Recently in Salads Category

This is two of our favorite salads smashed together- guacamole, and a Greek salad. It took a little bit of thinking to figure out how to do it, but I settled on a deconstructed guacamole- avocado, shaved red onions, cilantro, and lemon juice, with some radishes added for some zip. The Greek salad has a few common elements- onion and lemon juice; so all I had to add wass some of the organic butter lettuce I had, feta cheese and some black Greek olives.

For the dressing, I decided on more of a Greek type dressing with some of our Tibvrtini Olio Extra Virgene di Oliva, and a blend of Tibvrtini Aceto di Vino Blanco and lots of lemon juice. I added some liquified garlic, dry oregano, and kosher salt and pepper.

It was awesome, and I have to say that the organic butter lettuce was really good, it had a much firmer texture than you find in most of the more delicate lettuce you see in the market.

Was it worth $3? Eh...... maybe once in a while.

I hope you all had a great Fourth of July!

My menu planning for yesterday was dictated by the 116º scorcher we had. You know me- I love to take a day to smoke a big ol' hunk of meat, but after a day outside sunnin' and funnin', the last thing I wanted to do was spend a lot of time over a hot grill.

So... with operating parameters set, what to make? On hand- shrimp, leftover brown rice, tomatoes, a red onion, cilantro and a globe eggplant. Easily obtained at the market- red bell peppers, anaheim chiles, lemons, and jalapenos. Aha! I have a plan...

I cut the eggplant in wedges, removing about half the skin and salting them fairly liberally, then cut the peppers into wedges, too. Into a one gallon ziploc bag they went with the red onion, with an obscene amount of crushed garlic, some Tibvrtini Olio Extra Virgene di Oliva, a spash of Tibvrtini Aceto di Vino Blanco, and some kosher salt and black pepper. I left them at room temperature to marinate while I tossed the shrimp into another bag with some more garlic (okay, a lot more) and plenty of Survival Spice™, which absolutely rocks on grilled shrimp.

All that was left to prep was to concasse some roma tomatoes, and clean some cilantro. Into a work bowl they went.

I built a hot fire with pecan wood, and let it settle down a bit. Once everything was marinated, I emptied the bag of veggies onto the hot grill, then went about getting some serious color on the veggies. The eggplant got special attention, blackening the skins and filling the eggplant wedges with tons of pecan flavor.

Once the veggies had great color, but were still between al dente and fully cooked, I took them off the grill, chopping them coarsely and adding them to the cilantro, brown rice and tomatoes already in the work bowl. I added a glug of Tibrtini Novello, about half a lemon's worth of juice, and seasoned to taste.

While that sat, I grilled off the shrimp at high heat just long enough to change the color, and squeezed some lemon juice on them before I took them off the grill.

Plated it up, and man did it hit the spot. Light, but huge flavors, and just the right temperature on a scorching day.

Try this technique with whatever you have on hand. It's the perfect summer meal.

This is not what you would call a traditional Caesar salad. Traditionally, a Caesar salad would have whole leaves of romaine lettuce, and the dressing would include a few coddled eggs. The nouvelle Caesar dressing I learned in culinary school only contains one egg yolk per cup of oil, and the egg is 'cooked' with a combination of lemon juice and vinegar, so the dressing tends to be more like a loose aoili.

To make this, I grilled off a chicken breast with Survival Spice™, and sliced it. I like a simple crouton with my Caesar, so they're just lightly oiled, along with some kosher salt and black pepper, then toasted.

I went high end with the ingredients in the dressing- an organic egg yolk, a few liquified cloves of garlic, TIbvrtini Aceto di Vino Blanco, our organic white wine vinegar, and a blend of canola oil and TIbvrtini Olio Extra Virgene. I also used lemon juice, parmagiano reggiano cheese, a bit of Worcestershire sauce, and some dry Colman's mustard.

It's not the lightest salad in the world, but it's one of my favorites.

Here's another in a series of healthy, yet utterly delicious dinners I've been making lately.

The fish dish, Alaskan Halibut (thanks, Lloyd!) was lightly oiled and seasoned with Survival Spice™, then just coated with fresh bread crumbs mixed with more Survival Spice™. Fried over medium heat in a cast iron skillet with a squirt of lemon juice, it had a great crunch on the outside, and was nice and moist throughout.

As for the side dishes, I was craving pasta but didn't want the carbs, so instead I sliced red onion, Italian zucchini and yellow squash in thin, noodle-like strips and sauteed them in Tibvrtini Olio Extra Virgene di Oliva and plenty of lemon juice. I talked about the Poolside Avocado Salad the other day, and the cilantro vinagerette I drizzled over the plate really gave it a nice fresh flavor, and brought the whole thing together.

The "noodles" were really a great alternative to my pasta craving, try it!

Busy days don't doom you to a horrible dinner death, as long as you cook when you can and keep the basics in your pantry and in your fridge. This was a 5 minute dinner I made last week that was not only amazing, it was healthy and inexpensive, too.

Starting with some of the BBQ pork shoulder I made over the weekend with Survival Spice™ and a basic BBQ sauce, I halved a head of butter lettuce and rough chopped a few scallions on the bias.

A quick drizzle of Tibvrtini Olio Extra Virgene di Oliva and Tibvrtini Aceto di Vino Blanco provided the most basic and the most incredible vinagerette imaginable, then I topped the greens with a scoop of the reheated pork. Season and serve.

Easy. Amazing. Healthy. A great combination.

(Photo: TPCs Scaryaki Halibut Salad)

This is one of those "Here's what you got, make something up" dishes that totally kicked butt. I call it "Scaryaki" because it was spicy and flavorful enough to peel paint!

I started by marinating some halibut filets (thanks, Lloyd!!!) in more or less equal parts of soy sauce, chili garlic paste, and Sriracha hot sauce, stuff that should be in your refrigerator at all times, I think. Make extra, so you have some to use as a dipping sauce.

I got a cast iron skillet really hot, added a touch of oil to it, then fried my halibut filets. Warning: you might want to stand back a bit, the spicy aroma is a bit intense. I, of course, breathe it in like Vapo-Rub...

The salad couldn't be simpler. A small head of butter lettuce, washed, outer leaves removed, and broken in half. An amazingly simple but incredible oil and vinegar from two parts Tibvrtini Olio Extra Virgene di Oliva and one part Tibvrtini Aceto di Vino Bianco, kosher salt and pepper. I still haven't topped this extraordinary combination and I've tried, believe me. A few snipped organic chives from the herb garden and then plated it all up.

It blew me away. I'm really trying to watch my diet these days, eating healthy stuff all week so I can splurge a bit on the weekends, and this dish really reinforced the idea that big, bold flavors can do a good job substituting for a lack of fillers.

(Photo: Carolyn's Salad Nicoise)

I'm back. Tired yet invigorated by all the great food and experiences of the last 10 days.

Pathetically, I didn't take a lot of pictures, but I did have my camera with me one night at a dinner party with some friends in Chicago. They have a great loft downtown with a huge kitchen, perfect for a pro cook like John. The menu was a red pepper soup, salad nicoise, veal picatta, frites, and chocolate mousse. I was done with my camera by dessert, so no pics of the mousse, but I'll post a few pictures over the next week or so.

Carolyn made a great salad Nicoise, which means in the style of Nice, and because Carolyn is French, so much the better! Filled with organic greens, corn, potatoes, cucumber, olives, tomatoes, green beans, eggs, thinly sliced onion and chopped parsley, she made a wonderful vinagerette of olive oil, balsamic vinegar, mustard and mayonaisse to dress it.

It was a great party, casual, great wine and conversation with cool people I hadn't met before, and with the priority where it needs to be- the food, IMHO. Carolyn's salad was a great start, more soon...

It's nice to have all day to put together a meal with great sauces and creative garnishes, but here in the real world it just doesn't happen during the week very often.

This was a simple dinner that took only 45 minutes to put together. I started with some thick cut pork chops, which were rubbed with Survival Spice™, then grilled over pecan wood. The potatoes were microwaved until tender, oiled and rubbed with kosher salt and were grilled along with the chops, which really gives them a nice smokey flavor.

The romaine salad had a simple Tibvrtini Olio Extra Virgene di Oliva and Tibvrtini Aceto di Vino Bianco dressing that is still my favorite combination of these two extraordinary flavors, bar none.

What did you have for dinner last night? Email me a picture and a description!

By request for Carin, who pointed out that I only have 3 salads in the archives so far. Thanks!

I don't remember where this idea came from originally, but I've been making it for years. It's light and healthy, and great for serving all year 'round. I particularly like to serve this at barbecues, it's a nice counterpart to bigger flavors like smoked meats and baked beans. It was also a terrific accompianment to a traditional Easter dinner.

(TPCs Grilled Salmon Salad with Tibvrtini vinageratte)

This made a great, light, easy lunch yesterday, something I should do a lot more, judging by the way my clothes mock me as I try to squeeze into them. Ah, the struggles of a middle-aged man who's in the food biz...

My dress pants: Look, Porky, you've been trying to squeeze into me for 5 minutes. Get a sackcloth or a mumu, wouldja? I'm bustin' at the seams here!

Where was I? Right, lunch.

I grilled some salmon with lemon juice and Survival Spice™ and once cool, flaked it by hand. This is a great technique for using any leftover meat- steak, pork, chicken, whatever you've got on hand. I had some salmon, romaine lettuce and a carrot so that's what I used. No sweat, I can make a meal of this.

I've been into simple oil and vinegar dressings again lately, after coming full circle on lots of exotic, elaborate combinations. BTW, one of them I got via email from Shelleigh was using Survival Spice™ mixed with ranch dressing. Try it, it's amazing, but I digress. Again.

After prepping the lettuce, which I'll talk about tomorrow, I peeled a carrot using my zester, which gives a nifty edge if you're into that, mine just happened to be closer than the peeler. The way I like to do simple oil and vinegar dressings is to toss everything lightly with Tibvrtini Olio Extra Virgine di Oliva, which is just amazing for salad. I prefer this to pouring on a finished dressing, because it coats the greens without them laying in a pool of oil. Really tasty oil, but enough is enough, right?

I plated them, topped them with the salmon, and drizzled it with Tibvrtini Aceto di Vino Bianco, an extrordinary white wine vinegar that we also sell. (Hint, hint.) A squirt of lemon helped marry the greens to the salmon, and I seasoned generously with kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper. The right amount of seasoning is critical to making simple dressings work. I finished it up with some grated parm and lunch was served.

Really easy, really great, but my pants still don't fit. Crap.