Memorial Day Salads: Salmon Salad, Grilled Radicchio Salad, Avocado and Tomato Salad

Happy Memorial Day Weekend, everyone. If you haven't already planned out all of your dishes for the many BBQ's you will be attending this weekend, consider one (or all) of these three salads. The components for each can be put together in moments, and complement grilled meats and veggies ever so well. I realized I maybe a little late in sharing my Memorial Day ideas, but here they are. There maybe a few posts today, so I can be sure to share as many ideas for your weekend entertaining as possible. Hope you enjoy and that you are able to spend some quality time with your friends and family.

Salmon Salad

Ingredients

  • 1 pound salmon, skin on
  • 1/2 cup leftover mashed potatoes (method here, dairy free option included)
  • 1/2 cup steamed cauliflower (or any other nice veggies you have around)
  • 1 cup mache salad greens (any greens will do here, esp. something peppery like arugula or mache)
  • Juice of 1/2 lemon
  • 3 tablespoons olive oil
  • salt and pepper to taste

Method

  1. Heat BBQ grill until super hot, but not smoking.
  2. Place the salmon, skin side down, on the BBQ grill.
  3. Cook for four minutes, or until you see the edges of the salmon turning light pink.
  4. Flip the salmon over and cook for an additional 5 minutes.
  5. Put the mache on a platter, add the mashed potatoes in dollops over the salad and distribute the cauliflower around the platter.
  6. Place the salmon on top and finish by drizzling the olive oil and lemon juice on top.

Grilled Radicchio Salad

Ingredients:

  • 1 head Radicchio
  • 1 large Shallot, minced
  • 2 ears Corn
  • 1 large Heirloom Tomato, chopped
  • 1 bunch Frisee, shredded
  • 1/3 cup Olive Oil
  • Salt and Pepper to Taste

Method:

  1. Heat BBQ grill until super hot, but not smoking.
  2. Cut up radicchio into chunks.
  3. Pour olive oil over radicchio on toss to coat.
  4. Place radicchio chunks on grill, grill on one side for two minutes, making sure flames don’t get too high.
  5. Turn radicchio over, pouring remaining oil onto it. Cook for two more minutes, or until soft.
  6. Remove from heat, and chop into smaller pieces.
  7. Take corn off the cobs, placing the loose kernels into a large bowl.
  8. Add tomatoes, shallots and grilled radicchio to bowl. Toss, gently pulling the radicchio leaves apart.
  9. Sprinkle shredded frisee on top of mix.
  10. Finish with a little olive oil, salt and pepper.

Avocado and Tomato Salad

Ingredients:

  • 2 large avocados, cut into chunks, skin and pit removed
  • 4 tomatoes (I used Roma, but love Heirlooms the best)
  • 1/4 cup olive oil
  • 1 lemon, juiced
  • Salt and pepper to taste

Method:

  1. In a large bowl, combine tomatoes and avocados with salt and pepper.
  2. Whisk together the oil and lemon juice in a small bowl.
  3. Pour the dressing over the tomatoes and avocados, stir gently to coat all ingredients and add a final grind of fresh black pepper on top.

Saveur Magazine's Torta Pisticcina, Chestnut Flour Tart

Hello? How excited was I to find a recipe that uses chestnut flour? I knew somewhere in the back of my mind that I'd heard of such a flour, but I had forgotten about it.

Well, Saveur magazine reminded me of it in their May 2012 issue. Their article on Corsica was lovely and filled with a bunch of interesting recipes. I was pleased to find the Torta Pisticcina recipe so that I could add another gluten-free dessert to my repertoire.

I used unflavored almond milk instead of regular milk, which I figured was fine, since the recipe includes both blanched and slivered almonds in it. There were a few things I did do wrong, which made the tart turn out not exactly right, but still pretty good.

Two mistakes, which I hope you won't make: salted butter and a cake pan that was two small.  Using salted butter instead of unsalted made the tart too salty. This is the second time this week that I've made that error. I've got to get some unsalted butter in my freezer. And, I also used an eight inch cake pan instead of the ten inch that the recipe calls for, making the middle of the tart too soft.

Even with these missteps, the tart was really tasty. The perfectly made one will make for a great mid-morning snack with a cup of tea.

Torta Pisticcina/ Chestnut Flour Tart

 Ingredients:

  • 12 tbsp. unsalted butter, melted, with more for greasing the pan
  • 1 cup sugar
  • 1/2 cup milk (I used almond milk here)
  • 1 tsp. vanilla extract
  • 1 tsp. kosher salt
  • Zest of 1/2 orange
  • 2 cups chestnut flour
  • 1/2 cup whole blanched almonds
  • 1/4 cup sliced almonds

Method:

  1. Heat oven to 375 degrees.
  2. Grease a 10" cake pan, set aside.
  3. Whisk butter, sugar, milk, vanilla, salt, and zest in a bowl.
  4. Add flour and whole almonds; stir until smooth.
  5. Pour batter into pan; sprinkle with sliced almonds.
  6. Bake until browned and set, about 25 minutes.

Potato Pancakes My Way: Gluten Free and Dairy Free

Potato Pancakes!

I have been buying frozen potato pancakes for a long time now, but always loved Gran Fran's homemade ones. We would sometimes have breakfast for dinner, which mostly meant bacon and eggs or french toast, but sometimes included potato pancakes. I love the crispy outside and the warm, soft inside. Gran Fran's were loaded with salt and sometimes had corn added to them. I remember the sizzle of the hot oil and Gran Fran yelling for all the kids to back away from the stove (and to leave the kitchen) in case the oil splattered when she put the potato pancakes in the pan. I can't recall anyone every getting hurt when Gran Fran fried things, but she still tells the kids (meaning me and my five adult siblings) to back away when she's frying. Old habits die hard, I guess.

The other night I had some leftover mashed potatoes and remembered that this was the base for Gran Fran's potato cakes. I don't think I made them the same way she does, but they tasted great. Gran Fran's version definitely had flour involved. Mine use just an egg and the mashed potatoes, which I made with almond milk and olive oil, making them gluten and dairy free.

Isabella, my daughter, loved them so much, she told me not to give her anymore because she wouldn't know when to stop eating them and did not want to over do it. These are definitely being made on a regular basis around here.

So enjoy these with your family and friends. You can even try some add ins like leftover bacon (but for real, who has that on hand?), scallions or grated cheese. Have a lovely weekend!

Potato Pancakes: Gluten and Dairy Free

Ingredients:

Method:

  1. Mix mashed potatoes and eggs until a thick batter comes together. If you are adding in bacon, scallions or anything else, mix it into the batter now.
  2. Heat the olive oil until super hot but not smoking in a pan.
  3. Using a tablespoon, spoon the mixture into the pan, leaving a good amount of space between them in the pan.
  4. Take a spatula and press down on the potato mixture in the pan to form a pancake. Some of the batter will ooze out the side, which is fine.
  5. Cook on first side for 4 minutes, until you can see the edges browning.
  6. Flip over the pancakes, press down once more with the spatula and cook for another 4 minutes.
  7. Remove from the pan onto a paper towel lined plate and add salt.

Enjoy!

 

Greek Sandwich Salad Style

Recently, I went to dinner with my uncle (known as Uncle), who is Gran Fran's brother. For the most part, I'm a lettuce with olive oil and salt kind of salad girl. Uncle ordered just this as his salad, which floored me. I hadn't realized there maybe a family connection to my style of salad. He told me that he has always eaten his salad this way, and that he thought it did come from his parents. Who knew?!

Warm weather has arrived in San Francisco. You never know how long this nice patch of weather will be in town, so it's fun to pretend like we have seasons and cook like it's going to stay warm for a few months.

This weather puts me in the mood for a good salad. I made a nice roast pork with Greek flavor a few weeks ago, reminiscent of a the Greek sandwich I had in Paris.  Since I have salad on my mind, I decided to take all the Greek sandwich fixings and make a huge salad.

Seeing as I don't usually make fancy salads (except for my salad nicoise) , I really had to think about how to layer everything in. Some special dressing, which includes Za'atar, a Middle Eastern spice, added a nice extra kick. It's earthy, sour, salty and just interesting. You can just use oregano here, but I love the unexpected flavor.

You don't have to follow my ingredients exactly, but do put the roast pork, red onions and fried potatoes in the salad as these are the keys to the Greek sandwich-ness of the salad.

Greek Sandwich Salad Style

Ingredients

serves 2

  • 1 heart of romaine lettuce, cut into pieces
  • 2 potatoes, oven fried (recipe here)
  • 8 slices of Greek roast pork (recipe here)
  • 1/2 red onion, sliced thinly
  • 1 red bell pepper, sliced into chunks
  • 8 to 10 small tomatoes cut in half
  • 1/4 cup mayonnaise
  • 1/4 cup olive oil
  • 1/2 teaspoon Za'atar spice blend or dried oregano
  • Salt and pepper to taste

Method

  • Lay the romaine on a platter, making a mound in the center.
  • Layer on top the red onions, potatoes, tomatoes and red bell peppers, with the pork on top.
  • Put the mayonnaise, olive oil, Za'atar (or oregano) and salt and pepper into a bowl and mix until combined.
  • Drizzle dressing over the salad and serve.

You can put some nice warm pitas out on the table to serve with this great salad.