Honey Tangerine Dressing

This is amazing on a Romaine and Apple Salad—subtly flavored, not overly sweet, and so light that the olive oil almost disappears.

Chop up some Romaine lettuce (purists may rip the leaves apart); peel, core, slice and acidulate some apples (I like Fuji) to prevent browning, add some crispy, crunchy cucumbers, and toss everything in about a third of a cup of dressing … not too much now!

This recipe makes one cup. You’ll have plenty leftover to keep in the fridge.

Ingredients 

• DIJON MUSTARD, 1 teaspoon
• HONEY, 1 tablespoon
• GARLIC, 1 small clove, minced
• SHALLOT, 1½ teaspoons, minced fine
• TANGERINE JUICE, freshly squeezed, ⅓ cup
• WHITE WINE VINEGAR, 1 tablespoon
• SALT and PEPPER, to taste
• OLIVE OIL, ⅔ cup

Directions 

1. Briskly combine all the ingredients in a large bowl.
2. Slowly add the olive oil, whipping very briskly until everything is emulsified evenly.

And that’s it!

Hawaiian Pasta Salad

This is a wonderfully light, cold, tasty and filling dinner with very little work involved—most of it is chopping. I didn’t have bow-tie pasta and I didn’t want to go shopping, so I used some left-over rotini pasta.

Advisory: This recipe makes a helluva big bowlful, enough to feed at least 6 people.

Ingredients

• ROTINI or BOW-TIE PASTA, 8 ounces
• PINEAPPLE (CRUSHED), 1 14-ounce can, juice reserved
• RED PEPPER, 1, diced
• HAM, 2 cups, diced
• GREEN ONION, 1, chopped
• PINEAPPLE CHUNKS, 1 14-ounce can, for topping

Dressing

• MAYONNAISE, ½ cup
• SOUR CREAM, ¼ cup
• DIJON MUSTARD, 1 tablespoon
• PINEAPPLE JUICE, ⅓ cup
• CIDER VINEGAR, 1 teaspoon
• HONEY, 1 teaspoon
• GARLIC POWDER, ¼ teaspoon
• BLACK PEPPER to taste

Directions

1. Cook the pasta.
2. Chop the red peppers, ham and green onions.
3. Add the pineapple and mix.
4. Make the dressing.
5. Mix everything together and refrigerate to cool and meld the flavors.

Classic Louis Salad Dressing

For a classic Seafood Louis Salad, serve this dressing with a plateful of shredded lettuce, thinly sliced (diagonally) celery, wedged tomatoes, halved hard-boiled eggs, pitted American olives, and cold shrimp and/or crab meat.

Make a lot of the dressing, more than you need. If you have any left-over, use it another time. It's great as a tartar sauce substitute. This recipe makes about ¾ pint.

Ingredients 

• MAYONNAISE, 2 cups
• CHILI SAUCE, ½ cup
• COCKTAIL SAUCE, ½ cup
• WORCESTERSHIRE SAUCE, 1½ teaspoons
• GREEN ONION, 2 tablespoons, minced or grated
• FLAT LEAF PARSLEY, 2 tablespoons, finely chopped
• PREPARED HORSERADISH, 1½ teaspoons

Directions 

1. Blend everything together until smooth and well-combined.
2. Refrigerate a few hours until well-chilled.

Namasu

Easy pleasey recipe for a favorite Japanese side dish – sweet and sour (vinegary) pickled cucumber, with carrot and daikon thrown in for good measure.

No cooking required, just a lot of thin-slicing.

Ingredients 

• CUCUMBER, 1 large English or 2 Japanese
• CARROT, 1 medium, skinny
• DAIKON, ½ small
• VINEGAR, ¼ cup white, ¼ cup rice wine
• SUGAR, ¼ cup
• SALT, ¼ teaspoon
• GINGER, 2 teaspoons grated

Preparation 

1. Cut the cucumber in half lengthwise, remove seeds, and peel strips lengthwise off of each half.  Slice the cucumber into ¼-inch pieces and set aside.
2. Peel the carrot and daikon and slice thinly.
3. Mix the sugar and salt into the vinegar until they dissolve, then add the ginger until dissolved.
4. Combine everything in medium size bowl. Cover and refrigerate for at least 1 hour.

Summer Salad

This is a pretty refreshing side dish. For a less-spicy salad, remove the seeds and ribs from the jalapeño peppers.

There was no lump crab available at the supermarket when I went shopping for the salad ingredients, so I substituted some Japanese surimi (“SOO-ree-mee,” imitation crab). It was fine. Not excellent, but fine.

I suppose shrimp would do just as fine.

Ingredients

• LUMP CRAB, 12 ounces
• GRAPE TOMATOES, 1 pint, cut in half
• HAAS AVOCADO, 1 diced
• JALAPEÑO PEPPERS, 2 diced fine
• CORN KERNELS, 1½ cups roasted
• RED ONION, 1/3- cup chopped
• LIME JUICE, 2 tablespoons
• HONEY, 1 teaspoon
• OLIVE OIL, 2 teaspoons
• CILANTRO, 2 tablespoons chopped
• SALT and PEPPER to taste

Directions

1. In a small bowl, combine red onion, pinch of salt and pepper. Let stand least 5 minutes to mellow the flavor of the onion.
2. In a large bowl, combine chopped crab meat, tomatoes, avocado, jalapeño pepper and corn.
3. Combine all the ingredients together, add cilantro and gently toss.
4. Make a vinaigrette with the lime juice, honey and olive oil. Pour over the vegetables and gently toss.
5. Adjust with more lime juice, salt and pepper to taste.

Insalata Caprese

One of my favorite salads is Insalata Caprese, more commonly referred to by its English name – Caprese Salad (or, “salad in the style of Capri”).

I forget when I first discovered this salad, but once I did, there was no stopping me once I saw it on an Italian restaurant menu. Plus, it’s so easy to make. Nothing to it, just get the right ingredients and arrange them on a plate.

If the basil leaves are limp when you buy them, refresh them by placing in iced water and they will perk up.

Ingredients

·         ROMA TOMATOES, as many as you like, estimating one per diner

·         MOZZARELLA CHEESE, one ball, soft and moist

·         FRESH BASIL LEAVES

·         OLIVE OIL, extra virgin top quality

·         BALSAMIC VINEGAR (optional), aged, from Modena if possible

·         SALT and PEPPER to taste

Directions

1.       Slice the tomatoes into rounds, approximately 3/8 of an inch thick.

2.       Slice the mozzarella cheese into rounds, about the same as the tomatoes.

3.       Chiffonade some of the basil leaves.

4.       Arrange the tomatoes, cheese and basil in alternating layers.

5.       Sprinkle with olive oil (and balsamic vinegar), then salt and pepper to taste.

6.       Arrange a few basil stem tips and leaves on the plate as decoration.