Off The Counter: A Summer Salad

I have this reputation as "the salad queen" that I haven't been living up to lately.  My obsession with kale (which I only like sautéed) may just be the reason.  While visiting family and friends back East, I was reminded of my once salad greatness.  When the first few people we visited asked if we were going to have one of "Debra's salads", I realized I needed to begin preparing them again.

Here's one that combines all my favorite summertime ingredients:  figs, tomatoes, peaches and fresh mozzarella.  Drizzled with honey and chives the salad takes on the fresh, sweet flavor of the season.  Ingredients and instructions below.

Ingredients:

Figs, peaches, tomatoes, fresh mozzarella, honey, chives, olive oil,  rice vinegar and sea salt.

Instructions:  

This salad holds its pretty appearance best if prepared in individual bowls.

Cut the figs, peaches and tomatoes into generous slices.  Lightly salt the tomatoes prior to adding them to the rest of the fruit in the bowls.  Using your hands tear chunks of mozzarella into each bowl.  Drizzle all the ingredients with honey and lightly dress with olive oil and rice vinegar.  Top it off with chopped chives.

Enjoy!

Do YOU have a favorite salad?  If so, do share.

Many, many thanks to LB for her Cambridge hives honey!

Off The Counter: Post Holiday Salad

This week's Off The Counter features 3 of my favorite salad ingredients:  fennel, citrus and kalamata olives.  Combining them results in a refreshingly light salad that splendidly balances hearty winter meals.  Using locally harvested honey and fresh pressed olive oil (both Christmas presents given to us by Alex's West coast cousins), I created a dressing that's both mildly sweet and acidic.  Ingredients and instructions below:

Ingredients:

Blood oranges, grapefruit, fennel, kalamata olives, fresh squeezed blood orange juice, honey, olive oil, salt and pepper.

Instructions:

Thinly slice the fennel, peeled grapefruit and blood orange.  Arrange them on a platter and toss a handful of olives on top.  In a bowl, add olive oil and fresh squeezed blood orange juice.  Whisk in honey to desired sweetness.  Drizzle on top of salad, add salt and pepper to taste.

Many thanks to VK and AK for sharing some of nature's finest gifts with us this season.

What are your favorite salad ingredients?

Honey And Vinyl

We spent our last night before our move with neighbors extracting honey to the tunes of Al Green on vinyl.  With high anxieties and fragile emotions it was exactly what the family needed to get our minds off the change ahead.  The sweet smell of honey, the bitter taste of beer and the sound of a turntable made for a perfect last night in Cambridge.  Take a look a few images from a memorable evening.

Thank you LB & MT.

For the next month while we await the arrival of our belongings at our new home, the kids and I will be spending time in New Jersey with family then heading up to Maine with friends for one last East Coast hooray.    Our one-way tickets to California are booked for July 27th.

I'm looking forward to our adventures but am anxious to get our West Coast life started.