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French Lentil Salad with Mozzarella

carrie — Thu, 07 Jul 2011 11:30:48 +0000

French lentils (or green lentils or Puy lentils) are great for salads. They have a nice, peppery taste and they hold their shape when cooked. This is a great salad for busy weeknights. It only takes 30 minutes from start to finish!

French Lentil Salad with Mozzarella

Prep time: 5 mins

Cook time: 25 mins

Total time: 30 mins

Serves: 2

Ingredients:

3/4 cup French lentils
1/2 red onion, thinly sliced
1 lemon
10 cherry tomatoes, halved
1 small ball fresh mozzarella or 1 tub of small mozzarella balls, torn into pieces
3 sprigs basil, leaves torn into pieces
extra virgin olive oil
2 handfuls mixed lettuce

Directions:

Combine red onion with juice of half a lemon. Let marinate.
Combine lentils with 3-4 cups water. Bring to a boil. Simmer 25-30 minutes, until lentils are tender.
Meanwhile, in a bowl combine cherry tomatoes, mozzarella and basil. Place lettuce in two bowls.
When lentils are done cooking, drain then place back in pot. Add onions, juice of half a lemon, a few glugs of olive oil and salt & pepper, to taste. Mix lentils with tomato-mozzarella mixture.
Spoon lentil salad over greens.

Sweet Potato and Feta Salad

carrie — Fri, 10 Jun 2011 11:00:01 +0000

If you make one thing this week it should be this salad. It was spectacular! The saltiness of the feta plays nicely with the sweetness of the vinaigrette and sweet potatoes. Not to mention the red onions. The combination was sublime. This salad is great for a barbeque as the sweet potatoes can be cooked on the grill. Alternatively, you can cook the sweet potatoes under the broiler (as I did). Pictured above is half a recipe. Just go ahead and make the full recipe. You will love it!

Sweet Potato and Feta Salad

Prep time: 5 mins

Cook time: 10 mins

Total time: 15 mins

Serves: 4

Ingredients:

4 medium sweet potatoes, cut into 3/4-inch thick slices
3 Tablespoons olive oil
2 large handfuls of spinach
4 Tablespoons pine nuts, toasted
1/2 small red onion, sliced into half-moons
1/2 cup crumbled feta
3 Tablespoons balsamic vinegar
2 Tablespoons honey
1 Tablespoon whole-grain or Dijon mustard

Directions:

Simmer sweet potatoes in water for about 5 minutes, until just tender. Drain, cool and toss with 2 Tablespoons olive oil. Season with salt & pepper.
Grill (or broil) sweet potatoes for 2-3 minutes on each side until tender & char-grilled.
Whisk together remaining 1 Tablespoon olive oil, balsamic vinegar, honey and mustard.
Toss spinach, pine nuts and onion together in a serving bowl. Sprinkle feta over the top. Place grilled sweet potatoes on top of spinach mixture. Drizzle with dressing.

Notes:

Adapted from Olive Magazine

Tex-Mex Tues: Black Bean and Corn Salad

carrie — Tue, 07 Jun 2011 11:15:04 +0000

Serve over lettuce or spinach for a nice southwestern-style salad. You’ll notice purple in the picture above… That is because I used a purple bell pepper. This salad is great for lunch!

Black Bean and Corn Salad

Prep time: 10 mins

Cook time: 5 mins

Total time: 15 mins

Serves: 6

Ingredients:

2 cups cooked black beans
1 1/2 cups frozen corn kernels, defrosted
10 cherry tomatoes, quartered
1 red bell pepper, diced
1 serrano chile, seeded and minced
5 Tablespoons cilantro dressing

Directions:

Toss everything together then serve over lettuce or spinach, if desired. This salad will keep for several days in the refrigerator.

French Friday: L’assiette de l’été

carrie — Fri, 03 Jun 2011 11:00:32 +0000

Yes, I am stealing the French Friday theme from Pink of Perfection! It is such a great lift to the end of the week I couldn’t resist. This salad, a riff on the traditional Salade Niçoise, comes from the French magazine Régal (which, sadly, has no website). While Salade Niçoise typically includes anchovies & olives these two ingredients are missing here. The original recipe also included peas, however, there were none at the market this week. Like all salads this one is very flexible – many other veggies could be added including zucchini, mushrooms, summer squash, or artichokes. The one thing I would not change is the tuna. Originally this recipe was presented among a selection of tapas. I like salads for dinner (especially in summer) so we split it between two. If you are making it as a tapa/appetizer then add an extra egg.

L’assiette de l’été

Prep time: 5 mins

Cook time: 25 mins

Total time: 30 mins

Serves: 2-6

This flexible salad is a riff on the traditional Salade Niçoise. It can be served as a main course for 2 or add another egg and serve as a first course/appetizer for 6. Feel free to mix up the vegetables – just be sure to include the tuna!

Ingredients:

1 handful (130 g) green beans
2 eggs
4 small (200 g) new potatoes, quartered
1/2 red bell pepper, sliced
1/8 medium onion, sliced
4 (250 g) plum or cherry tomatoes, quartered
1 can oil-packed tuna
4 Tablespoons olive oil
2 Tablespoons red wine vinegar
salt & pepper, to taste

Directions:

Bring a pot of water to a boil. Cook eggs for 10 minutes. Meanwhile steam green beans over water for 4 minutes. Then steam potatoes for 20 minutes. Peels eggs & cut into halves or quarters.
In a bowl, mix together all vegetables. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Add olive oil & vinegar. Toss. Place eggs on top of salad.

Blue Cheese Vinaigrette

carrie — Sat, 07 Aug 2010 17:14:52 +0000

I’m back in Florida so now have my copy of the Joy of Cooking. As I said before this is one of my favorite salad dressings. It is great in a spinach salad with avocado, egg & red onions. And also perfect with mixed greens, toasted walnuts & sliced pears. Personally, I could eat it on every salad!

Ingredients

1/4 cup apple cider vinegar
6 dashes of Worcestershire sauce
salt & pepper to taste
3/4 cup olive oil
1/3 cup crumbled blue cheese

Directions

Whisk together vinegar, Worcestershire, salt, and pepper. Slowly add the olive oil while continuing to whisk. Whisk in the blue cheese. Use immediately or refrigerate. It keeps well though you may have to let it sit out for a few minutes in order to “de-congeal” due to the olive oil in the dressing.