Green Carrot Club

For this salad we actually used a mixture of spinach tortellini and pesto tortellini.  At first, the sound of pesto and the soy-ginger dressing didn’t seem like it would be a good combination, but it ended up tasting alright.  Feel free to substitute any type of tortellini or even just a pasta would be good too.

Don’t be intimidated by the amount of ingredients in this one.  There isn’t actually that much chopping involved and it can mostly be done while the pasta is cooking.  If I had made this salad I would have omitted the mayonnaise, but there is so little in it that you can’t taste it, so it was ok.  Mayo is not as evil as mustard, but it is close.  They do allow nice emulsions to be made, so if you like these ingredients, by all means use them.

This was very loosely based on allrecipes.com.  I’m really glad we didn’t add the roast beef and bean sprouts, yuck.

Ingredients

makes 8 servings

• 2 tablespoons salt
• 1.5-2 pound spinach tortellini pasta
• 2 cups chopped broccolini (or regular broccoli)
• 3 medium carrots, peeled and coarsely grated, or julienned
• 3 green onions, thinly sliced
• 1/2 cup chopped roasted peanuts
• 1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro
• 2 packages of baby spinach

Soy-Ginger Dressing:

• 3 medium garlic cloves, minced
• 6 tablespoons soy sauce
• 1 tablespoon rice wine vinegar
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• 1 tablespoon sesame oil
• 1 teaspoon ground ginger
• 1 teaspoon red pepper flakes
• 1 tablespoons mayonnaise
• 1/4 cup vegetable oil

Mix garlic, soy sauce, vinegar, sugar, sesame oil, ginger, and pepper flakes in a 2-cup Pyrex measuring cup. Whisk in mayonnaise until smooth, then in a slow steady stream, whisk in oil to make an emulsified dressing; keep chilled until ready to toss with salad.

Prepare tortellini pasta according to package.

Place all salad ingredients in a large bowl.  When ready to serve, add dressing and toss to coat.

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My husband called this hippie prison food, but don’t listen to him, it is actually quite good.  And it is very impressive to look at.  I went to Trader Joe’s to buy ingredients.  I ended up with some weird “sprouted” tofu since it was the only extra firm variety they had.  I couldn’t tell what the difference was taste wise though.  I also thought I would find shelled frozen edamame there, but I didn’t.  I knew I found it somewhere before, so I trekked over to Safeway too, but alas did not find it there either.  I had to hand shell all the beans, but it actually didn’t take that long, and was more annoyed that I had went to two stores.

Since we always prep our salads the night before, they are always served cold the next day.  I could see this one being nice warm if served right after the tofu and rice were cooked.

This recipe was inspired by Sprouted Kitchen.

Ingredients

makes 4 servings

• 1 cup wild rice
• 14 oz. block extra firm tofu, cut into 1/2″ squares
• 2 tsp. soy sauce or tamari
• fresh ground pepper
• 1 heaping cup thinly sliced carrots
• 1 package frozen edamame, cooked and shelled
• 3 Tbsp. toasted sesame seeds
• oil for cooking tofu
• 1 package of baby greens

Miso Dressing:

• 1 Tbsp. white miso
• 1 Tbsp. sesame oil
• 2 1/2 Tbsp. rice vinegar
• 1 shallot, minced
• Juice of a small orange

Cook the wild rice according to package.  I used a rice cooker and it seemed to take forever, over an hour (maybe even 2), but it did eventually cook.  Start this first.  Cook edamame according to package.  Microwaving is easiest.  Then shell the beans if you can’t find pre-shelled.  Cut tofu into 1/2″ squares, add oil to frying pan and lightly saute the tofu, sprinkling the soy sauce and pepper on it as it cooks.  Cook until lightly browned.  Adding the soy sauce makes it hard to see if it is browned, but cook about 7 minutes.  Slice carrots.  I ended up using baby carrots.  For dressing, mince shallot and whisk together all ingredients.  Toss vegetables, rice, tofu and sesame seeds with dressing right before serving.  Serve on top of a handful of baby greens.

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For this one, be sure to chop the apple right before serving the salad to keep it from oxidizing and turning brown.  With the apples, cranberries and chutney it is a little on the sweet side, but the salt and curry powder add a touch of savoriness.

I prefer crisp tart apples like pink ladies, but any will work just fine so pick your favorite.

This recipe was based on allrecipes.com.

Ingredients

makes 6 servings

• 2 packages of spinach
• 2 apples, chopped
• 1/2 cup dried cranberries
• 1/2 cup roasted peanuts (unsalted)

Dressing:

• 1/2 cup olive oil
• 2 Tablespoons cider vinegar
• 1 Tablespoon of sugar
• 1 Tablespoon of Trader Joe’s Mango Ginger Chutney
• 3/4 teaspoon of curry powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt

Core apples and cut into bite size pieces.  Whisk together dressing ingredients.  Toss salad ingredients with dressing.

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This is the second time I’ve made this salad.  It is one of my favorites and it is really easy.  I needed an easy one this week since our kitchen is officially in remodel mode (I can’t wait to have a dishwasher).  I’m cooking in the dining room on a hot plate and washing dishes in the bathroom.

Hopefully you can find the shiso leaves.  It adds a nice flavor, a bit like spearmint (it is in fact part of the mint family).  I can always find it a Nijiya market, although this time it was kind of wilted already.

With our new schedule, we have 3 salads per week.  It will be hard for me to keep up, but hopefully I can do it.  I’m actually already 2 behind from last week.  I’ve never tried adding the garlic or ginger, but can see these both working well.

I found the dressing recipe on the Japanese Food Report.

Ingredients

makes 4 servings

• 2 lbs roma tomatoes (diced) or cherry tomatoes (halved)
• 2 medium cucumbers or 5-6 small persian cucumbers (diced)
• 1 pkg arugula
• 6 shiso leaves (finely sliced)
• soba noodles (1 package, 3 sleeves), cooked and chilled

Dressing:

• 1/2 cup Japanese rice vinegar
• 2 tablespoons soy sauce
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• 1 tablespoon sesame oil
• 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 2 tablespoons ground sesame seeds (used spice/coffee bean grinder or mortar & pestle)
• optional:  garlic (1 clove finely chopped), or grated ginger (1 teaspoon)

Toss tomatoes and cucumbers with dressing.  Serve on top of a bed of arugula.  Garnish with shiso.

Serve soba on side, topped with some more dressing.

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Even if you think you don’t like beets you still have to try this salad.  I used to hate beets as a kid.  My mom made me eat canned cooked ones that were mushy.  Raw beets are totally different.  Think crisp like a carrot.  You definitely need a mandolin to get the paper thin slices.  Thicker slices would be hard to chew without cutting them up further on your plate.

Sorry, the white balance of these pictures is horrible, but I don’t have time to fix it right now.  The bright red slices make the other images look sickly.  It really is a pretty salad when color corrected.

Definitely buy shelled pistachios.  It’s not worth it to shell them by hand.

I first had this salad at Schmidt’s german restaurant in SF.  They used the yellow and white beets which were really good, but I couldn’t find these at the farmer’s market or grocery store.  I loved the salad so I decided to recreate at home with a few changes, mainly adding arugula to fill us up for lunch.

Ingredients:

makes 8 servings

• 2- bags arugula
• 6-8 beets (sliced on mandolin), can be any color (red, yellow, white)
• shelled pistachios

Dressing:

• juice from 1 lemon
• ~1/2 cup of olive oil

Beets are used raw.  First cut off stems.  Peel beets by chopping off the tops and bottoms.  Then with a flat side down on the cutting board, run knife along rounded edges to take off peel.  Slice peeled beets on madoline set to thinnest setting.  If using red beets you may want to wear gloves.  Be aware of cutting boards and counters that can also stain.

Toss ingredients with dressing.

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This salad was our newest member’s first salad.  It had crunchy ramen noodles, which I love.  Be sure and store the crunchy ramen in a separate container if not making immediately, so that they stay crunchy.

This recipe is like  a lot of recipes we find, in that it says to use A LOT of sugar.  The original recipe calls for 1/2 cup of sugar.  That is an insane amount to use in less than a cup of liquid.  We used significantly less, but adjust this to your liking.

It was found at allrecipes.com.

Ingredients

makes 8 servings

• 2-3 (3 ounce) package ramen noodles, broken
• 2 tablespoons butter or margarine
• 3 cups chopped broccoli
• 2 small heads of romaine lettuce, torn
• 4-6 green onions, chopped
• 1 cup chopped walnuts

• 1/8 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil
• 1/4 cup cider vinegar
• 2 teaspoons soy sauce
• salt and pepper to taste

Prepare dressing by whisking together all ingredients.  Before opening up noodle packet, crush up noodles.  Discard seasoning packet from noodles or save for another use.  In a skillet, saute noodles in butter until golden.  In a large bowl, combine noodles, broccoli, romaine, onions, and walnuts.  Toss with dressing.

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Happy new year!  I know it’s a bit late to be saying this.  We took a few weeks off at the beginning of the year due to vacations and trying to reorganize, but we are back.  A new year means all new salads and a new salad club member.  Yes, my blog has inspired another co-worker to join us in our salad eating ways.  This poses a bit of a challenge scheduling-wise, but I think we figured it out so we can each still have one week off.

I was inspired this weekend at the farmer’s market by all the citrus in season now.  The original recipe only calls for grapefruit and oranges, but I also found pomelos and blood oranges, so I also included those.  What I thought to be blood oranges unfortunately turned out to be just oranges when I cut them open.

Here’s an interesting fact I learned while spending part of my holidays in Paris.  Grapefruit in french is pamplemousse.

This recipe is loosely adapted from this Martha Stewart recipe.

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Sorry this image is slighly blurry.  About 90% of the time I forget to bring my camera to lunch and I have to rely on my friends to take a photo with their phones.  This salad is very festive with the red pomegranates and the green celery.  Also, this will be my last post for the year.  I’ll be back in January.  Happy holidays!

A major shortcut we took was buying the pomegranate seeds vs. the whole pomegranate.  This saved a lot of time and made no mess.  These are definitely worth it if they are on sale (like we found them), but maybe even worth it if they are not.

This was adapted from 101cookbooks Bulgar, Celery and Pomegranate Salad.  Their version has extra herbs that we didn’t feel the salad needed.

Ingredients

makes 6 servings

• 2 lb. celery, cut into thin slices
• 2 pomegranate seed cups (approximately 2 cups)
• 1.5 cups walnuts
• 2 cups wheat bulgar, uncooked
• 2 Tablespoons fresh mint, finely chopped

Dressing:

• 1/2 cup olive oil
• 1/2 cup pomegranate juice (juiced from above seeds)
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 1/2 teaspoon salt

Cook wheat bulgar by placing it in a bowl and then filling it with boiling hot water to just below the wheat.  Let stand for 15 minutes.  Taste and see if tender enough.  If not, add more water and let sit longer.  Drain excess water off if necessary.  This can also be prepared according to package directions, but we found the latter method to result in less sticky wheat bulgar.

Whisk together dressing ingredients.  Mix together ingredients and toss with dressing.

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I love kale.  I got hooked on it when I discovered how to make kale chips, but this is the second salad we’ve made with raw kale, and I have to say I almost like it more than the chip version.  And you know you’re racking up nutrition points with every bite.  It just tastes healthy, but not in a bad way.  We found ourselves at Berkeley Bowl last weekend, so I knew I could score some fresh kale there.  At only $1.09 a bunch I bought 4 bunches.  This turned out to be way too much kale.  We only ate just over 2 bunches for our lunches, I’ve already eaten kale chips twice this week, and I’ve still got 1 bunch left!  By the way, the Berkeley Bowl produce section is amazing.  Their selection and variety seems almost endless.  I counted no less than 5 types of avocados and they had kefir limes.  It almost puts the Alemany Farmer’s Market to shame.  I’d shop here all the time if there wasn’t a big bridge separating us.

I love Acme bread.  I made the breadcrumbs out of their Sweet Batard.  I toasted about 6 slices in the toaster, but I don’t think I toasted them long enough.  Make sure they are good and browned and dry, otherwise the crumbs in the salad will not be crunchy.  Once the bread is toasted, tear it up in small pieces and then pulse the pieces in the blender to make course breadcrumbs.

I don’t necessarily love parmesan, but I do like it a lot.  By using a microplane to grate the parmesan you can get it really fine and therefore it can coat all the kale and each bite can taste really parmesan-y.

I love 101 cookbooks.  I read Heidi Swanson’s site regularly and have made a lot of  her recipes.  This recipe was made from her Raw Tuscan Kale salad, with some slight changes.

Ingredients

makes 6 servings

• 2-3 bunches of curly kale
• 6 slices of sweet french bread (toasted)
• 1.5 cups of grated parmesean

Dressing:

• juice from 2 lemons
• 1/4 cup of olive oil
• 2 Tablespoons garlic, finely minced
• 1/4 teaspoon red chili flakes
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• freshly ground black pepper to taste

Tear kale leaves from the center stem and then tear the leaves into bite size pieces. Throw away (or compost) the center stem.  Blend the toasted bread into breadcrumbs.  Whisk together dressing ingredients.  Toss together kale, parmesan, and dressing.  Add breadcrumbs last and then toss again to avoid them getting soggy.

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This recipe is fairly simple for having a lot of ingredients.  Buying pre-torn lettuce always saves on time, but I never find that tearing lettuce takes all that long.  And freshly torn lettuce tastes a lot fresher.  Since we made this salad last week we obviously didn’t have fresh sweet corn on hand, but I can see this making it especially good in the summer.

The chipotles in adobo sauce make the dressing take on a really smokey flavor, without adding much heat.  If this is not to your liking, I could see replacing these with canned green chilies.

The tortilla strips really made the salad for me.  I like crunchy salty things though.  I believe we used some store bought ones made for salads, probably found near the croutons, but crunching up some regular corn chips would probably work as well.

Even though a lot of these ingredients are canned, there are still a lot of fresh ingredients in it that balance it out.

Ingredients

makes 6 servings

• 2 heads of romaine lettuce, torn into small pieces
• 1 can black beans
• 1 can corn (or 1-2 ears of fresh corn if in season)
• 1 package of cherry tomatoes, halved
• 1 cup mexican cheese blend
• tortilla strips

Dressing:

• 1/2 cup olive oil
• 1/4 cup fresh lime juice
• 1 teaspoon minced garlic
• 1 tablespoon minced chipotle peppers in adobo sauce
• 1/4 cup roughly chopped fresh cilantro
• 2 teaspoons ground cumin
• Kosher salt and freshly cracked black pepper to taste

Wisk together dressing ingredients.  Toss dressing with salad ingredients.  Top with tortilla strips.

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