Cranberry Stilton Salad

Ingredients:

Romaine lettuce

Red Salad Bowl lettuce

Cranberry Stilton Cheese

red onion

extra virgin olive oil

Balsamic vinegar

Salt and crushed pepper

 

Cut or tear the washed lettuce, pat dry with a cotton kitchen towel and add to a large mixing bowl. Slice the red onion very thin and add to the lettuce. Drizzle lightly with the olive oil, add salt and freshly cracked black pepper, then toss the salad. Crumple the stilton over the top of the salad and add the Balsamic vinegar.

Now all you need to do is toss the salad lightly and plate. This is a refreshing and slightly sweet salad that reminds me of warm weather even in the winter or our overcast summers in San Francisco. It also works well with Apricot Stilton.

Pesto Potato Salad

First putting this together during the development of my “Italian Burger”, it seemed a natural fit as the side dish. Discovering that Ligurians traditionally put both potatoes and string beans into their classic pasta with pesto, I decided I couldn’t lose with this combination of ingredients. If it was good enough for the Genoese, it was good enough for us and our guests, and that’s exactly how it turned out.

Ingredients for the Salad:

5lbs red or Yukon Gold potatoes 1 small red onion 1C baby green beans 1/3C mayonnaise 1/4C chopped parsley red wine vinegar a fruity extra virgin olive oil fresh pesto salt to taste

Ingredients for the Pesto:

1C fresh basil leaves 1/4C fruity tasting extra virgin olive oil 4 cloves garlic 1T toasted pine nuts 1T grated Parmigiano 1T chopped parsley

Directions:

For years I made potato salad on the same day I boiled the potatoes, but it’s much better to make the salad the day after the potatoes are done, because they have less chance of falling apart during the stirring process. Boil the potatoes the night before. They are fully cooked when you can pierce them with a fork. Drain them, add cold water to the pot, and drain them again after 5 minutes. You can leave them in the drained pot on the counter and peel them just before making the salad. Blanche the green beans and refrigerate over night in a covered bowl or container.

To make the pesto, pour about 1/4C of the olive oil into a blender, then peel and chop 4 cloves of garlic and add them to the oil. Blend on high for a minute.

Take a good look at these pine nuts. Notice how they are elongated ovals, not roundish triangles? These are Italian pine nuts with a rich nutty flavor. The triangular pine nuts are coming from China and have a very different flavor, almost medicinal. Pan toast them over a medium heat while constantly stirring to keep them from burning. Add to the blender and turn it on for another minute.

Coarsely chop the basil and add it along with a few (3-4) sprigs of parsley to the blender. Blend until the leaves are minced. You may need to stop it and stir down the ingredients to make a smooth paste. Add the cheese and blend another minute. If the pesto seems too thin, add more basil, and if it is too thick, more olive oil with correct it. Parsley is part of a traditional Ligurian pesto, but more importantly, it keeps the pesto from oxidizing and becoming discolored. Set aside and start peeling potatoes.

After peeling, slice the potatoes and drizzle with red wine vinegar. Finely chop the onion and add it to the bowl of potatoes. You may also add a drizzle of olive oil.

Chop the parsley and add to the bowl now or at the end when the mayonnaise is added. Now cut the baby green beans into short lengths and add to the bowl.

The pesto should be thick as you see it in this photo. You’ll need some mayonnaise to help spread the pesto around the salad, but use as little as possible.

I started with about 1/3C mayonnaise, but ultimately had to add a little more along with olive oil. Start stirring the ingredients together and add sea salt a little at a time to taste. Potato salad is one of the few things I need to salt.

Salami & Pesto Salad

Salads make up a good portion of our vegetable intake and I'm always looking for a way to expand the repertoire, so this is my take off on a Cobb Salad, nothing about it is similar, but that was the inspiration regardless. Well, okay, there are meat & greens, I'll give it that.

Ingredients:
1 small red onion
2 medium sized ripe tomatoes
1 large yellow or orange bell pepper
1 head Romaine lettuce
1 stalk celery
3 oz. spicy salami slices
1 T fresh pesto
extra virgin olive oil
red wine vinegar
salt and pepper

Directions:

Slice the onion and tomatoes, then add in the pepper that has been cored and seeded, then chopped. Next, cut the salami slices into thin strips and add those as well, then rough chop the celery and add it along with the salt and pepper to the bowl. Drizzle on the olive oil and toss, add the vinegar and toss again. Rough chop the romaine heart, adding it to the bowl, and toss everything again.

After the salad has been tossed and dressed, add the dollop of fresh pesto and mix thoroughly into the salad. I stopped here, but believe I missed a great opportunity to also add shaved Parmigiano Reggiano to this mix. I'll certainly have to try that next time I make this salad.

Reinventing the Wheel - Ceasar Salad Dressing

Every time we want Cesar salad at our home I log on to the Internet and go searching for the "original Cesar Salad Dressing" and have never found the same recipe twice. Tonight I finally caved in and made up my own recipe using traditional ingredients. I like a thick dressing and accidentally discovered the secret to making one.


Ingredients:
1C extra virgin olive oil
2 extra large egg yolks
2T lemon juice
1t Worcestershire sauce
1t flaked salt
2t Dijon mustard
4 cloves garlic
1 small tin anchovies
1C finely grated parmigiano
cracked pepper to taste

Directions:


Every time I've followed a published recipe all the ingredients get processed together and the dressing is less thick than I would prefer. This time I started with just the egg yolk and oil and whipped it up in the food processor until it became very thick and creamy. Remove the mixture from the processor and set aside. Then add the lemon juice, Worcestershire sauce, mustard, salt, chopped garlic and half of the anchovies drained and chopped into the processor. Process these until smooth, then fold in the other mixture, add the parmigiano and stir until you have incorporated all the ingredients. Chop the other anchovies and fold in, then toss onto chopped Romaine lettuce, sprinkle with course ground or cracked black peppercorns and mix.

Panzanella My Way

What a great sense of thrift the Toscani and people of several other neighboring regions have developed over the years. Never letting anything go to waste, they developed panzanella and pappa al pomodoro to use up day old rustic bread. Last summer I decided to give it a try without benefit of a recipe and I came up with this. The type of long green pepper I used is usually quite mild but this one happened to have some heat and that only improved the salad. Perfect for a hot day in the country.

Ingredients:
1/2 day old baguette
6 medium to large tomatoes
1 small red onion
1 long green pepper ( approximately 2"x6")
1 English cucumber
1 small handful of fresh basil
red wine vinegar
extra virgin olive oil
flaked sea salt to taste

Directions:
After cubing the bread, mix it with roughly chopped tomatoes and set aside. Thinly slice the onion as well as the pepper and place them on top of the other ingredients. Peel and cube the cucumber, then mix with all the other ingredients. Chiffinade the basil and add that also. Once you've dressed the salad with the oil and salt toss it, then toss it a second time with vinegar and serve.

Note:
I never measure my salad dressings, but I use roughly twice as much oil as vinegar and always add salt and freshly cracked pepper at the same time as the oil, just before tossing. I never add vinegar until after the oil has already been tossed into the salad. Use a light hand with dressings on salads and you'll have a much lighter, fresher tasting salad.

Cara Orange and Bell Pepper Salad

I really like mixed vegetable salads that include fruit. Even though it would be ideal to get further away from mixing them with Nonna's "holy trinity" of salad ingredients, any fruit seems to work with them, so I used bell pepper, tomato and red onion once again with fruit. This time with Cara oranges, the remarkable pinkish sport of navel oranges. Less acidic than many other citrus and not as sweet as navel oranges, the Cara has a very mild taste and that makes this a refreshing salad.


Ingredients:
1 Cara orange
1 green Bell pepper
1/2 small red onion
2 medium sized, ripe tomatoes
salt & pepper
extra virgin olive oil
red wine vinegar.

Directions:

No need to get fancy and cut off the orange membranes with this salad, just peel, divide into segments and slice into thin sections. Chop the pepper, slice the tomatoes and thinly slice the red onion and mix all together with the orange in a salad bowl. Drizzle on the olive oil, add salt & freshly ground black pepper and mix again. Sprinkle on some red wine vinegar, mix, taste and adjust to taste. I usually use twice as much oil as vinegar. For a change of pace you may wish to drizzle on a little honey.

Nana's Potato Salad

This is not an exact recipe, but Nana didn't measure out ingredients anyway, so it's at least her original recipe, through and through. When she was a young woman, Nana worked for a short time in a delicatessen and she mentioned that this was a German potato salad. I have only seen German recipes for a warm salad and they usually include bacon, so Nana took liberties with the original, but came up with a very good taste nonetheless.

Ingredients:

white potatoes (any waxy potato)

red onion

red wine vinegar

extra virgin olive oil (Nana may have used corn oil)

mayonnaise

parsley

salt

Directions:

Boil the amount of potatoes you want to use and cook until easily pierced with a fork. Take off the stove, drain and fill the pot with cold water several times to cool down the potatoes quickly. Drain off the water again and peel the potatoes. Cut the potatoes into cubes, not thin slices, and sprinkle each layer of potatoes with a little vinegar. Once you have filled the bowl with potatoes, add finely diced red onions and finely chopped parsley. Drizzle with extra virgin olive oil and mix, then add some mayonnaise and salt and mix thoroughly. I think 1 medium red onion would be enough for 5 pounds of potatoes, along with about 1/3 a bunch of parsley. If you can do the proportions similar to those in the photo, you'll have it.

Tomato Lavender Salad

Do I even need to discuss this one? Think summer garden, quick and easy...I prefer this to using Lavender Salt because the fresh lavender is more fragrant.

Ingredients:
ripe beefsteak tomatoes
mayonnaise
sea salt
lavender petals

Directions:
Slice the tomatoes, plate them and lightly sprinkle with a flaky kosher or sea salt (Halen Mon or Murray River would be excellent), then add a dollop of mayonnaise and sprinkle with the flower petals (not buds) of a culinary lavender (Hidcote is my favorite or any other English or Provence lavender).

Fennel and Peppers Salad

The fall garden was my inspiration for this salad. I kept lamenting the fact that I had never picked the radicchio before it went to seed; until I remembered how wonderfully vegetable blossoms mimic their vegetable flavor, so I picked some and thought they'd work in a colorful salad.


Ingredients:
1 large red Bell pepper
1 large fennel bulb
1 mildly hot pepper
2C mixed cherry tomatoes (red, orange and yellow)
1 small red onion
10 - 15 radicchio blossoms
red wine vinegar
extra virgin olive oil with an herb or grassy taste
salt & pepper to taste

Directions:
Slice the peppers, fennel and onion very finely, then add the whole cherry tomatoes and mix. Drizzle the olive oil over the salad, then add salt and pepper and mix again. Add a small amount of the vinegar at the end and stir. You should taste it at this point and add more vinegar or salt if necessary.

Fennel Mango Salad

This is a variation of the Mango Tomato Salad that is good for the guest who cannot eat raw onions. The fennel gives the same visual appeal as an onion and adds the same sweetness.


Ingredients:
1 large ripe mango
1 small fennel bulb
1C cherry tomatoes
1/2 red Bell pepper
1 elongated mild green pepper
extra virgin olive oil
white balsamic or sherry vinegar
salt & pepper
(the above photo shows that I also tossed in a few cilantro leaves)

Directions:
You don't need directions for this one, but I will say that using sherry vinegar gives you a sharper taste and using balsamic enhances the sweetness. Occasionally I'll toss in a small handful of herbs, either parsley, basil, or cilantro. You might even like to toss in the fennel leaves or chive blossoms.

Nasturtium Petal Salad

If you're lucky enough be living in an area where Nasturtiums grow wild, this salad is a good enough reason to forage for them. I like to grow them, so I can pick specific colors for a lively salad appearance. All the petals and leaves taste the same and impart a nice peppery flavor to your salad, although the leaves have a stronger taste than the flower petals.

Ingredients:
mixed lettuces
thinly sliced red onion
Nasturtium flower petals
2 medium Osaka purple mustard leaves
extra virgin olive oil
red wine vinegar
salt & pepper

Directions:


Wash and dry the mixed lettuces, chiffonade the mustard leaves and add them and the sliced onion to the bowl, along with a drizzling of extra virgin olive oil. Shake on some salt & pepper and mix all ingredients together. Sprinkle on some vinegar, mix again, and finally add the delicate petals which have been stripped from the Nasturtium flower.

Notes:
Purple Osaka mustard gives a nice horseradish bite and flavor to this salad. If you can't grow your own, then try using the Nasturtium leaves as a substitute. Pansies and Violas make colorful substitutes for the Nasturtiums.

Simplicity Salad

If this salad were more simple I'd be too embarrassed to list it here. The key to the taste is home grown lettuce. Nothing can compare in taste to a fresh picked lettuce...unless it is a fresh picked ear of corn, or tomato.

Ingredients:
2 heads of different type lettuce (in this case Merlot and Lollo Rosso)
1 thinly sliced, medium red onion
1/2 cup fresh herbs (cilantro, parsley or basil)
extra virgin olive oil
red wine vinegar
salt and pepper

Directions:
Wash and dry lettuce, place in a large bowl, add sliced onions, and add the coursely chopped herb (I used cilantro only in this one). Drizzle with olive oil, sprinkle with kosher salt and freshly cracked black pepper, then mix, drizzle with red wine vinegar, remix and that's it.

Salad with Dried Cranberries

This is the salad I think of first when the weather starts warming up. I usually pair the cranberries with pecans, but this one was made with toasted, slivered almonds that were already in the pantry. I used Mandarin orange flavored olive oil and lemon flavored balsamic in this interpretation, but usually use extra virgin olive oil and plain balsamic.


Ingredients:

4C mixed salad greens (Lollo Rosso, Merlot, and Frisee)
1/2 thinly sliced or diced ,medium red onion
1/3C dried cranberries
1/4C toasted, chopped or slivered nuts
1pt cherry tomatoes
extra virgin olive oil
balsamic vinegar
salt & pepper

Directions:

Wash and dry your salad greens and place in a bowl large enough to mix all your ingredients. Place the dried fruit in a small container with enough balsamic to cover, then mix in the diced onion and set aside. Add the tomatoes to your salad greens and pour on some olive oil, then salt & pepper it and mix. Since I rarely premix an oil & vinegar based dressing, I find that coating everything with oil first works best.

Add the fruit and onion mixture to the greens, then add the nuts and mix thoroughly. Your salad should look colorful and will have a nice texture too.