Cucumber Salad

At the beginning of this month we had Dean's brother and sister-in-law, Kevin and Jo, visiting us from the UK.  Although most days we were out and about and my kitchen didn't get a whole lot of use (apart from the place with the big cold box called a fridge where the wine was kept!! :o), one night we did manage to get a wonderful Coho salmon on the BBQ (pop on over to my blog page and you'll see how we ended up with the salmon), and Jo made this wonderful cucumber salad that was the perfect accompaniment to the moist, flaky fish.  I made it again last night and although we still have about nine fillets of salmon in the freezer this time it went beside a fully loaded burger - just as nice :o)

Cucumber Salad

1 large 'English' cucumber
2-3 Tbs salt
6 Tbs olive oil
1 1/2 - 2 tsp herbs of choice (today I used parsley, chives and basil)
3 Tbs lemon juice
pinch of salt and pepper (to taste)

• using a mandolin if you have one, slice the cucumber as thinly as possible.
• placing a sieve over a bowl, layer the cucumber slices into the sieve, sprinkling with the salt between each layer.
• cool in the refrigerator for an hour until the cucumber slices have softened and released a lot of their liquid.
• rinse the slices really well and pat dry using paper towel;  return to the sieve over the bowl and leave in the fridge until you're ready to use.
• meanwhile, in a bowl or small lidded jar mix together the olive oil, herbs, lemon juice and any salt and pepper (to taste).
• once you're ready to serve, pour away any liquid that has accumulated in the bowl, pat the cucumber slices dry again with paper towel and returning them to the dry bowl, cover with the dressing and mix well.
• serve chilled.

 Cucumber Salad ingredients.

slice the cucumber using a mandolin if you have one.

you want the slices to be as thin as possible.

with a sieve over a bowl, layer the slices, sprinkling salt between each layer

while the cucumber slices are 'marinating' mix the dressing ingredients in a bowl, or what I find easier is to pop them all into a small jar, screw the lid on and....

...shake like mad :o)

you'll be surprised just how much liquid comes out of the slices while they're in the fridge.

after they've been in the fridge for an hour, rinse them thoroughly...

...and pat dry with paper towel; pop them back in the sieve over the bowl, and leave them in the fridge until you're ready to use.

pour away the liquid that have accumulated in the bowl and after patting dry once again, mix the cucumber slices with the dressing.

it was just the perfect light salad to go along with our fully loaded burgers.

Veggie Pasta Salad

I came across this recipe on a wonderful food website that I'm constantly perusing called Tasty Kitchen and just knew that a variation of it would be wonderful alongside some beautiful salmon fillets that we bought.  I know it's the middle of winter and believe me we will be having the rib-sticking, like-momma-used-to-make, warm, winter casseroles and stews also this week, but when you've got deep red pacific salmon on your plate you want something light and simple beside it.  This is perfect - and believe me, it will also be coming back out in the middle of summer next to those barbecue ribs and steaks that my hubby (the BBQ master :o) rustles up outside.

Veggie Pasta Salad
6-8 servings
(adapted from this 'Summer Pasta Salad')

dressing
3/4 cup red wine vinegar
3/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
1/2 cup sugar
1 Tbs dried parsley
1 Tbs garlic powder
1 Tbs black pepper
3/4 Tbs salt

salad
2 cups dried elbow or penne pasta (to give you approx 4 cups)
1 large tomato
1 green bell pepper
1/2 cup baby carrots
4-5 green onions

• place all the dressing ingredients into a lidded jar and.....shake, shake, shake :o) - store in the refrigerator until you're ready to use.
• cook the pasta in boiling, salted water as per package instructions.
• meanwhile, chop the tomato, pepper, carrots and green onions to uniform size (I wanted mine fairly small) - these were just the veggies that I had on hand, but use your own favourites.
• when the pasta is cooked, drain and run under cold water to cool and stop it cooking any further.
• in a large bowl, mix together the cooled cooked pasta and veggies until well blended.
• pour about half of the dressing over the pasta and toss well - add more dressing if you want.
• keep covered in the refrigerator.

Veggie Pasta Salad ingredients.

dressing ingredients.

place all the dressing ingredients into a lidded jar.

pop on the lid and give it a good shake; put in the refrigerator until you want to use it.

cook the dried pasta in boiling water.

run the cooked pasta under cold water to stop it cooking further and cool it down.

chop all the veggies.

mix all the veggies and cold pasta together.

pour some dressing over the pasta and mix well - I couldn't resist spooning out a small bowl of it to eat straight away - I promise the rest went into the refrigerator ready for dinner and left-overs :o)

Raspberry Vinaigrette

I will admit to giving in to the plethora of pre-bottled vinaigrettes and salad dressings that are available out there - on many occasions.  Everything from the no name grocery store brand to the top of the price range designer brand (and not tasting all that much difference sometimes), but today I came across this raspberry vinaigrette in La Dolce Vegan by Sarah Kramer, and thought I'd give it a try.  After all I still have an enormous amount of raspberries in the freezer from a large harvest that we purchased back in the summer from one of our local wineries.

Raspberry Vinaigrette
yields about 1/2 cup

1 cup unsweetened frozen raspberries
3 Tbs sugar
2 Tbs olive oil
1 Tbs flax oil (or hemp, grapeseed oil) - I didn't have any of these, so omitted the second oil - still came out delicious :)
1 Tbs red wine vinegar
1/2 tsp tamari

• in a medium saucepan, bring raspberries ans sugar to a boil, stirring constantly.
• boil 1-2 minutes and remove from the heat.
• place a fine mesh strainer over a small bowl and strain the raspberry mixture, discarding the seeds.
• add the oils, vinegar and tamari; stir together well and refrigerate before serving.

 Raspberry Vinaigrette ingredients

there would of been one more raspberry, but I sneakily ate one on it's way to the pan.

(it's like sucking on a sweet raspberry ice cube :)

keep stirring continually so they don't burn - the smell is amazing.

use a fine mesh sieve because the seeds are tiny and you don't want any in the dressing.

I find that if you pour the finished vinaigrette into a bottle or jar, with a lid, you can give it a good shake just before you serve it.

shake, shake, shake.....shake, shake, shake

I used the raspberry vinaigrette over a simple green salad, along side a prosciutto wrapped salmon fillet and some soft french bread that we had left over.

Coleslaw Dressing

A lot of coleslaw's are pretty much the same ingredients, albeit in different quantities and combinations, but most of the pre-packaged ones that I've come across are a bit too mayonnasey (is that even a word :), for my taste.  Don't get me wrong, I love mayo as much as the next gal, but if there's too much of it in a dressing I find that I can't taste anything but mayo.  This one is from a wonderful vegan cookbook called La Dolce Vegan (I substituted Miracle Whip for the vegan mayo), and it's sweet and tart and delicious!!!

Coleslaw Dressing
makes approximately 1 cup

3/4 cup mayonnaise (as I said I used Miracle Whip
1/4 cup red wine vinegar
1 Tbs sugar
1 Tbs fresh parsley, minced (I didn't have any fresh so I used 1 tsp of dried - worked great)
1 tsp dried oregano
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp ground black pepper

• whisk everything in a bowl or put everything in a jar with a lid and shake.

 coleslaw dressing ingredients.

for ease I bought a bag of pre-cut coleslaw vegetables, but I only make up a little at a time using a couple of tablespoons of dressing - that way the vegetables stay crispy which I like.