Arugula Salad with Warm Butternut Squash, Caramelized Onions, & Blackberries

I love to combine unexpected ingredients in salads.  My produce box this week included a butternut squash.  Usually, I halve and roast it, then mash it up like potatoes with butter, salt, and pepper.

Last night I skinned the squash, cubed it and tossed it in a baggie with olive oil to coat, then spread it in a baking pan and sprinkled my homemade curry on it.  The cubes roasted for approximately 30 minutes at 350 degrees, then I transferred them to a 200 degree oven until I was ready to plate the salad.  I roasted the sliced onions for approximately the same timeframe.

cubed squash is nicely coated with olive oil in a baggie

dry curry mix is sprinkled over the cubes prior to roasting.

I apologize for forgetting to photograph the plated salad!  See what extensive travel does to me?  I forget to photograph my food while cooking!  I promise:  I AM cooking.

Lamb Chops, Insalada Caprese (with a twist), sauteed chard with onions & garlic

I have a great local source for lamb, and fortunately, everyone in the family loves it.
I will describe the preparation in the order I made it.  First up, Insalada Caprese:

We eat a lot of this in the summer.  I decided to add a new ingredient:  Japanese Eggplant.
Ingredients:
one Japanese eggplant, skin removed and sliced into thin strips, cut in half
heirloom tomatoes (red and green)
fresh basil, stacked, rolled into a cylinder, and sliced crosswise
fresh mozzarella cheese
olive oil
salt and pepper
pesto (in this case, store-bought)

This is a Japanese eggplant.  They are long and skinny,

and seem to have less bitter juice than the large ones.

Using a vegetable peeler, remove the skin, then slice thin strips.  I cut them crosswise to fit into my pan.  Spray a release agent on the eggplant strips and saute them until the flesh becomes slightly transparent.  Mine started to brown quite a bit.  I like them that way.  Eggplants are very good at absorbing oil so I try to watch them carefully as they cook.  I don't like to add much oil to the pan.

eggplant strips after cooking

Slice the tomatoes and set aside the red one.  I have little experience with the green heirloom variety so I wasn't sure if I had unripe green tomatoes (how do you tell??) or if they are just particularly tart.  I wanted to use them so I decided to sautee them on the griddle to mellow their flavor.

aren't they pretty?

They look like a kiwi-tomato hybrid.

Here are slices of the red tomato and mozzarella cheese

this is a stack of basil leaves, rolled into a cylinder,

which makes it easier to slice them crosswise without excessive bruising

all of the ingredients before assembling the salad

starting with a slice of eggplant, folded over, a dollip of pesto,

a slice of mozzarella, basil slices, a tomato slice, then start over

(I'm a little obsessive)

I'm even alternating the red and green tomatoes.

That's just how I roll.

The end result:  a gorgeous salad that tastes as good as it looks.

The eggplant addition was really excellent!

Next up:   Lamb Chops

Ingredients:

8 lamb chops (they are small)

chopped garlic

grapeseed oil (I use this because it has a much higher flash point than olive oil)

balsamic vinegar

apple cider vinegar

salt and pepper

tumeric

smoked paprika

Place lamb chops in a pan or bowl.

Chop the garlic and place it in a small container that can be used for emulsifying dressing and marinade.  I added approximately 4 Tablespoons grapeseed oil, 1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar, 1-2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar, a dash of salt and pepper, a couple dashes each of tumeric and smoked paprika.  Shake the mixture to combine well.  Spoon over lamb chops, turning the chops frequently to assure good coverage of the marinade, and allow to sit at room temperature until ready to cook.

While these were marinating, I chopped half an onion, a shallot, and added the remainder of chopped garlic to a small bowl.  These will be used in the chard dish.  I washed and prepped the swiss chard yesterday and had it in a ziploc bag.  Here's a couple of pointers about prepping chard:

The stalks are crunchy and sometimes a bit "woody".  I usually remove the large central vein

Fold it to one side so the central vein is exposed

slice just next to the vein with a knife

This is what you have left!  Cut it crosswise into large pieces

If possible, spin it to remove excess moisture

store it with a folded paper towel in the bag to absorb moisture

Sorry, I digressed.  The chard was already prepped so that was one less step I had this evening. 

All my ingredients were placed near the stove.  

I wanted to cook the lamb first, then place it on a platter in a 225' oven to rest while the chard was prepared.

Lamb chops are very small so they don't need to cook long.  I think they are best on the grill, but since it is rainy and I'm too lazy to deal with firewood, I'm cooking on the stove.  No problem!  The main thing is: hot and fast.

I used a griddle this evening, but any good pan will do just fine.  My pan was a non-stick surface so I put a very small amount of grapeseed oil in it and allowed it to get really hot before placing the chops, 4 at a time, on the pan.  The lamb was cooked for 2.5 minutes per side!  See?  Really fast!

Here is my little cup (with lid) I used to mix the marinade.

Lamb chops in background.

Lamb chops were turned several times to assure a good coating of the marinade

The first set of chops hits the griddle

(can you see I am using the same one that was used for the eggplant and tomatoes?)

Less clean-up!

Here they are, resting in the oven until the meal is ready to be served.

Sauteed Chard:

7-8 large chard leaves

garlic, chopped

onion, chopped

shallot, chopped

olive oil

In a large wok, heat 1 tablespoon olive oil.  Add onions and shallots and cook until transparent, then add garlic.  Cook for one minute, then add all the chard.  It looks overwhelming at first.  Turn frequently with tongs and chard will begin to wilt.  You may want to cover for a couple of minutes to allow some steam to assist with the wilting.

Remove from wok.  Garnish with slivered almonds, if desired.

Here is our meal!  

I served mixed berries for dessert.

Note the dog-dish on the table (lower right)

She gets served dinner on the floor next to the table while we eat.

I guess everyone, dog included, likes to socialize during a meal!

Blackened Salmon and Slaw

First thing - get out the Salmon steaks and put them on a plate with olive oil underneath and on top to marinade into the fish. Set aside. And a 1/2 bag of baby spinach to set aside.

The Slaw - make this first so it's nice and cold when it's time to serve with the Salmon.
1/2 bag of broccoli slaw - chopped
1 can corn, drained
1 can black beans, drained
1 red pepper, chopped
1 can stewed tomatoes, drained and chop the tomatoes into smaller pieces
1/2 Maui onion, chopped
1 C Jicama, chopped
3-5 springs of fresh Cilantro - chopped
Kraft Fat-Free Catalina Dressing 1/8 - 1/4 C
sea salt and pepper

Throw it all into a bowl or ZipLok container, stir together and chill in frig till ready to serve

Blackened Salmon rub from All Recipes.com
2T ground paprika
1T ground cayenne pepper
1T onion salt
2 t sea salt
1/2 t ground white pepper, and black pepper
1/4 t dried thyme, basil and oregano
Mix together in a bowl and set aside

Coat the top of the fish with the rub, before putting the Salmon in the skillet. When the non-stick skillet is hot, had a touch of olive oil and place with a spatula the Salmon in the pan to cook. Sometimes, I put the lid on the pan to make sure that it cooks all of the way through. 4-5 minutes.

At the point when I turn them over, I added 1/2 bag of baby spinach to the pan on the sides, return the lid to the pan.

You can stab the fish with a knife to check the insides for done-ness. Serve the salmon with the spinach on top, and don't forget the chilled out slaw. Spicy and Sweet together on one plate.

Warm & chilly dinner salad....

Tonight's dinner:
"warm & chilly" salad
Grilled steak
roasted asparagus
fresh berries

I like salad that contains something a little surprising. I do salads so much with evening meals that changing it up here and there keeps it from being too boring.
Tonight, after rummaging around in the produce bin of my refrigerator, I pulled out some baby red onions, scallions, a fennel bulb, some bok choy, and lettuce.

Sorry I didn't photograph my entire process, but essentially I washed all the vegetables thoroughly, taking particular care with the bok choy as I could see there was quite a bit of dirt in between segments. I separated them and washed them individually. The fennel bulb was cross-cut from the base, and it resembled a cross between an onion and celery. The bulb has an entirely different taste than the greens, which have a fairly intense "anise" scent/flavor. Not so with the bulbs: they have a subtle but aromatic taste. I'm only sorry I avoided using them for as long as I did!
Some of the bok choy was washed and some of the leafy portion was trimmed, the remainder was washed and lightly coated with olive oil, then placed on a roasting pan next to the sliced fennel and the onions, all tossed with a bit of olive oil. The roasting pan went into the oven at 350 for 30 minutes. The remaining bok choy stalks were placed standing up in a deep bowl. The fresh bok choy was served with a small dish of cucumber, onion, and greek yogurt, and another small dish of fresh ricotta cheese mixed with a small amount of pesto. The stalks are great "scoopers" for these items, and have a nice crunchy texture. Yum!
Salad greens were prepped, then tossed with my old standard vinaigrette: a combination of grapeseed oil, a dash of balsamic vinegar, a dash of red wine vinegar, a dash of tumeric, dash of smoked paprika, and a dash of Toni's cajun seasoning. This is emulsified and tossed on the salad immediately prior to plating.
I cut a small wedge of herb-crusted goat cheese and placed on each salad, and topped the salads with some of the onions and fennel as soon as they came out of the oven. I thought the warm roasted veggies would melt the goat cheese a bit, but they didn't.....it was still a wonderful salad!

before and after the addition of the roasted vegetables

Chicken-spinach roll-ups, dessert tossed salad

What to do with two packages of chicken breasts? After looking in my refrigerator I decided to combine several ingredients for a casserole. Because I seem to make salad after salad for dinner I thought I would shake it up this evening and make a tossed dessert salad. Strange? Maybe...

First, I cut the large pieces of breast into halves after pounding them to an even thickness.

after pounding the breast sections they were set aside

one pound of fresh spinach was blanched in boiling water for one minute, then drained & cooled

While the spinach cooled, other ingredients for the stuffing are prepped:

in a mini food processor, I chopped 1/4 cup pinon nuts and 1/4 cup pecans

after chopping the nuts have an "oatmeal-like" consistency

2 cloves garlic were chopped

this poblano chili was seeded, chopped, and one-half was added to mixture

once the spinach is cool, squeeze the moisture out in small batches

once the moisture is removed, these parcels of spinach

are roughly chopped

garlic, spinach, poblano chili, nut mixture are blended together

spoon stuffing mixture onto each chicken section

one slice of bacon is rolled around the stuffed breast

a mixture of sour cream, hummus, and goat cheese was combined

the creamy mixture was spooned on top of each breast, then smoked paprika was sprinkled over the top

The breasts were baked for 1 hour 45 minutes at 325 degrees.

finished casserole-yum!

The chicken could be served over rice or is a stand-alone dish. I served the chicken with sauteed mushrooms and scallions.

Dessert: tossed salad with fruit

Weird? Probably. I have to say it was very good! The family gave it a thumbs-up!

Dressing:

2 T balsamic vinegar

3 T oil (I used a combination of walnut & hazelnut oils)

mashed blueberries & strawberries

1/2 tsp chili powder

zest from one orange

2 T fresh squeezed orange juice

Emulsify ingredients in a small closed container. Toss on salad greens immediately prior to serving

Yum!

The salad was tart and tangy.

I could easily have served this with the meal, but it was fun to

serve something different & surprising for dessert.