Some times of year bring so many incredible ingredients and this is one of them: fig season! Several years ago, I was inspired by a fig recipe I came across in The Mustards Grill Cookbook and it started a bit of an obsession for me. I find figs fascinating. Not too sweet, just the right texture and perfect in so many recipes. This one was a bit of a serendipitous one that came about from available ingredients and a bit of creativity. This is one of my new favorites and one I will look forward to in fig season each year! The tart of the lemon was the perfect complement to the rich cheese and sweet figs. Pine nuts and arugula bring an earthy nutty vibe to this salad. Anything you love to use figs for? I would love new inspiration!

Kelly

Fig and Brussels Sprout Salad

5-6 Fresh Figs, Quartered

Several Handfuls of Arugula

6-8 Brussels Sprouts, cleaned and thinly sliced

2 T. pine nuts

½ oz Crumbled Blue Goat Cheese (I used Verde Capra Italian Blue Cheese from Whole Foods, but use any goat or blue that you like)

Dressing:

Juice of ½ Lemon

2 T. Olive Oil

1 t. Dijon Mustard

Fresh Thyme Leaves

Salt & Pepper

Combine all dressing ingredients and whisk until well combined. Add salad ingredients to a bowl and toss with desired amount of dressing. Enjoy immediately!

I have been neglecting my posting lately since I have been all wrapped up in tons of things. One of those things has been a family wedding/vacation to California. Going back to LA is always a bit of a whirlwind and a ton of fun! Add to that my beautiful cousin’s wedding and you have a lot to do and people to see. More to come on that soon, but you can’t do much better than hanging here for a bit!

Since I just got home and am getting back into the swing of things, I thought I would go simple and semi-homemade for dinner. I have been craving shrimp cocktail since I saw it at the fish market in LA, so I thought I would have that in conjunction with a version of my favorite salad.

I (shamefully) bought some shrimp cocktail already prepped from Whole Foods to save me some work. I just took some time to doctor the sauce to my taste a bit and put it in nice dishware as my mother would do. Turn on the broiler and slice a zucchini lengthwise and fairly thin. Place on a baking sheet and spray with cooking spray and season with salt and pepper. Place in the broiler and be sure to keep a close watch, turning the zucchini once and cooking until you reach desired doneness.

They may get crispy if you let them. Next, I chopped a fresh tomato from our garden and sliced a couple strawberries to be added to some mixed greens. Dress with a squeeze of lemon, a light drizzle of olive oil, a pinch of grey salt and some fresh black pepper. Add the zucchini to the top and enjoy immediately. Some toasted bread adds just a little something! So easy, and it feels good to eat something light and healthful after a trip!

Kelly

Went out to Red Wagon Farm on 63^rd Street in Boulder to pick up my CSA box. I’ll admit I feel like it’s an extra step in my day to pick up my box after work. When I get out there though, it’s so peaceful. It’s fun to see the fresh produce and goats. I feel like I can breathe again.

The menu this week was:

– Beets OR carrots
– Hakurei turnips OR scarlet turnips
– Peas
– Kale OR collard greens OR chard
– Arugula
– Garlic

So this week we got arugula, hakurei turnips, beets, swiss chard, garlic and peas.

Since I got home late, we took advantage of the arugula and some already grilled chicken in the refrigerator and game up with one of the most simple, fresh and best salads ever.

Impromptu CSA Salad

4 cups arugula

1 uncooked beet, julienned (as thin as possible)

Handful of lettuce (from our neighbor’s garden) Thanks Lynn & cliff!

Handful of sugar snap peas, chopped

One orange, sections separated into supremes, juice squeezed and reserved from the leftovers

Grilled chicken.

Parmesan

Dressing:

1T olive oil

Reserved Orange juice

Garlic clove

Slice or chop the chicken.

Toss the greens, sugar peas, lettuce with the dressing. Plate the salad and top with the beets, orange supremes, chicken and parmesan.

Enjoy!

~Mary

Indian food is not really on the top of my favorite foods list. I don’t know why, but I just never fell in love with curry. This recipe is definitely an exception for me. Jamie Oliver never fails to impress with his simple and beautiful recipes. I love the spicy lamb and sweet and crunchy carrots. We added some romaine lettuce to make this a meal instead of a starter. We also liked the addition of fruit (grapes from our fridge in this case) for some extra sweetness; green apple peeled like the carrot would be a great addition as well. Such a fresh salad with unique ingredients is a great way to mix things up. Is this one that you will try??

Kelly

The grapes we added were some cool black seedless grapes, they looked like olives but obviously weren’t. This is a great dish when you are bored or in a dinner rut. The only other curry dish I really like is Jamaican Meat Pies from Molly O’Neil’s New York Cookbook also a great dish. Thanks for this one Jaime!

Mary

Indian Carrot Salad

Courtesy ‘Jamie at Home’ by Jamie Oliver

Ingredients
• 1 1/4 pounds good-quality coarsely ground lamb
• 2 teaspoons garam masala
• sea salt
• 1 pound carrots (mixed colors if possible), peeled
• 1 tablespoon sesame seeds
• a small bunch of fresh cilantro, leaves picked
• a small bunch of fresh mint, leaves picked

for the dressing
• 1 teaspoon cumin seeds
• 3 shallots or 1 small red onion, peeled
• zest and juice of 1 lemon
• 1 heaped teaspoon
• freshly grated ginger
• extra virgin olive oil

method

Heat a large frying pan and fry your ground lamb until all the fat comes out of it (you can remove some of the fat if there is a lot). Add the garam masala and a good pinch of salt and give it a stir. Keep frying until the meat is lovely and crispy.

Shave the carrots into long thin strips with a peeler or a mandolin slicer and keep them to one side.

Heat a small frying pan over a moderate heat and toast the cumin seeds for 30 seconds – they will start to smell nutty and gorgeous. You’re not trying to cook the seeds here, you’re just waking their flavors up a bit. Put them into a pestle and mortar and grind them up. Put the pan back on the heat and toast the sesame seeds until golden. Transfer them to a plate.

Slice your peeled shallots or onion wafer thin. As with all salads that contain onion, you don’t want to be coming across great big chunks! If you don’t feel confident about your knife skills, use the coarse side of a box grater instead. This will almost mush your onions to a purée, but at least you won’t come across any big bits. To make your dressing, put the lemon zest and juice into a bowl and add the shallots or onion, grated ginger, ground cumin and a pinch of salt. Whisk everything together with about 5 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil.

Pour the dressing over the carrots, add the cilantro and mint leaves, and mix it all together using your fingers. It’s important that you have a little taste to check whether the dressing needs more lemon juice, oil or seasoning.Divide the crispy lamb between four plates and put the dressed salad on top. Sprinkle with the toasted sesame seeds. Served with naan bread, some yogurt and lemon halves, this makes a great snack!

You will probably see a theme in our food habits in the later part of summer: anything grilled. We grill chicken every week and keep it around to be used in other recipes. It is a great way to keep the kitchen cool and the cooking times down. This recipe was inspired by the ladies at Big Girls Small Kitchen. I was running out of ideas of things to make (not to mention I had limited resources to work with) when I came across their Barley Salad post. Of course, I had no barley, but I did have chipotle and salad stuff; success! This turned out great and I used the dressing on a more basic side salad later in the week and it was still awesome. You could even use it as a marinade…something to try later! In this case, we had some grilled chicken already prepared and mixed some of the salad dressing with some Greek yogurt and tossed the chicken in it. If you are grilling the chicken fresh, you can use any marinade you like and just chop it as is. Let me know what you think!!

Kelly

Grilled Chicken Salad with Chipotle Vinaigrette
Adapted from Big Girls Small Kitchen
Serves 4-6

Dressing Ingredients
1 ½ teaspoons salt
2 tablespoons finely chopped shallot
Juice of 1 lemon
2 teaspoons red wine vinegar
1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
1-2 teaspoons adobo from a can of chipotles in adobo sauce, plus a little chopped chipotle
2 teaspoons honey
¼ cup olive oil
½ teaspoon ground cumin

Salad Ingredients

2 chicken breasts

4-6 cups washed salad greens

1 tomato, diced
1 zucchini

1 cup corn kernels, cut from the cob or defrosted frozen

3 small carrots, sliced in rounds

½ avocado, diced
¼ cup shredded radishes
¼ cup fresh Basil and Mint leaves

Prepare the chicken breasts with salt and pepper, and some of your favorite marinade (we usually use BBQ or teriyaki sauce). Slice the zucchini and sprinkle with olive oil and salt and pepper. Husk the corn. Grill the corn, chicken and zucchini and set aside to cool while the preparing the salad. The corn will take the longest, followed by the chicken and the zucchini will go quickly. When the corn is cool enough, cut the kernels off the cob of 2 ears of corn.

In a bowl, whisk together the shallot, lemon juice, vinegar, mustard, honey, and adobo. Drizzle in the olive oil, whisking as you go, until the dressing is emulsified. Stir in the cumin and remaining 1 teaspoon of salt.

Combine the salad greens, zucchini, corn, tomato, avocado, radishes, and herbs in a salad bowl and toss with the dressing to combine (you may have some leftover).

Chop the chicken and top each salad with a good amount.