Recipes

Garlic Bread and Chicken Salad

Garlic Bread and Chicken Salad

Set this salad aside for 15 minutes if you’re not pressed for time to allow the tomato juices, oil, and vinegar to thoroughly soak into the bread.
Deel op Facebook Print Recipe

Ingredients

Instructions

  • Rub the bread on both sides with garlic clove half.
  • Cut each bread slice into 1-inch cubes.
  • Place the bread cubes in a serving bowl.
  • Discard any remaining garlic.
  • Add the basil, tomatoes, chicken breast, and red onion to the bread and toss well.
  • Set aside while making the dressing.
  • Stir the oil, vinegar, salt, and pepper together in a cup.
  • Pour the dressing over the salad and toss again.
  • Let the salad stand for 3 to 5 minutes, so the bread absorbs the dressing.

Notes & Wine Advice

Vary It!
Olives, goat cheese, feta cheese, and capers add a delightful piquant flavor to bread salad. Add any or all these ingredients in small amounts. But if you do, taste before adding salt.
————————————————————————————————–
Course; Bread / Chicken

Basil-Scented Salmon

Basil-Scented Salmon

This dish of salmon is unusual yet so flavorful; it’s a hit when I serve it to company. It’s especially good when you pair it with tabbouleh. If you’re entertaining guests on a rushed schedule, reach for this recipe. Spread leftover tabbouleh on a platter and set the basil-scented salmon fillets at a diagonal over the grains.
Couverts4 servings
Deel op Facebook Print Recipe

Ingredients

Instructions

  • Season the pink flesh side of each salmon fillet with 1/4 teaspoon each of salt and pepper.
  • Press the basil leaves onto the flesh side of the salmon fillets.
  • Heat the olive oil in a large sauté pan over high heat.
  • Carefully add the salmon, basil-side up and cook over medium-high heat about 10 minutes or until the fish is done.
  • Run a spatula or thin knife between the salmon fillets and the salmon skin and separate the two.
  • Discard the salmon skins.
  • Set the salmon aside for 1 minute for the fish to firm up.
  • To serve, spread the tabbouleh on a large platter.
  • Arrange the salmon fillets diagonally over the tabbouleh.
  • Serve immediately.
  • Vary It!
  • You can also serve the salmon without the tabbouleh.
  • Add lemon wedges and a small, mixed green salad on the side.
————————————————————————————————–
Course; Fish

Tabbouleh

Tabbouleh

Years ago, I developed a passion for mint and planted it in patches around my garden. Peppermint, spearmint, and lemon-scented mint have taken over like weeds. But unlike most weeds, they’re delicious in tabbouleh.
Couverts4
Deel op Facebook Print Recipe

Ingredients

Instructions

  • Combine the cooked bulgur, tomatoes, cucumber, mint, red onions (if desired), and scallions in a serving bowl.
  • In a cup stir together the salt, pepper, olive oil, and lemon juice.
  • Pour the dressing into the bulgur mixture and toss well to coat.

Notes & Wine Advice

Vary It!

Tabbouleh, being one of those sturdy grain salads, can stay in the refrigerator a day or two. Make an extra batch to serve, at room temperature, with the elegant salmon recipe that follows.
————————————————————————————————–
Course; Salad

Garden Pasta Salad

Garden Pasta Salad

It used to bother me that beets would bleed their red color into other ingredients that they touch, and I omitted beets from my salads for a long time. How much I missed the sweet taste. Now I accept the running colors as a trade-off. You can sprinkle diced beets on top of a salad just before serving to keep the other ingredients from discoloring. I like penne in this salad, but if you have other cooked pasta in the fridge use it instead.
Couverts4 servings
Deel op Facebook Print Recipe

Ingredients

  • 1/2 cup chopped Greek olives
  • 6 cups cooked penne or similar pasta
  • 2 medium tomatoes cored and chopped
  • 2 cups canned beets diced
  • 2 tablespoons chopped fresh oregano or thyme, or a combination
  • 4 ounces 1 cup crumbled goat cheese
  • 1/4 cup olive oil
  • 1 to 2 tablespoons lemon juice
  • Pepper to taste

Instructions

  • Combine the olives, pasta, tomatoes, beets, and oregano in a large bowl.
  • Add the cheese.
  • In a cup, stir together the oil, lemon juice, and pepper and stir into salad mixture.
  • Toss gently but well.
————————————————————————————————–
Course; Pasta / Salad

Buttermilk-Garlic Salad Dressing

Buttermilk-Garlic Salad Dressing

The tangy, dairy taste of buttermilk is wonderful on potato salad, green bean salad, or on a bed of mixed greens.
Couverts8 servings
Deel op Facebook Print Recipe

Ingredients

Instructions

  • Combine yogurt, buttermilk, mayonnaise, mustard, garlic, scallions, and pepper in a bowl, and stir.
————————————————————————————————–
Course; Dressing

Mint Vinaigrette Dressing

Mint Vinaigrette Dressing

A salad side should refresh your palate. Using this mint and citrus juice combination will leave you breathless. The combination of mint, lemon, and orange juice is especially good with spinach, onions, and radishes or with a chicken or tuna salad.
Couverts8 servings
Deel op Facebook Print Recipe

Ingredients

Instructions

  • Combine the lemon juice, orange juice, mint, olive oil, vinegar, salt, and pepper in a blender.
  • Blend the ingredients until the mint is minced and the mixture is well combined.
————————————————————————————————–
Course; Dressing

Caesar Salad from Bev Bennett

Caesar Salad from Bev Bennett

If you prefer to use the whole romaine lettuce leaves, buy 1 large or 2 medium heads for this recipe; if you use only the hearts, buy 4 heads. Last night’s grilled chicken breast or leftover steak can enhance this dinner salad. Cut the chicken or meat into thin strips and arrange over the salad after it’s dressed. Caesar is an excellent first course for a dinner party, or you can serve it as a side dish or a light entree.
Couverts4
Deel op Facebook Print Recipe

Ingredients

Instructions

  • To provide a safe alternative to a coddled egg (a Caesar standard), beat the egg and combine it with water in a small, heavy pan.
  • Cook the mixture over low heat, stirring constantly with a spoon for about 4 minutes or until the egg thickens into a foamy mass and coats a metal spoon with a thin egg layer.
  • Remove the egg from the pot and place it in a blender with the garlic clove, Worcestershire sauce, anchovy paste, 1 tablespoon of Parmesan cheese, vinegar, oil, and pepper.
  • Turn the blender on and process about 30 seconds or until the mixture is creamy.
  • Place the lettuce leaves in a large serving bowl and toss with the croutons.
  • Pour on the dressing and toss gently but well.
  • Sprinkle the remaining 3 tablespoons of Parmesan cheese over the salad.
————————————————————————————————–
Course; Salad

Salmon Salade Niçoise

Salmon Salade Niçoise

If you prefer to use tuna in this salad,choose oil-packed tuna, which tastes more like the tuna in Nice.
Couverts2
Deel op Facebook Print Recipe

Ingredients

Instructions

  • Place the potatoes in a small pan with the 1/2 teaspoon of salt.
  • Bring the water to a boil, and cook the potatoes at high heat for 10 minutes or until almost tender.
  • Meanwhile, cut the green beans into 1-inch lengths.
  • Add the green beans to the potatoes and cook another 5 minutes or until the potatoes are tender and the green beans are crisp-tender.
  • Drain the vegetables well.
  • While the potatoes are cooking, separate the lettuce into individual leaves, rinse under cold running water, and pat dry.
  • Also prepare the dressing while the potatoes cook.
  • Whisk together the olive oil, mustard, vinegar, 1/4 teaspoon each salt and pepper in a cup or small bowl.
  • Stir in the shallot.
  • Arrange the lettuce leaves on 2 serving plates.
  • Cut the potatoes into quarters.
  • Place half the potatoes on each of the two plates in a wedge to take up one quarter of the plate.
  • Place half the green beans on each plate taking up a second quarter.
  • Then add the egg pieces to each plate for a third quarter.
  • The tomatoes take the last quarter.
  • Spoon half the salmon in the center of each plate, over the vegetables and eggs.
  • Sprinkle half the Niçoise olives over each serving.
  • Pour the dressing over each salad or pass separately.
  • Vary It!
  • Substitute cooked, leftover salmon or tuna steak for the canned salmon.
  • A half to one cup of fresh salmon or tuna makes one serving.
————————————————————————————————–
Course; Fish / Salad

Mountain of Lettuce Special

Mountain of Lettuce Special

Serve this heaping platter of iceberglettuce, meat, and cheeses with a pitcher of lemonade and breadsticks for aquick lunch or light dinner.
Couverts4
Deel op Facebook Print Recipe

Ingredients

  • 2 hard-cooked eggs peeled and quartered
  • 2 plum tomatoes cored and quartered
  • 1/2 pound ham cut into thin strips, or 1/4 pound ham and 1/4 pound roasted, sliced chicken breast, cut into thin strips
  • 8 ounces sliced Swiss cheese cut into thin strips
  • Thousand Island Dressing

Instructions

  • Cut the head of lettuce lengthwise in half.
  • Remove the core; then cut the lettuce into quarters and shred as shown in Figure 10-1.
  • Mound the lettuce on a serving platter.
  • Arrange the egg quarters on the platter at the base of the salad, alternating with the tomato wedges.
  • Place the ham strips vertically across the mount of lettuce; then cross the ham with horizontal cheese strips.
  • Drizzle enough Thousand Island dressing over the salad to give it a strong, pink color.
  • Then pass the remaining dressing separately.

Notes & Wine Advice

Vary It!
Don’t be tempted to turn this into a fancy salad but add pitted ripe olives if you like.
Speed It Up! Use the bottled version of Thousand Island Dressing. To perk up the flavor and make bottled taste more like fresh, pour 1/4 cup of dressing into a bowl and add a dash of lemon juice. If you have a scallion in the fridge, chop it up and add it to the dressing as well.
————————————————————————————————–
Course; Salad