Jicama & Carrot Slaw with Orange-Cilantro Vinaigrette

 I used to make a carrot-cilantro slaw from the Moosewood New Classics Cookbook. This recipe is inspired by this. I developed it last week when I had a carrot in need of use. It also gave me the opportunity to use the julienne slicer that I pick up at Schnucks on clearance for $1.54 and my glove that prevents me from slicing my fingers off. Yay!

While prepping this salad, I listening to the Norwegian electronic band, Flunk.

Here's my handy new peeler:

Jicama & Carrot Slaw with Orange-Cilantro Vinaigrette (serves 4 as a side)

• 1 carrot, julienned
• 1/2 jicama, cut into matchsticks
• 1 green onion, minced
• juice of half an orange (about 2-3 Tbsp)
• 2 Tbsp olive oil
• 1 Tbsp apple cider vinegar
• 3 Tbsp cilantro, minced
• 1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
• salt to taste 

1. In a medium bowl, mix the carrot, jicama, and green onion, set aside. In a liquid measuring cup, or other sturdy glass container, combine the juice, olive oil, vinegar, cilantro, cayenne, and salt. Mix thoroughly, then pour over the vegetables and toss, gently. Best if served immediately, keeps for 2-3 days in the fridge.


Kitchen Notes:  My personal preference in this is white vinegar, which I know most folks think has no culinary value, I used cider vinegar because that's what I had.

Verdict? Great crunch, great flavors. Very clean, zesty and fresh. I like a bit more acidity in my salads, so next time I may reduce the amount of orange juice and supplement with lime. I can't believe I haven't used jicama more often.

Spicy Arugula & Cantaloupe Salad with Chili-Lime Pistachios

I have the hardest time remembering how to spell A-R-U-G-A-L-A and C-A-N-T-A-L-O-U-P-E. I've decided that I'm going to start posting what I listened to whilst making a dish. Not because you're particularly interested in what I'm listening to, but because my dear husband put up some new speakers in the kitchen to keep me entertained while cooking (as if cooking weren't entertaining enough!)

What I listened to: Carla Bruni, first lady of France and new momma.

This cool, very unusual recipe is adapted from my dear favorite, Moosewood New Classics. It originally features endive, not arugula, and comes with an embarrassing story. I made this last weekend with a cantaloupe. That I bought a month ago. Here it is:

 I had purchased this at the farmer's market 1 month prior and stored it in my fridge. It still tasted perfect. Makes me wonder how old the melons are in some supermarkets!

The chili-lime pistachios are a holdover from trying to recreate my favorite cheap restaurant snack, the 95-cent chili-lime peanuts from Destihl. I was disappointed with my attempt, and they hung out in my kitchen for a bit, but they made an ideal garnish for this salad.

Spicy Arugula & Cantaloupe Salad with Chili-Lime Pistachios (serves 4)

• 3 C arugula, loosely packed
• 1 small cantaloupe, cut into chunks
• 1 Tbsp cilantro, chopped
• 4 Tbsp olive oil
• 4 tsp cider vinegar
• 3 Tbsp lime juice
• 3 Tbsp lemon juice
• 1/2 tsp cayenne
• 3 tsp coriander, ground
• salt & black pepper to taste
• chili-lime pistachios (see below)

1. Toss together the arugula, cantaloupe, and cilantro. Set aside. 
2. In a small bowl, whisk together the olive oil, vinegar, lime juice, lemon juice, cayenne, coriander, salt and black pepper. 
3. Pour half the dressing on the salad and toss well. Sprinkle with chili-lime pistachios and serve immediately. 


For chili-lime pistachios (makes 1 C)

• 1 C raw pistachios
• juice of 1 lime
• 3/4 tsp chili powder
• 1/2 tsp cumin, ground
• oil

1. Preheat the oven to 350. Lightly oil a baking sheet and spread the pistachios as a single layer.
2. In a small bowl, whisk together the lime juice, chili powder & cumin. Smear over the pistachios, until coated.
3. Bake for 7 mins, watching carefully. These burn quickly!

 Kitchen Notes: I was skeptical of the amount of coriander in this recipe, but it works. I recommend only pouring on half the dressing, since a little goes a long way, and the salad is still tasty, dressed, the next day. The arugula does wilt some, but I tolerate wilted arugula far better than most greens. I think the arugula is a better choice than the endive, but this is opinion. This salad would be fantastic if the cantaloupe were replaced with mango, and I cautiously think nectarines or peaches would work great too.

Verdict? This recipe is a bit wacky, but it brings cantaloupe into the category of a salad fruit, much like a strawberry, apple or blueberry. Chili and cantaloupe complement each other well, the sour or the vinegar/citrus, sweetness of the melon, zest of arugula, and spice of the chili, along with the crunch of the salad, works to create a terrific summer salad. I wish I had made this earlier in the season!

Southwestern Quinoa Salad

Happy World Vegetarian Day all! I'm behind again,  reporting on World Vegetarian Day. Awfully convenient, but entirely coincidental, that my own personal vegan week happened during this time.

Wednesday's menu was as follows:

• shredded wheat with soy milk
• barbecued tofu
• veggie sandwich with potato chips
• garlic broccoli campanelle** with cherry tomatoes
• candy corn
• caraway Finn Crisp
• To drink: coffee, water, cherry pepsi, coke, violet soda, & tea

**recipe upcoming in future blog entry

I was inspired to make quinoa salads from the blog Closet Cooking a long time ago. My previously posted quinoa salads can be found here and here. The inspiration for this version of quinoa salad, came from a lonely ear of corn in my fridge, as well as a half of avocado that I didn't want to go bad. Unfortunately, I forgot to take a picture of it until I was eating the last of the leftovers at work. Oops!

                                                  Very classy with the plastic utensils, no?

Southwestern Quinoa Salad (serves 4-6)

• 1/2 C quinoa, uncooked
• 10 cherry tomatoes, quartered
• 1/2 medium zucchini, diced 
• 1/2 C canned black beans, drained
• 1 ear cooked corn, kernels removed (about 1/2 C)
• 1 green onion, sliced
• 3 Tbsp vegetable oil
• 1/4 C (or more) cilantro, chopped
• juice & zest of 1-2 limes
• 1 tsp ground cumin
• 1/2 tsp oregano
• 1 tsp chili powder
• 1 garlic clove, finely chopped
• salt & pepper to taste
• 1/2 avocado (or more) 

1. Cook the quinoa as outlined in Quinoa Salad with Lemon Vinaigrette. Allow to cool.
2. Place the cooked quinoa in a large bowl. Mix in the cherry tomatoes, zucchini, black beans, corn, and green onion.
3. In a small bowl, whisk together the oil, cilantro, lime juice and zest, cumin, oregano, chili powder, garlic, and salt and pepper.
4. Combine the dressing with the quinoa mixture. Dice the avocado and add to the salad. 
5. Refrigerate and allow the flavors to blend for at least a couple hours before serving.

Kitchen Notes: I halved the tomatoes rather than quartered, but would have preferred them quartered, which is why I wrote the recipe this way. Unlike a lot of recipes with avocado, the avocado remains fresh and green for several days. I underseasoned because I ate the salad mixed with hot sauce, red pepper sauce, or tomatillo sauce.

Verdict: Super yummy and a great way to use up complementary leftover produce in fridge. This is totally a texture dish, each of the components patchworks itself into a tasty, meal worthy salad.

Quinoa Tabbouleh: Now with Video!

If you'd like a traditional tabbouleh, please search elsewhere. I love tabbouleh, it's easy, it's one of my favorite summer salads, it's filling and refreshing. Sometimes, though, I stray from the typical tabbouleh. This one features quinoa rather than the typical bulgar wheat. I made this with leftover quinoa.

Please excuse the messy picture!

Quinoa Tabbouleh (makes about 3 C)

• 2C quinoa, cooked
• 3 large handfuls parsley, finely chopped (about 1 small bunch)
• 1/2 med cucumber, diced
• 2 small tomatoes, diced
• 1/4 red onion, diced
• juice of 3 lemons (about 6 Tbsp)
• zest of 1 lemon
• 2 Tbsp olive oil
• 1 garlic clove, finely diced
• salt to taste
• pepper to taste

1. In a small bowl, whisk together the lemon juice, zest, olive oil, garlic, salt and pepper. Set aside.
2.Combine the quinoa, parsley, cucumber, tomato, and onion in a large bowl. Mix together.
3.Combine the quinoa mixture and the lemon juice mixture together. Allow to sit for a few hours for the flavors to develop. 


Kitchen Notes: Tabbouleh is traditionally a parsley salad with a higher ratio of parsley than grain, the grain is to absorb the juices. Folks who like a more grain based tabbouleh will need to adjust the ratio. This seems like a lot of lemon, but trust me, it works.

Verdict? I'm still salivating over my quinoa salad with lemon vinaigrette, so comparatively speaking, it was a bit bland. It was refreshing and palate cleansing, and a good meal for a hot day, but I prefer the other quinoa salad.

Update: My friend Katie sent me this hysterical link, the tabbouleh song, from the comic Remy Munasifi. If you didn't  think tabbouleh needed an anthem before, this video may make you change your mind:
 

Ingredient Elimination: Curried Buttermilk Dressing for Tomatoes

Our current contender for Ingredient Elimination is buttermilk. I had plenty of buttermilk from the quart I purchased to make corn bread, but little inspiration with what to do with it. The label admonishes, "tastes best if used in 3 days".  With the clock ticking, I again consulted Moosewood New Classics for a solution to the abundance of buttermilk (it really wasn't as dramatic as I write it to be).

                                  The contender, weighing in at 32 liquid oz

Since I had a container of fresh cherry tomatoes in the fridge, this dressing, intended for tomatoes, seemed like a good fit.

Curried Buttermilk Dressing (makes 1 C)

• 1/2 C buttermilk
• 1/4 C plain yogurt (I used Greek)
• 1 Tbs vegetable oil
• 1 Tbs cider vinegar
• 1 tsp curry powder
• 1/4 tsp turmeric
• 1/4 tsp crushed red pepper
• salt
• pepper

1. Combine all ingredients except salt and pepper in a blender. Add salt and pepper to taste. 
2. Drizzle over tomato wedges or as a dip for cherry tomatoes.  

 The camera doesn't capture it, but the turmeric gives the dressing a lovely color


Kitchen Notes: The original recipe calls for yogurt or mayo. Since I had yogurt, and I am not partial to mayo, the yogurt won. I'd imagine that mayo may make the flavor a bit milder. If you're using as a dip, some of the buttermilk may need to be replaced with sour cream to make it heavier.

Verdict? With perfectly ripe tomatoes, the flavor contrast with this dressing is pure summer. I'd be less enthusiastic with non-seasonal tomatoes. This isn't to say the dressing is not good, but the tomatoes elevate it. I'm going to season the leftovers with a bit of celery salt. This would be scrumptious with fried green tomatoes. I have a feeling it'll make a good base for a remoulade, so I'll try that and let you know of the results.

A Trio of....Cucumber Salads, Part III: Korean Spicy Cucumber Salad

 Welcome to part III of cucumber salads! Occasionally I get very ambitious and make the Korean dish bi bim bop. This little salad is a mix in or banchan for this dish. This salad, while delicious, it rather spicy and super garlicky. Just a few slices will do. If you do incorporate it into bi bim bop, the flavors will soften considerably.

This recipe comes from a favorite of mine, the cookbook Dok Suni, by Jenny Kwak and Liz Fried. I would check it out from the library for months at a time. I finally broke down and bought it.


Spicy Korean Cucumber Salad (Oye Moochim) (serves 4 or more)

• 1 cucumber, prepared as written here 
• 1 1/2 Tbs red pepper flakes, or more
• 1 Tbs rice vinegar
• 1 tsp sesame salt
• 1 tsp very finely minced garlic
• 1 tsp sesame oil
• pinch brown sugar
• salt

1. Mix together the red pepper flakes, vinegar, sesame salt, garlic, sesame oil, and sugar so that it makes a paste. Combine with the cucumber, Mix thoroughly. Serve chilled. Keeps fresh for a week. Will actually keep longer, but won't taste as yummy.  

                                                 Served with my rescued noodles
Kitchen Notes: I've seen sesame salt defined two ways: 1) a combination of pulverized sesame seeds and salt; 2) Pulverized toasted sesame seeds. Truthfully, this time around I didn't feel up to grinding the sesame seeds, so I omitted it. I've included a graphic of the red pepper flakes below. They are used a lot in Korean cooking. I keep mine refrigerated as they seem to get moldy very fast.

Verdict? Little goes a long way. Strong bite from the garlic. Strong heat from the red pepper. Refreshing cukes. Give it a try.

Deconstructed Sushi Salad

Do you ever eat a maki roll, just to have it fall apart all over your plate? This recipe captures this.Joanne from Eats Well With Others posted a scrumptious looking recipe for a veggie sushi salad. I loved the idea--I've always been compelled to try to make sushi, but have been too lazy. I figure a restaurant can do superior job. This took the complex work out of sushi, maintaining the flavors. I liked the concept of Joanne's recipe, but I changed the flavors to suit my taste. Additionally, it gave me an opportunity to try a sushi salad dressing featured in Moosewood Restaurant New Classics. The dressing recipe is slightly adapted from Moosewood's recipe, and the salad recipe was inspired by Joanne's recipe.

My favorite roll, as I am a sushi poser who doesn't eat dish, is the AAC roll (avocado, asparagus, and cucumber). Because it's not quite the right season for asparagus, I had to modify a bit.

Deconstructed Sushi Salad (serves 4-6) 
Sushi Dressing (makes between 3/4 C-1 C)

• 1/2 C rice vinegar
• 2 tsp wasabi powder
• 1 tsp sugar
• 2-3 Tbs soy sauce
• 2-3 tsp minced ginger
• toasted nori 

1. Mix together all ingredients except nori. Snip the nori into small pieces and incorporate into the dressing. Set aside.

Sushi Salad

• 2 C uncooked sushi rice
• 1 small cucumber, diced
• 1 avocado, diced
• 4-6 medium shiitake mushrooms, stemmed and diced
• 1/2 of the dressing made above

1. Rinse the sushi rice several times. Place in saucepan with 2 C water, bring to a boil. Cover, reduce heat to low. Cook for 15 mins, remove from heat. Let steam, covered, away from heat for 10 more mins. Allow rice to cool to room temp or place in fridge.
2. Place the mushrooms in a microwave safe container, cook, checking every 30 seconds, until most of the liquid is removed. This should take about 90 seconds. Be careful not to let the mushrooms burn.
3. Pour half of the dressing over the rice, mix well. Add the mushrooms and cukes, mix well. Dice and add the avocado just before serving, mix well. Serve, with dressing and soy sauce for dipping. Enjoy! Stays fresh for up to 3 days.

Kitchen Notes: I used seasoned rice vinegar, so you may need more sugar or other seasonings to adjust. Real wasabi powder (see below) is far milder than that served in most Japanese restaurants, so if you're crazy about the flavor of restaurant wasabi, get tube wasabi from an Asian market. The original recipes for both Joanne and the Moosewood cookbook both recommend pickled ginger, I used fresh as that's what is on hand.When you initially mix the wasabi and rice vinegar, it will look vile. Don't worry, it won't look like this for long.

                This used real wasabi, rather than the horseradish wasabi we tend to be familiar with

                                                               It's sort of gray

Verdict? I was surprised at how well this approximated the flavor of sushi, minus the tight structure. Unlike traditional sushi, the rice does not dry out very quickly, it remains fresh the next day. This recipe invites a lot of flexibility with ingredients, and would likely be great with fish on top. Dipping each chopstickfull in a bit of soy sauce is simply yummy.

A Trio of....Cucumber Salads, Part II: Japanese Cucumber Salad

I don't know how long I've been making this recipe. It's another one slightly adapted from Sundays at Moosewood Restaurant. I will tell you, that it's very important to adequately cook the sake used in this recipe. It is not OK to get tipsy off your food. I've learned this from experience.


Are you familiar with the Korean concept of banchan with meals? It's the idea of serving very small side dishes with your meal, almost like an amuse bouche, but served to accompany the meal, not before. Served in this fashion, this works quite well, but by itself, the flavors are overwhelming.

Without further ado, round II of cucumber salads.

Japanese Marinated Cucumbers (Su-no-Mono) with Sake Noodles 
For the cucumbers:

• 1 large cucumber, prepared as outlined here
• 1/4 C sake, boiled
• 1/3 C rice vinegar
• 3 Tbs soy sauce
• 2 Tbs mirin

1. Mix the sake, rice vinegar, soy sauce, and miring together. 
2. Add to cucumbers, allow to chill for a couple hours. 

Kitchen Notes: As mentioned above, the flavors in this become very concentrated, it serves better as almost a  relish, garnish or condiment. For a very light meal, this goes well on somein noodles, or as a side for my deconstructed sushi salad, coming up next.

Verdict? Truthfully, I'm not as in love with this salad as I once was. The sake imparts a slightly floral flavor, which is an acquired taste. As a way to flavor other dishes, though, it works great.

A Trio of....Cucumber Salads, Part I

As much as I harassed my friend Katie for bartering for my tzatziki recipe, she was super generous in sharing her cucumber bounty. I took the opportunity to make 3 international cucumber salads, each which share the same initial prep. The first I'll feature, is a Finnish cucumber salad, that I've taken from Moosewood Restaurant's Sundays at Moosewood Restaurant, with some minor modifications. I've included a photo from the cookbook, to illustrate why I needed to create this blog. I annotate my cookbooks to the point of vandalism:

                                                         See all the pencil marks?

To start the 3 salads, I took 4 very large cukes, peeled them (don't peel them if your peels are nice. If your peels are nice, score them with a fork), and sliced them very thin. I threw them in a colander, sprinkled them liberally with salt, and drained for 20 mins or so. They looked like this:

After they've drained, rinse off the salt. In a clean, lintless tea towel or cloth napkin (you'll need several), place a handful of cukes and wring until you've extracted as much water as possible. Put the cukes in a mixing bowl. Continue until all the cukes have had water removed. As a heads up, the other 2 cucumber salads are Japanese and Korean.

Finnish Cucumber & Dill Salad (serves 4-6)

• 2 large cucumbers, prepared as detailed above
• 2/3 C sour cream or plain Greek yogurt (I prefer sour cream, but used yogurt since that's what I had. Avoid fat free--low fat is OK)
• 1 Tbs vegetable oil
• 2 1/2 Tbs white vinegar
• handful of minced fresh dill
• 1/4 tsp sugar
• salt & pepper to taste

1. Mix the sour cream or yogurt, oil, vinegar, sugar, dill and pepper together. Keep salt separate for now.
2. Fold into cucumbers.
3. Add salt to taste. 

Kitchen Notes: This tastes best when eaten a few hours after assembled. Try to eat within a day or so, as the flavor diminishes significantly and becomes watery after this. Don't omit the sugar, though it sounds odd. It helps enhance the flavors of the salad and does not create a sweet flavor. I add the salt at the very end, because inevitably some salt remains on the cucumbers after rinsing, so it's hard to gauge how much salt is needed until the salad is assembled.

                                                   It tastes far more attractive than it looks!

Verdict? One of my favorite summer salads, and one I make again, again, and again. Well worth the work, in my view. Very refreshing.

Quinoa Salad with Lemon Vinaigrette

This past weekend, in St. Louis, my husband and I stumbled upon a fantastic little place in St. Louis, La Dolce Via. I had the spinach torta with a side of field greens with a rocking lemon vinaigrette. I felt compelled to try at home.

If you've never had a quinoa salad, try one now. Yum. A beautiful alternative to traditional tabbouleh & pasta salads. The inspiration again, comes from one of my favorite food bloggers, Kevin of Closet Cooking, with the recipe by me. 

Quinoa Salad with Lemon Vinaigrette (serves 4-6)
For the Vinaigrette:

• 1/3 C extra virgin olive oil
• 1/4 C red wine vinegar
• juice & zest of 1-2 lemons
• 2 cloves garlic, very finely minced
• salt 
• pepper
• large handful of dill, chopped

1.   Mix ingredients 

For the Salad

• 1 C quinoa, uncooked
• small tomato, diced
• small zucchini, cut into small wedges
• 1/4 C red onion, finely diced
• 1/4 feta crumbled

1. Rinse quinoa in a fine mesh strainer. Bring quinoa, 1 1/2 C water, and a pinch of salt to a boil. Cover, and cook for 15 mins. Remove from heat, fluff, and let it remain covered for 10 mins. Let cool.
2. Mix together quinoa, veggies, feta & vinaigrette. Serve cool or at room temperature. 


Verdict? Hooray! I love, love, the texture of quinoa, and I love, love, the fresh flavor of lemon. Makes an ideal lunch.  

Ensalada de Porotos Verdes/Green Bean & Tomato Salad

I become a lazy cook in the summer. While my favorite things to make are soups, stews, and sauces, they require a lot of attention to be made properly. What's missing from this stock? Sh*t, I added too many bay leaves. I can't believe my shopping list could be published into a small book are all common thoughts for me come winter.

Not so with summer. My trajectory looks more like this. Go to Farmer's Market. Buy perfectly fresh, nutritious, and often inexpensive produce. Go home. Chop veggies. Add salt, pepper, and oil as needed. Bask in my misguided culinary cleverness. This recipe embraces the farmstand with just a few, very fresh ingredients. This recipe is adapted from a different Moosewood cookbook, Sundays at Moosewood Restaurant. The recipe comes from a chapter on the food of Chile (porotos is the Chilean word for beans), although I am sure the modifications I've made are completely un-Chilean.

                                   All presented in a very classy Tupperware container!

Green Bean & Tomato Salad (serves 2-4 as a generous side)

• 1/2 lb fresh green beans, washed and trimmed*
• 1 tomato, sliced into small wedges  (I used Buffalo)
• 1/4 C pinenuts (can be omitted, or else replace with pepitas, sliced almonds, or walnut pieces)
• juice and zest of 1 lemon (I like to get a little pulp in there, too)
• 1/4 C red onion, finely chopped
• 1-2 garlic cloves, finely minced
• 1-2 Tbs olive oil
• salt
• pepper

1. In a small sauce pan, toast the pinenuts til fragrant. Shake the pan frequently while cooking. Set pinenuts aside.
2. Mix together the garlic, olive oil, lemon juice and zest, salt and pepper. Adjust seasoning to taste.
3. In the same pan used for the pinenuts, boil the water for the beans. Once boiling, add beans and cook til bright green. One cooked, shock the beans in a bowl of cold water and ice. Drain.
4. Mix the tomato, green beans, onion & pinenuts. Add lemon/oil mixture, mix together, and enjoy.

*I didn't weigh the beans, and it seemed to be silly to measure them with a measuring cup. I eyeballed the beans I had to be 1/4 the original 2 lb haul. I took a picture so you can see how many beans I used. If you want ultimate precision, feel free to count them:

                                                            1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6....I give up


Verdict? Fresh, summery, and guaranteed to give you dragon breath from the raw garlic. Make while the tomatoes and beans are just perfect. My husband suggested that this would be an ideal side for baked/broiled fish.