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Category: Salads-Spring-Summer

  • Tabbouleh Salad

    Tabbouleh is a simple salad using lots of chopped vegetables, lots and lots of parsley-usually mint and bulgur wheat. That is all tossed with lemon and or lime and olive oil for a bright salad that stays fresh for days and travels well.

    Tabbouleh Salad

    • 1 cup dry bulghur wheat
    • 1 1/4 cup boiling water
    • 1 1/2 tsp salt
    • 1/4 cup lemon and or lime juice
    • 1/4 cup olive oil
    • 1/2 cup chopped onions or scallions
    • 2 or 3 cloves of garlic chopped
    • 1 cup chopped packed parsley
    • optional additions; mint, garbanzo beans, feta cheese, any fresh vegetables chopped bite sized like cucumber, carrots, tomatoes.

    1. Combine the bulghur wheat with boiling water and salt and let that sit for a half hour or so then add the lemon juice, garlic and onions, oil and mint if you are using it. Refrigerate at least 2 or 3 hours or even overnight. It mellows and blends and rounds out all the sharp flavors. So letting it sit and mellow is important.

    2. Just before serving add the parsley and whatever vegetables you like. Be really generous with the parsley and vegetables. You should have more vegetables than bulghur.

    3. Toss it all up and add feta cheese if you like. I usually add more lemon juice and a little more salt and sometimes olive oil. Taste it-it should be bright and vibrant tasting.

    Feel free to riff on the vegetables you add. This is a great salad for cleaning out the refrigerator and using what you like and not being tied to a rigid formula or recipe.

    Happy eating.
    Mo

     

     

  • Turnip and Arugula Salad with Honey, Almonds and Mint

    Turnip and Arugula Salad is simple and satisfying using only a few ingredients. Add grains like quinoa or protein like grilled tofu or salmon for an easy meal.

    Turnip and Arugula Salad with Honey, Almonds and Mint
    Makes about 4 servings

    3 or 4 hakurei turnips thinly sliced
    2 T fresh lemon juice or more as needed
    1 t honey)
    3/4 t salt
    4 cups washed and loosely packed arugula
    A small handful of fresh mint leaves or basil or parsley
    2 T Olive oil or more as needed
    Optional but delicious so you should add one or more! 1/4 c sliced almonds-or any nut chopped-Cheese, avocado, grains, any additional toppings you like!

    Directions:
    Combine the sliced turnips in a small bowl with the lemon juice, honey, and  salt. Let sit for 5 minutes, tossing occasionally.  (I put the mint in there, opps)

    Combine the arugula and mint in a medium bowl, drizzle on the oil. Add the turnips and dressing to the arugula and toss to incorporate. Taste, and season with more lemon juice, oil, and/or salt as needed.

    Add delicious optional ingredients and dig in.

    Happy eating — see you at pickup! Mo

  • Zucchini Melon Salad

    There probably isn’t an easier salad recipe to toss together than shaving some zucchini and maybe one or two other herbs or vegetables, maybe a melon? I like to use a vegetable peeler to shave the zucchini thin like noodles then dress it with vinegar or lemon and olive oil and topping it with some hard cheese and maybe some nuts or seeds.

    I could eat this every day.

    Zucchini Melon Salad

    • 2 medium zucchini cut thin or shaved with a vegetable peeler
    • 1 cup fresh herbs I used mint and basil-sorrel is wonderful here
    • 2 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil, plus more for drizzling
    • 2 tbsp white balsamic vinegar or fresh lemon juice
    • 1 small, sweet melon, halved, seeded and thinly sliced into half-moons, then skins removed
    • a handful of nuts or seeds
    • Shaved hard cheese like parmesan or Manchego (optional)
    • Salt and Pepper

    Toss the shaved zucchini, herbs, oil, nuts and vinegar or lemon juice and salt and pepper in a bowl, separate the zucchini ribbons and make sure they get some dressing on both sides of the ribbons and get the nuts and herbs in there too.

    Layer the zucchini mix on a plater with the slices of melons in a couple of layers.

    Taste it to see if it needs more salt or vinegar or lemon or oil and top it with a few more nuts and herbs and cheese. I like to eat this zucchini salad, actually I like to eat most salads with chopsticks. I find it easier to include different salad components in each bite.

    Think outside the box. You don’t need lettuce to make a delicious salad!

    Have a great week. I’ll see you at pickup.

    Mo

  • Shaved Zucchini and Kale with Miso Ginger Dressing

    This is a versatile easy dressing to keep in your meal rotation repertoire. As it is this makes a hearty tasty kale zucchini salad like this or it can dress up some roasted vegetables, sliced cucumber and onions or steamed broccoli or beets. If you add a little tahini or peanut or almond butter to the dressing and add some noodles and some protein you have a meal.

    This makes enough for two big salads.

    You will need;

    • 6 tablespoons neutral oil -not olive oil
    • 2-3 tablespoons rice vinegar
    • 5-6 teaspoons white miso
    • 1/2 teaspoon sesame oil
    • 1 teaspoon sweetener like agave or honey or maple syrup
    • 1 teaspoon soy sauce
    • Ginger, peanut butter, almond butter, chili flakes-all optional I used ginger and chili flakes today.

    Use the lesser amounts of vinegar and miso and mix everything up in a bowl and taste it. Today I used the lesser amount of vinegar and the larger amount of miso. See if you want more miso or vinegar or maybe more sweetener.

    Now make your salad. I used half the dressing for a bunch of kale and one shaved zucchini.

    Mix that up and add some seeds and nuts.

    Man I love shaved zucchini in salads. I hope you try this and have fun with some variations of the basic recipe I have written.

    Have a great week. See you at pickup.

    Mo

     

     

     

  • Grilled Hakurei Turnips with Lemon Cream

    Last week I posted a recipe from one of my favorite cookbooks, Six Seasons.

    I, like you, have a lot of Hakurei turnips in my life right now and I was trying to think of something different to do with them that I hadn’t made before. Six Seasons cookbook was sitting on the counter and I was flipping through and saw a recipe for Lemon Cream and was intrigued with the description; “a light, almost feminine dressing”.

    I love Hakurei turnips cooked. Whether roasted, grilled or pan fried, they become juicy and a little sweet, unlike their crunchy-sharp raw selves.

    I decided to make the lemon dressing and grill some turnips.

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    Can you kind of see how they get juicy when you cook them? Look at the lightly dressed lettuce. The lemon cream was perfect for this salad.

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    To grill the turnips I cut them in 1/2, I left some of the stem on and tossed them with olive oil and salt and pepper and grilled them on a hot grill for 3 or 4 minutes each side.

     

    My turnip leaves weren’t great or I would have grilled them separately and used those for a bed of greens and dressed them with the lemon cream.  Instead, I used the beautiful lettuce we got instead and tossed the greens with the grilled turnips and the dressing.

    Here is the lemon cream recipe and my notes, this makes about 3/4 cup

    • 4 garlic cloves, smashed and peeled (I used 2 garlic scapes chopped
    • 1/2 cup heavy cream
    • salt and pepper
    • 1/2 teaspoon grated lemon zest
    • About 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
    • 2 tablespoons olive oil

    Put garlic and cream in medium bowl and let infuse for 2 hours in the refrigerator, so the cream takes on a gentle garlic flavor (I just mixed it all up).

    Fish out the garlic cloves from the cream (I left the garlic in), season generously with salt and lots of twists of pepper, and then add the lemon zest. Begin whisking the cream. Once it starts to thicken, add 2 tablespoons lemon juice and the olive oil. Keep whisking until it is light and airy. It won’t be thick like fully whipped cream, but it will have a nice creamy texture. Taste and adjust with more salt, pepper, or lemon juice. Use this dressing within a day.

    I forgot to take a picture of the Lemon Cream mixed alone. It got nice and thick, but not too thick. It just coated everything and didn’t glob on the leaves and weigh the lettuce down but it coated everything really nicely.

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    I hope you are enjoying your CSA. Leave a comment if you have any questions or suggestions.

    See you at pickup.

    Mo

     

     

     

  • Green Salad with Herb Buttermilk Dressing

    I love a big fat satisfying salad. I love to make full meals with just my CSA share.

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    I have made this twice this week for dinner and all we added was bread and cheese one day, the other day we had it with leftover grilled lamb.

    I slightly adapted this recipe to use what I had.  Here are the ingredients I used.

    1/2 cup buttermilk
    1/2 cup mayonnaise
    2 teaspoon  red wine vinegar
    2 teaspoon whole grain mustard
    a generous 1/2 cup of mixed fresh minced herbs like chives, dill, basil, garlic scapes, or mint
    1/4 teaspoon kosher or sea salt
    freshly ground black pepper
    1 pound blanched snap or snow peas, green beans or edamame or fava beans
    1 head Boston or Romaine lettuce or salad greens mixed

    1. Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Prepare an ice bath in a separate bowl.

    2. Drop whatever peas or beans you are using in the boiling water and cook until tender-crisp, 2 to 3 minutes. Remove the peas or beans with a slotted spoon and drop in the ice water to cool them quickly. As soon as they are cool, remove them from the ice water and let them drain.

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    3. In a medium-sized bowl, whisk together the buttermilk, mayonnaise and what ever herbs you are using,  along with the vinegar, mustard, 1/4 teaspoon salt and black pepper. Taste, and add extra salt, if it needs it.

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    4. Put the lettuce leaves in a salad bowl. Pat the peas dry with a towel and add them to the bowl.

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    Pour half the dressing over the salad and mix thoroughly add more dressing if it needs it. I served the extra dressing on the side and we dipped the grilled food into the dressing, it was that good.

    Summer is here and we are starting to get warm season vegetables so enjoy the lettuce we are getting before it gets too hot and it is gone.

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    Have a great week and I’ll see you at pickup.

    Mo

     

  • Grain Free Kale Tabbouleh Salad

    I went to a friends for dinner last night and was asked to bring a grain free salad. I had just made this tabbouleh salad and loved it so much I made it again leaving out the bulgur and upping the greens and parsley amounts.

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    This comes together in about 5 minutes and it delicious.

    Ingredients

    4 cups of mix of greens like kale, chard finely chopped (I used one bunch of kale)
    1/2 cup of parsley finely chopped and 1/4 cup mint finely chopped
    1/4 cup Scallions finely minced
    2 Tomatoes medium, seeded and diced
    1 Cucumber medium, seeded and diced
    1/2 tsp Salt
    1/4 tsp Ground Cumin
    1/4 tsp Ground Black Pepper
    3 Tbsp Lemon or lime juice
    3 Tbsp Olive Oil

    Optional additions are

    • garbanzo beans
    • feta cheese
    • goat cheese
    • olives

    Instructions
    1. Combine everything in a large bowl and mix well. Chill for 1 hour.
    3. Before serving taste and add more olive oil, lemon (lime) juice or salt and toss again.

  • Salad Sandwiches

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    I love sandwiches. I can eat them for  breakfast, lunch and dinner. Sometimes I like a plain fried egg sandwich, or a grilled cheese. This time of year I like to see how many vegetables I can cram into (onto?) a sandwich. On this sandwich I got a whole cucumber, a tomato, some onion and a jalapeno-cheese and mayonnaise too. Pretty much a salad on bread. Yeah, I ate that whole thing and yeah, that tomato was dripping down my elbows. I had to hunch over the counter to keep it from dripping on the floor. I’ll eat my salad sandwich outside next time.

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    Most salad sandwiches benefit from slicing the vegetables up as thin as possible. I like to use this cheap mandoline slicer and vegetable peeler. I am not a big kitchen gadget person, but I love these tools.

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    Another way I like to make salad sandwiches is to use a ciabatta roll. I hollow out the top half so I can fill up the vacant area with vegetables. I spread some goat cheese on the bottom roll before I put on the roasted beets to keep the roll from getting soggy.

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    I added some cucumbers, carrots and egg and some hummus on the top of the roll.

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    It kind of hugs all the salad stuff. This was a well behaved sandwich and wasn’t messy.

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    This is one of my favorites.

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    It is grilled bread topped with melted cheese then tomatoes, herbs, salt and pepper and a little olive oil.

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    We had this with shishitos and beer. It was a perfect Summer meal.

    Have fun and be creative with your CSA bounty. See you at pick up.

    Mo

     

     

     

     

  • Brown Butter Tomatoes and Corn

    Last year a CSA member (hi Merrill!) told me she made a dish that knocked her socks off, it was just tomatoes and brown butter. I thought about it a few times and never made it until yesterday. Oh, my. My oh my. You need to make this.

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    The recipe is here  , you really don’t need a recipe though. Here’s what you do; brown some butter

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    then pour it over the ripest, most beautiful tomatoes you have and put salt and pepper on it and swoon. I had some leftover roasted corn and I thought; corn and butter are good-corn and brown butter are probably good too. I was right.

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    As we ate this we kept saying, “this is so good”. In one of the comments where the recipe is published someone said it is sort of reminiscent of lobster butter. Oddly it sort of is. I hope you try this.

    Have a great week, see you at pickup.

    Mo

     

  • Corn, Bean and Barley Salad

     

    I made this for a neighborhood potluck we had this weekend and it was a big hit. Even my husband said ‘this salad is really, really good’. He’s never said that about a salad-ever. He is meat and potatoes guy. I guess he’s a corn, beans and barley guy too.

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    This makes a boat load, like probably 8 to 10 big servings. It holds really well, travels well and tastes fantastic the next day. I would be happy to have the leftovers, if there were any. You can easily halve this recipe if that suits your needs better.

    Corn, Bean and Barley Salad

    2/3 cup pearl barley
    1 pound  green beans trimmed and cut into bite size pieces
    2 ears corn
    1 large handful of greens. I had kale, you could use chard, arugula, lettuce, or you could leave the greens out.
    1/2 cup  olive oil
    1/4 cup vinegar I used white wine
    3 tablespoons minced red onion or shallots
    a few tablespoon minced fresh herbs. I had basil and parsley
    1 tablespoon of your favorite mustard
    Crumbled or shredded cheese for topping-I didn’t use any this time.

    Cook barley in medium saucepan of boiling salted water until tender, about 30 to 40 minutes. Drain; cool. Transfer to large bowl.

    Cook beans in large pot of boiling salted water until bright green, about 3 minutes. Don’t drain water, just fish the beans out of the water with a slotted spoon into a colander.  Drain the beans well. Transfer to bowl with barley. Add corn to boiling water and cook for 2 to 3 minutes. Dry and cut kernels from cob, then add to salad bowl. Coarsely chop washed and dried greens; add to bowl with barley mixture.

     

    Whisk the dressing ingredients together in small bowl to blend. Pour enough dressing over barley mixture to coat, I used it all but taste it to see if you like it, and add more if you need to. Season salad to taste with salt and pepper. Sprinkle with cheese if you are using any.

     

    Have a great week. I’ll see you at pickup.

    Mo