Arugula Salad with Gravlax, Avocado & Pickled Fennel

| posted by | 8 Comments

Arugula Salad with Gravlax, Avocado & Pickled FennelThis is one of those non-recipe recipes; it’s really just a list of ingredients for a salad too stunning not to share.  Plus, it’s a good way to use up all that pickled fennel I know you rushed to the kitchen to make and soon as I posted the recipe yesterday.

So why is this salad so great?  Well, first of all it’s drop-dead gorgeous, a 10+, for sure.  It’s incredibly fresh and vibrant, not just in color, but flavor and texture, as well.  It’s the kind of healthy eating that satisfies your taste buds and reminds you that winter does have something to offer beyond squash and braised meat.  I think my jeans will be thankful for the reminder.

The salad is about half lettuce, half goodies.  Arugula is tossed with pickled fennel, then topped with sliced avocado, orange supremes, gravlax, and a few roasted pistachios.  The result is an entrée salad that you’ll be wanting for lunch everyday for all of forever.  At least that’s where I’m at.

[Read more…]

Grilled Peaches with Chèvre & Prosciutto

| posted by | 8 Comments

Grilled Peaches with Chevre, Mixed Greens & ProsciuttoNormally, I’m pretty worthless when I’m super hungry.  I get irritable and irrational.  I’ll yell, I’ll whine, I’ll pout, I may even cry.  Yes, toddler-style.  What can I say?  It’s not my best trait.

Once in a while, though, I’ll surprise myself (and my boyfriend) by behaving like a big girl long enough to push past the hunger and throw something together that makes everything okay.  I’ll see the one last peach perched on the counter, the nub of goat cheese in the fridge, and remember the garden full of lettuce and herbs.  Suddenly, I realize the crisis can be averted–I can make something out of this!  15 minutes later, I’ll be backing myself out of the crazy-losing-my-mind-from-hunger zone, and congratulating myself on turning a bad situation into a delicious one.  Then I’ll get so excited over how yummy it was that I’ll make it all over again the next day so I can take pictures and talk about it here.

Okay…now that you decided I’ve totally lost it, allow me to share my latest effort.  It’s a grilled or roasted peach stuffed with goat cheese, paired up with lettuce and herbs from the garden and a few slices of prosciutto.  It’s awfully good and can be assembled in minutes.   It’s the kind of thing that’s always a winner, on occasion, a savior, and just what I feel like eating all summer long.

[Read more…]

Grilled Steak Salad with Italian Salsa Verde

| posted by | 4 Comments

Grilled Steak Salad with Italian Salsa Verde

When you’re a kid,  spring and summer stretch out endlessly.  Each day is perfection, filled sunshine and free time.  But suddenly, you realize your childhood is long gone and perfect days like these have almost vanished with it.  I’m talking about days when the weather is gorgeous, there’s no where you absolutely have to be, and nothing you can’t put off doing until tomorrow.  When these gems of days (or even just an afternoon or evening) roll around, you’ve got to seize them–head to the backyard, grab a lawn chair, and fully soak up the perfection.

Now, obviously, we have to eat and days like this call for simplicity.  Delicious simplicity–nothing complicated and nothing that’s going to keep us standing in the kitchen when we should be kicking up our feet outside.  We want something inherently good, like a grilled steak.  We can dress it for perfection with a salsa verde that’ll be put together in less than 2 minutes.

Before we go on, I should remind you this an Italian salsa verde and not to be confused with a spicy Mexican green salsa.  No tomatillos or jalepeños, just a green sauce made with a bunch of fresh herbs, garlic, capers, and olive oil.  Think pesto with fewer rules.

[Read more…]

Chèvre Chaud Salad with Roasted Asparagus

| posted by | 5 Comments

Chèvre Chaud Salad with Roasted Asparagus 2
When you get home from a vacation, you inevitably think about everything you should have done differently.  You should have stayed in a more charming part of town, found a cheaper hotel, taken more hikes, bought a couple of souvenirs, splurged on better restaurants.  You should have made more of an attempt to learn the local history or speak the language.  You should have branched out, tried new things, eaten more adventurously.  Like maybe, when I went to France for the first time, I should have eaten something other than a warm chèvre salad for lunch every day.

Or maybe not.

Of the many traveling regrets I’ve had, my week of eating chèvre chaud salads is not one of them.  Warm, creamy goat cheese smeared on assaultingly crunchy baguette croutons and a pile of lightly dressed greens; could there be a more perfect lunch or a more satisfying salad?  I think not.

[Read more…]