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.
Despite yesterday's weather, I'm convincing myself that Spring must really be here because SPRING ONIONS have arrived! It's almost as awesome as the springtime arrival of asparagus. Almost. If this is your first encounter and you've been eyeing those giant sprouty things suspiciously, fear not because you are in for an awesome treat. It's like a two for one deal with spring onions, because you get the green part which are somewhere between a chive and a leek, and then the bulb which is like, well, an onion. But a delicate and sweet one. Plus, the ones in this week's Crop Share are Vidalia spring onions, so that means even more sweetness. I know for sure I'll be using two of the bundle to make my favourite Chicken In A Spring Onion Cream Sauce (is amazing over meaty fish like salmon or swordfish too!), but I made myself reserve one of the bundle to experiment with. On Saturday we got a call that afternoon from some friends to come over for dinner, and since you should never show up to a dinner party empty handed, I decided to whip up a salad from among the Crop Share ingredients I just brought home. And thus the following yummy and crisp salad was born! So if you're sheepish about the spring onions, let this salad be your gateway drug into spring onion mania!
Pear & Spring Onion Salad with a Tarragon Dijon Vinaigrette
Ingredients:
1/2 cup sliced almonds, unsalted
1 Tbsp local honey
1 head leaf lettuce, chopped
1 Vidalia spring onion, ends trimmed and diced (both green and white parts)
2 pears, cored & thinly sliced
1/2 cup olive oil
1/2 cup white wine vinegar (I used some of the delicious Chardonnay White Wine Vinegar from Virginia Vinegar Works that's available at Nalls)
1 Tbsp Dijon mustard
1/8 tsp Kosher salt
1/8 tsp ground black pepper
1 tsp dried tarragon
In a skillet over medium heat, toss almond slivers with honey to evenly coat and toast almonds until golden brown. You'll want to keep a close watch and stir fairly often to prevent any almonds from burning. Remove from heat and set aside to cool.
In a large bowl, toss together lettuce, diced spring onion, pear slices and cooled, honey almonds (you'll likely have to break them apart as when they cool they turn into almond candy).
Then in a medium sized bowl, briskly whisk together oil, vinegar and dijon until you have a smooth, creamy dressing. Add in salt, pepper and tarragon and whisk to fully incorporate. Pour as much or as little of the dressing over the salad as desired, toss to coat and serve.
Makes a wonderful side salad with dinner, or add in some grilled chicken, shrimp or salmon to turn this into a complete meal.
Wait till you see the amount of potatoes you're getting in the Crop Share this week! Squee! Can you tell I'm Irish by descent? So, after you're done whipping up this Leek & Potato Soup, you're still going to have potatoes left over! While I suggest using up some in this Potato Salad with Cucumber, Rocket Greens & Smoked Salmon (this is not your Grandma's potato salad, no mayo in sight, it is an actual salad), I've also got another "fishy" recipe below that is one of my all-time favorite preparations for salmon. The potatoes become this wonderful crispy base, and then you'll be able to throw on some of the tangelos or any leftover citrus from last week, and snag a Meyer lemon or two while you're in the store. Then, as I mentioned in the "spoiler" e-mail earlier today, hands down one of my favorite salads of all time is this Herbed Shrimp & White Bean salad I'll link to below. When you see how beefy the green leaf lettuce is this week, you'll have to work to use that up too, and this entree salad will be just the ticket. We got in fresh cherry tomatoes today, so you'll be able to snag a pint of them along with some local honey to help round out the salad ingredients.
So without further ado, I give you two of my favorite recipes that are sure to help you use up this week's bounty (titles are hyper-linked to original recipes)...
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.
There are stuffed peppers and then there are STUFFED peppers. If you're intimidated by the poblano peppers in this week's share, fear not. While they look sinisterly hot, they are, in fact, quite mild, and when you stuff them with something gooey, creamy and delectable, the peppers provide just the right amount of zip. We've all seen chile rellenos on menus in just about every Mexican restaurant, and while they are nothing short of yumtacular, they aren't exactly going to make it onto any healthy eats list. Apparently, "experts" say that things stuffed with cheese and battered in egg are not good for you, despite them also telling me that my bones need calcium and eggs are great sources of protein. Oh well, I guess we'll all just have to settle for...Guacamole-Stuffed Poblanos! This recipe from Eating Well calls for using hearts of romaine lettuce, but you can just as easily use your red leaf lettuce in its place.
These spicy wraps have been our quick, go-to dinner for Meatless Mondays. And with the green leaf lettuce in this week's Crop Share you'll be able to turn these bad boys into delicious lettuce wraps, or even shred the lettuce for an added crunch if you prefer to use pita or naan to bundle them up. They'll be the perfect detox for your system after this weekend's inevitable chocolate binge!
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