Salad Days
Yes, it has cooled down in PA but last week when we visited the local Farmer's Market we picked up a bunch of veggies and it was Salad Week, OK , Salad Two Days. The Boys were out on Friday so The Husband and I had Salade Nicoise. It was really pretty, but you will have to take my word for it as the camera was in the sewing room and we were hungry. Suprisingly, for a salad, I really had to heat up the kitchen. How, you ask? Like this:
Salade Nicoise
Salad greens
Hard cooked eggs
Tomatoes (cut in pretty sixths)
Black olives (The Husband likes oil-cured)
Roasted Red Peppers cut into strips
Here's the part that heats up the kitchen
Steamed green beans
Boiled new potatoes (cut into quarters if large)
Tuna canned in olive oil (drained)
Pile the above in pretty much the order given, just make it pretty. Now make the dressing:
1/2 cup fresh basil
1/3 cup olive oil
1/2 grated parmesan cheese
1 Tablespoon Dijon Mustard (say it with a French Accent)
1 Tablespoon red wine vinegar
Mix all of this in the food processor until it looks like salad dressing. Pour over the first stuff and serve with a nice crusty bread.
Speaking of crusty bread, on Sunday I made Panzella for me! It is one of my favorite salads, how can you go wrong with something based on bread?
Panzella
Dressing (make this first and let it cool)
1/2 cup Olive Oil
3-4 cloves of garlic, thinly sliced
1/4 teaspoon hot red pepper flakes
2 Tablespoon lemon juice
1 Tablespoon balsamic vinegar
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
Heat the oil, garlic and pepper flakes just until the garlic starts to turn golden. Remove from heat and stir in the rest of the ingredients. Set aside while you prepare the rest.
4 cups of sourdough bread cut in smallish cubes
5-6 tomatoes (use a variety: red, yellow, plum, heirloom, etc) cut into cubes the same size as the bread
1 shallot, thinly sliced
Small can of sliced black olives
Fresh basil and whatever other herbs you have in the garden (some oregano, parsley, chives maybe?) chopped or you could make a chiffonade. OOhh!
Toast the bread cubes at 400 degrees for about 10 minutes (I did mine the night before so I wouldn't heat up the kitchen this time). Once the bread cools mix it with the tomatoes, shallot, olives and herbs. Pour the cooled dressing over the rest, toss, and, here's the hard part, let it sit for an hour to mix the flavors. Yummmmm!
The Baby's quilt is at a momentary stand-still until the weather and my schedule allow for 2-4 hours outside. My quilting frame is ten feet by eight feet and you know there are too many books in the house for that amount of room to be available inside. I will post pictures of the basting in progress ASAP.
Salade Nicoise
Salad greens
Hard cooked eggs
Tomatoes (cut in pretty sixths)
Black olives (The Husband likes oil-cured)
Roasted Red Peppers cut into strips
Here's the part that heats up the kitchen
Steamed green beans
Boiled new potatoes (cut into quarters if large)
Tuna canned in olive oil (drained)
Pile the above in pretty much the order given, just make it pretty. Now make the dressing:
1/2 cup fresh basil
1/3 cup olive oil
1/2 grated parmesan cheese
1 Tablespoon Dijon Mustard (say it with a French Accent)
1 Tablespoon red wine vinegar
Mix all of this in the food processor until it looks like salad dressing. Pour over the first stuff and serve with a nice crusty bread.
Speaking of crusty bread, on Sunday I made Panzella for me! It is one of my favorite salads, how can you go wrong with something based on bread?
Panzella
Dressing (make this first and let it cool)
1/2 cup Olive Oil
3-4 cloves of garlic, thinly sliced
1/4 teaspoon hot red pepper flakes
2 Tablespoon lemon juice
1 Tablespoon balsamic vinegar
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
Heat the oil, garlic and pepper flakes just until the garlic starts to turn golden. Remove from heat and stir in the rest of the ingredients. Set aside while you prepare the rest.
4 cups of sourdough bread cut in smallish cubes
5-6 tomatoes (use a variety: red, yellow, plum, heirloom, etc) cut into cubes the same size as the bread
1 shallot, thinly sliced
Small can of sliced black olives
Fresh basil and whatever other herbs you have in the garden (some oregano, parsley, chives maybe?) chopped or you could make a chiffonade. OOhh!
Toast the bread cubes at 400 degrees for about 10 minutes (I did mine the night before so I wouldn't heat up the kitchen this time). Once the bread cools mix it with the tomatoes, shallot, olives and herbs. Pour the cooled dressing over the rest, toss, and, here's the hard part, let it sit for an hour to mix the flavors. Yummmmm!
The Baby's quilt is at a momentary stand-still until the weather and my schedule allow for 2-4 hours outside. My quilting frame is ten feet by eight feet and you know there are too many books in the house for that amount of room to be available inside. I will post pictures of the basting in progress ASAP.
posted by NeedleTart | 8:34 PM
2 Comments:
I *love* your recipes.
I thought of you the other day. I was in a used book theme park (something like 9 buildings of used books, plus goats & an uncountable quantity of cats) and found a whole world of cookbooks. I wanted to pick something out for you, then remembered--you probably had all of 'em :)
The recpies sound very good. I am not sure what a shallot is though.
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