This was another cold salad born out of necessity during this weekend’s heat wave. Chick pea is “pois chiche” in French, I think it’s one of my favorite French words, next to champignon (mushroom) and pamplemousse (grapefruit). My friend asked me what my favorite French words were, while studying abroad, and when I told him this list, he was like “of course they’re all foods!” I hadn’t even noticed.
1 can garbanzos/chick peas
1/4 cup red wine vinegar (maybe more depending on the consistency of your tahini)
2 handfuls spinach
1/2 green bell pepper
1/2 cup tahini
2 roasted carrots
2 tsp yellow curry powder
1/2 lemon
drain garbanzos
chop spinach, bell pepper and carrots
add garbanzos and veggies to a medium size bowl and stir in curry powder, tahini and red wine vinegar
squeeze lemon juice into bowl, depending on how thick your tahini is (they vary brand to brand), you may need to add more red wine vinegar if it’s too globby (yes it’s a word, I read it in my Biopshychology book today, describing the cervical cortex)
I really love tuna. Not tuna soaked in mayo though, that takes the fun out of it. I like to chop up fruits and veggies and make a lighter, fresher salad, just like my mom’s. This was another recipe born out of bountiful produce and a mighty appetite.
1 can tuna
2 sticks celery
1/2 large tomato
2 tbsp mustard
1/4 cup slivered almonds
2 handfuls spinach
1 lg carrot
1/2 onion (red or white)
1/4 cup red wine vinegar
10 red grapes
healthy dose of capers
drain tuna
chop celery, peel carrot then slice along with the tomato, onion and spinach and halve the grapes
I love pickled carrots. I made a batch of these and we ate the whole jar last night (not the glass). The magical thing about these is that you can keep re-using the pickling juice so if you’re a little lazy or extremely conscious of waste or addicted to pickled carrots (guilty of all three), try this recipe!
3 average size carrots
1/2 cup apple cider vinegar
1/4 cup water
1 tbsp. brown sugar
1 tsp. salt
cut stems and tail ends off carrots and peel
then halve them and quarter them (or do whatever slicing suits your jar)
put vinegar, sugar and salt in jar and stir it around until it’s mostly dissolved
add the carrots, cap, and shake it up a bit
then uncap and add just enough water to cover carrots and shake again
leave in fridge for at least 30 minutes
Here’s Kanye West singing about his three addictions if you’re so inclined.
And here is the Portlandia pickling clip again to get you in the spirit.
It is ridiculously hot in SLO right now. Yesterday I sat at home and studied all day but somehow still ended up feeling gritty like I had been strolling the streets of NYC on a summer day, thanks to the steady layer of sweat I kept up until well after sunset..even though I was stationed under the fan, with breaks only to make trips to the little girls room and to the freezer to remove and refill glasses of water. At one point I realized the reason my laptop was moving at the pace of an elderly snail, was probably because the poor thing was hotter than the outside temperature, meaning well over 100. I put it in the fridge. Not like I was getting much done. Heat is definitely not conductive to productivity. Anyways my friend was coming over for dinner but the thought of cooking ANYTHING sounded horrendous so I made a few cold salad-y things that required minimal effort and used up some of our surplus produce.
We got zucchini in our CSA this week, much to my chagrin. I’ve never been a fan and neither is my roommate. This was a big stress on my conscience this week…knowing that I’d have to mask those stupid zucchinis, also knowing it was going to be way too hot to cook anything this weekend unless dinner prep could wait til 8:00 when it finally starts cooling off. But we’re busy girls so this is not feasible. I decided to pickle them because as you know if you’ve seen this Portlandia clip, pickling is the solution if you’re in a pickle.
2 zucchinis
1 1/2 plums
1/2 tbsp brown sugar
1 tsp salt
1/2 cup apple cider vinegar
1/2 cup water
cut zucchinis in halves and grate them long ways using a carrot grater
slice plums thinly
lay zucchini and plums in a small casserole kind of dish and sprinkle sugar and salt over
pour vinegar and water over
let marinate for an hour and stir a little, adding more vinegar if it looks like it needs more moisture
I also have made Pickled Carrots TWICE this week because pickled carrots are especially great. We also had 3 bunches of them.
I am a firm believer that pickled onions can make almost any salad or sandwich better. They’re a great, easy DIY pantry staple to have on hand in the fridge. Using this basic vinegar-sugar-salt-veg ratio, you can play around with different kinds of veggies and or seeds and seasonings for flavoring, to perfect your pickled goods.
our salad line-up
1/2 cup apple cider or red wine vinegar
1 tbsp sugar
1 1/2 tsp kosher salt
1 red onion, thinly sliced
1/2 tbsp black pepper corns
1/2 tbsp mustard seeds
1/2 tbsp fennel seeds
whisk vinegar, sugar and salt until dissolved
place sliced onions and seeds in a jar
pour vinegar over and let sit at room temp for 1 hour
Sometimes when I don’t feel like going out or going grocery shipping, I pretend I’m on Chopped and turn it into a cooking challenge to figure out a meal using what’s on hand. It’s quite a skill to have, if I may say so myself.
One night my mom and I came home with no specific dinner plan but some pretty great things came out of it. We had some trusty brussels sprouts on hand. Knowing you have a stash of brussels at home is always reassuring because they’re versatile and they last a long time. You can roast them, sauté them or slice them up raw for a substantial salad, which is what I decided to do on said night.
Recipe:
1 lb brussels cleaned and thinly sliced
2 cups frozen edamame
3 shallots
1/3 cup golden raisins/golden berries/dates/dried apricots
1 tbsp yellow miso *note
1/3 cup pistachios
2 tbsp tahini **
generous splash tamari (soy sauce is ok too)
a few generous squirts sriracha
couple of tsps black and/or white sesame seeds
heat a small pat of butter in a nonstick pan and caramelize shallots
clean and slice brussels, leaving out bitter, white cores
cook edamames
soak your dried fruit of choice in hot water to plump them up, drain and add to sliced brussels along with the edamames
heat miso in the pan used for caramelization, add pistachios, don’t worry if it’s gooey, it will be fine once it joins the other ingredients *
add the miso/pistachios, tahini **, tamari, sriracha and sesame seeds, toss
* you can skip the miso pistachio step and just use slivered almonds or plain pistachios if you’re not feelin it
**my favorite tahini (especially for this recipe) is the whole foods brand because it’s more viscous than your average thick, sticky tahini. it’s also usually the cheapest
We’ve remade this salad a few times and switched up the nuts and dried fruits depending on what’s available and/or on what sounds appealing to the chefs at the moment.
Speaking of tahini and this salad, this is one of the things we showed our neighbor how to make in an impromptu “what makes good leftovers” cooking class at her house. We also made this tempeh-tahini bake creation that is one of my all time favorite comfort food dinners. We actually adapted the recipe from a lamb dish in “Jerusalem” by Ottolenghi and Tamimi. I will have to remake it to figure out proportions and measurements. I’ve never paid much attention because I am too focused on eating it. RECIPE COMING SOON
