colorful golden beet-lentil-potato salad

This recipe is inspired by the warm lentil potato salad from Smitten Kitchen, plus my friend Biz's legendary pink potato salad with beets. This one has golden beets, which don't dye the rest of the salad pink. It's a perfect mix of salty, crunchy, tangy, and colorful. You pretty much follow the recipe for the warm lentil potato salad, but then add in some roasted beets, cut into small dice.

ingredients:
3 small golden beets, oven-roasted, peeled and cut into small dice
3 medium sized potatoes, boiled and cut into pieces
pickles (or cornichons) chopped small
capers, chopped
1/2 red onion, finely diced
dijon vinaigrette - olive oil, dijon, apple cider vinegar, pressed garlic clove, salt and pepper

tangy lentil potato salad with cornichons and capers

This salad might not look like much - it's brown food - but it tastes amazing. So SO good. I am eating the second-day leftovers right now and they are even better. The dressing is full of diced cornichons and capers, which blend in perfectly with the green lentils and so each bite is a tangy, salty surprise. It also takes just about 30 minutes to make, a pretty quick and easy recipe, and great to take for lunch.

ingredients:
2 shallots
1 bay leaf
1 cup Puy (French) lentils
Salt and pepper
1 pound potatoes (fingerling or small)
2 T red wine vinegar
1 to 2 garlic cloves
1 T Dijon mustard
1/4 cup olive oil
2 tsp capers, roughly chopped
2 T cornichons, roughly chopped
1 to 2 scallions, thinly sliced

I followed the recipe on Smitten Kitchen pretty closely, so I'll just send you there if you want to make it. The only thing I would change is that it felt like a bit too many lentils for the amount of potatoes. I ended up taking out about 3/4 cup for another use.  Also, it says to serve warm, but I think it's also very good at room temperature and makes for a good packed lunch (although then you might want to reduce the garlic slightly).

From our winter farm share: shallots, potatoes

quick grated kohlrabi carrot salad with dijon vinaigrette

I don't think I've introduced my new friend yet... my Cuisinart. It was a birthday present from Michael, and is everything I always wanted and more. We actually even watched the DVD that came with it. :) So we've already made hummus, pizza dough (so easy!), grated potatoes for latkes...and much more. The grating feature is amazing. Here is a simple and delicious salad that takes mere minutes with the help of the food processor. And with veggies from our weekly farm share (carrots + kohlrabi).

ingredients:
1 medium kohlrabi
3 medium carrots

dressing: 
olive oil, apple cider vinegar, honey, dijon mustard, salt and pepper

Peel the carrots and kohlrabi (kohlrabi is best peeled with a knife - it has a tough skin). Push through the grater attachment on the food processor (or grate by hand). Mix dressing and combine everything.

holiday salads: crispy kale and brussels sprouts salad with pecorino and almonds

photo credit: Stella Chen (updated Feb 2014)

I haven't posted in a while...been busy with life lately...And with our CSA a lot of our meals have been improvised, including a lot of frittata and roasted vegetable dishes to use up whatever random roots or vegetables we've received. It's made me a better cook I think - needing to think of improvisations. But a couple of friends have asked me recently what happened to my blog, so I thought I would post a few recipes around the holidays. I made this salad for Thanksgiving. The lemon and dijon vinaigrette make it a bright salad to complement other (heavier) sides. I've made it a few times since and will make it again on Christmas Eve.

1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
2 T Dijon mustard
1 T minced shallot
1 small garlic clove, finely grated
1/4 tsp salt
freshly ground black pepper
2 large bunches of Tuscan kale (about 1 1/2 pounds total), center stem discarded, leaves thinly sliced
12 ounces brussels sprouts, trimmed, cut in half, then cut whisper-thin
1/3 cup extra-virgin olive oil
1/3 cup almonds with skins, coarsely chopped
1 cup finely grated Pecorino

1. mix vinaigrette: lemon juice, dijon, with minced shallot and grated garlic, salt and pepper, set aside.

2. prep kale: fold the leaf over and hold the leaf with one hand, so you can rip out the tough stem with the other. then stack the leaves, roll together into a fat wad, and cut in thin slices (chiffonade). Cut brussels sprouts (trim stem, slice in half, then slice thinly). 

3. toast almonds with a bit of oil in a pan. salt lightly. 

3. Add 1/3 cup oil to dressing, whisk. 

When you're ready to serve, mix everything together. If prepping in advance, you can keep toasted almonds, cheese, dressing, and kale mixture separate. 

The recipe is from epicurious. 

cucumber salad with ginger-garlic dressing (and a fall picnic)

This afternoon we went to a nearby apple orchard just north of Providence. We were hoping to be able to pick apples, but they said their season was over - a bit disappointing, especially since so many of the trees there still had apples! They had a harvest festival going on though, so there were lots of families and kids, which was fun to see. And a burlap maze, and pumpkins, lots of mums and fall flowers. We brought a picnic along, so we camped out in the orchard and enjoyed the sun and some good food. I made the barley salad with cherries and pecans (which really is good), and a cucumber salad (recipe below). Philipp made this beautiful apple cake, almost tart-like with raisins and almonds. And we had fresh fruit and good cheese...and the weather could not have been more perfect. A great way to get out of the city and celebrate fall for a bit.

Recipe: Cucumber salad with ginger-garlic dressing

this is another one from Ottolenghi's Plenty - such a good cookbook!

ingredients:

2 large (or 4 small) cucumbers, peeled, cut lengthwise in half, and then sliced thin

1 small red oinion, shaved thin

1 1/2 inch ginger, grated

2 cloves garlic, pressed

toasted sesame seeds (about 2 T)

cilantro (about 1/3 cup)

dressing: 2 T rice vinegar, 2 T olive oil, 2 tsp sugar, 2 tsp sesame oil

Mix the dressing, and put the onions in it to soak for about 1 hour. Peel and cut the cucumbers (I used a mandolin for the onions and cucumbers - makes this salad super fast and easy). Add the garlic and ginger to the onions/dressing, and mix well. Then add everything else and mix everything. Let it sit at least 10 minutes before serving so all the flavors soak in. 

another raw kale salad + a very green frittata

This is me using up more of our great CSA veggies. Simple but delicious. Raw kale, cut into ribbons, tossed with some pea shoots. Toast some walnuts (or pecans), add some cranberries (or cherries) for a little sweetness.

My other recipe did not photograph quite as nicely, but it was delicious and it did make use of three of our CSA vegetables: leeks, squash, and more of the pea shoots. Frittata is one of those great dishes where you can toss in whatever is in the fridge that you need to use up. I had a small piece of white cheddar cheese that got grated in, but Parmesan or Gruyere would be good, too.

I'm not going to write out a "recipe," but here is what I put in it:

very green frittata with caramelized onion, squash and leeks
5 eggs, 1 leek, 1/2 large onion, 2 baby patty-pan squash (could use 1 small zucchini), pea shoots (handful), parsley (1/2 cup), salt and pepper, 1/2 cup cheese (parmesan, or Gruyere, or cheddar)

roasted tomato couscous salad

This salad is based on a memory of a tomato salad I remember making from101 cookbooks that involved toasted capers and half raw, half oven-roasted tomatoes. Instead of a green salad, I used an Israeli (pearl) couscous. It's a really tasty combination of flavors. If you had them on-hand, you could use more fresh herbs (parsley, mint, thyme), and/or olives instead of the capers for some saltiness. 

ingredients:

1 lb heirloom tomatoes – mix of colors

balsamic vinegar and olive oil

1 cup couscous (I used Israeli/pearl couscous)

1 T capers

1 garlic clove, crushed or fine minced

salt and pepper

fresh basil

Heat oven to 425-450. Cut the tomatoes into chunks. If using cherry tomatoes, cut in half. Line the baking sheet with parchment if you want to spare some mess. Roast about half of the tomatoes with a splash of olive oil and balsamic vinegar (and a sprinkle of salt and pepper) until they burst and soften (about 20 minutes), and save the other half to use raw in the salad. Meanwhile, make the couscous according to directions. While that's going, fry the capers in a 1 tsp of oil (careful – they splatter!), until some of the moisture evaporates and you can see them start to brown (they will smell good, too). Mince or crush/press a clove of garlic into the salad, and top with fresh basil.  Mix everything together! It might seem a bit wet at first, but the couscous absorbs the liquid, and the leftovers are good the next day, too! 

exploring Providence: another morning at the farmer's market (and another slaw recipe)

Today was another gorgeous Saturday morning, so after a short jog I biked up to the market to get some veggies for the week. Our CSA share starts in two weeks, so after that I probably won't go to the market anymore. And the weather probably won't be as nice, so I wanted to appreciate it while I can. I still was surprised the farm stands didn't have more greens (didn't see any fresh herbs, salad greens), but they did have lots of end-of-summer fruit - and one stand even had winter squash already! Below is a nice assortment of what they had. Lots of tomatoes, peaches, plums, pears, some corn, watermelon, green beans, potatoes, onions. Lots of good produce!

I also stopped at this Indian spice store (Not Just Spices) on Hope St on my way up there. That will be a good resource. I will really miss By The Pound, an amazing bulk spice/food store in Ann Arbor. But now I at least know where I can get some cheap spices and dried beans. Maybe it will inspire me to try cooking more Indian food. that's something I've always wanted to learn. I also need to explore that area (Summit?) on Hope Street more. They have lots of shops and restaurants and it's really cute looking.

moroccan-style quinoa with chickpeas and chard

This seemed like a good make-after-breakfast-and-bring-for-lunch salad...however, it's very very hot today. So I will now need to go for a swim before heading to the office for the day. Literally sweating over a hot stove, as the expression goes. I need to get more no-cook recipes to survive the end of August (oops - that's coming up pretty quickly... I mean the end-of-summer heat, which looks like it's extending into September).

ingredients:
oil
1 small onion, chopped fine
1-2 carrots, peeled and cut in small dice
2 garlic cloves, minced
1/4 tsp ground coriander
1/ tsp red pepper flakes
1/2-1 cup quinoa, rinsed (depending if you want this to be slightly larger)
1 1/2 cups broth (or water)*
3/4 cup canned chickpeas, rinsed (or whole can)
2 T golden raisins
salt and pepper
6 ounces kale, stemmed and chopped (or chard)
2 T pine nuts, toasted
1/4 tsp lemon zest plus 1 tsp juice
2 T crumbled feta cheese (which I didn't have...but would be delicious!)
fresh herbs to garnish (mint, cilantro, and/or thyme)

*use slightly less liquid if using chard (releases more water), and err on the conservative side. it's easy to add a bit more water while cooking, but a bit of a mess if you end up with too much water

instructions:
1. Heat oil in a saucepan over med-high, add onion and carrot, cook 5 minutes (until onion softens). Add garlic, coriander, and pepper flakes and cook until fragrant (30 seconds). Add quinoa and cook, stirring, until toasted and aromatic, about 3 minutes.

2. Stir in water/broth, chickpeas, raisins, and 1/8 tsp salt. Place kale on top, and bring to simmer, cover, reduce to low, and simmer until quinoa is cooked (about 15 minutes). Off heat, gently stir in pine nuts, lemon zest, and juice, and sprinkle with feta, salt and pepper. Drizzle with olive oil if desired.  I also garnished with a bit of fresh mint and thyme.

recipe from Cooking for Two, from Cook's Illustrated

barley salad with cherries, pecans, blue cheese and greens

I have been really excited to organize my new pantry, and put everything neatly in jars and start building up my bulk foods pantry. I really like making whole grain salads, and so I like having things like farro, barley, quinoa on hand. I made this for lunch the other day and Michael was raving about it. It's a really good combination of flavors and textures. It also keeps really well. Keep the salad greens separate, and then you can just mix the barley mixture with the fresh greens when you're ready to eat so they don't get soggy.

2 cups cooked pearl barley
1/2 lemon, squeezed
1/4 cup roughly chopped toasted pecans
2 cups salad greens (mixed or arugula)
1/4 cup dried cherries
1/2 cup chopped red onion (or shallot), rinse if you don't want a strong onion taste
2 tablespoons blue cheese crumbles

This recipe is from Whole Foods, Lunch-in-a-Jar

a very green no-cook meal for your first meal in a new apartment

Yesterday we moved into our new apartment in Providence. It was a lot of work, first moving down from a second-story apartment with very narrow, steep stairs, into a third-floor apartment. Every muscle in my body is aching today... People really should just offer to help random strangers move instead of going to the gym. :) Luckily we had the help of a friend, which made things go much faster.

So anyways, we did eventually get hungry, in the middle of our afternoon/evening of unpacking and organizing. One great thing about this apartment is that it's 2-3 blocks from the grocery store, so it's really easy to run out and get something. I was going to make a warm meal, but it turns out that our gas is not turned on yet. I went and knocked on some doors in the building to make sure we were doing it right...and got to meet a super friendly man who lives downstairs. He brought up matches and confirmed what we already thought: no gas flow yet. So... it had to be a cold meal. I ran out and got a good loaf of bread, avocado, and the ingredients for a simple green salad. I threw dinner together while Michael put the table together so we could sit down and eat.

It ended up being a very green meal and was just the thing for a hot summer night. We ate the salad with olive bread from Seven Stars Bakery in Providence, with avocado slices and a sprinkling of Maldon salt. (This is one of my easy favorites.) Oh, and full disclosure: to keep things super classy I got some chicken wings from the hot bar at Whole Foods to have with our healthy dinner. :)

Green Salad with Mango and Mozzarella
salad greens
mango, diced
fresh mozzarella, torn into pieces or cubed
squeeze of lemon
dash of extra virgin olive oil
grind of fresh pepper

fresh summer farro with peaches, cucumber and arugula

I hate to start all these posts with apologies... Summer is just not my time for blogging. Since the chocolate cake only a week has gone by, and I've been up through all of Michigan, via the UP to Duluth for a cousin's wedding and a triathlon, to Minneapolis for a Twin's game and some sister time, and back to Ann Arbor through Madison and Chicago. Whew. All in the company of two good friends. But still - the road tripping gets a bit old. Yesterday we were in the car over 12 hours, and the total over the last five days probably comes closer to 30 hours...so I couldn't wait to be "home" (one of many at the moment...) and cook, even if it's just for a week before the next leg of my crazy summer starts up.

This recipe does just the trick...it felt like a cleanse after some eating on the road and lots of eating out the last week. It's very fresh and summery tasting because of the lemon-ginger-mint dressing, and the water-packed cucumbers and peaches. Yum yum.

ingredients:
1 medium cucumber, diced
1 cup farro (uncooked)
1/3 cup fresh lemon juice
3 T olive oil
1 T grated fresh ginger
3 firm but ripe peaches (or nectarines), diced
1/4 cup sunflower seeds
1/4 cup chopped mint
3 cups arugula, coarsely chopped

1. Toss diced cucumber in a bowl with some salt, let stand at room temp 1 hour. Rinse, then drain in a sieve.
2. Combine 2 cups water with farro, bring to a boil then simmer 15 mins. (Keep an eye on it - all sorts tend to cook at varying rates and you don't want it too mushy). Fluff and spread out on a plate or a baking sheet to let it cool.
3. Whisk lemon juice, oil, ginger, 1/4 tsp salt in a bowl. Add cucumber, farro, peaches, sunflower seeds, mint, mix well. Refrigerate about 30 minutes (up to 1 day) to let flavors develop.
4. Before serving, add arugula and toss.

based on a recipe from eating well magazine (Red Rice Salad with Peaches and Cucumber)

salmon-asparagus quinoa salad with dill

This was part of my post-run high-protein "refuel" on Sunday after my 18-miler. Less than 6 weeks till Grandma's Marathon now! I had some smoked Alaskan salmon in the freezer from my dad (thanks, dad!) that I had taken out to thaw. I also had some cooked quinoa leftover from the salad with black beans, mango and radishes. All I had to do was roast some asparagus in the oven (with a little olive oil, salt and pepper), and add everything together with some chopped dill. Simple, but I loved the flavors together, and it felt very healthy and very satisfying.

quinoa salad with black beans, mango, and more

This is a veggie-packed quinoa salad with lots of flavors. The mango and lime juice really make it fresh and add a nice sweet-sourness.

ingredients: 
2 cups cooked quinoa (1 cup uncooked - mix of red and white)
1 mango, cut into small dice (see how to cut a mango)
1/2 can black beans (rinsed, drained) or a full can if you want more black beans
1/2 bell pepper (red or yellow), small dice
3 chopped scallions
1/2 cup chopped fresh cilantro
diced jicima
5 radishes, thinly sliced

dressing: oil / vinegar (red wine, cider, or rice) / lime juice / bit of sugar / lime zest

Cook the quinoa, 1 cup quinoa to 2 cups water (simmer 15 minutes covered).
Chop all your veggies: bell pepper, scallions, jicima, radish, and mango (see instructions). Rinse beans, zest lime, add everything together in a big bowl. Let the quinoa cool slightly before mixing it with the veggies.

quinoa salad with snap peas and dill

Saturday we got invited over to grill with our friend Zach, who made an amazing chimichurri sauce for steak and chicken, grilled portabellas and asparagus...and a super tasty rice pilaf with cardamon pods. This was the perfect pre-race meal - we ran 16 miles the next day, including a half marathon, in training for Grandma's marathon which is coming up in 6 weeks!

This salad was our contribution to the grill feast. It's a nice, fresh spring salad. I adapted the recipe from Eating Well magazine, which just had an article featuring quinoa. I ended up leaving out the mushrooms, because I don't particularly love raw mushrooms, but there are lots of other things you could add in to this salad. Radishes, feta cheese, some fresh peas... This also keeps a few days and travels well in tupperware...would be great for lunches.

2 cups water
1 cup quinoa

2 cups fresh snap peas
1/3 cup thinly sliced or fine diced red onion
1 T fresh dill
optional: fresh mushrooms, quartered
this would be good with some radishes too

dressing:
1/3 cup white balsamic vinegar or white-wine vinegar
1/4 cup olive oil
1 tsp lemon zest
1 T lemon juice
1 tsp pure maple syrup

1. Add 1 cup of quinoa with 2 cups water in a saucepan. Bring to a boil, then simmer covered 10-15 minutes, until the quinoa opens up. Fluff with a fork and let it cool slightly.

2. wash and trim the snap peas and cut in half or thirds. Thinly slice or fine dice the red onion. Lightly chop the dill.

3. Mix the dressing. When the quinoa has cooled, add everything together.  Makes about 6 one-cup servings.

lentil and roasted parsnip salad with fresh spinach

I threw this salad together while getting ready in the morning, and then had it for lunch - an outdoor lunchtime picnic with Jessica on campus. :) Perfect for the (finally!!) spring-summer weather. It does take maybe 45 minutes because of the parsnip-roasting and the lentils, but it's a lot of hands-off cook time, so you can do other stuff. This might not look like much from the pictures, but it was a really delicious combination. The parsnips get really sweet when you roast them and they pair really well with the other ingredients. The lentils make it more filling, and the fresh greens make you feel like a responsible adult. :)

ingredients:
a bunch of parsnips
125g puy lentils

1 bay leaf
1/2 onion
a large bunch of spinach

honey-mustard dressing:
4 T olive oil
1 T lemon juice (or vinegar)
2 tsp honey
1 tsp dijon
1 garlic clove, crushed
salt and pepper

1. Heat oven to 350. Peel and chop parsnips into rough chunks about the same size. Toss with olive oil, salt and pepper. Roast in 350 oven for about 40 minutes, stirring once.

2. Put lentils in a pot with lots of water. Let come to a rolling boil for 1 minute, then drain water and add just enough water to cover the pot. Add bay leaf and 1/2 onion and let simmer about 20-30 minutes. Don't let the lentils get mushy - you want them to retain some bite. (this is also why you need to use French or puy lentils and not the grayish-green ones). Remove bay leaf and onion when draining lentils.

3. Mix the dressing. Roughly chop the spinach. Mix everything together and serve warm. I packed the lunch by layering lentils (slightly cooled), parsnips, and then salad on top so it didn't get mushy. Then I mixed it together with the dressing when ready to eat.

toasted millet with sugar snap peas, avocado, radish and ginger-honey dressing

This is another recipe inspired by Dennis Cotter (For the Love of Food). This one had a shorter list of ingredients, among some truly complicated recipes in his collection... :) He always has such enticing sounding combinations. I also love how in British English they say "spring onions" instead of "green onions." It's nice. This recipe did feel very spring-like. And it made a great packed lunch. I actually whipped it together in 25 minutes while I was having my morning breakfast and coffee, and then took it with me to the office.

Eating millet makes me feel slightly hippie-ish, bird-like...just because my sisters had parakeets when we were growing up, and they would put sprigs of millet in their cages. And now I am eating bird food. And it is delicious. As Cotter notes, you could easily substitute couscous or bulgur wheat here.

I made half of the below portions, and it made 3 largerish side-salad portions.
300 g millet / couscous / bulgur wheat
4 spring onions, finely chopped
150 grams sugar snap peas, cut in half
2 avocados, cut into slices or dice
4 radishes, sliced thin
optional: sprouted bean, handful of micro salad leaves
salt and pepper
garnish: toasted pumpkin seeds, chopped mint

First toast the millet about 7 minutes with a bit of olive oil in a saucepan. Add water (2:1 ratio, so 600 mL for 300 g millet) and let it cook, covered 15 minutes. Then prep the other ingredients. When the millet is done, mix everything together.

ginger-honey dressing:

juice of 1 lemon
2 T grated fresh ginger
1 T honey (or other sweetener)
125 ml olive oil

Cotter says to grind the pumpkin seeds and then mix them with the dressing. It seemed like an unnecessarily difficult step, to dirty the food processor...so I just tossed the seeds with the salad, and I liked them like that.