Farro Salad

This salad has become a huge favorite in our house and pairs well with any grilled meat. I made it again the other night and used quartered cherry tomatoes instead of buying regular tomatoes and it worked out perfectly. The recipe calls for balsamic vinegar and I usually use that, but this time I used a cranberry pear balsamic from Oleacea, an olive oil and vinegar shop in Sante Fe, NM. This vinegar makes the best vinaigrette, very light and refreshing. The recipe is adapted from Giada DeLaurentiis.

Farro Salad

4 cups water

1 1/2 cups farro

2 tsp. salt, plus more to taste

1 lb. tomatoes, seeded and chopped

1/4 cup sweet onion, chopped

1/2 red, orange or yellow bell pepper, chopped

1/4 cup snipped fresh chives

1/4 cup chopped fresh Italian parsley leaves

1 large garlic clove, minced

2 Tbsp. balsamic vinegar

Freshly ground black pepper

1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil

Combine water and farro in a medium saucepan. Add 2 teaspoons of salt. Bring to a boil over high heat. Reduce to medium-low, cover and simmer for 25 to 30 minutes until farro is tender but not mushy. Drain well; transfer to large bowl to cool.

Add tomatoes, onion, bell pepper, chives and parsley to the farro and toss to combine.

In a medium bowl, whisk together garlic, vinegar, salt, pepper and olive oil. Add to salad and toss to coat.

Serve at room temperature. Can be refrigerated overnight.

Watermelon- Jalapeno Salad

This is a nice salad to serve on warm summer evenings. I saw a recipe in the KC Star that inspired me to make this , but did not have the actual copy so I winged it. They used mint instead of basil, but I don't grow mint because it is so invasive. I have also prepared this using lime juice to replace the lemon juice and 1/4 cup of chopped red onion instead of the jalapeno with equally good results.

Watermelon- Jalapeno Salad


3 Tbs. fresh lemon juice
2 Tbs. olive oil
1/2 tsp. sea salt
3 cups seedless watermelon, cut into bite size cubes
1/4 cup chopped fresh basil
1 jalapeno, finely diced


Whisk together lemon juice, olive oil and salt. Place remaining ingredients into a large bowl add vinaigrette and toss gently to coat. Refrigerate for 2 hours and serve cold. Makes 3-4 servings.

Edamame w/ Mustard Vinaigrette

Sometimes it takes me awhile to get around to trying out a recipe that I have saved. This one comes from the October 2002 Cooking Light, but was worth saving. It's a simple dish that is light, fresh and fast to prepare.

Edamame with Musard Vinaigrette

1 1/2 Tbsp. red wine vinegar

1 Tbsp. Dijon mustard

1/2 tsp. sea salt

1 tsp. extra-virgin olive oil

1 lb. frozen, shelled edamame, thawed

1 cup thinly sliced red onion

1/2 cup finely chopped celery

1 Tbsp. chopped fresh parsley

Combine first 3 ingredients in a large bowl, stirring with a whisk. Add oil, stir with whisk until combined.

Cook edamame in boiling water 4 minutes. Add onion and celery, cook 1 minute. Drain well. Add edamame mixture to vinaigrette; toss well to coat. Stir in parsley. Chill 1 hour.

White Corn Salad

This recipe has been around for awhile. My ex-wife used to bring it to family gatherings and it was always a hit. My mom still requests this one.


White Corn Salad


2 Tbsp. olive oil
2 Tbsp. rice wine vinegar
1 tsp. brown sugar
1/4 tsp. salt
1/8 tsp. black pepper
2 ( 11 oz.) cans white shoepeg corn, drained
1 large tomato, seeded and chopped
4 green onions, chopped
1/2 green bell pepper, chopped


In a large bowl whisk together first 5 ingredients. Add the rest and toss to combine. Serve immediately or cover and refrigerate until serving.

Oil and Vinegar Potato Salad

I came across this recipe in my July 2009 bon appetit and thought it would be the perfect side for my smoked ribs and I was right. I'm usually not a fan of potato salad made with vinegar, but this is a keeper. The recipe called for Yukon gold potatoes, but my store did not have them, so I used red. I also added some stone ground mustard to the olive oil for a little extra flavor. The salad is also good cold, but better served the same day.

Oil and Vinegar Potato Salad

Serves 4 to 6

1 1/2 lbs. red potatoes, unpeeled

1/4 cup red wine vinegar

1/2 tsp. sugar

1/2 small red onion, very thinly sliced

1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil

2 Tbsp. chopped fresh Italian parsley

1 Tbsp. stone ground mustard

Cook potatoes in large pot of boiling salted water until tender, about 30 minutes. Drain. Cool to just warm, 10 to 15 minutes; peel potatoes. Cut each potato in half, then into 1/3-inch slices.

Place warm potatoes in large bowl. Stir vinegar and sugar in small bowl until sugar dissolves, then drizzle over potatoes. Toss to coat. Mix in onion slices. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Cool to room temperature.

Mix oil and mustard. Add with parsley to potatoes. Toss well and let marinate about 20 minutes and up to 2 hours at room temperature.

Tomato & Avocado Salad

This salad was inspired by one I had in Italy once. With all of the wonderful home grown tomatoes you can get right now, this makes the perfect summer salad.

Tomato and Avocado Salad

1 large ripe tomato, cut into wedges

1 medium ripe avocado, sliced

juice of 1/2 of a lime

3 large basil leaves, sliced

fresh marjoram leaves

olive oil

salt and pepper

Arrange the tomato and avocado on a plate. Squeeze lime juice over all, drizzle with olive oil. Sprinkle with fresh herbs and salt and pepper. Serve.

Cherry Tomato and Watermelon Salad

My friend Lisa gave was the inspiration for this salad. She commented on an earlier post about a watermelon salad that she makes and I went with what I had. I have no shortage of cherry tomatoes, they come up every year on their own in one of my flower beds and I just let them grow freely.
I cut cherry tomatoes in half, salted them and added a splash of olive oil and fig flavored balsamic vinegar, chopped fresh basil and one clove of garlic. I then added some chopped watermelon in an equal proportion to the tomatoes and topped it all with freshly grated Piave Vecchio.
This was a great salad to pair with the pasta. I really love using watermelon this way and would never have thought of it before.

Watermelon Salad

When we were in Seattle, we ate at this incredible little pizza place Serious Pie - Seattle, WA where I had this great watermelon salad as a starter. I attempted to recreate it at home using those ingredients available to me. I bought a seedless watermelon that was a little lacking in flavor, but juicier than any I had ever had before. I used a shallot, because I knew I would never find a purplette onion, and it worked well. I was able to get the ricotta salata at Better Cheddar. Instead of using cayenne pepper on the watermelon, I used Penzey's Northwoods Fire Seasoning, a blend of chipotle pepper, Hungarian paprika, garlic, rosemary, thyme, pepper and cayenne. The watermelon needs to be cold for this recipe, so make sure you slice it in 1/2' slices ahead of time. To assemble just put slices on a plate; sprinkle with seasoning and thinly sliced shallots and thinly sliced cheese. It's a nice change from a green salad in the heat of the summer.

Tuscan Potato Salad

This recipe comes from the June/July 2007 issue of Cook's Country magazine. I have been wanting to try it out and did so last night. I have always been a little leery of using vinegar in potato salads because I can't stand German Potato Salad, but this is a great recipe. I halved it since I am cooking for 2. The changes I made to the recipe are; used baby gold potatoes, used a 2 oz. jar of sliced pimentos. I will post the recipe as written in the magazine.

Tuscan Potato Salad

2 lbs. small red potatoes, scrubbed & sliced 1/4" thick
salt and pepper
3 Tbsp. red wine vinegar
2 Tbsp. water
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 tsp. fresh rosemary, minced
2 tsp. Dijon mustard
1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
2 Tbsp. finely chopped fresh parsley
2 large jarred roasted red peppers, drained and sliced thin
1/2 cup shredded Parmesan cheese

Bring potatoes, 2 Tbsp. salt and enough water to cover potatoes by 1 inch to boil in a large saucepan over high heat. Reduce heat to medium and simmer until potatoes are just tender, about 5 minutes. While potatoes simmer, whisk vinegar, water, garlic, rosemary, 1/2 tsp. salt and 1/4 tsp pepper in a large bowl.
Drain potatoes thoroughly in colander and spread in even layer on rimmed baking sheet. Drizzle half of vinegar mixture over hot potatoes and let stand until cool, about 20 minutes. Stir mustard into remaining vinegar mixture, then slowly whisk in oil. Scatter parsley, peppers and Parmesan evenly over potatoes. Transfer potato mixture to bowl with vinaigrette and toss gently until combined. Serve. This salad can be refrigerated for up to two days.

Curry Chicken Salad

Last night I was looking for something light and easy to prepare for dinner and this is what I came up with. I had some frozen chicken that was leftover from a rotisserie chicken and thought chicken salad sounded good. I used white grapes in this recipe because that is what I had, red work well too and add some color to an otherwise plain dish. I served it on top of spelt tortillas with lettuce and topped it with fresh chopped tomatoes.

Curry Chicken Salad

2 cups cooked chicken, shredded

1/2 cup light Miracle Whip

1 Tbsp. fresh lemon juice

1/2 cup seedless grapes, sliced

2 oz. lightly toasted slivered almonds

1 tsp. mild curry powder

salt and pepper

Place first 6 ingredients in a bowl and mix well. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

Caprese

Ahh, summer is upon us and one of my favorite things to serve is a nice caprese salad. Even those these tomatoes were not home grown, they still tasted great. The first time I had a caprese salad was in Italy and it always takes me back when I serve it at dinner. While our tomatoes pale in comparison to what you eat over there, the addition of the oil and balsamic vinegar help with the flavor. I added a handful of mixed cherry tomatoes to the center of the plate, because I had them on hand and it made for a nice presentation.

Caprese

1 lb. tomatoes, sliced thin
8 oz fresh mozzarella sliced
2 Tbsp. olive oil
2 Tbsp. balsamic vinegar
2 Tbsp. fresh basil, sliced
salt and pepper to taste

Arrange tomatoes and cheese on plate, overlapping every other one. Sprinkle with salt, pepper and basil. Drizzle with oil and vinegar.

Peanut Chicken Soba Salad

This is a quick and easy dish I got out of Cooking Light some time ago. I changed the recipe somewhat, I felt that it was not seasoned enough. I doubled the amount of rice vinegar, soy sauce, honey and chili garlic sauce. I also used cilantro where their recipe called for basil because that is what I had. You can cut your cooking time down by using leftover grilled chicken or rotisserie chicken. The recipe below is the one I use, not the one they printed.

Peanut Chicken Soba Salad

2 cups water
2 (6-oz) skinless, boneless chicken breasts
4 black peppercorns
1 bay leaf
2 Tbsp. rice vinegar
4 Tbsp. roasted peanut oil
1 Tbsp. low-sodium soy sauce
2 tsp. honey
2 tsp. chili garlic sauce
1/2 tsp. salt
2 cups cooked soba noodles (about 4 ounces uncooked)
1 large carrot, grated
3 thinly sliced green onions
1/4 cup red onion, minced
1/4 cup fresh cilantro, chopped
4 tsp. unsalted dry-roasted peanuts, chopped
lime wedges (optional)

Combine first 4 ingredients in a medium saucepan; bring to a boil. Cover, remove from heat and let stand 15 minutes or until chicken is done. Remove chicken from pan and discard peppercorns, bay leaf and liquid. Shred chicken, place in large bowl.
Combine vinegar and next 5 ingredients (vinegar thru salt), stirring with a whisk. Pour over chicken; let stand 5 minutes. Add noodles, carrot, green onion, red onion and cilantro to chicken mixture: toss well. Sprinkle with peanuts and garnish with lime wedges.

My Favorite Cole Slaw

I love cole slaw, especially the vinegary type. When I was young, this was the type my Granny made and I always referred to it as the wet slaw. I typically chop the cabbage by hand, but decided to try the 1 pound pre-cut bag out to save time. It actually worked out well.

Cole Slaw

1 (1 lb.) medium head cabbage, shredded
1 cup white onion, chopped
1 green pepper, finely chopped
1 tablespoon salt
2 cups boiling water
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup white vinegar
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1 tsp. celery seed
1/2 tsp. mustard seed
1 (2 oz) jar chopped pimientos
1/4 tsp. crushed red pepper

Combine cabbage, onion and green pepper in a large bowl. Sprinkle with salt and pour boiling water over all. Cover and let stand for 1 hour. Drain into a colander.
Combine sugar, vinegar, oil, celery and mustard seed and whisk. Add to cabbage mixture. Stir in pimientos, cover and refrigerate at least 2 hours.

Pea Salad

When I was younger and married, my ex-wife would make things for family gatherings like all good young wives. My family, being my family, pretty much hated anything she made. She wasn't that great of a cook, but other than the carrot souffle she brought once, I thought she did just fine. One thing she made that was a huge hit, was this recipe for pea salad. I did not even remember the recipe when my mom asked for a copy recently. I called Judy and got the recipe from her and here it is.

Pea Salad

1 can french cut green beans, drained
1 can Lucerne peas, drained
1 can shoe peg corn, drained
1 cup celery, chopped
1 bunch green onions, chopped
1 bell pepper, chopped
1 small jar pimentos, drained
3/4 cup sugar
1 tsp. salt
1/2 cup red wine vinegar
1/2 cup vegetable oil

Combine the vegetables in a bowl. In a medium saucepan, add sugar, vinegar and salt, bring to a boil. Remove from heat and let it cool. Add the oil. Pour over the vegetables. Let stand in the refrigerator for 12 hours before serving.