I love a good salad dressing, well actually I love a good vinaigrette. Now that I have mastered the basic vinaigrette (olive oil, vinegar, lemon juice, salt and pepper), I am always looking for new variations.
Last week I posted the recipe for these Coriander Chicken Patties, which we served on a bed of lettuce topped with this Pomegranate Vinaigrette. After finishing the chicken and the salad, we were left with almost 3/4 cup of this dressing (the recipe makes a LOT). For the next week, I had it every night and I enjoyed it more and more each time.
(The Pour)
The dressing has a great fruity, but not too sweet flavor that works well over any type of salad. I had it over plain mixed greens as well as a few fancier salads (pomegranate seeds and pistachios/ dried cranberries, goat cheese, and pecans) and it worked well with both. This recipe makes a lot of dressing, I recommend using a mason jar to make it and storing that in the fridge for future use.
In a smal mason jar with a lid, combine ingredients and shake well.
Serve at room temperature. (If you refrigerate the vinaigrette, make sure to stir it with a whisk before serving as the molasses will thicken and separate in the fridge. With a little stir, the dressing mixes. If still too thick, add a little more olive oil and stir).
It is hot and humid in LA right now. This is not normal LA weather, this is Georgia weather. I’ve been sleeping with all the doors and windows open, and I’m still hot (yes, this may also have something to do with the two dogs curled up against me, but still)… Sorry for the diversion from the food, but had to vent since Q has no sympathy since it’s 110 degrees with no fans or AC out in “The ‘Stan.” (Yes, I think it embarrasses Q that I call it that, but oh well I like it).
(It's not just me, Bentley's hot too)
Back to the food! I made these delicious golden corn cakes yesterday and planned to save them for dinner tonight. But after trying one, they immediately became lunch. I love the way Yotam Ottolenghi cooks, he is an Israeli vegetarian chef based in London and his food is clean and simple and always delicious. This recipe actually came from a feature in the Wall Street Journal a few weeks ago.
They are light and fluffy, almost like really airy corn pancakes. They get their lift and fluff from egg whites which you beat and beat and beat until soft peaks form (5 minutes and your arm feels like it’s going to fall off). The cakes pair perfectly with a light arugula salad and this became the perfect summer lunch.
Corn Cakes with Arugula Salad
Serves 4 (Yields 16 cakes)
Ingredients:
1/2 cup quick cooking polenta or fine-ground cornmeal
1 1/4 cups corn kernels, cut from 1-2 ears of corn (*frozen is fine)
1 small shallot, diced fine (about 3 tablespoons)
1/2 jalapeno, seeds and membrane removed, diced fine, about 2 tablespoons
1/2 teaspoon cumin seeds, roughly smashed (*don’t use cumin powder, get the seeds and use a mortar and pestle like this one to smash them)
3/4 teaspoon black pepper, plus extra for seasoning
3/4 cup full-fat Greek yogurt (*I used 0% and it was fine)
3 tablespoons olive oil, plus extra for frying
3 eggs, separated
4 cups arugula
1 cup cherry tomatoes (*we added these)
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1 tablespoon balsamic (*we added this)
1/2 cup cilantro leaves, chopped (*For topping)
1/4 cup sour cream (*For topping)
Directions:
In a large bowl mix polenta with corn, shallots, jalapeno, cumin, salt and pepper. Add yogurt, 1 1/2 tablespoons olive oil and 1 egg yolk (discard the other two yolks). Mix well with fork.
In a separate bowl, beat all three egg whites to soft peaks. (Takes about 5 minutes). Carefully fold whites into corn batter in two stages (meaning half in one fold and half in another). Let rest 5 minutes.
Meanwhile, make dressing. Whisk 1 1/2 teaspoon olive oil with lemon juice and balsamic. Season with salt and pepper to taste.
Set large nonstick frying pan over medium heat for 1-2 minutes. Pour in 1 teaspoon olive oil. Once hot, spoon 2 tablespoons of batter per cake into pan. Repeat until pan is full. Cook cakes 2-3 minutes, or until golden. Flip and cook 1 minute, or until golden. Transfer to paper-lined tray.
Toss arugula with cherry tomatoes and half of the cilantro. Add dressing and toss again. Season to taste. Serve corn cakes with a spoonful of sour cream and cilantro alongside greens.
Recipe by Yotam Ottolenghi posted in the Wall Street Journal (07/30/11)
Today I wanted Veggie Grill, I pretty much thought about it from the time I left the gym at 8 am to the time I left the office at 7. But I was tired and thought I should make something for my dad and me since my mom is gone. And I want to have Veggie Grill for my treat day tomorrow haha.
So instead I put together this semi-homemade meal. I hate putting those words together, my mother told me that “semi-homemade” is really just “store bought” in different words. But I really can’t take much credit in terms of creating this dinner, I simply threw it together.
This is simply a spicy spinach pizza from Trader Joe’s baked in the oven for 10 minutes, topped with avocado (I mean could I have a post without avocado!?) and salad with a quick lemon/olive oil dressing. And it was AMAZING and so much better than Veggie Grill (not to worry, I’m still going tomorrow).
Start with this:
Add this:
And get this:
Spicy Spinach Pizza with Avocado and Salad
Ingredients for one individual pizza:
1 Spicy Spinach Pizza from Trader Joe’s
1/4 avocado sliced length wise
2 large handfuls of mixed greens
Dressing (see below)
Directions:
Heat pizza in oven at 325 degrees for 8-10 minutes (it really depends on how crispy you want your crust)
Layer sliced avocado over pizza and top with greens and 1 tsp dressing (you can eat the salad on the side, but there is something about the dressing that gives the pizza some punch).
Koko's Easy Dressing
Koko’s Easy Dressing:
Ingredients:
1/3 cup fresh squeezed lemon juice (takes 1-2 lemons)
2/3 cup olive oil
2 tsp dijon mustard
1 tsp grated lemon zest
salt and pepper (sprinkle of each)
Directions:
Pour all ingredients into a mason jar. Close and shake until emulsified. We usually sprinkle some salt and fresh pepper over the top of the salad as well.
FYI, this makes a lot of dressing, so just pop the mason jar into the fridge after each use. When you take it out of the fridge sometimes the dressing looks like it’s a solid and stuck together. Just run hot water over the closed mason jar and it’l break it up.
We made this delicious salad dressing for dinner tonight. It reminds me of Benihana dressing (yummy). We put it over some butter lettuce that we got at the Farmer’s Market and added some baby tomatoes to make the perfect salad. Although the olive oil/lemon juice/dijon mustard salad dressing is my go to, it was nice to change it up!
Hi, I'm Koko Stanley! Welcome to my little blog about cooking, baking, my life as a fiancee to an Army officer (Quincy aka Q) and living in Alaska. I love food, being in the kitchen, shopping, neon colors, pot luck dinners with my girlfriends and dogs. I'd love to hear from you! Email me: Koko@kokolikes.com / Twitter: @Kokolikes
(The Pour)
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Zest of 1 orange
