Seasonal Tastes: September 2014 - Roasted Mushroom Salad

September is the official start of fall and while most people excite in the change of seasons because it signifies a change in wardrobe, I like the transition to fall because it means new ingredients.  One thing that's in season in September is arugula.  Arugula is a lettuce, which usually means "salad base".  That's still the case here, but if you fill up the salad with a ton of different ingredients, the arugula will get lost.  That's why this salad is pretty much just two ingredients: arugula and mushrooms.

Arugula has a strong pepper flavor which can be a bit overbearing for me at times.  That's why you can't just use any old mushroom here.  It's gotta be a beefy cremini.  They're small enough to pan roast whole but have tons of flavor, especially when they're combined with a bunch of garlic and olive oil - enough to dress the salad when it's all tossed together.

Corn Salad with Cheddar and Tomato

I keep seeing recipes for corn on the cob that's been grilled and topped with fun ingredients like seasoned butter, mayo, and cotija cheese.  Such a fun summer treat, right?  Well here's the problem with that: I live in NYC so it is significantly more difficult to find a grill to make a recipe like this.  Also, as much as it's a common street fair item, I don't really want to pick corn kernals out of my teeth in front of a bunch of people, nor do I find a giant corn on the cob conducive to eating while walking.

This salad is the perfect solution, especially when made with extra sharp white cheddar as I chose to do.  When the corn is paired with other bright flavors like fresh tomato, lemon, and chives it feels very summer-y.  And since it's served room temp (instead of hot like those street fair cobs) I think it almost feels more like a summer dish.  When it's blazing hot outside I don't need hot veggies, I want cool cool cool.  This is also a great dish to prep in advance so it was perfect to bring to my book club.

Chicken, Bacon, Avocado, & Roasted Asparagus Salad

This recipe for chicken bacon avocado salad jumped out at me as a great salad-as-a-meal option.  The addition of asparagus makes it feel even heartier so you essentially feel like you're eating a full meal in one bowl rather than spread out in different sections on a plate.  I mean, separating your meal's components is just so predictable, am I right?

I made a couple of tweaks: I used lemon/zest + pepper instead of lemon pepper on the asparagus.  I also roasted the asparagus instead of sauteing because I think it gives it a deeper flavor.  I also used rotisserie chicken instead of sliced deli chicken because I prefer the texture.

This guy is actually not too bad for you.  The spinach base is just about the healthiest lettuce you can use (antioxidents, baby!) and, sure, there's bacon (and only about 2 slices - it won't kill ya), but that's a fair trade since you're eliminating the dressing you'd usually pair with a salad like this.  And a little bacon goes a long way.  You could use turkey bacon to make it even better for you...but I just don't do turkey bacon.  There are only so many sacrifices I'm willing to make.  You won't need ranch dressing when you have all the flavors of creamy avocado, zingy lemon, and fresh basil.  If I didn't know the basil was in there, I probably wouldn't have been able to pick it out, but it definitely added something.  It was like a sneaky, undercover flavor agent.

Crunchy Salad with Turkey Cutlets

While I was at Trader Joe's last week, I saw a new bag peeking out among the lettuces.  The Cruciferous Crunch Collection is a melange of greens like kale, broccoli slaw, red and green cabbage, and Brussels sprouts.  Cruciferous reminds me Crucifictorious, Landry's band in Friday Night Lights, and that is a major reason why I purchased this salad mix.  Being the base of my quick and healthy dinner was more of a bonus.

What you'll notice about all those veggies is that they're all super crunchy.  You'll really be working the chompers as you go through that stuff.  Like with all other raw, crunchy salad bases I knew I would need a heavier, acid based dressing to break down the greens.  I went with Trader Joe's pear champagne vinaigrette partly because it was right next to the lettuce but also because it sounded yummy.  A sweet and tangy dressing always goes well with blue cheese so I picked up some gorgonzola as well.  To build out the rest of the salad I decided to stick with the crunchy theme.  I decided to add different types of crunch.  Not all crunch is created equal and you shouldn't go on cooking thinking it is.  I added a red bell pepper because it's crunchy but also juicy in a way.  I also added pumpkin seeds for the kind of crunch that shatters a bit when you bite down.

I topped the whole thing with turkey cutlets that I covered first with egg and then with seasoned panko (I used paprika and garlic powder) and then pan fried.  The turkey was already pounded super thin so it took just a moment to cook.  Being able to add fresh cooked protein to my salad in "a moment" is a real win, especially since I mostly decided to make salad for dinner because I only first got to the grocery store at 8 pm.  Turkey is not chicken (duh).  Chicken is the usual quick-cooking protein so it was nice to mix it up a bit.

Autumn Harvest Salad

One if my great new cheese discoveries is dunbarton blue. It's a blue cheese with cheddar as the base. The texture is more like cheddar so it doesn't crumble the way you may be accustomed to. Even the people I was with who don't like blue cheese liked this one. I had to have more if it and thought a salad would be the best way to put it to use. 

Since cheddar goes really well with apples I figured they would also work with this cheese. I went with a sweeter apple (I used honeycrisp) to appeal to the blue part of the cheese. Finally, I threw in pine nuts because that's what I had on hand, but walnuts would really be great here. Top with a light vinaigrette and you have a great salad full of Fall flavors in only a few ingredients. 

Salad with Pomegranate Seeds, Fennel, Gorgonzola, and Avocado

I wanted to use some very Fall flavors in the salad at Friday's dinner party and that meant pomegranate and fennel.  This is an incredibly easy salad to put together.  Simply dump the lettuce into a bowl and top with chopped avocado, crumbled gorgonzola, shaved fennel (a mandolin comes in handy here), and pomegranate seeds.  It's as simple as that.  I offered two dressing options: a champagne vinaigrette and a mango vinaigrette, neither of which was homemade.  

Many grocery stores are selling pomegranate seeds in little tubs.  You can usually find them near the pre-cut fruit and vegetables.  It's definitely a seasonal item so they will be harder to find in warmer months, which is even more of a reason to incorporate them into dishes now.  Whatever dish they find themselves in, they look like little gems.  They glisten.  If you don't go through the whole tub in the salad, they're great to have on hand.  I like tossing them in with Brussels sprouts and maple syrup or using them as a topping for ice cream or yogurt.  They won't go to waste.

Salad with Honey Mustard Thyme Chicken

I was in the mood for a big hearty salad, the kind that's topped with chicken and serves as a full meal.  I picked an easy chicken recipe by making honey mustard (honey + dijon mustard) and adding thyme.  I poured it over a row of boneless skinless chicken breasts that were lying in a baking dish in a nice cozy row.  I used the chicken that was pounded thin because I knew it would cook up in an instant.

While the chicken was cooking, I made a bed of butter lettuce and added some bell pepper, tomato, and avocado.  I topped it all with Trader Joe's feta dressing, which is surprisingly light.  If you don't have a Trader Joe's, make your own chunky version by mixing plain greek yogurt with crumbled feta, olive oil, garlic, dill, and oregano.  Thin it out with a little buttermilk.  I haven't made it myself so I can't speak to the proportions.  Who knows - olive oil may not even be necessary, but I'm guessing those ingredients are a good place to start.

When I was writing it all out I didn't think this salad was much of a recipe.  After all, it doesn't seem particularly innovative.  BUT I've never put this combo together in a dish before (especially not with the thyme - glad I added that in there) nor have I seen it on tons of menus.  So maybe it does qualify as innovative.  Just because it's simple and seemingly boring doesn't mean it's not good.  And if you haven't thought about making a salad this way then I've done my job, haven't I?

Radish and Avocado Salad

Sometimes you want a salad but you don't want lettuce.  Know what I'm sayin?  You don't?  Come on, don't tell me that sometimes you wish you could have that cold, fresh, crispy, crunchy satisfaction you get from a salad without all the bulk of the lettuce base.  If the salad is meant as a starter, you don't want it to get so big and heavy that you're too full for the rest of the meal.  Nowwww you get where I'm coming from.  (Right?)

Just thinly cut radishes (or slice em on your mandolin if you're fancy pants) and spread them on a plate with some sliced avocado.  One is very crunchy and the other is very creamy.  Yin and yang.  Throw some cilantro on the top because that will make it all very Mexican.  If you're not a cilantro fan, leave it out - I know how polarizing it can be.  Mix some Greek yogurt with a squeeze of fresh lime and a few dashes of hot sauce.  Drizzle that over the whole thing as your salad dressing. Finally, crumble some cotoja cheese on top. 

If you tried this you would know you can still have the salad experience - a dang good one - without getting too filled up for the main course.  I hope this was life-changing for you.

Avocado, Edamame, and Grapefruit Salad

Avocado goes great with citrus and anyone who's eaten at a sushi restaurant knows that avocado and edamame work well together.  Just a hunch, but that means grapefruit and edamame could work together with avocado doing the back end work of bringing them together.

I just told you the three main ingredients for this salad.  Put them on top of arugula, squeeze a lemon on top, drizzle some olive oil over it, sprinkle on some sea salt.  Done.  I very rarely like salads without cheese, but this was amazing.  None of the flavors are too powerful so it can go with any main course.

Pea Salad

You and me go together like peas and carrots...except I don't like peas and carrots.  But once I discovered how great Greek yogurt and mayonnaise could be as a dressing, I wanted to see if it could save this dish.

Once of my biggest issues with peas and carrots is that I don't really like cooked carrots.  I do, however, like raw carrots, especially when used as a vehicle for dip or dressing.  Serving peas and carrots as a cold salad turned it into something I actually enjoyed eating that took minutes to prepare.  I defrosted frozen peas and tossed them with sliced carrots, the yogurt/mayo dressing, salt and pepper, and fresh mint.  I took the dish to book club and based on how little was left, it seems I'm not the only one who prefers this version of peas and carrots.  Another great potluck/picnic dish to add to your recipe box.  You're welcome.

What a Difference a Little Smoke Makes

The caprese salad is a tried and true favorite.  It's just as easy to make for one as it is to make for 100 and so simple that if you can find someone who messes up the recipe I will give you some sort of reward.

The most common way of spicing up this simple salad is by using heirloom tomatoes (which I also used), but I would like to suggest something else: smoked mozzarella.  The second I took off the wrapper, my kitchen smelled like fresh wood chips.  You can't throw mozzarella on the grill, but this comes close.  This cheese has a deeper flavor than the regular mozz and is less of a blank canvas than it's non-smoked brother so it can't be paired with just anything.  I say brother because I find mozzarella to be a manly cheese.  This is as opposed to, say, chevre, who is a total chick.

Anyway, this tiny change isn't anything crazy, but it did wake up my Monday a bit by saying "hey taste buds, I know you were expecting the other guy but surprise!  It's-a me, Mario!"

See those pieces that look like portobellos?  That brown coloring is alllll smoke, baby.

Classic Wedge

Iceberg lettuce may be the most boring of them all, but cut a head of it in quarters and top it with tomatoes, crisp bacon, and homemade blue cheese dressing and it turns into something special.  I like to add thinly sliced radishes to mine after trying it on my favorite wedge at Flex Mussels.  Separately, these ingredients are just so so - and, yes, I'm including bacon in that statement; gasp all you want.  Together, this salad is a true classic.  

The secret's in the dressing.  I started with good blue cheese then added equal parts sour cream and buttermilk.  Chives, lemon juice, a dash of red wine vinegar, and salt and pepper round it out.  It's so easy to make I don't know why I had never done it before.  Now that I know, there's no turning back.  Wedge salads all the time!

Radicchio with Avocado, Red Quinoa, and Ricotta Salata

Great salad.  That's what I've got to say about this recipe.  And with the purple of the radicchio and bright green of the avocado, it's a good lookin dish as well.  I'd never had red quinoa before.  Guess what.  It's a lot like regular quinoa, just a little nuttier.  And I'm a little nuttier than most so it fits.

A few changes on my end: I left out the shallots and swapped the romaine for endive and the almonds for pine nuts.  Pretty good updates, I must admit.  Ricotta salata and avocados go pretty well together.  I'll say it again: great salad.

  

Pea Shoots with Burrata, Blueberries, and Pine Nuts

Made Weekly is a new favorite tumblr where blogger Rachel picks one ingredient per week and incorporates it into a new recipe each day.  Last week's secret ingredient was pea shoots and I was determined to make one of the dishes.  Did you know pea shoots can be used as more than just a garnish for fancy dishes like velouté or free range sea bass mumbo jumbo?  You did?  Well I didn't so tone down the pedantic 'tude.

I did a twist on this recipe, substituting blueberries for grapes and - zut alors! - was it good.  Don't leave out the salt because otherwise the blueberries will be too sweet for the dish.  I could put burrata in almost any salad and be a happy lil chickadee but particularly enjoyed it with the pea shoots, which it turns out I am just as capable of using as those upscale restaurant chefs.  They're basically sprouts so they've already found their way into the sandwich I brought to work yesterday.

Heart of Palm Salad

While I was in Curacao, one of my favorite things to eat was a heart of palm salad that they served at just about every meal.  It was a very simple salad so I recently made a version of it here in the US.  I tossed chunks of heart of palm with celery that I sliced very thin on a mandolin, capers, parsley, and mayo.  The result was tasty even without the tropical climate.

Chicken Taco Salad

When you want a big salad for a meal but are sick of the good old cobb, I highly recommend turning to taco salad. It's healthier than eating actual tacos and is full of protein.

I like using crisp lettuce for this, like romaine hearts. Instead of using ground beef, I decided to go with chicken to cut down on the fat. I covered nugget-sized pieces of chicken with a mix of garlic powder, chile powder, oregano, paprika, cayenne, and cumin (all the ingredients of taco seasoning that I already had in my pantry - no need to buy those packets!), drizzled with olive oil, and sautéed til it was cooked through (about 5 minutes). In a bowl, lightly toss canned black beans, canned corn, chopped tomato, onion, and avocado. I would have liked cilantro but the store was out (no worries, it tasted just as good). Cover a bed of lettuce with the corn/black bean/tomato/avocado mix as well as some shredded cheese (pepper jack or cheddar are good options). The chicken goes on last. Worried it won't feel like a taco without sour cream? The quick and easy homemade dressing you prepared will solve that issue. Greek yogurt will make you forget you wanted sour cream in the first place and it makes a great base for creamy dressings. Mix it with scallions and adobo sauce from a can of chipotles in adobo. (Once you have a can of these, you'll find plenty of ways to use them). I had some buttermilk in the fridge from when I made biscuits so I used just a teeny bit to thin it out, but if you don't already have it there's no need to buy it for this recipe. The adobo sauce is spicy, a little sweet, and has great smoky flavor. This dressing takes the salad from good to great - and if you're going to compete with the Cobb, you better be great.

Haricots Verts Salad

So the plan was for this salad to have fresh corn in it but it was out of season so I increased the amount of haricots verts and made it anyway.  With the help of a healthy portion of dill, this salad has tons of flavor with few ingredients.  While you're boiling haricots verts (those are the skinny French green beans), assemble the rest of the salad.  Chop up a tomato, scoop out an avocado, and dress with olive oil, lemon juice, dill, and salt.  Add the green beans and you're done.

Antipasto Lettuce Wraps

The full NYE recap will be in another post, but there was one dish I made for the New Years pregame I hosted that deserves it's very own post here and now.

You don't hear "lettuce wraps" without thinking of P.F. Changs.  I think even people who have never eaten at P.F. Changs know the two terms are practically synonymous.  Even outside of the upscale Chinese food chain, lettuce wraps have been an Asian thing for years.  However, things have taken a turn toward Italy in the Konter household.

Antipasto lettuce wraps takes all your favorites from the typical Italian appetizer platter but mixes them together instead of forcing you to peck here and there.  Just grab a head of iceberg lettuce and pick your favorites from the olive bar and deli counter.  There are plenty of options, but some of my faves are as follows:

• Basics (aka: The Musts):
• Cubed or Sliced Meat (I used a mix of salamis)
• Cheese (here, you can use mozzarella balls or cubed provolone/swiss - I went with mozz)
• Halved Grape Tomatoes
• The Add-ons:
• Marinated Artichoke Hearts
• Roasted Garlic
• Olives
• Hearts of Palm
• Marinated or Roasted Peppers

As long as you're picking most stuff out of the olive/antipasti bar, it will have more than enough seasoning.  All you have to do is mix it all together in a bowl and scoop it into your lettuce wraps.  This makes a great weeknight meal for the fam and could easily be used as a pot luck or picnic dish.

  

Shredded Brussels Sprout Salad

I love that Trader Joe's sells Brussels sprouts in shredded/slaw form.  They're great to sauté with vegetables but this time I decided to use them for the base of a simple salad.  When it comes to nuts in salad, I know the walnut is usually everybody's first pick.  I, however, prefer pine nuts or sunflower seeds for my crunch because the size and texture is more to my liking.  Now I have another that I can add to the approved nut list: pistachios. They add great crunch to the salad and are one of the more flavorful nuts (almost but not quite as buttery as pine nuts) so not much else is needed.  All you need is a light dressing (oil, lemon, balsamic) and some shaved parmesan (I used a gouda/parmesan hybrid that I love and had on hand).  One final ingredient that I almost overlooked in this recipe is fresh parsley.  It doesn't change the texture of the salad but adds a great herb flavor.

Much like kale, substituting this for lettuce gives you something to really chomp on.  Instead of needing lettuce + something crunchy like bell pepper, you get it all in one ingredient.  Who doesn't like making life easier?

Epicerie Boulud

I broke my toe last Wednesday.  I wish I could say it was a Sandy casualty but, really, it was just me being stupid and clumsy.  When I could no longer walk the mile and a half to work (remember, the subways were shut down), I took a cab...that promptly got into an accident.  I finally made it to work only to find out that our share drive was down.  So, yea, Wednesday was not my favorite.  The silver lining was lunch.  After about two hours at the office I left to get my toe checked out at the emergency med where I was told it was, indeed, broken, but there's nothing you can do for a broken pinky toe but wrap it and wait out the pain.  Fab.  I hobbled til I could find food, which happened to be at Epicerie Boulud aka: Wednesday's silver lining.

Epicerie Boulud is the take-out station/café from Daniel Boulud, of high end French fame.  I ordered the jambon et beurre sandwich (ham and butter with gruyère on a baguette) that tasted just like the ones I used to order in France.  I know it sounds like a hard sandwich to screw up, but you'd be surprised how many people mess it up here.  It comes at a much higher price ($9.50 for something that would have cost half that in France, a solid $3 more than the [bad] versions in other US restaurants), but it's worth it for the fresh ingredients that end up being far more satisfying.  Sometimes the simplest food placates the hunger pains better than anything else.  Since I was eating at about 4 PM, this meal was going to serve as both lunch and dinner so I also got the Moroccan chickpea salad.  I thought $10 was much too expensive for a salad that size until I started eating it and realized how filling it was since it didn't have a lettuce base.  I like hummus but don't usually like whole chickpeas.  My previous distaste was a total non-issue here.  The salad was whole chickpeas on top of pureed chickpeas with tomatoes, cucumbers, and TONS of spices.  I was in love and ate it with a spoon.  I think it was a special, but I would love for them to make this a permanent fixture.

After a terrible day, Epicerie Boulud lifted my spirits and reminded me that Sandy was a mere blip in the middle of what turned out to be a good week.

Side note: This was actually my first broken bone.  Even though it was kind of a wussy one to break, I am oddly proud of it.