Yet another CSA Box showed up! Yippeee! I know in the very near future I won’t be so excited but for now the honeymoon is still on. I, once again, was so thrilled about all those lovely, fresh, local greens I immediately made a big salad. As I was making this wonderful salad, I kept thinking how fast and easy salads are. They are the “fast food’ of the paleo world.
I mean think of all the fabulous benefits of salad……You can tuck them in a container and make them portable. You can make them up in advance and have them in the fridge. They are loaded with nutrients, color and taste. And you can experiment with a gagillion different recipes to keep them exciting. Salads are our go-to, on the go food around here. No wonder I’m know as the salad queen in this territory.
When our CSA box arrives I, busy like a squirrel, make a BIG salad and put in a plastic container in the fridge. It keeps fresh for days if you don’t add avocado to it. Both my hubby and I grab a big handful of salad, toss some protein on it and eat it up when we are hungry and in a hurry.
I also keep about 3 different home made salad dressings in there for the grab and go. Some of my favorites are lemon/olive oil and a balsamic vinaigrette. (YUM! to balsamic vinegar!) I thought I would share some super simple salad dressings with you.
The most important thing with salads is to be imaginative and experiment. Try to use as many “in season” and local veggies as possible. The fresher the veggies and greens the better it tastes. (Remember those tasteless iceberg salads with browning edges? Tasted like they were a year old when served to me.)
When you get in a rut, look up some new recipes on line and give them a try. Cooking Light, amazingly enough, has some very inventive salads that I really get inspired by. (Cooking Light has actually started embracing fat as well. They did a whole article on how fats have been villanized that created quite the stir!) Epicurious also has some great salad recipes.
Also remember that whatever you cooked last night goes great on the salad. For example; last night we roasted a free range chicken and some root vegetables. Today, for lunch, I had pre-made salad with roasted chicken and roots on it with a garlic vinaigrette. Incredible. (My son uses the meat juices from whatever he cooked as his salad dressing.)
We will start with my new favorite vinaigrette that I found from Epicurious. This can be made into an herb vinaigrette by adding a bunch a fresh herbs to it like sage, rosemary, basil and thyme. If you do not want to use prepared mustard you can make your own here.
Garlic Vinaigrette
3 tablespoons of really good cider vinegar
Juice of one lemon
1 tablespoon of Dijon-style mustard
½ cup of olive oil
1 large shallot, chopped
3 -4 cloves of garlic, chopped
1 cup of fresh parsley leaves
½ cup of fresh tarragon leaves
Little salt and pepper to taste
In a blender, add the vinegar, lemon juice and mustard and blend for a few moments. With the blender low, slowly add the olive oil in a steady stream so it will emulsify. Toss in the chopped shallot, garlic and herbs and blend some more. Add the salt and pepper to taste. This can last for a long time in the fridge.
Lemon salad dressing
Here is a super simple salad dressing that can be thrown together in minutes.
The zest of one lemon
The juice of one lemon
1 tablespoon of Dijon mustard
2 teaspoons of ground black pepper
1 teaspoon of honey
Dash of salt
¾ cup of olive oil
Blend everything in the blender except the olive oil. Then, while the blender is on low, slowly drizzle in the olive oil in a steady stream so it will emulsify. Adjust the seasonings and enjoy!
Balsamic vinaigrette
This is our go-to balsamic vinaigrette that both love on everything, even ice cream. (shhhhhh don’t tell anybody about that!) The type of vinegar you use will make a huge difference in this dressing. Getting an aged one from Italy is always a good bet.
3-4 Tablespoon of a good balsamic vinegar
1 tablespoon of Dijon mustard
1-2 garlic cloves minced
½ cup of olive oil
Salt and pepper to taste.
Throw everything except the olive oil in a blender and blend of a second or two. Then, while the blender is on low, slowly drizzle in the olive oil in a steady stream so it will emulsify. Adjust the seasonings and enjoy! You can also just put all the ingredients in a glass jar and shake up but I like to do it in the blender so that it is creamy.
Kate says
Wow, all of these recipes look absolutely amazing. I can’t wait to try the pickled eggs and get a good army of homemade salad dressings lined up in the fridge. I was very content eating for hours in a row when we had dinner at your place, the food was so good!
ziabaki says
Oh you are a foodie! Miss you big girl. Glad everything is going so well.
patty says
What is the little yellow flower you have added to your salad.
I started a postage size herb garden this year and have embraced salads.
I would love to add some edible flowers but I don’t know much about them.
Patty
ziabaki says
It’s Kale flowers. Yum. We are in a climate that kale grows like crazy and the flowers are quite delicious. There are a whole bunch of edible flowers you can add to salads to make them colorful and delicious. One of my favs is impatiens and nasturtiums. You can google “edible flowers” for the whole list. Have fun with your garden this year but watch out! You’ll want a bigger on next year!