I feel weird devoting a post to “just a salad,” but I’ve eaten some version of this so many times in the past few weeks that it almost feels weird not to share. It started with a recipe I found while trying to figure out what to do with kohlrabi, but I don’t think it’s a recipe you really need to follow closely. It’s more of a framework for how to make nutritious, filling, un-boring chopped salads. Start with a variety of leafy, crunchy, sweet, and bitter vegetables. Mix with beans, salty olives, and some ripe avocado. Toss with a creamy, tangy homemade dressing and some toasted nuts or seeds. And hey, if you have leftover cooked chicken, hard-boiled eggs, crumbly cheese, roasted beets, or orange segments, add them (all of them!) too. And I looove using a piece of bread to wipe every last smear of dressing and avocado from the bowl.
Here’s another salad for your viewing and eating pleasure. I pulled out whatever vegetables and herbs were left before my CSA pick-up day and put ‘em all together with a simple mustard vinaigrette.
1 small fennel bulb
1/2 pound green beans
1 small carrot
1 tablespoon finely minced red onion
1 teaspoon grainy Dijon mustard
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1 teaspoon white wine vinegar
salt and pepper, to taste
olive oil
chopped herbs (I used dill and parsley)
Blanch or steam the green beans until they are crisp-tender. Dunk them in ice water, then dry them off and cut into bite-size segments.
Slice the fennel and carrots very thin using a mandoline or a very sharp knife (and crazy good knife skills if you want to compete with the mandoline).
Combine onion, mustard, lemon juice, vinegar, salt, and pepper. Stir until salt dissolves. Toss with vegetables. Finish with a good drizzle of olive oil and chopped herbs.
I like potato salad, but I really like it when it isn’t loaded with mayonnaise and is full of a bunch of other vegetables. Here’s one I made recently with a tangy mustard, vinegar, and yogurt dressing and a whole lot of dill.
1 pound potatoes, cut into bite size chunks
1/2 pound green beans
2 teaspoons Dijon mustard (I like the seedy kind for this)
1 1/2 tablespoons plain yogurt
2 teaspoons white wine or champagne vinegar
1 generous tablespoon of olive oil
1 scallion stalk, chopped
1 heaping tablespoon chopped fresh dill
salt and pepper to taste
a few dashes of paprika (optional)
Blanch green beans in boiling water for about 5 minutes, then dunk them in a bowl of ice water to keep their color pretty. When they are cool enough to handle, cut into 1-inch pieces.
Put potatoes in a pot of cold salted water and bring to a boil. Cook them until they are easily pierced with a fork (I think this takes about 15 minutes, but I never keep track). Drain and let them cool off a bit.
In a bowl big enough to hold all the green beans and potatoes, combine remaining ingredients. Add green beans and potatoes and toss it all together. Serve warm, cold, or somewhere in between.
Previously: new potatoes with peas and mint,
green beans and potatoes with basil pesto
I have another fresh, easy, interesting, everything-you-need-right-now salad to share. It’s from 101 Cookbooks, with a few tweaks: lime juice instead of lemon juice, and shredded coconut instead of big flakes. Be careful when toasting the coconut — it will brown pretty quickly.
And now, since it is too hot to even type, I must go lay in a bathtub full of ice water.
This is some of the freshest, easiest shit you can make yourself this summer. And it even looks pretty enough to present to, say, a ladyfriend or manfriend you are trying to impress. Or people who read your food blog. You can even dump it all in a bowl, where it will look ruffly and still pretty, and take it to a potluck or picnic. It takes literally a few minutes to put together if you have a mandoline (I actually have this one) to slice with, and not too much longer if you’re using a good sharp knife.
To make it: Slice zucchini (or any other long summer squash) crosswise, as thinly as possible. Arrange on a plate. Squeeze a good amount of lemon juice all over it, followed by a good amount of salt and black pepper. Top with some kind of nut and some kind of cheese (I did walnuts and feta this time, but pine nuts and shaved Parmesan work well too). Drizzle extra virgin olive oil over the salad. Top with torn fresh herbs, such as basil (and/or oregano, mint, parsley, dill, thyme… almost anything).
This basic method of shaving fresh raw vegetables and tossing them with this combination of ingredients works with all kinds of things: asparagus, fennel, celery, even beets. You can also toss the vegetables with greens, cooked grains, or pasta. Do a quick search and you’ll find other variations on food blogs and recipe websites.
This week’s issue of New York Magazine has a delicious recipe from ABC Kitchen (a new favorite) for a simple salad with lettuce, radishes, olives, and a nutty vinaigrette. Perfect for enjoying summer radishes and all the beautiful frilly lettuces piling up at the farmers’ market and CSA shares around here. I used basil instead of tarragon and skinny green onions instead of chives. Still delicious.
Here’s a lentil salad I threw together for a weekend trip/beach picnic in Montauk. I scraped up some French green lentils from the back of the pantry and combined them with leftover cooked bulgur, chopped artichoke hearts, crisp radishes, minced red onion, lemon juice, olive oil, and lots of fresh scallions, mint, and parsley. (Tip: add a tiny splash of plain white vinegar to the cooking water to keep the lentils from getting too mushy.)
Pairs well with: half a baguette, a hunk of soft cheese, mixed olives, a sneaky carton of white wine, sunshine, the sound of the ocean, and a 1-year-old marriage. Anniversaries, Mitch & John style.
My lifelong dining companion has said that he “could eat this salad everyday.” Not gonna happen, but we’ll keep having it as long as these adorable little farmers’ market strawberries are in season. Fruit salads aren’t really our thing, but fruit in salads is something we find marvelous, especially when there are nuts and cheese and crunchy things involved. This was inspired by a previously mentioned salad from Back Forty.
What’s in the dressing: a drizzle of pomegranate molasses, a splash of balsamic vinegar, salt, pepper, and a long drizzle of olive oil.
Toss with the dressing with baby arugula, thinly sliced shallot or red onion, thinly sliced radishes, and sliced strawberries. I like to use my hands (rather than tongs or forks or spoons) because human fingers are much better at not bruising the greens and crushing the strawberries. Top with sliced almonds and crumbled chevre at the end.
I am not the biggest fan of raw kale salads (or other dark leafy greens served uncooked) but this recipe from Epicurious may have won me over. I found cheap (2 for $3) bunches of young-looking kale at the farmers’ market, with thin stems and leaves the size of my hand. It’s a wintry dish but also a good way to use storage potatoes and smaller kale in the spring and early summer. What makes it a winner is the balance of textures and flavors: crunchy, slightly bitter and slightly sweet kale; crisp, warm, and earthy roasted potatoes crusted with salty cheese; a tangy, garlicky, and nutty dressing; and I threw a soft-boiled egg on top (because I love putting eggs on things). Full disclosure: I suck at peeling boiled eggs at home (or the ones I use just aren’t old enough), which is why you’re looking at a pitted albumen.
By the way, today is kale-lover Nancy’s birthday, so this post is dedicated to her.
After having several vivid dreams about shopping for spring vegetables (I am not joking), I decided to scratch that subconscious itch and head down to the Union Square greenmarket this week, with visions of radishes dancing in my head. And crunchy sugar snap peas. I combined them with a lightly tangy dressing, creamy white beans, and a bunch of fresh herbs to make a perfectly portable salad that I can bring to lunch at school, potlucks, barbecues, and picnics (check out an earlier post to see how much I over-think these kinds of things).
1 can (15 oz) of small white beans, drained and rinsed
3 radishes, thinly sliced (I used a mandoline set at 2.0mm)
about 1/3 pound snap peas, cut in half
1-2 teaspoons minced shallot (depending on how oniony you like things)
1 teaspoon white wine vinegar
a couple squeezes of lemon juice (about 2 teaspoons)
1 heaping tablespoon plain yogurt (optional)
1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
salt and pepper, to taste
2 tablespoons minced fresh chives
2 tablespoons chopped fresh dill
Combine shallot, vinegar, lemon juice, yogurt, salt, pepper, and olive oil to make dressing. Toss with beans, vegetables, and herbs. Taste and adjust seasonings.
