Tag Archives: salad

Quinoa & Roasted Carrot Salad

15 Mar

In order to balance out all of the baked goods that have somehow made their way into our house (what else was I supposed to do with the Nutella? Or with the knowledge that there’s a killer bakery 15 minutes from my house by foot), I have been looking for some healthy recipes to balance out the gluttony. I came across this quinoa and carrot salad my latest issue of Bon Appétit and decided it looked perfect! Not only could I make most of it ahead of time, I could make a large batch for leftovers.

I made a few changes to suit my own taste and am really happy with how it turned out. The carrots were sweet, the feta was salty and the pepper rings added some heat. (You can find the original recipe here.) It’s an adaptable recipe, so feel free to make your own changes and let me know how you liked it!

Serves 4.

Ingredients

1 c quinoa, rinsed
1/2 onion, chopped
3 medium carrots, peeled and sliced on the diagonal
1/4 c extra virgin olive oil
2 tb apple cider
2 tb honey
2 ts finely grated lemon zest
1 tb fresh lemon juice
2 tb apple cider vinegar
5-10 pickled hot pepper rings, chopped

10 oz feta, crumbled
1 head Bibb or butter lettuce, leaves torn

Directions

1. Preheat your oven to 450F.
2. Boil 4 cups of salted water and add the quinoa. Cook 10-15 minutes, until the quinoa is tender. Add in the onion and cook an additional minute. Drain and let stand 15 minutes. Fluff with a fork, transfer to a bowl and allow to cool.
3. Meanwhile, oil a foil-lined baking sheet for the carrots. In a medium bowl, whisk the apple cider and honey. Add in the carrots and toss to coat. Season with salt and pepper and place on the sheet. Roast for 15-20 minutes. When done, remove from the oven and cool.
4. In a small bowl, whisk the lemon zest, lemon juice and apple cider vinegar. Slowly add the 1/4 c olive oil and whisk til smooth to make a vinaigrette. Season with salt and pepper to taste.
5. Add the carrots and hot peppers to the quinoa. Dress with most of the vinaigrette and stir to coat.
6. Place lettuce on a plate, scoop the salad on top and finish with the rest of the vinaigrette. Crumble feta on top.

quinoa and carrot salad

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Roasted Shrimp & White Bean Salad

2 Aug

This is a fantastic light – but satisfying –  salad that we tried for the first time last night. J added some lemon juice to it to brighten the flavours of the dish, which I think was a great touch. I’m generally not a huge fan of watercress, but I really liked it in this dish. Great summer salad, but would be good year ’round.

Serves 2

Ingredients

1 lb large shrimp, peeled & deveined
4 slices bacon, cut into 1/2″ pieces
extra virgin olive oil
Kosher salt
freshly ground pepper
8 fresh sage leaves
1 pint cherry tomatoes
1 – 14 oz can cannellini beans, rinsed and drained
1 tb red wine vinegar
10 oz watercress
1 tb lemon juice

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
2. On half of a foil-lined sheet, arrange the shrimp in a single layer. On the other half, place the bacon pieces. Drizzle everything with olive oil; season the shrimp with salt & pepper. Sprinkle the sage leaves over the entire sheet.
3. On a second baking sheet, place the tomatoes. Drizzle with olive oil and season with salt & pepper.
4. Place both sheets in the oven. Cook the tomatoes until they burst, roughly 12 minutes. The shrimp and bacon will likely take a few minutes longer (roughly 15).
5. In a large bowl, place the watercress and beans. Add in the tomatoes and their accumulated juices and toss to mix. Then add the shrimp, bacon and any remaining liquids to the mix. (Use your judgement: you don’t want to add all the rendered fat back into the salad, but some of it.)
6. Add in the red wine vinegar, lemon juice and a little more olive oil. Toss to mix and serve!

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Easy, Fresh Asparagus & Corn Salad

20 Jul

We’ve made this tasty, simple salad at home a few times and it always goes down a treat. Now is the perfect time to make it, too, with fresh corn, asparagus and basil in abundance! (My mother-in-law happened to have both green and purple basil in her garden, so that’s what he used in this incarnation.) J made it as part of my birthday dinner last week for a few of us up at the cottage and everyone commented on how much they enjoyed it – I’m sure you and your guests will, too.

Serves 6.

Ingredients

4 ears corn, shucked
1 bunch asparagus, washed, trimmed
1 small red onion, diced
1 handful of basil leaves, cut into a chiffonade (very thin slices)

1/2 c sugar
1 c rice wine vinegar
1 ts salt
1 ts black pepper

Directions

1. Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Toss in the corn and cook 3 minutes. Remove and place in an ice bath to halt cooking process.
2. With the water still boiling, add the asparagus spears. Blanch again, for 1 minute. Remove and place in an ice bath.
3. Carefully remove the corn kernels from the cobs and place in a large bowl.
4. Cut the asparagus into bite sized pieces and place in the bowl.
5. Add in the red onion and basil.
6. In a small, separate bowl, mix together the sugar, vinegar, salt & pepper. Pour on to the vegetables in the big bowl and mix thoroughly. Season to taste, if necessary.

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Quinoa BLT Salad

9 Jul

I stumbled across this recipe on the Dulcet Devotion site and was instantly interested: healthy salad + bacon and feta? Best of both worlds! I made a couple of minor adjustments but otherwise it’s pretty close to the original. This was a light, satisfying salad that had crunchy, salty and sweet elements that had me going back for seconds. Next time I make it, I think I’ll add in some chili flakes or Sriracha for a spicy bite.

Serves 2 (as a main)

Ingredients

1 c quinoa, rinsed
4 – 5 strips bacon
1 c cherry tomatoes, halved
handful of cilantro and/or parsley, roughly chopped
2 avocados, diced
1/4 c green onions, diced
1 lemon, juiced
3 garlic cloves, minced
2 tb balsamic vinegar
1 tb olive oil/avocado oil
1 ts kosher salt
1 ts black pepper
handful of greens
50 oz feta, crumbled

Directions

1. Cook the quinoa according to the directions on the package. Place in a large bowl and let cool for 30 minutes.
2. Meanwhile, cook, drain and crumble the bacon.
3. Put the tomatoes, green onion, avocado and herbs into a medium bowl. Mix together with a little bit of lemon juice.


4. Once the quinoa has cooled, add in the olive oil, rest of the lemon juice, balsamic vinegar, garlic and salt & pepper. Stir to mix thoroughly.


5. Add in the rest of the salad fixings and season to taste, remembering that the feta will add some saltiness.


6. Plate the quinoa salad and top with greens and feta.

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Spicy – And Fancy! – Cucumber Salad

19 Sep

This is Jamie Oliver’s recipe as seen on his 30-minute meals show. It’s incredibly simple and pretty fun to make.  (How many salads can boast that?) It looks fantastic and would work really well if you need a salad dish to impress.

Serves 2-3.

Ingredients

1 English cucumber
2 cm piece of ginger, peeled and grated
1 tb soy sauce
1 ts sesame oil
1 lime
small handful of cilantro, chopped
1/2 fresh red chile, diced into small pieces (optional, but tasty)

Directions

1. Using a peeler, peel the cucumber lengthwise into ribbons. Stop when you reach the seeds as you do not want to use the core of the cucumber. Set aside in a medium bowl.
2. In a small bowl mix ginger, soy, lime juice, sesame oil and red chile.
3. Chop the cilantro and add it to the cucumber ribbons.
4. Dress the salad ONLY when you are ready to eat, as the thin cucumber slices will wilt and become soggy if it’s dressed too early.

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Sunshine Salad

22 Jun

This recipe comes from a little Mexican cookbook that’s been kicking around the apartment for years, but we really only started using it recently. I sent this recipe to a friend of mine a couple of months ago and she raved about it.  We decided to make it for Father’s Day and after a couple of bites, I understood why she’d liked it so much: it’s fresh, it’s simple and it’s kind of addictive. So much so that we made it again the next day…

Serves 4, as a side dish.

Ingredients

1 c pineapple (1 can)
1 avocado, diced
1 1/2 c corn (or 1 14oz can)
1/4 c cilantro, chopped
1 – 2 green onions, sliced
2 oranges, peeled & sliced
1 garlic clove, minced
1/4 ts black pepper

Directions

1. Assemble all ingredients in medium-large bowl.
2. Refrigerate for at least one hour.
3. …Eat.

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Tropical Salad

1 Nov

Pretty straightforward, but tropically-inspired goodness doesn’t need to be complicated! Goes really well with most mains, especially tilapia or salmon.

Serves 4

Ingredients

1 mango, diced
1 pineapple, diced
1 avocado, diced
1/2 red onion, diced finely
1/4 c cilantro
2 tb olive oil
1 lime/lemon, juiced

Directions
1. Add all of these ingredients into a large bowl.
2. Eat…but share with others!

Side note: if you can get your hands on a papaya or some jicama, both would work well in this dish, too.

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(Mostly)Chinese Chicken Salad

27 Sep

Always on the hunt for new and interesting ways to make salad more than just lettuce. This recipe is a Bobby Flay creation, but I’m renaming it. He calls it “Chinese” but the chipotle puree tells me otherwise. I also added some diced red pepper to the salad, as it was in the fridge and I figured it couldn’t be bad in there!

I poached four chicken thighs in water with peppercorns & a dried ancho chili that I happened to have in my cupboard. (I poached them because I wanted that shredded texture that works best with poached chicken, as opposed to grilling or baking.) They took about 25 minutes in barely-boiling liquid. I then removed the skin and bones, shredding the rest with two forks. Delish. Leftover chicken from a roast would also work really well.

Serves 2-4.

Ingredients

1/4 c rice wine vinegar
2 tb smooth peanut butter
1 tb ginger, grated
2 ts chipotle puree
1 tb soy sauce
1 tb honey
2 ts sesame oil
1/3 c canola oil
1/2 Napa cabbage (or whichever cabbage you prefer)
1/2 head Romaine (or…y’know…whatever you’ve got!)
2 carrots, shredded
1 handful snow peas
1/4 c fresh cilantro, chopped
1 green onion, chopped
2 c chicken, shredded
1/2 c peanuts & mint, julienned

Directions

1. If you have not cooked chicken yet, fill a medium-large pot with water or stock. Bring to a boil and add in your chicken. Cook 25-30 minutes at a low boil.
2. In a small bowl, combine vinegar, peanut butter, chipotle puree, soy, honey, sesame oil & canola oil. Whisk until smooth.
3. In a large bowl, combine the cabbage, lettuce, carrots, snow peas, cilantro and green onion.
4. Toss the dressing into the salad and plate on large dishes. Add the chicken.
5. Top with peanuts & mint.

*If you poach the chicken, keep the broth that’s left. Skim the fat, let it cool and reuse for soups. If you’re not going to use it right away, toss the broth in the freezer. It’ll keep for quite a while.

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From the market: purple peppers.

26 Aug

The St. Lawrence Market in downtown Toronto is one of those places that everyone should check out as often as possible. It houses every food product under the sun from bread to meat to fruit to fish to dessert to vegetables…and so on. My husband and I popped in a couple of weeks ago and found some beautiful purple peppers, which I’d never seen before. The lady selling it recommended that we eat them raw, as once they’re cooked they lose their colour.

OK: salad it is!We ended up throwing some figs in there and made a dressing with 3 parts olive oil, 1.5 parts fig-balsamic vinegar, salt, pepper and lemon juice. The purple peppers were crisp and less sweet than the red, orange & yellow ones in the salad. Will definitely pick them up again next time we go!

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Sunday Dinners: Pork Tenderloin-stylez

23 Aug

Now that the weather has cooled off some, I’m back in the kitchen more and more. Our kitchen is teensy so there’s nowhere for the heat from the oven or stove to go and heats up in a hurry. I am no fan of literally sweating over the food, but now that it’s a little cooler I’m back in action!

So last night’s dinner: sesame-crusted pork tenderloin with an Asian marinade, stir-fried broccoli and onions, an herb-buttered ciabatta and the famous cranberry, mango and pecan salad. I will definitely make this again and maybe cook the pork just a smidge less. It was still juicy and tender, but probably needed five minutes less in the oven.  The rule of 20 minutes per pound was right on point! I’ll be posting the recipes shortly…

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