salad season
It seems that we have now charged straight into Summer; I’m thankful I had already decided it was time to jump into the salads of Moosewood Restaurant Daily Special: More Than 250 Recipes for Soups, Stews, Salads & Extras. I purchased this cookbook at a library book sale last year, but hadn’t yet made many of its salads.
I began by replenishing the stock in our freezer, this time I made garlic stock; to be more friendly to my work schedule, I made it in the slow cooker. The simmered vegetables became a delightful light lunch with bread.
The biggest change I made to all of the salads was not bothering to chill things. I make dinner on a tight schedule and we’re hungry!
Sunday evening after we returned from visiting my mum, was the (slightly) spicy pineapple tofu salad that completely won us over for ease of making and wonderful mingling of flavours. I replaced the chile with a pinch of red pepper flakes and it was perfect. I think next time I’ll mix the pineapple with the tofu and bake them together. I love grilled pineapple so I think it will add a je ne sais quoi to an already spectacular dish.
On Monday I was a bit over ambitious as to all the things I could accomplish, but I did make Creamy Herbed Potato Soup (not photogenic with my skills but incredibly tasty) and Andean Quinoa & Corn Salad. I enjoyed the leftovers for lunch today. Yum!
Yesterday was Thai Noodle Salad, which uses of all things tricolour spiral pasta! It also surprised us and we found we took seconds … and thirds. I ran out of lime juice so used a bit than is called for, but it was still wonderful. Next time I will buy an extra lime just in-case.
Tonight’s meal was Lentil, Rice, & Fruit Salad. I made the rice in the rice cooker of course, and the cats and I were crawling the walls with hunger shortly after the timer kicked in and it started its making. Something about brown rice with garlic, a bay leaf, and thyme just makes me really hungry. This dish also has a wonderful balance of flavour and texture.
I will definitely make all of these salads again. This coming week’s menu features two more recipes from Moosewood Restaurant Daily Special: More Than 250 Recipes for Soups, Stews, Salads & Extras: Balinese Rice Salad (to use the baby corn left extra from Monday) and a Three Bean Pasta Salad.
Do you have a favourite Moosewood recipe? Please share!