Category Archives: SALAD RECIPES

COLESLAW

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There is something truly pathetic about a restaurant that normally serves fairly decent fare that apparently can’t prepare decent coleslaw. I mean really, how hard is it to make truly flavorful coleslaw?  I tell you, it’s just sick and wrong!  First of all, good coleslaw is a treat. It’s crunchy, savory, (sometimes a little sweet), easy to prepare, economical, nutritious, fairly low in calories, full of dietary fiber, and colorful. Good grief, what more could anyone want in a salad? So why do so many restaurants treat it as a “throw away” food?   (My definition of something that appears on my plate at a restaurant seemingly just to fill up space.) Well darn it, if most restaurants can’t (or won’t) serve a lovely coleslaw I’m going to make it my mission to right this terrible injustice! I’m going to teach you how to make coleslaw at home! (And please excuse me if you are already a devotee of coleslaw and have been making it for your family for years. I hate to preach to the choir, but sometimes the choir just has to close its metaphorical ears when a subject is of such importance!) And I know, some restaurants do make good coleslaw, but you have to admit, they are rare. And this is the part that really shreds my cabbage; there are people out there who haven’t even had the benefit of tasting a truly delicious coleslaw. They don’t even know what they’re missing! How unfair is that? So then, why would anyone who hasn’t experienced good coleslaw in a restaurant or at someone else’s home even want to make coleslaw for their family?  Like I said, sick and wrong! So if you are one of those unlucky souls who haven’t as yet come to appreciate coleslaw, I am especially excited to share this recipe with you. And trust me there are lots of wonderful recipes for coleslaw on the Internet and in cookbooks. Just give coleslaw a try. If this one isn’t right for you, don’t stop looking.  Keep trying until you find that perfect one.

  • 3 T. mayonnaise
  • 1 ½ tsp. sugar
  • ½ tsp. celery seeds
  • 1 ½ tsp. cider vinegar
  • ¼ tsp. kosher salt
  • freshly grounds black pepper
  • 2 T. finely chopped red or green pepper
  • 1 small stalk celery, finely chopped
  • 1 large carrot, grated
  • red and/or green cabbage, shredded

Whisk together the mayonnaise, sugar, celery seeds, cider vinegar, salt, and a couple grinds of pepper in a salad bowl. Stir in chopped pepper, celery, carrot, and enough shredded cabbage to make a total of 4 cups. Refrigerate until ready to serve. (And I know at first glance the recipe doesn’t appear to make enough dressing to coat all the veggies. It does. They are just not swimming in dressing.)

SHRIMP AND SCALLOP CEVICHE

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This recipe was given to me by our dear friend Desiree. She prepared it for one of our JazzVox concerts and it was a huge success. I absolutely could not stop eating it. And believe me, I was not alone. I did change some of the amounts and omit a couple of ingredients, but that’s only because of personal preference. The great thing about ceviche is that in addition to shrimp and scallops you can use a wide variety of other seafood including snapper, flounder, sea bass, halibut, mahi-mahi, tilapia, squid, and octopus. In fact, tilapia is very widely used in Mexico and here in America it is fairly inexpensive and widely available. And I know, ceviche is all about “cooking” seafood in citrus juice, mainly lemon and lime. However, I prefer to actually lightly poach my shrimp and scallops before I add them to the other ingredients.  Technically speaking, to actually cook something, heat is required. So a dish in which raw fish is marinated in citrus juice hasn’t truly been cooked.  But food “cooked” in an acid isn’t exactly raw either. Both heat and citric acid are agents of a chemical process called denaturation. Denaturation is the process by which protein molecules in food are structurally changed by heating, agitation, pressure or adding an alkali or acid. When fish is “cooked” in citrus juices, the process of denaturation turns the flesh firm and opaque, as if it had been cooked with heat. But from everything I’ve read, “cooking” food in citrus juice does not do as good a job of killing bacteria or parasites as does cooking with heat. Unless you are absolutely positive your seafood is ultra fresh, I would recommend that you at least consider a hot bath for your seafood before you add it to its flavorful citric marinade. But enough about “cooking” and cooking! Let’s go on to an interesting and perhaps little known fact about ceviche marinade.

If you are a ceviche connoisseur, then you probably already know about Tiger’s Milk (leche de tigre). But just in case you don’t, leche de tigre is what the Peruvians call the leftover ceviche marinade. It is often served as the drink of choice when ceviche is on the menu. It is served in small glasses with or without vodka. (I’m tellin’ you, for me to drink this concoction it would have to be at least 1/3rd vodka!) But, apparently Peruvians love their leche de tigre. They consider it an excellent cure for hangovers. (You know, I don’t make this stuff up; but it seems to me that vodka spiked leche de tigre would cause more hangovers than it would cure!)  Happy ceviche everyone.

  • ½ c. fresh orange juice
  • 4 limes, juiced
  • 3 lemons, juiced
  • dash hot sauce
  • ½ tsp. kosher salt
  • freshly ground black pepper
  • ½ c. finely diced red onion
  • 1-2 very finely minced jalapeño peppers
  • 2 c. (about ¾ lb.) raw scallops
  • 2 c. (about ¾ lb. raw de-veined medium large shrimp
  • ½ c. finely chopped cilantro
  • 4 finely chopped green onions
  • 2-3 campari or vine-ripened tomatoes, seeded and finely diced
  • 2 avocados, diced

In a medium sized, non-reactive bowl, stir together the orange juice, 3/4th of the lime juice (reserve the remaining lime juice to add just before serving), lemon juice, hot sauce, salt, pepper, red onion, jalapeño, and poached scallops and shrimp. (To poach the shrimp and scallops, season 2 quarts of water with 1/4 cup kosher salt and bring to a boil. Once the water has come to a boil, add the seafood to the pot and immediately turn off the heat. Let the shrimp and scallops sit until just about cooked through, about 2 minutes. Remove from the water and immediately drop in ice cold water. Drain, pat dry, and cut into bite sized pieces.) Make sure seafood is completely covered with citrus liquid. Add more lime juice if necessary. Cover and refrigerate for 3-4 hours. Stir once or twice to ensure everybody marinating uniformly. 30 minutes before serving add the cilantro, green onions, tomatoes, avocados, and reserved lime juice. Adjust seasoning and drain off part of the liquid. (Or of course, you can serve the extra marinade in small glasses to the uninitiated.) Serve as an appetizer with tortilla chips or on a bed of lettuce for a light summer salad. Either way, ceviche is a heavenly way to enjoy seafood.

 

 

MEXICAN TOASTED CORN SALAD

Once in awhile you fall in love with a dish that is incredibly easy to prepare, low fat, and wonderfully tasty. Well this salad fits that description perfectly. There is nothing about this salad not to like. It has a nice nutty flavor from the toasted corn, and the diced red and orange peppers provide not only a lovely crunch, but gorgeous little spots of color. And the best part, there is nary a drop of mayonnaise or sour cream to be found. So this is a perfect dish to take to a potluck. It is not going to spoil if it has to sit unrefrigerated. In fact, it is better served room temperature. The only thing you have to do at the last minute is mix in the avocado. Well, that and get out of the way. Once people have tasted this salad, they are going to remember it. So the first time you serve it, you might be OK standing in front of the salad and conversing with friends. The second time however, it’s best to make a hasty retreat once you set the salad on the table. People are like elephants in that they too have long memories when it comes to finding food they like. Of course, elephants have to remember food locations too, whereas people only have to remember if they found a particular food enjoyable. But in both cases a stampede can result.  Forewarned is forearmed!

  • 1 T. vegetable oil
  • 2 c. frozen corn, thawed and patted dry or kernels from 2-3 ears of grilled fresh corn
  • 1 T. fresh lime juice
  • ¼ c. tomato salsa, medium hot
  • ¼ red pepper, chopped
  • ¼ orange pepper, chopped
  • 2 T. chopped red onion
  • 2 Roma tomatoes, seeded and chopped
  • 1 Hass avocado, chopped
  • kosher salt
  • freshly ground black pepper

Pour oil into a medium sized fry pan heated to medium high. Add corn and sauté, stirring occasionally until corn toasts and browns slightly. Remove from heat and set aside to cool. Meanwhile combine lime juice and salsa in a medium sized bowl. Add the peppers, onion, tomatoes, and cooled pan-fried corn or kernels from grilled corn. Toss to coat and season to taste with salt and pepper. When ready to serve, gently stir in avocado pieces. Note: this recipe doubles, triples, etc. very well.

 

 

BROCCOLI SALAD

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Broccoli has never been and will never be Mr. C’s favorite vegetable. I serve it to him quite often however because it’s one of my favorite veggies. (It’s really all about me, remember?) So try as I may to find new and fabulous ways to serve the lowly Brassica oleracea Botrytis cymosa, about 90% of the time my tries are less than amazing. (That’s putting it nicely!) But this salad (slightly modified from a recipe that came from a friend of a friend), is just so delicious that Mr. C. will actually go back for seconds! I do realize that he might only like this salad because of the bacon, but I’m choosing to think not. I’m going to live in my own little “world of denial” on this one and give him the benefit of the doubt. Ain’t love grand!

  • 5-6 c. bite sized pieces of fresh broccoli
    ½ lb. bacon cooked and chopped
    1 small red onion, diced
    ½ c. golden raisins
    1 c. light mayonnaise
    1 T. sugar
    2 T. white wine vinegar
  • freshly ground black pepper
  • 1 c. sunflower seeds

Combine broccoli, bacon, onion, and raisins in a salad bowl. Whisk together the mayonnaise, sugar, vinegar, and pepper. When ready to serve, toss broccoli with dressing and sunflower seeds. Serve immediately.

SPINACH SALAD

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Whenever I want to serve a salad that I know almost everyone is going to love, I prepare this incredibly easy recipe. If I am feeling flush (money wise that is), I buy the packages of pre-washed baby spinach. If however, I am feeding the masses and money is a consideration (which granted is most of the time), I buy the huge bag of spinach at Costco. After I give the spinach a rough chop, I get out my salad spinner and give said spinach the ride of its life! (How in the name of busy cooks everywhere did we ever survive without salad spinners?) But back to the salad…. It’s delicious, easy, packed with healthy ingredients, and reasonably cheap inexpensive to prepare. What’s not to like?

  • 1 T. raspberry vinegar
  • ½ tsp. Dijon mustard
  • 1 clove garlic, finely minced
  • ½ tsp. kosher salt
  • freshly ground black pepper
  • 2 T. extra virgin olive oil
  • 1 (9-oz.) bag pre-washed baby spinach leaves
  • 2 T. sunflower seeds

Whisk together the vinegar, Dijon mustard, garlic, salt, pepper, and olive oil. Refrigerate until ready to assemble the salad. When ready to serve, combine spinach and sunflower seeds and toss with enough dressing to lightly coat each leaf. Serve immediately.

 

PEA SALAD

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I usually try to be lighthearted when I post a recipe, but reading or preparing this recipe always brings back memories. In the days before life became so complicated and our local health department became so rigid, I used to join a group of women (including my dear friend Linda) with whom I worked who prepared special holiday meals for the homeless women’s shelter at our local YWCA. We would all prepare homemade food and serve it to the ladies. The main thing these women liked was the variety of food offered. (They so rarely were given choices outside of what we brought in for these holiday luncheons.) After a few meals, I learned that there were two dishes the ladies really liked. One was this pea salad, the other was deviled eggs. For whatever reason these two foods must have reminded them of better days. So you can bet your bottom dollar, we tried our best to give them what they wanted. This recipe never ceases to remind me how blessed and fortunate I am.

  • ½ c. light mayonnaise
  • 1 T. Dijon mustard
  • freshly ground black pepper
  • 1/8 tsp. dill weed
  • ½ tsp. seasoned salt
  • ½ c. finely chopped celery
  • 1 lg. shallot, finely minced
  • ½ c. thinly sliced green onion
  • 1 lb. frozen petite peas, uncooked
  • ½ c. chopped bacon, fried crisp, opt.
  • ½ c. grated sharp cheddar cheese, opt.
  • 1 c. salad shrimp, opt.

Whisk the mayonnaise, mustard, pepper, dill weed, and seasoned salt together in a salad bowl. Add the celery, shallot, and green onions. Pour the package of frozen peas into a colander*. Run enough water over the peas to melt the ice crystals that may have formed around the peas. Let sit a couple of minutes to drain. Gently fold peas in with other salad ingredients. Refrigerate for at least 30 minutes before serving. For variety, add bacon, cheese, or shrimp to the basic recipe.

*or if you are taking this salad to a potluck, for example, and won’t be eating it for several hours, just add the peas straight out of the freezer and they will thaw as you travel. Lovely way to make sure the salad is as fresh and crisp as possible.

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CUCUMBER AND RED ONION SALAD

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There are just those evenings when the last thing I want to do is make a salad. Salads are perhaps my least favorite food to prepare. It’s not the salads fault. Lettuce is boring to wash and cut. Then there are all the other veggies that have to be cleaned and chopped. Again – yawn. But I like salads, so this combination of ingredients is a nice change from the ones that require a salad spinner. It’s also very easy to prepare, and can be made ahead of time and refrigerated.  But the best reason to make this salad is because it is really good. It’s tangy and crunchy and creamy all at the same time. And what it does for your breath! Absolutely nothing can do as good a job at warding off vampires. Yea red onion and garlic!

  • ½ c. plain Greek or regular yogurt or sour cream
  • 2 garlic cloves, minced
  • 1 T. fresh or 1 tsp. dried dill weed
  • 1 tsp. kosher salt
  • freshly ground black pepper
  • 1 tsp. white wine vinegar
  • 1/3 c. thinly sliced red onion
  • 1 English cucumber

Combine yogurt, garlic, dill, salt, pepper, and vinegar in a small salad bowl. Add red onion and cucumber which has been partially peeled, cut in half lengthwise, seeded, then sliced into ¼-inch thick half-moons. Adjust seasoning and serve cold.