Nicoise Salad

I AM NOT GOING TO TALK ABOUT THE unrelenting heat wave that has us in its grip. I am not going to talk about living in an older, un-air conditioned home in the mountains. I am not going to talk about my love of summer.

What I will mention is that this is the first summer Pritchard Parker is not working in an air conditioned office all day but rather from home. And he is not enjoying it. He does not love summer. Even when he is not saying anything, he is saying plenty, if you know what I mean. The heat will break soon and he will be back to his usual good humor.

Meanwhile, I have been serving only cold food. If I need to do any cooking at all, like I did here with cooking the beets, potatoes, and eggs, I do it early in the morning before the afternoon sun beats down on our west facing kitchen.

By dinner time, the ingredients for this delicious and satisfying Nicoise salad will be cold and we will dine a little later. I made a simple lemony vinaigrette and chilled that as well.

Nicoise Salad
Washed, torn, and chilled lettuce
Oil packed tuna
Boiled eggs
Sliced Vidalia (or other sweet) onions
New potatoes, simmered until tender
Beets, simmered until tender
Tomato slices
Anchovy fillets
Calamata olives

Lemony Vinaigrette Dressing
2/3 cup olive oil
1/3 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

Place lettuce on individual plates. Top with tuna, eggs, onions, potatoes, beets, and tomato. Garnish with anchovies and olives. Drizzle with lemony dressing.

Tuna Salad with Cucumber, Cranberries, and Pecans

THE GOOD THING ABOUT LIVING in a tourist town is that we get to live like we are on vacation all the time. The down side is there are entirely too many people in our town. From now until the end of October, we will have trouble finding a place to park in order to dine at our favorite restaurants. We will have to be extra vigilant when driving through town because the tourists, as they gaze around at the beauty and magnificence are apt to blissfully wander into the road.

Today it has rained all day. It is very chilly and foggy. I have a pot of beans simmering and cupcakes baking. As I work in my kitchen, I love staring out the window. The trees are verdant, the mountains are shrouded in mist, and the dogwood blossoms are practically glowing.

Yesterday it was dry and quite warm and I prepared salad for supper.

Ahh, my beautiful life in the mountains. . .

Tuna Salad with Cucumber, Cranberries, and Pecans
(adapted from The Daily Meal)
2 cans (or 10 ounces) tuna
1/2 cup diced cucumber
2 scallions, sliced
1/4 cup dried cranberries
1/4 cup pecans, roasted and chopped
1/4 cup mayonnaise
1 Tbsp. Dijon mustard
Salt and pepper to taste

Combine all ingredients. Serve as a sandwich spread or on lettuce, garnishing as desired.

Composed Salads, Grain Bowls, and Organizing Photo Files

IF YOU LOVE COOKING AND YOU LOVE PHOTOGRAPHY (a match made in heaven) you will most likely end up with a backlog of photo files to sort through.

My files had gotten so big, they were bogging down my computer. It was time to stop procrastinating and get to work. I have deleted hundreds on photos and transferred others to an external drive.

I do photograph many things other than food and this process has taken me down a memory lane of the past couple of years. There are so many cute pictures of the children--they grow and change so fast. There were pictures of my head, bald from chemo, to growing out, to my first haircut last week. There are many photos of beautiful flowers, birds, bunnies, butterflies, and bugs from our yard. Scenic photos from the gorgeous, vibrant, and hip place I am blessed to live--Asheville, North Carolina.

Mandarin Chicken Salad

As I culled photographs, I decided to share some of the things I have made, we ate, but never made it to my blog. Mainly because I wasn't pleased with the photos. But also because I wasn't thrilled with the taste of the food. I only blog about things I think are delicious.

For example, the Mandarin Chicken Salad. Ho-hum.

Shrimp, Brown Rice, and Vegetable Salad

I can see the salad has a dressing but I don't remember what it was. Which is another danger of letting my photo files back up. I can't remember what I did.






































I remember loving the brown rice and tofu bowl--I would happily eat it right now. I suppose I could fake some recipes. . .

Many things I love, tuna, cheese, boiled eggs, radishes, cornichons, sprouts (!) with baby lettuces.

Waldorf Quinoa Salad

I was really happy with this meal, but I didn't get any photos I loved. Quinoa, grapes, celery, apples, lettuce, candied pecans, and crumbled blue cheese. (Some kind of dressing). Mmmm, I think I'll try this again.

I was also happy about this meal, but again did not get shots of it that I loved. It was an awesome combination of flavors, quinoa, black beans, roasted Japanese sweet potatoes, pineapple, cheddar cheese, and spinach. I dressed this one with a Honey Lime Vinaigrette.

Honey Lime Vinaigrette
1 small sweet onion, preferably Vidalia, roughly chopped
1 clove garlic, chopped
1 large tomato, washed and peeled
1 lime, washed, roughly chopped and seeded
2 Tbsp. honey
1 tsp. salt
Freshly ground black pepper to taste
1/4 cup olive oil

Put all ingredients into blender and process until smooth.

Grilled Asian Glazed Tuna

Today, I found this unfinished post in my drafts folder. It was dated 4/17/2010. I don't know why I never finished it. And now, two years later, I don't even know how I made it. Too bad, because I sure would like to have this for dinner tonight.

I can see that I used fresh ginger and garlic, olive oil, and it looks like I was quite generous with the freshly ground black pepper. Most likely there was soy sauce involved. I can see that I grilled in on my cast iron grill pan.

And then I served it with rice and these darling baby carrots. As I said, I wish I had that for dinner tonight.

Do you ever start a post, never finish it, then later don't know how you did it?


 

Tuna Sandwich Salad

It all started when Pritchard Parker came home with an incredible wedge of cheese. Because it was Valentines Day, he jokingly said, "Here's your Valentine Cheese".  Later, when I told Alice about it, she stated that she thought a delicious wedge of cheese is a perfect gift for any occasion. I couldn't agree more and now you know what you can get for either of us when searching for gift ideas.

The cheese was an aged Gouda and one of the best cheeses I have ever tasted. As I thought about that cheese and how I would use it, I knew I wanted it to be the star of the show, not just a supporting actor. I thought of cheese souffle and cheese soup, but ultimately opted for cheese fondue. We swooned as we dipped cubes of homemade bread into the warm, melted cheese.

Alas, this is not a post about cheese fondue and homemade bread, didn't get a single photo, but rather the next day when I was staring at a half loaf of leftover homemade bread and a handful of shrimp.

I thought of making a panzanella salad, which is best in summer when the tomatoes are perfectly ripe and full of sunny flavor.  Because I was having the first stirrings of a craving for tuna, which often manifests as tuna salad, I decided to make tuna salad sandwiches, maybe even tuna melts. The concepts crashed together in my brain as I worked, and this is the result.

Tuna Sandwich Salad
Leftover sturdy bread, cubed
Extra virgin olive oil--be generous
Canned tuna to taste
Handful of boiled shrimp, optional
Juice of 1 lemon
8 oz. pepper jack cheese, cubed
Diced celery with leaves
Capers
Chopped pickles
Sliced pimiento stuffed olives
Minced red onion
Sea salt & freshly ground black pepper to taste

Place leftover bread into a large bowl. Generously drizzle with extra virgin olive oil and toss together. Set aside while preparing the remaining ingredients. Combine all the ingredients and let rest at room temperature for about an hour.  Taste and adjust seasonings and serve over cleaned and torn lettuce or baby spinach leaves.

Tuna Pasta Salad

Happy Summer!  I love summer with its long days, bright colorful flowers, its bounty of fresh (affordable) vegetables, and especially the stone fruits--cherries, peaches, nectarines, plums.  Swimming. Grilling. I enjoy creating satisfying sandwiches and salads as meals and I have already made a few. 

I made this tuna pasta salad about three weeks ago. Well, not this salad, but one just like it. I never photographed it and never really thought of blogging about it because it seemed so ordinary. After I took it to work for lunch every day for week, found myself looking forward to my lunch break, and saying, Mm-m-m in my head a lot as I ate it, I decided to rethink my original opinion of this pasta salad. 

So, I made it again, just for you. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did. 

Rocquie's Tuna Pasta Salad
1/2 lb. medium shell pasta, cooked and drained
2 pouches or cans tuna
6 - 8 scallions, white and green parts, sliced
1 medium zucchini, diced
1 small jar marinated artichokes hearts, quartered
2 - 3 oz. oil packed sun dried tomatoes, sliced
2 -3 plump cloves garlic, minced
several sprigs fresh dill, chopped
juice of 1 lemon
3 Tbsp., or to taste, olive oil
Salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
6 oz. feta cheese, cubed

Toss together the pasta, tuna, scallions, zucchini, artichoke hearts, and sun dried tomatoes. Stir in the garlic, dill, lemon juice, olive oil, and salt and pepper until well combined. Add the feta cheese cubes and mix lightly. Cover and refrigerate for several hours. Even better the next day.

Mr. Stripey Tomatoes Stuffed with Loaded Tuna Salad

We have a local farmer who is legendary for his Mr. Stripey tomatoes. The Mr. Stripey is an heirloom tomato with a mix of red and yellow colors, more yellow on the stem end, redder toward the bottom, and striped along the sides. The fully ripe Mr. Stripey is surprisingly sweet, tender, juicy, mild, and flavorful. We are not the only ones in town who eagerly await the appearance of Harold's tomatoes around mid-August each year.

The thing Pritchard Parker always wants to eat with the first Mr. Stripey, is a simple tomato sandwich--white bread, mayonnaise, tomato slices, salt and pepper. I like them with cottage cheese, salt and pepper, and a sprinkling of celery seed.

Here, I have stuffed Mr. Stripey tomatoes with tuna salad, which I really loaded with ingredients. I'm always happy when I hear my husband say, after taking his first bite, "Mmmmmm, this is good!"

Loaded Tuna Salad
12 oz. canned tuna
2 stalks celery, sliced
1/2 small red onion, diced
1/4 cup sweet pickle relish
1/4 cup pickled jalapeno peppers, chopped
1 small green bell pepper, chopped
2 Tbsp. pimiento
3 hard boiled eggs, chopped
6 oz. extra sharp Vermont white cheddar, diced
Juice of half a lime
3 Tbsp. chopped fresh parsley
1/4 tsp. red pepper flakes
3 Tbsp. mayo
Salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste

Salad Nicoise

A good Nicoise Salad, a la Julia Child, is a fulfilling meal on a scorching summer evening. I love making this classic salad with sweet and buttery Bibb lettuce. But I happened to have some lettuce grown in my next door neighbor's garden so I used that, of course. Chef Child recommended a simple viniagrette for dressing this salad. I made my dressing a little sweeter because of the strong flavors in the salad, plus the home grown lettuce was a slightly peppery.



Honey Mustard Viniagrette
1/4 cup apple cider vinegar
1 Tbsp. honey
1 tsp. Dijon mustard
1 plump clove garlic, crushed
1/2 cup olive oil
Salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
Few drops hot sauce, to taste

Put all ingredients into a small jar which has a tight fitting lid and shake vigorously until emulsified. Taste, and adjust seasonings if desired. Place into refrigerator to chill and for flavors to develop, while composing your salad.

Salad Nicoise
Lettuce
Tuna
Green beans, cooked until tender crisp
Potaotes, cooked and cubed
Slices of fresh tomato
Sliced boiled egg
Anchovies
Capers
Oil cured black olives
Minced shallot

Arrange salad on plates, sprinkle with sea salt and freshly ground black pepper, then drizzle with Vinagrette.

Scrambled Egg Tuna Melt

There were leftover scrambled eggs with cheese after a big family breakfast. As my mother and I were cleaning up, she told me that if my grandmother (her mother-in-law) had leftover eggs she would use them to make tuna salad. I loved that idea so much that I immediately made a tuna salad, which the two of us later enjoyed for lunch as the rest of the family engaged in various activities.

I used to boil eggs for tuna salad. Now I scramble them. I love the taste, the texture, and the look of tuna salad made this way. And it makes me think of my beautiful grandmother working in her kitchen. It makes me think of the sunny yellow pitcher she used for serving milk, and the copper pans she cleaned, shined, and hung on display after every use.

Scrambled Egg Tuna Melt
3 soft scrambled eggs with cheese
1 large pouch tuna
1 plump shallot, thinly sliced
2 jalapeno peppers, minced
2 - 3 Tbsp. mayo, enough to bind salad together
slices of hearty whole grain bread
tomato slices
avocado slices
deli sliced provolone cheese

Mix together the scrambled eggs, tuna, shallot, jalapeno pepper, and mayo. Add a scoop of tuna salad on bread slices, top with tomato, avocado, then a slice of cheese. Bake in a preheated 350 degree oven for 10 to 15 minutes, until the cheese is bubbly and beginning to brown.

Sailor-Style Bread Salad

While enjoying a break from the frigid weather, we also took a break from hearty soups and stews with this substantial bread and tuna salad which is best eaten at room temperature. Originally, this salad was a clever use for stale bread by Italian sailors, who combined it with the fish they caught at sea, a few spices, and olive oil. Consider this pungent salad a meal in itself and make it early in the day to allow the flavors to soak into the bread.

Sailor-Style Bread Salad
8 cups stale bread chunks
Two 6 1/2 oz. cans tuna in olive oil
One 4 oz. can anchovies in olive oil
1 small red onion, minced
2 Tbsp. capers
1/2 cup Kalamata olives, pitted and chopped
1 Tbsp. minced fresh oregano (or 1 tsp. dried)
1/3 cup olive oil
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
6 oz. feta cheese, cubed

Place the bread chunks in a large bowl. Add the tuna with it's oil, the anchovies with their oil, the onions, capers, olives, and oregano. Toss to combine well. Pour the olive oil over the mixture and toss to coat all the bread chunks. Sprinkle with salt and pepper to taste. Gently fold in the feta cubes.

Cover with plastic wrap and let it sit, at room temperature, for 2 - 3 hours. (Or refrigerate for longer but bring to room temperature before serving.)

Serve with lemon.

Cornbread Tuna Melt

Here's a quick and easy one, for those busy evenings. Make a batch of cornbread, even a box of Jiffy mix. While that is baking, make up your favorite tuna salad recipe. When the cornbread is done, cut into servings and top with a scoop of tuna salad. Top with a slice of tomato (avocado is delicious here) then cheese and melt under the broiler.

Sailor-Style Bread Salad

This salad is a meal in itself and is certainly not for sissies! It is built from very bold flavors. My husband, Pritchard Parker, devours it. I love it too.

One dense loaf Italian bread, cut into cubes
Two 6 oz. cans tuna in olive oil
4 shallots, minced
One 4 oz. can anchovies, chopped
1/2 cup sliced oil-cured black olives
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
1 Tbsp. capers, drained
1 Tbsp. fresh oregano, chopped
6 oz. feta cheese, cut into cubes
Freshly ground black pepper

Place bread cubes into a very large mixing bowl. As you open the cans of tuna and anchovies, drain the oil over the bread. Break up the chunks of tuna and chop the anchovies, which I usually do with kitchen shears, right over the bowl. Sprinkle with the shallots. Add drained capers, olives, and oregano. Toss everything together very well. Drizzle with the olive oil and add freshly ground black pepper to taste. Toss again, and lastly, gently mix in the feta cheese, trying not to break it up too much. Cover, and set aside at room temperature for an hour or two.

To serve, pile up on salad plates, give it another drizzle of extra virgin olive, sprinkle with a few flakes of crushed red pepper, and add a couple wedges of lemon.

Fickle Appetite

As winter transitions into spring, which can take a long time, here in the mountains, I find it challenging to plan menus. One day we want lighter, fresher foods, and the next chili. Only 3 days after I made an arranged salad for dinner, it snowed--6 inches! Three days ago, it never got above 20 degrees. Three days from now, it is supposed to be in the 70's.

Arranged Salad with Tahini Dressing

Using some cooked foods makes the salad seem heartier and more like a meal. For each person, arrange on a bed of washed and dried red leaf lettuce:

Simmered new potatoes

Thinly sliced red onions

Olives

Boiled egg slices

Tuna packed in olive oil

Yellow bell pepper strips

Tomato wedges

Steamed zucchini sticks

Sea salt & freshly ground black pepper, to taste

Tahini Dressing

1 Tbsp. tahini

1 tsp. ginger paste

1 garlic clove, crushed

Juice of 1 lemon

1 Tbsp. tamari (soy) sauce

2 Tbsp. olive oil

Stir together the tahini, ginger and garlic. Stir in the lemon juice, then tamari. Finally, slowly whisk in the olive oil. Pour into a small pretty dish and serve with your arrangement. Makes enough for 2 meal size servings.