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Showing posts with label condiment. Show all posts
Showing posts with label condiment. Show all posts

Friday, July 22, 2011

Kale and Pasta Salad with Balsamic Vinaigrette

How is everyone handling the heat? I am handling it okay, but only because of the decision to finally turn the air conditioner on in our house. I am unsure if it has turned off since the heat wave began. That should be fun when the bill comes around! With all the heat, it is hard to get motivated to cook. Yesterday I made the mistake of making tea (to ultimately chill it), kale chips, and veggie burgers. The kitchen was a HOT MESS! Literally though, I spilt tea everywhere at one point. Luckily, I had an amazing lunch which was nice and cold. A kale and pasta salad with balsamic vinaigrette.

The salad came together rather quietly. It was the result of a series of fortunate events.

1. First it was just a container of leftover pasta. Maybe I will eat it with some pesto? Maybe I will just eat it cold straight from the fridge if I get THAT hungry?

2. But, when I was making a salad for dinner Wednesday night I saw the kale I had from my parent's garden. "Let's just throw that in there!" I said. So I did.

3. As I was chopping up some cucumber (from my Grandfather's garden) for the dinner salad, I had some extra. "Let's just toss that in the leftover pasta container too."

4. Kale is best raw when it has been in some dressing at least a few hours. Well, I was already dressing a salad, "why don't I just pour some of it on the pasta too?"

5. In the morning, I threw in some orange tomatoes, some goat cheese, and called it a day. A great day that is...because of this salad of course.

Kale and Pasta Salad with Balsamic Vinaigrette

farfelle pasta, cooked (penne, Conchiglie or rotini would also work well)
kale
tomato
cucumber
zesty balsamic vinaigrette
crumbled coat cheese

1. Toss together (everything except goat cheese and tomato), the night before. Refrigerate overnight.
2. Add tomato, goat cheese, and serve.



When I opened up the container for lunch I was so excited, and also very hungry. It looked so beautiful and vibrant that I had to take the 10 second to take a picture with my phone. I think it captures the colour rather well! The salad was really good and very filling. Be sure to use whole wheat pasta to get the same effect ; )

By the way, you should really check out this link. Deciding what pastas would work well led me to that wikipedia page. So many pasta types! I think I better brush up on my Italian pasta vocabulary!

Tuesday, June 21, 2011

Zesty Balsamic Vinaigrette

I think it is safe to say that summer is here. Not only is it the first day of summer but it is also the longest day of the year. The local produce is really starting to appear and cravings for raw or grilled veggies have come full force. I have probably mentioned this before but I have never been a store-bought salad dressing kind of girl. I grew up with oil and vinegar dressing on my salad, made directly into the salad bowl. I continued this trend for the last 5 years since I first lived on my own. That trend has come to an end however. No, I am not buying salad dressing now (although I do have an emergency bottle in the refrigerator), but I am making it ahead of time in my magic bullet, for use during the week.

My first attempt at this was a while back with a Basil Vinaigrette, and I was definitely won over. Since fresh vegetables have become more prominent, I have been tweaking a basic balsamic vinaigrette to get it just how I like it. I think I have finished the tweaking and am ready to share the recipe with you. This amount gets me through 4ish individual salads, as a little goes a long way. It is zesty, creamy, and perfect with cucumbers, tomatoes, mushrooms, avocado and more.

Zesty Balsamic Vinaigrette 

3 tbsp olive oil
4 tbsp balsamic vinegar
1.5 tsp mustard
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp basil
1/2 tsp oregano

1. Combine ingredients into magic bullet or blender and pulse for about 20-30 seconds. Some intense whisking may also work if you don't have a magic bullet or something similar. I find the bullet works very well at emulsifying the ingredients.
2. Top your favourite veggie combination!


I have made countless salads with this dressing but this one pictured is leaf lettuce, roasted asparagus, roasted mushrooms, avocado and parmesan cheese. All pictures that I took of this salad had the Pabst Blue Ribbon in sight and it was therefore unavoidable to admit that I like that beer. I guess I need to work on my food staging.