Farmer's Market Green Bean Salad

I found these gorgeous haricot verts at our local Farmer's Market during the summer and was particularly attracted to the dark, purple-ish beans.

The vendor told me as soon as the dark beans "get heated up" they turn dark green and they tasted just like a regular green bean.

I bought them anyway and lo and behold, they did lose their purple color, they were a darker shade of green than the other green beans.

No doubt these beautiful beans would be perfect as a summer salad.

1/2 lb. each of your favorite three fresh whole green beans totaling 1-1/2 lbs of whole green beans
                 Trimmed, rinsed and drained
1 small red onion roughly chopped
1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
1 lemon, juiced (approximately 1/4 cup)
1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil
Pinch of sugar
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

Blanch the beans in a large pot of salted, boiling water for 3 minutes.  Immediately drain the beans and transfer them to a large bowl of ice water to stop the cooking process.  This will also allow the beans to maintain their crispiness.  Leave the beans in the ice water for a couple of minutes to cool them off, the drain them thoroughly in a colander.

In a bowl or Mason jar, whisk together or shake the Dijon mustard, lemon juice and sugar.  Then add in the olive oil and whisk or shake the jar vigorously to emulsify.

Place the beans and onions in a large bowl, toss together to combine.  Drizzle the dressing over the beans and toss again to evenly coat the beans with the dressing.  Season with salt and pepper to taste.

Cover and refrigerate for at least 2 hours, actually, the longer the beans can marinate in the dressing, the better they will taste.

I need to make this one more time before the hot weather leaves us this season!


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Grilled Pineapple and Onion Salad

I saw the Neely's make this salad and couldn't wait to get in the kitchen to make this!  Wow, this salad tasted so amazing, perfect accompaniment to Jamaican Barbecue Pork Tenderloin.

1 large pineapple, peeled

1 red onion, cut in 1/2-inch thick slices

Glaze, recipe follows

1 bag baby spinach

Vinaigrette, recipe follows

Preheat grill to medium heat.

Cut the pineapple into 1/2-inch thick slices.

Using an apple corer, pierce a hole into middle of pineapple slices to remove the core.

That looks so slick!

Brush the pineapple and onion slices with glaze.

Place the pineapple slices on the grill and brush again with glaze. Grill for 2 minutes and flip, grilling other side.

Place the sliced onions on the grill, bush with a little glaze and grill until the onions begin to brown and turn sweet.

Place the grilled pineapple slices on a serving platter and top with the onion slices. Drizzle with Vinaigrette and serve.

Glaze

1 (8-ounce) jar pineapple ice cream topping

1 teaspoon Chinese five-spice

1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper

1 teaspoon salt

Place all ingredients into a medium bowl and whisk together.

Vinaigrette

1 tablespoon Dijon mustard

1/2 cup orange juice

1/2 cup olive oil

Pour ingredients into a small bowl and whisk together.

Greek Grilled Chicken Salad and Lots of Swag Courtesy of Girard's!!!

Girard's is introducing four new salad dressings and I was lucky enough to get a sneak preview, plus they sent me A LOT of swag!  One of you lucky, lucky readers is going to get all four of  these scrumptious new salad dressings plus all this swag. 

This week I will post recipes using these new salad dressings to add a little pop to your weekday meals.

Come take a look and start plotting how you're going to win Girard's Kitchen Epicurean Expert salad dressings and lots of swag.

What are all of these goodies?  One bottle each of these delicious salad dressings - Greek Feta Vinaigrette, White Balsamic Vinaigrette, Light Champagne Dressing, Old Venice Italian Dressing.

Stainless steel recipe card holder, great for recipes and reminders and stainless steel soap that removes strong odors during your food preparations.

Eco-friendly bamboo wood utensils so you can toss and serve in style and 100% natural cotton tote bag for those last minute produce trips or trips to your local Farmer's Market.

Girard's Salad Dressing Recipe Booklet for culinary inspiration and a cotton twill full-length embroidered apron with pockets to keep you stain-free and styling!

Now for the main event, Greek Grilled Chicken Salad!  I was inspired by one of the recipes in the salad dressing booklet and put my own spin on it. Doesn't it look gorgeous.  So light, healthy and with wonderful flavors tapping on all of your taste buds.

1 bag (16 oz.) broccoli and cauliflower florets

1 boneless, skinless chicken breast, seasoned, grilled and thinly sliced.

3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

1/4 cup roasted red bell peppers, diced (if using jarred, use the kind packed in water)

2 tablespoons Kalamata olives, pitted and quartered

Kosher salt and black pepper

1/2 cup Girard's Greek Feta Vinaigrette

Place the broccoli and cauliflower florets in a bowl, drizzle with olive oil and season with salt and pepper.  Place the florets on a pre-heated grill pan and grill until slightly browned.

Remove from grill and place in a serving bowl.  Add the sliced grilled chicken to the bowl and pour Girard's Greek Feta Vinaigrette.  Toss to coat evenly then add the roasted red peppers and the Kalamata olives.  Toss again to thoroughly combine.  Season with salt and pepper to taste and enjoy!

We enjoyed this warm, but this lovely meal can be enjoyed chilled also.

We ate this for lunch yesterday and I can't wait to enjoy this again for lunch today and make my co-workers jealous.

For the giveaway, you can earn uber many chances to win. Leave a comment on any of my Girard posts this week, leave another comment if you're a follower.  If you're not a follower, follow and leave another comment.  Follow me on Twitter and tweet about this giveaway, will entitle you to two more chances. "Like" Smoky Mountain Cafe on Facebook gives you another chance!

Two Bean Champagne Salad

Fresh, cool salads were made for sultry, summer evenings.  Can you resist these gorgeous colors?  I can't!  The combinations of flavors will please your taste buds and compliment your summer grill.

1 can (15 oz.) Red Kidney Beans

1 can (15 oz.) Cannellini Beans

1/2 medium red onion sliced

1 tablespoon Cilantro, finely chopped

1 tablespoon freshly squeezed lime juice

Splash of Champagne Vinegar

Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper

Open both cans of beans place them in a colander.  Rinse the beans thoroughly under cool water and allow them to drain while you are slicing the onions and chopping the cilantro.

Place the drained beans in a bowl and toss with the onion, cilantro, lime juice and champagne vinegar.  Season to taste with salt and pepper to taste.  Cover and refrigerate until you are ready to serve.

It's best to make this salad ahead of time to give all of the ingredients time to blend.   



Have a fantastic weekend!

Grilled Artichoke Salad with Ricotta and Pepper Jelly Vinaigrette

Did you think I would actually show up here on a Monday and not have something out of this world crazy good and a little more health conscious?  Since the weather is warming up and we're getting outside again and getting ourselves bikini ready, I thought I throw this salad out there to see what you think.

Artichokes say spring to me.  Usually I'm stuffing them, but today I'm grilling them and man oh man, you HAVE to try this.

Pepper Jelly Vinaigrette:

2 tablespoons Pepper Jelly
1/4 cup apple cider vinegar
1/2 olive oil
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

Place the Pepper Jelly in a microwave safe container.  Place in the microwave for 10 seconds to loosen the jelly.  Whisk in apple cider vinegar.  Whisking continuously, slowly and evenly stream in olive oil (you want the emulsify the olive oil with the vinegar and jelly).  Season to taste with Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper.

Drain one can of quartered artichoke hearts, toss them in 1/2 tablespoon of extra virgin olive oil, juice from 1/2 lemon, salt and pepper to taste.You just want to coat the artichoke hearts and not have them swimming in liquid.

Not a pretty picture, but then who says only pretty is good?  Place a grill pan with holes on your grill and cook the artichoke hearts over moderate heat.  Leave the lid open, but this won't take long.

Flip the artichoke hearts every couple of minutes and once they are nicely browned, remove and set aside.

To assemble the salad, use whatever greens you like; I added chopped cucumber, celery and red onion to mine.  Add a few dollips of low-fat ricotta cheese and then place the hot artichoke hearts on top to melt the ricotta a little bit.  Drizzle with Pepper Jelly Vinaigrette and you have a meal that will make you feel so satisfied.

 

My Favorite Caesar Salad

This is best done in the blender,  the emulsion blender can get a little messy if you're not careful.  The blade assembly on my blender is leaking and everytime I try to order it, it's out of stock.  Evidently, the blade assembly on this particular blender must is a lemon since so many sites carry it, and it's constantly out of stock.  I hate to buy a new one when the part to fix it only costs six bucks.

This is what you'll need:

Make a garlic paste made from 1 clove of smashed garlic, salt and  a drop or two of extra olive oil
2 tablespoons of anchovy paste
2 egg yolks
1 tablespoon dijon mustard
Juice of one lemons
2 tablespoons water
1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
1 tablespoon Worcestershire Sauce
1/2 cup grated Parmigiano Reggiano (divided)
Salt and Pepper to Taste
Romaine lettuce (chilled)

Chill your salad bowl for about an hour in the fridge. When you’re ready to make your salad, take the cold bowl and evenly smear the garlic paste evenly over the inside. Now set the bowl back into the refrigerator until you're you've finished making the salad dressing.

Add to it the next five ingredients to your blender, then pulse it until they are thoroughly combined.

With your blender running on medium-high speed, pour in the olive oil in a thin stream, giving it a chance to uniformly emulsify. Then add Worcestershire, half of the Parmesan cheese, and salt and black pepper to taste. Pulse a couple of times more to blend in the cheese.  Refrigerate the dressing in a sealed container until you’re ready to use it.

To assemble the Caesar Salad, remove the chilled salad bowl from the fridge, tear the washed and drained Romaine lettuce into bite-size pieces, and add them to the bowl. Then add to the lettuce just enough dressing to coat it (more is not better!), sprinkle on the rest of the Parmesan, give everything a final toss, and serve it up garnished with garlic croutons.

Antipasti My Way!

The kind people at Girard's sent me a sample of four of their gourmet salad dressings!  So difficult to choose which one to try first.  I do have a little swag for you too!  Click here for a $2.00 coupon for one of Girard's salad dressings.

A.J. and I tossed around a few ideas and decided on my antipasti salad: 

One bowl of washed Romaine lettuce.

The lettuce is liberally garnished with marinated artichoke hearts, organic salami, kalamata olives, fresh basil from our garden, and Parmigiana Reggiano cheese.

I'm drooling just reliving this salad through the pictures.

How to choose?  Each pick a salad dressing and share! 

A.J.'s comment:  "Honey that was delicious!  Bet that salad would be even better with a steak."

Silly me, thinking the salami would tide over his meat craving.

Hurry over and get your coupon!  Didn't know we were going to have a field trip did you?

How Long Has It Been Since You Went Old School?

Thank all of you for you kind comments about the kitchen.  I will do my best to post pictures Thursday afternoon or Friday morning of the real stuff that happens in there.

Quite a few of you mentioned you would like to turn this into an event.  So....for anyone interested, post as many pictures as you like of your kitchen as you are preparing the feats of all feasts, feel free to include your dining area, your guests, the whole enchilada!

Post by Friday and let me know in the comment section if you would like to patrticipate so I can be sure to visit your blog.

How many of you have had a Carrot and Rasin Salad recently?  This is an old school salad that still rocks!  I was yenning for this big time last week.

Peel 4 carrots and slice in the food processor or grater.  Add in 1/2 cup of raisins.  Stir in 1-1/2 tablespoons of mayonnaise.  That's all there is to it!  This keeps in the fridge for about 2 days.  Yes, you can keep coming back for more!

Some recipes call for lemon juice.  I don't normally add lemon juice but I did this time and won't ever do it again.  It made the salad too tart and it didn't have that nutty, comforting feeling that I was anticipating.

Other tweaks you can add are chopped pecans or chunks of pineapple.

This is a Fall salad that I truly enjoy...hope you try it soon!

Boyd's Creek Salad

It's August, people don't even want to think about turning on their stoves or ovens, except me.

Close your eyes and picture it...well open them and read this, then close them and picture it.

It's a beautiful and somewhat cool summer evening, the children are at a soccer game scouting an upcoming opponent. Your spouse isn't home, you're home alone for a couple of hours and you don't have to cook dinner.

What do you do? Watch a movie, read a book, take a walk or a run? Want to know what I did?

I created the most labor intensive and best tasting salad I have ever made in my life. Yes, I am Katherine and I have a problem. One taste of this salad and you won't care what kind of problem you have.

But let's just overlook my OCD and check out this salad that serves two.

Boyd's Creek Salad -

First, let's make some spicy and sweet walnuts as a salad topping. Pecans would be excellent prepared this way too.

Spicy and Sweet Walnuts

1 cup of walnuts

3 tablespoons of Lea & Perrins
3 teaspoon hot sauce

Emeril's Essence or Creole Seasoning

Toss the walnuts in the Lea & Perrins and the hot sauce.

Spread the walnuts out in a single layer on a baking sheet sprayed with non-stick cooking spray. Sprinkle with Essence or Creole seasoning. Bake at 350 degrees for about 10 to 12 minutes.

Set the walnuts aside to cool slightly.

In a medium sized pot, add 1/2 cup of sugar.

Add just enough water to wet the sugar. Don't stir.

Bring the sugar and water to a rolling boil over high heat for 3 minutes. Remove pot from heat and add walnuts. Stir with a wooden spoon until the sugar turns white and crystallizes.

Spread walnuts on a parchment paper lined pan to cool.

Wash, drain and tear 2 cups of romaine lettuce. Peel, core and thinly slice one Gala apple. Soak the apple slices in freshly squeezed lemon juice and set aside.

Spring Onion Vinaigrette -

1/4 cup of rice wine vinegar

1/2 cup of canola oil

2 tablespoons of clover leaf honey

4 spring onions or scallions, green tops only, blanched

Salt and black pepper to taste

Place all of the ingredients in a blender to emulsify and you have a dreamy, velvety and tasty vinaigrette.

Now let's assemble our masterpiece!

Place the lettuce, apple slices, some shredded sharp cheddar cheese (goat or feta cheese would be really good and for you bleu cheese lovers, I bet that would work too) and the pecans in a chilled bowl. Pour the vinaigrette over the top and toss.

This is a salad that is meant to be enjoyed slowly. Then I thought, who is Boyd and why is a creek and a highway and now a salad named after him or her?

Zesty Croutons

Woohoo! I am back from my unexpected absence. Thank all of you who left comments and sent emails looking for me. I had to get busy and very serious with the job hunt. I have some irons in the fire and am hoping to have something positive to report to you very soon.

First, I want to thank Marguerite from Cajun Delights for passing along the Noblesse Oblige Award. Marguerite has a fantastic blog wherein she posts wonderful Cajun recipes and short videos showcasing the Cajun experience. i cherish Marguerite's friendship. Merci Beaucoup, Marguerite!

The recipient of this award is recognized for the following:
• The Blogger manifests exemplary attitude, respecting the nuances that pervade amongst different cultures and beliefs
• Their Blog contents inspire; strives to encourage, and offers solutions
• There is a clear purpose at the Blog: one that fosters a better understanding on Social, Political, Economic, the Arts, Cultures, Sciences, and Beliefs
• The Blog is refreshing and creative; and The Blogger promotes friendship and positive thinking
The requirements of the person receiving the award are as follows:
• Create a post with a mention and link to the person who presented the Noblesse Oblige Award
• The Award Conditions must be displayed at the Post
• Write a short article about what the Blog has thus far achieved – preferably citing one or more older posts as support
• The Blogger must present the Noblesse Oblige Award in concurrence with the Award conditions- Blogger must display the Award at any location at their Blog

I started Smoky Mountain Cafe because I thought it would be fun sharing my love of cooking. It has been a blast way beyond my wildest imagination. I wanted to share my Cajun heritage reflected in my cooking because where I come from it's all about the food. Major life events are recalled by what was served so whatever you serve has to be memorable.

Now for the fun part of passing this prestigious award on.

A Duck in Her Pond

Afterthoughts

Chez What

Burp and Slurp

My Tasty Treasures

Suburb Sanity

Words cannot express how blessed and how appreciative I truly am to each and everyone of you, my dear bloggie friends, who take the time to visit, encourage and support me with your thoughtful comments. Your friendship is a really treasure, you are all the best!!

Second, I would like to thank Heather from Stuck on a Lunatic for nominating Smoky Mountain Cafe as a Tasty Blog for the BlogLuxe Awards. A great big thank you Heather for nominating me and another great, big thank you to those that voted for me.

Third, thank you Charlotte from Canning Jars Etc. for the following award.

Charlotte is the go to blog for any canning how-to's and recipes. I want to can everything I find!

To get this award, I have to name 7 things about myself that you might find interesting.

1. I am going stir crazy being home and not working - power to the stay at home moms!
2. Most of my fresh herbs are homegrown. I'll have to take some pictures and post them...note to self.
3. I love terrorizing my husband by grabbing one of his power tools and walking past him mumbling about fixing something. It REALLY freaks him out. Hey, I'm broke, I like to be entertained.
4. It's been one year since I smoked I smoked a cigarette.
5. I Tweet, but deep down, I think it's stupid.
6. Anytime I see someone in a U.S. military uniform, I thank them.
7. I am politically ultra-conservative and wonder how happy people are with "Change".

I nominate the following people to receive this award:


1. Teresa from a Blog About Food
2. Cathy from Accountants Can Cook
3. Marguerite from Cajun Delights
4. Sam from My Carolina Kitchen
5. Mary from My New 30
6. Claudia from Journey of an Italian Cook
7. Dar from Girlichef

To accept this award do the following


1. Thank the person who nominated you for this award.
2. Copy the logo and place it on your blog.
3. Link to the person who nominated you for this award.
4. Name 7 things about yourself that people might find interesting.
5. Nominate 7 Kreativ Bloggers.
6. Post links to the 7 blogs you nominate.
7. Leave a comment on each of the blogs letting them know they have been nominated.

Now let's get to the food portion of this post!

Many of us are stretching our dollars these days. Every wonder what to do with leftover bread? Make croutons! Not only is this a thrifty little gem, it's so tasty, easy and versatile, you'll stop buying croutons. Just read, watch and try!

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Use any kind of leftover of bread you have on hand. Go with at least 6 slices and cube them. Place the cubes in a large bowl.

Season the bread with just about anything your heart desires; be creative, be bold! I used season salt, onion powder, lemon pepper, garlic powder, dried basil. Drizzle about 2 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil. using your hands toss the cubes to evenly coat with seasonings and olive oil.

Layer bread cubes in a single layer on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.

Place baking sheet in preheated 400 degree oven for 7 to 10 minutes until golden brown.

See, I told you these are easier and better tasting!