My Go-To Salad

So, Ms. Jessie at The Brown Bag is doing a salad-a-day challenge for February and I promised I try and put up some recipes for salads in the spirit of things. Unfortunately, I haven't had a salad each day this month, but I have for the last two days. Sigh. There's little incentive for salad around these parts: two kids that don't eat salad plus eating veg at home (ie eating lots of veggies). But I like salads and have kinda missed them. This week, I put salad on the menu.

The Dressing:
I tend to like sweet, vinegary dressings. I came across this one several years ago in the vegetarian grilling book. The salad itself had arugula, roasted red peppers, marinated and grilled shallots, pine nuts and feta. It actually was the marinade for the shallots, but I had a little extra leftover and used it as a dressing. Yum! So, it has become one of my staple salad dressings.

1/4 C. Olive Oil
1/4 C. Balsamic Vinegar
1 Tbsp Brown Sugar
Salt and Pepper to Taste

All you have to do is whisk it all together and toss it with your salad.

I feel like a good salad has a few major components: greens, mix-ins, crunch, and cheese.

The Greens
So, this is the thing. I don't really love the ranch on iceberg with carrots and mushrooms and a tomato. I mean, it has it's place, but I like my salads to have a little more personality. I usually go for spinach instead of lettuce - it's heartier and so full of nutrition. But you can do this with almost any type of leafy green. My second choice would be the "spring mix" or whatever they are calling it these days or arugula.

Mix-ins
Sounds like cold stone, eh? Well, this is the best part of making a salad. I look through the fridge to see what I have. I usually try to shy away from the typical carrots and celery and go for more interesting components: strawberries, blueberries, roasted red peppers, pears, apples, thinly sliced red onion, avocado, nice ripe grape tomatoes, dried fruit, hard-boiled eggs, bacon. I don't go wild here. Just a couple mix-ins. Maybe only one. If you want to make it a entree salad you can also mix in leftover chicken or whatever meat you have.

Crunch
This would be what croutons are usually for, but I have a hard time with croutons. You can't puncture them with your fork that well and if you can't do that then you have to try and balance them on your fork with the other salad components. I usually just end up eating them alone and I think that really misses the point. I typically will go for nuts of some sort: pine nuts, pecans, walnuts, almonds, cashews - all toasted. But, you can use anything that sounds good to achieve the crunch. Some other ideas might be chow mein noodles, tortilla chips, fried onions...

Nuts are also great candied: heat the 1/3 C. nuts in a small frying pan until fragrant. Sprinkle with sugar (a tablespoon or so) and stir until the sugar is melted and the nuts are browned. Remove from heat and spread on wax paper that has been sprayed with non-stick spray until cool.

Cheese
I like cheese in my salads. Depending on the other ingredients I might use shredded parmesan, chopped mozzarella, feta, blue, gorgonzola, smoked gouda. I don't really like chevre so I wouldn't use it, but it would probably work well, too, if you like it.


So here are some of my favorite mix-in, crunch, cheese combinations to go with the dressing and greens.

Blueberries, parmesan and candied nuts or pine nuts
Strawberries, blue cheese, almonds
Pears, blue cheese, candied walnuts
Roasted red peppers, feta, pine nuts
Roasted red peppers, tomato, mozzarella, fried onions (the kind you use for green bean casserole)

Heirloom Tomato Salad

This picture really doesn't do justice to this salad. We had it the other night at Bobbi and Owen's house and I have been thinking about it ever since! It is the perfect meal or side dish for summer when the tomatoes are perfectly ripe. I don't have measurements for anything...you just have to put in how much till it suits you.

Day-old baguette, cut in chunks
Heirloom tomatoes (or any other nice ripe tomatoes)
Basil, chopped
Garlic, minced
Balsamic Vinegar
Olive Oil
Salt and Pepper
Ricotta Cheese

If the bread is not hard, toast it in a low temperature oven until it is dried and hard. Meanwhile, chop the tomatoes into large chunks. Combine tomatoes, basil, garlic, vinegar, olive oil, salt and pepper.

When you are ready to serve the salad, toss in the dried bread pieces. Serve with a dollop of Ricotta cheese on top.

Mexican Seven-Layered Salad

Scott and I love to have salads for dinner in warm weather. Really, who wants to crank on the oven and eat something rich and heavy when it's warm out? Found this recipe in a magazine and bought everything this morning from the farmer's market, including corn that I cut off the cobb and par-boiled. While I don't think anyone in Mexico would recognize this as a Mexican salad, it was nice and fresh and very satisfying. Since it was just the two of us I didn't bother with the layering...just used bowls. Since I don't cook much with chipotle and would have no use for the leftover chiles, I am tempted to try it next time with chili powder and cayenne.

Dressing:

1/2 C. Mayonnaise

1/2 C. Sour cream

1 Tbsp. Lime Juice

2 tsp. Mashed Chipotle Chile in adobo sauce

1 tsp. Grated lime peel

Salad:

6 C. Torn Romaine Lettuce, Divided

1 C. Corn, cooked

1 C. Diced Tomatoes

1 Avocado, diced

1 C. Diced Orange Bell Pepper

1 C. Black Beans, drained and rinsed

1 C. Diced Red Onion

1 C. Diced Pepper Jack Cheese

1 C. Coarsely Crushed Tortilla Chips

Whisk all dressing ingredients in small bowl. Let stand at room temperature 10 minutes.

In deep 10-cup clear glass bowl or baking dish, layer half of the lettuce. Top with corn, tomato, avocado, bell pepper, beans, remaining lettuce, onion and cheese, spreading each to sides so layers will show. Spread dressing over top, covering chieese completely.

Serve immediately or cover and refrigerate up to 2 hours. Sprinkle with chips just before serving.

Eggplant Salad

One of the sayings in Israel is that if a woman doesn't know how to make eggplant 80 different ways she will not make a good wife (or something like that). I, personally, love eggplant and have done some experimenting with a salad/dip. It's very similar to Bhabaghanoush, but since I don't know what's in Bhabaghanoush, I won't call it that.

1 lg. Eggplant
1 lg. Red Bell Pepper
2 cl. Garlic
About 1/4 C. Tehina
1 - 2 tsp. Lemon Juice
Salt
Pepper
1/2 - 1 tsp. cumin
Water, if needed.

Fire up the grill (the best way) or your broiler. Wash the pepper and eggplant. Poke holes in the skin of the eggplant all the way around (this will keep it from exploding). Roast on the grill or the broiler until the vegetables are very soft (eggplant) and the skin is charred (pepper).

Meanwhile place the garlic clove, tehina, Lemon juice, salt, pepper and cumin in a food processor bowl.

When the vegetables are done remove them from the grill and place the red pepper in a covered dish for about 10 minutes. Cut the eggplant in half, scoop out the middle, and place it in the food processor bowl. Peel the skin off of the pepper (should just rub off) and remove the core and seeds. Place the pepper in the food processor bowl.

Process on pulse until the vegetables are chopped and all the ingredients are combined well. Adjust seasonings as necessary and add water if the dip seems too thick.

Serve with Pita.