May 31 Salad: Aaaaaaaand done!

Eating salad for a whole month is delicious yet challenging. There have been some days where the last thing I want to do after work is come up with something fresh and blog-friendly for dinner. I went through a lot of lettuce, tomatoes and English cucumber this month! I ended up making more of my own salad dressings than anticipated (woo!) but also dined out a little more than I could have, given the self-imposed challenge. But still, I ended up with 31 entries and 31 salads, which makes me happy.

With that said, here’s the final dish of One More Taste’s Salad Month. It’s my take on Salade Niçoise. I omitted a couple items (didn’t feel like eating potatoes, and didn’t see any eye-catching tomatoes at the supermarket) but did toss something on the plate that’s a little foreign to me — anchovies. Not sure they’re my favorite fish, but I can appreciate why they end up on this salad, as they’re oily and salty and add a good little oomph to the plate.

That delicious carnage in the center of the plate is some grilled tuna, brushed with olive oil and seasoned with salt and pepper. Just put that hunka fish on the grill and give it a couple minutes, over high heat, on each side.

The non-fishy components of this salad include romaine lettuce (making use of what’s in the fridge), hard-boiled egg, blanched green (and yellow) beans and a quick dressing made up of (roughly) a tablespoon lemon juice(what I could squeeze out of half a lemon), little less than ¼ cup olive oil (bottom of the bottle) and a couple dashes of salt.

Challenge completed. Great success. Time to go eat a Porterhouse...

May 30 Salad: Throw some lettuce on the barbie?

We celebrated Memorial Day with some grilling, and I’m just talking about burgers. I also grilled some romaine hearts, something I read about in a couple of the cookbooks on loan from the library. I cut a romaine heart down the middle lengthwise, brushed it with a little bit of olive oil and seasoned with salt and pepper. You put the romaine on the grill and cook for just a minute or two, turning once, until grill marks appear and lettuce begins to wilt. After removing the romaine from the grill I gave it a course chop and dressed with shaved parmesan and some of the aforementioned orange vinaigrette. The lettuce took on a little bit of smoky flavor with a touch of sweetness, too.

May 29 Salad

The delicious champagne vinegar I mentioned the other day tastes great on its own but even better with a little bit of olive oil, Dijon and lemon juice. This sweet vinaigrette popped atop a heap of spinach, goat cheese crumbles, shaved almonds and dried cranberries.

Orange vinaigrette
¼ cup orange muscat champagne vinegar
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
1 tablespoon Dijon
¼ cup olive oil
Whisk first three ingredients in a bowl to blend. Gradually whisk in oil.

May 28 Salad

Rubicon Brewing Company is the spot for tasty food and even tastier beers. Chris and I rode our cruisers into midtown and treated ourselves to a late lunch on the patio. I had the tostada salad featuring mixed greens, diced tomatoes, black beans, corn, chicken breast and shredded cheddar, nestled in a flour-tortilla shell and served with salsa and ranch.

May 27 Salad

I do a little bit of edible gardening, and one item that always makes the cut each spring is tomatoes. Nothing compares to home-grown, sun-ripened tomatoes. Mother Nature’s taking her sweet time heating things up around here, and it’ll be a while before my plants start yielding anything. So for now I’ll have to stick with store-bought tomatoes. They still taste good in one of my favorite summery snacks, this quick salad of tomatoes, blue cheese and balsamic vinegar.

May 26 Salad

This is the Ahi Salad at 3 Fires Lounge. You’ve got sliced ahi, shredded red and green cabbage, grated carrots and cilantro vinaigrette. Not too shabby!

May 25 Salad: Bell pepper bowl?

Who needs lettuce? Not me, not today anyhoo.
I got my green on in the form of a raw, crunchy bell pepper (stem and seeds removed) stuffed with shrimp meat (squirted with lime juice), fresh corn, cherry tomatoes and diced avocado, with some of the red pepper vinaigrette I made the other night for kicks.
The bell pepper might look a little small for a salad bowl, but once you start cutting into this delicious cornucopia you realize it's going to be a while before you're a member of the clean-plate club. Believe me, this is a good thing. 

May 24 Salad: Muscat love

I picked up some orange muscat champagne vinegar at Trader Joe’s the other day and put it to good use with this salad of mixed lettuces, sliced Asian pear and goat cheese crumbles.

May 23 Salad

We stopped in Santa Rosa for lunch on our way home from a wine weekend in Healdsburg. This is a salad of mixed lettuces, shaved carrots, cucumber, roasted shrimp and herb vinaigrette from Jackson’s Bar and Oven.

May 22 Salad

I worked up a serious appetite tasting some of Sonoma County’s finest on Sunday. Good thing we stopped at the Dry Creek General Store in Healdsburg to pick up lunch provisions, including a delicious organic quinoa salad with snap peas, edamame and Asian dressing.

May 21 Salad

We headed to Healdsburg for the weekend with Chris’ parents — they’re out visiting from Wisconsin. Monti’s Rotisserie & Bar in Santa Rosa was a good pre-wineries lunch spot. I enjoyed a French Cobb with Romaine, roast chicken, tomatoes, feta, hard-boiled egg and a mustard-herb vinaigrette.

May 20 Salad: An Omnivore's Delight

 Chris made his world-famous tri tip tonight and I went all omnivore on him, making a salad with the tri tip, mixed greens, cherry tomatoes, fresh white corn (raw, cut right off of the cob) and a roasted red pepper vinaigrette.

Roasted Red Pepper Vinaigrette
Two roasted red bell peppers
¼ cup olive oil
2 tablespoons white wine vinegar
2 tablespoons water
1 clove garlic

To roast bell peppers, either toss ‘em on the grill or throw them in the broiler, turning occasionally, until skin is charred and blistered. Remove from heat and place them in a paper bag for a couple minutes (wait until they’re cool enough to handle) before removing skin, stems and seeds.
Place all ingredients in a blender and blend until smooth.

May 19 Salad: Oh wow

Second course from our start-to-finish divine feast at The Kitchen was a Dungeness crab “cheesecake” and salad of lettuces, pickled shallots, cured lemons, walnuts and Castelvetrano olives, with some deep-fried soft-shell crab for good measure. My photo doesn’t do it justice.

May 18 Salad

Here’s a good, colorful lunchtime salad with mixed greens, grape tomatoes, chopped carrots, English cucumber and shaved Parmesan and Romano cheeses. In order to add some zest to this mid-day meal I made an Italian-inspired dressing by whisking together ¼ cup red wine vinegar, ¼ cup olive oil (infused with dried red peppers and herbs), a teaspoon of dried oregano and some salt and pepper to taste.

May 17 Salad

I love it when something simple ends up being a knockout. I couldn’t get enough of my lunch today — mixed greens, Granny Smith apple slices, walnut pieces, crumbled blue cheese and balsamic vinaigrette.

May 16 Salad

When you’re looking for a salad with some serious crunch, look no further than this Chinese Chicken Salad served by the good folks at La Bou Bakery & Café in Auburn. This is one of my go-to places on days when I either forget to pack a lunch or have nothing absolutely in the fridge to bring to work, which was the case Monday following a weekend out of town. This salad features chicken, lettuce, cabbage, peanuts and soy sesame vinaigrette.

May 15 Salad: Bay to Breakers edition

I spent my weekend in San Francisco causing trouble with friends and participating in (notice I didn’t say “running” or “competing in”) the 100th Bay to Breakers.
After a grueling day spent people watching some of our crew made it over to 21st Amendment Brewery for a very late lunch. Not sure I burned enough calories walking the 12K to justify indulging in the Buffalo Chicken Cobb and some of their Brew Free or Die IPA, but I’m not too worried about it.

May 14 Salad

This delicious, colorful take on an Italian chopped salad features romaine lettuce, diced salami, red bell pepper, English cucumber, garbanzo beans and a sprinkling of red wine vinegar.

May 13 Salad

This Friday special incorporates the tail end of some of the delicious salads I’ve had the past couple days — arugula, grilled chicken, hard boiled egg, grape tomatoes, English cucumber and blue cheese crumbles, tossed with the end of my first batch of homemade balsamic vinaigrette.

May 12 Salad

 

I came home from work wanting breakfast for dinner, and this is what I came up with. Over-easy egg, arugula, olive oil, fresh lemon juice and a little dusting of pepper on top. While it was no biscuits and gravy, this salad was still quite tasty.