Category — Dinner Salads

This spring and summer, I have the pleasure of being part of the Picadilly Farm CSA.  Each week, I get to pick up a box of goodies, grown organically in New Hampshire.  This past Wednesday was my first pickup, and the box was packed with salad greens, radishes, hakurei turnips, cilantro, bok choy, pea tendrils and some lovely red Russian kale. 

I started getting creative from day one – I love the challenge of being presented with ingredients and having to dream up recipes.  I had a rotisserie chicken in the fridge and so we had whole wheat rollups with lettuce, cilantro, chicken, grated sharp cheddar and enchilada sauce.  The next night was steamed tofu with bok choy and pea tendrils over rice, with a sauce made from low-sodium soy sauce, rice wine vinegar, sesame oil, tabasco and chopped cilantro.  It was tasty, and it was pretty:

Saturday night, I sauteed the kale and added spicy Italian chicken sausages, tomatoes and garlic and served that over whole wheat penne with Parmesan cheese sprinkled on top.  Delicious comfort food – and the kale was tender and sweet.

And last night, it was giant salads.  Red leaf lettuce topped with halved cherry tomatoes, sliced radishes and salad turnips.  I added some buffalo chicken meatballs from Trader Joe’s (pretty good and heat ‘n’ eat to boot!) and this delicious ranch dressing, inspired by a recipe in Eating Well magazine:

Combine all those in a jar and shake it up – preferably a little bit before dinner so that the flavors have some time to mesh . . . it’s creamy, tangy and a great compliment to the spicy meatballs and crisp lettuce.  Here’s what the final creation looked like:

 So hearty, and healthy . . . and once you start making your own ranch dressing, you’ll never long to go lookin’ for that hidden valley again!

Eating veggies this fresh spoils a girl . . . even for premium produce the likes of Whole Foods’.  There is just no substitute.  I’ll keep filling you in on what I’m doing, and for even more inspiration, check out this great blog, A Bushel of What? 

Do you belong to a CSA?  What’re you whipping up from your spring share?

© 2010, Semi-Sweet. All rights reserved.

I love salads, but for me, salads need heft if I’m going to have one as a meal.  This one’s got it goin’ on:  A great mix of greens and protein, with sweetness from the mango, savory flavor from the chicken, a wonderful peppery bite thanks to the arugula . . . . all wrapped up with an easy, super-flavorful dressing and the surprising crunch and flavor of cumin seeds.  If you’d like a bit of starch with this, serve warm naan (which you can even get at Costco, now – wow!) on the side.

Arugula Salad With Chicken & Mango (adapted from Bon Appetit)

Whisk the oil, chutney, lemon juice and curry powder in a bowl to blend.  Add the water to thin it out – if you need more water, that’s fine.  Add salt and pepper to taste.  Put the arugula in a large bowl and toss with 1/2 of the dressing.

Divide the arugula between plates and scatter the chicken and mango over each.  Drizzle with remaining mango dressing (to taste, you may have extra).  Top each serving with a dollop of the yogurt and sprinkle with the cumin seeds. 

Serves 2 – can easily be scaled up.

© 2010, Semi-Sweet. All rights reserved.