Pineapple Jicama Salad with Cilantro Vinaigrette

This salad is sweet, tangy and delicious. I originally read a similar recipe in a magazine while sitting in the waiting room at my dentist’s office. I was intrigued because I love love pineapple, but it had cucumber in it, which I absolutely abhor! Cumber is one of the four foods in the world that turn me into a picky eater toddler throwing a tantrum at the dinner table. I will not eat them. I do not like them touching my food and I will sit and pout if they are near my plate (bananas, celery and eggplant would be the others). I have been using a lot of jicama this summer and thought that it would make a great substitute for cucumber. It has the same kind of crunchy texture.

I served this salad with a side of chips for a super chunky chips and salsa kind of thing. You could also serve it over a bed of mixed greens or it would also go great with some grilled shrimp or tequila lime chicken as well.

Pineapple Jicama Salad with Cilantro Vinaigrette

Ingredients

For the Vinaigrette:

• 2 Tablespoons fresh lime juice
• 2 Tablespoons rice vinegar
• 1 bunch fresh cilantro, minced
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cayenne pepper
• 2-4 Tablespoons olive oil (I used 3)

For the salad:

• 1/2 fresh pineapple, peeled, cored, and cut into chunks
• 1 small jicama, peeled and diced into cubes
• 1 small red onion, finely diced
• 1 (15-ounce) can black beans, drained and rinsed
• 1 cup cherry tomatoes, halved
• 1 avocado, pitted and diced

Instructions

For the Vinaigrette:

1. Combine all the ingredients in a bowl and whisk together until well blended. Set aside. (Vinaigrette can be made ahead of time and will keep in the fridge for about 1 week.)

For the salad:

1. Combine all ingredients, except the avocado, in a bowl and mix together. Add desired amount of vinaigrette and toss to coat. Salad can now be kept in fridge for up to 4 hours or served immediately.
2. Right before serving add avocado and gently toss to to coat avocado with dressing, but be sure not to mush it too much.

Delica’s Wasabi Potato Salad

So, I briefly mentioned yesterday, I am moving to the other side of the country in 27 oh, so short days. I’ve been hell bent on getting in as many of my favorite summer things, California things, and summery California as possible. I have lists of food, shops, cities, friends, beaches, parks, drinks and many more random things.

A couple of weekends ago I got to cross a whole bunch of things off my list with a trip up to San Francisco. There were friends and food and shopping and pugs and crafts and it was glorious. Apart from the fact that many of my best friends live in San Francisco now, it’s always been one of my favorite cities. There is so much to do and see and, most importantly, eat! This salad is inspired by one I had at Delica many, many trips ago. Delica is a great Japanese deli and sushi bar in the Ferry Building. And while a Japanese deli might seem like the last place you would find an amazing potato salad, trust me they definitely know what they are doing.

I will admit, I have met very few potatoes I haven’t liked (I am 100% Irish, it’s pure genetics), but potato salads wade into a tricky gray area. A great potato salad is a thing of delicious beauty, but it is so, so easy for a potato salad to go horribly wrong very easily. Delica’s potato salad is so different than any other potato salad. First, the wasabi! I love wasabi and even though I have added I have used horseradish in potato salads before, I never thought of using wasabi. It’s a great flavorful addition. I might be strange in the fact that I always mix my summer barbecue side salads together. That potato salad and green salad will soon become one on my plate, so I absolutely love that Delica’s potato salad already has romaine lettuce and snap peas and other traditional green salad staples in the potato salad itself. If you are looking for a totally different and delicious potato salad recipe, I suggest you start here!

 

Delica’s Wasabi Potato Salad

• 1 pound Yukon gold or yellow potatoes
• 1/2 cup plain Greek yogurt (you can use mayo or sour cream as well or a combo)
• 2+ cloves garlic, minced
• 2 teaspoons wasabi paste (or more if you like it with a kick!)
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1 cup edamame beans, fresh or thawed
• 1 handful snap peas, trimmed and halved
• 2 romaine hearts, chopped

 

1. Wash and peel potatoes. Cut into 1″ cubes.
2. Put potatoes into a pot of salted water and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer until you can insert a fork and easily remove it (about 10-15 minutes). Don’t overcook! Drain potatoes and let cool.
3. Meanwhile, whisk together the yogurt, garlic, wasabi paste, and salt.
4. Toss with edamame, snap peas, and romaine hearts with the yogurt. Fold in the potatoes and gently stir until combined.
5. Cover and chill before serving.

Fiesta Bean Salad

It’s that time of year again… Fiesta! I haven’t blogged for a couple months, but I’m now in my final stretch living in California (for a while at least), so I figure I might as well enjoy and share as much of the Golden State as I can! Fiesta is a truly unique Santa Barbara tradition. Officially 90 years strong as of this Wednesday. It’s a unique blend of culture, history, food, music, dance and booze. Basically the world’s best combination in my opinion. This week I’m going to share some of my favorite, both new and old, Mexican inspired recipes.

I love this salad! It’s fast and easy. Light and fresh. And it makes a perfect alternative side dish to a Mexican meal instead of traditional black or pinto bean dishes. I had originally planned on serving this as a side dish with tequila lime chicken, but I was so hungry for lunch that I decided to skip the rest of the meal and just dig in. Excellent decision. If you wanted to add some more bulk to the salad, some chopped romaine would be great. If I had some cilantro on hand (my plants have refused to last longer than 5 days this summer!) or corn kernels (I can’t eat whole corn, but if you can), I know both would have made the best addition.

Fiesta Bean Salad
Adapted from Skinnytaste.

• 2+ cloves garlic, minced
• 3 limes, juiced
• 1 Tablespoon extra virgin olive
• 1 teaspoon cumin
• pinch crushed red pepper flakes
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 15 ounce can black beans, rinsed and drained
• 15 ounce canned chickpeas, rinsed and drained
• 1 cup cherry tomatoes, halved
• 1/2 red onion, finely diced
• 1 medium avocado, diced
• 1/2 jicama, cut into thin matchsticks
• 2 ounces queso fresco (or feta), crumbled

1. In a large bowl, combine the garlic, lime juice, oil, cumin, crushed red pepper, and salt.
2. Add the black beans, chickpeas, tomato, onion and jicama. When ready to eat, gently mix in avocado, sprinkle with queso fresco and serve right away.

 

 

Roasted Garlic Guacamole

It took me nearly a quarter century to realize that avocados weren’t absolutely vile, disgusting and gross. Up until the time I was about 24, I would act like a three year old anytime an avocado came near my food. If avocado or guacamole touched anything, I refused to eat it. Luckily I have since learned the error of my ways and have grown to love guacamole (I’m still working on plain avocado (it’s totally a texture thing)). This is an ever so slight twist on my favorite guacamole recipe and I have to say it’s pretty amazing.

This guacamole recipe is not for the faint of heart. If you don’t love garlic, you should just skip this one, but if you’re like me and insist on adding inappropriate amounts of garlic to everything, this will be the perfect guacamole for you! Roasting garlic might seem like a bit of a hassle to do, but really it couldn’t be easier! And trust me, it’s definitely worth it. The extra flavor it brings to the guac is out of this world.

Roasted Garlic Guacamole

Ingredients

• 2 whole garlic bulbs
• 3 large avocados
• 2-4 limes
• 1/2 large red or white onion, diced
• 3 Tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro
• 2 roma tomatoes, diced
• 1 jalapeño, finely diced (include seeds if you want heat!)
• Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper, to taste (be generous)

Instructions

To Roast Garlic:

1. Heat oven to 400. With a sharp knife, chop off top 1/4 to 1/3 of garlic head, so that the bulbs are exposed. Place in small oven safe dish. Drizzle with olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Cover with aluminum foil and roast in a 400 degree oven for 45 minutes.

For the Guacamole:

1. Cut avocados in half, remove pit and scoop out flesh into large bowl. Squeeze in lime juice. Remove all the garlic cloves from bulbs and add to bowl. Mash together (you can use a wooden spoon, fork, potato masher, etc.).
2. Add cilantro, onion, tomato, jalapeño, and salt and pepper. Mix together until all the ingredients are well incorporated. Feel free to add more lime juice or salt and pepper to taste.

Gluten Free Green Chile & Mushroom Goat Cheese Queso

Last weekend I popped up to San Francisco for a quick visit with friends and my blog and computer decided they wanted a vacation too. Technical problems seem to be resolved for the most part, so let’s get back to it. Cinco de mayo is rapidly approaching and since I like any excuse to eat Mexican food, I plan on taking full advantage of the fact this week. Most of these recipes aren’t super traditional or exactly authentic, but they are delicious enough for any fiesta.

 This queso is super tasty. I added some of my favorite spring ingredients (mushrooms, leeks and spinach) and they really added a lot of flavor to the queso. They mushrooms added a great earthy flavor, which worked really well with the tangy goat cheese. I served my queso with tortilla chips, but it would also go well with veggies, crackers or bread.

My oven, like all the other machines in my life, has also been a bit temperamental lately (had to get the igniter replaced… again…), which has changed my oven’s personality somewhat. It seems to be cooking a bit lower or slower (I’m still trying to figure it out).  After 25 minutes the queso was definitely bubbly and ready to serve, but there was absolutely no color to the top of it, which made it look like a blob of boring, white cheese. It’s not a requirement, but I like a little bit of a brown crust on my baked dips. It took me at least 35 minutes to get any type of color to the dip and as you can see in the picture it still came out a bit splotchy. Despite my odd requirements for baked dip coloration, the end product was delicious.

Gluten Free Green Chile & Mushroom Goat Cheese Queso
Adapted from Whole Foods.

• 2 teaspoons extra virgin olive oil
• 1/2 pound mixed mushrooms, thinly sliced
• 6 ounces goat cheese, crumbled
• 6 ounces shredded Monterey Jack cheese (about 1 3/4 cups)
• 1 1/2 cup sliced baby spinach leaves
• 1 large leek, cleaned and thinly sliced
• 1/2 cup diced red onion
• 1 (10 ounce) can green chiles, diced (chop finely if using whole chiles)

1. Preheat oven to 375°F. In a large skillet, heat oil over medium heat. Add leeks and onion cook until softened and starting to brown, about 10-15 minutes. Add mushrooms and cook, stirring frequently, until mushrooms have released their liquid and are dry and lightly browned, about 10 minutes. Add chopped spinach and cook until just beginning to wilt, about 1 minute. Spread leeks, mushrooms, spinach over the bottom of a small ovenproof casserole or gratin dish. In a large bowl, combine goat cheese, Jack cheese, and chiles and mix until combined. Spread cheese mixture evenly over mushrooms and bake until bubbling, about 25-35 minutes. Serve hot.

Gluten Free Greek Yogurt & Herb Potato Salad

It’s already getting warm here. We had approximately two days of rain and a maybe four cold-ish (by Southern California standards) days and we are apparently heading right back into summer. I’m not a fan. The only plus side is that I now have a legitimate reason to insist on barbecuing as often as possible. I was all set to grill up a delicious meal the other day and it turned out we had no propane left, which is kind of a major component to using a gas grill. Memo to Self: always check for propane.

The meal was not a total loss because I had made some delicious side dishes to go with the barbecue. This salad is probably going to be in regular rotation over the next few months around here. It’s a very easy to make and very delicious. I originally used white balsamic vinegar in my dressing for this salad, but I honestly thought it turned out a bit too sweet. I think apple cider vinegar or white wine vinegar would be a much better match. I used dill in the potato salad because it had a ton on hand, but you could use just about fresh herbs you have on hand. Parsley or basil would be great and I think arugula really would be great too.

Gluten Free Greek Yogurt & Herb Potato Salad

• 1 1/2 pounds unpeeled red or yellow potatoes
• 3/4 cup nonfat plain Greek yogurt
• 4 scallions, sliced
• 3 tablespoons minced fresh dill
• 1 lemon, juiced
• 1 Tablespoon white wine vinegar
• 1 Tablespoon grainy Dijon mustard
• 1 Tablespoon Dijon mustard
• salt and freshly ground pepper, to taste

1. Bring water to a boil in a large pot fitted with a steamer basket. Add potatoes, cover and cook until tender, 12 to 15 minutes. Drain and when potatoes have cool enough to touch, cut into quarters and halves (depending on size). Let cut potatoes cool to room temperature.
2. Combine yogurt, scallions, dill, vinegar, lemon juice, salt and pepper in a large bowl. Add the cooled potatoes and toss to coat.

Cilantro Lime Chickpea Salad

My wonderful friend Zack sent me this recipe last week and told me to “stop what I was doing and make this”. Zack and I have fairly similar palates, so I had a feeling that I would like this salad. I didn’t just like this salad, I loved it. I have yet to find a combination of cilantro and lime that I dislike, so I might not be the most neutral judge, but this salad was pretty close to perfect. Chickpeas make a really great neutral base, which allows the other flavors to really shine through.

I ended up accidentally doubling recipe. I was trying to use up some use it or lose it spinach, which ended up being way more than the originally suggested four cups. It turned out to be a fortunate accident since I had leftovers for days. I upped the amount of garlic and took it easier on the olive oil. I also omitted the sugar the original recipe called for, but that’s just a personal preference. I never add sugar to any type of dressing.

 

Cilantro Lime Chickpea Salad
From Heather’s Dish.

• 4 cans chickpeas, drained and rinsed
• 6 loosely packed cups fresh spinach
• 1 onion, chopped diced
• juice from 8 limes
• 1 bunch of cilantro (about loosely packed cup)
• 4 Tablespoons dijon mustard
• 8 cloves garlic, finely minced
• 3/4 Tablespoon chili powder
• 1/3 cup olive oil

1. Chop the spinach very finely (feel free to use a food processor and pulse 3-4 times). Add the chickpeas, onion, and spinach to a large bowl.
2. In the same food processor add the lime juice, cilantro, mustard, garlic, chili powder, and olive oil. Blend until it comes together into a dressing, about 30-45 seconds.
3. Pour over the chickpea mixture and stir to combine. Add salt and pepper to taste. Let sit for at least 15 minutes on the counter (or overnight in the fridge) to let the flavors get friend.

Mediterranean Tuna Salad

I usually don’t like tuna salad. I feel like every tuna salad I have had is a horrible combination of mayo, celery, and sweet relish. The thought makes me cringe. Luckily this salad can erase any prior memories of tuna salad gone wrong. This salad is light and refreshing. There are so many amazing flavors. Using Greek yogurt instead of mayonnaise, not only lightens up the salad, but really adds a nice, creamy base that lets all the different flavors shine through. I really liked that nearly every bite had a little tangy bite from the capers and a little bit of subtle spice from the bell peppers. I served this salad on a gluten-free Chebe roll with a tomato, olive and balsamic salad.

 Mediterranean Tuna Salad
Adapted from Whole Foods Market.

• 2 (6 ounce) cans albacore tuna, drained well
• 1/2 cup marinated artichoke hearts, drained and quartered
• 1/2 cup chopped bell or piquillo pepper
• 3/4 cup sliced Greek olives
• 1/2 small onion, finely chopped
• 2 Tablespoons capers, rinsed
• 1/4 cup chopped flat-leaf parsley
• 1/4 cup chopped basil
• 2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
• 1 teaspoon dried or 1 tablespoon chopped fresh oregano
• 1/2 cup greek yogurt
• 3 tablespoons lemon juice
• Salt and freshly ground pepper, to taste

1. Put all ingredients into a large bowl and gently fold together until well combined. Serve on sliced bread as a sandwich or spoon over a green salad.

Gluten Free Goat Cheese Soufflés

This was my first attempt at making soufflés and I must say I was quite impressed. I know I have had soufflés in the past, but I only remember them being in dessert form, so I really had no idea what was going to happen once I closed the oven door. I crossed my fingers and hoped for the best. The texture was wonderful, really light and airy with just a little bit of crisp from the top crust. I really like that you could taste the goat cheese in every bite as well.

I think for this recipe to be a success, a scale is going to be necessity. I absolutely adore my small little kitchen scale and it’s definitely one of the most worthwhile investments I’ve made in a kitchen accessory. At the time I didn’t have any one cup ramekins to bake these, so used half cup ramekins instead. I have since found bigger ramekins at Ikea for next to nothing, so next time I will try the bigger cup.

Gluten Free Goat Cheese Soufflés
Adapted from BBC Good Food.

• 25g/1 ounce butter
• 25g/1 ounce flour (I used Better Batter)
• 250g/8.8 ounces soft goat’s cheese , crumbled
• 50g/2 ounces Parmesan (or vegetarian alternative), grated
• 2 Tablespoons chopped chives
• 5 eggs, separated
• 250ml/1 cup milk

1. Heat the oven to 400F/200C.
2. Butter 4 x 250ml/1 cup soufflé dishes. (I used 8 half cup ramekins.)
3. Melt the butter in a saucepan, stir in the flour and cook for a minute or so. Slowly add the milk, stirring all the time to make a thick sauce. Cook for a couple of minutes to get rid of the floury taste.
4. Stir in the cheeses and chives then add 4 of the egg yolks, season generously and mix well.
5. In a clean bowl, whisk all the egg whites until they are stiff and form soft peaks. Carefully fold the egg whites into the cheese mixture and pour into the buttered soufflé dishes.
6. Cook for 12-15 minutes until the soufflés are risen and golden.

St. Patrick’s Day Sides: Oven Roasted Asparagus with Garlic Brown Butter

I was quite happy to find asparagus everywhere at farmers’ market last weekend. I love asparagus, especially during the spring when it’s super thin and not gross and woody. Roasting just about any vegetable makes it about 100 times better in my book and asparagus is no exception. Roasting the asparagus give it a little crispy crust to the tips that is just amazing. While not a traditional Irish side dish, it’s green, seasonal and delicious. It’s also one of the simplest side dishes in the world. Perfect for a quick, weeknight dinner or a fancy dinner party.

This dish is adapted from my balsamic roasted asparagus, but I made an amazing garlic brown butter sauce instead of the balsamic. As much as I love balsamic, it is a bit harsh and very overpowering. I think the garlic brown butter sauce works with a lot more dishes.

Excuse the Instagram photo, I wasn’t planning on posting this originally, but it turned out too delicious not to. 

Oven Roasted Asparagus with Garlic Brown Butter

For the Asparagus:

• 2 pounds fresh asparagus, woody stems removed
• cooking spray
• kosher salt and freshly ground pepper, to taste

For the Brown Butter Sauce:

• 4 Tablespoons unsalted butter
• 6+ garlic cloves, minced (I used a whole head, but I’m crazy)

1. Heat oven to 400F/200C.
2. Arrange the asparagus on a rimmed baking sheet. Spray lightly with cooking spray until coated and season with salt and pepper.
3. Place the asparagus in the oven and roast for 12 to 15 minutes, or until tender and just starting to crisp.
4. While the asparagus is in the oven, melt the butter in a saucepan over medium heat. Once the butter is almost completely melted, add in the minced garlic. Stir to coat. Allow the garlic to cook until crispy, stirring occasionally so the butter and garlic don’t burn.
5. When the asparagus is done, place in serving dish and pour garlic and butter over. Serve immediately.