Salmon and Lentil Salad with Lemon Caper Dressing

The doctors have been warning me for a while now that we are going to have a big baby. I don't have gestational diabetes, but I think it's just in my genes that everything I eat goes straight to the baby.(Some people will roll their eyes when I complain about this.) I was almost 10 pounds when I was born, but my mom hadn't gained much weight. Her wedding rings were actually loose when she went into the hospital. Sugar, fruit and refined white stuff especially beef up the baby, so I have been trying to stick with a fairly high fiber and protein diet and to stay active with lots of walking and yoga.



One meal we especially enjoyed was a Salmon and Lentil Salad with Lemon Caper Dressing. It was nice and refreshing on a hot night. We simply layered some salad greens, cold lentils (but they could be served hot too), pan-fried salmon and topped it off with a delicious, tangy lemon caper dressing. It's a great low carb meal - whatever your reason. For an extra short cut, Trader Joes has some tasty pre-cooked lentils that are pre-seasoned. They keep for quite a while in the fridge, and are great to keep on hand for a quick meal. We like the seasoning they use, and used them as our flavor inspiration.

French Lentils
1/2 lb French lentils
1/2 T thyme
1/2 T oregano
1 t garlic powder
1/4 t salt and pepper
2 bay leaves

Spread the lentils out on a cookie sheet to check for pebbles. Place in a strainer and rinse. Place in a stockpot and add water to cover by an inch. Add the rest of the ingredients and bring to a boil. Once boiling, reduce heat and simmer for 20 minutes or until tender but still firm.

Lemon Caper Dressing
2 T olive oil
1 t spicy brown mustard
dash of salt and pepper
1 T apple cider vinegar
2 T water
1 t capers
1/4 lemon, juiced
Extra capers for garnish

Whisk ingredients together to combine.

We enjoyed some extra capers sprinkled over the top of our salad.

This post is part of Ekat's Kitchen Friday Potluck, Designs by Gollum Foodie Friday, Fat Camp Friday, Susie QT Pies Friday Follow, and Ann Kroeker's Food on Friday.

Heirloom Tomato and Mediterranean Tuna Salad Napoleons

There is a blog called A + M that has a weekly recipe/cooking contest on a featured ingredient. We have entered twice before, once with a Deconstructed Eggplant Parmesan Salad (for fresh mozzarella) and another time with Cherry Chutney topped Pakoras (for cherries). I thought both of these were pretty good. They tasted great and were creative, but neither one even made it into the final list. I guess I shouldn't feel too bad because there have been between 100 and 200 recipes in entered in both of those rounds.



The contest topic for this week is Heirloom Tomatoes, and we decided to try throwing our hat in the ring once again. We tried to think of something that was fresh, summery and unique for the tomatoes. We decided to create a no-cook dish with Mediterranean tuna salad layered with tomatoes. Here's the recipe:

Heirloom Tomato and Mediterranean Tuna Salad Napoleons Serves 4

16 ounces tuna
16 ounces cannellini beans
1 handful Niçoise olives, pitted and chopped
1 small roasted red pepper, finely chopped
2 tablespoons capers
3 scapes, chopped
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
1 teaspoon herbes de Provence
2 heirloom tomatoes, sliced
4 cups salad greens
Parmesan cheese curls

Combine the tuna, beans, olives, peppers, capers and scapes in a mixing bowl. Mix the oil, vinegar, Dijon mustard, herbes de Provence and drizzle over the tuna mixture. Layer the salad greens, tuna mixture, tomatoes and top with cheese curls.

Summer Salmon Orzo Salad

My mother-in-law makes a great salmon orzo salad with cranberries, asparagus, and goat cheese. We decided that it would be the perfect dish to share with a dinner guest coming over last night. We have gotten the recipe from her more than once, but I couldn't find it anywhere. I have an undependable system for organizing recipes; I stick them inside my cookbooks. Slips of paper with my great aunt's famous chicken, my friend's lentils, a few pages from magazines, and more are all stuck inside the cover of my Joy of Cooking. I looked through other cookbooks and there was a recipe or two in each one of them as well. I have started saving recipes on the computer which works for recipes I find on-line, but I never type up the ones I get hard copies of... What is your system for keeping track of recipes? How does it work for you? Tomorrow we are dedicating the day to some deep cleaning and organizing. When you live in a TINY space, it is more necessary than ever to purge belongings and keep everything super organized because it doesn't take much for things to spiral into total chaos. I'll let you know what I come up with on the recipe organization front.


We served our Salmon Orzo Salad with a green salad of lettuce, green bell pepper and cucumber. I never did find the recipe for the orzo, so here is our recreation from memory:

Summer Salmon Orzo Salad serves 4 as a main dish, or 6-8 as a side dish
Because it is summer and asparagus is no longer in season, we used green beans instead.

16 oz. orzo
water
1 lb. green beans, trimmed
1 lb. salmon
3/4 C dried cranberries
5 green onions, finely chopped
6 -8 oz. goat cheese, crumbled

Dressing
1/4 C olive oil
juice of one lemon
2 T apple cider vinegar
1 T Dijon mustard
pinch of salt and pepper

Cook the orzo according to the package instructions. Drain and add to a large mixing bowl. Pour the dressing over the top and mix together to prevent the orzo from sticking. Steam the green beans until al dente and add to the mix. Salt and pepper the salmon and place in a hot pan lightly coated with oil. Cook over medium high heat for 4 - 6 minutes per side (depending on the thickness of your fish) until the fish easily flakes with a fork. Remove the salmon from heat and flake into bite size pieces with a fork. Add the cranberries, onions and goat cheese. Can be served warm or chilled.

Energy saving tip: I placed the green beans in a bamboo steamer over the pasta pot and cooked them together.

Blackened Chicken Wraps

Once you decide to make some burritos, you have committed. You have purchased a package of tortillas and need to eat them up. We have had vegetable burritos, breakfast burritos and tonight blackened chicken wraps. My husband took the lead on dinner tonight. His vision was to combine the spiciness of the blackened chicken with the sweet tangy flavor of the vinaigrette. Mmm, mmm, mmm. Spicy goodness. They require just a bit of heat from the top of the stove, but the results are fresh and easy. A great quick meal for a hot steamy night.

Blackened Chicken Wraps
1 large chicken breast, cut into fillets
1 oz blackened seasoning
4 scapes, chopped
1 salad turnip, peeled and shaved into strips
1 carrot, scrubbed and shaved into strips
1 shallot, chopped
lettuce
1 T olive oil
1 T balsamic vinegar
1 heaping t honey
1 t soy sauce

Coat the chicken fillets with blackened seasoning and pan fry until cooked through. Let cool and then slice. Saute the scapes until softened. Mix the turnips, carrot, shallot, lettuce and chicken in a bowl. In a separate bowl, combine olive oil, balsamic vinegar, honey and soy sauce and pour over mix. Toss to combine. Place a couple of scoops in the middle of a tortilla, roll up, and enjoy.

Kohlrabi Hash

I woke up this morning wondering what I should make for dinner tonight. In my half-asleep state, I was trying to figure out what we had left in the fridge from the farm share. I could think of greens, radishes, turnips... aha, we have kohlrabi. I was excited to remember the kohlrabi because that guaranteed something new and different to prepare, eat and write about. I decided right then that I wanted to have kohlrabi hash with steak and salad.

I had seen kohlrabi in the stores, but I had never purchased it, prepared it, or eaten it. I got some tips from our CSA coordinator last weekend, and I double checked on the internet to make sure I wasn't missing out on any other stellar ideas. Everyone seemed to agree that kohlrabi hash was a great way to go. When our CSA coordinator mentioned kohlrabi hash, I envisioned grated kohlrabi in a cast iron pan cooking away in some olive oil, but when I looked up kohlrabi hash on-line all the recipes were inspired by potato pancakes. They included eggs, breadcrumbs, onion and seasonings. Of course all 5 or 6 of the recipes ended up referring back to one source – funny how that happens. We decided to go with the original idea - simple kohlrabi hash browns.

We made a salad with salad mix, radishes, carrots and salad turnips from our CSA share. Salad turnips are interesting because from the outside they look like regular turnips with a white waxy skin, but once the skin is peeled off, the texture is much closer to jicama. It has a slightly sweet flavor and is great raw. Salad turnips and kohlrabi are the two new things I have tried so far through our farm share. We topped the salad off with our house vinaigrette. My husband's salad dressing came through yet again - it was delicious!

We cooked the steak in a cast iron pan on the stove top. Before living in an apartment, the idea of frying a good thick steak would have appalled me. I thought the only way to cook them was on a grill, but they turn out great this way. We generously salted and peppered each side and placed it in a hot pan over medium high heat with a bit of olive oil. The trick is to leave it alone for as long as it needs to cook on that side, ours was over an inch thick so we did 6-7 minutes per side. This part is hard for me because I'm a cook that likes to fiddle (stir the pot, push thing around while they are sauteing, etc.). But in this case, it's best to set the timer and leave it alone until it is time to flip it because it will create a wonderful crust on the steak. Here is a photo of the finished meal:


Kohlrabi Hash Browns
2 heads of kohlrabi, peeled
olive oil
salt and pepper

Grate the kohlrabi with a box grater or food processor. Place the grated kohlrabi in a piece of cheese cloth or paper towel, and squeeze out as much liquid as possible. Heat up a skillet and generously coat the bottom of the pan with olive oil. Dump in the kohlrabi and spread out into an even layer. Cook for a couple of minutes over medium heat and then flip. Cook until the kohlrabi is browned on both sides. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

The kohlrabi hash browns were great! We both wished there were more so we could go back for seconds. They are very similar to potato hash browns, but slightly sweeter and a slightly firmer texture.

House Vinaigrette

I've just recently started reading blogs (I'm a bit of a Luddite). I never got into them before because I thought it was mostly people putting lots of personal details out to the world. I didn't feel the need to read other people's diaries, and so I stayed away. Recently this changed when I started reading food blogs. There I found some information that I could use. I decided that I could feel comfortable sharing what I ate for dinner, and City Share was born.

The one dangerous thing about these food blogs is that they seem to feature A LOT of desserts. Desserts with gooey, tempting photos. I can almost feel myself going into sugar coma just reading them. I try to keep the baking to a minimum. Or when I do bake, the goods need to be whisked away to work, someone else's house, or a party so that I don't eat a half a pan of brownies or a pie in one evening. Because of this, we will be focusing not on desserts, but meals.


Last night's dinner was a salad with a side of steamed asparagus. The asparagus was just steamed and served plain. Why mess with a good thing? The salad featured greens and radishes from our share, napa cabbage, carrots, bits of mozzarella, pepitas (pumpkin seeds) and sautéed chicken breast. I think the salad dressing is key, and luckily my husband makes the best salad dressing! We occasionally buy a bottle of dressing to make life easier, but it always disappoints. This is our go to recipe, and we decided to call it our House Vinaigrette. He never really measures, but here's a best guess of the proportions:

House Vinaigrette
Juice of half a lemon
1 clove garlic, minced
Splash of cider vinegar (approx. 1T)
1/4 t fresh ground pepper
1 t Dijon mustard
2 T olive oil

After mincing the garlic, drag the side of the knife over the garlic to crush the garlic and release the juices. This step of smearing the garlic is the key to the whole dressing. Combine ingredients.

Happy Eating!