Sunday Salads: Hot Weather Cooking

Summer has finally hit NYC with temperatures in the mid-80s and high humidity. So it was rather serendipitous that this week's New York Times dining section had an article with 101 Salad suggestions. Based on my farmers market haul this week ($16.40 worth of produce -- pretty restrained for me!), I've already made riffs on three of the salads. Number 30 called for red skinned potatoes, but I used a small handful of Russian Banana fingerling potatoes, sliced into half moon shape and tossed with a Dijon-shallot-lemon-olive oil dressing, capers and chopped parsley. It turned out a little too acidic for my taste, so I added a tablespoon of Miracle Whip to tone it down a bit.

I "slaved" over the stove the longest for Number 27. Without a grill, I had to soften the eggplant in a small stir fry pan on the stove. Despite the size of the eggplant, it took 20 minutes over a medium low flame until it was ready.

But at least I had time to make a pesto sauce and use some of the basil growing rampant on my fire escape. I blitzed about four cups of basil leaves with the zest and juice of half a lemon, 4 tablespoons of olive oil, 1 tablespoon of toasted pine nuts, one clove of garlic and lots of Romano cheese. It made a ton, so I reserved about 1/4 cup for later and tossed the rest with the chopped eggplant, grape tomatoes and half a can of cannellini beans. Stuffed INSIDE a small pita with some baby spinach, it was a light and refreshing lunch.

I love quinoa, and made note of Number 94, but was fresh out of mint (sacrificed earlier in the week for a pitcher of mojitos!). So instead, I decided to make a kitchen-sink style tabouli, combining quinoa and bulgar with a ton of chopped vegetables, parsley, crumbled feta and a Greek-style dressing.

Yes, it was a lot of chopping, and yes, I did a lot of dishes, but the end result was worth it. Now I have salads for a week's worth of lunches. Three salad recipes down and only 98 more to go...

Kitchen Sink Tabouli

Be sure to rinse your quinoa very well before cooking. The outer layer contains saponins, which tastes really bitter and is not always completely removed during commercial processing (as I discovered the hard way the first time I made quinoa!).

Ingredients

1/4 C. Quinoa, rinsed

1/4 C. Bulgar

1/2 Lemon, juiced

2 T. Red wine vinegar

2 T. Olive oil

1 Persian cucumber, diced

1/4 C. Grape tomatoes, quartered

1 Large radish, small dice

2 Scallions, chopped

1/4 C. Grated carrots

4 C. Flat leaf parsley leaves, finely chopped

1/4 C. Feta cheese, crumbled

Method

In a large bowl, combine bulgar with 3/4 C. of boiling water; cover and let sit for 30 minutes; drain any excess water.

In the meantime, cook quinoa in approximately 1 C. of water over low heat until the quinoa "unfurls"; drain, combine with bulgar.

In a small bowl, whisk together lemon juice, red wine vinegar, olive oil and Greek seasoning (a combination of salt, oregano, garlic, lemon peel, black pepper and marjoram).

Add all vegetables, the parsley and dressing to the grain mixture and mix to combine; add feta and toss well before serving.

Quinoa Calling

I did it again – spent almost $50 at the green market. I went with the best intentions of only spending what was in my pocket ($23) but was seduced by produce and actually hit up the ATM mid-shopping spree. Can you tell the one thing I was not able to buy? If you guessed Persian cucumbers, you’re right! The season is almost over and what the vendor had, they were saving for an unnamed restaurant. Hmph. But since I could barely carry what I had, perhaps it was for the best. Four days later and I’ve actually used up a good chunk of my purchases – in cauliflower leek potage and baked eggplant mozzarella and several servings of an autumn salad based off of one I had from Marks & Spencer’s Simply Food last January. Marks & Spencer’s Simply Food has the best concept – a majority of the space is dedicated to high quality prepared foods for people on the go. If they would only open across the pond, as I have only seen them in Europe. When I was in London last winter, the exchange rate was even worse that it is now, so I picnicked from M&S SF several times. The best dish was a Moroccan Chicken Salad prepared with grains, roasted sweet potato, pine nuts, pomegranate seeds and two kinds of dressing (chermoula and a lemon mint yogurt) served over greens. I actually preserved the label from the container so I could recreate it at home, and when I saw that pomegranates were reappearing in the markets, dug out the scrap. The ingredient list is pretty daunting: quinoa and bulgur, rocket (arugula) and baby spinach, mint and coriander (cilantro), preserved lemon, sunflower oil and more – oy! So I simplified a bit. I still made a tabouli-style mixture of bulgur and quinoa with chopped mint, cilantro and scallions, but I subbed olive oil for the sunflower oil and lemon juice and zest for the preserved lemon. To me, adding butternut squash was somehow more appealing than adding sweet potato, although the sweet potato may have the nutritional edge. And I didn’t bother making a separate chermoula and a lemon mint yogurt dressing. Served over arugula with a sprinkle of rice wine vinegar, and it was almost like I was back in London…without the £9 M&S price tag.

Mock M&S Salad I noticed that the October issue of Bon Appétit has a similar recipe. I actually think the addition of grains makes for a heartier main dish salad, which is the intent of this recipe. Ingredients About 2 c. of butternut squash, peeled and diced into .5 inch cubes 2 T. olive oil, separated 1/3 c. uncooked quinoa 1/3 c. uncooked bulgur 1 c. water or broth, divided 2 T. cilantro, finely diced (more to taste) 2 T. fresh mint, finely diced (more to taste) 3 scallions, diced ¼ c. pomegranate seeds ¼ c. pine nuts, toasted 1 lemon, zested and juiced Paprika Salt Pepper Salad greens (optional) Method Preheat oven to 400 Place squash cubes and 1 T. of olive oil in baking or roasting pan; season liberally with salt, pepper and paprika Roast squash in oven for 20-minutes until edges start to crisp Boil ½ c. of water or broth, combined boiling water and bulgur in a large mixing bowl, cover Boil remaining ½ c. of water or broth, add quinoa and cook until water is absorbed[i] Add quinoa to bulgur bowl, along with herbs, pomegranate seeds, pine nuts, lemon zest, lemon juice and remaining olive oil; toss well Add roasted squash cubes and stir to combine Serve over greens or eat as is [i] I like to add the plumped bulgur to the cooked quinoa during the final minutes of cooking so bulgur can absorb any excess water from quinoa