Last week, I ran home from work to make some lunch and ended up standing in front of the fridge, struggling to creating a meal from the hodgepodge of leftovers and aging veggies. I had some sad radishes, two romaine hearts that were decidedly past their prime, a handful of meatballs, the end chunk of a seedless cucumber and half of a ciabatta roll that was so hard that it could have been used as a weapon.
Hungry and pressed for time, I started to assemble a salad, although without much enthusiasm. I peeled the outer leaves off the romaine and gave it a rough chop. I crumbled the meatballs into bits and sawed the roll into chunks. Tossing all the everything together, I doused the salad with the homemade balsamic vinaigrette I typically have in the fridge and let it sit for a minute while I made some tea.
When I turned back to the salad, the chunks of bread has softened into tasty bits of balsamic flavor. The meatballs had lost their refrigerator chill and the veggies were surprisingly crisp. What had started out as a meal of obligation (must use up food before it goes bad) had turned into a delightful and tasty lunch.
They say that the greatest form of flattery is imitation, but what do you call an outright swipe? I guess that would be stealing. I have to admit right off the bat that I swiped this right off of Smitten Kitchen. I came across it one day, and it was so beautiful that I knew I had to include it on this menu idea list. Instructions are on the blog.
Wouldn't mom absolutely love this salad? It would be a colorful, flavorful, and seasonal addition to any brunch menu. I generally think of brunch as more breakfast-y, but (a) lot of people include lunch or dinner items in brunch and (b) who wouldn't want something as beautiful as this salad at breakfast? Anyway, it's just a suggestion, but one I know I wouldn't want to pass up!
Years ago, my friend showed me pictures of her tasty speared caprese salad appetizers -- a mainstay at her cocktail parties. Now, whenever it comes time to think about funky salads or tasty appetizers, I think back to her skewers and wonder how I can change them up into something new. What follows is one way that is absolutely perfect for kids.
Miniature Speared Caprese Salad Bites
Ingredients:
Miniature balls of bocconcini Cherry tomatoes Fresh basil Sea salt Freshly cracked black pepper Extra-virgin olive oil Vinegar (optional)
Plus: plastic cocktail swords
Assembly:
All the kids need to do is grab a cocktail sword, and alternate between the ingredients until its full. The easiest way would be to either do a cheese-basil-tomato-cheese configuration, or a tomato-basil-cheese-basil-tomato configuration. How much will fit on each sword depends on the size of the tomatoes, and the cheese. If size becomes an issue -- cut the bocconcini and tomatoes in half before skewering.
If your kids are allowed to use knives, they can slice the tomatoes in half first, or keep them whole. If you're not able to get fresh basil, substitute a sprinkling of the dried variety. It's not quite the same, but it will do in a pinch.
After they're assembled on a plate/tray, drizzle lightly with your evoo (and vinegar if it's being used) and then sprinkle the top with some salt and pepper.
What results is a fun appetizer or finger food start to the dinner, and it's one that your kids can have fun both making and playing with after -- once the mini salads have been eaten.
P-tooey! Watermelon would be perfect if not for those pesky seeds.
Luckily, Instructables provides a great tutorial on how to remove most (key word: most) of the seeds from your average watermelon. It's easy and quick, with no fancy tools needed.
Or, if you're feeling ca-razy, you could inject your watermelon with a pre-mixed martini (yes, you'll need a syringe - it's a little creepy, but worth it), let it chill for an hour, and indulge in some alcoholic fruit. Just keep it away from the kids.
For me, the presentation of a dish is critically important. Here's a trick for turning orange peels into beautiful serving bowls for almost anything you can create.
My friends make fun of me because I find the internet hilarious. I can't help it. I love LOLcats, Rickrolling, and, of course, The FAIL Blog (and FAIL Dogs). For those unfamiliar with the FAIL trend, it's basically when people find funny pictures of things not working as planned, and then label them "FAIL."
Reading The FAIL Blog has me thinking about all of my personal food FAILS, and how funny FAILS can be when they happen to you. The blog has some pretty awesome food pictures, such as this Salad FAIL, this Vending FAIL and this Dogfood FAIL. One of my favorite cooking blogs, Jumbo Empanadas, also wrote a FAIL post about a strawberry cheesecake -- though it certainly didn't look like a FAIL to me.
I think my biggest cooking FAIL was an attempt to make a cauliflower mash with beautiful purple and yellow cauliflower. Somehow, I thought that I could make it wasabi flavored because you can do that with normal mashed potatoes. I was very wrong, and they turned out disgusting. Please, make me feel less badly: share your FAIL food experiences with us.
The beet has always been my bête noire, the last food I genuinely hated in all forms. I wanted to like beets, I really did. They're so pretty. The stunning magenta of borscht, baby red and yellow beets laying like rare gemstones on a salad plate.
But I always thought they tasted like sweet dirt, with an undertone of something rotten, a whiff of burps and garbage pail. After college I lived with a girl who ate beets out of the can, enjoyed beet-and-goat cheese sandwiches piled as high as corned beef on a Katz's Deli rueben. I had to turn my head.
But it wasn't until I had a grated beet and carrot salad in vinaigrette at a bistro in Paris's Belleville neighborhood last fall that I began to understand the magic. Something about the strong vinaigrette modified the beet's rotten-ish sweetness, brought out the earthy flavors. I'm about to try this recipe, for Clotilde's Grated Carrots and Beets from the venerable Chocolate and Zucchini. Damned if that girl couldn't make a decaying sardine look like a delicacy.
I love art, especially when it's done with food. If you are also a fan of this kind of thing, you should check out the Tate Modern Fluxus extravaganza on the weekend of May 24.
American artist Alison Knowles will perform her "Make a Salad" piece. It's pretty self explanatory. She will coordinate a group of chef's in making a giant salad (big enough to feed 300 audience members) all set to the music of Mozart. It's an artwork designed to "blur the line between art and everyday activity."
If you're a foodie who's also into art, this may be the perfect event for you. How many other times are you going to be able to combine two of your favorite things?
I have a thing for gorgeous, fresh salads (as you'll see later when I post my own dinner salad from last night). Looking through the Slashfood Flickr pool, this one nearly jumped off the screen at me and I knew I had found today's featured image. Especially since Spring is coming. Spring! Fresh, young vegetables! The promise of summer fruit! (I'm more than just a little bit excited about the coming change of season).
This image comes to us from Flickr user Eunnycjang and features a Vietnamese bun-style salad with "romaine, carrots, cabbage, cucumber, rice noodles, tons of mint, basil, cilantro, and Mark Bittman's shortcut caramel pork." It is dressed with nuoc mam.
Most of the United States will be springing an hour early this Sunday morning, and so in honor of this early arrival of spring, I thought I'd post a yummy-looking picture of a salad that seems appropriate for the season. Prepared, photographed and I'm assuming eaten by Flickr user ccharmon, this is a salad I see myself recreating at some point down the line.
If your cooking is taking a turn for the spring-like, why don't you take some pictures and share them with us over on the Slashfood Flickr page. Go on, tempt us with your delicious creations.
Fennel is reliable. It's reliable-looking, for one: it sits on a sturdy, bulbous base and boasts welcoming green fronds and, if in the wild, tiny yellow flowers. It also possesses a reliable flavor: it'll welcome you back each time you use it, comfortable, secure, and unwavering in its flavor. And finally, you can rely on fennel for its multipurpose u, as a feature or an accent to your other foods.
Its History
Fennel is a perennial herb that's grown mainly in the Mediterranean and India. First referred to as "marathon" by the ancient Greeks and later used against witchcraft in medieval times, fennel is high in Vitamin C, potassium, and dietary fiber. Fennel's flavor, a distinct liquorice, comes from the anethole compound, which is also found in anise and star anise, which is why one is often mistaken for the other. The one you'll find most often in your local supermarket is known as florence fennel.
Its Uses
Fennel is primarily used either for its "bulb," a tightly-grouped bunch of leaves (large shards are pulled off to be used in soups or salads), its fronds (sprinkled onto salads and entrees as an accent) and as an herb to flavor dishes in its seed form. It is also one of the primary ingredients in absinthe. Even the pollen from fennel's delicate yellow flowers are used in cooking, though they are quite expensive. It is often used as a breath freshener, and is said to have medicinal qualities, used for everything from preventing jaundice to aiding digestion (it can be used as a diuretic) to staunching coughs.
Thanksgiving was Thursday (yes, I realize that it's always on Thursday) and now it's Saturday. This means that you are heading into your third day of turkey, stuffing and mashed potatoes and might be ready for a bit of a break. Whenever I find that I've overdone the heavy foods, what my body wants more than anything is just a big, simple salad. However, just because you're eating salad doesn't mean that you can't still incorporate some of your turkey leftovers.
Wash and tear some lettuce. I find that romaine works best for this kind of salad, because it is tough enough to stand up to lots of add-ins. Then start looking in the fridge. Cube up the last of the breast meat (I promise it will taste different cold and doused with Italian dressing). If you put out a relish tray before dinner on Thursday, get the remnants of that out and cut up the last of those celery sticks, gherkins, baby carrots and olives. They all make great salad additions. A little cranberry relish (the raw kind, not the jellied stuff) is excellent with greens. If you are the type to serve steamed green beans at your dinner and you have a few leftover, they also are terrific in salad. However, green bean casserole won't work. If your leftovers make a paltry-looking salad, you can always open a can of black beans, steam up some beets, shred some broccoli and hard boil an egg or two to round out the toppers.
If you're making this salad just for yourself, you can just toss it all together in a big bowl. If you're feeding a bunch, I'd suggest doing this salad bar style so that people can avoid the bits they don't like as much. Use your favorite dressing to top it.
Have you ever stashed a Coke in the freezer, hoping to chill it quickly, then forgotten all about it, only to have it explode all over your frozen peas?
My friends make fun of me because I find the internet hilarious. I can't help it. I love 
The beet has always been my bête noire, the last food I genuinely hated in all forms. I wanted to like beets, I really did. They're so pretty. The stunning magenta of borscht, baby red and yellow beets laying like rare gemstones on a salad plate. 
A fraking amazing Battlestar Galactica cake
Iced Tea 101
Pierogies + cheese + onions + kraut = Parmageddon!
