Farro Salad with Castelvetrano Olives, Walnuts and Lemon

Lately, I’ve been on a farro kick. Had you asked me fifteen years ago for a farro recipe, I would have looked at you cross-eyed. Even though I was raised in one of the hippy-est of Pacific Northwest cities, I somehow grew up a farro virgin. I’ve always been a bit embarrassed to read the word aloud when I see it on the menu, for fear of mispronouncing it and looking like an idiot. But honestly, it wouldn’t be the first time. I’m not exactly known for saying words correctly. 

One summer, when my husband and I were just dating, we decided to dine out at an upscale French restaurant in downtown Seattle. They had a narrow outdoor patio, barely wide enough to fit a two-person table. The waiter, when taking our order, had to nearly sit on the railing that bordered the patio, to keep from hovering directly over us. But it was outdoors! In Seattle! With a happy hour! It’s the little things like eating outside that excite us northerners who are so accustomed to being bound to the indoors due to rain.

We perused the happy hour menus our waiter had handed to us and were ready to make our selections when he returned. 

“We are going to share a few things,” I told him, always feeling better about announcing our budget-friendly approach to eating out beforehand. “We will start with an order of the Haricots Verts en Salade and then the Pommes Frites and Petit Lamb Burger please.” 

My pronunciation of the starter, rolled off the tongue like a man without rhythm, gyrating awkwardly on the dance floor. I’d leaned heavy into the “T”s, just the way I felt it read: “Hair-Eh-Cot Vurts.” I didn’t know what it was exactly, but since it was paired with the word “salade,” I felt it safe to assume it would be a salad of some sort. Being the nutrition student that I was at the time, I was keen on making sure I ate my greens, even when dining out. 

Our waiter nodded in understanding, retrieved our menus and turned toward the kitchen to enter our order into the computer. It didn’t take long before he returned to the patio, carrying a white rectangle plate, heaped full with skinny green beans.

“The Haricot Verts en Salade, Madam,” he announced, as he presented the dish before me.

I wrinkled my brow in confusion, quite aware that the name he’d rattled off did NOT match the starter we had asked for. He’d said it so fast, I’m pretty sure he had called it “Air-Eh-Co Vairs” and what I ordered definitely started with H and ended with a hard “T-S.” Plus, this dish was green beans, not a salad. French was definitely not my second or third or fourth language, by any stretch of the imagination, but I was no dummy. Certainly this was a mistake. 

“Umm,” I started. “We actually ordered the Haricot Verts.” It came out awkward and sharp, "Hair-Eh-Cot Vurts."

He looked at me, straight-faced and confirmed, “Yes, Madam. The haricot verts." 

This time I was certain. He was definitely saying "Air-Eh-Co Vairs.” I squinted back at him, unsure how I would make my point any clearer. He obviously wasn’t getting it. 

“We wanted the salad one, please.”

“Yes yes!” he exclaimed, his accent thick. “This dish is the Haricots Verts en Salade.” He swept his hand in front of him, and bobbed his head in a shallow bow as he backed his way indoors toward the kitchen. 

I looked across the table at Graham and shrugged,picking up my fork in resolve. He didn’t even like green beans. I speared one of them roughly, hearing skin break beneath the tines. I took a bite and my face warmed as tasted the briney flavors of vinegar and mustard. The beans were perfectly crisp-tender. 

“These are delicious!” I exclaimed, forcing Graham to try them too. 

He obliged and then grinned in surprise. Together, we inhaled the entire heap, the whole time thinking how grateful we were for this happy little accident. Here we thought we were being so accommodating to eat the dish they had served us in error. It wasn’t until the waiter returned with menus for a last call that it dawned on me what had happened.

“Ha!” I cried out, as I read the text in front of me. I needed the visual to pair with the waiter’s pronunciation. “Haricot Verts!” I yelled. This time, I said it the way he had, with a silent “H” and silent “T’s” and as smooth as poetry. “This was the dish we ordered!!”

We burst out laughing simultaneously and I have never lived this moment down. Needless to say, I’m a bit scarred and I experience a moment of pause now, whenever I encounter an ingredient on a menu that I don’t know how to pronounce. Like, for instance, farro, to bring this story full circle. But a fresh and recent Google search reveals that there really is no going wrong when it comes to it’s pronounciation. Whether you say “fair-oh” or “far-oh,” it seems to make no difference. Both are right, depending on who you ask. So my advice is to just say it with confidence (personally, I’m a fan of calling it “far-oh” but to each their own!)

Now that we got that out of the way...let’s continue. For those still feeling in the dark, farro is an ancient whole grain that is high in fiber as well as being a good source of iron. It is derived from wheat (which means it is not gluten free) and looks a lot like a grain of oatmeal. It absorbs whatever sauces it cooked in or mixed with, making it a great vehicle for all sorts of flavors. 

My favorite way to eat it is tossed with dressing or other goodies as a hearty and filling lunch salad, which is what I will share with you today. Trader Joe’s sells a 10 minute pre-cooked farro that I like to use to speed up this recipe. It makes great leftovers. Make it on Monday and eat it all week!

Farro Salad with Castelvetrano Olives, Walnuts and Lemon

3 cups cooked farro (I like to cook mine in chicken broth for added flavor)

1 tsp lemon zest

3 Tablespoons fresh lemon juice

1 Tablespoon honey

¼ cup extra virgin olive oil

½ tsp crushed red pepper flakes

Pinch of Kosher salt

1 cup walnut halves, toasted

2 cups pitted Castelvetrano Olives, chopped

¼ cup raisins

2 green onions, thinly sliced (top parts only)

⅓ cup fresh chopped chives

Shaved Parmesan, to taste

In a medium-sized serving bowl, whisk together lemon zest and juice, honey, olive oil, red pepper flakes and salt. Add farro, toasted walnuts, olives, raisins, green onions and chives and toss well to mix with dressing. Top with a generous amount of shaved Parmesan and serve. 

Serves 6

Spring Salad with Grapes and Pistachio-Crusted Goat Cheese

I interrupt my recent #grahamandkelsiestoryofus series to bring you a salad recipe.

"Say what!?" you ask. I know. Like when does a salad recipe of all things trump a good romance story?

Today, y'all, today.

This has been a week of cooking (and much of it even successful!) and I'm hoping to get a few more recipes coming your way in the weeks to come (in addition to completing my love story, for the two of you who are waiting with bated breath). ;)  I served this salad on Tuesday evening when I hosted the ladies from my Bible study table for dinner. I have since been inundated with requests for the dressing recipe (ok fine so just 3 of the 8 of them asked) BUT STILL. So I decided I would kill two birds with one stone and do the public a favor and get this recipe out into all of your hands. Plus, the title of the salad begins with the word "Spring" and that is the season that tell me it is here the Pacific Northwest so I'm going with it. And just hoping the sunshine follows suit.

You might find this dish to be a timely addition to your Easter table, come to mention it. It's fresh yet it feels fancy and is fairly straight forward to prepare (though much more so if you have a food processer to do the pistachio chopping). It has been a hit every time it's been on the table. You begin with basic mixed greens and you dress them up with red grapes. Then small chunks of goat cheese are shaped into little rounds and then rolled in pistachios, creating a delightful combination of crunchy and creamy on the tongue. The process of making the cheese balls is admittedly a bit cumbersome but I figure my kids are almost to an age where I could set them up assembly-line-style and they could whip them out like nobody's business. ;)

It's really the dressing that makes this salad though. It consists of six basic ingredients that you shake together to combine in a mason jar. A single batch of it will dress two large salads easily and so you can enjoy it on multiple occasions. The dressing calls for two fresh herbs - basil and chives - and if you're looking to test out your green thumb, these are two I would highly recommend adding to your garden. Chives in particular couldn't be easier and plus they look really pretty amidst landscaping and in pots. They come back every year which is essential for our green thumb self esteem. I've had great success with both planting from seeds and beginning with starts. If you go the start route, buy at least three plants to make sure you always have an adequate supply ready to clip when a recipe calls. Harvesting them is easy - just trim off a handful (never the entire bunch) with kitchen sheers, rinse and chop. Clipping your herbs in this way actually stimulates more growth and you'll find new chives growing where you trimmed in no time! Enjoy.


Spring Salad with Grapes and Pistachio-Crusted Goat Cheese
(adapted from Cooking Light Magazine)

1/2 cup shelled dry-roasted pistachios, finely chopped
1 cup (8 ounces) goat cheese
1/2 cup Easy Herb Vinaigrette (recipe below)
2 (5-ounce) package gourmet salad greens or spring lettuce mix
2 cups seedless red grapes, halved
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

Place pistachios in a shallow dish. Divide cheese into 24 equal portions, rolling to form 24 balls. Roll each ball in the pistachios until well coated. Set pistachio-crusted cheese balls aside.
Combine Easy Herb Vinaigrette, greens and grapes in a large mixing bowl and toss to coat. Add goat cheese balls and toss again gently. Sprinkle with fresh-ground pepper and serve immediately.

Serves 8


Easy Herb Vinaigrette

1/2 cup plus 1 tablespoon white wine vinegar
1 1/2 tablespoons honey
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup canola oil
3 tablespoons chopped fresh basil
3 tablespoons minced fresh chives

Combine all the ingredients in a pint-sized (2 cup) mason jar and shake to combine. Store, covered, in refrigerator for up to 5 days.

Makes about 1 2/3 cups

Vietnamese Pork Salad

A colleague at work asked me on Monday if I was still posting recipes on my blog. I stumbled over my words a bit before I finally blurted out the honest truth:

"Not really."

"Why?"

I had to think about it for awhile to determine the reason behind my lack of food-related posts, my silence on the blog in general, really.

"Well," I started. "I've been writing about other topics lately and it seems I have a greater readership when I'm NOT writing about food. And to be quite honest," I continued, "I haven't really cooked anything good and worthy of sharing all summer."

Yikes. It's true but I didn't really like the sound of it as it rolled off my tongue. What have I been feeling my family? A lot of mediocre, apparently.

In my defense, we traveled a whole heck of a lot over the summer so many of my meals were at the mercy of the camp stove. But as I thought further about my lack of cooking creativity lately, I realized just how claustrophobic I have felt all summer long. When we weren't traveling (or packing for the next trip!), I was either working or clawing desperately for a minute to myself. I felt very much at the mercy of everyone else but me. In case you are in need of a visual, a friend shared a with me a little video clip that very much depicts with striking similarity what my summer hours at home looked like, me and my desperate pursuit for alone time:

Needless to say, it is VERY hard to do anything, creative or not, with littles underfoot. I'm still looking for my groove, searching for how to be a mom of school-aged kids (and maybe more importantly, how to survive the summers when they aren't in school!!!) But now that school is back in session, I'm very hopeful my kitchen will be pumping out delicacies again in the weeks and months to come. Thankfully, my youngest is pretty keen with the whisk so I'm sure he and I will spend a lot of our waking hours cooking while the big girls are in school. Hopefully we will have some successes that we can share in this space!

I did make one hit dish this summer that I'm excited to post. My garden, much like my kitchen, wasn't quite as happy this year as last, but I did manage to have great success in the herb and summer squash department, which is how I landed on this recipe. It is super fresh, herbaceous, and the kids were happy because it featured "pasta" (i.e. rice noodles). My husband took his first couple bites and exclaimed "You should definitely add this one to your rotation!"

Good man.

Nevermind that I made the very same dish the following week and his reaction was "Is this a new recipe?" Some memories, even good ones, can sometimes be short-lived. ;)

I tweaked the original recipe to feature a full pound of meat to make it a bit more filling (and so that you'll use up an entire package of ground pork rather than being left bewildered with a couple ounces in hand). If you are cooking for kiddos, I'd recommend holding the sriracha sauce in the dressing and serving it on the side instead for the spice-lovers. Feel free to play around with your ratios of lettuce and veggies and even get creative and substitute snap peas or blanched green beans when they are in season. Also, get generous with the fresh mint and cilantro and load up on the peanuts too. Serve the salad with a slice of fresh lime for squeezing and juicy watermelon wedges. Of note, the recipe can be gluten-free if prepared with gluten-free fish sauce for those of you who can't have gluten. Happy cooking and eating and I hope to be back with another yummy kitchen success sooner rather than later!

Vietnamese Pork Salad
(adapted from Cooking Light Magazine)

8 ounces uncooked rice vermicelli noodles
1 pound ground pork
12 tablespoons fresh lime juice, divided
3 1/2 tablespoons sugar, divided
2 tablespoons fish sauce, divided
1 tablespoon peanut oil
3 tablespoons chopped unsalted peanuts
3 tablespoons sliced green onions
2 teaspoons Sriracha
4 cups chopped romaine lettuce
1 cup diagonally cut seeded cucumber
1 cup diagonally cut or julienned carrot
1/2 cup diagonally cut yellow squash
1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro leaves
1/4 cup chopped fresh mint leaves

Cook rice vermicelli according to package directions; drain and rinse with cold water. Drain.

Heat a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add pork to pan; cook 8 minutes, stirring to crumble. Combine 2 tablespoons lime juice, 1 tablespoon sugar, 1 tablespoon fish sauce, and oil in a bowl; add to pan. Cook 1 minute; remove from heat.

Combine remaining 10 tablespoons juice, remaining 2 1/2 tablespoons sugar, remaining 1 tablespoon fish sauce, peanuts, green onions, and Sriracha in a bowl. Arrange lettuce, cucumber, carrot, and squash on a large platter. Top with noodles, pork mixture, cilantro, and mint. Drizzle juice mixture over top.

Serves 6

Red White and Blueberry Salad

The way this food blogging thing usually works at my house is that I try out a new recipe, we all deem it AMAZING and then I think to myself "Hey, I should put this on the blog!" It is only then that I realize we devoured every last edible crumb, leaving me nothing to photograph and so then I have to make the dish AGAIN which for some reason usually takes me a month or five, probably because I don't often serve repeats. By the time I finally get around to re-making the dish (AND remembering to capture a decent photograph BEFORE we dive in), the recipe is typically no longer seasonal or as in this case, no longer relevant. This explains why I'm sharing a great recipe to bring along for your 4th of July barbeque....on the 13th of July.

So yeah. Periodically I will get a gut feeling that a new dish is going to be great and so I'll snap a photo before I beckon the troops, mentally beginning the blog post in my head. On very rare occasion, I have been right and a dish has turned out blog-worthy on the first go. But most of the time, truly amazing food can't be predicted which is why I have an entire folder full of beautiful food pictures that you will never see because they tasted only mediocre.

I could have waited to post this recipe until just before the 4th holiday next year but sitting around on a good thing is not my spiritual gift. And so I'm banking on that fact that, come July of 2017, you'll experience some little twinge in the back of your consciousness that tells you "I think there was something I was supposed to remember" and then you'll land back on my blog and find yourself preparing this recipe for your 4th of July gathering. We can only hope. Not that you have to wait until the 4th of July to make this salad though! By all means, while berries are still in season, go for it! I have made it for two 4th and counting and plan to make it tradition. I'm a sucker for fruit on my salads and this one definitely can't be beat. The recipe makes a large batch of dressing and I usually find I have enough leftover for one or two subsequent salads of any variety (green, quinoa, you name it). The salad makes a great side but could also be fortified with some cooked chicken breast and then you'd have yourself a delicious main dish salad. Enjoy!

Red, White and Blueberry Salad
(adapted from realmomkitchen.com)

Salad:

1 head romaine lettuce

1 head red lettuce
1 cup glazed walnuts*
2 cups sliced strawberries or whole raspberries
1 ½ cups blueberries
4 oz. crumbled feta cheese

Dressing:
3/4 cup sugar
½ cup red wine vinegar
1 tsp dry mustard
1 tsp salt
½ cup chopped red onion
1 cup canola oil
1 Tbsp poppy seeds

To prepare salad, tear or cut lettuces into bite-sized pieces and place in a large bowl. Layer with glazed walnuts, strawberries, blueberries and feta.

To make the dressing, place sugar, vinegar, dry mustard, salt and red onion in a blender. Blend until smooth. Turn blender to low and, through opening in blender lid, slowly add 1 cup canola oil.

Add poppy seeds and pulse a few times until combined. Serve dressing with salad.

Serves 8-10

*To make glazed walnuts yourself, combine 1/3 cup granulated sugar, 1 cup walnuts, and 2 tsp butter in a heavy duty skillet over medium heat. Cooking, stirring constantly, until the sugar is melted and golden in color and the nuts are toasted. Spread mixture out on aluminum foil, breaking apart nuts as much as possible and cool.

Roasted Butternut Salad with Barley and Candied Bacon

You guys! I had to share this recipe RIGHT away because it is seriously one of the best things I have ever eaten. You probably aren't convinced (Graham wasn't at first either) but I'm not even kidding. You should have seen his face when he came home from work on Wednesday absolutely starved and I dropped the bomb that we were eating SALAD for dinner. I've gotta give it to him though. He pulled off an enthusiastic recovery, even if his initial reaction screamed disappointment. I listed off the ingredients: spinach, butternut squash and barley! Feta, walnuts and pomegranate seeds. He was less than convinced but I knew the candied bacon would win him over. (Spoiler alert: it did).

My extended family recently told me that I am known for my salads. Like people actually get excited to see my name next to the word "salad" when our potluck-style-big-family-party-meal-sign-up-emails start whizzing about. Classic, right? Of course the dietitian in the family would be the one in charge of the green stuff. But I have gladly accepted my role, even more so now that I know people actually seem to look forward to my "health foods." Just last week, we celebrated Canadian Thanksgiving (which is much like American Thanksgiving except we open by singing O Canada) with the extended Crozier family and I brought a popular one: my Purple Chopped Salad. It sat in all it's glory at the end of the buffet, causing a fair number of eaters to gripe that their plates were full before they got to it. I'm not one to brag but I'm pretty sure these eaters later returned to the buffet. For SALAD. Yesssssssssss, says the dietitian. Salad is meant to be enjoyed.

The lowly salad gets such a bad rap. So often it is given little forethought, a last minute filler food used "to try and get our veggies in." Not in my house! I LOVE me a good salad and am constantly finding new interesting combinations of ingredients to try. Often the salad is the star of our meals and my problem usually becomes trying to identify what I could serve as the main dish along with my salad creation. More recently, I've settled to just go with it and treat the salad as the main, tossing in whatever leftover cooked proteins I might have in the fridge. My husband is adjusting to this whole salad-as-dinner concept but when it's hearty enough like this one is, there is really no need to serve anything else (except for wine of course!!)

This is not only one of the best salads ever flavor-wise but it is also really seasonal right now. It just screams fall to me, boasting cubes of roasted butternut squash and juicy red pomegranate seeds. I prepped a lot of the salad ahead of time which made it a quick option to throw together on a work night. I boiled the barley and roasted the squash the night before and even cooked an extra big batch of bacon at breakfast one morning earlier in the week and reserved some for the salad. This meant I candied the bacon differently than the recipe instructs but it worked out great. I simply put 1/4 cup of brown sugar in a large skillet over medium-low heat and warmed it until it had almost turned to a liquid. Meanwhile, I chopped the bacon strips and then threw them in to the liquid brown sugar and stirred them for about a minute until they were well-coated. I removed them from heat immediately and poured them onto foil to cool. Once cooled, they turned into sort of a sugary bacon ball which I chopped again. Voila! Candied bacon! If you really want to make things easy, you could also toast the walnuts, make the dressing and seed the pomegranate ahead of time. Heck, just make the whole salad ahead of time if you want. I found the leftovers still tasted amazing!

Roasted Butternut Salad with Barley and Candied Bacon
(adapted from Chris Scheuer)

For the salad:
8 strips of bacon
1/4 cup brown sugar
3 cups butternut squash, peeled and diced into ½" cubes
1 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
1½ cups walnuts, roughly chopped
2 tsp extra virgin olive oil
2 cups dry pearl barley, cooked according to package directions
4 cups fresh baby spinach, sliced thinly into ribbons
2 cups crumbled Feta cheese
1 medium pomegranate, seeded

For maple Dijon vinaigrette:
1 clove garlic, minced
2 tsp Dijon mustard
3 Tbsp pure maple syrup
2 Tbsp fresh orange juice
¼ cup apple cider vinegar
¼ cup extra virgin olive oil
¼ cup canola oil
generous pinch sea salt
freshly ground black pepper, to taste

Preheat oven to 400˚F. Line 3 sheet pans with foil.

For candied bacon, place bacon strips on one of the prepared sheet pans. Sprinkle evenly with half of the brown sugar. Place in oven for 10 minutes, then remove from oven and flip bacon strips to opposite side. Sprinkle with the remaining half of the brown sugar. Return to oven and bake for another 8-12 minutes, or until deep golden brown (amount of time will depend on your oven and the thickness of the bacon). Watch bacon carefully during the last 5 minutes as it can easily go from golden to burned. Remove bacon to a sheet of foil or parchment paper and allow to cool slightly. When cool enough to handle, slice bacon, width-wise, into ¼" slices. Set aside.

Place diced butternut squash on the second sheet pan. Drizzle with 1 tablespoon olive oil and sprinkle lightly with sea salt and freshly ground black pepper. Place in oven for about 15 minutes or until tender, but not mushy. Gently stir halfway through baking time. Remove from oven and set aside.
Place walnuts on 3rd sheet pan and place in oven for about 8 minutes or until beginning to turn golden. Remove from oven and set aside to cool.

For the vinaigrette, combine all ingredients in a medium size jar. Cover with lid and shake vigorously.

Arrange candied bacon, barley, Feta, spinach, butternut squash, pomegranate seeds and walnuts in rows on salad plates or shallow bowls. Drizzle with dressing. Alternatively, you can also toss all salad ingredients in a large bowl along with the dressing and serve.

Serves 6

Mixed Greens with Cara Cara Orange, Avocado and Olives

We have a slight obsession going on with Cara Cara oranges over here. I don't know if it's the orange itself or it's name, really. How fun is it to say something so rhymy when you're 3? It usually comes out something like "I want a Cara Cara Cara Cara Cara Cara Cara Cara Cara (is that enough Caras yet?) orange please?" I've been buying them by the dozen and they evaporate like candy, usually eaten just plain. But I'm far from plain when it comes to food, as I'm sure you are well aware if you have read even two of my posts, and so of course I have been trying to get a little creative with our oranges.

Despite popular belief, my kids don't really eat salad. Or at least the green parts of it. Usually there's enough goodies and toppings in my salads for them to pick at that it provides the illusion that they are actually eating salad but now you know my dirty little secret. A few weeks ago, I had a winter citrus fest going on in my produce drawer and I was inspired to make use of both my grapefruits and Cara Cara oranges together in one fell swoop. The results were divine and I must confess that I was pretty proud of my creation. It was so delicious I made the exact same salad the following day.

If you have been intimidated by making your own salad dressings, it's high time you get over it. I promise it is worth it and doable and you won't go back, at least very often. Invest in some sort of sealed glass bottle - I use the Korken Bottle with stopper from Ikea - and then you have an easy mixing vehicle for you creations. I like to make a big batch of dressing and keep it in the pantry so I always have some on hand. In a pinch, a large jar with a well-sealed lid also works great. The basics are this: 1 part vinegar to 2-3 parts oil. If you can remember even that much, you're golden. Then you can add herbs, a sweetener if needed (sugar, honey, maple syrup), Dijon and/or seasonings. Go haywire and use what's in your fridge and get creative! Taste often and adjust. I recommend following recipes at the beginning until you feel more confident and then venture out and experiment on your own - have fun with it! If you're still doubtful, know that it took me approximately 30 years and 179 days to gain enough confidence to attempt a dressing by myself and hey, look at me now! If I can figure it out, so can you.

Mixed Greens with Cara Cara Orange, Avocado and Olive and a Grapefruit Vinaigrette
(recipe created by yours truly)

Salad:
1 (5 oz) bag mixed greens
2 Cara Cara oranges, peeled and segmented, pith removed
1 avocado, sliced
1/2 cup pitted kalamata olives
Drizzle of chili oil, to serve

White Balsamic Grapefruit Vinaigrette:
1 teaspoon Cara Cara orange zest
2 Tablespoons fresh grapefruit juice
2 Tablespoons white balsamic vinegar
1/4 cup olive oil
1-2 teaspoons brown sugar (to taste)
Fresh ground pepper
Kosher Salt

Combine first 4 salad ingredients (mixed greens through olives) in a large bowl.

To prepare dressing, combine zest, grapefruit juice, balsamic, olive oil and brown sugar in a sealed glass bottle or jar with tight-fitting lid. Season to taste with freshly ground pepper and salt. Shake vigorously to mix.

Gently toss salad with vinaigrette and drizzle with chili oil to serve.

Serves 6

Panzanella Tomato Bread Salad

How does one boast the positive attributes of a salad consisting of moist bread soaked in the juices of tomatoes? By not using the words "moist" and "bread" together in the same sentence, perhaps? Maybe a better question is how does one photograph said salad and make it look appetizing? Well, I did my best. I can assure you it isn't typically the visual appeal that gets a person to take the panzanella plunge. I must confess that it took me 28 long years to even try the stuff myself. Call me crazy, but wet bread has never really struck my fancy. 

I don't really know what finally prompted me to give panzanella a shot. I'm sure the stars must have aligned and I just so happened to have a loaf of stale bread, overripe tomatoes and the summer issue of Bon Appetit with panzanella on the cover. Whatever the case, I am SO glad I got over the wet bread thing and got my hands dirty (literally!) to try this recipe out.  

It's not exactly a quick or easy recipe but it's so worth it and makes a wonderful special occasion dish too. Though panzanella is considered a "salad," I have a hard time preparing both a salad that is this labor intensive AND a main dish at the same meal. So when panzanella is on the menu, I usually just serve it with some salami, cheese and wine alongside and call it a night. Use the ripest tomatoes you can (overripe is better) and this is a great recipe for that loaf of bread that you didn't get around to using right away (am I the only one that does this?) I recommend using ciabatta as it holds together well and doesn't completely disintegrate in the tomato juice and olive oil. I love for there to be a few bready chunks left intact when it's all said and done.

Because I spent the last 8 years of my life with an electric stove, I always charred the peppers for this recipe by putting them under the broiler. Now that I am living with my in-laws, I was able to play with fire a bit and char them by setting them on the metal grate directly over the flame of the gas burner. Fun times!

The last thing I will say about this recipe is that I know ingredients like Kalamata olives, capers and anchovies tends to scare away some of the less adventurous of us eaters. But I cannot imagine this recipe tasting nearly as exciting without them! They add just the perfect salty, savory Italian zing that makes this dish worth telling you about. So, go big or go home! If you're going to eat a dish starring wet bread, might as well throw in some olives, capers and anchovies too. ;)


Panzanella (Tomato Bread Salad)
(adapted from Bon Appetit Magazine)

2 pounds tomatoes 

1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil plus more for drizzling 

3 tablespoons (or more) red wine vinegar 

4 garlic cloves, minced 

Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper 

1 loaf stale bread (such as country or ciabatta), cut into 1 inch-thick slices 

1 red bell pepper

1 yellow bell pepper   

2 jalapeño peppers 

1/2 cup Kalamata olives, pitted   

1/4 cup capers, rinsed, patted dry, coarsely chopped 

4 anchovy fillets, rinsed, patted dry, finely chopped

1 large bunch basil, leaves trimmed, stems discarded 

 

Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Using the tip of a paring knife, make two 1" cuts on the bottom of each tomato, forming an X. Add tomatoes to water and cook just until skin begins to peel back at each X, 40-50 seconds. Using a slotted spoon, transfer tomatoes to a large bowl of ice water; let cool. Peel tomatoes and place in another large bowl. Using your hands, crush tomatoes, breaking up any large pieces and releasing juices.

Stir in 1/2 cup oil, 3 Tbsp. vinegar, and garlic. Season to taste with salt, pepper, and more vinegar, if desired. Add bread to tomato mixture in bowl. Toss until bread is well coated and starts to absorb liquid. Let sit for 30 minutes.

Meanwhile, char bell peppers and jalapeño peppers, directly over a gas flame or in the broiler until blackened all over. Transfer to a resealable plastic bag. Close bag and let sit for 15 minutes. Remove peppers; peel, core, seed, and cut into 1/4" strips.

Add peppers, olives, capers, and anchovies to bread mixture. Massage with your hands until all ingredients are thoroughly combined and bread is broken down (it will break down differently depending on what kind is used; ciabatta tends to stay more intact). Add basil and season with pepper.

Cover salad and let stand at room temperature for 1 hour. Drizzle with oil just before serving.

Serves 6-8

Grilled Asian Flank Steak with Mango Salad

 

Y'all, I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but summer is almost over. Boooooo. And so I'm milking these sunny days for all they are worth and using that grill to it's full advantage. If you need to give yours a final hurrah before tucking it away for the wet season ahead, here's a recipe for you.

 

My middle child has been acting as my sous chef this month while her older sister is in school and her younger brother is napping. The hours from 2:50 PM onward are filled with a lot of whining and crying in our house now that school has started and none of us are as rested as we should be. So, the middle one and I have taken to making dinner at 9 AM and not only is it lovely one-on-one time, but it lessons the stress during those bewitching hours (yes they definitely are plural in our house!)  

This recipe was originally published last year and it was a real hit when I presented it to my family. The baby (whose first food was beef, mind you) could. not. get. enough. meat. The marinade on this flank steak is to die for and comes together quickly. Actually, it's the perfect thing to mix up at 9 in the morning so it can spend the rest of the day marinating. We waited until right before we ate to throw the meat on the grill because it cooks so quickly but we made the salad ahead and just kept the dressing separate and tossed it in at the last minute. The salad has a lot of spunky - spicy, zesty, limey and sweet, all perfectly combined to make that cabbage come to life. YUM! The magazine suggested serving the meat with homemade sesame wonton chips but I didn't have any wontons handy so I would recommend coconut cilantro rice instead. Substitute about 1/2 can of coconut milk for part of the water in your rice and then once cooked, toss with fresh chopped cilantro. Voila! Delicious!

Grilled Asian Flank Steak with Mango Salad
(adapted from Cooking Light Magazine)

1/2 cup chopped fresh cilantro

2 Tablespoons + 2 teaspoons sugar

2 Tablespoons grated peeled fresh ginger

2 Tablespoons minced fresh garlic

2 Tablespoons fish sauce

1/4 cup lower-sodium soy sauce

1 (2-pound) flank steak, trimmed

3 Tablespoons lime juice

2 Tablespoons water

1 Tablespoon peanut butter

1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper

3 cups shredded romaine lettuce

2 cups shredded green cabbage

1/2 cup mint leaves

1/2 cup cilantro leaves

1/4 cup thinly sliced green onions
1 mango, peeled and diced

Preheat grill to medium-high heat. Combine chopped cilantro, 2 tablespoon sugar, and next 4 ingredients (through soy sauce) in a large zip-top plastic bag. Add beef; let marinate 1 hour to overnight. Remove beef from marinade; reserve marinade.
 

Place beef on grill rack coated with cooking spray. Drizzle with reserved marinade. Grill 7-8 minutes on each side or until desired degree of doneness. Remove from grill; cover with foil. Let stand 5 minutes; cut across grain into thin slices.

Combine lime juice, 2 tablespoons water, peanut butter, remaining 2 teaspoons sugar, and pepper in a large bowl; stir with a whisk. Add lettuce and next 4 ingredients; toss to coat. Divide salad evenly among 4 plates; top evenly with mango. Serve with beef.

Serves 8

Chinese Chicken Salad

After a rather indulgent December, a couple of us were feeling the need for some hearty main-dish salads around here. It just so happened that I had everything but a head of napa cabbage on hand to throw this one together tonight. I'd forgotten how completely delicious and easy it is! The original recipe came from our friend Lacey who delivered it to us after Emma was born. Ironically, she was the salad's biggest fan tonight, dishing up sevenths and even eighths - a first for any of my kids which ordinarily rarely touch salad! I think it was the sweet dressing that won her over. It probably helped that she just received a handmade bunny blanket and I told her bunnies like cabbage....

I made a couple of minor adaptions to the recipe and next time I think I'll throw in a dash or two of sesame oil for a more savory flavor but I was all out tonight. I served the salad with Nutmeg and Fresh Black Pepper Popovers (totally random and not Chinese whatsoever but I've had the recipe lying around waiting to be tried for ages and an all-salad dinner seemed like the perfect opportunity...) The whole meal was a hit with everyone. Enjoy!

Chinese Chicken Salad

 

Dressing:

1/3 cup sugar

1/2 cup canola oil

1/4 cup red wine vinegar

1 Tablespoon rice vinegar

1 Tablespoon soy sauce

Topping:

2 Tablespoon butter

1/4 cup sliced almonds

1/4 cup sunflower seeds

2 package dried ramen noodles, crushed

Salad:

1 head napa cabbage, chopped

3 green onions, chopped

3 mandarin oranges, peeled and broken into segments

3 cups chopped, cooked chicken (I used rotisserie from a meal earlier this week)

2 Tablespoon sesame seeds

To prepare dressing, combine ingredients (sugar through soy sauce) in a small saucepan and bring to a low boil until sugar dissolves. Remove from heat and cool.

To prepare topping, melt butter over medium high heat in a large non-stick skillet. Add almonds, sunflower seeds and ramen and saute until golden brown.

To prepare salad, combine cabbage, green onions, oranges and chicken in a large bowl. Add topping and toss with dressing. Sprinkle with sesame seeds and serve.