A MONTH OF SALADS - Day 18

This morning, I set out to do a simple pea-mint-feta kind of salad for dinner, as I thought it would be a refreshing side to add to the butter chicken, which was a request from my little. I usually have a few bags of organic peas in my freezer, I thought for sure I must have some. Instead, I found the last dregs of a bag we've been using lately, but no backup in the freezer; I resorted instead to what I have on hand. As most people do most nights, amiright? This was a "quick! toss it together! and get out the door!" kind of salad. This last week of June always seems so loaded every year; loaded with expectations, with good byes, with quick conversations on summer plans and tentative camping plans being set up (heck ya!). There are meetings to attend, and year-end concerts and final soccer games, the pressure just feels like it's ON. And I'm ok with that. I still love food at these times, and really use that short window of prep time to make something delicious so at least we can all share a meal together. Well, today was not one of those days. (See how I set you up there?) I had the most wonderful afternoon with my little, wrapping up her current school year with lunch on the town and throwing rocks in the river. But we ran out of time to do our annual tradition of picking a super summer read (new book!) on the way home from all this. I had a meeting to get to across town through rush hour traffic, so the window of prep got cut right short. It's ok. I roll with the punches. I still had to make that butter chicken...

Well that was to be left in my honey's very capable hands. I on the other hand, now had 25 minutes to make my dinner-to-go, clean up and look fairly decent. And then, found out there were no peas. Again, witness, me rolling with the punches. I put the water on. I blanched some frozen green beans (thank you freezer), and added that last bit of peas I had in the freezer at the very end. Tossed in some of my now-frozen-but-pre-soaked-sprouted-then-cooked-Puy-lentils from A Month of Salads Day 7 in order to get them to defrost. Drained the lot, and ran it through cold water to shock them and stop the cooking. 

In the meantime, I chopped some spinach I had on hand, added a fistful of chopped pea sprouts from Hotchkiss just down the road from yyc, an equal fistful of mint from my garden (even used my strawberry mint here. Interesting!). I knew chlorophyll was going to be the main attraction in this salad. What's not to love?

spinach mint and pea sprouts. talk about super greens.

On top of this green mound, I added more green (and white and purple): the green beans, smidgen of peas and puy lentils, crumbled some feta, some fermented red onions (quick ferment in brine for 1 week; alternately, you could do pickled red onions) and added some fresh Johnny Jump Up flowers my little pulled out of our patch out back. Did you know you could grow flowers and eat them? Get yourself acquainted with ones you can eat STAT. Because it is one of my favourite summer things.

So tucked the container in my bag, along with a package of seaweed crisps and a few water kefirs to share. Oh yes, and the dressing: maybe 2 tbsp of olive, 1 tbsp of red wine vinegar, 1 tbsp of honey, 1 tsp mustard, S&P. And off I went, to my evening of work. Feasted on this baby, along with my two colleagues/friends. Just pulled in; it's 1.15am. Thank goodness for good friends in this life, who I could spend hours talking with about anything and everything. I am posting this and am now off to bed. And planning a stop tomorrow to get that summer book read for my lady.

Mom was right, kids: EAT YOUR GREENS. And for my friends in need of thyroid support, swap out that goitrogenic spinach for something like an arugula or romaine lettuce. You're welcome.

Super greens lentil feta violet salad

A MONTH OF SALADS - Day 17

A mandolin slicer makes quick work of this salad. Look for these at garage sales, or VV Boutique.

Day 17 - a whirlwind of a day. Last full day of school. Last morning fermenting class. (Thanks ladies who made me laugh this morning! Such a hoot.) Also, a presentation on the benefits of fermented foods tonight (thanks to those who attended!). This was a day I needed something quick and easy. And this salad is just that, with the added bonus of being zingy and crunchy!

In some homes, Tuesday is Taco night. Sometimes it's that way around here. I took the cue this afternoon from the resounding echoes of "Taco Tuesday!" from friends, and planned a quick version. I heated up my cast iron pan, added some bacon fat and a diced onion, threw in some diced leftover Caribbean pork leg roast from last night, a few ice cubes of chicken meat stock I keep for just such purposes, and the last dregs of the homemade salsa which had been languishing on the top fridge shelf for seemingly months. I added some chili powder, oregano, cumin and coriander, and voila, a quick meat item to add to the Tacos. Alternately, you could do this with ground meat of your choice, or whatever version of protein be it delicious beans or what have you. I know you, you'll play with your food and come up with something good.

cilantro parsley parsley

I took the cues from my herbs out back in my garden. The heat is about to crank here in Southern Alberta; I fear the bolt coming on from the herbs. Clipping them regularly keeps them in check, hopefully keeps them from getting bitter. I chopped some parsley and cilantro to add flavour to my slaw, which was eventually going to adorn the tacos. I also diced up my most favourite herb, my lovage. Have you tried growing lovage before? It's a most wonderful perennial herb, that gives you a full 5 foot high shrub every year, thrives in poorer soil (means less pampering from moi, thank goodness) and can do either full sun or part shade. And is beneficial food to some happy non-people-stinging wasps. I highly recommend you add this to your garden; it imparts a flavour similar to parsley-meets-celery, with a brightness that livens it all up. Know that the flavour doesn't dissipate with cooking or marinating, so chop teeny tiny and use sparingly. It's my favourite thing in a homemade BBQ sauce. I'm just saying. (If you don't have access to lovage, as it's hard to find in stores, you could use celery leaves instead.)

Love the lovage.

Herbs aside, I pulled out my cheapo worn-out mandoline slicer for the task at hand. I shredded all of these goodies:

2 carrots, peeled

4 radishes

small wedge of cabbage (I used purple for anthocyanin love and colour)

full Granny Smith green tart apple, cored (remember to take off the sticker first. I forgot.)

quarter of a fennel bulb

Toss together, along with dressing-like flavours:

3 tbsp lime juice

1 tbsp good quality olive oil

S&P

afore-mentioned chopped herbs (parsley, cilantro, lovage)

With my mandoline slicer, it took all of 10 minutes to assemble this salad. I let it marinate while I prepped the meat and heated up some organic corn tortillas in the oven, courtesy of local lovelies Tres Marias, and washed lettuce leaves for me as I am low-grains these days. I made a quick guacamole (an avocado, a garlic clove, some salt, dash of lime juice, hit of cumin and coriander seed, some fresh coriander, whizzed in processor) and put that out, along with some creme fraiche and shredded cheese. Oh yes, and my fermented hot sauce. And of course, some Brussels Sprout Kimchi. I'm not trying to show off; I'm just trying to alleviate the pressure on the top shelf of my fridge. 

Dinner was done. We ate, visited with our sweet neighbours, and then went off to our separate things afterwards. Gawd I'm glad for family suppers. And grateful for my family.

Dinner is always better with others. And with peonies. And condiments.

A MONTH OF SALADS - Day 16

This is one of my go-to salads I pull out on a regular basis. It's one of those perfect-for-a-potluck kind of salads. And it's straight up easy, my friends. Don't be fooled by the seemingly long list of ingredients! Sure, it's a chopped salad which means you'll be chopping, but consider chopping a meditative activity. I use this time to also think of those who will be eating this salad, and have often wondered if that energy makes its way into the food at all. Maybe yes, maybe no, regardless, I think this salad was a hit tonight. 

During this month of salads challenge I threw myself at the end of May, I knew this one would make an appearance. I knew it would somehow tie in to having a meal at someone else's house. And lo and behold, here we are on Day 16 and my re-jigged version of this Ottolenghi classic Na'ama's Fattoush Recipe from Jerusalem: A Cookbook makes an appearance. As Sunday was the Solstice, a friend gathered like-minded folks to celebrate and share a meal with great conversations while children run amok amongst us. These nights are favourites of mine: it seems I am so fortunate to always meet such interesting folks who really are doing fascinating work and have good stories to tell. This friend of mine, sweet Carmen, well she has a talent when it comes to curating a fabulous list of people for a dinner party. I just feel so lucky to be included in such good circles. And the food! The food! It always involves a BBQ something or other, and we all bring salad. In fact, at tonight's gathering we talked about starting a First-Sunday-of-the-month-Supper-Club kind of deal, the company and food was so fabulous. COUNT. US. IN.

Sumac is really worth finding and adding in. Tastes like no other.

Our contribution to the evening (aside from the perpetual jar of Creme Fraiche I seem to bring with me everywhere!) was a version of Yotam Ottolenghi and Sami Tamimi's Fattoush recipe, probably originating from Sami's mom, or so the legend goes. Follow the link below for the full recipe. My alterations: I only did half of the dressing ingredients, and mixed all of those together instead of adding them to the actual salad. I used only yogurt, no milk (because I like me the fermented things, see?), and whizzed it with the garlic, olive oil, lemon juice, apple cider vinegar and dried mint. If you're in Calgary, you can find Sumac at Shaganappi Grocer, on the south side of 17th Ave SW, just west of 36th St.

My veggies were a bit different, I added the tomato, radishes, cucumbers, green onions and fresh mint in the recipe, but I added a whole bunch of parsley instead of a smidge, threw in some chives from the garden and a half a fennel. I just love the crunchy anise taste of the fennel. It's like a celery I can actually like, nay, love.

To chop fennel, slice off the fronds and base of bulb, cut the bulb in half and in half again, and slice out the tough inner core. Thinly slice the remaining parts of the bulb, add liberally to salads. You can use the fronds to flavour your salad, or add them to your next sauerkraut, yumyum!

I also omitted the pita bread. I suppose this means it is no longer a Fattoush salad and maybe just a chopped salad. Whatever it is, it's such a refreshing salad, I could eat this one for days.  

My own version of the Fattoush Salad from Jerusalem: A Cookbook.

Thank you for the invitation for our family to join the gaggles of folks at your house, Carmen and Jim. And thank you to the constant inspirations from the London-based Ottolenghi restaurant and cookbooks. 

A MONTH OF SALADS - Day 15

On Friday, I made a salad. Well of course I did. I set out to include a salad in my meal plan in the morning, and followed through. Having this here daily (weekday) blog really holds me accountable to following through, see? It's a brilliant tool. Fridays are, as you may know by now, movie and family night here at my house. So I have not been getting to post this until Saturdays. Because to me, family time is important. 

So a salad I made. And soup to go with it. That was dinner. The movie was "Oz The Great and Powerful" as my girl has long loved "The Wizard of Oz". But before we dove in to the movie, I made this Avocado & Pancetta Salad. I have long had a love affair with avocado; it is a daily fat in my meal roster. It's one of those foods that lends a hand to help balance your hormones, it is also a good source of Omega-3 fatty acids and so I happily oblige, every day. And bacon, well farmer Iain has supplied us with our bacon, and so I know it is pastured which means the bacon (and accompanying fat, which I'll be saving and using up in the weeks to come!) is a good source of fat-soluble Vitamin D. What's not to love about that? (Vitamin D is essential for bones, immunity, helping keep cancer at bay, thyroid and overall endocrine support, and the list goes on and on…) So bacon instead of pancetta it was, as I knew the source of this bacon in my freezer, and knew it to be pastured.

This on its own could be a salad. Maybe.

So Jamie's recipe is very simple: lay down some greens. Top with crispy bits of cooked pancetta/bacon. Add some creamy avocado. Toast up some pine nuts (in my case, I did pistachios). Drizzle some olive oil and balsamic, some S&P and Bob's your uncle. Dinner is ready. 

Unless you're in my kitchen. And then I can't follow the recipe. Inspired by Jamie's mix, I also added some slivered dried apricots because I thought it would balance out the salty from the bacon; and I didn't pre-mix my dressing, I just drizzled it on top of my salad. And then, Bob was my uncle. I loved the mix of salty and tangy from the balsamic with the sweet from the apricots, and the crunch from the bacon and creamy from avocado. Just a simple tomato soup on the side was sufficient.

Oh, and the rhubarb crisp afterwards. But that will be another month's subject of recipes… Have a good weekend everyone! And thanks to those who have been sending word and inspiration of their salad escapades at home. It brings me joy, you have no idea!

Avocado & Bacon Salad, with apricots and balsamic

A MONTH OF SALADS - Day 14

Our lunch counter at the clinic. What you can't see is the lovely lass I get to share my lunch with on Thursdays. Sorry about the shadow. 

Today's salad is a #notsaddesklunch kind of day. I am at the clinic, in between clients, and thought to do the write up on the salad of the day. My aim was to make something under 10 minutes that would use up mainly ingredients in my pantry and stuff in the fridge. Nothing new, nothing fancy, just a simple delicious and nutritious offering that is easy to take to work so that I can enjoy a meal with my colleague while we nosh.

Top left to bottom left, clockwise: milk kefir, garlic, sardines, lightly steamed broccoli, avocado, fuji apple

While I was cooking my veggies for breakfast this morning, I put half a head of broccoli in to steam lightly in order to lessen the goitrogens (thyroid-supportive thing in my case). I always keep a stash of these Raincoast Trading sardines in spring water for days like this; I like these because the cans do not have BPA in the lining, and the fish are stored in simple spring water, there are no additives. Thanks to a former colleague Ray I got turned on to sardines: he said they're the original tuna salad! I tried them and thought well yes now they are. Sardines are lower down the food chain, and much smaller than tuna; the mercury and other heavy metal concentrations in the little guys are significantly lower than that found in Tuna, being a higher-up-on-the-chain kinda fish.

So in the salad bowl went my drained can of sardines. I added in a half an avocado, about 2 tbsp of milk kefir (you could use yogurt or creme fraiche if you'd like), pinch of sea salt, grind of pepper, about a tsp of curry powder (this is essential) and a tsp of ground coriander seeds, few glugs of olive oil, about a tbsp of lemon juice and one little clove of garlic, minced. I mashed it all together, along with a little heat (I added two of my fermented jalapeños but you could add chili pepper, or chopped fresh jalapeño, hot sauce, whatever!). 

The mashed ingredients cited above, with the steamed broccoli.

Once this was all mashed together, I tossed on top the blanched broccoli, a diced apple and diced up two stalks of celery, mixed it all up. I adjusted the flavours to be a bit more lemony and upped the curry powder a bit. Because that's how I roll. And that, my friends, is lunch served. As long as you include creme fraiche (with berries, vanilla powder, green tea powder and maple syrup) and a little package of seaweed crackers. All you need now is a lovely friend to share the meal with; sharing meal times with a loved one can really go miles in supporting better digestion. Did you know this? Sharing a meal with a friend instead of a smartphone ensures your nervous system is properly engaged to do the work it takes to digest. It also relieves stress to be with ones you love whilst you eat; stress has been shown to inhibit digestion. So take a break, my pretties! And in more ways that one, make sure your work lunch is a #notsaddesklunch everyday.