derby Cobb Salad Dressing

Brown Derby Cobb Salad Dressing

Cobb Salad was one of my favorite salads from when I first read a recipe for it in the early to mid 1980s.  It was awhile before it showed up on restaurant menus, and now just about every restaurant has some version of it.  The story goes that it was invented at the Brown Derby Restaurant in Hollywood late one night using up ingredients in the fridge.  When we visited MGM Studios at Disney World, we ate the Cobb Salad at the Brown Derby, where they gave out the recipe.  I've never made the entire recipe, but I use the salad dressing often.

I have included proportions for three different amounts as the original recipe makes a LOT!

Makes:	1 1/2 cups		2 cups	6 cups
	1/4 t	sugar	1/2 t	1 t
	1 3/4 t	salt	2 1/2 t	2 1/2 T
	3/4 t	black pepper	1 t	1 T
	1/4 t	ground mustard	1/3 t	1 t
	3/4 t	worcestershire sauce	1 t	1 T
	1 clove	garlic	1 clove	1 clove
	1/4 C	water	1/3 C	1 C
	3/4 C	salad oil	1 C	3 C
	1/4 C	red wine vinegar	1/3 C	1 C
	1 1/2 t	lemon juice	2 t	2 T
	1/4 C	olive oil	1/3 C	1 C

Pear/Avocado and Grapefruit Salad

Poppy Seed Dressing:
¼ C sugar
½ tsp salt
½ tsp dry mustard
¾ tsp poppy seeds
½ C oil
¼ C vinegar

Salad:
lettuce leaves
pear or avocado, sliced
grapefruit sections
gorgonzola cheese
toasted pecans

Combine the dressing ingredients in a jar and shake or whisk together. Keep refrigerated. Makes 1 cup.
Put lettuce leaves on each plate. Layer with pear or avocado slices, alternate with grapefruit sections; sprinkle cheese and pecans on top. Pour dressing over.