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.

Orange and Poppy Seed Vinaigrette

This vinaigrette was a lot of fun to make. It has such an explosion of flavors. The combination of the orange marmalade, toasted pecans and the apple cider vinegar really gave this vinaigrette some pop.

2 tablespoons of orange marmalade.

Place the marmalade in the microwave for about 15 seconds to loosen it up a bit.

Add in 1 teaspoon of poppy seeds.

Whisk in apple cider vinegar to taste. I like mine a little more tart so I used approximately 1-1/2 tablespoons. Season with salt and pepper.

Whisk in 1/3 cup of extra virgin olive oil.

Add in some toasted pecans to your mixed greens. Salad dressings are just fun to make. Your imagination is your limit!

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?

Turkey Pannini with a Citrus Balsamic Salad

You can have so much fun being creative when it comes to making panninis. You are only limited by your imagination. Another selling point to panninis, you can custom make each sandwich. This is a cinch in a house full of picky eaters!

This pannini started off with sliced red onion, minced garlic, chopped scallions and sliced roasted red peppers.

I was able to get my hands on a loaf of sun-dried tomato foccacia.

After slicing up the foccacia, I piled on the veggies with a little smoked turkey, a little smoked gouda and a sliced black olive or two and put them on the pannini press. Is it bad manners to stand in front of the pannini press and yell, "HURRY!"?

Oh, the smell and look at the grill marks! I don't know why, but grill marks make me drool.

I may not make the prettiest pannini on the block...talk about good!

Accompany your sammich with a crisp romaine salad sprinkled with a little crumble feta cheese and a couple of sliced black olives and crunchy croutons, then drizzle a citrus balsamic vinaigrette on top and you have a satisfying meal!

Citrus Balsamic Vinaigrette

1/3 cup Balsamic Vinegar

Juice of one orange

1/2 teaspoon orange zest

1/2 teaspoon lime zest

Juice from one lime

Coarse Sea Salt to Taste

White Pepper to taste

1/3 cup Extra virgin olive oil

Whisk all of the ingredients together in a measuring cup except the olive oil. Stream in the olive oil while whisking.

Ranch Dressing

I have to give credit for this idea to Prudy at Prudence Pennywise. She made a fabulous looking Ranch dressing last week that had my mouth watering. My tween goes through Ranch dressing as fast as she goes through ice cream (which is a blur). Ranch dressing has gotten pretty pricey and preparing the dressing at home takes very little time, it's more economical and I am able to control the fat content; which believe it or not and according to Prudy is much less than the bottled dressings. I gave the dressing a try and kind of changed it up just a bit. The dressing came out unbelievably good; my tween said throw the bottle stuff away; this is what I want. She then proceeded to ask if we could hide the remaining dressing in the fridge where her dad couldn't find it.

Ranch Dressing -

Smash two cloves of garlic, add 1/2 teaspoon coarse sea salt and make a paste by using the back of a chef's knife.

In a medium bowl combine garlic paste, 1 cup of mayo, 1/3 cup low-fat buttermilk, a splash of white wine, a splash apple cider vinegar (or you can use 2 teaspoons white wine vinegar), 2 tablespoons minced flat leaf parsley, 1 tablespoons finely chopped shallots, 1 tablespoon chopped chives, 1 teaspoon dried dill, 1/2 teaspoon chipotle powder and black pepper to taste.

Cover bowl with plastic wrap and refrigerate and the slather all over anything you like to slather Ranch dressing on....don't say anything...but I hid what was left from my tween and my husband.