Back from vakay with a longggg to do list. What the heck! Let me get you this yummy salad how-to – still good for those end of summer picnics & BBQ’s. I’m making it tomorrow for the last “Jazz on the Lawn” concert.
I ate something like this in July when I was up at Three Rivers swooning over the hard won success of my dear friend Chris Lynch & her writing partner Meg Howrey. You see, they not only sold their international thriller City of Dark Magic to Penguin Publishing, but they also got the thumbs up for the sequel! Go Lynchie & Meg!!! Two smart broads!
We ate this at a dinner party up there. I couldn’t get enough of this. Neen and I had been wandering aimlessly around Sequoia National Park all day and arrived late & ravenous. How polite of us. With Nina’s help, I tried to replicate it when I got home and I’m please with the result! This salad is so satisfying, tasty & hearty. It’s REALLY easy to make. The most time-consuming part is boiling the grain which takes about 45 mins.
Here’s all you need:
Salad:
1 1/2 c uncooked wheat berries or barley (barley is cheaper & easier to find but I was out)
8 oz feta (depending how much you like)
1/3 c sliced sun-dried tomatoes
1/4 c sliced kalamata olives
parsley to taste
1 avocado
Dressing:
1/4 c olive oil
2-3 TBSP balsamic vinegar
salt
pepper
1/4 c fresh squeezed orange juice (about half an orange)
First, cook your grain according to package directions. You can do this a day ahead and chill in the fridge. Just be sure to drain thoroughly first.
Now drain & chill the barley. You don’t want it hot when you combine your ingredients.
NOTE: I didn’t really measure anything. I just added ingredients and tasted. That’s partly why this is such a simple salad – you can add more of things you like or have.
Combine ingredients in a large bowl.
Stir to combine and add dressing ingredients.
Here’s a rough approximation of the dressing amounts:
1/4 c olive oil
juice of half an orange
2-3 TBSP balsamic vinegar
salt & pepper to taste
Whisk together dressing ingredients. Drizzle about half that on salad & stir to coat thoroughly. Taste & adjust, adding more dressing if needed. I don’t like a puddle of dressing at the bottom of my salad so I start light & add more. The barley will absorb the dressing but I liked this as leftovers for up to 3 days.
Don’t let Maddie’s excitement fool you. She didn’t dig this.
Jazz on the Lawn
Rogelio Mitchell & Friends
Sunday, August 26
5-7PM
Bring a picnic/blanket and/or low chairs!
Let me start this post by saying I made G a double layer ice cream cake for his bday last weekend. Eating that cake was the second most excited I saw him in the last 2 days. The MOST excited was when the Kentucky Wildcats won the NCAA championship last night. GO CATS!!!!
Last night I was heading to Hooters (where I, incidentally, ate some fried pickles) to watch the game with him so I had to throw together a quick dinner for the girls. This is the fastest pasta dish in the world.
SO easy. Everything is available at Trader Joe’s. In fact, I got this idea from Trader Joe’s as they used to have a pasta in a box with these ingredients except you had to add a whole s-ton of olive oil & water to the dehydrated stuff for the dressing. M used to love it but all good things came to an end as they do at TJ’s and they no longer sell it.
1. Chop pitted olives as small as you like them. Same with the tomatoes. Mine came julienned so I just left them alone!
2. Cook your pasta of choice according to package directions.
3. Drain pasta & then return to pot. Add the olives, tomatoes & a handful of crumbled feta.
Toss & salt to taste. I added a couple of tablespoons of olive oil too!
Normally, February is the darkest, most dread-filled, dreadful, month of the year for me. It comes after the holiday re-coup month (January) and it can feel like there’s nothing to look forward to. What am I rambling about? I’ve always despised holidays. And I absolutely HATE seeing all the Halloween merchandise at Ralph’s starting in August (that we all know was lovingly made in China and is heading straight for our landfills). But I digress, anyway, despite Bah Humbugging from October through January, I still got the post holiday blues every year. Things were different this year. January & February flew by this year. No dark depression. No sense of isolation, due to conversing mainly with very small people who sometimes remind me of a lunatic and a drunk. (No offense any lunatics or drunks reading this.) In fact, this year, we attended an impressive number of aptly named Happy Hours.
Cheers, Nana!
Besides the Happy Hours, what was the difference this year? This year G’s parents stayed on after Christmas in a cozy little apartment just off of Main Street. We were able to zip back and forth between our place and theirs and did, often. Maddie had a few sleepovers there, she had Fridays alone with Nana & Papa (which meant I had Fridays alone with mySELF!!) and we attended every Happy Hour we could find! Our favorite “kid friendly” ones were at M Street Kitchen and The Victorian. G and I got a few mountain bike rides in and even got away for one night while Jack & Patsy babysat. Amazing!
Basking in the sun outside Anthropologie. Nice!
Having family nearby for two solid months was so special in so many ways. Not only did we get a bit of time away from the kids, but the girls got special time WITH their grandparents. They got to hear “Yes” instead of “No.” and “NO. Wait, what did you ask me? Oh, NO.” And we also got to spend time with G’s parents. His sister and her new husband, Chris came out in January for a few days adding even more reason to be merry.
Sadly, February has finally come to an end despite Leap Year’s helping hand and G’s parents have returned to their home. There was a sense of emptiness coming home from LAX after we dropped them off. Still, the bad month has passed, holding the February dreads at bay for another year.
After Jack & Patsy left, I thought I ought to have a healthy goal for this month. Something to keep me occupied. Since I knew it wouldn’t involve exercise, I decided to do a salad a day for the month of March (and hopefully share the noteworthy ones on the blog.) One of my favorite Christmas gifts from my in-laws was “Plenty” by Yotam Ottolenghi.
The gorgeous pictures and mouthwatering recipes are truly enrapturing until it comes down to trying to actually gather some of the rather exotic ingredients. Fortunately one of the simplest recipes is for “Lettuce Salad.”
You all, I know I tend to describe my recipes as “yummy” and “tasty.” But all those yummy & tasty recipes make me sick now that I’ve tasted this salad. I am NOT kidding (except about the recipes making me sick)! This salad is unlike any salad I’ve had!!
I LOVE THIS SALAD.
It’s easy to make, (especially when you fudge some of the ingredients – dear Yotam, with all due respect, I was in the Ralph’s on Lincoln in Venice this AM. It’s not the nicest Ralph’s and they did not carry sun dried tomatoes, never mind sun KISSED. So I had to use the sun dried ones I had from Trader Joe’s. I know you, dear Yotam, do not like the “harsh flavor & texture” of sun dried tomatoes but I LOVED them in this salad! My palate is obviously not refined enough to know the difference. And that’s why I shopped at Ralph’s on Lincoln. Also, because I happened to be at the hardware store across the street beforehand.
Ralph’s on Lincoln: the proletariat market!!!
Anyway, of course this salad would be best with veg from the Farmer’s Market but since I was unable to get myself there this week, I had to make do. I’m happy to report, the results were amazing.
Use this recipe when you have guests over and are serving something rich. The beauty, brightness and complex flavors are sure to impress…
Here’s what you’ll need:
INGREDIENTS:
(all lettuces need to be rinsed & dried – dried being very important so the dressing can cling)
1 head of butter lettuce, leaves separated
1 head of radicchio, leaves separated & torn
1/2 head of curly lettuce (I used green lettuce), leaves separated
3 green onions, sliced thinly on a sharp angle
20 radishes, trimmed and thinly sliced
2 c sun dried tomatoes (or slow-roasted if you can find/make them)
2 TBSP capers, whole if small or very roughly chopped
Toss all that into a large salad or mixing bowl. Now make the dressing.
DRESSING INGREDIENTS
1 garlic clove, crushed
1-1/2 TBSP lemon juice
1-1/2 TBSP olive oil
1 TBSP grape seed oil (I didn’t have any so used more olive oil)
salt & black pepper
Whisk those ingredients together & add salt & pepper to taste. Pour salad dressing over the salad and toss gently. Transfter to a large mixing bowl and sprinkle capers over the top. AMAZING!!!!
After pronouncing it “DELICIOUS!” and eating 3 bites, she left it unattended. Three year olds!
Garsh! I’m going crazy with the summer recipes but that’s because I wasn’t eating the healthiest last week.
I call this dish “One-armed” because I had use of only one arm whilst making most of this, what seemed a simple dish. What was my other arm doing, you ask? My other arm was both holding and struggling with/battling, and trying to keep safe a very cranky 10 month old with 4 teeth coming in all on the same day.
Hey, wouldn’t that be a fun “Top Chef” challenge?
“You have 30 minutes to make a pasta dish involving chopped vegetables with a squirming 22 lb baby in one arm. You lose if the baby burns or cuts herself!”
I think I’ll suggest it to the folks at Bravo.
Shall we get down to it? I found this recipe on Vegan Yum Yum. Don’t worry if you’re biased against vegan food – this is so yummy (or should I say Yum Yum Yummy?) and simple that everyone will like it.
First, you need these things:
This recipe makes enough for 4 people. The original recipe was for 1 serving so I adjusted the amounts.
INGREDIENTS:
- dry fettucini noodles (1 box)
- 1 head broccoli OR a 12 oz bag florets
- 1 c sun dried tomatoes in oil
- crushed red pepper flakes
- salt to taste
- 1/2 of a lemon
- olive oil
Get your water boiling in a pot for the pasta.
Chop your broccoli florets pretty small. The original recipe says to chop them the size of a quarter but since they aren’t in the shape of a quarter and I am spatially challenged I just cut them “SMALL.”
Slice tomatoes unless yours are already sliced as mine were. (Thanks, Trader Joe’s!) These are oily buggers so I’m glad I didn’t have to mess with them.
Oh, by the way, I barely took any pictures b/c of the one arm thing. That and my battery keeps falling out of the camera.
Throw pasta into boiling water. Should take about 10-12 minutes. Salt the water to your liking.
When pasta has about 6 minutes remaining, heat wok or skillet to medium high heat. Pour in 2 tablespoons olive oil. When oil is heated, add broccoli florets. Stir constantly to coat florets with oil. Add oil if necessary. After about 2 minutes, add tomatoes and crushed red pepper to your liking. Cook another 2 minutes, stirring.
Drain pasta & add pasta to skillet/wok. Sprinkle juice from half a lemon and combine. Taste and add more crushed pepper, fresh ground black pepper or lemon juice as desired!
