Supper Salad: Roasted Sweet Potato and Orange Salad

This salad combines so many flavors that I love, and includes ingredients that provide a lot of nutrients. The recipe makes a lot, too! My husband and I have been eating this one all week. (I have all of the pieces refrigerated separately and toss together individual servings for us each night.)

If you're looking for a filling, yet light, entrée salad, this one will do the trick (perfect for a warm summer night!). I roasted the onions along with the sweet potatoes, and recommend doing the same if you can't handle a lot of raw onions. Roasting brings out the sweetness of the onions and also flavors them with rosemary and garlic.

Roasted Sweet Potato and Orange Salad
(From Cooking Light, December, 2005)
Ingredients
Salad:
1 tablespoon chopped fresh rosemary
2 teaspoons olive oil
3 garlic cloves, unpeeled and crushed
1 1/2 pounds peeled sweet potato, cut into 3/4-inch pieces
3 cups orange sections (about 6 oranges)
1/2 cup vertically sliced red onion
3 tablespoons pine nuts, toasted
1 (6-ounce) bag prewashed baby spinach

Dressing:
3 tablespoons fresh orange juice
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 tablespoon stone-ground mustard
1 tablespoon rice vinegar
1 tablespoon honey
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 garlic clove, minced

Preparation
Preheat oven to 400°F.

To prepare salad, combine first 4 ingredients (Kate also roasted the onions), tossing well. Place potato mixture on a jelly-roll pan lined with parchment paper. Bake at 400°F for 40 minutes, stirring occasionally. Remove from oven; cool. Discard garlic. Combine potato mixture, orange sections, onion, pine nuts, and spinach in a large bowl.

To prepare dressing, combine orange juice and remaining ingredients in a small bowl, stirring well with a whisk. Drizzle dressing over salad; toss gently to coat.

Pom Figs: Dried Fig and Blue Cheese Salad with Pomegranate Vinaigrette

The final piece to our Valentine’s dinner is a new salad that I tried. I wanted to make a salad with some dried figs, and after a bit of searching online, I found this one that also uses blue cheese (a perfect use for the gorgonzola leftover from the steak I made).

The star of this salad is the vinaigrette. The pomegranate juice is tart (and filled with antioxidants!), but the honey sweetens it up a little. You can make the vinaigrette ahead of time. Mine took a while to boil down to one-third of a cup. My husband really liked this salad!

Dried Fig and Blue Cheese Salad with Pomegranate Vinaigrette
(Adapted from Southern Living, Christmas 2007)
Yield: 6 servings
Ingredients
18 dried mission figs
1 (16-oz.) bottle pomegranate juice (2 cups)
2 tablespoons honey
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
¼ teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon freshly ground pepper
¼ cup olive oil
9 cups mesclun salad greens
2 ounces blue cheese, crumbled

Directions
Place figs and pomegranate juice in a medium saucepan; bring to a boil. Reduce heat, cover, and simmer 10 minutes or until figs are softened. Remove figs with a slotted spoon; set aside.

Bring pomegranate juice to a boil over medium-high heat; boil 2 minutes (Kate's took much longer) or until syrupy and reduced to 1/3 cup. Transfer reduction to a bowl; let cool to room temperature.

Add honey and next 3 ingredients to pomegranate reduction; stir with a wire whisk. Gradually whisk in oil.

To serve, divide mesclun greens among 6 serving plates; top each salad with 3 figs. Drizzle evenly with vinaigrette, and sprinkle with blue cheese. Serve immediately.

Make-Ahead Note: Cooked figs and vinaigrette can be stored in refrigerator up to 2 days.

The Way to a Man's Heart: Petite Filet with Gorgonzola and Porcini Mushroom Sauce

Today is “Fat Tuesday” and people in these parts are stuffing their faces with pączkis (pronounced "poonch-kees"). We, on the other hand, are still working on leftovers from our Valentine’s dinner. When I asked my husband if he would mind dining in, I added a steak into the equation and it sealed the deal!

I tried this steak for the first time a couple of years ago, when I made it for my husband and father. They both loved it. During the warmer months of the year my husband will just toss a steak on the grill with a little seasoning. The freezing temperatures and snow piled on top of our grill kept us inside, and this was the perfect indoor steak to make. The creamy mushroom and gorgonzola sauce make it extra special.

You can make the sauce ahead of time, and it makes a good amount. The recipe below has you only cooking one steak, but you can adjust the amount of filets for the amount of people you’re serving. The sauce should easily be enough for 4 servings. If you have leftover sauce (which I did), you can use it for another meal. I put some on a baked chicken breast for my husband to eat the next night. I also think it would be good on a baked potato.

You will want to sear your steak on a very hot pan. I used my Le Creuset 5-Quart Braiser and it browned perfectly. My husband said that the steak had a nice crust on the outside, but was perfectly medium-rare on the inside. Bring you steak up to room temperature before searing it (you do not want it to go directly from the fridge to the frying pan!). You can do this by letting the meat sit on the counter while you make your cheese sauce. On Sunday I served this with some fingerling potatoes, roasted in olive oil, sea salt, and Herbes de Provence.

Petite Filet with Gorgonzola and Porcini Mushroom Sauce
(As seen on Everyday Italian)
Serves: 1 serving
Ingredients
Filet:
1 (4 to 6-ounce) petite filet of beef
Pinch salt
Pinch freshly ground black pepper
3 tablespoons olive oil

Gorgonzola and Porcini Mushroom Sauce:
3 tablespoons olive oil
1 cup dried porcini mushrooms, soaked and strained
1 shallot, sliced (about 2 tablespoons)
1 teaspoon chopped fresh thyme leaves
¼ cup dry white wine
¼ teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
3 ounces (about 3 tablespoons) Gorgonzola cheese
½ cup mayonnaise
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard

Directions
For the sauce:
Heat the olive oil in a medium skillet over medium heat. Add the mushrooms and the shallots and cook until golden brown and tender, about 5 minutes. Add the thyme, white wine, salt, and pepper and continue to cook until all of the liquid has evaporated, about 5 more minutes.

Meanwhile, put the Gorgonzola, mayonnaise, and mustard in a food processor and combine until smooth. Transfer the Gorgonzola mixture to the skillet with mushrooms and shallots. Gently stir the cheese mixture into the mushroom mixture.

For the beef:
Preheat the oven to 350°F.

Sprinkle both sides of the beef with salt and pepper. Heat the olive oil in an oven-safe medium skillet over high heat. When the oil is hot, carefully place the filet in the pan. Cook until browned on both sides, about 3 to 4 minutes a side. Transfer the steak to the oven and bake until a meat thermometer reads 130°F. for medium-rare, about 5 to 6 minutes. Remove the beef from the oven and let rest for 5 minutes.

Slice the beef and serve topped with a dollop of the cheese sauce. Reserve leftover sauce for another use.

Sweet, Spicy & Simple: Sweet-Spicy Glazed Salmon

Salmon is one of my favorite fish, and I always keep some frozen fillets in my freezer. I have two go-to recipes for salmon that are quick and use ingredients that I always have in my kitchen.

One recipe is a rub with Cajun seasoning. The other is a sweet and spicy glaze that comes together so quickly (and with very few ingredients!) and always has a great taste. I’ll interchangeably use Chinese-style hot mustard and wasabi (and since I like my food on the spicy side, sometimes I’ll double up and use both!).

Sweet-Spicy Glazed Salmon
(From Cooking Light, August 2003)
Ingredients
3 tablespoons dark brown sugar
1 tablespoon low-sodium soy sauce
4 teaspoons Chinese-style hot mustard
1 teaspoon rice vinegar
4 (6-ounce) salmon fillets (about 1 inch thick)
Cooking spray
¼ teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

Directions
Preheat oven to 425°F.

Combine first 4 ingredients in a saucepan; bring to a boil. Remove from heat.

Place fish on a foil-lined jelly roll pan coated with cooking spray; sprinkle with salt and pepper.

Bake at 425°F for 12 minutes. Remove from oven.

Preheat broiler.

Brush sugar mixture evenly over salmon; broil 3 inches from heat 3 minutes or until fish flakes easily when tested with a fork.

Everything But The Kitchen Sink: Honey Barbecued Salmon

I’m in the middle of another busy week and am still recovering from my baking mishap last week. While my newest batch of chocolate crunch granola bakes in the oven, I’m going to take a few minutes to type up a lengthy recipe that I tried a few weeks ago.

The Main Street Ventures restaurants have their own cookbook on display in a number of restaurants we’ve been frequenting for many years. It is a collection of gourmet recipes from their prized restaurants across the country. I’ve been eyeing the cookbook for quite sometime, but for some reason I never purchased it.

In December my husband and I joined our very good friends (and their darling baby girl) for a fabulous birthday dinner where they generously gave me this cookbook (along and a lovely bottle of wine). Some of our favorite dishes from the restaurants are in this cookbook, and the photographs of the food are beautiful. I’ve already attempted a couple recipes from the book, and the first one that I tried was their Honey Barbecued Salmon.

The ingredient list is lengthy and the recipe has you throwing everything but the kitchen sink into the barbecue sauce. At first it seems like overkill, but all of these ingredients meld into a deliciously sweet and spicy glaze. Mine was particularly spicy, as I used the entire jalapeño. (I recommend only using the jalapeño flesh and discarding the membrane and seeds if you don’t want it too spicy. If you are sensitive to hot peppers, you should also use rubber gloves when handling them). Since it is the middle of winter and our ground outside is still white, I followed their instructions to bake then broil the salmon. As soon as it warms up we’re going to try this on the grill! If you don’t like salmon, try the sauce with with chicken!

Honey Barbecued Salmon
(From Mainstreet Ventures Distinctive Recipes)
For Salmon:
Ingredients
1 ½ lb. Salmon filet, boneless and skinless
1 ½ cup Honey Barbeque Sauce (recipe follows)
Salt and pepper, to taste

Directions
Preheat oven to 450°F.

Cut salmon filet into 4 equal pieces. Place parchment paper on a 9x12 inch baking sheet pan. Brush both sides of each salmon piece with barbecue sauce. Season with salt and pepper. Bake in oven for 6 minutes, then switch oven dial to broil and cook salmon for 3 more minutes until salmon just flakes.

Brush lightly with sauce prior to serving. Transfer the salmon onto plates and serve with more sauce, if desire.

For Honey Barbecue Sauce:
Ingredients
1 cup ketchup
1 cup honey
¼ cup coarse-grained mustard
¼ cup Jalapeño pepper, minced
2/ Tbs. rice vinegar
½ tsp. Tabasco
3 Tbs. light brown sugar
1 Tbs. curry powder
1 tsp. sweet paprika
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 Tbs. vegetable oil
½ tsp. Worcestershire sauce
1 tsp. lemon juice
½ tsp. ground black pepper

Directions
In a heavy saucepan, stir together sauce and dry ingredients. Bring to a boil and simmer, stirring occasionally, about 15 minutes. Strain the sauce through a fine sieve. Sauce will keep for one week covered and chilled.