Strawberry Pecan Salad

At the BBQ this past weekend our friend Stephanie brought the most delicious salad.  It was super simple, fresh, Summery, and chock full of amazing candied pecans.  When we’d all stuffed ourselves with chicken and corn, we still stood at the counter and cleaned out this salad bowl one strawberry slice at a time.

On Monday morning, my first item of business was to get her recipe.  Turns out it was even simpler than I had imagined!

Steph’s Strawberry Salad

• 1 head of lettuce, chopped
• 1 pint of strawberries, sliced
• 1 heaping handful (1 cup) candied pecans
• Raspberry Vinaigrette to taste
• optional: 1 small log of goat cheese, crumbled

That’s it!  Just toss it all together and serve in a pretty bowl!

Being as I was sent home with a huge bag of beautiful fresh garden greens and there was a pint of strawberries sitting in my fridge just waiting to be eaten I knew exactly what to make for dinner.  Since I didn’t have any Raspberry Vinaigrette on hand, I got to work creating a tasty homemade dressing to make the salad my own.

Roasted Strawberry Vinaigrette

Yields approx 250 ml dressing.  All measurements eyeballed.

Ingredients:

• 1.5 cups thawed frozen strawberries (juice reserved)
• 1 tsp + 1 tbsp balsamic vinegar
• 1/2 tsp + 2 tsp honey
• juice and zest of one lemon
• pinches of sea salt and fresh ground pepper
• 1/4 cup light olive oil, canola oil, or grapeseed oil
• water to thin
• fresh basil to serve

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.  Line a baking sheet with foil, turning the edges up to keep juices from running.
2. Toss thawed strawberries with 1 tsp balsamic vinegar and 1/2 tsp honey.  Arrange on baking sheet.  Bake 15 minutes.
3. Once cooked, the strawberries will be broken down to approximately 1/2 cup of mush.  Scrape from baking sheet into a side dish and let cool.
4. In a blender or food processor mix roasted strawberry mush, 1 tbsp balsamic, 2 tsp honey, lemon juice and zest, s&p, and any remaining juice from thawed strawberries.  Add water as necessary to thin.
5. With blender on low speed, slowly drizzle oil into mixture until combined.
6. Transfer mixture to sealable container. Refrigerate until ready to use.  To serve: shake dressing, thin with water and/or extra lemon juice and add chopped fresh basil.

It was all I could do to let this sit in the fridge all afternoon before diving face first into my dinner salad.  The combo was light and refreshing but still hearty enough to pair with a simple pesto grilled cheese sandwich to make a filling meal.  Having said that, I made enough salad for two nights and demolished all of it in one sitting…it was that yummy! 

It definitely had something to do with the candied pecans.  Ohhhh lordy!  Those candied pecans are like crack for salad.  Beware. 

Homemade Candied Pecans

• 1 cup pecan halves
• 1/3 cup brown sugar
• 1/4 cup butter
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract

1. Toss everything together in a non-stick skillet over medium heat.  As the butter melts, the sugar will incorporate and begin to glaze the pecans.  Stir until glaze begins to thicken.  When pecans begin to brown, remove from heat and let stand until slightly cooled. 
2. Add to salad still warm, don’t burn your tongue eating them from the pan, and store in an airtight container in the fridge if you can resist eating the whole batch in one fell swoop.

Conveniently one bigass salad only required 1/3 of the vinaigrette so it looks like I’ll just have to procure some more fresh strawberries and whip up another batch of pecans so I can make more salad for the other 2/3 of the dressing.  Oh the things I do. 

How To: Taco Seasoning

Over time I’ve come to realize that Mexican is my favourite go-to food choice.  There’s just something about it that is so comforting, filling and delicious.  (We’ll ignore the part about it usually being covered in melty cheeeese). 

I collect up recipes for enchiladas and burritos but honestly I love a regular ol’ taco!  The hard shelled kind.  I’ll eat a soft shell in a pinch but to me that’s more of a sad handheld enchilada.  I like to take my warm, crispy shells and pile them high with seasoned meat, fresh lettuce, tomatoes, cheese, salsa and my favourite, sour cream.  I suspect this is not very traditional in the Mexican community but it’s traditional from my childhood meal perspective.

Of course, my childhood meals were always made from those lovely yellow spice packets and shell boxes from the supermarket.  Now that I’m reading labels and trying to avoid things like excess sodium and MSG I thought it would be best to just make my own taco seasoning.  I’ve been using this one for a few years now and it works perfectly.

Homemade Mexican Spice Mix

Yields just a little less than one cup.  Keeps very well in a sealed container.

Ingredients:

• 1/3 cup chili powder
• 2 tbsp ground cumin
• 2 tbsp ground black pepper
• 1 tbsp garlic powder
• 1 tbsp paprika
• 1 tbsp dried or ground oregano
• 1/2 tbsp onion powder
• 1 tbsp salt

Directions:

1. Mix all spices together and store in a sealed container. 
2. To use:  Add 2 tbsp of seasoning mix per 450 grams of ground meat.  While browning the meat, add the seasoning.  If using lean meat you may add a few tablespoons of water or broth to help the seasoning absorb.

Lately I’ve been making Turkey Taco Salads.  I get more veggies this way and it’s fun to stir it all together and make a big mess before stuffing my face.

This way still seems fun and comforting (and totally deeeelish) without the added calories of yellow corn shells, heaps of cheese, or greasy ground beef.  Lean ground turkey breast, a lighter hand on the cheese, and multigrain tortilla chips are the way to go.  Add extra veggies by sautéing grated carrot, celery and onion into the turkey and piling cucumbers and yellow bells peppers into the salad with the lettuce and tomatoes.  No dressing needed!  That’s what the salsa and light sour cream are for. :)

Other fun additions to the mix:

• Corn and black beans (add to the meat mixture)
• Chickpeas and red onion (hot with the meat, or cool in the salad)
• Avocado chunks
• Fresh cilantro
• Fresh or pickled jalapeño pepper
• Squeeeeeeze of fresh lime
• Or make a creamy dressing of Greek yogurt or light sour cream with pureed avocado, lime juice, cumin and salt.  Drizzle away!

How To: Roast Butternut Squash

I know, I know.  This seems like a cop-out post.  I’ve been MIA for days and now I’m giving you this lame little thing telling you how to do something you probably already know how to do.

But….here’s the thing.  I didn’t realize how easy roasting a butternut squash was, so maybe you didn’t either!!

Being presented with something like this can be intimidating!

Don’t be dirty.  I know what you are thinking you dirty, dirty birds. ;)

When scoping out recipes for that bad boy I realized that every idea I liked involved roasted squash.  It just seems so much more flavourful than using raw or boring baked butternut.  So I picked out two recipe ideas and got to work roasting the squash in advance.

Directions:

1. Cut the squash in half lengthwise.  If it’s a big fella, cut it in half crosswise as well.  Scoop out the seeds…I find a solid soup spoon works great for scraping away the stringy flesh.
2. Lightly brush the cut sides with olive oil then place face down on a baking sheet.
3. Bake at 375 degrees for 35-40 minutes until soft.
4. Let cool, then the rind should pretty much just pull away from the flesh.  Use right away or refrigerate in a sealed container until needed.

Et voila!  Now you are ready to tackle a delish roasted squash soup or amazing tart with caramelized onions and chorizo. 

Oh wait, I guess you need the recipes.  Is it tacky to make you wait a day or two?  Oh well!!!

How To: Garlic Breath

On New Year’s Eve Michael and I met up with some friends and family for dinner at a downtown restaurant.  It was a good thing we are all close and had carrot cake to cleanse our palates because the veggie sides we all had were absolutely slathered in garlic.  At least I knew my New Year’s kiss partner had suffered the same dilemma!

Not that there’s anything wrong with garlic.  But whoa.

Funny enough though it appears I’ve been stockpiling fresh garlic at Michael’s house.  Every time I buy groceries for a recipe I come home with more garlic “just in case”.  It had produced a surplus and he asked me what I planned to do with it all.

When in doubt, roast it!  Roasted garlic is tres delicious and super versatile.  So much smoother and less vampire-repelling that the raw or sautéed versions.  Our New Year’s restaurant could take a tip here!

Roasted Garlic (it’s so basic it’s not really even a recipe)

Ingredients:

• whole garlic bulbs
• olive oil

Directions:

1. Slice the pointy tops off the garlic…enough that each of the cloves are visible…and place in a baking pan.
2. Drizzle liberally with olive oil.  Tightly cover tray with foil.
3. Bake at 375 for 45 minutes or more.  When garlic is golden and easily poked with a fork, it’s ready.

There are soooo many uses for roasted garlic.  We served ours alongside delicious cheeses, pate and crackers as our final long weekend meal.  Tip: the roasted garlic was amazing paired with simple, plain, fresh goat cheese on a crisp cracker.

We found that either a small fondue fork or a rounded knife worked best for getting the caramelized cloves out of their natural paper packaging.  Turning the whole thing upside down and squeezing works too, but I only recommend that if you aren’t sitting around the dinner table.  :)

Other great uses for roasted garlic:

• compound butter (mix roasted garlic with butter and a favourite fresh herb. serve with bread, use to pan cook fish, or serve atop a fresh grilled steak)
• pasta sauce (add to cream sauce with lots of fresh pepper)
• hummus (use instead of raw garlic in a batch of your favourite chick pea or bean dip)
• pizza (the combinations are endless but I like sautéed mushrooms and extra cheese with my roasted garlic)
• roasted garlic olive oil (use lots of extra olive oil in the roasting process.  you can then drain and strain that extra oil for use in other recipes.)

What else do you use your roasted garlic for?  Share with me!