February 9, 2010 · 1 Comment
After a gluttonous weekend of rich dinners (Whole Hog at Oliveto just about blew my mind) and SuperBowl snacks, I was craving a big healthy salad for dinner last night. I love love love blue cheese dressing, and hate hate hate low-fat blue cheese dressing out of the bottle. It always has a slimy texture and is just kind of gross.
So…I did some Googling, made a quick trip to the store, and got out my blender. After a few tweaks, the result was low-fat blue cheese dressing that was damn delish (if I do say so myself). I served it over a big entree-sized salad of greens, vegis and grilled chicken. Yum. This would make a great low-fat dip too — wish I would have thought of that before SuperBowl Sunday!
Low-Fat Blue Cheese Dressing
Serves: This recipe makes 2+ cups of dressing.
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Categories: Dressings
Tagged: blue cheese, dressing, low-fat, no cook, quick and easy
February 4, 2010 · 1 Comment
Like many people who care about what they put in their mouth, I often struggle to find a balance between the warm and fuzzies of eating sustainably, and the need for convenience. I’m not alone. Even Oprah dedicated a whole hour to the subject last week. Factor in the creeping budgetary concerns over how much I sometimes spend on groceries (Whole Paycheck! Diablo Foods!) and the equation gets even more complicated. So, I’ve decided to test out two food services this week that I’m calling “Convenient Sustainability.”
First, next Thursday I will receive my first fruit & vegi delivery from Farm Fresh to You. That’s right, the lazy man’s farmer’s market. New salad fixins to try out, plus the ability to Google exotic looking fruits and vegis in the privacy of my own kitchen. And I get to sleep in on Saturday. I have high hopes!
Second – and not to get all Kate Gosselin on you – we bought a 10 lb. share of an organic CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) hog, courtesy of Live Culture Co’s Groundhog Day Event. That’s a lot of pork, but its conveniently packed for freezing. I pick up our shares of bacon, pork chops and sausage this Saturday in Oakland. Stay tuned for some bacon-laced salad recipes!
Coincidentally on Saturday night, we’re going to Oliveto’s Whole Hog Dinner in Oakland with the friends who turned us onto the pork shares. Its gonna be a piggy weekend.
I’ll report back on both services, and would love to hear from you all about other convenient ways to shop sustainably.
- Hill
Categories: Ingredients
Tagged: bacon, convenient, easy, farmer's market, fresh, summer, sustainable, winter
My friend Susie has an enviable job in food product development and an even more enviable collection of fancy ingredients that she gets to play with for work. Tucked away in a corner of her cozy San Francisco kitchen are bottles of olive oils, nut oils, truffle oils, infused oils and tons of tart and fruity vinegars. It’s a salad nerd’s nirvana.
Last Sunday was cold and rainy, and she hosted a girls dinner in. Girls were being girls… cooking, drinking wine and gossiping about recent dates. Where was I? Huddled in the corner with my friend Lizzie sipping oils straight from the bottle — okay, we used a spoon — and dorking out over each new aroma and flavor. When I got up to leave, Susie has stuffed a bottle of Argan Oil (never heard of it, more background here) and White Truffle Oil (never have the nerve to spend that much on oil) into my purse. It was like Christmas! I faux protested until she said, “Just take it!”. UGH… FINE.
Fast forward to Tuesday night: An Indian dinner at home called for a dressing more exotic than my stand-by mustard vinaigrette. Hello Moroccan Argan oil!
A little Googling pulled up a blood orange and Argan oil vinaigrette recipe that looked delish. I was short an orange so I improvised with some other stuff in my fridge. The result was great – sweet, tart and nutty. I used it to dress baby greens topped with salty feta cheese (a key addition, and kalamata olives would have been great too.)
I know Argan oil is pretty spendy, but I justify it like this: its great for your skin and a hell-of-a-lot cheaper than Botox, which at times feels right around the corner. And, because it has a pretty intense flavor, a little goes a long way. I’m looking forward to experimenting more with Argan oil. Thanks Susie!
If you’ve got a great recipe or use for Argan oil, please share!
Blood Orange and Argan Oil Vinaigrette
Serves: Enough to dress 4-6 side salads
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Categories: Dressings · Ingredients
Tagged: Argan oil, dressing, feta, no cook, orange, quick and easy, vinaigrette
Crates and crates of fennel bulbs have been staring me down at the farmer’s market all winter, and I’m not going to lie, I’ve been too intimidated to try cooking with them. They’re big and knobby and look hard to cut — basically a bloody kitchen disaster waiting to happen. Plus, my husband hates things that taste like black licorice, and fennel does have an anise flavor.
Then, last Saturday I caught the tail end of a PBS cooking show called “Everyday Food” where the chef made fennel salad look easy and tasty. I was on my way to check out the Grand Lake farmer’s market — clearly this was a sign that it was time to give fennel a shot. Turns out, Brian and I both loved this salad. It wasn’t too licorice-y and – BONUS – this recipe is is very low-cal, especially if you cut back on the olive oil. I served it with big spicy pasta dish with chicken and rainbow chard and it provided a light, cooling balance to the heat of the pasta. Give this easy, crunchy fennel salad a shot, and let us know if you love it!
Fresh and Crunchy Fennel Salad
Serves: 2 as a side salad
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Categories: Side salads
Tagged: fennel, fresh, lemon, low-cal, no cook, no lettuce, quick and easy, winter
Two Christmases ago, I was given a fantastic cookbook that I refer to more than any other: Alice Waters’ The Art of Simple Food. Its a go-to manual for a young(ish) cook like myself. The recipes are seasonal, use simple ingredients and teach you techniques that you’ll use over and over again. No list of crazy stuff you’ve never heard of — usually I already have most of the items I need for these recipes on hand. After using this book for a while, I thought I understood why people are so obsessed with Alice Waters.
That was until I was treated to a birthday lunch at her famous Berkeley restaurant Chez Panisse. Now I REALLY get the obsession. My stepmom, her mom and I dined at the cafe upstairs recently and we all ordered the same salad: Beet and Cauliflower Salad with Egg, Capers and Chervil. It was fab! It was maybe the best beet salad I’ve ever had, and it didn’t even have goat cheese. Woah. What? Those are words I never thought I would utter… I feel like a real Judas to my beloved chevre, but really this salad is great.
I felt like a huge dork taking a photo of the salad in the restaurant, so I only got one.
Last night, I made this salad at home, and, lucky me, I found the caper/olive dressing recipe in the Simple Food cookbook. I served it alongside a piece of poached salmon and it was great.
Alice Waters’ Beet and Cauliflower Salad with Egg, Capers and Chervil
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Categories: Restuarant salad reviews · Side salads
Tagged: Alice Waters, beets, capers, cauliflower, chervil, Chez Panisse, fresh, lemon, low-fat, no lettuce, olives, winter
