Smoked Salmon Potato Salad

I've been on a real potato salad kick this summer! Last weekend, I attended a salad baby shower and decided to make a smoked salmon potato salad because 1. It was the single opportunity I've had in years where there would be fish eaters there and 2. I recently had a similar salad at the restaurant Lemonade and was interested in recreating it.  I think mine was better!  I adapted the recipe from Serious Eats and basically tried to recreate all the great things of bagels & lox but with potato salad.  I think I did a pretty good job and so did the guests! I got multiple requests for the recipe!!

I didn't take any pictures though :(

Smoked Salmon Potato Salad

Ingredients

2+lbs new or fingerling potatoes, cut into large chunks (the recipe calls for 2lbs but I'm sure I used more because that was a lot of potato salad)

16oz sour cream

juice of one lemon

2 3.5oz packages of lox-style smoked salmon, sliced into strips

1 bunch of dill, removed from stems

1 bunch of tarragon, chopped

salt & pepper

1 red onion, chopped

1-2 T white or apple cider vinegar

capers, optional

1. Put the potatoes in cold water and bring to a boil. Boil 10 min or until tender. Drain and place potatoes in a bowl. Immediately douse them in the vinegar.

2. Mix sour cream, lemon juice, herbs and salt and pepper to taste in a bowl.

3. When potatoes are cooled slightly or room temperature, toss them, the lox and the onions, the capers (if using) in the sour cream mixture

4. Keeps in the refrigerator for up to 3 days. Bring to room temperature before serving.

Best Potato Salad

This afternoon I read an article about potato salad and then immediately wanted some. I had all the ingredients so I whipped it up! This salad is the best I've had in awhile, all because of a new trick I learned.

Serves 2 as a side

Ingredients

3 T mayo
3 T olive oil
1/2 T whole grain mustard
Lots of salt
2 T finely chopped red onion
6-8 finely chopped green olives (can substitute cornichons or pickles or dill pickle relish)
2 T fresh cilantro, chopped (use whatever herb you have on hand)
3-4 medium red potatoes, cubed
Vinegar (I used apple cider)

Directions

1. Boil a large pot of water. Add potatoes and cook until fork tender - about 10 minutes. Drain
2. Mix olive oil, mayo and mustard, 1 t vinegar in a small bowl with salt until combined.
3. Once you drain the potatoes sprinkle with vinegar (separate from dressing) and salt, let sit 3 minutes.
4. Toss potatoes, dressing, olives, onion and cilantro in a large bowl. Add salt to taste and serve.

Smoked Trout Salad with Citrus Dressing

A few weeks ago, I sent my mom a recipe from Food & Wine magazine about a salad with smoked trout, citrus and a horseradish dressing. She made it and they loved it. Then she brought me an extra piece of smoked trout.  Of course, I had none of the ingredients to make the famed salad, so I made a variation, and it was delicious.

If you've never had smoked trout before, think of smoked salmon - the flaked kind not the lox kind but smokier.  It's delicious, buy some. I made enough salad for one person.


Ingredients
3 oz smoked trout filet, flaked
2 blood oranges
1 avocado, diced
3 Cups spicy spinach/arugula salad mix (or arugula)
1 T brown sugar
olive oil
salt
1/2  lemon

Directions
1. Over a small bowl to catch the juices, segment the blood oranges
2. Sprinkle salt over the avocado
3. Toss the avocado, trout, lettuce and blood orange segments in a serving bowl
4. Add the brown sugar, juice of half a lemon to the blood orange juice.  Whisk in oil until the right oil-->acid ratio begins to emulsify
5. Toss dressing with the salad and serve immediately.

This salad was beautiful but because I consumed it during a meeting at the office, I failed to take any pictures.  Nobody complained of a fish smell while eating and I was satisfied for the remainder of the day without a snack before dinner.

Apple, Pecan and Manchego Salad

A couple of years ago I bought some Lingonberry vinegar at IKEA. IKEA is really close to our house so we go there all the time just to browse the food area. We don't have a lick of IKEA furniture in our house though. So I got the vinegar, and then I put it on the shelf and barely used it. But whenever I do use it, it MAKES the salad.  Unfortunately, they don't seem to sell it anymore but I bet they have something like it at those specialty vinegar stores

I decided to serve a salad with my pot roast for a little crisp palate cleaner and then I made one up all because the tomatoes at the store looked terrible. Hear that the rest of the world? Tomatoes in CA still don't look amazing in the winter.

Serves 3
Ingredients:
1 apple, pink lady or honeycrisp recommended, thinly sliced
3 T pecans, chopped
a few shavings of manchego cheese (or another hard, flavorful cheese)
2 T dried cherries
Spring Mix

Dressing
5 T olive oil
3 T lingonberry vinegar
dash oregano
2 t sugar
dash salt

Directions:
1. Add all dressing ingredients to a jar and shake, shake, shake
2. Divide all ingredients between 3 bowls

Autumn Panzanella

Last week was my week to bring treats to Mommy & Me. I decided I wanted to bring some kind of autumn thing but nothing that was hard, too much like Thanksgiving the next day or contained meat. So, I decided to make a panzanella! I used two different recipes as inspiration and then came up with my own twist. The dressing I made for the class was dull but the one I had later was awesome. I recommend this recipe whole-heartedly. Also, these sweet potatoes are awesome and I recommend them on their own.  This would also be great with nuts but our classroom is listed as nut free. Add pecans if you don't have that trouble. I also don't really have measurements for this but anything will work.

Except for cutting the apple, you make make this whole thing 24 hours ahead. This made enough salad for about 10 people.

Ingredients:
2 large sweet potatoes, peeled and cubed
Two large packages spinach or one spinach + one mixed greens
One loaf of bread or one bag of 'bread for stuffing' cubes of dry day old bread (this was a variety pack and it was perfect)
dried cherries
dried cranberries
parmesan cheese, shaved or use a long zester to make strips, or just shred.
cayenne pepper
cinnamon
ground cloves
olive oil
salt
balsamic or lingonberry balsamic vinegar
1 large apple, diced just before serving
lemon juice

1. Preheat the oven to 425.  Toss bread in olive oil and salt and put on a rimmed baking sheet. On a separate sheet, toss sweet potato, olive oil, cayenne pepper, cinnamon and cloves and salt.  Roast bread 10-15 minutes until hard. Roast potato for 30 minutes or until tender, tossing in the middle if you remember.

2. Meanwhile, combine lettuces, cherries, cranberries, cheese, bread and a dash of salt in a bowl.
3. Make the dressing. In a lidded container add 1/2 C olive oil, 1/3 C vinegar, dash of salt and pepper and a squeeze of lemon. Shake and set aside
4. Remove potato from oven and toss into salad. Dice the apple and add.
5. You can either serve the dressing on the side or tossed. If you toss it, the bread gets a little soft and it is true panzanella.

Warm Brussel Sprout and Chickpea Salad

I went to a wedding last weekend and discovered that I really like brussel sprouts. Then, I went to my favorite grocery store and found they were selling brussel sprout totes which I think are awesome. If you aren't familiar, a vegetable tote is a pre-determined amount of one type of vegetable housed in a handy clear tote bag! Sounds lame? Well it's not! It's cute and it comes in it's own bag and you don't have to weigh it!

I saw this salad on Beantown Baker and revised it just a tad but it was fantastic! If you are a vegetarian or you can't eat nuts you could omit both of those ingredients and this would still be delicious. If you had any shallots or garlic it may be a nice addition.

I used the food processor to shred the brussel sprouts and what a time saver that is! You could also use the food processor for the shallots if you used them and the mushrooms.  Don't have a food processor? Fine, cut it by hand but don't skip the recipe just because you have to do some cutting.

Warm Brussel Sprout Salad
Ingredients
2 cans chickpeas, drained and rinsed, divided
1 t olive oil
salt
cayenne pepper
3 T butter
1lb brussel sprouts, sliced or shredded (food processor!)
8oz white mushrooms, washed and sliced (food processor!)
1/4 C pecans, chopped
1/2 tsp nutmeg
freshly ground pepper
1/2 C cooked ham or 4 slices bacon cooked and crumbled

Directions
1. Preheat oven to 400
2. Drain and dry one can of chickpeas. Place on a sheet pan and roast for 15 minutes in the oven. Toss in 1 tsp olive oil, salt and a dash of cayenne pepper. Roast for an additional 15 minutes. Then turn off the open, open it up a crack and let the pan sit until you need them
3. Using your food processor, shred the brussel sprouts and slice the mushrooms
4. In a large skillet or small dutch oven, heat 2 T butter over medium heat.
5. When butter is melted, add mushrooms. Cook 5 minutes stirring occasionally
6. Add sprouts and a dash of salt and cook an additional 5 minutes, stirring. Don't worry, the sprouts will shrink.
7. Add the pecans, ham, nutmeg, raw chickpeas, and more salt and pepper to taste
8. Cook 3-4 minutes until ingredients are melded. Toss in roasted chickpeas to individual servings so they don't get soggy and serve warm.

Spring Slaw

There is nothing like cutting into a head of lettuce and then realizing it is cabbage.  But these minor mistakes sometimes make for great finds!  Today as I proceeded to make salad for Jenny & Gavin coming over I realized that the "lettuce" I had was cabbage (I got it in a produce box).  I could have just made kale salad at this point but instead I thought, I bet I can make some kind of citrus-vinaigrette slaw.  I browsed the web and didn't really find anything so I decided to make it up. In this case, the gamble payed off and this might be a salad I would make on purpose!

Ingredients
1/2 any crispy red apple (okay you can use green if you really must)
1/2 small head cabbage
1/2 red bell pepper
3 T chopped curly parsley
*I made wayyy too much dressing for this "half" recipe but just save it for tomorrow!
juice of 1/2 lemon
juice of 1 tangelo (it is tangerine and pommelo but it tasted really sweet)
salt
pepper
2 T white balsamic vinegar
2 T olive oil
1 T honey

1. Whisk together all the ingredients for the dressing, tasting as you go and then set aside.
2. Julienne the apple (cut into thin strips) & finely chop the parsley
3. Julienne and then dice the bell pepper, and cut the cabbage so it is in shreds (just cut the cabbage on an angle around the core.
4. Mix everything together in a bowl and serve.  Remember not to pour in all the dressing because you definitely made too much!

TrueFood Kale Salad

Kale is the buzzword in Santa Monica. I feel like everywhere I turn someone is eating some kale or worse, drinking some kale!  It is like the superfood that trumps all superfoods. I'm not a huge fan of kale and prefer to hid it in soups than make it a star.  However, this salad is so delicious. This salad makes me crave more kale! I have now made it two weekends in a row, eaten all the remnants and dreamed of picking up more kale at the market to have it all week.

This salad comes from TrueFood Kitchen which is a restaurant in Santa Monica that you should visit if you are there and someone else is paying.

Kale Salad
4-6 cups kale, any variety or a mix! (I used a mix of three kinds and the purple one is pretty
3-4 T olive oil, I used Ojai Valley Lemon Olive Oil
juice of 1 lemon
2 cloves garlic, crushed
salt & pepper to taste
1 shake red pepper flakes
1/3 C grated Parmesan cheese, it really is better if you grate your own here
optional toasted breadcrumbs for topping (I didn't use these)

1. Tear kale from hard inner stems. Soak leaves in a bowl of water, stirring occasionally for 5 minutes.
2. Remove leaves from water and place on a clean dish towel to dry. Roll dish towel and leaves into a burrito and set aside
3. Meanwhile, combine lemon, olive oil, garlic, salt, pepper and red pepper in a small pyrex. Whisk together until combined.
4. Toss dressing, cheese and kale together in a large bowl and serve.

Blueberry Corn Salad

You know how some food bloggers take super amazing photos and then you make the dish based on the photo alone and are disappointed by your unstaged photograph that just looks kind of plain jane? I hate that, and it happens to me a lot. This weekend, I was browsing the web for salad recipes to make for Jenny's birthday dinner and came across a beautiful photo of Blueberry Corn Salad at Two Peas and Their Pod. The salad looked beautiful but sounded weird--corn AND blueberries? I glanced at the recipe a little more and found I already had most of the ingredients.  I decided to make the recipe because Jenny seems to be a big fan of corn salads.

Here's the crazy thing. Not only was the salad really delicious--it looked Just like the picture! I don't even need to take one of my own. It all worked!  What a lovely surprise.  This salad has the perfect mix of sweet with a kick. It is so beautiful and will look good on any table.

At first it doesn't seem like enough dressing at all but in the end it seems good. Make this ahead and let it sit a little for all the flavors to meld together.

Blueberry Corn Salad

Summer Salad

It is Memorial Day Weekend and we had my sister's family over for a little BBQ.  I really wanted all the foods associated with summer; corn, watermelon, beans, potato salad, three bean salad, ice cream, something on the grill etc. The problem is our party was only for 5 people so we really didn't need this excessive amount of food.  In an effort to make everything I wanted, I decided to make a fresh summer salad that encompassed both potato salad and three bean salad but fresher.

I basically made this recipe up thinking about a potato salad I once made with fresh herbs and looking for a spring flavor in a lemon vinaigrette.  You could definitely mix in a variety of different vegetables in here but this classic is colorful and springy and apparently delicious because it's almost all gone!

1/4 lb fresh green beans
1/4 lb fresh sugar snap peas
6 small new potatoes
1/2 pint cherry or grape tomatoes
1/2 C mixed herbs like basil, cilantro, parsley, dill, thyme, chopped (at our farmer's market you can buy a bag of mixed herbs for $2.50, this is the best way to get a mix of herbs unless you grow your own)

1/4 C olive oil
1 1/2 lemons, juiced (you need the juice)
1-2 T rice vinegar
1/2 t Dijon Mustard
1/2 t salt

1. Scrub clean the potatoes and then place them in a pot and just cover with cold water.  Boil about 10 minutes until fork tender.
2. Remove the potatoes from the water with a spoon and set aside. Place the peas and beans into the boiling water and blanch for about two minutes so that the beans and peas get greener but keep their crunch. Drain immediately and rinse in cold water or an ice bath.
3. In the salad bowl whisk together the olive oil, lemon juice, vinegar, mustard and salt.
4. Quarter the potatoes, third the beans, and cut some of the peas in half. If your tomatoes are really big cut them in  half, otherwise leave whole.
5. Toss the vegetables and herbs with the dressing and let rest in the fridge until ready to eat. If you want it to look prettier, only toss half the herbs in now and add the other half just before serving.

Autumn Salad with Pears (Apples)

For Halloween this year, we all decided to head over to my father in law's house since we get now trick or treaters in our neighborhood. Dinner was decided on and I offered to make salad. Around the same time, I was browsing some food blogs and found a salad I thought looked interesting. Of course, I had none of the ingredients. So we made an emergency trip to the store after dinner on Sunday night.

This is the original recipe. I kinda changed it a bit because, even though I went to the store particularly to get ingredients for this salad, I didn't get them all.

1. I didn't think the pears would ripen in time so I just used some apples I got at the farmer's market on Saturday

2. I thought I had red wine vinegar, I was wrong. Instead I used apple cider vinegar which I feel was a good replacement since I was using apples anyway

3. Craisins. I added some cause I thought that might be good. It was.

This salad was filled with autumn flavors and really had a nice sweet/salty flavor, I recommend it--with or without my changes.

A Tale of Two Salads

I'm not a salad gal myself, I generally don't order them at restaurants, and I rarely make them at home. However, on Wednesday, lulled by the Farmer's market I decided to buy fresh ingredients and have salads for the remainder of the week. The thing is, even though it is spring, I am often stumped at the market about what to buy. I didn't want asparagus, I didn't know what to do with fava beans, I could buy peas...and then there are a bunch of greens like swiss chard that I don't really know how to use either.

So I left the market with a basket of strawberries, a bunch of spinach, a bunch of arugula, sugar snap peas and a couple of oranges. Not really salad material...I went to the store after work and picked up a couple of fillers--a cucumber, goat cheese, marinated artichokes, kalamata olives and a balsamic vinegrette.

My first salad was sub-par. I threw all the ingredients I purchased together with far too many greens. I added some sprigs of cilantro, a few sliced boiled multi-colored potatoes and some slices of steak. Parts of the salad tasted like fresh mowed grass, other parts tasted fart too acidic. The salad was edible but it just wasn't delicious.

Learning from my mistakes and building on my heaviest ingredient, my second salad was warmed and a delicious blend of surprising flavors. This, my friends is a salad I will make again, and I encourage you to do the same and to serve it as a main course with a side of fruit.

Wilted Arugula Steak & Potato Salad (for 2 as a main dish)
1/4 lb grilled steak, thinly sliced

1/2 lb mixed thin-skinned potatoes (I used red, purple and yellow), boiled until just soft, about 10 minutes

1 small bunch arugula, washed and stems removed, ripped into bite sized pieces

pitted kalamata olives to taste

1-3 T olive oil, to desired moistness

salt, to taste

4 T mixed fresh herbs such as sage, rosemary & thyme

2 T goat cheese, crumbled

1. Finely chop herbs and set aside.

2. Toss all ingredients except cheese and olives in a microwave safe bowl

3. Microwave on high 45 seconds or until steak and potatoes are warm and arugula is wilted

4. Toss salad with cheese and olives and serve with fruit

Variations on Caprese

Caprese is by far my favorite summer side dish. I love how the simple flavors of tomatoes, basil and fresh mozzarella meld together and taste farm fresh.

Last weekend, I was reading a food blog and saw a recipe for caprese panzanella and thought it would be a great use for the stale bread I accumulate every week. I decided to add a few things and a delicious salad and filling lunch was born!

Ingredients

1 cob corn

3-4 basil leaves, torn

2 fresh tomatoes, roughly chopped

1 small avocado, roughly chopped

1 pickling cucumber, or 1 3 inch piece regular cucumber, roughly chopped

1 1/2 med. sized fresh mozzarella balls, roughly chopped

2 slices stale bread of any variety, roughly chopped

Balsamic vinaigrette

Directions

1. Slice corn kernels off cob onto a plate and microwave 1 minute on high

2. Toss together all ingredients, let sit 1-2 minutes before chowing down to let dressing soak into the bread.

Soba Noodle Salad

About six months ago I saw a recipe in a magazine for some dish that required Soba noodles*. Intrigued, I went to several stores in search of this buckwheat angel hair. When I finally acquired the noodles, I misplaced the recipe and so the noodles sat in the pasta section of my pantry waiting to be useful.

This afternoon, my sister was coming over for a trip to IKEA which is conveniently located in the heart of downtown Burbank. I decided that it was a rare chance for me to make an Asian dish and to use my fun chopsticks. I knew I wanted something cold with the heat soaring into the triple digits. I found a recipe that used my Soba noodles in Martha Stewart's Whole Living recipe search. I felt it was too green and added a few vegetables to brighten it up.

The flavors were light and fresh. Katie loved it and I found it to be a little too light. I probably should've reserved more of the dressing. Next time I'll know.

Soba Noodle Salad
Ingredients:
1 two-inch piece fresh ginger, peeled, sliced into thin strips
1 serrano pepper, seeded and sliced into very thin strips
1/4 sugar
3 T fresh squeezed lime juice (about 3 limes)
2 T soy sauce
1 package firm or extra-firm tofu cut into bite-sized cubes, pat dry (if you don't like tofu you could substitute poached chicken)
1 package soba noodles (8-12oz) *whole wheat pasta would be similar, and ever since I purchased these, I have seen them at every store
4 oz snow peas, thinly sliced
1 t vegetable oil
1 cucumber, halved and cut into thin strips
1/4 bunch chives cut into 1 inch pieces
10-12 cherry tomatoes, halved
1 avocado, sliced
Sesame seeds, for serving

Directions:
1. Cook noodles according to package directions, drain, and rinse with cool water. Place in a large bowl and set aside.
2. Meanwhile, in a small saucepan, bring ginger, Serrano pepper, sugar and 1/3 c of water to a bowl. Reduce heat and simmer about 5 minutes or until ginger and pepper are soft. Remove from heat. With a slotted spoon, scoop pepper and ginger into a bowl for later. Reserve syrup.
3. In a shallow bowl (but large enough for all the tofu), whisk together soy sauce, 2 t reserved syrup, and lime juice. Add tofu, toss to coat, and set aside.
4. Add snow peas, oil and 1 T dressing to noodles, toss. Add cucumbers, tomatoes, tofu and chives to serving bowl.
5. Divide noodle salad among plates. Top with sliced avocado and sesame seeds.

Arugula Salad and Honey Mustard Vinaigrette

The one thing about mac and cheese is that it is very rich. To cut the richness, I followed Tyler's suggestions and made his Arugula salad which is absolutely fantastic. To give it a little depth, I added a few chopped up heirloom tomatoes. I also didn't have a shallot on hand so I substituted a little chopped onion (about 1 T finely chopped) and 1 small clove of garlic from the garlic press.

Arugula Salad and Honey Mustard Vinaigrette
Ingredients:

1 shallot, finely minced
1 t dijon mustard
2 t red wine vinegar
1/4 C extra-virgin olive oil
1 t sugar
1 t honey
salt and pepper
6 cups arugula
tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers if desired.

Mix the dressing together and toss with arugula just before serving.

From Garden to Table: A Special Salad

The lettuce has been growing like gangbusters, and we harvested our first bit tonight. Here's a recipe for a delicious, light salad that would be great for the holidays as well.

Lettuce mix (I used romaine and butter)

Pomegranate seeds

Celery

Olive Oil

Red Wine Vinegar

Pick the lettuce from your garden. (Just kidding, I know it is getting down to 30 degrees tonight out there!) Shred and toss with chopped celery and pomegranate seeds. Add a few shakes of red wine vinegar and olive oil to taste.

Fresh Mozzarella Salad w/ Avocado & Roasted Corn

I love fresh mozzarella. Here is where I found this recipe. Of course the original calls for tomatoes which I omitted, also, it called to lay on a bed of greens & I decided it was already a large amount, so I skipped that as well. The colder the better...we had some left over from dinner last night which I ate for lunch today & I liked it better really cold. Next time, I will make in advance & cut the avocados up right before I serve so they don't brown.

Cold Green Bean Salad with Tarragon Dressing

I was trying to find a green bean recipe that was similar to the one Aunt Gail made for the reunion...this wasn't it, but, it was very good. I omited quite a few of the ingredients from the original recipe I found & changed it from a 2 bean salad to a 1. Here is the link.

Tomatoes and Avocados

My sister Debbie delivered some homegrown tomatoes from Indiana and I used a couple to make a delicious salad for our dinner - sorry there are no pictures since we gobbled this down too quickly.

Layer sliced tomatoes and sliced avocados on a platter. Sprinkle with some Italian dressing and then scatter fresh basil on top.