Honey Sesame Vinaigrette
The season of bounteous and beautiful salad greens has arrived in force. With our fridge bulging with market lettuces we thought it was time to share one of our favorite dressings: Honey Sesame Vinaigrette. This quick and easy dressing brings warm and zinging ginger flavor, balanced with sweetness from honey and roasted undertones of sesame. Honey Sesame Vinaigrette is also a great base vinaigrette to customize with your favorite fresh herbs: cilantro, mint, Thai basil, green onions, and chives all taste great.
Yield: Approximately 1 1/4 cups vinaigrette
Ingredients:
- 1 clove garlic, crushed
- 1/2 cup rice vinegar
- 1/4 cup soy sauce
- 2 tablespoons honey
- 1 tablespoon water
- 1 tablespoon sesame oil
- 1/4 cup canola oil
- 1 teaspoon fresh ginger, grated
- 1 tablespoon toasted sesame seeds, optional
Steps:
- Place all ingredients in a container with a tight fitting lid, I use a mason jar, and shake until the mixture is emulsified. This vinaigrette will keep refrigerated for 1 week.
Kale and Red Leaf Salad with Apple Mint Vinaigrette
Kale and Red Leaf Salad with Apple Mint Vinaigrette is an unusual and delicious salad that we made this evening with our first spring batch of local green kale. Kale is the quiet gawky kid in the corner who landed the starring role in the school play and never looked back. Kale has a serious following of die-hard fans who devour it in all forms; chips, smoothies, ice cream, brownies, pesto. Kale is a cancer-fighting super-food loaded with beta-carotene, vitamin K, vitamin C, calcium, and antioxidants. To learn about the many ways to use kale and its nutritional value check out Deborah Madison's new book Vegetable Literacy. This Kale and Red Leaf Salad is a tasty example of raw kale serving as a base for this distinctive crisp apple mint vinaigrette.
Tomato Basil Vinaigrette
Spring lettuces have started coming into gardens and farmers markets, and with our fridge currently flush with local greens, we have been experimenting with new vinaigrettes. Tomato Basil Vinaigrette is our recent favorite, and we pour this fresh tasting dressing over everything from steak to grilled vegetables. With a base of pureed fresh tomatoes, spiked with basil's anise and peppery notes, Tomato Basil Vinaigrette eats like a warm summer's day. Tomato Basil Vinaigrette is also a great base dressing to customize with different tomato varieties and fresh herbs; tarragon and rosemary are both delicious.
Crunchy Broccoli Stem Slaw with Hoisin Vinaigrette
We’ve been taking our meals outside and the on the road recently, with sunny skies and weekend trips. This supremely Crunchy Broccoli Stem Slaw with Hoisin Vinaigrette is a portable salad win. We love this slaw for its deeply satisfying crispness, starting the brilliant use of thinly sliced broccoli stems, slivered red cabbage, bright carrots, crunchy peanuts and baked tortilla strips top off this slaw, with a punchy Asian inspired vinaigrette featuring hoisin and ginger. With a base of sturdy veggies, this slaw only improves as it sits, making it a prime work or school lunch, travel salad, or potluck dish. To cut down on prep time, you can grab a bag of pre-cut broccoli slaw mix at your local grocery.
Ginger Sesame Green Beans
We celebrated Labor Day in Connecticut with Paul's brother and sister-in-law with lots of amazing vegetarian food. We left salty breezes behind and arrived back to the hot, humid jungly hills of Pittsburgh last night to a barren fridge yielding a dinner of either hotdogs or green beans. We opted to continue the vegetarian theme of the weekend, and whipped up a batch of these Ginger Sesame Green Beans we have been loving all summer. Spicy, tangy and gingery, these green beans are addictive! Check out our summer bounty round-up for other ideas for summer vegetables.
Baked Tofu & Pickled Vegetable Rice Bowl
Baked Tofu and Pickled Vegetable Rice Bowl is a modern version of one of my childhood favorites. Growing up I was a very picky eater with a limited and perplexing range of favorites. On the top of my list was fried tofu with ketchup, a crunchy and comforting dish. I have happy memories of gobbling mounds of golden cubes dunked liberally with organic green tomato ketchup. To my parents great relief, my eating repertoire has evolved a bit since then, but my love for tofu remains.
Paul on the other hand, has a grown-up aversion to tofu. Whenever I cook with tofu, he expresses a strong concern that I am covertly working to turn him into a vegetarian, his own personal horror! Despite himself, Paul scraped his bowl clean and gives this dish two thumbs up.
