Summer Salad

Hi

I saw we had a summer soup thread, but no summer salad one! So, here we go. I love cold salads that aren't just lettuce, but need a broader variety. My two default ones are black bean with cumin/honey vinaigrette (kind of like a black bean salsa, with chopped red pepper, tomato, cucumber, onion, corn) and couscous (with chopped tomato, cucumber, onion, feta and herbs - depending on what's in the garden). I also like to do one that's red onion or green scallions, garbanzo beans and oranges (where you halve the orange, and take out just the meat and leave the membrane behind, and squeeze in the juice).

Any other good suggestions?

Here's one I got from friends which I posted on Recipezaar. They call it "bright summer salad" and it is predominantly grilled corn and tomatoes, with cilantro, basil and lime juice. I really love it.

From my grandmother, I learned to make rice salads in the summer. Just cold rice, chopped whatever veggies are on hand (cooked or otherwise), a bit of meat or cheese if you have it (crumbled blue cheese is nice, especially if the meat is a bit of crumbled bacon, then make the veggies some combo of green onions, peppers, and so on), and a favored dressing (vinaigrette or mayo-type), and you've got a lovely luncheon salad -- and almost no one expects rice salad anymore.

I heard somewhere, probably Good Eats, that using short or medium grain rice prevents that hardening that happens to rice when it cools, so those might be good options for cold rice salads.

Recently I had an abundance of zucchini, so made the following. First, sauteed it with onions and a bunch of olive oil, threw in some garlic. Meanwhile, boiled up orzo. As the veggies softened a bit I threw in a handful of raisins, then as it came off the heat added a big handful of chopped mint, lemon juice, toasted pine nuts, and some salt & pepper. Stirred it with the orzo to make a mostly-veggie-but-a-bit-of-pasta salad, vaguely Middle Eastern in influence, and ate well.

I love this orzo salad recipe from epicurious.com.

Last month, I also made this quinoa black bean salad recipe for a block party, and it went over well. I recently got put on a diet for IBS, so I'm going to be looking for more quinoa recipes for myself. There seem to be a lot of quinoa salad recipes out there perfect for summer.

I forgot one more, a curried egg salad recipe that includes granny smith apple and cilantro. It's actually pretty refreshing and nice on delicate crackers.

A while back, I made a simple jicama slaw that was delicious. It consisted of shredded jicama, shredded carrots and chopped cilantro in a dressing made of fresh lime juice with a touch of honey and a bit of salt then topped with a few chopped scallions. I can't remember, but knowing me, I probably crushed a little garlic in the dressing also (that would be optional). I served it with stuffed trout.

That jicama salad reminded me of the Russian-influenced salads I had all over Mongolia.

Shredded, cooked beets, shredded raw cabbage, grated carrots.

Singly or in any combination.

Usually with a bit of crushed garlic.

Dressed with either vinaigrette or mayo -- or possibly mayo thinned with a bit of vinaigrette.

Always tasty, colorful, and refreshing.

I always roast kolarabi, but when I was buying some at the farmers market, the farmer said he always eats it raw. Talking to VI he suggested making it like cole slaw. So I shredded the kohlarabi in the food processor and made a dressing of vegetable oil, cidar vinegar and sugar. It really was good.
Paulette

Summer salads are the best. In the line of jicama, we often make one with Jicama, Mango & Avocado or Shrimp. It can be a meal.

How bout tomaters onions water mozzarella basil & balsamic vingar

I've been thinking about pasta salad, and this thread reminded me to hunt up some recipe ideas. I found this useful site with a "master recipe" for pasta salads:

http://allrecipes.com/HowTo/Five-Steps- ... etail.aspx

Here are a few:

- Tomatoes, onions, avocados. Add a bit of salt/pepper and dress with lime juice. Don't even need oil - avocados are fatty enough.

- I made this one over the weekend: http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/recip ... ews/235331
Didn't use mint in the dressing and added another tablespoon of lime juice, as the corn was very sweet. Everyone loved it and it was even better the second day.

- I also like the salad from this recipe: http://find.myrecipes.com/recipes/recip ... id=1611734
They serve it with tuna, but i never made the tuna - I served the salad with flank steak and it was great.

Enjoy!

happy_stomach wrote:I love this orzo salad recipe from epicurious.com.

Last month, I also made this quinoa black bean salad recipe for a block party, and it went over well. I recently got put on a diet for IBS, so I'm going to be looking for more quinoa recipes for myself. There seem to be a lot of quinoa salad recipes out there perfect for summer.

We are gluten-free, so I use quinoa a lot in summer salads. I sub it anywhere I see small pastas or even barley. I make a lovely tabbouleh that most people don't even notice the difference. So, in addition to the ones created for quinoa, you can use it instead of other grains, giving you even more recipes to try.

Last summer's chicken salad: mesclun with added mache and radicchio, tossed with an olive oil-balsamic vinaigrette made with a heaping teaspoon (not Tablespoon!) of plum preserves for each heaping soup-plate sized serving, a splash of sherry, and coarse salt and pepper. Grilled chicken, sliced, with quartered figs and toasted pine nuts or walnuts. This is so easy it's almost hard to believe how good it is. The key is to adjust the astringency and salt at the end if there is not enough tang.

Just did a Grilled BiColor Sweet Corn Salad:: mixed w/Scallions, a bit of crumbled Feta,a touch of chopped fresh Mint, a squeeze of lime, salt , Black Pepper, Indian ChiliPowder, and a splash of Olive Oil......
Yummmmmm....

Also - along the Pasta Sald concept is my summer Tomatos 3-way:: Sundried ("juicy" ones from Stanleys Produce) Garden Fresh Tomatoes, and Italian peeled/canned (without the juice) along with Fresh Basil, Italian Parsly(lesser amount)Lots of Garlic,, Salt/Pepper, fruity olive oil and a rigatoni, or Penne - that I adapted from a Martha Stewart recipe years ago..

I love to make avocado salads. I slice up avocados and red onions thinly, squirt plenty of lime jiuce over it, add salt, and hot pepper flakes. It's so bright and fresh tasting. When available I also add blood orange. But reading about using jicama makes me want to add that as well.

How about calamari salad?

1 1/2 lb cleaned squid, cut up, and boiled lightly
1 small red onion, halved lengthwise, then thinly sliced crosswise (1 cup)
1/3 cup pitted Kalamata olives, halved lengthwise (optional)
1/2 Red Bell Pepper sliced
2 cups grape tomatoes, halved
2 celery ribs, thick sliced
1 cup fresh flat-leaf parsley leaves

Dressing:
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
1 tablespoon red-wine vinegar
1/3 cup extra-virgin olive oil
1 large garlic clove, minced
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper

Hi,

This week I made a Salad Nicoise with a bit of a twist. I didn't have tuna in the house with everything else present. I substituted several cans of sardines packed in olive oil. I didn't have this brilliant inspiration until after the dressing was done. In the future, I will drain the olive oil into the salad dressing as it is being prepared.

Nobody missed the tuna commenting they preferred the sardine variant better.

Regards,

I make a salad called "Summer Moments Salad", a name of slight sarcasm- those summer moments, they fade so fast. But for a completely un-ironic salad-
It should go without saying that only the best garden or farmer's market fresh ingredients should be used:
A handful of green string beans, blanched.
Two ears corn, roasted, grilled, or boiled, then dekerneled.
One medium, or half a large sweet onion, diced, they call them "candy onions" where I get them, since the Vidalia is a namebrand of onion breed from Georgia.
One medium tomato, any pedigree, diced.
Toss with a dressing of (ratios to suit your individual taste):
Olive oil
Red wine vinegar
Your favorite stone ground mustard
Coarse ground salt and pepper
Coarsely chopped fresh dill.
Its a great one. I am making a batch for ninety people on Friday, will post pics then.

EM