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Category: Salads-Spring-Summer

  • Kohlrabi Turnip Salad with Tahini Dressing

    If you aren’t familiar with kohlrabi you might want to have a quick look here. Basically kohlrabi is a brassica that taste like a tender peeled broccoli stem and the texture is more like an apple. If you haven’t had kohlrabi before I suggest you peel it and slice it and eat it like an apple. Delish.

    Kohlrabi is great raw or just slightly cooked, like in a stir-fry.

    I made a simple salad with some of my CSA share. This would have been really good with the Tokyo cabbage we got earlier, but I had spinach so that is what I used. Anyway. This is what I had.

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    Kohlrabi, spinach, turnips, parsley, and radishes.

    I chopped everything up into salad-bite size pieces. I used a really cheap mandolin to make the job go really fast, but you can use a knife too.

    I made a tahini dressing (I’ll post the recipe at the bottom of this page.) and I added a few currents and chopped nuts and a half of an avocado that was lurking alone in the vegetable drawer and I tossed it all together.

    This was a substantial salad, you could add a protein like tofu or chicken and have a meal. It’s nice and crunchy with unusual textures and flavors.

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    Kohlrabi Salad with Tahini Dressing 

    For the salad;

    • 3 small kohlrabi peeled and cut salad sized
    • a CSA share of spinach or cabbage
    • a handful of chopped parsley or basil, or another soft herb
    • a handful of currants or raisins or nuts. Granola with be good here too.
    • salt and pepper to taste

    For the dressing;

    • 1/4 cup tahini
    • juice from 1/2 a lemon, you might need more
    • 2 teaspoons honey
    • 1 clove of garlic, minced
    • 3 Tablespoons water + more to thin if necessary. I made mine pretty thin, you might not want it that thin
    • salt and pepper to taste

    Prepare all the vegetables and put them in a big bowl. Make the dressing by combining all the ingredients in a bowl and mix thoroughly with a fork until everything is smooth.  Now decide if the dressing is  too thick add a little water until it is the consistency you are looking for. Mix the dressing with the  vegetables and dump everything into a serving bowl.

     

     

     

     

     

  • Water-mule cocktail, and Corn Tomato Salad.

    Happy Labor Day. I wanted to share a couple things I made this weekend with the CSA bounty we got last week.

    My favorite thing to do with watermelons is to juice them and make cocktails. Last year I posted a watermelon margarita recipe. This year Moscow Mules are all the rage so yesterday we had Water-mules.

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    I extracted the juice the same way I did when making the watermelon margarita and used the below proportions and directions for the drink;

    Ingredients

    • 1/4 cup watermelon juice/pulp
    • 1 1/2 Ounces vodka
    • squeeze of lime
    • 4 Ounces ginger beer
    • watermelon wedge and mint leaves (for garnish)
    • ice cubes

    Directions

    Place the above in a (preferably a copper mug) glass, mix and enjoy

     

    I also made a nice tomato and corn salad.

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    I had everything except the basil and parsley from my CSA share, and I had the basil and parsley in my garden.

    I cut up two tomatoes and a few cherry tomatoes I had lurking on the counter, a red onion, and an ear of corn. That is raw corn. I just cut it off the cob and added handful of basil and parsley.

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    I dressed that with some red wine vinegar, olive oil and salt and pepper and tossed it. There was so much juice from the tomatoes after I tossed it I thought; I need something to soak that up with. So I threw some croutons in the bottom of the serving bowl I was going to use and dumped the tossed vegetables on top of them. When you scooped up the salad the soaked croutons were an unexpected bonus!

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    And that was it. I think this could have been really good with some cheese on it, but we were having pizza so I opted out of any more cheese with the meal. You might want to add some mozzarella or feta though.

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    What’s not to love there?

    The croutons were leftover from a tomato and bread salad  I posted on last year. I made this night before. One of my favorite salads.

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    Yum and yay for fresh tomatoes!

    Have a great week.

    Mo

     

     

  • Chopped Salad with Romaine and Bok Choy

    I have probably made this salad 5 or 6 times in the last few months. This has become my go-to salad for family dinners and potlucks. It is substantial enough for a main dish but is great as a side dish too. I love me some leftovers and this salad is great the next day.

    I follow the original recipe here  pretty much to the letter, except the recipe calls for iceberg lettuce and radicchio. I use what I have, but I always use one lettuce and one more substantial green. This time I had some Romaine lettuce and Bok Choy.  I’ve made it with kale and chard, or Romaine and arugula.

    The vinaigrette is really simple. This makes more than you will probably need for the salad, but it will keep so go ahead and make it all, you will find a use for it.

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    You chop up all the ingredients into bite size pieces so every forkful has little bit of all the chopped up goodness. It’s like a delicious submarine sandwich without the bun.

    Those pepperoncini peppers are super delicious, but you can sub any pickle or pickled peppers you have, just make sure you use some sort of pickle. Olives are good, pepperoni, artichoke hearts, eggs… I can’t think of much that wouldn’t be good in this salad.

    Now add about 1/2 the vinaigrette  and toss, toss, toss. You want to get every single bit coated with the dressing.

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    Look at that. See how every bite has a little bit of everything in it?

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    Oh, avocados are good too. Looking at that I wish I had an avocado.

    Have a great week. See some of you at the Red Wagon Farm pickup tonight.

    Mo

     

  • Quick Pickled Onions and Pickled Onion Potato Salad

    We have a bumper crop of onions at the Farm this year. Let’s use some of them up and make a quick refrigerator pickle.

    IMG_2874This is a super simple pickle to make with only a few ingredients. A lot of refrigerator type pickles are hard for me to get a good balance of acid, sweet, and spice. I almost always find them too acidic and when I try to balance too much acid with something sweet, I never seem to get it right.

    The ratios I used for this pickle are from a David Lebovitz recipe here except for the onion amount. I doubled the onions (I didn’t double anything else) and followed the rest of the recipe. I think these are the best, easiest, quick pickled onions I have made.

    Start with your vinegar, sugar and whatever spices you  want to use and boil the mix until the sugar dissolves. 3/4 cup vinegar and 3 tablespoons of sugar and I added some pickling spices and crushed red pepper.

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    Chuck in your sliced onions and bring all of it to a boil for about a minute.

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    That’s it….done. The 7 onions I used made exactly one quart. Let that cool, put it in a jar in your refrigerator and eat it with just about everything.

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    I made a really nice potato salad with some of those cute little potatoes we got this week. I cooked potatoes and added sour cream, a little Dijon mustard, scallions and some pickled onions.

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    Everyone really liked this. Have a great week. Let me know what you  are making with your CSA vegetables when I see you at the pickups!

    Mo

     

     

     

     

     

     

  • Broccoli Slaw with Buttermilk Dressing

    Like everyone else in America we are BBQ’ing this weekend with Family and Friends. I love coleslaw with BBQ. I love the fresh crunch of cabbage with a light, creamy dressing. We got broccoli and onions in our CSA share, so instead of using cabbage for my ‘coleslaw’ I’m using my broccoli and an onion. All I have to do is chop them up and make the dressing.

    Start with your broccoli and an onion or two.

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    I like to peel the tough parts of my broccoli stalks , but you can use just the tops, or forget about peeling the stalks if you don’t mind the extra fiber!

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    I don’t peel too much, just the bottom bits. Now, chop all that up into bite size pieces.

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    Now make your favorite buttermilk dressing recipe, or use mine! This is kind of thin, I like it like that. If you want yours thicker use more mayonnaise and less buttermilk.

    Buttermilk Dressing
    1/2 cup buttermilk, well-shaken
    1/3 cup mayonnaise
    2 tablespoons vinegar, I usually use white, or cider
    1 tablespoon honey

    Optional add-in ingredients to the dressing or slaw are:

    Onions or shallots-I am going to add some extra onions to the dressing

    Dried fruit-I have some dried sour cherries I am going to throw in

    Nuts-I threw in some roasted pecans on top

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    Happy 4th Red Wagon Friends!

     

     

  • Tomato and Bread Salad

    I made this yesterday.

    Bread Salad

    I sometimes see this type of salad called Panzanella. Most recipes I have seen for panzanella call for ‘stale bread’. That sounds kind of gross to me, and soggy.
    So, being the renegade that I am I think to myself, how can I make this without being soggy?
    I used fresh bread toasted it, you could grill it too and I used fresh, not stale bread.
    The toasted bread holds up in the salad and toasting adds a nice flavor as well as better texture.

    First I cut up what ever tomatoes I have and I add some onions and this time I added some cucumbers. I wish I would have thought to add some peppers too.

    Chopped Veggies

    I toast whatever bread I had, it was a loaf of whole grain sourdough, and I tore it up.

    Toasted Bread

    I added the bread to the tomato mix and made a simple vinaigrette with 1/2 red wine vinegar and 1/2 olive oil, some salt and pepper and a couple garlic cloves crushed. I added the vinaigrette to just moisten everything.

    Add Vinagrette

    I tossed in some basil.

    Add Basil

    And some fresh mozzarella and pepper.

    Add Mozzarella and Pepper

    Tomatoes are finally here. This is a great way to enjoy them.
    Have a great week.

  • Kohlrabi and Fennel Salad

    I like dishes using foods that look the same but have very different textures and tastes. This is one of those dishes.
    Kohlrabi and fennel and onions don’t look anything alike before they are cut up.

    Kohlrabi and Fennel

    Cut up they look very similar. If I had used a white or yellow onion it would be hard to tell what is what.

    Slice Onions and Parsley

    Kohlrabi and Fennel Salad

    1 peeled Kohlrabi bulb
    2 fennel bulbs
    1 small onion
    a handful of parsley
    juice of a lemon or lime
    a good glug of olive oil
    salt and pepper and red pepper if you like

    Slice and chop all the vegetables and parsley very thin, dress the vegetables with oil and citus juice and season well and toss.
    Very simple and delicious. All the textures and sharp flavors make this a very sophisticated side.

    Julieened

    I am loving these warm weather crops! Hope you are too.

  • Potluck Grain Salad

    Once a month I get together with a group of food loving girlfriends for dinner. We take turns hosting the meal at our homes, and each month we pick a different theme for dinner. Saturday we were at my friend’s Amy’s house and she picked  “Summer Party Food” for the theme. As always there was lots of good food, but one dish stood out. Karin, another friend, made a salad made based on this recipe http://eating-made-easy.com/2014/05/31/corn-salad/

    Karin changed some of the components of her salad based on what she had. She used Israeli couscous (basically pasta) instead of grains, omitted the corn, and used cilantro instead of basil. The salad was delicious and complemented everything else on the plate.

    I made the salad last night and I used some of the vegetables I got in my CSA share this week, kale, basil, garlic scapes, and peas. I had some strawberries in my garden so I used those. Any of the salad ingredients can be substitute for whatever is in season, or what you have on hand. The dressing seems really basic, but it hits all the right notes for balance.

    This is hearty, travels well, keeps well, is versatile, is good for you, and delicious! What more could you ask for in a salad? I wish I took a picture of Karin’s salad, it looked totally different than mine.

    Basil topped salad

    Here is the recipe as written, with my changes to the side.

    Ingredients

    • For the Salad:
    • 3 cups cooked grains (I used faro)
    • 1 English cucumber, seeds removed and sliced into thin half moons (I used peas)
    • 1 cup fresh blueberries (I used strawberries)
    • Kernels from 3 ears of cooked corn on the cob (I used shredded kale)
    • 1/2 cup chopped red onion (I used about 1/4 cup of chopped garlic scapes)
    • Handful of fresh basil leaves, chopped
    • 1/2 tsp salt
    • 1/2 cup crumbled goat cheese (optional, I didn’t use any cheese)
    • For the Dressing:
    • 1/2 cup  whole milk yogurt (I used Greek yogurt)
    • Juice of 1 large lemon
    • 3 Tbsp honey (I used less, like 1 1/2 tablespoons)
    • 3 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil
    • 2 Tbsp finely chopped fresh basil leaves
    • 1/2 tsp salt
    • Pinch of freshly ground black pepper

    Instructions

    1. In the bottom of a large bowl, whisk together all the dressing ingredients.
    2. Add the grains, cucumber, onion, basil and corn kernels and gently toss together.
    3. Gently fold the blueberries and goat cheese (if using) into the salad and taste for seasonings. Add more salt & pepper, or more lemon juice if needed.

  • Watermelon Waldorf Salad

    happy watermelon

    I don’t think anything takes me back to my childhood more than Waldorf salad or melon balls. I thought it would be fun to combine the two.

    watermelon waldorf salad

    Watermelon Waldorf Salad

    The flesh of one watermelon diced or use your melonball tool
    1 cucumber diced. I used 2 lemon cucumbers since they are small
    3 stalks of celery diced
    1 jalapeno diced (optional)
    Dressing
    2 or 3 tablespoons of mayo
    Juice of one lemon or lime, I used lime
    Salt, pepper and honey to taste.
    A handful of basil or mint minced (optional).

    A handful or two of toasted nuts, I used pecans.

    Combine the melon and vegetables and make the dressing. Just before serving add the dressing to the melon and vegetables.
    Top with the nuts.

    You can make more dressing if you like. I tend to like my salads very lightly dressed.

    Have a great week.

  • Golden Beet and Tahini Salad

    I really like to have this tahini salad dressing on hand to add to salads or vegetables. It’s just garlic, tahini and lemon. Together it adds nice bright flavor to lots of different dishes.

    Golden beet and tahini salad

    1 bunch of roasted or boiled beets, peeled and diced. Any variety of beet will do.
    2 garlic cloves
    1/2 teaspoon Kosher salt
    2 tablespoons tahini
    Juice of one lemon.
    water as needed to thin the tahini

    Slice the beets and put them in a bowl.

    Smoosh the garlic and salt into a smooth paste using the side of your knife. Keep smooshing until the garlic and salt are fully incorporated.

    garlic
    paste

    Add garlic paste to a bowl with the tahini, lemon juice, and a couple of tablespoons of water. Whisk until smooth. Depending on how thick you want the sauce you may want to thin it with one or two more tablespoons of water. I really thinned mine out. Taste it with some beets before you thin it again so you don’t thin it too much.

    Add the beets and toss.

    beets with dressing

    I forgot to take a picture of it tossed. Opps. That is just golden beets and tahini sauce not tossed. I wanted to show you how thick/thin the sauce was.

    You can just serve the dish as is, or build a salad with the tahini beets. I had some quinoa and peaches so that was todays lunch. Take that Whole Foods.

    salad with beets

    One bunch of beets and 2 cups cooked quinoa and the tahini dressing made lunch and lots of leftovers. I love having leftovers like this.

    leftovers to enjoy

    Have a great week. Thanks for looking at Red Wagon’s blog.