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Archive for the ‘Salads’ Category
It took me awhile to recover from so many days off, but I have recipes again! LOL
Actually, I was quite busy this weekend – on top of grilling some filets from Chuck and smoking a free-range chicken we picked up at the farmer’s market, we pitted and froze five pounds of sweet cherries I found on sale for $.199/lb, made homemade chicken stock from a “soup chicken”- an old laying hen past her prime – and (believe it or not) made dog food for Scooter, using the meat from the old hen and a kidney from Chuck.
Yes, I guess we’ve gone off the deep end. I should have never read the ingredients on the bag of kibble we’ve been feeding him; it was simply appalling. I wouldn’t eat that stuff; why feed it to my furry, four-legged child?
At any rate, since we’ve got the grill/smoker cranked up full throttle for the summer, salads are still the order of the day. We’d picked up some lovely tomatoes and cucumbers at the farmer’s market this last weekend and have been trying to consume a seedless watermelon for several days (there’s only so much watermelon you can eat at any given meal, and I’ve been resisting the urge to pull the ice cream maker out and make a sorbet with it), so voilá! A Tomato, Watermelon and Cucumber salad.
Quick, easy, tasty, refreshing and oh-so-good for you, too. What more could you ask for?
Note: A mandolin will make quick work of the cucumber and onion.
Tomato, Watermelon and Cucumber Salad
Tomato, Watermelon and Cucumber Salad
4 to 6 servings
4 cups cubed watermelon
1 large, ripe tomato, chopped
1 large cucumber, sliced very thinly
1/2 large, sweet onion, sliced very thinly
1 teaspoon fresh thyme, minced
3 teaspoons sugar or Splenda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup red wine vinegar
2 to 3 tablespoons olive oil
freshly ground black pepper to taste
Combine the watermelon, tomato and cucumber in a large bowl; toss with the sugar or Splenda and salt. Let it stand for 15 minutes.
Stir in the onion, thyme, vinegar and olive oil. Cover and chill for 2 hours. Taste; season with pepper. Serve on lettuce leaves, if desired.
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Here’s an easy, warm weather and delicious dish for you – good ol’ chicken salad.
Since any salad that has chicken as its main ingredient is called chicken salad, and I have several readers outside the United States, I’m talking about American chicken salad, which is chopped chicken combined with a fat-based binder (usually mayonnaise or salad dressing) and often served as a creamy spread in sandwiches. Any number of things can be added to the chicken and fat – commonly chopped raw vegetables, fruit or nuts.
Mine happens to use all three.
I make chicken salad nearly every time I roast a chicken, especially in warmer weather. You can use canned chicken, of course, but I’ve never cared at all for the taste/texture of it (or the price – the stuff is stupidly expensive) and it’s just as easy to use chopped, leftover chicken. I get at least two extra meals out of a roast chicken when I make chicken salad, even though I rarely eat it on bread – I usually put it on top of a bed of lettuce and eat it like a conventional salad. The last time I made it, though, I just ate it alone.
For breakfast.
Anyhoo, this is my basic chicken salad recipe. You can jazz it up any way you like it; I often put chopped apples or pears in it, and use toasted walnuts or pecans (once I even used diced mango and chopped macadamia nuts – Oh. My. Gawd. It was wonderful!).
Note: I used homemade mayo, apple cider vinegar and raw, unfiltered honey the last time I made this, and it was absolutely to die for. You can, of course, use a commercially prepared mayo, plain white vinegar (a white wine or champagne vinegar would be good, too) and sugar or plain clover honey and it will be just fine.
Chicken Salad
Chicken Salad
Serves 4
2 cups chopped, cooked chicken
1/2 small red onion, chopped
2 stalks celery, chopped
1/2 cup slivered almonds
1/2 cup raisins
1 cup mayonnaise
1 tablespoon prepared, coarse-grained mustard
1 tablespoon vinegar
2 teaspoons sugar or honey
2 tablespoons sweet or dill pickle relish, depending on your preference (optional)
In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the mayonnaise, mustard, vinegar, sugar or honey and relish together. Add the remaining ingredients, stirring to blend well. Cover and refrigerate for an hour to allow the flavors to meld.
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This weekend was a tad on the carby side for me. Not because of rich desserts or decadent cocktails. No, it was due entirely to this:
Sweet Corn
Yes, it is the extremely tasty evil Georgia sweet corn, and is entirely the fault of the guy at the farmer’s market who forced six ears on us Saturday morning, shortly before the guy at the meat market twisted our arms and made us buy 3 racks of baby back ribs. All of which we were then compelled to grill, then consume, later that evening, entirely against our will. And we won’t even go into the watermelon. *sobs*
It was a heartbreaking experience.
So we smoked a turkey breast and beef brisket on Sunday. And I felt the need to do something with the three ears of roasted corn we had leftover from our excess Saturday evening. Once I realized I had a bag of dried black beans in the pantry, this dish was on the menu. (You can, of course, make it with canned black beans.)
We ate it as a side with our brisket and turkey, but it would be marvelous served with good quality tortilla chips.
Roasted Corn and Black Bean Salsa
Black Bean Salsa
makes…a lot
4 cups (or two cans) black beans, drained and rinsed
3 ears roasted corn, kernels cut away (about 2 cups)
1 large tomato, chopped
1 to 2 jalapeno peppers, seeded and minced
1 cup red onion, finely chopped
1/2 cup loosely packed cilantro leaves, torn
2 tablespoons white wine vinegar
1/4 cup freshly squeezed lime juice
salt and pepper to taste
Combine all ingredients in a large mixing bowl. Cover (and refrigerate if desired) for at least 1 hour to allow flavors to develop. Bring to room temperature and stir before serving.
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Work is kicking my behind again today, so another short and sweet recipe.
“Coleslaw” comes from the Dutch koolsla – literally “cabbage salad.” And a very good, easy salad it is, especially when made with bagged, shredded cabbage. You can shred your own cabbages and carrots, of course, but I’ve found that it’s not all that much more expensive to use the bagged stuff unless you are making a really, really large quantity. But I’ve included instructions for both, just to be on the safe side.
And the dressing? YUMMY.
Happy picnicing and barbecuing this summer, y’all.
Coleslaw
Coleslaw
Serves 6 – 8
One 16-oz. bag of shredded green and red cabbage with carrots OR
5 cups shredded green cabbage
1 cup shredded red cabbage
1 large carrot, shredded
1 cup mayonnaise
2 tablespoons Dijon mustard
1 tablespoon white vinegar
1 tablespoon sugar or Splenda
1 teaspoon celery salt, or to taste
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper, or to taste
Place the cabbages and carrots in a large bowl.
In a small mixing bowl, whisk the mayonnaise, mustard, vinegar, sugar (or Splenda), celery salt and pepper together until well blended.
Pour the dressing over the cabbages and carrots, and toss until well mixed. Cover and refrigerate for an hour to allow the flavors to blend.
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Gee, it’s Thursday and this is the first recipe I’ve posted all week. I know I promised scallops, but the recipe needs tweaking before I post it (Michele, we were divided about the fermented black beans, which were really salty – I may use regular black beans next time or really cut down on the fermented ones). It was really good, but still…it needs tweaking.
So, you get what we had last night, which was even better: Chicken Waldorf Salad. Made with homemade mayonnaise.
I’ve decided if I’m going to do this low carb thing, I’m going to do it right. My body does not tolerate soy in large quantities very well, and the vast majority of commercially available mayonnaise is just chock-full of soybean oil, even the ones that claim they’re made with olive oil. The only other option available to me, at least at the local grocery store, is in the “organic” section and costs $8 for a small jar.
Pardon me, but screw that – I can make mayonnaise at home for a fraction of that cost and it will taste tons better. So I pulled out my trusty copy of Julia Child’s The Art of French Cooking and looked for her mayonnaise recipe, which I’d never made before. And didn’t find it. Because there’s no “condiment” section in the book. Mayonnaise is under “sauces.”
Fancy that. Anyhoo, so I’m getting all the ingredients together and begin reading the instructions when I get to the part about whisking it.
By hand.
Continually.
Again, pardon me, but screw that says my right hand, in the midst of an arthritic flare-up. It’s technology to the rescue as I pull out my stand mixer and fasten the trusty whisk attachment. Which worked beautifully, so those are the instructions I’m providing. You can always whisk it by hand, if you wish, and mayonnaise can be made very quickly in a blender or food processor as well.
So, here’s the recipe for the Chicken Waldorf Salad, made with homemade mayonnaise and chicken leftover from the bird we roasted Sunday night, served on a bed of fresh spinach.
Note: I’m cutting vegetable oils out of our diet for many reasons, so I made the mayonnaise completely with olive oil. You can use a neutral-tasting vegetable oil if you want, or a combination of both, but don’t use an extra-virgin olive oil – the taste is overwhelming. Use an inexpensive, lighter type. And you can, of course, use a commercially prepared mayonnaise if you prefer. Also, the recipe for the mayonnaise makes about 2 1/2 cups, so tightly cover and refrigerate the leftovers for up to 3 days.
Note 2: Yes, there are raw eggs in the mayonnaise. Use clean, fresh eggs with no cracks, and make sure the yolks don’t come in contact with the shells. You can also use pasteurized eggs.
Chicken Waldorf Salad
4 main dish servings
2 – 3 cups cooked chicken, cubed
1 apple (I used a Fiji), cored, chopped and tossed with a little lemon juice to prevent browning
2 stalks celery, thinly sliced
1 cup red seedless grapes, sliced in half
3/4 cup walnuts, coarsely broken
3/4 to 1 cup mayonnaise
salt and pepper to taste
To make the mayonnaise:
3 yolks at room temperature
1 tablespoon white wine vinegar
1 teaspoon lemon juice (optional)
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon dry or prepared mustard (I used a good Dijon)
1 3/4 cups light olive oil, vegetable oil or a combination of both
2 tablespoons boiling water
Warm the mixing bowl from the stand mixer in hot water; wipe dry and latch on to the mixer. Place the egg yolks in the bowl and attach the whisk. Beat for 1 or 2 minutes until they are thick and sticky.
Add the vinegar or lemon juice, salt and mustard. Beat for 30 seconds more.
Begin adding the oil by drops with a teaspoon, or rest the lip of the measuring cup on the edge of the bowl. Keep your eye on the oil rather than on the mayonnaise. Stop pouring and continue beating every 10 seconds or so, to be sure the egg yolks are absorbing the oil.
After 1/3 to 1/2 cup of oil has been incorporated, the mayonnaise will thicken into a very heavy cream and the crisis of potential curdling is over. Beat in the remaining oil in a thin, steady stream. If the mayo becomes too thick and stiff, beat in drops of vinegar or lemon juice to thin it out, then continue with the oil.
Beat the boiling water into the mayonnaise – more anti-curdling insurance. Season to taste.
If not using immediately, scrape it into a small bowl and cover it tightly so a skin will not form on its surface.
Assembling the salad:
Combine all of the salad ingredients – chicken, apple, celery, grapes, walnuts, mayonnaise - in a large bowl and stir, mixing well. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Serve on a bed of fresh greens.
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