Spicy Orange Salad

This is awesome: simple, awesome, and summery. And awesome. It’s based on a salad common in Morocco, Spain, and places between.

Sweet oranges give a tang that enhances the spiciness of green onion and chili pepper, and pepitas add a bit of crunch. This is ased on the recipe here, plus some tweaks based on 2 orange salad recipes in the NY Times.

We made this for Mother’s Day along with the gouda-red-onion quesadillas and garlicky black beans.

Ingredients:

• 5 blood oranges or navel oranges, peeled thoroughly, quartered, and sliced 1/4″ width-wise
• 2 green onions, chopped up to about 1/4″ or thinner using kitchen scissors (for the white parts, first remove and discard oot nubbin and halve the white part lengthwise)
• 1/2 tsp dried crushed red chili pepper
• 1 1/2 Tbsp etra-virgin olive oil
• 1/4 to 1/2 c pepitas (uncooked pumpkin seeds) or other toasted nuts such as walnuts
• 1/4 to 1/2 c dried raisins

Method:

• Combine all ingredients in a bowl and toss thoroughly.
• Cover and chill in refrigerator for a minimum of 30min (also delicious the day after).
• Serve chilled.

Beet Salad

I found this recipe for stuffed beets. I made them and decided that stuffing them is only worthwhile for feeding other people, because peeled beets are slimy and hard to hollow out and you end up with extra stuffing anyway. If you’re like me and tend to feed yourself by standing half-clothed in the kitchen eating mostly with your fingers because you live by yourself so goddamit you’re gonna do whatever you want—then just chop up the beets and make a salad. It’s quite scrumptious.

So here is a recipe for beet salad, modified from Diana Bauman’s Stuffed Beets recipe (found here)

Beet Salad
Recipe adapted from “A Little Bit of Spain in Iowa”, which she adapted from “1,080 Recipes”

Ingredients:

• 4 cooked beets
• 2 hard-boiled eggs
• 1/2 small red onion, diced
• 1 tablespoon chopped fresh cilantro
• 1 tablespoon red-wine vinegar
• 3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
• salt and pepper to taste

1. Rinse the beets and put them whole in a pan of cold water.  Bring to a boil, lower the heat and simmer for about 1 hour or until the beets are tender.
2. Once the beets are tender, remove them from the water and let them cool a few minutes.  Their skins should slip off.
3. Peel the beets and dice them.
4. Scoop the yolks out of the hard boiled eggs and set aside.
5. Finely chop the whites.
6. Combine the diced beet, egg whites, onion and cilantro in a bowl.
7. Whisk together the vinegar and oil in another bowl, stir in the egg yolks, and season with salt and pepper, then pour over the beet mixture.
8. Store in the refrigerator until ready to serve.

Spinach Salad with Fennel, Beets, and Balsamic-Lemon-Pomegranate Dressing

My roommate Jono makes this; it’s sweet and tangy and has a ton going on. the body of the spinach, cheese, and nuts, and the richness of the beets and pomegranate flavors lend complexity to the sweeter notes.

• 2 red beets, roasted (or 1/3 to 1/2 of a can)
• 1 package baby spinach
• 1 /2 package mache or spring greens
• 4 inches fennel bulb, halved and sliced as thin as possible
• 1/2 – 1 c walnuts, chopped a bit (not too much) and toasted in a small saucepan (no oil) until they start to smell like toast and just barely change color
• 1 – 1 1/2 c slices of tangerines (about 3 tangerines)
• 1 1/2 small fuji apple, cored, sliced into 1/8 slices, and then sliced thinly
• 1/3 cup (about 3 inches) good-quality, firm, crumbly bleu cheese (should have a musty odor when broken)

Ahead of time, roast beets (cut off greens 1 in away from tops, place in a Pyrex or stoneware dish that has a lid, drizzle with olive oil, and roast, covered, on 350° for 1 hr – 1:20)

Chop all other salad ingredients; toss; top with dressing (below) and several turns of freshly ground black pepper; toss again.

For dressing, whisk together “to taste” these ingredients in a jar and then “shake the shit out of it” (or place in food processor):

• 3/4 c olive oil
• 1/4 c balsamic vinegar
• 1-2 cloves garlic
• barely a pinch of sea salt
• 2 tsp pomegranate molasses
• lemon juice to taste (1-2 Tbsp)
• 1-2 Tbsp stone-ground mustard (something spicier – stone-ground with horseradish is fine)
• 2 tsp honey (or agave nectar)