Balsamic Vinaigrette in a JAR!

I don't know why I never thought of this before. So much easier than making salad dressing fresh each time, and so much more yummy than store-bought! Also, is there anything mason jars can't do? I think not.

Miso and citrus dressing

Something to do to use that miso that's sitting in my fridge.

Update: I think this has potential. The proportions need to be tweaked to get them right. The one I made was way heavy on the lemon juice. I think it could have also benefited from some secondary flavors. Soy sauce? Sesame oil? Hmmmm....

Spicy Squash Salad with lentils and goat cheese

Recipe, intro, and footnote from Smitten Kitchen:

If you’d like to toast the seeds, simply clean them off, rinse and pat them dry and toast them in the oven on an oiled baking sheet, sprinkled with salt. But this comes with a warning: they like to pop, seemingly more than regular pumpkin seeds do, or maybe it’s just my bad luck. I suspect if you let them dry out for a day first, they wouldn’t, but who has that kind of patience?

Serves 6 as an appetizer, 3 as a main

• 3/4 cup black or green lentils
• 6 cups peeled, seeded and cubed butternut squash or sugar pumpkin (1-inch cubes) (from about a 2-poudn squash)
• 3 tablespoons olive oil, divided
• 1 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1 teaspoon hot smoked Spanish paprika*
• 1/2 teaspoon coarse salt
• 4 cups baby arugula (I skipped this)
• 1 cup soft crumbled goat cheese
• 1/4 cup thinly sliced mint leaves (optional; I used this, but added it after I took a photo)
• 1 tablespoon red wine vinegar, plus additional to taste
• Roasted seeds (about 1/2 cup) from your butternut squash (optional; see note above)

1. Preheat oven to 400°F. Toss squash or pumpkin cubes with 2 tablespoons oil, cumin, paprika and salt. Arrange in a single layer on baking sheet and roast 20 minutes. Flip pieces and roast for an additional 10 to 15 minutes, until tender. Cool.
2. Meanwhile, soak lentils for 10 minutes in a small bowl, then drain. Cook lentils in boiling salted water until tender but firm, about 30 minutes. Rinse with cold water, then drain and cool.
3. Combine lentils, pumpkin, any oil you can scrape from the baking sheet (I didn’t get enough for this to be worth it) with arugula, if using, half of goat cheese, mint, vinegar, and 1 tablespoon oil. Season with salt and pepper and extra vinegar, if desired (we felt it needed it). Divide among plates and pass with remaining goat cheese to sprinkle.

* I swapped half with sweet (not hot) smoked paprika. If you don’t have either on hand, there are ways to approximate this smoky/spiciness with what you have in your pantry, such as mixing some regular paprika with a ground chipotle powder or another smoky spice, and then a pinch of cayenne for extra heat.

RESULTS: Needs bacon. Otherwise great.

Crushed Peas with Smoky Sesame Dressing

From Smitten Kitchen


1 1/2 pounds fresh peas in pods or about 1 1/2 cups already shelled or frozen and defrosted
1/4 cup plain yogurt
2 tablespoons tahini (sesame seed paste)
1 tablespoon lemon juice
2 tablespoons water
1/4 teaspoon ground cumin
1/4 teaspoon paprika, smoked if you have it
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 scallions, thinly sliced
Toasted pitas, cut into wedges, for serving

Cook peas: Have ready a colander and an ice bath, and bring a medium pot of lightly salted water to a boil. Blanche peas for 30 seconds (if you like them with a real residual snap) to 1 minute (for a slightly more yielding pea) and drain them, then immediately shocking them in the ice water. Drain the peas again and pat them dry on a large towel.

Crush peas: Using a potato or egg-masher, muddler or meat pounder (be gentle!), lightly crush the peas. Aim for mixed textures, some left whole, most in halves and a few a little more broken up. Put them in a large bowl.

Make dressing: Whisk together tahini, yogurt, lemon juice, water, cumin, paprika and salt. You might be tempted to swap the water with olive oil but don’t do it — it makes a horrible curdled mess you will be sad to have to toss.

Assemble: Mix peas with about 3 tablespoons of the dressing, to start, then add more to taste. Sprinkle with scallions. Heap pea mixture on toasted pita wedges.

RESULTS:
You know, I didn't bother with the pita wedges, I just ate the peas. Possibly due to this, I ended up with about three times the dressing that I needed, which is ok because it turns out it makes a great salad dressing, especially as I've been in the mood for something creamy but didn't want to ruin a healthy salad by putting ranch on it.

Panzanella of Bell Peppers

Another one from Chef Matt:


This salad is one that often has tomatoes, but the real “heart” of this salad is the bread. (Hence the use of “pane,” meaning “bread” in the name.) The best choice for the bread is to use leftover stale bread, since this will really soak up the flavors of the oil, vinegar and fresh herbs.  Tuscan bread is typically made without salt, and while it is traditional, it’s not my favorite choice. Use leftover focaccia (page XX) to really bring this salad to life.

Yield: Serves 4-6

Ingredients:

• 3 Tbsp        red wine vinegar
• 1 clove     garlic – minced
• 1 tsp        fresh thyme – minced
• 1 tsp        fresh oregano – minced
• ¼ tsp        crushed red pepper
• ½ tsp        salt
• ¼ tsp        freshly ground black pepper
• ½ cup        extra virgin olive oil
• 3 cups        stale bread cubes – or fresh bread cubes lightly toasted
• 2 ea        red bell peppers
• 1 ea        yellow (or orange) bell pepper
• 1 ea        green bell pepper
• ½ ea        red onion
• 1 ea        cucumber – large
• ½ lb        fresh mozzarella
• 20 ea        fresh basil leaves – large,  roughly torn by hand

Method:

1. In a medium sized bowl, whisk together the vinegar, garlic, thyme, oregano, crushed red pepper, salt and black pepper. While continuing to whisk, slowly add the olive oil to the bowl, and whisk to fully emulsify.
2. Pour half of the vinaigrette into a large serving bowl.  In the medium bowl where you mixed the vinaigrette, add the bread cubes and toss to coat. Set aside and allow to soak while you make the rest of the salad.
3. Slice the sides off all of the bell peppers (of all colors) and remove any seeds and white ribs on them. Cut peppers into 1” squares, and toss with the vinaigrette in the large serving bowl.
4. Cut the red onion into thin slices, and toss with the peppers.
5. Peel the cucumber and slice in half lengthwise. Remove the seeds with a spoon, and then slice crosswise into semicircles. Toss in with the peppers and onions.
6. Cut the fresh mozzarella into ½” cubes and toss with the peppers.
7. Add the bread and vinaigrette mixture to the salad, and toss everything together to combine.  Taste and correct for salt and pepper.
8. Top the salad with the torn basil leaves and toss in lightly. Serve immediately.

RESULTS:
This one has real wow factor. I made it for a lunch with Chris, Tiffany and Tom, and it was really pretty. Really pretty. And it went over pretty well. The one thing we all agreed on was that maybe there was too much onion. Like, if you really really love red onions, it would be a good amount. But if it's just sort of OK to you, you might want to cut back. Also, personally, I like my vinaigrette more on the vinegar side, but I think that's the beauty of this recipe, it's so changeable. This would be a great one to make, especially in the late summer when we've got all these peppers and no one really knows what to do with them.

Oh, and, there weren't any leftovers. Well, there were, but they didn't survive the night...If you know what I mean...Because I ate them.

Simple Miso Dipping Sauce

From How to Cook Everything:

INGREDIENTS:

• 6 tablespoons miso paste
• 3/4 cup warm water or sake or a mixture
• 1 teaspoon sugar
• 1 tablespoon mirin or white wine
• 1 tablespoon rice vinegar, or more to taste
• Salt

PROCEDURES:

1. Put everything except the salt in a small bowl and whisk together. Taste and add more vinegar and salt if needed.
2. Serve immediately. To use warm, heat gently but do not boil. Or refrigerate for up to a week (and serve warm or cold.)

RESULTS:
I had the ladies over for a sushi night on Tuesday. A wonderful time was had by all, I think we all ate our weight in california rolls. I had thought that it might be good to have something already made to tide us over while we made the sushi, since it does take a while, so I threw together this dip along with some carrots that Tiffany expertly chopped. As a dip it was so-so. The flavor was really nice and simple, but it was just too too runny for a veggie dip. Bittman recommends putting it over food, like as a drizzle over potatoes or meat, but then he shouldn't call it a dip, should he?

Anyway, as dip is was fairly unsuccessful. However, as a salad dressing, mixed with a bit of the tahini I have left in my fridge from a hummus-frenzy this summer, it is fantastic. The earthiness of the tahini really cuts the salt of the miso, and it thickens it up a lot. I had it with a spinach and orange salad with some of the cucumbers and krab leftover from last night.

warm spinach salad

Lately I've been really into making a warm spinach salad based on the recipe for Warm Spicy Greens with Bacon and Eggs in Mark Bittman's How to Cook Everything, which is a great cookbook, by the way. But I think you could basically make it anyway you want, so I'm not going to type up the recipe, I'll just give you the basics.

Warm some olive oil in a skillet and saute, brown, toast or otherwise cook whatever in the salad (other than the egg) that needs to be cooked. I've been doing some onions and chopped almonds. Bittman does bacon and shallots. I've also thrown some dried fruit in the skillet in the end to warm them up, and I tried a segmented orange at the VERY end. I think the important thing is to remember cooking times. Onion takes longer to cook and is less likely to suddenly burn on you than almonds, so put the onions in first and get those almost done, then throw in the almonds. You're on your own with the bacon, I've never been good at that.

Make the dressing by putting in the skillet whatever you want, in addition to the olive oil. I've been using dijon mustard and red wine vinegar (and salt and pepper). Be careful not to have the skillet too hot, or the mustard will do weird stuff. Low to medium-low is good.

Mix in the greens, either by throwing them in the skillet and tossing it there or by pouring the dressing over the greens in the bowl. I like spinach slightly wilted much better than raw, so I've been mixing it in the skillet and letting it sit for a little bit.

Top with a poached egg or a medium-boiled egg.

This really hits the spot when I get home from swimming laps at the gym.

Roasted Beet Salad

So, I have to preface this by saying that I love beets. After living in Ukraine for 2 years, I decided they are an underappreciated vegetable here. I think that's changing, because I've seen more and more recipes with them over the last couple of years. Anyway, the other day a friend of mine brought a salad to class with walnuts and apples and feta cheese on it, and it made me think I wanted something similar for dinner, so I made up this salad. And it was fab. I made a big one as a dinner main dish, but you could use the same amount of ingredients for 2 or 3 smaller salads.

Baby spinach
2-3 roasted beets (recipe below), sliced
1/2 apple, sliced
Walnuts
Feta cheese
Dried cranberries
Olive oil & balsamic vinegar, salt & pepper to taste for dressing

It's a salad, so, you know, toss everything together, add some salt and pepper to taste, and there you go. It was really good when the beets were still warm and made the cheese a bit melty. I think it'd be nice with some red onion, too.

Here's how to roast beets (it's a great all-purpose recipe; I often do this and just eat them as a side dish, or you can add them to other things, like risotto, etc.):

Beets (as many as you want - I usually do 4 or so)
Olive oil
Balsamic vinegar
Sea salt

Cut off the tops and root ends of the beets. If they came with the greens still attached, save those and cook them separately. (They're great sauteed with some olive oil, balsamic vinegar and garlic.) You can either peel the beets now, or wait until after they're roasted and cooled a little, at which point the skins will slip off. It just depends on how much you want them to retain the flavor of the oil, vinegar and salt. Place the beets on some foil on a baking sheet, sprinkle some olive oil, balsamic and sea salt on them, and then close the foil around them to form a little packet. Roast at 350-400 degrees for about an hour, until a fork can easily pierce the beets. If you have baby beets, or have cut them into smaller pieces, it'll take less time.

Watermelon Salad

Work continues to be busy, so luckily this one was pretty easy.

1/2 c chopped red onion
3 Tbls fresh lime juice (anout 2 limes)
4 cups cubed seeded watermelon (about half a smallish watermelon)
1/4 cup pitted kalamata olives
1/4 cup finely chopped fresh parsley
1/4 cup finely chopped fresh mint
1/2 cup (2 ounces) feta cheese, crumbled

Combine onion and juice in a bowl and let stand for 10 minutes. Add remained ingredients, except for cheese. Cover and chill 1 hour, and sprinkle with cheese just before serving.

RESUTLS: now, I know it sounds weird, but it was really really good. I thought 1/2 cups of onions was a little too much, but I'm not really a fan of raw onions to begin with. It was sweet and savory and a little salty and really refreshing on a hot day.

By the way, I made the salad on Saturday, but this posting was stragetically delayed until Chris went away for the weekend. He HATED it, and asked if it would be ok to trash this recipe on the blog. I said ok...but I thought you all might like to bask in optimism for a few days before he had a chance to chime in. I think he didn't like the onions, either, but had a much more extreme reaction than I did.

miso dressing part 2

So, I tried the vinegar with the miso dressing (see here and here). I thought I'd replace one teaspoon of the soy sauce with one teaspoon of white vinegar. What I actually did was put in one TABLESPOON each of soy sauce and vinegar. So, I can't taste the vinegar, but it's still salty because I put in, oh, a thousand times too much soy sauce. I believe that my insides are actually pickling. It's not too sweet this time, though, I reduced the sugar by a third. I would say, this is the perfect sweetness.

Snowy day here in Bloomington for the (students') first day of spring break. I have to work next week, but that doesn't stop fellow full time staff from wishing me a happy spring break. It's nice to not have students around.

I'm trying to grow parsley and basil from seeds. We'll see how it goes. Each seed packet was only $1.07, so, what the hey?

miso alterations

I've been thinking around this miso salad dressing thing. the recipe calls for 3 Tbs of sugar, which is, I think, a hugely huge amount. I suggested reducing that to 2 Tbs. Part of the reason I said this was because it was so gritty with the sugar at first, but all that sugar did end up dissolving overnight. Regardless, that's still a lot of refined sugar for what is generally considered a healthy meal: salad.

I was reading this month's cooking light magazine and it was talking about balancing flavors, the four (now five) tastes on your tongue, which got me thinking, maybe the dressing has all that sugar to try to balance out the Salt of the miso and the soy sauce? The recipe calls for sugar, so that's Sweet. Miso and soy sauce aren't just Salty, they're also something new called Umami. I don't really understand Umami, but it's found in things like tomatoes, hard cheeses, mushrooms.... read the article if interested. Anyway, those are the three main flavors going on. I guess if you eat it with a lettuce like radicchio or endive or cabbage, that would give you Bitter (although it's unlikely I personally would ever eat those in a salad). And you do add vinegar to the dressing, but mirin is really more sweet than anything else; it's not your classic Sour.

So that got me thinking, the main problem here is the salad dressing is way Salty. What if we reduce the amount of the soy sauce, and add some "real" vinegar instead, like, I don't know, white wine vinegar. That might cut the salt enough to allow us to reduce the sugar without the dressing being nothing but salty and umami, whatever that is. I'll try it once I run out of this batch of dressing and keep you posted.

By the way, this article also explained that this is why you need to add some sugar to a vinaigrette that has more vinegar than oil, as these new low fat vinaigrettes have.

Japanese Miso dressing

Suz and Brad came over two weekends ago to make sushi and miso soup. I had a TON of miso left over, so I found a recipe for miso dressing. It's the closest I've been able to find to that yummy dressing they give you at Japanese Steak Houses.

The recipe says it yields 1 cup, but I think it must yield more.

3/4 c Red Miso (aka akamiso)*
3 Tbls sugar
3 Tbls mirin (Japanese rice wine vinegar)
2 Tbls hot water
2 tps light soy sauce
1/4 tps sesame oil
1 Tbls toasted sesame seeds#

In a small bowl, combine miso and sugar. Add mirin, water, soy sauce, sesame oil, and sesame seeds. Stir until well blended. Serve over iceberg lettuce and carrot slices. Toss to combine.

* there are different kinds of miso, and when they mean red, they mean red, not white or mild or other varieties. It's the brownist miso, and it's also the most flavorful. A little goes a long way! conveniently, the same miso used in miso soup!

# toasting sesame seeds makes them taste delicious, but it's dangerous. They take a really long time to start toasting, and then you have about 30 seconds before they burn. I put them in a (non-stick) skillet and put the heat on medium, tossing the pan and stirring the seeds every minute or so, and prepare the rest of the dressing right next to the stove where I can keep an eye on it. Once you start to smell toastyness and they start to turn brown. You can play chicken with the seeds if you want, and try to get them even more toasted, but I'd rather be safe than sorry.

Results: I think this recipe calls for WAY too much sugar. Next time I'm going to only put 2 Tbls in it. Also, it's really thick, so I add more water. And a little goes a loooong way. I wouldn't pour this dressing on your salad, I'd spoon it on a little at a time and toss it as you go. When I say "toss," I mean put it in a bowl with a lid or a plate on top and really shake it. This is definitely a shaken, not stirred salad dressing. That said, because the dressing is so complex and rich, I'm perfectly happy eating it with nothing but lettuce, which would be really boring with ordinary ranch or italian. I would definitly make this again! I had to buy the sesame oil to make it, and I think I'll enjoy putting that to use, too.