What Did You Eat?

Weekend Herb Blogging: Black Bean And Pepper Salad, With Cumin And Mint Vinaigrette

When does air conditioning decide to quit working?  During the hottest weather, of course. And that's what happened to us last Friday.  Fortunately, it's working now, but there was a period where we sweltered in our house, as the temperatures hit the century mark.  We enjoy eating salads, so this particular salad was perfect for our steamy abode.  It's a very simple salad from Deborah Madison, made special by the vinaigrette dressing.  I love Deborah Madison's salad recipes because her salad dressings are always full of herbs, spices and citrus juice.  They turn what would be just another black bean salad into an exotic and delicious meal.  It also makes it perfect for Weekend Herb Blogging, which is guest hosted this week by the lovely Gabriella at The  Reluctant Housewife.  Go there and see lots of herby recipes. 

Asparagus Aspirations: Wild Rice and Asparagus Salad

I admit that I always keep a bag of wild rice on hand, not only for the taste of it, but because it makes any dish seem special.   We eat regular rice at least 3 or 4 times a week, so wild rice is a nice change.  It looks pretty served with brightly colored foods, such as this simple salad made with asparagus and sesame seeds.   Wild rice, which is really an aquatic grass, is native to North America.   Even though I live in California, where almost 80% of wild rice is produced, I buy my rice from Minnesota sources where, by law, rice is cultivated and harvested according to traditional Indian methods.   My paternal great grandmother was Native American, so I have a personal interest in the controversy that surrounds wild rice production.   For some tribes, wild rice is a much needed source of income.  Genetic engineering has also reared its head in this, with many tribes concerned that genetically engineered wild rice threatens the future existence of truly wild rice.  Finally, it may be my imagination (or bias) but I think Native American grown and harvested wild rice is better looking.  For more information about true wild rice go to Slow Food. 

OK, back to our regular programming!  This dish also qualifies me for Asparagus Aspirations, which is the brainchild of Kevin at Seriously Good. He has a plethera of asparagus dishes at his site which you may want to check out.

Weekend Herb Blogging: Chipotle Chicken Salad Tacos

That's Charlie, the taco dog, holding three delicious Chipotle Chicken Salad Tacos.  It's Cinco de Mayo and my original intent was to make enchiladas. But, I make them once a week, so that's hardly a special dish for us.  Instead, I made this taco recipe from Rick Bayless.  The salad itself is very easy to make.  I used a store bought rotisserie chicken and assembled the salad in less than 10 minutes. That left me with enough time to make my own corn tortillas from scratch.  I wish this dish had an unusual herb for Weekend Herb Blogging, but it's cilantro....again.  In the past couple of weeks some very unusual herbs have been featured in this weekend event created by Kalyn.  Go over to her site and see what the other herb bloggers have cooked up.  But, do take the time to consider this slightly different take on tacos. They're delicious.  Everyone enjoyed them immensely. 

Chinese Noodle Salad with Roasted Eggplant

This weekend I fixed one of my favorite recipes from The Green's Cookbook by Deborah Madison, Chinese Noodle Salad with Roasted Eggplant.  In the cookbook, it states that this recipe is one of the most popular dishes that the restaurant serves. That's quite an honor considering the fact that Greens has so many excellent dishes on their menu.  The salad can be make ahead in segments, at your leisure. In fact, the noodles taste better if they're cooked as much as a day before you complete the salad.  Then you can add the vegetables just before you serve it.

Weekend Herb Blogging: Spicy Stir-Fried Shrimp with Hot and Sour Salad

It's Weekend Herb Blogging again. Well, almost. Kayln, who started this event, is marvelously flexible about when we can post our recipe.  So, here is mine, a day early. I'm hoping that I won't have much time to spend at the computer tomorrow because the forecast is that it won't rain until evening. If so, I might be able to do some gardening. It didn't rain today. The sun came out and it was wonderful.  I was so pleased I decided to celebrate by cooking shrimp.  That's better than when I celebrate by eating a pint of ice cream or a huge sandwich dripping with mayo. I made a low fat meal of stir-fried shrimp with hot and sour salad.  The shrimp were good, but the salad was delicious.  The seasonings are similar to Vietnamese chicken salad, but this salad was meatless, with a tangy dressing and grapefruit sections.  I seem to use the same herbs each week.  I'm impressed with the hard to find or obscure herbs that many of the other weekend herb bloggers use.  As for me--I'm afraid it's cilantro and mint once again. I'm surprised I didn't find a way to work basil in there too.  Go to Kalyn's site  this weekend and see all the other herb bloggers in action. 

Wild rice and walnut salad

Once again, my Green's Cookbook by Deborah Madison delivered big time!  I've yet to find a disappointing recipe in it, and regard it as my  most reliable resource when I want to prepare a meal that tastes good.     My grand plan is to make every recipe in the book, in part because I'm curious to see if there's actually a bad recipe in the book.  I think not.  One recipe I've always wanted to try is Wild Rice And Hazelnut Salad. It calls for hazelnut oil and hazelnuts, which I couldn't find at my grocery store. Apparently, they stock them at Christmas, but not the rest of the year.  People only want hazelnuts on holidays? I don't think so.  I substituted walnuts and walnut oil, and it was delicious. But, I want to try it with hazelnuts someday.

Weekend herb blogging: Vietnamese chicken salad

Last night I was leafing through Hot, Sour, Salty, Sweet by Jeffrey Alford and Naomi Duguid and saw their recipe for Vietnamese chicken salad.  I love this salad, but it's been years since I ate it. How does something like that happen?  At one time, I had it for lunch all the time when I worked in Sacramento. As I remember, it was the Big Thing at various restaurants, but they often called it Chinese Chicken Salad. I think I abandoned this salad when I discovered spicy noodles with peanuts.   High time for me to rediscover an old friend.  And the salad contains a lot of mint, so it would be perfect for Herb Blogging Weekend.  Go over to Kalyn's site and have a look at the other Herb Bloggers.

Fennel, mushroom and parmesan salad

Fennel is one of those misunderstood foods, like anchovies.  For years, I avoided it because cookbooks described it as tasting like licorice. If you hate licorice, and there are lots of us out there who do, fennel avoidance will be the name of the game.  Fortunately, I eventually summoned some courage and ordered braised fennel at a restaurant.  Imagine my surprise!  It tasted delicious.  Yes, there is a faint taste of anise, but it's not objectionable at all.  And combined with other flavors like olive oil and parmesan, it's flat out delightful and one of my favorite vegetables now.  Who knew?

Last night I made a salad of fennel, fresh mushrooms, and parmesan.  And this morning I tried to persuade my friend Glenna to give fennel a try. But, she hates licorice and is reluctant to take a chance with her taste buds. And so it goes.  I understand.