Friday, June 22, 2007

More Summer Food: Quick Salad Ideas

Here's a couple quick simple salad/appetizers ideas with summer produce:

Carprese Salad with Heirloom Tomatoes, arugula, Mozzarella cheese and Basil:




For the vinagrette, add 1 part aged Basalmic Vin to 2 parts extra virgin olive oil. Whisk in a small amount of whole grain mustard for some complexity and depth. Season with salt and black pepper.

I like to place a nice bed of arugula on the plate to display the Tomatoes and cheese. A chiffonade of basil on top brings it all together.

To get the maximum flavor out of the tomatoes, season the wedges with a little salt and leave at room temp for 10-15 minutes before assembling the salad.

Summer Vegtable Pasta Salad




I like to use traditional rattatouie veggies for this dish. Eggplant, zucchini, squash, red pepper and onion. Saute all the veg in extra virgin olive oil with just a pinch of red pepper flake for a little spice kick. The trick to getting the consistencies right it to either sauté everything seperately or two add in ingredients in the order they cook. Start by sweating the onions, then the peppers, egglant, squash and zucchini. If you sauté the veggies seperately, under-cook them a bit and reheat them all together to get the flavors to become one.

Add all the veggies to some warm pasta noodles and toss with a little splash of balsamic and pinch of fresh herbs. Mint and Basil are good for these veggies.

Enjoy!!!

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