Tomato & Sweet Onion Salad with Gorgonzola Vinaigrette

simple summer salad for a crowd...

This 4th of July weekend was full of family, friends, and of course food. We celebrated on both Friday and Saturday so I had plenty of opportunity to make something yummy, but I also wanted to relax. So, what's easier than a salad? This recipe came from one of my husband's family members - thanks Marcie! - and I told her I'd post it to my blog one day. Well, that day is here, and what a yummy salad this was.

For this blue series I'll be focusing on Gorgonzola cheese. It's similar to blue cheese, but in my opinion, a little more mild. So, if you aren't a big fan of blue cheese, you might try Gorgonzola. The cheese in the vinaigrette is precisely what makes this salad so delicious and different. This side salad serves a crowd, so make it for your next party. Here's how...

Ingredients - Serves 10-12
Vinaigrette
1/2 C White Wine Vinegar
3/4 C Extra Virgin Olive Oil
1/4 C Fresh Parsley, minced
1 tsp. Black Pepper
1 (5oz.) Container Crumbled Gorgonzola Cheese
Salad
2 Heads Romain Lettuce, torn
1 Large Vidalia (sweet) Onion, sliced
5-6 Tomatoes, sliced
2-3 Sprigs Fresh Parsley, torn
Kosher Salt & Black Pepper

Directions
Prepare the lettuce, onion, tomatoes, and parsley.

Make the vinaigrette: In a bowl combine the white wine vinegar, extra virgin olive oil, parsley, and black pepper. Whisk together. Add the Gorgonzola cheese, stir, and set aside.

Arrange the salad: On a large platter put down a bed of the torn Romain lettuce. Top with the sliced sweet onion and then the tomatoes. Finally, sprinkle on the parsley and a little salt and pepper. Serve with the Gorgonzola vinaigrette. Enjoy!

Arranged Seafood Salad with Grapefruit Vinaigrette

Happy Mother's Day...

Today we celebrate Mom. She does (and still does) so much for us. She's there when you need someone to talk to, supports you, and helps you no matter what. She may have given me life, but without her unconditional love I would never have known how to live. My mom is my best friend and I love her dearly. If I had been making her lunch today, I would have made this salad (she came over for dinner instead).

This arranged seafood salad takes a bit of time to make since everything needs to be chopped, but it's worth the effort, especially if it's for Mom. The shrimp and scallops are gently poached and then mixed with crab, avocado, green onions, dill, mayo, and sour cream. This seafood salad is creamy and fresh. I then arrange this on top of lettuce and surround it by grapefruit, jicama, radishes, and radicchio. Finally, I top the salad off with an easy grapefruit vinaigrette. Spoil Mom with this seafood salad. Here's how to make it...

Ingredients - Serves 4
Salad
1/2 lb. Bay Scallops
1/2 lb. Medium Size Shrimp, peeled & deveined (tails off)
1 (8 oz.) Container Crab Meat, picked over for shells
2 Avocados, pitted & diced
3 Green Onions, sliced
2 T Fresh Dill, chopped
2 T Mayo
2 T Sour Cream
1 Head "Living" (or Boston) Lettuce
1 Grapefruit, supreme
1/2 Jicama, cut into match-sticks
6 Radishes, thinly sliced
1/2 Head Radicchio, chopped

Vinaigrette
1/2 Grapefruit, zest & juice
~1/4 C Extra Virgin Olive Oil
1/2 tsp. Granulated Sugar
Salt & Pepper

Directions
Cook the scallops & shrimp: Bring a pot of water to a gentle boil. Add the scallops and shrimp and poach for 3 minutes. Drain and run under cold water. Pat dry.

Make the seafood salad: Combine the cooked scallops and shrimp to the crab, avocado, green onion, dill, mayo, and sour cream in a large bowl. Season with salt to taste, cover, and refrigerate.

Make the vinaigrette: In a small bowl combine the grapefruit zest and juice. Drizzle in the olive oil, whisking until emulsified. Add the sugar and a pinch each salt and pepper. Whisk again, taste, and adjust the seasoning as needed. Set aside.

Arrange the salad: On a large plate put 4 or 5 lettuce leaves down. Place a 1/4 of the seafood salad into the center. Then, arrange the grapefruit, jicama, radishes, and radicchio around the seafood salad. Drizzle with the vinaigrette. Enjoy!

Wedge Salad with Creamy Shallot Dressing & Crispy Shallot Topping

veggie wedge salad

A traditional wedge salad is served with lots of bacon. Obviously, for me this isn't an option. But, I love everything else about a wedge, so for this post I've made a vegetarian friendly version. The star of my salad is arguably the crispy fried shallots, but the dressing is quite good too. If you haven't guessed, I'm focusing on shallots for this series of recipes.

With spring comes lots of different types of onions - green, chives, ramps, etc. Shallots are one of many, but they are the only ones that are purple! Of course, they don't uncover their beautiful light purple color until the skin is peeled away. This recipe calls not only for shallots, but also for a little red onion and chives. All other traditional wedge ingredients like iceberg lettuce, tomatoes, and blue cheese are included. Make this veggie wedge salad even if you aren't a vegetarian, it's quite tasty. Here's how...

Ingredients - Serves 4
Wedge Salad
1 Head Iceberg Lettuce, core & cut into quarters
1 C Cherry Tomatoes, halved
1/4 Small Red Onion, thinly sliced
4 oz. Crumbled Blue Cheese

Creamy Shallot Dressing
1 Shallot, finely chopped
1/2 C Plain Greek Yogurt
1/4 C Sour Cream
1/2 C Butter Milk
1 T Chives, chopped
1 T White Wine Vinegar
Kosher Salt
Black Pepper

Crispy Shallot Topping
Canola Oil, for frying
4 Shallots
2 T All-Purpose Flour
Smoked Salt (or Kosher)

Directions
Begin by heating a large skillet (suggest cast iron) filled halfway with oil to 350 degrees.

Make the dressing: Combine the shallot, yogurt, sour cream, butter milk, chives, and vinegar in a medium bowl. Whisk together and season to taste with salt and pepper. Cover and refrigerate until ready to serve.

Make the crispy shallots: Slice the shallots into thin rings. Separate the rings and put them in a bowl with the flour. Gently toss to coat. Shake off any excess flour and put half of the shallots into the preheated oil. Fry the shallots until they are golden brown, about 5 minutes. Don't over cook, they will become bitter. Remove the crispy shallots to a paper towel lined plate and sprinkle with the smoked salt. Repeat until all of the shallots have been fried.

Build the salad: Put one iceberg wedge on a plate cut-side up. Top with some of the dressing. Then, add the tomatoes, red onion, and blue cheese. Finally top with the crispy shallots and more black pepper. Serve with extra dressing. Enjoy!

Summer Golden Beet Salad w/ Balsamic Drizzle Dressing

a mid-summer's night salad...

It's summer solstice or mid-summer or the longest day of the year as many say. A day where the sun is up its longest, making it the perfect time to celebrate the beginning of the summer season. Although it's not actually any longer than any other day of the year, we have more light (5 seconds more to be exact). So, have a picnic, grill out, or just have dinner for the family outside. Whatever you decide to do, try to at least stay up until the sun sets for our "longest day" of the year.

I've made this summer salad to kick off the season. It's fruity and earthy and quite beautiful. The colors make me think of the golden sun setting over an empty field. The reds, yellows, greens, and purples. I'm specifically focusing on balsamic vinegar for this series and its deep flavors and purple color. Make this salad to celebrate our "longest day". Here's how...

Ingredients - Serves 4
Summer Salad
3 Medium Golden Beets (~ 1 1/2 lbs.)
1 T Olive Oil, divided
3 C Arugula
1/2 Small Red Onion, thinly sliced
1/4 C Dried Cranberries
1/4 C Pistachios, shelled & roughly chopped
4 oz. Plain Goat Cheese, crumbled

Balsamic Drizzle Dressing
1/3 C Balsamic Vinegar
2 tsp. Dijon Mustard
2 tsp. Honey
Salt & Pepper

Directions
Begin by roasting the beets: Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Cut the top (leafy parts) and bottom off each of the beets. Note: you can save the leafy parts to cook or discard if they don't look good. Scrub the beets and pat them dry.

Lay out a large piece of heavy duty foil (or double up with regular foil). Place the beets on top and drizzle with 1/2 T olive oil. Rub to coat the beets well with the oil, then wrap them tightly in the foil. Put them in the oven and cook for 45-50 minutes or until cooked through.

Remove the beets from the oven, unwrap, and allow to partially cool, about 10 minutes. Using a paper towel, carefully (beets will still be a little hot), rub the skin from the outside of the beets, discard. Once all the skin has been removed, cut the beets into wedges. Set aside.

Prepare the onion for the salad: Put the onion slices into a small bowl and cover with cold water. Soaking the onion in cold water will take away a little of the harsh bite raw onions can have. Set aside.

Make the drizzle: In a small sauce pan, whisk the balsamic, mustard, and honey together. Over med-high heat, bring the mixture to a bubble. Simmer until the mixture is reduced to 1/4 C, approx. 3-4 minutes. Remove from the heat to cool.

Arrange the Salad: Dress the arugula with the remaining 1/2 T olive oil and a pinch each of salt and pepper. Then, on a large platter put the dressed arugula down first and top with the other ingredients in this order: red onion (drained), beets, cranberries, pistachios, and goat cheese. Drizzle the balsamic dressing over top. Serve immediately. Sun and summer have arrived! Enjoy.

Spinach Salad w/ Lemon-Pepper Chicken, Candied Walnuts, & Raspberry Vinaigrette

a red, red raspberry

I was a creative writing English major and one of my favorite poems we studied was A Red, Red Rose by Robert Burns. I like the rhythm and rhyme and, of course, the idea of loving someone to the end of time. While Burns chose to liken his love to a red rose, I'm loving this season's red raspberries. They have been especially beautiful and tasty.

For this recipe I'm building out a spring salad. There are many pieces to this recipe and you don't have to make each piece. Feel free to buy rotisserie chicken or candied walnuts, but if you have the time, I suggest making each item. It really doesn't take as long as you would think! The star of the salad is the dressing, so if anything, just make that to top your favorite salad. Make this recipe for your luve. Here's how...

Ingredients - Serves 4

Lemon-Pepper Chicken

~2 lbs. Chicken Breast, pounded to 1/2 in. thick

2 Lemons

Olive Oil

Salt & Pepper

Candied Walnuts

1 C Whole Walnuts

1/4 C Powdered Sugar

1/4 tsp. Cayenne Pepper

1/8 tsp. Kosher Salt

Raspberry Vinaigrette

1C Fresh Raspberries (~1 Pint)

1/4 C Apple Cider Vinegar

1 T Balsamic Vinegar

1 tsp. Honey

1/2 C Extra Virgin Olive Oil

Salt & Pepper

Salad

5oz. Package Baby Spinach

1/2 Small Red Onion, thinly sliced

1 Large Green Apple, cubed

4oz. Goat Cheese, crumbled

Directions

Start by making the chicken: In a large resealable bag add the zest of 1 lemon, juice of 2 lemons, 2-3 T olive oil, 1/2 tsp. salt, 1/2 tsp. pepper, and the chicken. Seal the bag and massage the marinade into the chicken. Place the chicken in the refrigerator to marinate for 2-4 hours.

When ready to cook, remove the chicken from the bag to a plate, discard the bag and marinade. Season with a little more pepper on each side. Then grill (or cook in a skillet) until cooked through. Rest the chicken on a cutting board for 5 minutes, then thinly slice.

Make the candied walnuts: Follow the directions from this Food Network recipe, but be sure to use my measurements. Based on the comments, I've upped the cayenne pepper. Allow the nuts to cool completely before assembling the salad.

Make the raspberry vinaigrette: In a blender combine all of the ingredients except the salt and pepper. Blend until smooth. Add salt and pepper to taste and blend together once more. Set aside until the salad is assembled.

Assemble the salad: Arrange 4 dinner plates with the spinach. Top each evenly with the red onion, apple, thinly sliced lemon-pepper chicken, goat cheese, and candied walnuts. Finally, pour the vinaigrette over the salad. Be sure not to over-dress, there will be more than enough dressing. Serve immediately with any extra dressing at the table. Enjoy!

Pear, Endive, & Gorgonzola Cheese Salad with Lemon Vinaigrette

an arranged salad almost too pretty to eat...almost...

My husband and I were married last fall and my parents threw us an engagement party at a local wine bar and then we had dinner at our home. My mom got us two cakes from The BonBonerie, a local Cincinnati favorite. On one of the cakes was a cute design of two pears, one in a white dress, the other in a tux, and underneath it read "The Perfect Pair".

What can I say, it was adorable. I love pears! Especially the golden brown variety that take center stage in this salad. They provide that little bit of sweetness that's needed when combined with bitter endive and salty Gorgonzola. The golden brown skin also gives them some texture, so I leave it on for this salad. Here's how to make it...

Arranged Salad - Serves 4

8 Large Endive Leaves, likely from 2 heads
1 Ripe Golden Brown Pear, diced (leave skin on)
2-3oz. Crumbled Gorgonzola Cheese
1/3C Slivered Almonds, toasted

Lemon Vinaigrette
Zest & Juice of half a Lemon
Pinch of Salt, Pepper, & Sugar
1/4C Extra Virgin Olive Oil

Directions

First make the dressing in a small bowl: add the lemon zest and juice, a pinch each of salt, pepper, and sugar, and then whisk in the olive oil. It's important to use a good quality extra virgin olive oil for dressings since nothing is being cooked.

Next, arrange the salad on a serving platter: place the endive leaves cup-side up, fill with the diced pear, Gorgonzola cheese, and slivered toasted almonds.

Finally, drizzle the arranged salad with the dressing and serve. I have to say, I think that pears and Gorgonzola cheese are a perfect pair too!