"Fries and Rings" Salad with Blue Cheese Vinaigrette

Day 5 of salad week!!

I feel great. Salad for dinner always makes me feel great. In fact I feel so great after an entire week of salads, that today's salad might seem a bit over indulgent. But truthfully it's not all that bad. It's a salad twist on french fries and onion rings-no deep frying, but tasty nevertheless.

If you need a bit more for a hearty start to the weekend, pair this salad with your favorite burger or with one of my favorite burgers.

Red "new" potatoes are the highlight of this salad and obviously represent the "fries". Try to find the small red potatoes in your supermarket as they work best in a salad. If you cannot find the smaller ones, just make sure that you cut the potatoes small enough to be "bite-sized". I have used shallots for the "rings" but you may use either red onions or perhaps Vidalia onions if you would prefer. If you are using onions you may need to cook them a little bit longer so they get a bit of a crispness to them. Truthfully though, shallots-because of their size, I think would work best. Have a great weekend!

"Fries and Rings" Salads with Blue Cheese Vinaigrette

1 lb. small red new potatoes, quartered
2 large shallots sliced into 1/4 inch planks, peeled
2 slices thick cut applewood smoked bacon, cut into 1/4 inch pieces
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
8 cups mixed mesclun greens

2 tablespoons white wine vinegar
6 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/2 cup crumbled blue cheese

Preheat oven to 425 degrees.

Arrange the potatoes, shallots and bacon in a single layer on a baking sheet. Drizzle with the 2 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil and season with the salt and pepper. Bake in the oven for 35-40 minutes or until potatoes and shallots are golden brown.

Arrange mixed greens on a salad plate. Scatter the potatoes and bacon over the greens, evenly dividing. Separate the shallot planks into rings and scatter over each salad. Serve with the Blue Cheese Vinaigrette.

To prepare the vinaigrette: in a small bowl whisk together the vinegar, olive oil, salt and pepper; gently stir in the blue cheese. Spoon a small portion of the vinaigrette over each salad.

Arugula Salad in Portobello Mushroom Bowls

Salad week continues with a vegetarian salad today.

It was almost a fast food day and not a salad day at all. My girl broke her arm. There is no exciting story behind it. She broke it in the most benign way-Irish dancing. Who knew Irish dancing was a contact sport? One leap in the air followed by a bad foot plant and now she's sporting a cast the color of a traffic cone. Needless to say what started as a simple day became a little more complicated than planned.


My girl and her best buddy Duffy

I was (surprisingly) able to pull it all together and make my salad as planned.

When I was shopping at the supermarket this week I was drawn to some beautiful extra large Portobello mushroom caps. The caps looked like large shallow bowls waiting to be filled. I think the salad is best when the caps are warm-I really like the contrast of cool and hot in a salad. But if you prefer, you may grill the caps ahead of time and serve them cooled.

I wanted today's salad selection to be a vegetarian one. But if you prefer to have meat of some kind in your salad, I think smoked ham, bacon or prosciutto would be an excellent addition.

Take care when grilling the caps as once they are tender the edges can break easily, so turn over and remove with care.


Arugula, Avocado and Tomato Salad in Grilled Portobello Bowls

4 large Portobello mushrooms caps
2 teaspoons extra virgin olive oil
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
4 cups mixed greens with arugula
1 avocado, seeded, peeled and diced
1 large tomato diced (about 1 cup)
1/4 cup diced onion
1 tablespoon freshly grated Parmesan cheese
1 tablespoon chopped walnuts

Walnut Pesto Dressing:
1/4 cup basil leaves, packed
2 tablespoons chopped walnuts
2 tablespoons lemon juice
1 tablespoon water
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

Preheat a grill to medium high heat.

Gently scrape the gills from the underside of each Portobello mushroom and trim down the stem as far as possible.

Lightly brush each cap with the oil and place directly on the grill rack. Grill for 3 minutes then carefully flip with a spatula and grill for an additional 3 minutes. Caps should be lightly browned and just tender.

Arrange 1 cup of the greens in the underside of each mushroom cap. Top each with the avocado, tomato and diced onion. Sprinkle each with Parmesan cheese and walnuts, evenly dividing. Drizzle each salad with Walnut Pesto Dressing.

To make the Walnut Pesto Dressing: combine the basil, walnuts, lemon juice, water, oil salt and pepper in a blender container; blend until smooth.

Yield: 4 salads

Sausage & Pepper Hero Salads

Day three of salad week.

On Monday I decided to have a salad week to get my eating back on track after over indulging on a recent amusement park trip. But I suppose I'm teetering on the edge of eating carnival food with the salad I've made for today: Grilled Sausage and Pepper Hero Salads with French Bread Croutons.

My local supermarket had a selection of chicken sausages in the store brand natural food section. There are a lot of different brands of chicken or even turkey sausage out there so you should not have a problem finding them in your supermarket. And the good news is that when you're using sausage a little goes a long way as far as flavor so I'm not really being too bad. If you are feeling extremely calorically generous with yourself today I'm sure shredded provolone would be a tasty addition. I am still being a caloric Scrooge, so no cheese for me.

Grilled Sausage and Pepper Hero Salads with French Bread Croutons

Croutons:
1 cup 1-inch French bread cubes
2 teaspoons extra virgin olive oil
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

Dressing:
2 grape or cherry tomatoes
3 basil leaves
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
2-3 drops hot pepper sauce (optional)
1/4 teaspoon salt

Salad:
1 large onion, sliced into 1/2 inch thick planks
2 red peppers, sliced into rings, seeds removed
1 teaspoon extra virgin olive oil
1/4 teaspoon salt
4 Italian-seasoned chicken sausages
8 cups shredded Romaine lettuce

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Preheat a gas grill to medium heat.

In a small bowl, combine the bread cubes, oil, salt and pepper. Spread bread cubes in a single layer onto a baking sheet; bake in the oven for 8-10 minutes or until lightly browned. Let the croutons cool while preparing the dressing. (Croutons can be prepared in the grill on a piece of foil, cook, turning occasionally to avoid burning).

In a blender container, combine the tomatoes, basil leaves, olive oil, vinegar, Worcestershire sauce, hot pepper sauce and salt; blend until well combined and smooth.

Place the onion planks and pepper rings on a large sheet of aluminum foil. Drizzle the onions and peppers with oil. Place directly on the grill rack and cook 4 minutes. Carefully turn peppers and onions using tongs and taking care to not drop rings through the grate. Cook an additional 4 minutes or until rings are just tender and have nice grill marks. Transfer onions and peppers back to the foil while cooking the sausage.

Place the sausage on the grill rack and cook for 8 minutes, turn and cook for an additional 8 minutes.

To assemble salads, divide the Romaine lettuce between 4 serving plates. Top the lettuce on each plate with the peppers and onions. Carve sausage into slices. Scatter the sausage and croutons over each and drizzle lightly with the dressing.

Chicken Veronique

Today is day two of my salad week.

I worked this recipe around some pretty looking fresh tarragon I found in the supermarket. I love the classic flavors of chicken, tarragon and grapes in Chicken Veronique. What I don't love is the typical cream laden sauce. Many salad versions I've seen called for heavy mayo - another heavy ingredient I'm trying to avoid. I've created a lighter version that I think tastes just as delicious. It's only been two days of salads-I'm not craving heavy cream sauces...yet.

Chicken Salad Veronique

Salad:
4 boneless skinless chicken breast halves
Water for poaching
1 teaspoon salt
8 cups mesclun greens
1 cup halved red grapes
2 tablespoons coarsely chopped walnuts

Vinaigrette:
3 tablespoons champagne vinegar
2 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
1 tablespoon water
1 teaspoon finely chopped shallot
1/4 teaspoon white pepper (preferably fresh ground)
1/4 teaspoon coarse salt (such as French Grey)
1 tablespoon finely chopped fresh tarragon

Place the chicken in a shallow saucepan with a lid and add enough water to just cover the chicken. Add 1 teaspoon of salt to the water. Bring water to a boil over medium high heat. Cover the pan, remove from the heat and let sit for 15 minutes. Remove chicken from the water and transfer to a cutting board. Carve the chicken into 1/2 inch thick slices

Divide the greens between 4 serving plates; fan the chicken over the greens. Top each salad with grapes and walnuts.

For the vinaigrette: whisk together the vinegar, oil, shallot, pepper, salt and tarragon. (You may use a small blender if you would prefer).

Drizzle vinaigrette over chicken and greens.

Yield: 4 salads

Roller Coaster Eating

I am declaring this week: Salad Week.

As a celebration for the end of school we took the kids to Six Flags Great Adventure. My two oldest kids are big roller coaster lovers and Great Adventure in Jackson, NJ is sort of a roller coaster mecca. Great Adventure boasts a coaster that is the tallest and the fastest in the world: Kingda Ka. Of course my guys thought it was fabulous...my H and I just waved as they took off with our youngest watching nervously by our sides.

I'm not much of a ride person. I was when I was younger, but it seems for me that with age has come a fear of "death defying" rides of thrill. I'm thrilled enough that I get up every morning. So wandering around a theme park not riding rides leads to one very dangerous (sometimes thrilling) act: eating. I love "carnival" foods-popcorn, cotton candy, funnel cakes, churros, burgers, fries and ice cream. And quite honestly, I'm afraid I may have eaten my weight in carnival food on this trip. It can be very tempting waiting for kids on rides and sitting right next to the grilled burger stand (Six Flags Great Adventure has Johnny Rocket's burgers and they are quite tasty).

So in an effort to get my eating back on track I have declared this week to be salad week. I'm going to have salad for lunch and dinner every day this week. First up is a grilled pork salad with apples topped with a tangy maple scented balsamic vinaigrette. There is a bit of cheddar cheese in the salad but I tried to go very light. The salad also has a sprinkling of pepitas-hulled pumpkin seeds which add a bit of salty crunch. Pepitas can usually be found near the nuts in the produce section of most supermarkets.

Salt and Pepper Grilled Pork Salad with Apples

1 (approximately 1 lb.) pork tenderloin

1 teaspoon extra virgin olive oil

1 teaspoon kosher salt

1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

8 cups shredded Romaine lettuce

2 large apples, cut into thin wedges, unpeeled

1-2 tablespoons crumbled light cheddar cheese

1-2 tablespoons lightly salted pepitas

Vinaigrette:

1/4 cup balsamic vinegar

2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

1 tablespoon water

2 teaspoons pure maple syrup

1/2 teaspoon finely chopped shallot

1/4 teaspoon kosher salt

1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper

Preheat a grill to medium heat.

Lightly brush the pork tenderloin with the teaspoon of extra virgin olive oil then coat with the salt and pepper. Place the pork on the grill rack and cook, turning occasionally, for a total of 18-20 minutes or until nicely browned and pork registers 140 degrees when a meat thermometer is inserted into the thickest part. Remove from the grill and let the pork rest for about 8-10 minutes before carving into 1/2 inch thick slices.

Divide the Romaine lettuce between 4 salad plates. Arrange the pork slices in the center of the Romaine and fan the apples to the sides. Sprinkle each salad with with the cheddar cheese and the pepitas, evenly dividing.

Rapidly whisk together (you may use a blender) the vinaigrette ingredients until smooth and well blended. Drizzle the vinaigrette over each salad and serve.

Yield: 4 main dish salads

Salt of the Earth

"Where would we be without salt?" James Beard

It seems that in life you are either a salty person or a sweet person. A salty person is that person whose go-to snack would be chips and dip or pretzels and cheese. The kind of person who on occasion has had the jumbo bucket of buttered popcorn with free refills at the movie theater and then having eaten it all sheepishly presents the empty bucket to the shocked teenaged girl at the concession stand for a refill (was that a confession?).

A sweet person would instead gravitate first towards anything sweet and sugary: candies, cakes, cookies. I have a good friend (a sweet friend) who always will order a slice of cheesecake as an appetizer in a restaurant. She usually gets a cockeyed look from the waiter but hey, she loves cheesecake. Shocking still is that a sweet prelude to dinner doesn't preclude her from ordering dessert, she just enjoys starting and ending her meal with "sweet".

I on the other hand love all things salty. (OK it was me with the popcorn). My absolute favorite treat: giant soft pretzels drizzled with melted butter. Soft, salty pretzels were the inspiration for the recipe I have today- Grilled Chicken Sandwiches on Himalayan Pink Salt Flatbread.

I was so happy with how my grilled pizza came out that I picked up some more dough at the supermarket. While I was there I decided to go exotic with a special salt selection. I almost always use kosher salt when I am cooking, but I also frequently use French Grey Salt. Today I found Himalayan Pink Salt. Pretty! Pretty! I was definitely drawn to the pretty pink color. Unless you are a super salt fiend go light on this one-it's big and chunky-my kids thought it tasted like "salted salt". But it sure was tasty salted salt.

Just one quick note: I used red pepper flavored oil but you can use plain old evoo-I just like the extra spiciness the pepper flavor provides.

Grilled Chicken Sandwiches on Himalayan Pink Salt Flatbread

Flatbread:

1 package prepared pizza dough (located usually in the deli or bakery section of the supermarket), divided into four equal pieces

1/4 cup flour (I used semolina flour, but all purpose is fine)

1 tablespoon red pepper flavored extra virgin olive oil
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground pepper (I used a three-pepper melange)

2 teaspoons Himalayan Pink Salt

4 grilled chicken breast halves (grilled your favorite way)

1 cup baby arugula

1 avocado, peeled, seeded and thinly sliced

2 tomatoes, thinly sliced

red pepper flavored extra virgin olive oil

Preheat a grill to medium high heat.

Press or roll the 4 dough pieces into equal sized ovals. Lightly flour a baking sheet and press each dough into the flour to shape. Lightly brush both sides of the dough with the oil. Gently press the pepper and the salt, evenly dividing, onto one side of each of the dough pieces. Arrange the dough on the grill rack and cook for 3-4 minutes in a closed grill or until lightly browned on the bottom with nice grill marks. Pop any bubbles that have formed and turn dough over and cook an additional 3 or 4 minutes.

Thinly slice the grilled chicken. Divide the arugula onto two of the flat breads. Arrange the sliced chicken on each. Top with avocado slices and tomato slices. Lightly drizzle each with red pepper oil to taste. Top each with remaining flat breads; cut each sandwich in half.

Yield: 4 sandwiches

School's Out BBQ

Holy cow. It's hard to believe but the school year is over. To say that my kids are thrilled would indeed be an understatement. School would have ended last week, but thanks to several (enjoyable) snow days they tacked on a bunch of days ending school oddly on a Monday. Our celebration usually involves either pizza out somewhere or a BBQ. But since my son's summer baseball has already started (does stuff ever end?) and a game was scheduled, we only had time for a BBQ.

Burgers and hotdogs were on the menu:

• Hotdogs-beef franks are the only ones my kids will eat, specifically Oscar Mayer (they are not "snappy" dogs, you know what I mean?).

• The beef-always a combination of ground sirloin and ground chuck. I will usually buy a pound of sirloin and a pound of chuck from the supermarket, combine them in a bowl with salt and pepper and then form patties.

Hotdog cooking is pretty basic: throw them on the grill, turn occasionally, when grill marks are to your liking, remove. Hotdogs are pre-cooked, so you are just basically warming them up.Now hamburgers on the other hand take a little more thought. In order to achieve the perfect level of doneness while retaining the perfect level of juiciness, some basic rules need to be followed:

1. Handle the meat as little as possible. Over working the meat can create tough, compacted patties. Just handle the meat long enough to combine whatever additions you've decided upon, form the patties then let them be.
2. Always add salt to your meat, a good rule is about a teaspoon for every pound of beef.When the patties are on the grill,
3. DO NOT press down with your spatula. This is a tough one for a lot of people. I know myself that when I was in High School and proudly wore the paper cap of McDonalds, we pressed down on the patties. It has been a hard habit to break despite the fact that my years at McDonalds were a really long time ago (think pre-electronic cash register). Any hoo, pressing down on the patties while they are on the grill presses all the tasty juices out and can create major grill flare-ups that make for blackened, not-so-tasty patties.
4. If you are adding cheese, do so immediately after flipping the patties. If you forget the cheese (which I did nationally on the Sutter Home Build a Better Burger Challenge a few years ago on Food Network) DO NOT return the patties to the grill to melt the cheese as it will make your patties overcooked and too dry. Just suck it up and place the cheese on cold, the warmth of the patty will probably melt the cheese enough to make it ok.

Given the recent tomato scares (i.e. Salmonella tainted tomatoes from an unknown source) I used the FDA approved "tomatoes on the vine". They are just fine, but boy I cannot wait until our local tomatoes are here.

School’s Out Burgers with Blue Cheese Mayo

1/2 pound ground beef sirloin
1/2 pound ground beef chuck
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
Oil to brush the grill
4 Sourdough burger rolls, split
1/2 cup mayonnaise
4 ounces blue cheese, crumbled
1 cup baby arugula leaves
1 tomato, cut into 4 slices

Preheat a grill to medium-high heat.

In a large bowl, combine the ground sirloin, ground chuck, kosher salt and the ground black pepper. Form the meat into four equal sized patties. Lightly brush the grill rack with oil. Place the patties on the grill rack and cook 4-5 minutes per side for medium rare, or cook until desired doneness. During the last 2 minutes of grilling, arrange the rolls split side down on the edges of the grill to lightly toast.

Stir the mayonnaise and the blue cheese together in a small bowl.

To assemble the burgers, place the arugula leaves on the bottom half of each roll, evenly dividing. Top the arugula with a patty, followed by a tomato slice. Place a generous dollop of the blue cheese mayo on top of each followed by the roll tops.

Yield: 4 burgers