I've got a salad for you today ... because I just got finished with two weeks of marathon eating, and this week all I want to eat are gigantic salads for every meal. I cannot think of or look at pictures of christmas cookies right now, I am still so full from the past few weeks.
And .... I know in the weeks to come there are going to be so many sweets and bacon wrapped whatevers. I want to psych myself up for all the upcoming indulgence, and to do that I will be eating salads and super healthy stuff on the in-between days.
Don't worry, you and I can get back to talking about more serious holiday eats and treats next week.
So let's talk about this salad. Sometimes I find myself using quinoa and kale for everything, but I am trying to make a better effort to change things up once in a while. You can certainly make this salad with quinoa and kale instead of barley and spinach, but I decided to give barley and spinach the spotlight here, because other grains and dark leafy greens deserve our love too.
Since this this salad is more grain-heavy, it feels more like a meal. Something you can eat for dinner, or a hearty lunch. It's filling but it won't put you over the edge, and it's loaded with healthy goodness. It would also make a great side dish, or brunch salad, or you can just snack on all by yourself all week long (that's what I've been doing).
My favorite part about this salad is the dressing. This dressing is killer. Almonds, sesame oil, and miso ... some of my favorites, all blended together. You can easily use this over so many things .... other salad combinations, roasted vegetables, noodle dishes. I just want to dive in and take a bath in this dressing, it's so darn good.
Okay, I have roasted my first butternut squash and unpacked my sweater box, I am finally ready for Fall now. Actually, I have already roasted three butternut squashes, so I guess I am in full Fall mode.
I had a version of this salad at one of my favorite restaurants recently, and ever since then I have recreated it a few times, a few different ways, and this way right here is the winner.
This site is no stranger to marinated kale salad, and I would like to think that I have a small arsenal of kale salad favorites for each season. This fig and butternut squash combination is my current favorite Fall version. It’s easy to throw together if you have guests coming over, and it is a fun combination that some might not expect.
I used to be one of those "I don't do fruit in salad" people. But, as you can see here and here, I guess I can no longer claim to be one of those people. As long as the sweetness of the fruit's purpose is to balance out the savory, I am all about fruit in my salad. Especially this salad.
Dont' worry .... I do not not need a tomato and corn intervention ..... yet.
I do realize that this is about my fourth recipe this summer that involves tomatoes and/or corn. I don't plan on changing the name of this blog to tomato lovers anonymous, and I promise I have noticed that there are plenty of other wonderful summer fruits and vegetables that are begging for my attention too.
As you can tell, I have been completely smitten with tomatoes and corn and a bit obsessed with getting in as many of their indulgences that I can. I promise (with fingers crossed behind my back) that this is the last post involving corn and tomatoes (together). Everywhere I go, including my backyard, all I see are these gorgeous tomatoes and bushels of corn begging to be enjoyed. I just can't help myself.
I posted a picture of this salad on facebook and instagram a few days ago when I was working on the recipe, and never before did I have so many demands for the recipes. Demands! I had planed on posting this recipe sometime next week, but with so many requests I knew it could not wait.
I had thought you were over my tomato and corn pictures and posts, but I was mistaken. Apparently you and I are the same, and you want to savor every second of these tomato and corn filled months as much as I do. Apparently you and I are heirloom tomato and sweet summer corn soulmates.
Last week one of my oldest and closest friends came to visit from Denver with her boyfriend. As with any long weekend with good friends, it was filled with lots and lots of laughs, plenty of great meals, some seriously delicious key lime pie, fancy homemade lattes, and big bottles of rosé. The first night they arrived, we swung by our friend's parent's house to say hello, and while we were there one of her friends was preparing this awesome looking summer salad with corn, tomatoes, basil and avocado. YUM. It took everything in my power not to jump right in and devour their salad.
The next night I insisted that we make that same salad, and we did. It was then that I decided that this was THE perfect summer salad. Since then I have made this salad another three times. It has only been a week. And you know what? I can (and probably will) eat this every other day until summer vegetables start to dwindle.
Don't you worry, I have plenty of fun, creative recipes involving some of the other wonderful summer veggies coming your way ... but for now, let's enjoy these gorgeous plum, ripe tomatoes, and super sweet corn while we can. The way they were meant to be. With just a touch of really god olive oil, salt + pepper, and a few other goodies.
Let's be serious for a second. I'm not fooling anyone with this vegetable stack.
You and I both know that stacking vegetables makes them look wayyy better than if I were to just carelessly throw them into a salad. It's impressive, it's fun, it's thought out, it makes you feel super creative. We should all be stacking more vegetables.
It's like when I get my hair blown out, I just feel a little more fancy and little more special. Same hair, same person, just a little something extra. Same tomatoes, same ingredients, but they just look and feel a little more special.
When I was at the market the other day, I saw dozens of gorgeous heirloom tomatoes. I wanted to take a bunch home and love them and make them feel special. I didn't want to mutilate them, I wanted to show off their quirky crevices and imperfect shape. I wanted to bring out their juicy texture and taste. I wanted to throw a party and have them be the main event.
Well, I ended up making this salad and ate it all by myself for lunch. Tomato party for one .... why not, right? But as I was eating it, I daydreamed about how impressive it would be to walk out with these gorgeous stacks of tomatoes as an appetizer at our next bqq. I am going to do that, I think you should too.
Last week on a trip to the market I found the most ripe, delicious, local, organic heirloom tomatoes. I've been waiting months and months for that day. It's finally here. #SUMMER
I went to the market that day because A - I needed some produce, and B - I needed some inspiration. A trip to the market is always the best for that. I walked around aimlessly for about 30 minutes before I decided what I was going to make for Michael and his sister that night.
When I was walking around, I stumbled across the most amazing assortment of herb plants. Every kind of basil you could think of and then some ... purple basil, thai basil, spicy basil ... you name it. And mint. So many kinds of mint. I could not resist buys several kind ... of everything. And now our backyard is adorned with some unique varietals of herbs, and I love it.
With the purchase of those new herbs and those gorgeous heirloom tomatoes, it was only natural that I would be making some sort of salad. But I wanted something a little more than a salad. Panzanella. I wanted to make a panzanella.
If I were to #hashtag this recipe it would look something like this:
#summer! #yum #beachfood #gluten-free #picnictime #healthy #vegan #YUM #breakoutthegrill #cornbreadinsaladisreallygreatandevenbetterwhenitisgrilled
Last summer, panzanella salads were my go-to beach picnic food. I would throw some stale bread together with whatever leftover vegetables we had in the fridge and dress it with nothing more than some really good olive oil, some really good vinegar, and minced garlic. By the time we had made it to the beach and laid our picnic blanket down, the bread had sopped up just the right amount of oil + vinegar + garlic. So darn good.
I've been trying to stay away from white bread recently, so homemade gulten-free cornbread seemed like the perfect, if not better, substitute to throw into this panzanella. Grilling the cornbread makes it a bit crispy on the outside, mimicking that stale bread texture. It's pretty awesome.
You can make a panzanella with just about any kind of vegetable you have in your fridge. Later in the season, the summer vegetables like corn and zucchini would go so well in this salad.
I'll let you in on a little cornbread secret. Bob's Red Mill makes a really great gluten-free cornbread mix ... so if you want to make this in a flash, you can use that instead of making it completely from scratch. I am always one to say that from scratch is best, but if you want to take a shortcut for this ... I won't judge. I'd just be so happy that you made this grilled cornbread panzanella.
#ILOVEPANZANELLA #ILOVESUMMER
Sometimes life gets busy. You know, real life. And, I'm okay with that.
There are birthday parties, baby showers, visitors, weddings, places to go people to see ... and sometimes you might even throw a dinner party in there because things are not just busy enough.
As you can tell from my lack of posts over the past week, life has taken over recently. It's been all good and all fun things though. On top of all of the fun life events taking place right now, we moved ..... again. It was a good move though, and I think we are going to stay put for quite some time.
But now the boxes are unpacked and life is slowing down a bit. I am finally getting a chance to spend more time in my {new} kitchen.
So when I got back into the kitchen, there was one thing I was dying to make.
Pickled. Strawberries. Yes.
A few weeks ago Michael and I took a pickling and preserving class at the Stone Barns. I signed us up for this class for two reasons.
First, I have always wanted to delve into canning, but despite having read my fair share about it, I have always been incredibly intimidated and paranoid about all of the boiling and sterilizing involved.
Second, I thought it would be really funny to see Michael take a class with all women, mostly over the age of 55, because let's face it, canning is far more attractive to women of older generations than mine.
And, I just love any reason to go visit the Stone Barns. Well, I guess that makes three reasons.
The greatest takeaway from the class was that you do not have to go through the whole canning process to pickle or preserve your garden gems. You will need to keep whatever it is that you canned or preserved in an airtight jar in the refrigerator, but you do not need to worry about the sterilization process unless you want to store your preserves somewhere other than the fridge.
Super valuable information. I can make pickles and not worry about all that boiling and canning? Yay! Although now I think I might even give it a go after seeing how easy it was.
So, what does this mean to you, or someone who wants to pickle something? It means it can be done, easily, and in about 10-15 minutes you can have yourself a pickle that can be enjoyed right away, or a preserve that can last about a year in the fridge.
So strawberries might not be the first thing you would think to run off and pickle, but I've got to tell you, my first pickled strawberry made me really happy and excited.
It's sour, it's sweet, it's crazy good. Because of it's crazy sour sweetness, it goes so well with so many things. I'm always one to say that I don't like fruit in my salad, but a pickled fruit is certainly an exception. However, it's more than an exception in this case, this is going to be a new staple in my recipe book.
This past weekend, Michael and I celebrated out 1 year anniversary. Our anniversary is on Cinco de Mayo, and I kind of love that we share our anniversary with a silly, happy, tequila drinking, mexican food eating holiday. I cannot believe it has been one year already, this has undoubtedly been the fastest year of my life. Well ... know what they say .......
We didn't make a big deal over our anniversary. We spent the day attending a culinary class that Michael had gotten me for Christmas. For dinner, we had sushi at a no-frills, hole-in-the-wall sushi place down the street from us. It was peaceful, perfect, exactly how I wanted it to be.
In celebration, I thought about posting a fun cupcake recipe for you here, or maybe even a mexican-themed dish, but I just wasn't feeling it. I have been really into spring vegetables and salads recently, so instead I thought I would go with one of my newest and prettiest salads.
Simple, perfect, not over the top, just how our anniversary was spent.
We are in the height of asparagus season right now, and the asparagus that I've been finding at the markets have been so good that they are just as deliciuos raw as they are cooked. If you can find them, the white asparagus are a real treat. They have a slightly brighter taste than the green, and they go so well together in this salad, visually and taste-ually (is that a word? I don't think so).
The carrots add another layer of taste and color to the dish. I looked for colorful carrots, and could not find any, but if you are lucky enough to find some I am sure they would make for a stunning presentation.
Thinly slicing and marinating vegetables has a way of making raw vegetables taste "cooked". You can eat this totally raw, or if you want a little more umph to it you can add in rice, quinoa, millet, or any grain or you like. I loved the look of the red rice. I'm big into color coordination here if you haven't been able to tell.
With the never-ending winter we've been having here, I've been yearning for a little warm weather fun so last weekend Michael and I headed down to Cartagena, Colombia for just that.
When we were trying to figure out where to go, we were surprised to find that Jet Blue now has direct flights to Cartagena from NYC. Michael is Colombian and this was our first trip there together, and my first time to Colombia, so when we figured out that we could easily get there, there was no question. Yes. Take me there.
The old town in Cartagena is one of the most colorful and vibrant cities I have ever experienced. Being surrounded by bright beautiful colors and humidity makes me happy. We had such a great time wandering the streets, eating, drinking out of coconuts and taking tons of photos. I loved being there with Michael, hearing him reminisce about certain foods that he would eat when he lived there and experiences he had as a kid.
Since Cartagena is located on the Caribbean sea, there is no lack of fresh fish and light, tropical meals. Ceviche is big there, and we made sure we tried our fair share. So fresh, so good.
While we were eating and trying all kinds of seafood ceviche, I thought to myself, why haven't I seen a vegetable ceviche on any menu? You know what happened next.
When we got home the first thing I made was a vegetable ceviche with radishes, apples, and a lot of other tasty ingredients like avocado, red onion and lemon juice that make a typical seafood ceviche taste so good. The zesty radish flavor pairs so well with the sweetness of the apple. It's such a fun and colorful snack or appetizer. The only thing that was missing was the 80º weather.
Yes. I am sharing two salads with you in a row.
You see, there is something I have to tell you ... salads are my thing. My speciality. My jam.
I know, It is not exactly the most exciting thing in the world.
Some people are really good at making awesome, fancy things like creme brulee or pot pie. I am really good at making salads.
I always wanted to be really good at making one thing. You know, so Bobby Flay would come knocking on my door to do a throwdown. Being the veggie lover that I am, I guess it was natural that salads became my thing. I'm ready for my salad throwdown Bobby. Bring it.
You might be thinking, what's so special about making salads? Isn't making salads really easy. Well, yes, it is. But anyone who is really good at making one thing puts a lot of love into making that one thing.
I put a lot of love into my salads.
I love to make my own dressing, I love to incorporate a good balance of ingredients, I love to use only what's fresh and seasonal, and I love to add unexpected things.
It's all about the love and the ingredients.
As always, whenever I post a salad recipe, I like to think of it more as a guideline or an inspiration for your own salad creations. If you've never used sautéed fennel in a salad, maybe you will try it sometime. If you've only had ginger dressing at a japanese restaurant, maybe now you'll be tempted to make your own at home.
Or maybe you will try this just as I made it. I sure hope you do.