Green Carrot Club

This salad looks impressive, but it’s so simple.  The avocado salsa is the key ingredient.  We just bought some pre-made salsa from Safeway which was actually pretty good, but doing a simple google search resulted in several recipes on how to make your own.  It seems simple enough to make so if we make this one again, I might try to also make the salsa.

Ingredients

makes 5 servings

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The 5 lbs of carrots at Safeway was too good of a deal to pass up.  The dinner I needed them for ended up only using 2 carrots, so it was time to do carrot salad again.  I decided to add some pasta this time to add a different texture.  I think it worked really well.

Sorry this post is sort of cheating.  See my past post, Carrot with Harissa, Feta and Mint for the recipe.  Then add ~ 1/2 package of cooked linguini pasta.

I’m waiting for my friends to send me recipes and pictures to post more.  Hopefully soon….

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This is our second soba salad of the week and also my third post!  This one was heavier on the noodles.  I love when noodles and rice disguise themselves as salads.  It is really flavorful, mainly from the vinegar and not that strong of sesame flavor.

Recipe adapted from chefchloe.

Ingredients

makes 5 servings

• 20 ounces soba noodles (2 full packages)
• 16 ounces button mushrooms
• 1 red pepper, diced
• 1 yellow pepper, diced
• 6-8 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 bunch of scallions, trimmed and thinly sliced
• 1-2 tablespoons black sesame seeds
• 4-6 tablespoons olive oil
• 4-6 tablespoons toasted sesame oil

• 8 tablespoons agave or maple syrup
• 12 tablespoons rice vinegar
• 12 tablespoons soy sauce
• 1-2 teaspoons red chili flakes

Cook soba noodles according to package.  Drain, rinse with cold water and allow to cool.  Toss noodles with sesame oil.

Make dressing by whisking together agave, vinegar, soy sauce and chili flakes.  You may need more dressing.

In a large skillet, heat olive oil over medium-high heat.  Sauté mushrooms and peppers until soft and lightly browned.  Add garlic and scallions and let cook a few more minutes until fragrant.  Add the soy sauce mixture and let cook for 1 more minute until heated through.

Toss the soba noodles with the sauce and sesame seeds.  This can be chilled in the fridge overnight and served the next day.

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This salad is really pretty with the purple from the rainbow chard.  It was based on a recipe that is actually for a warm dish, but we turned it into a salad.  I think it worked really well.  If chard is not your thing, any leafy green would substitute just fine, but without the pop of color.  I think asaparagus and/or almonds would also work in this salad instead of green beans and walnuts.  I also think having this heavier on the noodles would be good too.  Not as healthy, but I love noodles.  So many versions to try…..

Recipe based on 101cookbooks.

Ingredients

makes 5 servings

• 2 sleeves of soba noodles, cooked and chilled
• 1 head of rainbow chard, leaves separated, stems chopped
• 2 Tablespoons chives, minced
• 2-3 green onions, chopped
• 1.5 cups of green beans, chopped into 1/2″ segments
• 1/2 cup walnuts, toasted (optional)

Dressing:

• 1/2 cup walnuts, toasted (optional)
• 1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
• 1 medium clove garlic, peeled
• 2 tablespoons mellow white miso paste
• 2 tablespoons white wine vinegar
• 1 teaspoon honey
• 2 big pinches salt (or to taste)
• 1/4 cup+ warm water

Cook soba according to package.  Approximately 30 seconds before draining the noodles, add the green bean segments to the boiling water.  Drain with the noodles and allow to cool.

To make the dressing, use a small food processor or hand blender to puree the walnuts, olive oil, garlic, miso paste, vinegar, and honey. Add the warm water a bit at a time until the dressing is the consistency of a heavy cream.  Taste and add salt if you think it needs it.

Toss vegetables, walnuts, and noodles with the dressing and serve.

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This recipe is based on a salad I ate at one of my favorite pizza places in SF, Gialina.  This picture doesn’t quite show all the ingredients well.  I also substituted the Trader Joe’s israeli couscous mix for farro.  I had bad luck with avocados.  Of the 6 I bought 9 days ago, only 2 were ripe.  These were not Haas avocados, but the smoother skinned ones.  I won’t buy those again.  I bought these small carrots at the Alemany Farmer’s Market that were delicious.  They were softer and didn’t need to be peeled.

Ingredients

makes 5 servings

• 1 package kale or 1 large kale head, leaves separated
• 1 fennel bulb, thinly sliced
• 1.5 cups of carrots, sliced
• 1-2 cups of israeli couscous (or farro), cooked
• 2 avocados, cubed

Dressing:

• 2 green onions
• 1 clove garlic
• juice from half a lemon
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon vegetable oil
• 1/4 cup of parsley
• 1 teaspoon dried tarragon
• 3/4 cup of milk

In a small food processor, blend dressing ingredients together, adding milk last, and add it slowly.  Should result in a creamy light green dressing.  Cook couscous (or farro) according to package.  Allow to cool.  Slice vegetables and toss together with kale, couscous, and dressing.  Top each serving with avocado pieces.

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The key to farro is to not over cook it or under cook it.  This salad is pretty filling with the farro and the cheese, but this means I didn’t have to find a snack later in the day, which sometimes happens.  I love anything with fresh mozzarella, which, by the way, is very affordable at Trader Joe’s, and very not affordable at Safeway.

Ingredients

makes 5 servings

• 2 cups uncooked farro
• 1 medium red onion, cut in half
• 1 garlic clove
• handful of fresh parsley plus 1 tablespoon finely chopped
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup finely diced (1/4″cubes) fresh mozzarella cheese
• 2 teaspoons minced pitted kalamata olives
• 1 pint grape tomatoes, halved
• 1 tablespoon finely chopped fresh basil
• 1 package of spinach
• freshly ground pepper

Dressing:

• 1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
• 1 teaspoon balsamic vinegar
• 1 tablespoon red wine vinegar
• 2 teaspoons honey

Add the farro, one onion half, garlic, handful of parsley and salt along with 2 3/4 cups water to a 2 quart pot.  Bring to a boil, then cover, reduce to a simmer, and cook for 10 minutes. Turn off burner and let sit, covered, for 5 more minutes.  Discard the onion, garlic and large pieces of parsley.  Spread out on a rimmed sheet pan and let cool completely (do not skip this step or the mozzarella will melt into the finished dish).  Or, if serving the next day, just store in the refrigerator.

Whisk together the olive oil, vinegars and honey to prepare the dressing.  Chop the remaining onion half finely.  Add onion, cooled farro, mozzarella, kalamata olives, tomatoes, remaining tablespoon of parsley and basil to a deep bowl.  Pour the dressing over the ingredients and stir well to combine.  Season with salt and pepper.  Serve on top of a bed of spinach.

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This one has homemade roasted red peppers…so much better tasting than the canned ones.  I can only imagine what non-canned chickpeas would taste like.  I will try this one day!

This is a good tutorial on how to roast peppers.  The only comment we had on this was to make sure to create a lip with the foil lining to catch all the juices.  It can get really messy.

Adapted from smitten kitchen.

Ingredients

makes 5 servings

• 2 large red peppers, roasted and skinned
• 2 15 oz cans of cooked chickpeas, rinsed
• 1/4 cup of parsley, chopped
• 2 tablespoons of chopped mint
• 3 tablespoons of capers, rinsed
• 2 bags of baby greens

Dressing:

• 2 tablespoons of fresh lemon juice
• 1/4 teaspoon of salt
• 2 cloves of garlic, minced
• 4 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil

Cut the peppers into half-inch wide strips.  Put them in a bowl together with the chickpeas, herbs and the capers.  Whisk together the lemon juice, salt, garlic and oil.  Pour this over the pepper mixture and refrigerate it overnight to allow flavors to marinate.  Serve this atop a bed of baby greens.

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This salad was made because my friend bought me dried figs, thanks j!!  She couldn’t believe I had never seen them before.  I just made up the rest of the salad and added some pepitas that I had leftover in the pantry.  Oh, I think I forgot to mention that the kitchen remodel is done, it’s been done for maybe a month.  The below picture is on the new white quartz counters, which doesn’t quite look as good in photos as the butcher block.  Oh well.

It was a little on the sweet side with the figs and the fruit.  Here’s what the figs look like all cut up:

Ingredients

makes 5 servings

• 2 apples, sliced
• 1 pear, sliced
• 1-2 cups of dried figs, sliced (half the package)
• 1/2 cup pepitas (pumpkin seeds)
• 1 bag arugula
• 1 bag baby spinach

Dressing:

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

Whisk together dressing ingredients and toss with everything else.  For best results, cut apple and pear right before serving.

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Ahhh, sorry for not posting again.  I have gotten very far behind again.  My plan to just post once per week has failed.  I’m playing catch up again and will post 3 in a row right now.

This edamame and quinoa salad was super easy and really good.  Who knew you didn’t even have to cook the edamame, just defrost.  By the way, buy the preshelled edamame, which I have only been able to find at Asian grocery stores.

Adapted from this recipe.

Ingredients

makes 5 servings

• 3 cups cooked red quinoa (1 cup quinoa, 2 cups water)
• 1/3 cup chopped fresh cilantro
• 2 pounds shelled edamame, defrosted
• 4 green onions, thinly sliced

Dressing:

• 8 tablespoons rice wine vinegar
• 6 tablespoons olive oil
• 2 limes, juiced
• 1 tablespoon honey
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• 2 cloves garlic, minced

Thaw frozen edamame in the refrigerator overnight.  Cook quinoa according to package directions.  Whisk together dressing ingredients.  Toss together edamame, quinoa, cilantro and green onions, then top with dressing.

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This one is going to be hard to re-create exactly because we used dried figs from Croatia!  That’s where one member was a few weeks ago.  She had this salad at a restaurant there and found the dried figs while shopping.  When you join Salad Club you start living and breathing salads and even think about them on vacation, haha.  This photo makes it look like a mushroom and tofu salad with chocolate sauce, but that’s not it at all, thankfully.  Those are figs, brie cheese, and a balsamic reduction.  Why we haven’t used brie before this is beyond me, because it’s so delicious.  You should be able to find dried figs here, but I have to admit I’ve never seen one before now.  We contemplated whether Fig Newtons could be a substitute and decided that would be a bad idea.  I can’t wait until summer to try recipes with fresh figs.

Ingredients

makes 4 servings

•  1 package arugula
• 1 cup brie, cut into small pieces
• 1 cup dried figs

Dressing:

• Balsamic vinegar reduction

Reduce ~1/2 cup of balsamic vinegar on the stove top until it get slightly thick.  Plate the arugula.  Place brie and figs on top of arugula and then drizzle with balsamic vinegar reduction.

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