This time of year, there's lots and lots of lettuce to go around. We're getting it in our boxes, and also getting it from our gardens. So, of course, we have salads every day. I much prefer my own dressing. It's nice to know what's in the food you're eating. Ever try to read the label for a bottle of salad dressing? I hope you remember your chemistry from college...
Making salad dressing is extremely easy. It's also cheaper. Well, you can buy very fancy ingredients, of course. Trust me, I spend lots of money on that. But it doesn't have to be. You need a bowl, and a whisk. That's about it. Here are some common salad dressing recipes that can get you by most of the year.
Mustard vinaigrette – This is about as easy as it gets. You need two parts of some kind of vinegar, one part of some kind of mustard, and one part olive oil. Feel free to get as creative with this as you like. Try different kinds of mustard (I would stay away from the bright yellow kind, but try just about everything else). Try different kinds of vinegars: cider, red wine, rice, or the flavored ones. There is a great store for flavored vinegars and oils in Springfield Town Center. To make the dressing, whisk together the mustard and vinegar, and slowly stream in the oil as you constantly whisk. You're getting them to emulsify. And a little salt and pepper, and you can add spices or fresh herbs too. Voilà!
Citrus vinaigrette – The same as above, but replace half of the vinegar with some kind of citrus juice. Lemon and lime work well, orange mostly doesn't have enough acid, but you could put a little orange juice and a little lemon juice together.
Bleu cheese– Yes, it's wonderful. Yes, it's also completely full of calories and fat. You could make it full fat, and it's way better than what you get in the store, or you can use low-fat or fat-free dairy ingredients. Mix together 3 tablespoons butter milk and sour cream, 2 tablespoons mayo, 2 teaspoons white wine vinegar, and 1/2 cup crumbled bleu cheese. Season with salt and white pepper.
Thousand island – This one is deceptively simple. It's just equal parts ketchup, mayo, and relish. Both mayo and ketchup are also way better when you make them yourself.
There's really nothing more satisfying -- for me, at least -- than waking up early on a crisp, sunny morning, throwing open the windows, and ensconcing myself in my kitchen. In those moments, it's just me and my ingredients, and it's downright zen-like.
This morning, I've been prepping my half of a picnic, as I'm meeting one of my dearest friends to do what we do best...drink wine. She lives in Loudoun Co., so she is my resident expert on Northern Virginia wineries, but today we're going to venture to a winery neither of us has been to. I hear it is also a horse farm, so if you hear the news tonight and there's a breaking story about a woman stealing a horse and riding off with a bottle of wine yelling, "A PONYYYYY!!!!!", yep, that'll be me. My friend is bringing an array of charcuterie and cheeses, so I felt it was my duty to bring the produce. I picked up some amazing strawberries while I was in getting my Crop Share yesterday, and when I saw the romaine I knew what else needed to happen...BIG...SALAD. I only used a part of the bundle of romaine because I want to save the rest for lettuce wraps, but with the honeyed almonds, dried cherries, the peppery arugula, and the earthy splendor of the black truffle salt, I wanted to pull a lot of my favorite wine notes and put them all in one salad.
It looks like a gorgeous day, so whatever you do today, enjoy the outdoors and whip up something bright and fresh with this weeks Crop Share (someone, for my lack-of-grill-sake, please fire up a grill to sear slices of eggplant and then top them with roasted red peppers, goat cheese, and a splash of olive oil & balsamic vinegar)!
Wine Country Salad
Ingredients:
7 Romaine leaves, chopped
1 lg bag arugula (70 oz)
8 oz dried cherries
1 cup sliced almonds
2 Tbsp local honey
1/2 cup olive oil
1/2 cup white wine vinegar (Nalls carry Virginia Vinegar Works' Chardonnay White Wine Vinegar)
2 Tbsp Dijon mustard
1/8 tsp black truffle salt (I get mine at Spice & Tea Exchange in Old Town, or just use Kosher salt)
1/4 cup shaved Parmesan
In a skillet, toss almonds in honey and brown over medium heat. As the honey heats up it will melt down to allow you to mix it up a bit better. And stir fairly regularly to prevent any of the almonds from burning. Once they're golden brown, remove from heat and set aside to cool. They will cool into almond candies, so just break them apart as you're adding them to the salad. Allow to cool completely to prevent wilting your greens.
In a large bowl, toss together greens and cherries. Add in cooled honey almonds, and set aside while you make the dressing.
Whisk together oil, vinegar and mustard until you have a smooth emulsion with no visible streaks of oil left. Stir in black truffle salt and taste to see if you need to adjust any flavors. Pour as much or as little of the dressing over top as you desire and toss to fully coat. Or drizzle some on individual portions when you're ready to eat. Sprinkle in shaved Parmesan and give it one final toss. Serve immediately if tossed in dressing, otherwise you can allow it to chill in the fridge until you're ready to serve.
Cilantro and I are tight. I love that fragrant herb and it loves me back. But I recognize that for some of you, you might hear that we're getting cilantro this week and your first thought is, "Cilant-NO! That stuff tastes like soap!" A few years ago, I learned that for some folks, cilantro only reads like soap or cleaning products on their taste buds. This is not a case of having an unrefined palate (Julia Child herself despised cilantro), it's simply our taste buds being our personal food safety testers to keep us from harm. Since cilantro contains the same or similar type of aldehydes found in soaps, certain chemicals and even in bugs, some people's taste buds pick up on the flavor and alert, "DANGER! DANGER! DO NOT EAT!" Hence, why it reads like soap or cleaning products to many folks, it's their taste bud's way of stopping them from eating the perceived hazard.
So can those of us who love cilantro boast about having more evolved and intelligent palates? Probably not, as I can shamefully admit to once eating an entire slice of moldy pizza and then reached for another before I bothered to flip on the light and see that my pizza was growing a sweater. Like I said, shameful. But the good news for cilantro-phobes is that some people have found if the herb is crushed or really finely chopped, that by breaking it down, it decreases the soapy flavor and only imparts that wonderfully fragrant note that those of us who love cilantro rave about.
Whether you love it or have always reviled it, we've got two great cilantro containing recipes. For those of you doubters, in both of these you can just mince the heck out of the cilantro, let it rest for a few minutes and then toss it in. Think almost a pesto consistency in how finely you mince it. Click the link to view the first recipe, but the second is provided in this post...
If you have an aversion to quinoa, you can easily toss this with white or brown rice, and since it has a Thai flavor profile, you might even try tossing it with rice noodles for a bit of a riff on Pad Thai. Pass the Sriracha!
Healthier Three Layer Taco Dip
Layer 1:
8 oz Neufchatel 1/3 less fat cream cheese (I use Tofutti Better Than Cream Cheese for dairy-free)*
8 oz reduced fat sour cream (I use Tofutti Sour Supreme for dairy-free)*
1 package low-sodium taco seasoning**
1 tsp chipotle pepper (or less to control the heat)**
Beat all ingredients together until well-blended and creamy. Spread in the bottom or a deep dish or pie plate. Refrigerate for at least one hour to allow this layer to set up and firm up.
*When using the reduced fat cream cheese and sour cream, beware of the increased water content. So drain any excess liquid off of the sour cream before using, and then make sure your subsequent layers are well-drained before adding them.
**Since determining the gluten-safe properties of most taco seasonings, I just created my own. This is a great way to save on sodium, because even the low-sodium seasonings are still too high for my taste. Alas, I made mine recently at about 2 am and thus didn't measure, but I did a blend of garlic powder, paprika, ground black pepper, chipotle pepper, and a dash of salt. So add a few dashes and season till you get the taste you want. You definitely want the smoky heat of the chipotle in this layer, so to keep from going overboard on the heat you can up the smoke factor with more paprika.
Layer 2:
1 head of romaine lettuce, chopped fine and patted dry with a paper towel
Evenly spread over cream cheese mixture.
Layer 3:
4 tomatoes, seeded and diced
1/2 chopped sweet onion
1 chopped and seeded jalapeno pepper
3 Tbsp minced, fresh cilantro
Juice of 1 lime or lemon
Mix all ingredients together in a separate bowl and then, using a slotted spoon to allow for drainage of excess liquid, evenly spread over top of romaine. You'll likely have left over pico de gallo, so save to use as a plain salsa or for topping homemade tacos, grilled fish or chicken.
When I was unpacking my Crop Share box I kept staring at the romaine and grape tomatoes and thinking, "mmm BLTs." But grape tomatoes aren't exactly the best suited type of tomato for making a BLT sandwich, and since I've been posting far too many healthy recipes on here, it was high time to release the kraken, and by kraken I mean...BLT Pasta! So if you're looking to use up all of your romaine and tomatoes in one fell swoop that isn't in salad form, then this pasta is for you.
Bacon-Lettuce-Tomato Pasta
Ingredients:
12 oz spaghetti (I use Bio Nature's gluten free as it tastes like fresh pasta)
1/2 lb thick cut bacon, cubed (Boar's Head bacon is gluten free and generally just darn delicious)
1 pint grape tomatoes, halved
3 green onions, ends trimmed and diced
1 head romaine, rough chopped
Ground black pepper
Cook pasta to package directions.
While pasta is cooking, heat a skillet over medium high heat. Add in bacon and cook until much of the fat has liquefied and the bacon begins to slightly brown (you can use turkey bacon to cut down on the fat, but you will likely need to add additional oil in the end as you won't get much from the turkey bacon, and yes, everything gets cooked in the bacon fat here, *gasp*). About 3-5 minutes. Add in tomatoes and green onions and cook until tomatoes begin to burst and they'll start to thicken the sauce. Toss in chopped romaine and cook for an additional 3 minutes or until it is wilted. Remove skillet from heat.
Drain pasta and add to skillet. Toss to evenly coat pasta and season to taste with fresh, ground black pepper.
Serve to husband and wait approximately 4.3 seconds to hear, "Oh my gosh I love you so much" said through a mouth full of pasta.
WAIT! Don't throw away the stem end of your leaf lettuce this week. Make it work again and again for you and get your creative juices flowing.
First up, if one head of lettuce is just never enough. Then re-grow your lettuce from the stalk scraps. Just place the stem end into about a half an in to an inch of water in a container deep enough to keep the stalk from just falling over sideways (I used empty jam jars, but soup mugs or even plastic butter containers would work great). Then place in an area where it will get some nice indirect light, like a windowsill, and watch over the next few days as your lettuce begins to grow again. It's ALIVE!!!! Keep an eye on the water as you'll want to change it every few days to prevent it from getting gunky, and make sure you don't fully submerge the stalk as it will rot. You want just enough water to cover the stem portion and that's it. In the photo below you can already see the center of my lettuce starting to sprout. Plus, this is also a great trick for continually re-growing green onions!
Don't want to wait till you've grown a whole other bit of lettuce? Want instant lettuce scrap gratification? Then use that veggie scrap as a sustainable stamp! Pat the it dry to get rid of any excess moisture, and then grab an ink pad (or if you're still hanging onto the beets from a few weeks ago, use beet juice for a natural dye -- though this would work best on fabric, not on a paper product since it would be too wet) and start stamping away. I had a whole roll of brown butcher paper that I patterned up and I plan to use for gift wrap this year. Plus I even had some matching card stock, so ta-da wrapping paper and blank note cards to match. Changing up the ribbon colors and gift decorations means you can use a wrap like this all year round. If you've got some apples that have started to go soft, you can even slice them in half and dip those into a fabric paint and design up some canvas totes for gifts.
So start looking at your kitchen scraps in a different light and think about all the ways you might be able to reuse them, save yourself some cash, fuel your creative juices, and maybe knock a few holiday to-dos off your list in the process!
So if you've seen our Facebook posts about this Mango Mango stuff and have wondered what on earth is all the fuss about, let me illuminate you. Mango Mango is this great product made by 3 women in the Virginia Beach area. We at Nalls Produce carried it for over a year now and it sold fairly decently and then...Shark Tank. Unbeknownst to us, these ladies appeared on a episode of Shark Tank about a month ago, and ever since we cannot keep the mangoliciousness on our shelves. No joke, we've had people buy 10 jars and we know one woman who keeps a jar at home, a jar a work, and one spare in case of emergencies. There's even a gentleman out there that has asked for Mango Mango for Christmas. We love the product, but the gals at Mango Mango say there are over 100 ways to use it, so I felt it was time to explore the full range of fun instead of just slathering it on a carb. And the grape tomatoes and leaf lettuce in this week's Crop Share had visions of shrimp salads or wraps dancing in my head. Fans of Destiny's Child (I should just say humans, because really, who doesn't love them and long for a full reunion tour. That Superbowl half time show was not enough and the lights in the stadium protested as such!) should check out the Mango Mango website because it's sly reference after sly reference to the song "Bootylicious". So, it begs the question...are you ready for this jelly? Because this Mango Mango Chili Shrimp may be too mangolicious for ya babe! Buckle your seat belt, it's time for take off!
Mango Mango Chili Shrimp Salads
Ingredients:
1 head Romaine or Red Leaf Lettuce
1 pint grape tomatoes, halved
4 Tbsp Mango Mango Preserves (in store now!)
1 tsp garlic, minced
1 inch knob ginger, diced
1/8 tsp coarse ground salt
1 tsp paprika
1 Tbsp sriracha (more if desired for extra heat, and if it's my plate, oh I do desire)
1.5 lbs cooked shrimp, tails removed
2 Tbsp corn starch
Coconut or olive oil
Chop off ends of lettuce (don't discard, see how we reuse it!) and rinse leaves thoroughly, setting aside to dry. Rinse and slice tomatoes and set aside.
In a bowl, mix together Mango Mango preserves, garlic, ginger, salt, paprika and sriracha, set aside. Pat shrimp dry with a paper towel and toss in 2 heaping Tbsp corn starch (corn starch is my miracle batter for frying sans gluten, dairy or egg, it coats things just enough to give the skin a crispy finish). Heat about 1/4" of oil in a pan over high heat. Once your oil is hot enough drop in coated shrimp to begin lightly frying. You'll likely have to do these in batches to prevent over crowding if you don't have a huge skillet. Once shrimp have curled and the outsides have crisped, remove from pan and rest on a paper towel lined plate. Repeat until all shrimp are fried. Drain off excess grease from the pan and wipe down with a paper towel. Reduce the heat to medium high, and toss shrimp back into the pan and pour your mango chili sauce over top. Cook until the sauce is thick and some of it begins to crisp up, about 1-2 minutes.
Serve a scoop of shrimp on a bed of lettuce with some sliced grape tomatoes and finish with an extra drizzle of sriracha if you need a final kick. I ate mine as lettuce wraps and the Mister ate his as a shrimp salad with a bit of jasmine rice on the side.
We all had a great time experimenting with pattypan squash this week, especially for those of us (like me!) who were completely new to this funky, cool squash. One of our Nalls crew, Dawn, got extra creative this week and whipped up some baked pattypan, stuffed with cheesy bacony goodness. *gasp* I, on the other hand, got lazy after a long day and decided to just dice it up, season it, and bake it into submission. Then I tossed it with a grilled shrimp and romaine salad, so if you've yet to use up the pattypan from last week, this is a great way to use up that along with this week's romaine lettuce. So here's two pattypan preparations from our Nalls' Kitchen to yours...
Bacon & Cheese Stuffed Pattypan Squash
Ingredients:
6 pattypan squash
1 pack applewood cured, thick sliced bacon
1 cup diced onion
1 fresh jalapeno, finely diced
2 cups Panko breadcrumbs
1 cup fresh grated Parmesan cheese
salt & pepper to taste
ranch dressing
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Bring one inch of water to boil in a saucepan, over medium high heat. Add squash, cover and cook for 10 minutes. Drain and slice off the top of the squash. Let cool and then carefully scoop out the center of the squash, reserving all of the meat.
Place bacon in a large, deep skillet. Cook over medium-high heat until evenly brown. Drain on a paper towel and set aside. Saute onions in bacon drippings, chop squash meat and add to onions, sauteing for 1 minute. Remove from heat and add jalapeno, breadcrumbs, and 1/2 cup of Parmesan. Crumble in bacon. Season with salt & pepper to taste. Stuff each squash and top each with remaining cheese.
Bake for 15 minutes.
Remove from oven, cut in half and drizzle with ranch dressing. Enjoy!
Place cubed pattypan on a baking sheet and toss with olive oil and spice mix to evenly coat. Bake for 20-30 minutes, turning halfway through, until sides begin to turn golden brown.
We tossed ours into a simple salad of romaine, arugula, grilled & spiced shrimp (used Dizzy Pig Tsunami Spin on these). And then made a vinaigrette of equal parts olive oil and white balsamic vinegar.
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