Grilled Shrimp Salad with Corn and Avocado

I wasn't actually expecting much from this salad. So I was pleasantly surprised when it turned out to be amazing. Obviously I wouldn't have made it if I didn't think it would be good, but honestly, I tried it out of guilt. I've made quite a few good meals this Summer but not a lot have featured vegetables. So before I ran out to buy groceries Saturday morning I went on to Epicurious looking for a good Summer salad. I found one.

Easter

Easter we did something a bit different this year - brunch. Although we served it around 1:00 in the afternoon, so maybe it would be more accurate to call it lupper?

Spinach, Ham and Cheese Strata
Mixed Greens with Feta, Almonds and Blueberries
Fried Potatoes
Hot Cross Buns
Orange Juice

All served up after running a personal best time in a Good Friday 5K - 28:59. No matter that I haven't run a lick since (my legs were very, very angry with me for a few days). It was a nice morning for a run and I was with my very favourite running partner.

Things that have been keeping me too busy to blog: work, reading the entire Sarah Decker / Frank Malloy canon, watching Bones on Netflix and getting in shape for a 10K run that is going to kick my butt at the end of April. At least I have cheesy boy band music to keep me moving.

Welcome September Salad

On Sunday we were invited to a last-weekend-of-Summer BBQ. The weather wasn't perfect but the menu and company more than made up for a bit of rain. Homemade burgers, fresh veggies and dip and potato chips - all hallmarks of a great backyard BBQ. I contributed Rainbow Salad and I was very pleased with how it turned out. Let's take a closer look!

Market Vegetables

I can't believe that we're already mid-way through July. Summer seems to be flying by. One thing that's wonderful about the Summer marching on is the different produce to choose from at the market every Saturday. This Saturday we went to the St. Jacob's market, which was busy but full of wonderful things. David and I used to visit the market as a treat when we were students at Laurier. I wasn't as much of a cook then as I am now or I would have made the most of having such an abundance of fresh fruit, vegetables and meat right on my doorstep. We saw an amazing variety of fresh foods at the market. Apples that were literally as big as David's fist. Lemonade served up in a cup big enough for the whole family. Mini donuts fried and sugared right in front of our eyes (yes, we bought a half dozen and devoured them in seconds). We came home with what I imagine is the first of this season's sweet corn. I boiled it up tonight (6 minutes in boiling, salted water) as part of our Sunday dinner which relied heavily on the current fresh produce offerings of the region.

In addition to the corn I also made a Cucumber Tomato Salad from Epicurious that I tried on Thursday and had to have again, it was so good. I know that I'll want to make this salad again when tomatoes and cucumbers aren't in season and it won't be nearly as good, so I'll try to talk myself out of it since I think this salad really requires the best cucumber and tomato you can find. David isn't an olive fan so I kept some of the cucumber/tomato/feta mixture separate for him when I served it this week with some grilled lamb kebabs. It was the perfect accompaniment to the lamb but went just as well tonight with some boiled potatoes, sweet corn and grilled sausage. I halved the recipe with no noticeable difference to the final product. This is a dish that tastes just. like. Summer.

Cucumber, Tomato and Feta Salad - from Epicurious

6 cups coarsely chopped English hothouse or Persian cucumbers (about 2 pounds total)
2 large tomatoes (about 1 pound total), coarsely chopped
1 bunch scallions, chopped
1 cup assorted pitted olives (such as Kalamata or Gaeta), halved
1 7-ounce package feta, crumbled, divided
1/2 cup coarsely chopped fresh mint
6 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper

Combine cucumbers, tomatoes, scallions, olives, half of feta, and mint in a large bowl. Whisk oil and lemon juice in a small bowl; season dressing with salt and pepper. Pour dressing over salad; toss to coat. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Sprinkle remaining half of feta over and serve.

Christmas Julecake, with a side of potato salad.

A couple of weeks ago when we were snowed in I went on a cooking/baking rampage. See here. And here. Oh - and here too. One of the things I made (and have yet to blog about) was Julecake. Julecake is a Norwegian Christmas bread. D. and I have seen searching for the perfect Christmas morning breakfast and julecake seemed like a decent contender. A Google search revealed plenty o' julecake recipes. I decided I was 'feeling lucky' and went with the first recipe that was returned, which I found here.

I don't bake a lot of bread. Particularly yeast breads. Don't have the patience, don't have the time. But when you're snow bound, suddenly you have oodles of time. Here's what the recipe tells you to do:

Julecake

To make the bread, start by using a large, flat mixing bowl. (I used a large, flattish bottomed wooden salad bowl) In this bowl, put:

5 c. white flour
1 T. cardamom
2 c. candied fruit and citrus
1 - 1 1/2 c. raisins.

Mix these dry ingredients until blended. Make a well in the center of the flour mixture. Set aside.

In a Pyrex measuring cup, combine the following:

2 c. milk, scalded (I figured out this pretty much means heated)
1 c. sugar, dissolved in the scalded milk
1 c. butter (I used unsalted), melted in the scalded milk

Let the mixture cool to lukewarm. Pour a little over:

1 T. active dry yeast

Stir to dissolve. It may begin to bubble a bit; that's OK. (I'm not sure my yeast actually dissolved all that well. I stirred and stirred, and when I got bored of stirring (as noted, no patience) I stopped.) When smooth, add the dissolved yeast mixture into the main milk/sugar/butter mixture. Then add the whole kit and caboodle into the flour mixture, and begin to combine all to make a soft dough. You'll probably add another cup or so of flour, but your goal is to knead this all together to create a soft, pliable dough that doesn't stick to the sides of the bowl. If your bowl is too small, turn it out onto a lightly floured surface and knead further.

When well but not over-kneaded, place in the buttered bowl, turn it over once so the oiled side is up. Place a cotton dish towel over the top, and place the bowl in the pre-heated oven. It shouldn't be too hot; just warm enough for a good, protected rise. Let it do its work for 1/2 hour to 45 minutes. Punch down and knead again. This time, you can separate the dough however you like; 2 loaves, 2 rounds, or 4 smaller loaves and 1 small round. Do whatever blows your hair back. (Can I just say this is one of the best directions I've read in a recipe...'whatever blows your hair back'. Brilliant! For the record, I made two small loaves.) Cover with a dish towel again and let it rise once more for 1/2 hour to 45 minutes. You may have to do a brief second pre-heat on the oven for rise #2 to keep it nicely warm.

Once risen, bake in a 400 degree oven for 30-40 minutes. I generally put a piece of foil over the tops after about 25 minutes as otherwise I feel it gets too dark. (I would agree - I 'foiled' mine and they came out pleasantly but not overly dark.

The author of this recipe further suggested that Julecake is best toasted with some butter. I would have to agree. This bread was lovely on its own, but toasted and buttered it was even better.


Now. About that potato salad. I haven't actually made potato salad for several months. It's just that I forgot to include a post about it back in the Summer, and because I plan to print/bind all of my 'my sunday dinner' posts at the end of the year so I can have a quasi-recipe/memory book on the shelf, I don't want to forget the potato salad. Because it was very, very good. It's a Julia Child recipe that you can find here through Epicurious.

This was seriously good potato salad, which is why I don't want to lose track of the recipe. If you want to eat it with some Julecake, by all means...

Julia's American Style Potato Salad

2 pounds large Yukon Gold potatoes, or other waxy, boiling potatoes

2 tablespoons cider vinegar

1/3 cup chicken stock or potato-cooking water

2/3 cup finely chopped onion

1/2 cup finely chopped celery

3 or 4 slices crisply cooked bacon, chopped or crumbled

2 to 3 tablespoons finely chopped pickle, sweet or dill

2 hard-boiled eggs, peeled and sliced thin

3 tablespoons finely chopped fresh chives or scallions, including a bit of their tender green

Salt and freshly ground white pepper

1 cup or so mayonnaise, homemade if possible (yeah - no)

Peel the potatoes and slice each one lengthwise in half, or in quarters if very large; then cut crosswise into half-round or quarter-round slices, about 1/2 inch thick.

Put the slices in a saucepan with water just to cover and 1 1/2 teaspoons of salt per quart of water. Heat to a simmer, and cook the potatoes for 5 to 6 minutes, or until just cooked through. It is essential that they be just cooked through. Bite into a slice or two to be very sure. Immediately remove from the heat and drain the potatoes into a colander, but save a cup of the cooking liquid for dressing the potatoes. Transfer the potatoes to a large bowl. Stir the cider vinegar with ⅓ cup of the potato water or chicken stock and drizzle this over the potato pieces, turning them gently to distribute it evenly. Let sit 10 minutes to absorb the liquid.

Add the prepared onion, celery, bacon, pickle, hard-boiled eggs, and chives, and season carefully to taste. Top with ⅔ cup of mayonnaise and, with a large rubber spatula, gently fold everything together until well blended. Taste the salad and add more salt, pepper, or mayonnaise as needed.

Cover the salad and set aside in the refrigerator for at least an hour or so before serving. If it is refrigerated longer, let it come back to room temperature before serving. Taste and adjust the seasoning again.

Spinach salad with maple-dijon vinaigrette

I served this salad with a stew from The New Best Recipe Cookbook on Sunday February 22nd. TNBR is a standard in my kitchen. I use it all the time and have rarely been disappointed in a dish. Despite this recommendation for TNBR you'll note that my post is about salad, a recipe which I clipped from Cooking Light, March 2008. Don't get me wrong, the stew was good. (Better the second day, but I digress.) The reason I wanted to highlight the salad is because of the conversation I had with my husband while putting it together, which went something like this:

H: What's that?

Me (Cleaning spinach): Dinner.

H: I thought we were having stew.

Me (Chopping onion): We are. This is salad. To go with the stew.

H: Looks like a lot of trouble for salad.

Me (Coring an apple): It's about enough trouble for a salad. Trust me, you'll like it.

H: Is that bacon?

Me (Frying bacon): Yes.

H: For the stew?

Me (Slicing mushrooms): No, for the salad.

H: Looks like a lot of trouble for salad.

I won't lie to you. It was a lot of trouble for salad. What with the spinning and the draining, the chopping and the mincing, the splash of this and dollop of that. But I am a sucker for bacon and maple syrup season is just around the corner in our neck of the woods, so the sweet stuff has been on my mind. The verdict?

H: Wow. This is good salad. Is there more?

Me: Thanks. Plenty.

This salad recipe can be found on MyRecipes.com courtesy of Cooking Light magazine.