"salads" news and stories

Most of us who belong to a community-supported-agriculture group (CSA), have had the vaguely disappointing experience of opening our share for the week and seeing a big mound of cabbage (or zucchini, or whatever happens to be harvested that week). And what can we do with 6 cabbages? But it's the whimsy of the harvest and you have to get creative.

Blogger everybodylikes sandwiches made her cabbage share into a dinner-worthy salad with red peppers, broccoli, radishes, onion, walnuts, and raisins, and served it with a buttermilk dressing (get her recipe here).

I happen to be a cabbage lover, and so is chef Marcus Samuelsson, who offers up an earthy shiitake mushroom salad that also features Savoy cabbage. And this warm cabbage-and-apple salad with shredded pork is a one-dish meal that tastes of early fall.

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Broccoli stems may be getting an inferiority complex in the U.S. So many cooks do nothing more than cut them from the florets and toss them. Asian cooks may think us slightly demented, as some of the vegetable's best flavor is in the stem, not the crown. Blogger Rachel at Coconut & Lime has got it going on with stems in her recipe for a slaw of shredded broccoli and carrots, with a sweet-spicy-tart dressing that incorporates Japanese mirin (rice wine) and seven-spice powder. (The spice powder, shichimi togarashi, is a blend that includes hemp, poppy and sesame seeds; dried chiles and nori; Szechuan peppercorns and grated orange peel. You can buy it premixed or use this recipe to make it yourself.)

If you start digging broccoli stems, try these recipes for skillet-browned broccoli with pan-toasted garlic, or broccoli with spicy tahini.

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Add a whole grain like kamut to your summer salad, and you've got a fiber-rich meal. Chewy and slightly sweet, kamut brings some heft to this combination of the season's best cherry tomatoes, corn, basil and peppers. Shave some Parmigiano-Reggiano over the top for a touch of dairy, and a salty accent. (Get the recipe here.) Not a fan of kamut? Blogger ComeUndone suggests substituting farro, wheat berries or barley.

If you want to add more whole grains to your diet, but don't know where to start, click here. We've got the info and recipes for you.

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"Flash salt" your tomatoes, as blogger nami-nami does in this recipe, for added flavor and less juice in your salad. She took a tip from chef Jamie Oliver, in his book Jamie at Home, and sprinkled tomatoes and red onion slices with sea salt and allowed them to season and drain for 15 minutes. Another unique touch to this salad is flowering oregano, which is not only visually beautiful but offers an even more vibrant taste as it reaches the flowering point.

There's no better time than August to play with tomatoes, and Kitchen Daily has a world of tomato recipes to share.

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It's not exactly a turnip, not exactly a cabbage, but kohlrabi is a fellow member of the Brassica family. Its taste resembles both its siblings while being a little more sweet than either. Blogger sassyradish has created this salad by cutting the kohlrabi into matchsticks, and mixing it with Gala apples, for a mega-crunch factor. She puts an Asian spin on the salad with hot Thai bird's-eye chiles and a bit of fish sauce (cilantro and cumin also add flavor to the mix). (Get her recipe here.)

Stay tuned for more summer salads, featured right here every day this week.

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