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Posts from the ‘Salads’ Category

Jan 25

red rice beet salad
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Wild Organic Red Rice and Beet Salad by Tarryn Maynard

I live in New Bedford, Massachusetts—a place synonymous with factories and fishing, Melville and Moby Dick and…Sid Wainer & Sons.  Sid’s gourmet outlet of Jansal Valley products, and most importantly its test kitchen, is a little jewel tucked among old textile mills. I sampled a red rice and beet salad there and darted home to recreate. It’s packed with texture and taste and it’s the rice that gives this dish an amazing nutty, chewy flavor and the color that melds so beautifully with the beets.  Topped with crunch and craisins, this is a bowl of deep purple and fuchsia deliciousness. Plus, the rice has 7 grams of protein and beets are super healthy (and yummy).  Served over mixed greens (sometimes with left-over chicken or a couple of hardboiled eggs) and/or topped with some crumbled goat cheese, this is my lunch bag favorite.

WILD ORGANIC RED RICE AND BEET SALAD

1 cup Jansal Valley’s wild organic red rice, cooked and cooled*

3-4 medium beets, roasted, peeled and cut into small ½-inch cubes

Handful of Italian parsley, finely chopped

½ cup of craisins

½ cup of cashews, toasted and chopped

½ red onion, finely diced

Lemon juice from half of a lemon

Vinaigrette:

¼ cup extra virgin olive oil

¼ cup white balsamic vinegar

1 clove garlic, blanched and finely minced**

Salt and pepper to taste

Red Rice

Fire up the oven to 350F and set your pasta pot with water to boil.

Combine cashews, craisins, red onion and lemon juice in a large bowl and set aside for beets and rice.

Make the vinaigrette.  Combine oil, vinegar, garlic, salt and pepper in a covered jar, shake well. I prefer white balsamic over red balsamic in this dish. If you have a favorite, go for it.

Once the beets are cool enough to handle, peel the skin off, and dice into ½ inch cubes and add to the large bowl.  Add the rice and vinaigrette to the bowl, mix well. Enjoy!

Serves 6

*The rice needs a lot of water to cook so fill the pot like you would cook a pound of pasta. Add rice to boiling water. It is done when there is still a bite to it but not crunchy. Rinse the rice in cold water to stop the cooking. Cooking time is approximately 40-45 minutes.

** I blanch the garlic clove by popping it in the rice water right before draining, I find this takes a bit of the raw garlic bite out.  Skip this step if you love the garlic bite!

Jul 7

me and my corn circa 1980
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CSA Week 4 Recipe: Summer Corn and Kohlrabi Salad

Nothing marks the arrival of summer quite like terrific corn. Just sitting on the porch shucking ears brings back countless happy memories for myself and my family. This recipe is a go-to, versatile side dish that is equally comfortable on an elegant buffet or transformed into a picnic lunch with the addition of black beans or leftover grilled chicken. It’s also a wonderful way to use any of the vegetables in your local CSA basket – in this version I’ve incorporated half of the recent harvest.

CSA Week 4: kohlrabi, turnips, garlic scapes, carrots, bunching onions, garlic, parsley, summer squash

 

SUMMER CORN AND KOHLRABI SALAD

8 ears sweet corn, boiled for 4 minutes, cooled, and cut from the cob

1 medium kohlrabi, trimmed and cut into a 1/4-inch dice

2  small turnips, trimmed and cut into a 1/4-inch dice

1/3 cup mixture of finely chopped garlic scapes, scallions or bunching onions, any combination of the three works

handful flat parsley, chopped

1/2 cup orange juice

1/2 teaspoon cumin

salt and pepper to taste

dash of red pepper flakes (optional)

Toss together all ingredients in a large bowl. If you have high-quality extra virgin olive oil on hand, drizzle a bit over the top and serve.

Serves 6-8

Jun 11

CSA1
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CSA Week 1 Recipe: Garlic Scape and Pea Shoot Pesto Pasta Salad

Happy days are here again!

This past Saturday was the first official week of our annual CSA membership! To celebrate we used a portion of our share to create a pesto for a potluck celebration at our local dairy, Mecox Bay Farm. Garlic scapes are perfect for making pesto, their flavor is slightly spicy and bright. The peas shoots lend a hint of sweetness. Experiment with any combination of herbs, greens, cheese and nuts. It’s all good!

CSA Week 1: garlic scapes, pea shoots, asian greens, 3 different lettuce varieties, green garlic, rainbow chard, kale.

GARLIC SCAPE AND PEA SHOOT PESTO PASTA SALAD

2 cups assorted seasonal vegetables such as snow peas and asparagus, trimmed

1 pound pasta (I like a fun shape for this – we used Cavatappi.)

8 garlic scapes

extra virgin olive oil

1/2 tablespoon dried oregano

red pepper flakes (to taste)

small handful of fresh basil, chopped

1/4 pound fresh pea shoots (about 2 cups), roughly chopped

1/3 cup grated parmesan cheese

small handful of toasted pine nuts or walnuts (optional)

sea salt and freshly ground pepper

Bring a large pot of well-salted water to a rolling boil. Blanch the snow peas and asparagus for about 3 minutes, until crisp-tender. Remove vegetables with a slotted spoon and rinse under cold water or shock in an ice water bath.

To the boiling water now add the pasta and cook until al dente. Drain the pasta in a colander and rinse under cold water to stop the cooking. Set vegetables and cooked pasta aside.

In the meantime, roughly chop the garlic scapes and place in a medium saute pan. Cover the scapes with the oil, add the oregano and red pepper flakes and cook, over medium-low heat, for about 5 minutes. Remove from heat, let the scape oil cool slightly, then fold in your basil and pea shoots to wilt just a bit.

Transfer the entire content of the pan into a food processor, add the cheese and optional nuts, and blitz until well-combined into a pesto. If you need to add more oil to create a smooth texture, simply stream in a little at a time.

Toss together the vegetables, pasta and pesto in a large bowl. Season with salt and pepper. If you have some edible arugula or mustard flowers, scatter over the top for a pretty presentation!

Serves 4-6 as a main.

May 8

lovage salad
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Shrimp and Lovage Salad

Never heard of lovage? I hadn’t until a year ago when I experienced a dish drizzled with “lovage oil” at Boulder, Colorado’s Black Cat Bistro. It’s amazing stuff – a hardy, perennial herb whose flavor profile is like the love-child of celery and parsley. Today I used part of my ration harvested for me by Sunset Beach Farm to make a simple shrimp salad for lunch (this would be amazing served lobster roll-style too). A little lovage goes a long way, so use it more sparingly than celery. Cool lovage use: the stalks are hollow and make fantastic straws for Bloody Mary’s!

SHRIMP AND LOVAGE SALAD

1/2 cup light mayonnaise (I use Hellmann’s)

juice of 1 lemon

1/2 cup finely chopped lovage leaves and tender stems (packed)

pinch of sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

2 pounds cooked shrimp, peeled, deveined and tails removed

Make the dressing first to allow the flavors to combine. In a medium bowl whisk together the light mayonnaise, lemon juice, chopped lovage, sea salt and pepper. Set aside or cover and place in the refrigerator if you are not going to use right away.

Butterfly your cooked shrimp and then roughly chop. Leave to cool for an hour if you’ve just boiled them. Combine with dressing and serve over spring greens, as a sandwich or into hollowed out vegetables (peppers, tomatoes, …)

Serves 4 as a main.

Apr 19

dand greens
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Dandelion Greens with Warm Garlic Dressing

Just Google “dandelion greens” and you are faced with a seemingly endless list of health benefits from aiding in digestion to treating diabetes to fighting cancer. This super food has it all, although it comes with a bitter flavor profile. To enjoy dandelion greens you can certainly boil them and then saute as you would spinach, however the more you cook them down, the fewer benefits you receive. Here we’ve dressed the raw greens up with garlic and a few sweet notes which help balance the bitterness. Add some goat cheese and you’ve just made a delicious, nutrient-packed lunch right out of your back yard. Not bad for a weed.

DANDELION GREENS WITH WARM GARLIC DRESSING

1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil

3 large cloves garlic, chopped

1/4 cup raisins

1 tablespoon champagne or sherry vinegar

1/2 teaspoon agave or honey

sea salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste

dandelion greens, tender leaves removed from any tough stems (about 2 cups, loosely packed)

goat cheese

In a medium skillet over medium-low heat, warm the oil and cook the garlic until it just begins to take on color. Add the raisins and stir for 1 minute until the garlic is lightly golden and the raisins are plump.

Remove from heat and stir in the vinegar, agave, salt and pepper.

Distribute the dandelion greens onto serving plates, top with goat cheese and pour the warm dressing over the top.

Serves 2

Feb 26

Black Bean Rice Salad

Black Bean and Rice Salad

This is a salad that can serve as a base for anything you’ve got left in the crisper. The combination of rice and beans enhanced by an assortment of colorful vegetables creates a complete meal – perfect for your lunchbox, for bringing to a potluck, or for the beach basket during the summer (oh, I can’t wait for those days!). The catalyst for this salad was a pint of cherry tomatoes I had on the counter that we had dipped into but that were beginning to age ever-so-slightly. I headed to one of my latest sources for inspiration, Heidi Swanson’s Super Natural Every Day. Heidi’s recipes are simple, inventive and delicious. I made her “Oven Roasted Cherry Tomatoes” and those make this dish extra yummy. I used black, “Forbidden” rice here because I love how the colorful vegetables play of the dark backdrop but, of course, any rice can be used. TGB also loves Lundberg brand’s “Jubilee” mix.

HEIDI’S OVEN ROASTED CHERRY TOMATOES

(you can make these in advance and keep them in frig for up to a week)

1 pint cherry tomatoes, stemmed

1/4 cup olive oil

1 tablespoon natural cane sugar or maple syrup

a scant 1/2 teaspoon sea salt

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

Slice each tomato in half and place in a large baking dish. In a small bowl, whisk together the olive oil, sugar and salt. Pour over the tomatoes and toss until evenly coated. Arrange the tomatoes cut-side up and roast for 45 to 60 minutes. Again, if you aren’t going to use immediately allow to cool and keep them in a glass jar along with any olive oil that was left in the baking dish. You can top with an extra splash of olive oil, if needed.

BLACK BEAN AND RICE SALAD

1 cup cooked “Forbidden” Rice

1 x 15-ounce can black beans, rinsed and drained

1/2 seedless cucumber, unpeeled, cut into a small dice

1 bunch scallions, finely chopped

1/2 cup Heidi’s Oven Roasted Cherry Tomatoes plus olive oil “sludge,” roughly chopped

zest and juice of 1 lemon

sea salt and freshly ground pepper

avocado slices (optional)

hot sauce (optional)

Combine the rice, beans, chopped vegetables and lemon juice in a large bowl. Season to taste with sea salt and pepper. Serve at room temperature with avocado slices and your favorite hot sauce, if desired.

Serves 4.

Feb 13

Beet Salad

Raw Beet, Carrot and Apple Slaw

Over the weekend I took my daughter to a cooking demonstration to benefit the Edible School Gardens Committee of Slow Food East End. Our chef created an inspiring spread of easy, healthy dishes that embrace the virtues the Edible School Gardens Committee endorses within each of the 17 East End schools represented in the group. Among the dishes we shared was a raw beet salad “cooked” only in lemon juice and combined with crunchy carrots and apple. This variation of that salad is a natural for Valentine’s Day of course – the intense color and slightly sweet undertones marry to create love on a plate.

RAW BEET, CARROT AND APPLE SLAW

2 large beets, trimmed and peeled

3-4 large carrots, trimmed and peeled

1 large apple, cored and peeled

the juice of one lemon

1/4 dried cranberries (optional)

Grate the beets, carrots and apple together and combine in large bowl. (Using the grating attachment of your food processor makes this a snap.) Stir in the lemon juice and let stand at least 15 minutes. Add the dried cranberries and serve.

Serves 6 as a side.

Aug 2

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Lemon Herb Potato Salad with Arugula (Week 10 CSA Recipe)

I have a difficult time keeping my potato consumption in check (must come from my Irish side), so I typically don’t buy them unless we are having company over. But (oh, happy days!) the CSA basket has included them for the past two weeks. Gorgeous purples and reds with buttery insides. The color inspired me to make this version of potato salad. Couldn’t resist playing up that golden color! For variations try experimenting with different herbs and replacing the arugula with spinach or watercress.

2 pounds new potatoes

the zest and juice of 1 large lemon

pinch of sugar

1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil

1/4 cup minced spring onion, red onion, shallot or chives

2 cups chopped arugula, loosely packed

1/4 cup chopped fresh basil

1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro

sea salt and fresh ground black pepper

Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Add the potatoes, return to a boil and cook until tender, 15 to 20 minutes, depending on the size of the spuds.

While the potatoes are cooking, whisk the lemon zest, lemon juice, olive oil and sugar together in a small bowl.

Drain the potatoes and add them back to the hot pot. Cut the potatoes into halves or quarters, again depending on size. Pour the dressing over the potatoes while they are still hot. Add the onion, arugula and herbs and mix together gently. The warm potatoes will wilt the greens. Season with sea salt and pepper. Serve warm or chilled.

Serves 4-6 as a side.

Week 10 CSA: Potatoes, Basil, Onions, Garlic, Summer Squash, Cabbage, Carrots, Beets, Kale, Heirloom Tomato, Turnips, Sunflowers

Jul 28

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Thai Beef Salad (Week 9 CSA Recipe)

The heat has been dialed to “11″ lately on the East Coast, so we’ve been avoiding our stove at all costs. I made this last Saturday night for friends and family and it felt like a party! Now I did cheat by buying rare, thinly sliced london broil at our gourmet market. By doing so, this was one cool assembly for the cook. It’s also a great way to use your garden or CSA’s bounty of veggies and herbs, while satisfying the carnivores in our lives.

juice of three limes

4 tablespoons fish sauce

3 tablespoons sesame oil

2 tablespoon tamari, shoyu or soy sauce

2 tablespoons freshly grated ginger

3 garlic cloves, minced

2 pounds rare, cooked beef (like London Broil) cooled and thinly sliced across the grain

1 head of lettuce, shredded

1 cucumber, peeled , seeded (unless English or “hot-house” variety) and chopped

4 carrots, peeled and grated

1 red onion, sliced

2 jalapeno peppers, seeded and finely chopped

1 pint, cherry tomatoes, halved

1/2 cup EACH of fresh basil, mint and cilantro, rolled together and cut into a chiffonade (or rough chop)

In a bowl or jar, combine the  lime juice, fish sauce, sesame oil, tamari, ginger and garlic. Combine well. Place the sliced meat in a ceramic or glass baking dish and cover with about half the marinade, coating evenly. Reserve the remaining dressing. Wrap and place in the refrigerator for 2-3 hours to let the flavors season the meat.

Before serving, combine the salad veggies in a bowl or layer on a platter. Top with the meat and reserved dressing. Sprinkle with the herbs.

Serves 6-8 as a main.

CSA Week 9: Lettuce, Basil, Garlic, Carrots, Beets, Scallions, Potatoes, Summer Squash, Cabbage, Broccoli, Kale, Radishes

Jul 20

Grated summer squash
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Summer Squash and Carrot Confetti (Week 8 CSA Recipe)

Shredding the veggies for this side dish does create a bit of extra work (unless you employ your food processor) but the delicate texture makes it worth while. If you are a radish fan, throw them in too! Fantastic with fish and some sweet corn-on-the-cob. We enjoyed this meal, complete with toned right arms, last Sunday night with the fam!

4 summer squash or zucchini (yellow/green), coarsely grated

4 tablespoons canola or olive oil

1 onion, minced

4 carrots, peeled and coarsely grated

4 tablespoons fresh herbs (thyme and dill both work nicely. If using dried herbs, use about half the amount.)

sea salt and freshly ground pepper

Placed grated squash within a clean dish towel, wrap, twist and squeeeeeeze until the majority of the water is removed. (Consider watering your garden with the water or giving to your dog to drink.) Set aside.

Heat the oil in a deep-sided saucepan over medium-low heat. Cook the onion until just translucent, then add the carrots, squash and herbs. Cook until the veggies have softened, about 8 minutes. Season with sea salt and pepper.

Serves 6 as a side.

CSA Week 8: Summer Squash, Turnips, Carrots, Broccoli, Radishes, Beets, Lettuces, Kale, Garlic, Swiss Chard

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