Salad Recipes

Salad preparation is a creative outlet for me. Farmer’s markets allow me to get into an awesome groove of inspiration. What you choose to put in a salad makes all the difference. There are a few guidelines that I believe almost always enhance a salad recipes: mix lettuces; add cheese if you like it (be careful about too much of it too often if you’re watching calories and fat); garnish with nuts; I am a huge fan of almost any nut that tops off a salad.

The following are some regular favorites I make at home:

Butter Lettuce with Zucchini Ceviche, Avocado, Goat Cheese, and Pine Nuts

What’s in it?

Butter Lettuce

Zucchini, raw with lemon. Slice it really thin on a cutting board. Spread out the round discs on cutting board and squeeze lemon liberally over the slices. Let sit for 10 minutes as you do your other preparations.

Avocado

Toasted Pine Nuts

Goat Cheese

Carefully pile your lettuce on a small plate. Cut the avocado slices into small chunks. Crumble goat cheese and place a few small pieces around the side of your plate.

Dress with Lemon Garlic Vinaigrette (see below).

Tomato, Basil, and Feta Salad with Lemon Garlic Vinagrette

When I was in Turkey this Summer, I fell in love with mezze. This was one of my favorite mezzes that I continue to make often at home.

What’s in it?

Ripe tomatoes (cut them into small triangles)

Fresh crumbled feta

Fresh basil chopped

Mix all of these together in a bowl. Add Lemon Garlic Dressing and mix again really coating the tomatoes with the dressing and feta. Add salt and pepper to flavor.

Gotham Salad

Gotham Bar and Grill is one of my favorite restaurants in Manhattan. The food is yummy and I love the art of the preparation of it. Alfred Portale nailed the concept of food as art. Though we might not be able to master the art of Portale’s presentation, the good news is, we can come pretty close to making his salad at home.

My dream salad is inspired by Gotham’s Frisee with Bacon, Mushrooms, hazelnuts, and Asiago cheese. I don’t eat meat so I order this salad without bacon (the wait staff is very cool about special needs). I adore hazelnuts but find it difficult to locate the really yummy crunchy ones. So, here is my spin off, a truly mouth-watering and tummy-satisfying lunch for any season with ingredients that are easy to always have on hand.

Frisee and Mache with Sauteed Mushrooms, Hazelnuts or Walnuts, Avocado, and Manchego

What’s in it?

Frisee

Mache

Sauteed Shitake or Chanterelle Mushrooms in olive oil and garlic (any mushroom can work)

Toasted Walnuts (if you can find the great hazlenuts easily, definitely use them)

Shaved Manchego

Pile the lettuces into a small bundle on your plate with a bit of height. Center warm mushrooms on top of the lettuces. Scatter walnuts around the plate. Take the manchego slivers and line them up over the mushrooms blanketing them so that the cheese starts to melt from their warmth. Grind Sea Salt and Pepper on top to complete. Dress with balsamic dressing below.

Trattoria A La Casa

This salad is inspired by trattorias I’ve eaten at in the past on back streets of Florence. The atmosphere of these restaurants is always down home and the food remarkable. The eggplant and mozzarella in this recipe makes me feel like I have brought home the best items on a plate of Italian antipasta!

What’s in it?

Boston Lettuce

Fresh Mozzarella

Warm Eggplant Rounds (sautéed in olive oil and salt)

Cherry Tomatoes

Pine Nuts

Dress with Balsamic Vinaigrette

Eggless Caesar Salad

My husband and daughter love caesar salad. On many occasions I’ve had to sit on the sidelines and watch them devour it unable to partake in their joy because raw egg just doesn’t sit well with me (I’m pescatarian but don’t eat raw fish either). I never understood the raw egg as an ingredient for this salad. Does it have to be in there? Ok, I can see it provides texture and maybe some flavor that actually, I cannot myself detect. I know eggless caesars have been around but the ones I’ve tried are not that great. Thanks to a friend, I finally found a recipe that makes an excellent eggless caesar dressing which can also be use on many other salads! It’s also anchovy-free.

What’s in it?

Chopped Romaine

Shaved Parmesan

Salt

Pepper

I like to use the whole romaine pieces for my caesars. Seems to look much prettier on the plate. So take a few pieces of the lettuce and line them up side by side. Pile one or two on top of the others. Sprinkle with parmesan. Add salt and pepper. Dress with eggless dressing. You can view that recipe below.

Frisee and Arugula with Apples, Danish Blue Cheese, and Walnuts

The salad in the featured image of this post is a random recipe I made up the weekend I went apple picking in Warwick New York with my family. We had such beautiful apples of all kinds I figured I might as well eat them right away. It proved to be the perfect way to open up fall food menus! There is a nice thing that happens on the palate through the combination of the bitterness of the arugula and sweetness of the apples.

What’s in it?

Frisee

Arugula

Fresh picked apples, your favorite kind (if you can find them)

Danish Blue Cheese

Toasted Walnuts

Balsamic Dressing

Dressings

*Please note that all my dressings require tasting to complete the recipe. Not everything below is measured.

Balsamic Vinaigrette

Olive Oil

Good quality balsamic

1/3 balsamic to 2/3 olive oil

Salt

Pepper

Dijon Mustard

Maple Syrup

Lemon Dressing:

Half a lemon

Olive Oil

Sea Salt

Pepper

1 Garlic Clove pressed

1 tsp Dijon

Maple Syrup

Eggless Caesar Dressing

Pressed or Chopped Garlic

Olive Oil

Lemon

Red Wine Vinegar

Tamari

Worcestershire Sauce

Ground Parmesean

Salt

Pepper