Put Your Hands Together Salad

When I worked in DC, my coworkers and I would sometimes venture into Georgetown to this amazing little salad shop called Cafe Tu-O-Tu (which I think is one of the cutest names in a city full of cutely named shops) (202 is DC's area code) (Forgive me, I'm feeling very parenthetical this morning.) One of the meal options was a salad sampler where you could pick two or three of their gourmet salads and get.... well.... a sampling of each.  I would typically get their Spinach and Artichoke Salad with fresh baby spinach, artichoke hearts, pine nuts and shaved Parmesan along with the Salad Nicoise with delicious, spicy arugula, tuna, olives and tomatoes. 

The other night amidst the copious baking I've been doing (I promise pictures and recipes are coming very very soon I just don't know where to start) I felt the craving hit me for one of these salads.  But I couldn't decide which one.  So as my life coach Joey Tribbiani has advised when needing to choose between two things I "put my hands together."  I checked out my pantry and decided I could pretty easily meld the two salads together and maybe add in a few of my other favorite salad toppings.  This hearty, protein rich salad was the perfect salty meal when I was surrounded (no seriously, EVERY counter top is covered) by sugary treats.

We are starting tonight with a big bowl full of fresh arugula.  I chose arugula over spinach for two reasons: 1) I love the spicy crispness of arugula where as I find that spinach is a bit bland and gets soggy really quickly.  2) I buy a big box of organic baby arugula at the grocery store near me and it lasts 2 weeks.  You really can't beat that in the realm of pre-washed lettuce. 

The first thing I pulled from my pantry that HAD to be on this Franken-salad was actually not on either of the originals.  Hearts of Palm.  I cannot look at a can of hearts of palm without thinking about my sister. One year when I was in high school, for Easter, my mother asked us what special treat we wanted in our Easter baskets (she'd let the Easter Bunny know obviously.)  I of course requested Reeses Peanut Butter Eggs since they are bar none the BEST Reeses treat out there and cannot be replicated by the pumpkins or the trees and therefore I must eat as many as I possibly can in the time span of Valentine's Day - Easter.  Meanwhile, my sister requested a can of hearts of palm.  On Easter morning when she got her basket with two big jars of hearts of palm, everyone in my family just stared.  But when the rest of us were fighting through our sugar comas, she was happily munching on her delicious treat.  From that day on, she always got a can of hearts of palm for Easter. 

What's that you say?  This is the cooking blog not the memory lane blog? Fine! Cut up the hearts of palm into slivers.  Little tip: I always get the canned HoPs, I find the jarred ones are woodier.  The way I have been taught to know which can to get is to shake them.  (Yes, I'm that weirdo in the supermarket holding up the canned vegetables and shaking them.)  If you hear a lot of rattling around, put it back.  You want your HoPs to be soft. Soft foods don't rattle against a can.  It sounds crazy, but I swear it works. 

Next I added artichoke hearts.  You want the ones that are in water, not oil.  Give them a rough chop.

To continue on this Mediterranean path I was on, I next added in some roughly chopped kalamata olives. 

At this point, the batch of cookies that had been baking were done and I needed to move the batch beforehand to the cooling racks, take the cookies out of the oven, take the next batch out of the fridge and put it into the oven and the move the last batch in the refrigerator so I forgot to take pictures.  But I sliced up some tomatoes, sprinkled on some croutons and added a can of VERY WELL DRAINED tuna (again packed in water, not oil.)  No seriously, drain the heck out of the stuff.  If you thumbs aren't aching from pressing on the top to squeeze the juice out, you haven't drained enough.

I dwelled for quite a while about what dressing to use.  I couldn't for the life of me remember what Cafe To-o-Tu used.  It shouldn't be balsamic, but maybe just some olive oil and red wine vinegar?  Nah.  Definitely not ranch.  Maybe Italian.  I eventually settled on this delicious Creamy Cilantro dressing I get from Trader Joe's.

Yep, that'll do it.  Give it a toss and it is time to dig in!

Shopping List for Melly's Franken-salad (serves 1 very hungry person)

• Arugula
• 1/2 can Heart of Palm
• 1/2 can Artichoke Hearts
• 12 - 15 Kalamata Olives
• 2 small Tomatoes
• Croutons (optional) (I'd probably omit them next time)
• 1 can Very Very Very Well Drained Tuna packed in water
• Cilantro Dressing

$60 Salad

Let me just start by saying that this salad does not actually cost $60.  Hubby started calling it that last year when I decided I wanted to bring this delicious dish to a pot luck picnic and had to buy enough ingredients to feed 20 people and my total at the grocery store was close to $60.  And really... it isn't much of a salad either.  It is more of a "salad" in the sense of a pasta salad or a potato salad.  Though there is no mayo in it and there are a few vegetables.  So I've got that going for me.  Which is nice.

That being said, it is delicious! With a nice light base of couscous and a fresh Mediterranean flavor profile, it is the perfect accompaniment to a nice summer meal.

I start with two boxes of couscous mix.  I usually use the roasted pine nut flavor, but they didn't have any in the store this time so I went with the herbed chicken.  I probably wouldn't get this flavor again because it came with carrots in the flavor packet... which... wouldn't work so I ended up straining the liquid before I added the couscous.

A little trick I use is to replace the water and butter/oil that is called for in the instructions for the couscous with chicken broth.  So for these two boxes, I would have needed 2.5 cups of water and 4 tablespoons of butter.  Instead, I used 2.5 cups of chicken broth.  This gives the couscous a great base flavor as it absorbs all that salty goodness.  But cuts out the excess fat from the butter.

Once the liquid boils, add the couscous, cover and remove from heat for 5 minutes.

After 5 minutes, the liquid should all be absorbed.  Add in 1/2 cup of pine nuts before fluffing the couscous with a fork.  You want to add the pine nuts in while the couscous is still hot so that the oils from the nuts will be released.  And then set it aside to cool.  If you are impatient like me, you will put it into a bowl in the fridge to speed up the chilling process.

Once the couscous is cooled, start chopping some grape tomatoes into slices.

Next, slice up some pitted kalamata olives.

Finally cut some fresh basil. You can make these cute strips (or chiffonad) by piling the leaves together and then rolling them into a cigar.  Taking a very sharp knife, slice thin strips.  They turn out so pretty and fancy.

Add the tomatoes, olives and basil along with some crumbled feta cheese onto the couscous.

Drizzle on some olive oil.

And now for the secret ingredient.

Are you ready for this?

Pour some of the juice from your kalamata olive jar onto the couscous.  It really adds a special brininess to the finished product and helps keeps the couscous from clumping together without having to add too much oil.

Finally mix it all together and serve it with a little sprig of basil on top.

What I love is that this "salad" keeps getting better as it sits in the fridge - if you manage to not eat it all at once.

Shopping List for $60 CousCous Salad (makes 6 servings)

• 2 Boxes CousCous Mix
• 2.5 Cups Chicken Broth
• 1/2 Cup Pine Nuts
• 1 Cup Chopped Grape Tomatoes
• 1/2 Cup Chopped Kalamata Olives
• 8 - 10 Large Basil Leaves
• 1/3 Cup Crumbled Feta
• 1/4 Cup Olive Oil
• 1/8 Cup Kalamata Olive Juice/Liquid

Buffalo Chicken Salad

As I mentioned yesterday, my sister Jessi has a real knack for making salads.  I look forward to going to her house for girls night because I know she'll show me some new combination of salad ingredients that just go together perfectly that I would have never thought to put together myself. 

This is one of those salads.  The buffalo chicken makes it feel/taste decadent but by just using two strips and loading the rest full of healthy veggies, it is really not that bad for you.

Start with the best part of the salad.  The fried chicken pieces.  If you've never had Tyson's Frozen Buffalo Tenders you are really missing out.  These things are so good.  If you have a little time before a football game I highly recommend putting these bad boys in the oven and serving them with a bowl of blue cheese dressing and some celery.   But for our salad's purpose, we are just going to microwave two of them.  They still get plenty crisp and I am usually too hungry after work to wait for the oven.

To a bowl of Romaine Lettuce, add 1/4 of an avocado - chopped into bite size pieces.  I cut the avocado in 1/2 and then cut out 1/2 of the side without the pit in it.  To store the rest, I put it back together, wrap it in plastic and put it in the fridge.  Keeping the pit in the avocado should keep it from getting brown for the next day or two. 

Next I quarter about 7 - 10 grape tomatoes depending on the size.

On top of this I add some of this delicious broccoli slaw from Trader Joes.  If you don't have a Trader Joes near you, please take a minute to mourn in silence.  Once that is done, you can replace this with some chopped up celery.  I make this substitution whenever I am out of the brocolli slaw or have just plain forgotten to get it.  You basically just want something crunchy and cool in the salad - and celery and buffalo chicken go hand in hand in my book. 

In fact, I'm going to go ahead and add the celery in here too.  I'm wild like that.

Next I add a little bit of chopped cilantro.  I never even considered adding cilantro into a salad before - to me, it was reserved for pico de gallo.  But I watched my Aunt Nancy - the only person better then Jessi at making salads - do it once and I've been converted ever since.  The cilantro just makes the whole thing taste so fresh and adds this wonderful depth of flavor to the salad. 

Top this all off with 2 tablespoons of your favorite ranch dressing.  Mine is this Naturally Fresh Light Ranch.  It is sold in the refrigerated produce section in most grocery stores and is oddly made by the same folks who own Hooters.  (Thank you Undercover Boss for teaching me something.)

Finally the piece-de-resistance.  add in the bite size chunks of heated Tyson's Frozen Buffalo Tenders.

Give it a quick toss and enjoy.  The warmth of the buffalo strips and the coolness of the ranch combined with the crispness of the slaw/celery and the smoothness of the avocado.  To Die For. 

You might think that this bowl is preparing two servings, but you'd be wrong.  This one is all mine.

Shopping List for Buffalo Chicken Salad (makes 1 serving)

• 2 Tyson's Buffalo Chicken Strips
• 3 Cups Romaine Lettuce
• 1/4 Avocado
• 7 - 10 Grape Tomatoes
• 1/2 Cup Broccoli Slaw - roughly chopped
• 2 Celery Stalks
• 1/2 Cup Cilantro
• 2 Tablespoons Ranch Dressing

Jessi's Steakhouse Salad

My sister Jessi is one of the best salad makers I know, second only to my aunt Nancy - who as a vegetarian, has 3 decades more experience then she does.  When I told Jessi about Salad Week, I obviously had to have her make one for me.

Places like Chop't or Mix'd or Sweetgreen give me a bit of agida at the expectation of making my own salad.  I always panic and either select just lettuce, tomatoes and dressing or put together a cacophony of flavors in an attempt to be exotic and end up with an inedible bowl of veggies and cheeses and toppings.  I seriously cannot fathom putting together the ingredients she does, but somehow she always makes it work. And this delectable steak salad is no difference:

Start by grilling up a nice lean flank steak marinated in soy sauce, red wine vinegar and some minced garlic.

While I sat back and enjoyed a nice glass of Pinot Grigio, Jessi got to work chopping the veggies. First the red peppers,

Followed by a few baby bella mushrooms.  (I'm adverse to fungi but for Jessi I allowed it.  And then I promptly picked them out and put them in her bowl when she wasn't looking)

Red Onion - Thiiiiiiinly sliced

Next chop up some candied walnuts

Finally, halve a few grape tomatoes,

Add to all that, some crumbled Gorgonzola Cheese

While the steak rests, it is time to mix up the dressing.  Jessi combines some dijon mustard, balsamic vinegar and minced garlic.

She mixes all that with the cutest teeniest whisk I've ever seen.  She loves anything in miniature so I shouldn't have been so surprised that she had a mini whisk to go with her mini dressing prep bowl.

She streamed in some lovely extra virgin olive oil to bring the vinaigrette together.

Finally it was time to assemble the salad.  In a large salad bowl filled with mixed field greens (Jessi suggests filling your individual bowls with lettuce first to get the portions just right) add the veggies and sprinkle a generous portion of salt and fresh cracked black pepper.  This will really flavor the individual vegetables before adding the dressing.

Finally add in the cheese and dressing and toss together.

Cut the meat very thinly on a bias.  If you - like Jessi - recently received an electric knife for your wedding, this would be the perfect time to use it.

After serving up the two portions, she fanned out a few slices of steak onto each and sprinkled the top with those amazing French's Fried Onion bits.  Oh yeah, you know what I'm talking about.  Those wonderful, crispy little bites of heaven that usually hibernate until Thanksgiving when it comes time to make the green bean casserol.

Steak-ey, Cheese-ey, Crisp-ey, a hint of sweetness from the candied walnuts and saltiness from the fried onions.  I give it an enthusiastic two thumbs up.

Huh... it appears that my wine glass must have a hole in it.  Oh well, its time to dig in. 

Shopping List for Jessi's Steakhouse Salad (Makes 2 Entree Size Servings)

• 6 Cups of Mixed Field Greens
• 1/2 a Red Bell Pepper
• 3 Baby Bell Mushrooms
• 1/4 Red Onion
• 1/2 Cup Chopped Candied Walnuts
• 8 - 10 Grape Tomatoes
• 1/4 Cup Crumbled Gorgonzola Cheese
• Salt and Pepper to Taste
• 6 oz Flank Steak
• 1/8 cup French's Fried Onions

Dijon Vinaigrette Dressing

• 1 Tablespoon Dijon Mustard
• 1/8 Cup Balsamic Vinegar
• 2 Teaspoons Minced Garlic
• 1/4 Cup Extra Virgin Olive Oil

Strawberry Fields Forever

This time last year, Hubby and I went to Disney World for a long weekend.  We learned a lot of things on that trip: Never ever go to Florida in late August; Never get involved in a land war in Asia; Never go against a Sicilian when death is on the line;  And finally, strawberry balsamic on a simple green salad is a gift from the gods. 

When we got home I went on a hard target search for strawberry balsamic.  Oddly enough, we had recently purchased roughly $95 in assorted flavored balsamic vinegars and olive oils while on our honeymoon. ("it was an impulse buy, the guy spoke with an accent and said it suited us") but sadly, we had skipped the strawberry.  We were so naive!

I finally found some at this little specialty store in Frederick and did a little happy dance.  No seriously, ask my friend Jen, she was there and very embarrassed by my happy dance.  When I got home that night, I was so excited to re-make the salad we'd had at Disney World, but I couldn't remember some of the details.  I knew it was made with field greens and I knew there were onions in it.  I vaguely recalled some cheese but wasn't sure which, and I knew there was something salty and crunchy but Hubby and I couldn't agree on what it was.  So I just started experimenting.  And I'm happy to say, I came up with this delicious salad.  It isn't exactly the same, but it is sublime in its own right.  I whole heartedly suggest you go out and get yourself some strawberry balsamic today and make this salad:

Start with a nice big bowl of Field Greens.  I used to hate this variety of lettuce, but I've recently started appreciating the different flavor notes it provides.  I do usually pick out the Frisee though since that texture kind of freaks me out. 

Next slice up some Red Onions.  I use about a third of an onion sliced very thinly.  Sprinkle these over the lettuce.

For the cheese, I finally settled on Goat Cheese.  I love the creamy, tanginess which is a little more subtle then Feta.  I actually think the in the original Disney salad, the cheese was a nice slice of hard Parmesan.  But when I was experimenting I had the goat cheese in my fridge so I went with that and I decided it was a winner.

Also in my cupboard that day were some Pistachios.  I don't know what possessed me to add them, but I even went so far as shelling a few dozen that night, and I'm not sorry I did.  They bring a lovely salty crunch to this sweet, soft salad.  I have since discovered that Trader Joes sells a little bag of already shelled pistachios, and it'll last a while so I go ahead and splurge on it. 

Finally drizzle on the Strawberry Balsamic - I typically cover the mouth of the bottle with my thumb and do a nice wide spiral twice around the bowl.  You don't want too much because this stuff is powerful. 

I also add a drizzle of olive oil along with a pinch of salt and pepper. 

Toss it all together and enjoy this sweet, delicious, summery salad with a side of that grilled chicken we made a few weeks ago (well... a new batch, not the same batch from a few weeks ago.... )

So sweet, so tangy, so salty, so good!

Shopping List for Strawberry Balsamic Salad (Makes 2 small servings or 1 large serving)

• 2 Cups Field Green
• 1/3 Red Onion - sliced very thin
• 1/2 Cup Goat Cheese - crumbled
• 1/2 Cup Salted Pistachio Nutmeats (did you know that is what the inner nut is called? According to the bag it is)
• Strawberry Balsamic Vinegar
• Olive Oil
• Salt
• Cracked Pepper