Salad 2016 –

[lindag]

5 minutes ago, chefmd said:

My husband loves beets to.  I like all vegetables, even celery and green peppers

Me too, I can’t  think of a single vegetable that I DON'T like.

[scubadoo97]

Me too

[chefmd]

Arugula lends itself nicely to all kinds of additions.  Admittedly, I possibly went overboard today.  Two kinds of peppers, two kinds of olives, feta cheese, pine nuts.

[chefmd]

Variety of greens from the neighbors garden, Parmesan shavings.  Tastes so much better than supermarket salad.

[chefmd]

MY lettuce from MY garden with feta and balsamic vinaigrette dressing.

[blue_dolphin]

Melon, Blueberry & Feta Salad with Ginger & Mint from Diana Henry's Simple. The recipe is available online here.

The recipe calls for 3 kinds of melon, which is a little excessive for my fridge, plus cucumber. I used pink watermelon, green Galia melon and orange Ambrosia melon and the colors do look lovely.
The dressing uses the vinegar from a jar of pickled ginger and the book photo looks like there's some of the pickled ginger itself in the salad so I added that too and it's delicious. How come I never thought to put pickled ginger in a salad?

 

 

Edited August 3, 2018 by blue_dolphin
to add link (log)

[Anna N]

9 hours ago, blue_dolphin said:

How come I never thought to put pickled ginger in a salad?

Now there is an idea I definitely need to adopt. Thanks. 

[blue_dolphin]

Melon and Goat Cheese with Red Wine and Lavender Dressing from Diana Henry's How to Eat a Peach.

 
This is nice enough. Easy to put together and pretty on the plate but not as interesting as I thought it might be. Maybe my lavender wasn't up to snuff. Slices of melon are drizzled with lavender-infused/honey sweetened red wine and goat cheese. In the photo in the book, the red wine dressing looks rich and syrupy - as if it was a reduction - but there is no instruction to reduce it. Mine looked more like I spilled red wine on my melon 😮.

Diana Henry confirmed on Instagram that spilled wine was about right so I guess that's as it should be.

 

 

[Okanagancook]

sorry no picture but this salad is really outstanding.  Great for this time of the year to use the last of those garden tomatoes and herbs.

 

https://www.foodandwine.com/recipes/tomatoes-herbs-and-almond-vinaigrette

[chefmd]

Roasted beets, roasted grapes, hummus shmear, pine nuts, Maldon salt, EVOO.  Syrup left over from roasted grapes made a lovely old fashioned cocktail.

 

[blue_dolphin]

My version of the Warm Duck Salad with Wet Walnuts and Beets from Russell Norman's  Polpo. My biggest problem with a duck confit salads is always nibbling so much of the warm duck that there's not enough left for the salad. Luckily, I controlled myself and saved some for the salad.

I had never heard the term 'wet walnuts' before, except as a sweet nut topping. The local farmers markets have green walnuts in June for making Nocino and Vin de Noix but according to the header notes, this is something different, "one of those great delicacies of autumn." Well, apparently I missed the boat as Google tells me they are available around here in Aug and Sept but no longer so I used very fresh, but regular walnuts.
The recipe says to boil the beets with a splash of red wine vinegar. I think this salad needs a bigger punch of acid so after cutting them up, I lightly pickled my golden beets in Katz's white wine vinegar. I also subbed frisée for the arugula as it was already in the fridge and it holds up better to the warm duck.

[chefmd]

Roasted beets on ranch dressing with pecorino Romano and roasted pine nuts.

[chefmd]

Perfect summer tomatoes with red onion, basil, parsley, dill, lime juice, EVOO.  

[chefmd]

Tomatoes, hearts of palm, feta, pumpkin seeds.

[HungryChris]

This time of year, a Caprese salad is on of our favorites. Good olive oil and a bit of sea salt, makes their appearance on the table quite brief.

HC

[Darienne]

1 hour ago, HungryChris said:

This time of year, a Caprese salad is on of our favorites. Good olive oil and a bit of sea salt, makes their appearance on the table quite brief.

HC

I don't understand.  I've never claimed to be sophisticated in my choice of foods to eat...but I just don't get fresh Mozzarella (and I have tasted the 'best' also).  Both Ed and I find it tasteless...as in having no taste at all.  Is this unusual?

 

[HungryChris]

2 hours ago, Darienne said:

I don't understand.  I've never claimed to be sophisticated in my choice of foods to eat...but I just don't get fresh Mozzarella (and I have tasted the 'best' also).  Both Ed and I find it tasteless...as in having no taste at all.  Is this unusual?

 

Truth be told, I don't really care for Mozzarella on it's own either. It is, indeed bland. Add a good, robust olive oil, some fresh basil, a garden fresh tomato and a bit of sea salt, and the combination is another story altogether, IMO.

HC

[Darienne]

23 minutes ago, HungryChris said:

Truth be told, I don't really care for Mozzarella on it's own either. It is, indeed bland. Add a good, robust olive oil, some fresh basil, a garden fresh tomato and a bit of sea salt, and the combination is another story altogether, IMO.

HC

And we've had it that way twice, from two different sources, one source very well-to-do and what I would call fussy about their food, and while I love a good olive oil and basil and tomato...I still found the inclusion of that  cheese  less than delightful.  Way less than delightful.  Sorry, I guess I am just a Philistine at heart.   

[kayb]

Then use a cheese you like. I've made them with ricotta, and grated cheddar. A little balsamic vinegar does not go amiss, either.

[Margaret Pilgrim]

5 hours ago, Darienne said:

And we've had it that way twice, from two different sources, one source very well-to-do and what I would call fussy about their food, and while I love a good olive oil and basil and tomato...I still found the inclusion of that  cheese  less than delightful.  Way less than delightful.  Sorry, I guess I am just a Philistine at heart.   

You are not a Philistine at all!   There are, sadly, many highly touted foods (today) that travel well but whose cherished characteristics don't.    Fresh Mozzarella is one.    At the source, i.e. a day from the cheesemaker, it can be sublime.    The essence of rich, fresh cream.    Then it starts it descent, and by the time you and I usually find it at retail, it has morphed into a white glob that can at best be called "gentle".    I still like it on salad plates and on pizza but it is not what it once was.

[Darienne]

22 minutes ago, Margaret Pilgrim said:

You are not a Philistine at all!   There are, sadly, many highly touted foods (today) that travel well but whose cherished characteristics don't.    Fresh Mozzarella is one.    At the source, i.e. a day from the cheesemaker, it can be sublime.    The essence of rich, fresh cream.    Then it starts it descent, and by the time you and I usually find it at retail, it has morphed into a white glob that can at best be called "gentle".    I still like it on salad plates and on pizza but it is not what it once was.

Good point.  Puts me in mind of a real Montreal bagel.  Good for 24 hours and then forget it.

[kayb]

Eating fresh, made-that-day mozzarella in the Italiam Market in Philadelphia is sort of like eating sushi in Japan. Just about ruined me for the local version.

[chefmd]

Shaved squash, avocado, feta cheese, pumpkin seeds.  

[JoNorvelleWalker]

2 hours ago, chefmd said:

Shaved squash, avocado, feta cheese, pumpkin seeds.  

 

Is the squash uncooked?

 

[chefmd]

@JoNorvelleWalker  quash is raw, cut with vegetable peeler, marinated briefly in lemon juice.