Wednesday, August 15, 2012

Cooling Summer Salads

 I'm telling you after 22 years of cold SF summers I'm loving coming up with food to eat on HOT days. Ok, I know in SF we do have a lot of really nice days, but I could never really get into cold foods when it's only 60 degrees out! Now these are a couple easy salads I'm made recently to have on hand in the fridge for an easy lunch with maybe a grilled chicken breast. First is a Green Bean Pepper Carrot Salad - lovely crisp colorful summer veggies tossed in a sweet and sourish sauce. And below is my "what's in the fridge" Israel Couscous Salad. I love that it's never the same tastes twice.
Green Bean Peppers and Carrot Salad serves 6

About 1 lb of thin green beans (haricot verts)
put in a pot of boiling salted water for about 2 min - you want them to remain crisp so drain and let cool
couple tablespoons olive oil
1 clove garlic minced
1/4 cup apple cider vinegar
2 tablespoons water
1 heaping teaspoon dijon
1/2 teaspoon honey
1/4 teaspoon celery seeds
2 medium carrots cut into julienne about the side of the beans
1 bell pepper (I used yellow but red would be nice too)

In a large skillet heat the oil and then add the garlic for about 30 sec. Stir in all the rest and sauté until warmed through about 3 min, tossing it all around. Add to the beans and serve at room temp.

Israel Couscous Salad serves 6

1 cup Israel toasted couscous (it's a larger grain) cooked according to package directions in water
3-4 tablespoons olive oil
couple dashes white wine vinegar
and today's selection of additions:
cherry tomatoes cut in half
diced bell pepper
couple diced small cucumbers
6 chopped kalamata olives
4 chopped dried tomatoes (I love having both types of tomatoes in this!)
1/2 cup crumbled feta
chopped parsley, and or basil
s&p

Drain and cool the couscous then in a bowl mix the olive oil and vinegar then toss all the rest together s&p to taste adding more olive oil if needed.




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