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Tuesday, June 19, 2007

Summer resolution #1

Eat more salad.

It's that sweltering time of the year again when even boiling water generates too much heat to even bear it... It was hitting 96F today and I think I'm done slaving over the stove and oven for a while. At times like these, it's hard to imagine that this place actually snows 4 months of a year...

It's definitely salad time.

Just in the last 3 days, I've had a salad everyday. One completely raw salad with home-grown spinach and fresh herbs (it was so tasty I had it with no dressing whatsoever), I made one for lunch yesterday (I pan-fried halloumi and dressed the salad with a sweet-spicy mango vinaigrette), and my friend, Tanya made me a simple turkey and mayo salad with dill pickle and tomatoes at lunch today. All different, all yummy! Which got me on a resolution from now on to make more salads.

I think salads have gotten a bad rep for being either bland, dry, boring, or all three. To some people, an exciting salad makes about as much sense as a fashionable sweater. But as those of you who watch What Not to Wear know, a sweater can be fashionable, and so can a salad (exciting I mean, not fashionable...) A good salad shouldn't make you feel like a rabbit who's just chomped down an entire cabbage patch- I think given the right ingredients and some imagination, salads have the potential to be very interesting entrees in and of themselves, especially in this increasingly oppressive heat. So here's my list of some affordable salad ingredients (some everyday ones and some a little more of the indulgent variety) that will hopefully make your next salad attempt just that tad more exciting!

Salad essentials:
* Romaine lettuce
* Baby arugula (a handful goes a long way so we mix them up with the cheaper lettuce to make it stretch a little- besides, some people find its pepperiness a little overpowering. I personally love it...)
* Fresh tomatoes (vine-ripen better than Roma. We can't afford heirloom tomatoes, but if you can, those are even better)
* Eggs
* Any kind of ham or bacon (a little of the salty cured meat makes any veggie taste just a little better)
* Dill-pickle. I usually don't like pickles, but just chop one spear up and it really perks up any kind of mayo-based salad, and somehow makes it less cloying. Or you could use a little relish too I guess.
* Olive-oil packed tuna (they're better than the ones packed in water. Trader Joe's sells them for a steal)
* Good olive oil
* Aged Parmesan-Reggiano
* Vinegar (balsamic and white wine)
* A tart fruit jam (I know, odd; but trust me, with a little olive oil and wine vinegar, you've got a fancy dressing that's much tastier than the ones in the bottle.)
* Chicken-breast. Buy them when they go on sale and roast them on your own with olive oil and herbs. They keep well and they go with all kinds of salad.
* Potatoes
* Cilantro (fresh herbs brighten up any salad)
* Olives
* Chili flakes (just half to a teaspoon into a fruit vinaigrette helps develop some depth to the flavors)
* Pasta shells of any kind
* Cucumbers. English cukes are good because they have less seeds, but you can also just get regular ones and core them before chopping them up.
* Avocados (I could eat an entire avocado with just some salt and a drizzle of lemon...)
* Halloumi cheese. They taste sooooo good panfried- toasty on the outside, gooey on the inside.
* For texture, something crunchy- croûtons, nuts, pita chips, etc.
* Red, yellow or orange bell peppers. They're scrumptiously sweet and they make your salad look bright and happy :)

Nothing on the list is particularly fancy or expensive (although we can't afford to buy halloumi cheese every week though. Or even avocados for that matter...), but play a little mix-and-match with the veggies/proteins/carbs/dressings and you should have a good enough variety of yummy salads to last you through summer. Serve with some good bread (after we discovered Great Harvest, it's hard to go back to regular store-bought bread- their Guinness with Monterey Jack Cheese Loaf is amazing!!...), and you won't find a better satisfyingly yummy and exciting plate of healthy goodness!

3 comments:

Noor said...

nice post! I also like fruity California salads - strawberries, walnuts, mandarin oranges, grilled chicken, and romaine go well together.

Where are you buying your halloumi? You can get it at reasonable prices at smaller Middle Eastern grocery stores. There are a couple on Packard (near Ypsi). One of them is called Aladdin Market and I can't remember the name of the other place. The other place is even cheaper (it is a block or two down the street from Aladdin Market - closer to Ypsi than AA).

serene said...

Ooooh... mandarin oranges- great idea Noor!

We bought our first package of halloumi from Whole Foods and it was a little pricey. We'll definitely check out your suggestions (I think I know which ones you're talking about)- we're absolutely falling in love with that cheese!!

A said...

I love salads, too.

I'd also add: dried fruits (chopped if necessary), olives, a tangy blue or feta cheese, carrots, celery... Actually, I throw all kinds of stuff in to my salads - peas, corn, pasta, different lettuces, nuts. I add pasta, but I'll add it cooked. And, sometimes to change the taste of veggies, like onions or green peppers, I'll sweat them in a little olive oil. Dill is a nice herb to add, occassionally with some dijon mustard + vinaigrette.

I should eat more avocado. I had a thought the other day of shrimp, avocado, grilled pineapple and/or green peppers or tomato "kabobs", with a tangy lime/honey/red pepper glaze. Sounds good, huh?

Back to salads...all I can say is, welcome to my world! :)