Green Carrot Club

Ok, this week, we’re breaking all the rules!  Our pickiest salad club member is on vacation, so bring on the asparagus and meat!

Asparagus season is just starting, with the peak of it being in May.  If interested, read about the urine effects of asparagus on wikipedia.  I apparently don’t have the special autosomal genes required to smell the odorous compounds, but I’m alright with that.  I will spare you the chemistry that goes on here.

This is a hearty salad.  One  plateful alone must have weighed over a pound.  The recipe calls for farro.  All we could find at Mollie Stones was semi-pearled farro.  This is a new term for me.  Apparently there are 3 types of farro:

• hulled, with all of the outer bran intact
• semi-pearled, with a portion of the outer bran removed, and
• cracked, with the entire outer bran removed and broken into small coarse pieces

Only the hulled type needs to be pre-soaked.  We didn’t know this and ended up soaking it.  I think this just ended up making it softer than it was supposed to be.  It also may have made it stickier too, almost like oatmeal.  Don’t do what we did, just cook the farro you find according to the instructions on the package.

All in all, this salad was still really good.  The cranberries added a nice sweetness and the walnuts a crunchy texture.  It was nice to work with a new ingredient for a change.

Recipe adapted from allrecipes.com.

Ingredients

makes 6 servings

• 2 cups farro, uncooked
• 3/4 pound fresh asparagus, trimmed
• 1 cup red and yellow cherry tomatoes, halved
• 3/4 cup chopped walnuts
• 3/4 cup dried cranberries
• 1/2 cup chopped fresh parsley
• 1/3 cup chopped fresh chives
• 1 cup shaved Parmesan cheese

Dressing:

• 1/4 cup balsamic vinegar

Cook farro according to package.  Cool before using in salad.  Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil.  Add the asparagus, and cook uncovered until tender, about 3 minutes.  Drain in a colander, then immediately immerse in ice water for several minutes until cold to stop the cooking process.  Once the asparagus is cold, drain well, and chop.  Set aside.  Toss all ingredients together with balsamic vinegar and parmesan cheese right before serving.

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I have to say this is one of my favorite salads so far.  It is hearty and tastes really healthy.  The carrots take a little while to chop up, but it’s worth it to get them finely chopped.  Last time I needed edamame I had a hard time finding the beans that were already shelled.  I found where they sell them, the asian market.  Buying pre-shelled will save some time.  I don’t have a picture of the final serving, but we placed the above on top of a bed of baby spinach.

This recipe is from a great book called For the Love of Salad by Jeanelle Mitchell.  A co-worker gave this book to my co-salad club member and she in turn gave it to me.  I am sure we will be making more from this book in the near future.

Ingredients

makes 4 servings

• 3/4 cup brown rice
• 2 cups of water
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup shelled, cooked edamame
• 1 cup finely diced carrots
• 2 green onions, finely chopped
• 1/2 cup toasted slivered almonds
• 3 Tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro or flat-leaf parsley
• 1 bag baby spinach

• 1 large garlic clove, minced
• 1 teaspoon minced fresh ginger
• 2 Tablespoons fresh lemon juice
• 2 Tablespoons low-sodium soy sauce
• 1 Tablespoons liquid honey
• 1 Tablespoon toasted sesame oil
• pinch of red chili flakes

To cook the rice, use a rice cooker or follow here:  Combine rice, water and salt in a saucepan and bring to a boil.  Reduce to low heat and cover for 30 minutes.  Remove from heat and let stand covered for 10 minutes.  Allow rice to cool before serving.  To cook the edamame just microwave for a few minutes.  Also allow to cool before serving.

For the dressing whisk together garlic, ginger, lemon juice, soy sauce, honey, sesame oil, and chili flakes.

Toss together rice, edamame, carrots, green onion, almonds, and cilantro/parsley with the dressing.

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I don’t mean to brag, but this picture looks so good.  I still can’t believe it was take with a phone.  I post-process all the images in Lightroom, but still.

Warning, this salad has a lot of fennel.  Even if you don’t think you like it, you should still try.  I didn’t think I liked fennel until I started eating it in salads.  A little goes a long way, so I actually think this salad had a little too much for my taste, but it’s easy enough to pick around.  My friend said he preferred more oranges, or smaller pieces cut up would’ve been good so that you could get more sweet bites.

Tips for slicing fennel.  You want to cut the the tall tops off and slice off a little bit of the bottom.  Also peel back any brown parts on the outside or you can use a peeler to remove any small spots.   Slice the bulb in half (top to bottom).  Once open, slice out the hard center on the bottom by making two angled cuts.  Then slice each half into slices.

Recipe from All Recipes.

Ingredients

makes 4 servings

• 1 bunch arugula
• 3 oranges, peeled and segmented
• 1 fennel bulb, thinly sliced
• 1/4 cup sliced black olives

Dressing:

• 1 tablespoon honey
• 2 tablespoons lemon juice
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
• 1/4 cup olive oil

Whisk together the honey, lemon juice, salt, and pepper; slowly add the olive oil while continuing to whisk.

Place the arugula in the bottom of a salad bowl.  Scatter the orange segments, fennel slices, and olives over the arugula.  Drizzle the dressing over the salad to serve.

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I originally intended to make a zucchini dill salad today, but upon arrival at Trader Joe’s I had to completely change my idea because they were all out of zucchinis, and also didn’t have dill.  I made this one up on the fly and I have to admit it tasted pretty good.  It’s fairly easy to make too.

I love fresh mozzarella.  It’s expensive at most grocery stores, but these small cheese balls are very reasonable at Trader Joe’s.  I just learned this tip for slicing small tomatoes in half:  using 2 medium plastic lids (like those from cottage cheese containers), place a handful of tomatoes in one lid, cover with the other lid, with one hand holding the tomatoes in place with the top lid, slice through the middle of the tomatoes with a sharp or serrated tomato knife.

I also used small persian cucumbers.  These are nice because they are seedless and really crunchy.

Ingredients

makes 4 servings

• 1 box grape/cherry tomatoes
• 1 box persian cucumbers (~4)
• 1 container fresh mozzarella balls
• 1 cup fresh cut basil, thinly sliced
• 1 bag of arugula

Dressing:

• juice from 1 large lemon (~4 Tablespoons)
• 1/2 cup of olive oil
• freshly ground pepper
• pinch of salt
• pinch of red chili flakes

Whisk dressing ingredients together.  Toss salad ingredients together and toss with dressing.

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For our salad schedule, one of us makes salad for Monday & Tuesday.  Sometimes it’s good to have a second day of the same salad so that you can fix things that weren’t quite right the first time.  The first day of this salad had some dressing issues.  According to the recipe is says you can use soy sauce or fish sauce.  We chose soy sauce, and used the low sodium version.  As a result, the dressing tasted watered down.  Adding additional salt to the salad after serving helped though.  The second day we used fish sauce and it had a much better overall flavor.  I suspect using full sodium soy sauce would have accomplished the same result.  For those grossed out by fish sauce, don’t be, it’s really just a vehicle for salt.  The thai kind is called Squid Brand, and it’s what we also us in thai cooking.

Be sure and cut up the cilantro pretty fine or else it can be over powering in some bites.  We opted to not include the basil, but I can see how this could be good.  A good brand of coconut milk is Chaokoh.  Both the coconut milk and fish sauce can be found at an asian market.

Based on the recipe found at About Thai Food.

Ingredients

makes 4 servings

• 1 small head romaine or leaf lettuce, or 1 bag of mixed greens (we chose one with carrots)
• 2 green onions, sliced
• 1 cucumbers, chopped into medium pieces or thin slices
• 1 red pepper, chopped
• 1/2 cup fresh cilantro, finely chopped
• 1/2 cup fresh basil, roughly chopped (optional)

Dressing:

• 1/2 cup good-quality coconut milk
• 1 Tbsp. lime juice
• 2 Tbsp. fish sauce or 1 Tbsp. soy sauce plus a pinch of salt
• 1-2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 tsp. brown sugar
• 1/4 tsp. dried crushed chili

Whisk together dressing ingredients.  Adjust with fish or soy sauce to desired saltiness.  Toss salad ingredients together with dressing and serve.

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I first had this at a friend’s bbq a couple of years ago.  I decided to make it this week because I recently made a pasta that required harissa so I had a lot of it left over.  I found this can of harissa at whole foods for only $3-4.  I’ve also seen this come in tubes, which would probably be better as far as saving it for later.  A little harissa goes a long way.  Since I’m left with a whole can minus a few tablespoons, I’m now looking for other recipes to use it up.

The recipe below is for 4 servings, however for our lunch I needed to make 8 servings (to last 2 days) so I used 5 lbs of carrots.  This is the perfect use for a food processor with the grater adapter.  I actually didn’t peel the carrots either because that would have taken way too long.  I just made sure to wash them really well.  I had 5 lbs grated in about 10-15 minutes.

You can start with store bought ground caraway (if this exists) and cumin, but I just ground them up in a mortar and pestle.  A spice grinder would work too.

We are well into the 3rd week of our kitchen remodel.  It is especially frustrating not having a kitchen sink.  We decided to do a few more things, so it is going to be a few more weeks of cooking on the washing machine in the dining room.

Adapted from smittenkitchen.com.

Ingredients

makes 4 servings

• 2 pound carrots, peeled, trimmed and coarsely grated
• 3-4 tablespoons flat leaf parsley, finely chopped
• 3-4 tablespoons fresh mint, finely chopped
• 100 grams feta, crumbled or chopped into bits

Dressing:

• 8 tablespoons olive oil
• 2 crushed clove of garlic (minced)
• 1/2 teaspoon caraway seeds or about half as much, ground (I used seeds but ground them first)
• 3/4 teaspoon cumin seeds or about half as much, ground (I used the seed but ground them first, again)
• 1 teaspoon paprika
• 3/4 teaspoon harissa (for a solid kick of heat; adjust yours to taste, and to the heat level of your harissa)
• 1 teaspoon sugar
• 6 tablespoons lemon juice (1 lemon)

In a small sauté pan, cook the garlic, caraway, cumin, paprika, harissa and sugar in the oil until fragrant, about one to two minutes. Remove from heat and add the lemon juice and a pinch of salt. Pour over the carrots and mix. Add the herbs and mix. Leave to infuse for an hour and add the feta before eating.  FYI, the more feta, the better.

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This may be the first salad that we’ve made that uses butter lettuce (aka boston or bibb).  We used Braeburn apples that were cut in the morning so that’s why they look a little browned.  They tasted just fine though.  To avoid this, just be sure to cut them right before serving.  Or try squeezing some lemon juice on the slices if they are cut ahead of time.  And since we are chemistry nerds, we might as well talk more about this thing called oxidation.  I actually found the chemical reaction that is occurring in the apple:

(1)

The phenols exist inside the apple’s cells.  When the apple is cut, the cells are broken which allows the phenols to react with the oxygen, which in turn form quinone.  A series of reactions then converts the quinone to melanin (the same molecules responsible for the brown in a sun tan).  These reactions only work in a limited pH range, therefore adding the lemon juice makes the environment too acidic.  Lemon also contains ascorbic acid which is an antioxidant (2).  Ok, sorry, I know that was way too much chemistry for a salad blog, but hopefully we all learned something.  I promise this won’t happen again.

This is adapted from a Taste of Home.

Ingredients

makes 4 servings

• 1 package Bibb or Boston lettuce; or 1 large head, torn
• 2 medium apples, sliced
• 1/2 cup pecan halves, toasted

Dressing:

• 1/4 cup cider vinegar
• 3 tablespoons honey
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1/8 teaspoon salt
• 1/8 teaspoon pepper
• 1 cup shredded Parmesan cheese

Toast the pecans in a fry pan on the stove top, with a little olive oil.  In a serving bowl, combine the lettuce, apple and pecans.  In a small bowl, whisk the vinegar, honey, oil, salt and pepper.  Pour over salad; toss to coat. Sprinkle with cheese.

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This salad is one of the few we’ve made with beans.  Since we don’t add meat, we should actually make more with beans so we get some protein.  This time of year we had to use canned corn and the tomatoes looked a little sad.  I look forward to making this again in the summer.

Adapted from allrecipes.com.

Ingredients

makes 4 servings

• 1 (15 ounce) can black beans, rinsed and drained
• 1 (15 ounce) cans whole kernel corn, drained
• 2-4 green onions, chopped
• 1 jalapeno pepper, seeded and minced
• 1 green bell pepper, chopped
• 1 avocado – peeled, pitted, and sliced
• 1 (4 ounce) jar pimentos
• 3 tomatoes, seeded and chopped
• 1/2 cup chopped fresh cilantro
• 1 package of spinach

Dressing:

• 1 lime, juiced
• 1/2 cup olive oil
• 1 teaspoon dried oregano
• 1 teaspoon dried basil
• 1/2 teaspoon garlic salt

In a large bowl, combine the black beans, corn, green onions, jalapeno peppers, bell pepper, avocado, pimentos, tomatoes and cilantro.  For dressing add lime juice, olive oil and seasonings.  Toss dressing with ingredients right before serving.  Serve on a handful of spinach and top with avocado slices.

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This salad has the classic salad ingredients, but the poppy seeds and sesame seeds add a different texture.  Again, sorry for the short post, but I’m almost caught up now and next week I promise to add more details.

This salad is from last year, but unfortunately I can’t remember where we found it.

Ingredients

makes 4 servings

• 1 Tablespoons butter
• 3/4 cups slivered almonds
• 1 pound spinach, rinsed and torn into bit size pieces (or spinach plus baby greens)
• 1 cup dried cranberries
• 2 Tablespoons toasted sesame seeds
• 1 Tablespoon poppy seeds

Dressing:

• 1 Tablespoon white sugar
• 2 teaspoons minced onion
• 1/4 teaspoon paprika
• 1/8 cup white wine vinegar
• 1/8 cup cider vinegar
• 1/4 cup vegetable oil (or olive oil)

Melt butter in saucepan, cook and stir almonds in butter until lightly toasted.  Remove from heat and let cool.  In a large bowl, combine the spinach with the toasted almonds and cranberriesIn a medium bowl, whisk together the sesame seeds, poppy seeds, sugar, onion, paprika, white wine vinegar, cider vinegar and oil.  Toss with spinach just before serving.

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I almost forgot to take a picture today!  It was almost too late before I remembered, so all I got were my last few bites.

I was always under the assumption that napa cabbage was not all that nutritious.  Well, after a google search, I found out that it is in fact very high in vitamin C, K and folates and it has only 16 calories per 100 g.  I’ve still got a few more posts to write, so I’m going to keep this one short.

This was based on allrecipes.com.

Ingredients

makes 8 servings

• 1 head napa cabbage, thinly sliced
• 1 bunch minced green onions
• 1 Tablespoon butter
• 1 (3 ounce) package ramen noodles, broken
• 2 tablespoons sesame seeds
• 1 cup slivered almonds

Dressing:

• 2 Tablespoons cider vinegar
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil
• 1 Tablespoon white sugar
• 2 Tablespoons soy sauce

Finely shred the head of cabbage; do not chop. Combine the green onions and cabbage in a large bowl, cover and refrigerate until ready to serve.

Make the ramen crunchies: Melt the butter in a pan. Mix the ramen noodles, sesame seeds and almonds into the pot with the melted butter.  On Medium heat toss the mixture around until lightly browned.  Keep an eye on this or it will quickly burn.

For the dressing mix the vinegar, oil, sugar, and soy sauce.  Combine dressing, crunchies, and cabbage immediately before serving. Serve right away or the crunchies will get soggy.

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