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Caribbean Caprese Salad

16 Aug

To be honest… I was not going to blog about this. This was just the salad I had for lunch yesterday.

This was the order of events…

I am proud to say, I am friends in FaceBook with Top Chef Master Suvir Saran. We have friends in common and once I confused him with someone else because his face was familiar to me. Hello!!!! The mutual friend made me come to my senses and instead of him taking offense with my confussion, he friended me.  And we’ve been “FaceBook Friends” ever since.

Suvir shared a picture of a delectable Caprese Salad yesterday in his page and I was inspired to have a Caprese Salad for lunch too. I had some avocado I do not want to go to waste and I added some to my salad. That’s it… that’s how this dish came to be.

Photo Courtesy of Chef Suvir Saran

Today, I shared my pic in Facebook, emulating Suvir’s move and there are so many Likes and compliments that I was urged to share here with you all. People want to learn to make this salad… so, here’s the non-recipe:

 

CARIBBEAN CAPRESE SALAD

Romaine Lettuce – 3 leaves, cut thinly into strips
About 10 GrapeTomatoes, halved
3 slices of Fresh Mozzarella – ripped into smaller pieces
2 wedges of avocado, cut small
Olive oil
Balsamic Vinegar – the best aged one you can find
Salt and Pepper to taste
  1. Just assemble the veggies in a plate.
  2. Drizzle olive oil, balsamic vinegar over the veggies. Sprinkle with salt and pepper over salad.
  3. Toss to combine as you eat it.

I hope you enjoy it as much as I did. This was fresh, filling yet left me space to eat some mashed potatoes with broccoli. I know the combination sounds weird, but that’s my lunch menu for you.

Thanks Adela for encouraging me to share this… please, now PIN AWAY!!!! 😉

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Tomato Basil Dressing

2 May

When I am at home cooking for myself, I am lazy. So I just dress my salads with either an organic brand of prepared salad dressing or just drizzle a bit of olive oil and lemon juice over the greens and call it a day.

But when I am with the Yoga Center people, I need to prepare salad dressings most days I cook for them. Most of the times, we create what we lovingly call Left-Over Dressings. But once in a while I will create such a delicious combination that I will write the ingredients and make it over and over again… such is the case with this Tomato and Basil Dressing.

I created this dressing for the first time during my recent trip to Asunción, Paraguay. Several of us were in charge to cook for the whole group, right before our spiritual retreat. We needed to prepare a salad dressing that will stand up to the delicious greens, sprouts and other veggies we were eating… hey, we were fasting and people get reaaaaaaallly hungry.

The results were so delicious I wrote down the recipe and have been making it a few times since. Each and every time we get great compliments on the flavor and simplicity. Hope you like it as much as my yoga crowd…

TOMATO BASIL DRESSING

4 tomatoes, roughly chopped
1 small cucumber , roughly chopped
1 small red onion, roughly chopped
1 small green bell pepper, cut into medium-sized pieces
½ carrot, peeled and cut into medium chunks
2 garlic cloves, smashed
½ bunch of fresh basil, washed and cut somewhat including the stems
1 tbs salt
1 heaping tbs Garlic & Herbs Seasoning blend
Freshly Cracked Black Pepper
The juice of 2-3 large green limes
1 cup olive oil
A small drizzle of honey or agave nectar
  1. In a blender, add all the solid ingredients. I like to add the tomatoes first because they’re the most liquid and will create the right environment or the rest of the ingredients to puree well. I also add the salt, pepper, lime or lemon juice and other seasonings.
  2. Puree well using the blender… let the blender go for a while to ensure the mixture is well pureed.
  3. While the blender is going, add the olive oil thru the hole on the blenders cover. Drizzle the oil in a small steady stream. This will allow the dressing to emulsify and fir the oil to stay integrated in the dressing and not separate when it’s standing. Add also the drizzle of honey after the oil is integrated.

This recipe will yield you two large jars of dressing (I recycle glass jars for this purpose)… good enough for a hungry crowd like ours. You can certainly scale it down if you prefer or just keep it in the fridge for a whole week of deliciously dressed salads.

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Devanand-Style Fruit Salad

25 Apr

If tomatoes are fruits…

And avocados are fruits…

When having to eat only fruits and juices…

Why no fix yourself a fruit salad made with avocados and tomatoes?

That’s exactly what I see right there… a delicious fruit salad.

I believe that in this scenario, a small amount of onions will also constitute as fruit. And the drizzle of lime juice is made from fruits… so you’re good to go.

Conclusion

Guacamole is a Fruit Salad!!!!!

So sad that chips can’t be factored into this equation… 😦

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Chame’s Spinach, Figs and Blue Cheese Salad

12 Mar

This is my current favorite salad… hands down, I have been making it for 2-3 weeks straight almost every time I cook for myself at home.

Chame is my friend for 15+ years now.  And she has been inspired by our little blog here to follow a healthier lifestyle.  By reducing the animal products she and her family eat, they have been able to lose many pounds.  She tells me she feels with more energy, her cholesterol numbers are lower, she is trying new recipes each week … basically, she is in love with their new lifestyle.  The message here is that shifting your habits and lifestyle overall, does lead to improvements in weight and self-esteem.

When I was in Miami recently she invited me over to dinner.  She wanted to “brag” about the changes they’ve made in their diet and lifestyle and wanted to showcase one of their favorite meals – A mini pizza with a spinach salad with blue cheese and figs.  After my experience at Cocina Abierta recently, I am certainly a believer of figs in a salad.

Inspiration goes both ways… I am grateful to Chame for inspiring me to create this salad.  This is as easy as any salad is, and impressive enough to make for company.

CHAME’S SPINACH, FIGS AND BLUE CHEESE SALAD

Baby Spinach
Grape or Cherry Tomatoes, sliced or diced
Dried Mission Figs, diced
Pickled Onions
Sliced Almonds
Crumbled Gorgonzola Cheese
Extra-Virgin Olive Oil
Aged Balsamic Vinegar
Salt and Pepper to taste
  1. Assemble all salad ingredients in a salad bowl – from the spinach up to the cheese.
  2. In a measuring cup or bowl mix together 2 parts olive oil to 1 part balsamic vinegar with a dash of salt and pepper to season.  Mix well and drizzle over salad.  Toss to coat.

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Pickled Red Onions

7 Mar

Onions are the cornerstone of my cooking… I rarely cook without onions. But my onion of choice is mostly the yellow onion. Red onions, on the other hand, are not part of my usual grocery shopping list. They’re more like a treat.

However, I love to add red onions to my salads… very thinly sliced red onions are perfect to give that little something to a huge plate of greens. But I have noticed not everyone is a fan of onions in salads like I am. The times I have tried to add red onions to the salad course at the Yoga Center, I have been received with resistance. They’re too pungent… they’re too strong… my breath will stink afterwards… are some of the critiques I have received.

So I’ve had to become creative when delivering my onion news to those non-believers… How about a pickled onion?? The flavor of onion, but mellowed out to satisfy the skeptics.

Here’s how I do them…

 

PICKLED RED ONIONS

1 red onion, sliced as thin as possible
2 tbs rice vinegar
1 tbs warm filtered water
1 tsp salt
  1. Place the sliced onions in a bowl with a cover.
  2. Add the rest of the ingredients. Toss to coat.
  3. Allow the onions to soften in the vinegar/salt mixture.

Now you can certainly enhance this basic pickle technique. I have added lime juice instead of vinegar. I have added fresh parsley and sometimes even a clove of garlic. You could add some pepper too…

The basic premise is that by marinating the onions in vinegar and a little bit of water, the onions will soften and the flavor will soften as well, making them the perfect addition to your salad.

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