I’m a little cooked out right now. Yes, I love to grow, cook, preserve, plan and do just about any other thing that has to do with enjoying good food, but at the moment, I’d love a reprieve from all that togetherness with my stove.
Tough. When my chain-saw-wielding Visigoth is in residence, I gotta cook the way I use-ta gotta for the off-spring, who now cook for themselves in their own caves. Since this weekend is The Official End of Summer, it is also The Official End of Barbeque Season (which seems silly; the Visigoth grills year-round, like the postman, neither rain nor sleet nor dead of night, etc.). But as the last gasp, it means the men will be standing around charring food, while the women, if we have any sense at all, will have done the prep ahead of time and be sitting idly by sipping margaritas and making scintillating conversation. I love gender roles.
The prep can produce not only the vegetable and fruit side dishes for the weekend’s feasting, but a lot of things that will last well into next week and be great for lunches and whatnot without additional fuss in the kitchen. With all those things made, or at least the ingredients made and ready to be tossed onto a plate or into a bowl together with a little dressing, the first true week of school and the beginning of Working In Earnest will not be drudgery. Open the frig, decide what to put into a dish and sit down to something delicious and a whole lot better for you and yours than chicken nuggets and fries. Closest thing to a vacation from cooking a cook can get.
Salads, particularly, are great for that. They are virtuous in terms of getting your required daily veggies. They are also usually (though not always) virtuous in terms of the calorie-count versus the quantity, so you feel more full with less damage to your waistline.
Quinoa with fruit and nuts, two kinds of slaw, sweet potato salad with lime dressing, 10-layer salad (very retro and calorie-laden with the mayo, cheese and bacon, but so delicious), sesame pasta, corn and black bean with the last of the cherry tomatoes, broccoli and tomato salad, Greek salad with lemon dressing, which is lovely stuffed into a pita pocket for lunch (you can put the salad in one container, and stuff the pita just before you eat it), a julienne of root vegetables with plum or raspberry vinaigrette, green bean and potato salad, Salade Nicoise, marinated cucumber salad, German potato salad, the list goes on and on.
Some salads even begin on the grill so you can hand that part off to the male with the tongs — grilled eggplant salad, grilled zucchini and bell pepper fattoush, grilled potato salad with balsamic dressing, grilled mixed vegetables with lentils and arugula. Others you can prep the ingredients for and put them together at the last minute –lentil salad with tomato and dill, roasted eggplant with mozzarella and basil, roasted butternut with warm cider vinaigrette. And others are great made a day or even several days ahead – old-fashioned Swiss salad with rice and peas, sesame noodles with peanuts, Asian cole slaw.
Any way you look at it, you may have to work this weekend when what you really want to do is sit beside the grill looking decorative with a drink in your hand and friends across the table, but if you do it all before friends come, you can do that AND you can put your feet up, kitchenwise, for the rest of the week.
Asian Cole Slaw
4 cups shredded white cabbage or 2 bags of already-shredded cabbage
6 green onions with tops
2 packages of Oodles of Noodles
½ cup sliced almonds
½ tsp sesame seeds, toasted
1 tblsp butter
1 tblsp toasted sesame oil
6 tblsp white wine vinegar
½ cup vegetable oil
½ cup sugar
1 tblsp soy sauce
2 ea. seasoning packages that came with the noodles
Break up noodles and brown them along with almonds and sesame seeds in butter and oil. Cool slightly. In a large bowl mix this with cabbage and chopped green onions. In a separate bowl, mix soy sauce, sugar, vegetable oil, seasoning packets, and vinegar together. Pour over noodles and cabbage and mix thoroughly. This is better if it sits for a few hours before serving and is good for several days in the frig.
Grilled Zucchini and Bell Pepper Fattoush
From Bon Appétit Magazine
For the grill:
3 bell peppers – red, orange, or yellow add a nice color contrast – with stems and seeds removed but otherwise whole
4-5 small zucchini, cut in half lengthwise
2 pita breads, separated horizontally into 4 slices
Brush with olive oil and grilled on medium heat for about 6 minutes, turning often.
For the salad:
1 cucumber, diced
12 cherry tomatoes, halved
3 green onions, thinly sliced
1 cup pitted Kalamata olives
½ cup mint leaves
1/3 cup chopped cilantro
½ cup olive oil
¼ cup lemon juice
1 tsp cumin
4 oz feta, cubed
Cut peppers into ½ inch pieces. Slice zucchini into ¼ inch wide half-rounds and put them into a large bowl with tomatoes, cucumber, green onions olives, mint and cilantro. Toss. Add bread. Whisk up dressing with olive oil, lemon juice, cumin and a little salt and pepper. Add to salad and mix gently. Add feta. Serve. The bread will eventually get a little soggy (like panzanella aka bread salad) and the tomatoes will ooze. For our tastes, this is good for about 2 days, so you eat these leftovers first.
Roasted Butternut Squash Salad with Warm Cider Vinaigrette
Barefoot Contessa from House Beautiful
1 butternut squash, peeled, seeded and ¾ inch dice
Good olive oil
1 tblsp pure maple syrup
Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper
3 tblsp dried cranberries
¾ cup apple cider or apple juice
2 tblsp cider vinegar
2 tblsp minced shallots
2 tsp Dijon mustard
4 oz. baby arugula washed and spun dry
½ cup toasted walnuts
¾ cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese
Put butternut on a baking sheet, toss with 2 tblsp olive oil, maple syrup, 1 tsp salt and ½ tsp pepper. Roast in a 400F oven for about 15-20 minutes, turning once. Five minutes before squash is done, add cranberries to the pan. Meanwhile, combine apple cider, vinegar and shallots in a small saucepan and bring to boil over medium heat. Cook for 6-8 minutes until cider is reduced to about ¼ cup. Off the heat, whisk in mustard, ½ cup olive oil, 1 tsp salt and ½ tsp pepper. Put arugula in a large salad bowl and add the roasted squash mixture, walnuts and grated Parmesan. Spoon just enough vinaigrette over to moisten and toss well. Serve immediately.
Note: If you want to make this ahead and serve it cold or warmish but later in the week, you can roast the squash and cranberries, put them in a container in the frig for several days, and take it out to become room temperature before serving. Make the dressing ahead then warm it briefly in the microwave just before putting the salad together. Or put it together without the arugula, since all leafy greens begin to wilt the minute they are dressed, and add them just before serving.
https://www.fannetasticfood.com/2011/01/21/quinoa-salad-5-minute-packable-lunch/
https://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Pasta-Salad-with-Homemade-Dressing/Detail.aspx
https://allrecipes.com/recipe/cranberry-pear-tossed-salad/detail.aspx
https://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Sesame-Pasta-Chicken-Salad/Detail.aspx
https://www.tasteofhome.com/Recipes/German-Potato-Salad-6
https://www.tasteofhome.com/Recipes/Course/Salads/Potato-Salad-Recipes
https://www.tasteofhome.com/Recipes/Baked-German-Potato-Salad
https://www.tasteofhome.com/Recipes/Grilled-Potato-Salad-with-Balsamic-Dressing
https://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Sweet-Potato-Salad-with-Chili-Lime-Dressing-102099
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