Greek tomato + feta salad

Lunch at the office does not have to be boring. For me, lunch always has to include loads of colors. Here is a simple salad of peppery arugula leaves and slices of various sizes and colors of tomatoes, which have been topped with chopped fresh herbs—including oregano— and a briny crumble of feta cheese. I dress this Greek inspired salad with a light Greek or Italian dressing, and finally, a toss a few a few nasturtiums and pansies blossoms to make lunch at the office extra special.

Bean + barley salad

So often it's the simple foods that are comforting, like this bean and barley salad. It's only got a handful of ingredients; cooked barley, 3 kinds of beans (here I've used dark red kidney, chickpea, and small white beans), tomatoes, diced red onion and dressed with your favorite Italian dressing. I mix all the ingredients and place over a bed of baby kale, spinach or arugula. Fast and filling.

Celery + bean salad

Celery—usually more of a supporting actor—gets a starring role in this salad. Or at least equal billing with beans. Mix 3-4 kinds of beans with chopped red onions and a generous about of chopped celery. Dress with your favorite Italian vinaigrette, mix, and put over a bed of lettuces. I also like to add the delicate celery leaves at serving.

Cucumber + hummus

This is a quick and easy lunch that I have at the office from time to time. It's creamy hummus on Persian cucumber halves, with slices of red and yellow peppers and a sprinkling of chive blossoms. I used to think the only way I could enjoy hummus was with Stacy's pita chip cracker (mmm, salty, crunchy!) but those carb calories add up fast, so I swapped in cucumbers and don't miss those chips at all. Much. Well...

Beet salad with chives blossoms

Sweet earthy beets are anointed with a classic french vinaigrette. Other tidbits in the salad are French lentils, edamame, arugula, goat cheese, red onion, and oniony chive blossoms, which are in bloom this week. The cosmos flower decided to join the party.

Radishes, butter and salt—oh my!

The French do this marvelous thing with radishes. They serve these crunchy, peppery morsels with softened butter and sea salt, preferably Fleur de Sel. This much loved French hors d'oeuvre is so simple, yet so sublime. We've had these radishes served in a fancy presentation, as shown above—the butter even had chopped chives in it—but my favorite way to enjoy them is the rustic presentation shown below, over a soft bed of bibb lettuce, dressed with French dressing (of course!).

One particular restaurant served bread, so one could make a mini radish tartine. Mmmm... radish radish tartines—that's a whole other blog post for another day.

   

Spread (ok, slather) a little butter on the radish, sprinkle on some salt...

... and crunch!

Good to the last, zesty bite.

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Garlicky broccoli salad

Sometimes you just crave a big ol' bowl of broccoli. Well, don't you? This is a quick and easy Italian broccoli salad that's super to make. The dressing is a basic vinaigrette with Parm. cheese added in. The raw broccoli has a fab crunch, and serving it this way us nice, especially on these hot summer days, but if you prefer your broccoli cooked, you could quickly blanch the broc and serve this as a warm or room temp dish, they way the Italians like to serve their veg.

INGREDIENTS

1 bunch of broccoli, cut into florets

1 tbsp olive oil
1 tsp red wine vinegar
1 tsp Dijon mustard

4 cloves garlic, peeled and finely diced (if the raw garlic is too much for you, then sauté it quickly in olive oil first)

a dash of red pepper flakes

1/4 of a red bell pepper, diced finely /

     (can omit, but the contrasting color is pretty)

salt and pepper to taste

1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese to sprinkle on after it's dressed

*

To make the vinaigrette

Mince garlic and red pepper, put into a jar with the oil, vinegar, mustard, salt and pepper. Put cover on jar and shake like mad to emulsify.

To assemble salad

Chop your broc and add into a bowl. Drizzle the dressing over it, mix well (can let sit for an hour or so) then sprinkle with Parmesan cheese right before serving. How easy was that? Mmm, dragon breath.

*Note—occasionally I also like to add sunflower seeds to this salad.

Quinoa salad with Thai peanut dressing

Okay, so what isn't good with Thai peanut sauce?! Slathered on soba noodles or grilled chicken perhaps? How about swirling some of that yummy peanut sauce over a bed of good-for-you protein rich quinoa and crunchy veggies and cashews? This colorful salad has been floating around the blogs-osphere and Pinterest for a few years now, and I got a chance to taste a version of it when my cousin Jean brought a big bowl of it to the annual 4th of July party. Delicious!

Prep all of the ingredients beforehand, 

then combine them at the last moment to

keep this salad crisp.

Salad Ingredients:
¾ cup uncooked quinoa
2 cups purple cabbage, shredded or thinly sliced
1 red bell pepper, diced or juliennned
½ purple onion, diced or in long half moons

¼ cup green onions, diced

1 cup carrots diced, shredded, or juliennned
½ cup cilantro leaves, chopped
½ cup cashew halves or peanuts 

Fresh lime to squeeze over 

Thai peanut dressing ingredients:
¼ cup peanut butter

1 tablespoon honey (or agave nectar)
3 tablespoon soy sauce

1 tablespoon rice wine vinegar

1 teaspoon sesame oil
1 teaspoon coconut oil

1/4 teaspoon dried chili peppers

2 teaspoons freshly grated ginger

2 tablespoons water

Cook quinoa—Rinse quinoa under running cold water in fine mesh strainer (this helps get out that bitter outer coating). In a medium saucepan, bring 1 ½ cups of water to a boil. Add in quinoa and bring mixture to a boil. Cover, reduce heat to low and let simmer for 15 minutes or until quinoa has absorbed all of the water. Remove from heat, place in large bowl and mix with a few tablespoons of the peanut dressing. Use as much or as little of the peanut dressing as you desire. I go light and add a bit more over the entire salad later.

Veggies—Cut and prep all your veggies while your quinoa is simmering away.

Thai peanut dressing—Add peanut butter and honey to a medium microwave safe bowl and heat in microwave for 20 seconds. Add in soy sauce, rice vinegar, and sesame and coconut oils, chili peppers, and freshly grated ginger, and stir until mixture is smooth and creamy. Then stir in a water to thin a bit.

Assemble salad—In a big bowl, or individual salad bowls, add in purple cabbage red pepper, purple onion,  carrots, and cilantro, and finally, the quinoa. Mix the salad, drizzle a little more dressing on top, then garnish with the cashews and green onions. Serve chilled (or at room temperature) with lime wedges. A splash of lime really brightens and balances the flavors of the heavy peanut sauce.

French lentil salad

French lentil salad rolled up in kale leaves

I first tasted this gorgeous lentil salad combo at a lovely French cafe in Concord, MA called La Provence. It was love at first bite. It's bathed in a tangy classic French, dijon style vinaigrette, and speckled with colorful little dabs of diced tomatoes, parsley and crunchy purple onions. Oh, and there's cubed feta cheese. Trés, délicieux, oui? Since imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, I have attempted to recreate this lentil salad several times, and I think I finally have it. The key is in the chef's vinaigrette of course, which I could go and buy at the cafe, but to me that's cheating. So here is my version of La Provence's lentil salad...

French lentil salad

Place 1 ½ cups du Puy (or any kind of) French lentils in pot along with 1 bay leaf, 1 clove garlic and ¼ onion. Add in 3-4 cups water, and some salt and pepper. Simmer, uncovered, for 20 minutes. Do not overcook—mushy lentils are yucky, and you want these lentils to have a little bite to them. Strain lentils and let cool. Meanwhile, make your vinaigrette.

½ clove of garlic, minced
1 tsp. red wine vinegar
1 tsp. Dijon mustard
¼ cup olive oil
lemon juice
Salt and pepper

In a bowl, whisk together the garlic, vinegar, and mustard. Then whisk in the oil, adding it in slowly. The oils and vinegar should combine together (emulsify) and thicken. Taste, and add some lemon if the dressing isn’t zesty enough. Season with salt and pepper. Alternatively, you mix first ingredients in a small jar with a lid, add the olive oil, and shake like mad until it's emulsified. Et voila!

Now dice around ¼ cup each of purple onions, plum tomatoes (outside parts only), feta cheese, and flat leafed parsley. In a bowl mix your cool lentils, the diced veggies and feta cheese, and around 3 tablespoons of the vinaigrette. Taste. It's good, isn't it?

The lentil salad keeps for around 2 days in the fridge and is great for hot summer days or any time of year. The salad it délicieux on its own, or sometimes I place a tablespoon or so inside a kale leaf and roll it up for a little bundle of yum. 

You may also like:

Lilly Pulitzer lentil salad 

with Moroccan spices, pickled onions and cauliflower

Lentil, walnut, roasted butternut squash + goat cheese salad

Sufferin' succotash!

This summer succotash salad is full of crazy good colors and textures, including sweet nectarines, corn, peas (wishing I had lima beans) summer squash, shallots, rings of sweet mini chili peppers and spicy jalapeños, halves of mini grape yellow and orange tomatoes, and lastly, creamy avocado. It was dressed with simple, zesty citrus vinaigrette. The original recipe hails from Food & Wine magazine, where they call it a Summer Vegetable Ceviche, but sufferin' succotash… let's call it what it is!

INGREDIENTS
1 teaspoon finely grated lime zest
1/3 cup fresh lime juice
1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
1 scallion, thinly sliced in rings
1 small shallot, thinly sliced
sea salt and freshly cracked black pepper to taste
1 cup fresh baby lima beans (or frozen, or peas)
1 1/2 cups fresh corn kernels (raw, from 2 ears)
2 nectarines, cut into thin wedges
1 Hass avocado, cut into 1/2-inch cubes
1 jalapeño, seeded and sliced into thin rings
1 large orange bell pepper, sliced into thin rings
1 pint of colorful grape or cherry tomatoes, halved

1 /2 thin yellow summer squash, sliced into thin rings
1/2 cup coarsely chopped cilantro (optional)

If using fresh lima beans, cook them first. Shell the lima beans from pods and cook in a small saucepan of salted boiling water until tender, about 10 minutes. Drain the beans and rinse under cold water.

Make citrus vinaigrette by whisking the lime zest and juice with the olive oil, scallion and shallot in a large bowl; season with salt and pepper to taste. Gently fold in the lima beans, corn, nectarines, avocado, orange pepper, jalapeño and tomatoes. You can refrigerate 2 hours in advance or serve immediately. Fold in the cilantro just before serving.

Watermelon + feta salad

Watermelon and feta salads are the perfect combo of sweet and salty. This rustic salad also has some refreshing mint strips on top. You can drizzle this duo with olive oil for a more savory mouth feel, or with balsamic vinegar to give it some extra kick, but I like it plain sometimes, just like this. Check out these watermelon and feta salads from previous posts I've done:

Starburst appetizer

(click to see post)

Salad on a stick appetizer 

(click to see post)

Playful checkered salad 

(click to see post)

Sim-chi— sauerkraut slaw

What's sim-chee, you wonder? Simulated Kimchi!! Let me explain. This bright, fresh and crunchy coleslaw was made with a combo of fresh cabbage, carrots, scallions, garlic chili sauce, orange juice and cilantro. And sauerkraut. Didn't see that coming, did you?

+ + + 

Here's the back story on the creation of this dish. After a recent case of asthmatic bronchitis, the antibiotics that I was put on wreaked havoc with the trillions of gorgeous gut flora I had grooving in my intestines. Plainly put, I had a sour stomach. So what's a girl to do? Being loath to pop a probiotic pill, I would much rather get my probiotics with nutritional foods, so I did some web research on reputable sites and found out all the good things I should be eating to replace that gut flora. Along with obvious things like yogurt and kefir, and plenty of fermentable fibers (starches like sweet potatoes!), the list includes fermented things like unpasturized sauerkraut and Korean Kimchi which helps make healthy flora throughout the digestive tract. Mmm... tempted yet?

Shredded raw cabbage already has phytonutrient antioxidants anti-inflammatory properties, rich in vitamins A, C, K and fiber, but when it is pickled this already awesome vegetable becomes a superfood! What's not to love? Dishes like sauerkraut and kimchi provide a high density source of a wide range of beneficial live bacteria which assist in the digestive process. Consuming a serving of sauerkraut can give your body as much of a health boost as many of those expensive probiotic drinks and supplements sold in stores. It was Saturday and I didn't feel like going to Whole Foods for a good jar of Kimchi, but I bought a good unpasturized bagged of sauerkraut and make a quick kimchi by mixing in garlic chili sauce and a few other ingredients. It's a real tasty coleslaw type of salad, and my tummy is slowly feeling better. A little too much information, but there you go!

Postscript:

It worked! After several days my tummy ache finally went away, 

which hopefully means my gut flora is back to normal. 

I am crediting Kefir and this delicious live Wildbrine sauerkraut 

that I bought from Whole Foods.

Love the package design!

Farewell Mr. Pom!

I just sliced open the last pomegranate of the winter season and made one of my fave fruit salads. I've been making this Nigella Lawson recipe for years—a simple mix of pomegranate seeds, blueberries, and mangos, and then a judicious squeeze of lime balances out the sweetness. It's very healthy and amazingly refreshing! Frank, the produce manager at Shaws market in Beverly, assures me that another round of poms will come through around May, though these fruits aren't as good as the ones that start arriving at the markets in the fall. So until then, farewell Mr. Pomegranate!

You may also like:

Mango salad

Four super healthy fruit salads

Primary colors

Tri-root medallion salad

photos, Dan + Diane

I was excited to see watermelon radishes at the market, and had visions of a scrumptious pink and green Lily Pulizer looking salad. Then I cut my radish open—disappointed! Yes, it was pinkish, but not the pretty intense pink color that I'd seen in food mags. In any case, it inspired me to take this shaved tri-root medallion salad of regular old radishes, carrots, and those pink watermelon radishes. I had some frisee lettuce with it, along with baby beet micro greens, pomegranate seeds, pumpkin seeds, goat cheese and a honey orange dressing—which seems to be my new favorite. The radishes were crisp and peppery and the colors reminded me of spring. Rumor has it that spring really is coming!

You may also like:

Tri root salad

raw root carpaccio salad

beet and carrot medallion salad

Asian pear and cabbage salad

A neighbor gave me a few Asian pears recently, from a box given to him by one of his students. You may have seen these pears at the markets—they not the usual pear shape but nested round like an apple, and taste much different than those buttery European pears that I am more used to. They are super firm and crispy, much like a jicama, and can last for months in the fridge.

So how to honor this special pear? I sliced it up and made a colorful salad using them, along with shredded red cabbage, scallions, roasted walnuts, and a pomegranate vinaigrette. After a few bites I also added a few plops of goat cheese which was the creamy element that was missing from this photo. Delicious! Thanks Mark, for sharing!

Mango tango

This tropical fruit medley has a bit of Hawaiian punch in it! It's got diced mango, pineapple, papaya, and is dressed with a spicy sweet mango, ginger and habanero sauce. I also added toasted coconuts and macadamia nuts. The spicy sauce I used is a store-bought grilling and glazing sauce that I sometimes use sometimes for grilling chicken, shrimp, or fish with in the summer.

Za'atar roasted carrot salad

Even without roasting them to bring our their inherent sweetness, carrots were always my favorite veggie growing up. And the thing is, when carrots they get all charred and caramelized I think they taste as sweet as a marshmallow—and maybe even better. This za'atar roasted carrot salad is super tasty because the sweetness of the carrots and onions is tamed by a zingy meyer lemon dressing. Add to that the creaminess of the avocado and yogurt, and the crunchiness from the pistachio nuts and you can see how my taste buds were in bliss mode. Zingy and zesty… creamy and smooth… and then pow… a little crunch. The salad is a riff on Brit chef Jamie Oliver's roasted carrot and avocado salad.  see also the Moroccan roasted carrot salad I made last spring, which was inspired by him.

Here's how I made the salad. I massaged peeled Italian cipollini onions and peeled and halved carrots with some olive oil, sprinkled with za'atar spice, then roasted them on a sheet pan in a 400°oven for 35 minutes or so. Then I tossed the carrots with a dressing made from meyer lemon juice, olive oil, salt and pepper, and mixed that with some filagreed frisee lettuce. I plopped a dollop of nonfat Greek yogurt on plate, made a well in it with the back of a spoon, and added a spoonful more of more dressing into it. Then I cut a 1/4 of a peeled avocado and placed it on the plate, and sprinkled on more za'atar spice and sesame seeds on everything. You know how the best part of a salad is the last few bites? That was especially true of this salad. By the time these ingredients all got to know one another it was a creamy mélaaaaange. 

Za'atar is a Middle-Eastern spice blend 

that includes dried sumac, thyme, oregano 

sesame seeds, salt, and another other spices.

Click to see the roasted carrot salad I made 

last spring using pearl onions, avocado, pepitas, 

feta cheese, and a zesty citrus dressing.

Primary colors

Red–yellow–blue... the primary colors of the color wheel. This simple salad is one of my favorite combos. It's made with garnet pomegranate seeds, golden mangoes, and indigo blueberries, and the recipe is from British Kitchen Goddess Nigella Lawson.  All that sweetness is balanced with a judicious squeeze of mouth puckering lime juice. So good to look at and so rich in antioxidants. Sometimes it's the simple things... 

Click on the 'fruit salads' label below 

to see more crazy fruit salad combos.

Pear and walnut salad

This is the last salad of my Pear Salad Week! 

Sliced pears, roasted walnuts, and nobs of robust Roquefort cheese float over a bed of baby romaine and frisee lettuces. The whole shebang is dressed with my very favorite autumn salad vinaigrette that I've been making for years. Props to Martha Stewart for the recipe, though please note that I reduce the apple cider by half in a saucepan to make it more intense. The vinaigrette works fab with apple and walnut salads too, so I always have a small container of it in the fridge this time of year when apples are freshly picked and abundant. A salad tossed with this vinaigrette is a perfect match with a cider glazed pork roast.

Autumn cider vinaigrette

1 shallot, minced

1 tablespoon apple cider (reduced by half)

2 tablespoons apple-cider vinegar

1/4 cup walnut oil

Salt and freshly ground pepper

I could keep going with these pear salads, of course—pears integrate easily into all sorts of sweet or savory meals. And although we've picked the last of our pears from the trees, we still have about a dozen ripening in a big wooden bowl. Hmmm... I see another French pear tart in our near future! Check out this unusual Cantaloupe, mango and pear slaw. 

Warm caramelized pear salad

Pow... This pear salad has big flavors! Warm, caramelized pears with rosemary, creamy French feta cheese, and crispy prosciutto strips with baby arugula leaves. Ohh la laa delicious!

To caramelize pears, add 2 tbsp butter, 1/4 cup of sugar, a few sprigs of fresh rosemary, and 1/4 cup water to a pan. Simmer for 3-4 minutes, then add sliced pears (around 1/4 inch thick) and simmer slowly for another 5-8 minutes, until the syrup thickens and the pears are tender.