Salad of Warm Tarragon Garlic Roasted Portobellos over Arugula, Radicchio , Sautéed Ramps, Cherry Tomatoes, Red onions and Goat Cheese

I am really glad that summery weather is finally upon us which allows me to go back to eating one meal salads for dinner. To me, salad should be enjoyable—full of color and delicious ingredients and this one definitely fits the bill.

And of course, the beauty of a salad is that there is so much flexibility in what you put in or leave out based on your taste.

INGREDIENTS

Portobello Mushrooms:

2 large or 4 small Portobello mushroom caps

2-3 cloves of garlic sliced thin

2  tablespoons of butter

2  tablespoons fresh tarragon leaves (thyme would work as well)

Salt to taste

1)      Preheat oven to 400. I used my  Breville BOV800XL Smart Oven 1800-Watt Convection Toaster Oven with Element IQ , if you don’t have one, regular oven is fine of course.

2)      Wash and dry mushrooms. Cut them up into 2-2 ½ inch chucks.

3)      Add to a baking dish. I use this one by Le Creuset Stoneware 1-1/2-Quart 9-Inch Square Baking Dish, Cherry

4)      Scatter butter cup up into small pieces, garlic and tarragon over the mushrooms. Cover with foil. Bake for 10-15 minutes.

5)      Remove foil and bake another 20-30 minutes until mushrooms are tender, mixing occasionally and adding butter if needed.

6)      The mushrooms will release a lot of liquid as they cook. I incorporated some of the liquid into the salad dressing, first allowing it to cool off.

SALAD (add/substitute as you see fit)

4 cups of arugula

¼ red onion sliced thin

½ hear of small radicchio sliced thin

6-8 tablespoons of goat cheese

1 cup cherry tomatoes

1 bunch ramp leaves (optional but adds a nice touch)

If using ramps leaves, you will need 1 tablespoon of butter or oil

1)      Wash and dry arugula. Add radicchio, onions and tomatoes.

2)      If you are including ramps leaves, wash and dry them.

3)      Roughly chop and sauté in a skillet (I use this one by Le Creuset Enameled Cast-Iron 10-1/4-Inch Skillet with Iron Handle, Cherry in a little butter about 5-7 minutes.

4)      Add a pinch of salt. I allowed it to cool and did not dress it with dressing, just threw on top along with goat cheese and cooked mushrooms.

SALAD DRESSING;

2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

2 tablespoons red wine vinegar

3-4 tablespoons of slightly cooled mushroom liquid that resulted from the baking of mushrooms (optional)

1)      Wisk together. Toss with arugula, radicchio, onions and tomatoes. Top with ramps if using, goat cheese divided into small chunks and mushrooms.

Enjoy! This was a great dinner for my crew—filling and light at the same time.

Skirt Steak Mango Salad Over Arugula

I won't lie, this one is a collaboration with hubby as he is the steak master, posting this with his permission. And the salad is by me.

We make many variations of this salad but the steak stays constant.

Just when I though stew and soup weather was upon us, nope warm again, so the salad dinners are back.

You will need: 

Skirt steak (about 4 ounces per person)

For Steak Marinade:

2 tbsp of soy sauce (we use low sodium)

1 tsp chopped garlic

1 tsp ground ginger

1 tsp brown sugar

Squeeze of fresh lemon

Salt and pepper to taste

Combine above ingredients in a bowl, mix well.

Wash and dry steak. Marinade for a few hours, or even better, overnight.

Spray a broiler pan with cooking spray. Broil on high but FAR from flame  4 minutes per side. More up closer to flame and broil another 1-2 minutes per side, depending on thickness of steak and how you like your steak. This cooking time results in medium steak.

For salad (you can be creative here)

Arugula (or substitute another green), washed and spun dry

1/2 red onion thinly sliced

1/4 fennel thinly sliced

1 cup cherry or grape tomatoes

1-2 cups cubed mango

1 avocado, sliced (did not use this time)

Fresh cilantro (love it but ok to omit)--washed and spun dry

For dressing

2 tbsp ponzu sauce

1 tbsp sesame oil 

Squeeze of fresh lemon

Mix all the ingredients well.

Toss to coat salad. Top salad with thinly sliced steak.

Arugula salad w Orange Segments, Shaved Parmesan and Sunflower Seeds. Healthy and Tasty!

It seems like all summer long we eat salads for dinner and the minute it gets colder, I start eating way less salad. Not good. This is one my favorites regardless of season though.

INGREDIENTS:

These are all pretty flexible--but I love to play around with this and I find these all go together very well.

1. 3 cups of arugula (makes about 2 servings)
2. 2 oranges, 1 1/2 for salad, 1/2 for dressing
3. 1/4 cups sunflower seeds (can substitute pine nuts)
4. 1 cup cherry or grape tomatoes
5. 1/2 cup of thinly sliced fennel
6. 1 ounce or so of aged parmesan cheese
7. 1-2 tablespoons OJ
8. 1 tablespoon of lemon juice
9. 1/4 teaspoon of dijon mustard
10. 1/4 of a shallot

DIRECTIONS

1)  Wash and spin dry arugula. I am very anal about this as I loathe a soggy salad.

2)  Wash and dry cherry tomatoes.

3) Wash and dry fennel. Slice thinly.

4)  Peel orange, cut into circles, remove the white. Reserve 1/2 orange for dressing.

5) Heat small skillet, add sunflower seeds and toast them till light brown.

6) Shave your parmesan. I like to use a veggie peeler for this, it works very well. 

For dressing, squeeze juice from the reserved 1/2 of orange. If you have lemon, squeeze a bit of juice as well. Add the oil and mustard. If you are using shallot, finely chop and add in. Mix well.

Combine all ingredients in a bowl except orange segments, cheese and seeds. Dress salad, top w orange, cheese and seeds.

Enjoy!

Finished Product!!!

Salad of warm figs w goat cheese and balsamic glaze

One of my recent creations: a salad of warm figs (in season and delish right now) w goat cheese

Ingredients:

1)  Arugula (washed and dried, I use a salad spinner)

2)  Large figs (6-8)

3) Goat Cheese (I like the soft kind), about 2 table spoons per serving

4) 1/4 cup of pine nuts 

5) 1/4 of thinly sliced red onion (or more if you like)

6) 1 table spoon extra virgin olive oil

7) 2 tablespoon of aged balsamic

8) 1 teaspoon of berry preserves

9) Balsamic glaze for decoration

Wash and dry figs, slice in half, warm in over or toaster over on an oiled tray for about 20 minutes.

In the meantime, wash and try arugula.

Slice red onions thinly.

Heat small skilled and toast pine nuts, careful not to burn.

For dressing, mix ingredients 6-8. 

Once figs are ready, toss arugula and red onions w dressing. You don't want to leave the dressing on too long b/c arugula is delicate and gets mushy. Plate and top w pine nuts. 

Add warm figs, top w a 1/2 spoon or so of goat cheese. Top figs w balsamic glaze (store bought), if you don't have it, can use some of the dressing for this.

Enjoy!