As luck would have it, it turned out to be a very, very good salad that I will be making many more times. When my guests asked for the recipe, I had to demur. I had not even written down the ingredients. So I promised to re-create it as soon as possible and pass along the recipe.

I am not a big fan of raw kale by itself or in big pieces, but shredding it and balancing it with cabbage makes a salad that’s pretty, good for you, and great tasting. I used clementines but if you can’t find them, you can use oranges. At home, I don’t normally supreme my citrus (by which I mean take off all the pithy white bits) but if you want to do that then I recommend this tutorial from Coconut and Lime. I think you could top this with grilled steak or chicken for a main course salad. Enjoy!

Recipe: Kale & Cabbage Salad with Miso Dressing 

INGREDIENTS:

• 1 bunch kale (I used Tuscan, but any kind is fine)
• 1 small head cabbage
• 1-2 avocados, cubed
• 4-5 seedless clementines, peeled and segmented
• 1/2 cup slivered almonds
• 3 Tblsp olive oil or vegetable oil
• 2 Tblsp white miso paste
• 2 Tblsp rice vinegar
• 1 Tblsp honey
• 2 tsp very hot water
• 2 tsp sesame oil
• 1 tsp smooth Dijon mustard
• 1 tsp soy sauce
• salt and pepper to taste

METHOD:

• Wash and dry kale well. Grasp each kale leaf at the bottom of the stalk between your thumb and forefinger, and run your fingers up the stalk to separate the leaf from the stalk. Discard the stalks and stack the leaves. Fold the leaves lengthwise and  shred finely with a large knife. Place in a large salad bowl
• Remove outer leaves and stalk of cabbage, then cut into quarters. Use a large knife to shred as finely as possible. Add to the bowl with the kale. Combine with your hands or salad tongs.
• Top kale and cabbage with clementine segments, almonds, and avocado.
• In a small bowl, whisk remaining ingredients together well, ensuring miso is well broken up and combined. Toss about half the dressing with the salad. Add more dressing if desired. Serve immediately.
• Note: you can make the dressing up to 24 hours in advance if desired. Store in the fridge and whisk well before serving.

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This is one of my favorite types of recipes: the kind where you use a small number of simple ingredients and take advantage of time and temperature to meld them together into something much greater than the sum of their parts. The recipe is really easy from a technique standpoint, but you’ll need about an hour and a half to two hours of cooking time to get it from start to finish. I recommend using a lean pork, because with fatty pork the sauce can get oily and you’ll have to skim off the fat, which adds an extra step. Of course, this tastes very good (better?) reheated a day or two later, so you could also make it in advance, chill it in the fridge overnight, skim off the fat, and reheat it.

I adapted this from a recipe I saw in Real Simple magazine, but ironically I found their recipe to be not actually all that simple. I simplified it by cutting out several unnecessary steps and a few ingredients.

Recipe: Pork and Prune Stew
serves 8

INGREDIENTS:

• 4 lbs. lean pork stew meat, cut into 1 inch cubes
• 2 Tblsp butter
• 1 Tblsp olive oil
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 cups red wine
• 12 oz. prunes
• 2 bay leaves
• 4 cups chicken broth
• 2 Tblsp brandy
• 2 Tblsp heavy cream

METHOD:

•  Season pork liberally with salt and pepper.
• Heat butter and oil in a large, heavy pot. Add pork and cook, turning and stirring to brown on all sides, about 10 minutes total.
• Add the garlic and cook about 30 seconds, until fragrant. Add wine, prunes, bay leaves, and chicken broth and bring to a boil.
• Lower heat, cover, and simmer for 1 hour to 1 1/2 hours, until pork is tender. If there is a lot of fat on top of the liquid, skim it off and discard it.
• Remove cover and raise heat to boil and reduce a bit, about 5 or 10 minutes.
• Turn off heat and stir in brandy and cream. Serve with crusty bread or over noodles.

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I think gazpacho is a smashing summer idea, but it always has cucumbers in it. At the risk of offending cucumber-lovers out there, let me just say that cucumbers are so gross. I’ll grudgingly admit that they add some creaminess and tang to the soup, so I adapted a Melissa Clark recipe for gazpacho that eschews the cucumbers in favor of sheep’s milk yogurt–which is both creamy and tangy, and more importantly, totally not gross.

I made a big batch to bring over to some friends who are about to have their first baby. With this in their freezer, they can pull it out to thaw in the fridge and enjoy it some sunny day in the near future. I saved some for myself and poured it into 5 oz glasses so I could serve it as a tiny soup course before a dinner party. No spoons needed – just a shot of late-summer tomato sweetness down the gullet.

Creamy Heirloom Tomato Gazpacho
serves 8

INGREDIENTS:

• 4 garlic cloves, peeled
• 4 scallions, white and light green part only
• about 2 lbs. ripe heirloom tomatoes, cored and roughly chopped
• 1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
• 1 Tblsp red wine vinegar
• about 2 tsp salt (more to taste)
• large pinch cayenne pepper (more to taste)
• 16 oz. plain full-fat sheep’s-milk yogurt (can substitute regular yogurt, but for best results use a full-fat yogurt with a creamy texture)

METHOD:

• Put everything except yogurt in a blender and blend until creamy.
• Add yogurt and blend again. Taste and adjust seasonings if necessary.
• Serve immediately at room temperature or chill in the fridge for a few hours to overnight and serve cold.

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There are several watermelon/feta salad recipes out there, but many of them use balsamic vinegar, which I like with feta but not with watermelon. Some use no dressing at all which is just crazy. This one uses a light dressing of lime juice, olive oil, and a pinch of cayenne, as a nod to the chili-and-lime-on-sweet-fruit thing that you often get in Mexico. The sweet/salty/spicy combination is pretty much perfect.

You could replace half of the watermelon with sweet, flavorful heirloom tomatoes for another layer of flavor, color, and texture. If you’re serving this alongside grilled chicken or lamb, tomatoes would be a fantastic addition.

Watermelon Salad with Feta and Mint
serves 4-6

INGREDIENTS:

• 4 lbs seedless watermelon (I used half a watermelon)
• 1/2 cup fresh mint leaves
• 1 1/2 cups baby spinach leaves
• juice of 2 limes
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• salt
• cayenne pepper or other hot spice of your choice
• 4 oz good quality feta

METHOD:

• Remove rind from watermelon and cut flesh into 3/4 inch cubes. Put cubes in a bowl.
• Chop mint leaves finely and add to bowl. Chop spinach leaves and add to bowl.
• In a separate bowl, whisk lime juice and olive oil together to combine well. Add salt to taste (about 2 large pinches worked for me) and cayenne to taste (1 large pinch for me.) Add to watermelon and toss gently with a spatula.
• Remove to serving plate and crumble feta on top. Serve immediately.

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Thus was born the easiest recipe of the summer, the laziest chilled soup you will ever make, the healthiest lunch you will ever eat… but I’m not sure what to call it. Guacspacho? Salspacho? Gazpicodemole? Faux-zpacho? I’m open to suggestions. Anyway, here’s what you do:

1. Buy some delicious, fresh, perishable salsa/pico de gallo (remember, it should look something like this) – a pint container for every 2 people.
2. Buy some delicious, fresh, perishable guacamole (or just a really ripe avocado) – about 1/4 as much volume as the salsa.
3. Put in a blender and puree until smooth. If it’s too thick, add water or tomato juice. If it’s too thin or if you just want to go crazy, add a tablespoon or two of nonfat Greek yogurt and blend that in.

For the record, I used the mild heirloom tomato salsa from Swank Farms in Hollister, CA. You can find a link to where they sell (all over Northern California) on their website. The guacamole was from 360 Gourmet Burritos which is not the best guacamole in the world, but it’s fresh so it fit the bill just fine.

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I imagined they’d be like the usual flesh-toned chickpeas, except smaller and darker. Not so. After some experimentation, I learned that these little guys are nuttier and less prone to mushiness than other beans, and they hold their shape better during cooking. The effect is somewhere around 20% corn-nut and 80% cooked bean. Cooking them in aromatic coconut milk in the oven and finishing them on the stove with fresh herbs and lime is a reasonably no-fuss way to make the best of this hearty, nutty, unusual legume. The Thai-inspired flavors compliment them well.

I like this on its own or as a side dish with simple grilled chicken skewers or slow-cooked salmon. For an attractive one-dish presentation, you can lay the chickpeas on a platter and top with meat or fish. For a hearty vegetarian meal, you can make the recipe all the way through, let the beans come to room temperature, then add some diced tomatoes and cucumbers and mix it all together.

I bought a 14 oz. bag at Golden Natural Foods here in San Francisco, but you can buy the same brand online.

Thai-Style Black Chickpeas

serves 6 as a side dish

Ingredients:

• 14 oz dried black chickpeas
• 1 13 or 14 oz. can coconut milk
• 2 cardamom pods
• 20 black peppercorns
• 1 tsp whole cumin
• 1 tsp whole coriander
• 2 tsp salt
• 1 bunch green onions, finely chopped
• 1/4 cup packed cilantro leaves, finely chopped
• zest and juice of 1 large or 2 small limes
• sriracha or other hot sauce, to taste

Method:

• Preheat oven to 325.
• Rinse chickpeas well and drain. Place them in a heavy 4-5 qt. pot with a tight-fitting lid, like a dutch oven or Le Creuset. Add the coconut milk plus 2 cans of water.
• Using a spice grinder, mortar and pestle, or food processor, grind the cardamom pods, peppercorns, cumin, coriander, and salt together. Add to the pot.
• Place in the oven and cook about 2 hours, until beans are soft enough to eat but still firm. There will still be some liquid in the pot.
• Place the pot on top of the stove over medium high heat and continue cooking until all liquid has been absorbed, scraping down the sides frequently with a spatula.
• When there is just a little bit of liquid left, remove from heat and stir in green onions, cilantro, lime juice and zest, and sriracha to taste. Add salt if needed.
• If using as a side dish, remove to bowl and serve immediately. If making as a salad, let cool to room temperature and add 1-2 chopped tomatoes and 1 peeled, chopped cucumber and mix well before serving.

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Call me La Ganadora! I was tempted to lick the jar clean before the salad was served. This would be good on tortillas, on chicken, on toast, whatever–to me, it’s like salad dressing crack. Did I mention you just make it by throwing a bunch of things in a blender?

As for the salad, do what you like. I went with a torn head of red leaf lettuce with Granny Smith apple, red onion, and avocado, topped with corn tortilla strips quickly fried in oil and salted.

Did you know that coriander and cilantro are from the same plant? “Coriander” usually refers to the seed and “cilantro” usually refers to the seed. However, I was just in England where the term “coriander” is used interchangeably for the seed and the leaf–something worth noting if you’re one of those folks who can’t stand cilantro. In this recipe, the coriander flavor will pop more if you grind whole coriander seeds fresh, and it will be more subtle if you use powdered coriander. I have an extra coffee grinder at home just for spices, because I don’t fancy my coffee tasting like coriander.

Mexican Green Goddess Dressing
Makes enough to dress one head of lettuce

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup pepitas (raw green pumpkin seeds)
• 1 1/2 tsp ground coriander
• 1/4 cup packed cilantro leaves
• juice and zest of 1 lime
• 3 green onions, trimmed, light green and white parts only
• 2 Tblsp apple cider vinegar
• 1/4 cup water
• 1 large pinch salt
• 6 Tblsp vegetable oil

Method:

• Put everything except the oil in a blender or food processor and blend to chop finely.
• With the blender going, add oil in a slow stream and process until smooth.
• If not eating immediately, store in a jar or closed container in the fridge.
• If it’s too thick, whisk in a bit of oil or water before serving to thin it out.

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Heat your oven to 350. Put a piece of foil or parchment on a rimmed baking sheet. Add peeled and roughly chopped root vegetables like carrots, squash, sweet potatoes, potatoes, rutabagas, etc. They can be kind of gnarly and skanky and overripe–it’s OK! Drizzle with olive oil, salt, and pepper. Roast in the oven for 45 minutes to an hour.

Now, add softer vegetables, like onions, tomatoes, leeks, and garlic cloves. (I used way overripe, mushy, squirty, bruised tomatoes, that I would otherwise have had to throw away.) Drizzle with oil again and salt and pepper again. Roast for another 30 minutes to an hour, until vegetables are soft and starting to brown.

Pick up the foil and slide all the vegetables into a big soup pot. Add 4 to 8 cups of vegetable stock, salt, pepper, any herbs you have (like parsley or thyme) and bring to a boil. Boil for about 10 minutes. Let cool and puree in a blender until pretty smooth. You can eat it as a soup…

Or, you can use it as a healthy pasta sauce. Just add some of the pasta water and some of the soup to the pan with the pasta and saute for a few minutes. Sprinkle with parmesan and add chili flakes, chopped fresh sage, or cumin.

Clean fridge, check – loads of vitamins and minerals and antioxidants and so forth, check – and if you eat this often enough, I guarantee your pants will feel looser in a couple of weeks!

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I did not make the recommended pistachio garnish. I mean I did make it, but my pistachios were kind of old and I had substituted hazelnut oil for butter so the pistachios did not come out well for me and I chucked them in the trash. Next time! Instead, I garnished with some fresh thyme leaves and a drizzle of toasted sesame oil, which worked well.

The recipe calls for ginger juice, which I was excited to try… but couldn’t find in any store (even fancy stores) and didn’t have time to order online. I grated a 2 inch piece of peeled fresh ginger into the soup, using a fine microplane grater, as a substitute, which worked fine.

So if you have the butternut blahs… give this recipe a try!

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I like to make my balsamic vinaigrette with a creamier texture than I can get with just a whisk or a fork. To achieve that effect, I mix the dressing ingredients in a blender. The oil emulsifies and makes the dressing thicker and creamier. Delicious!

Strawberry Arugula Salad with Feta and Creamy Balsamic Vinaigrette

serves 2 as a main course, or 4 as a side dish

Ingredients:

• 5-6 cups arugula or baby arugula leaves, washed and dried
• 1 cup strawberries, quartered
• 1 avocado, peeled and cut into chunks
• 1/4 cup crumbled feta cheese (can use more if desired)
• 1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
• 1 tsp dijon mustard
• 3/4 cup olive oil
• 1/2 tsp brown sugar
• salt and pepper to taste

Method:

• Arrange arugula on a plate or in a bowl and top with strawberries, avocados, and feta.
• Put vinegar, mustard, olive oil, sugar, and salt and pepper in a blender and mix until creamy.
• Drizzle dressing over salad plate or lightly toss everything together in a bowl. Serve immediately.
• You may have extra dressing, which you can save in the fridge for 1-2 weeks in a jar or closed container.

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