Tuesday, July 24, 2007

Two Great Summah Salad Recipes

Up at Kezar on Friday night we had a fantastic summer menu: grilled steak tips and two light salads, fresh warm bread and sangria. The two salads complimented each other and the steak perfectly.

I contributed nothing to the dinner, but a bit of manual labor and a willingness to clean my plate and empty my glass (a couple of times for both, as I recall). Compliments of my two friends and wonderful cooks, Joan and Doreen, here are the salad recipes(the first I've reprinted exactly as Joan emailed it to me):

Green Salad with Basil, Pear and Parmesan

Use any type of greens that you like. I used a Spring mix and added a bit of curly green lettuce. Add fresh basil leaves--again it is personal preference as to how much basil. I used a whole package--one of those small prepackaged ones from the supermarket.


Add cut up pears --I used bosc pears, but could use anjou or similar ones I would think. I used 2 for the amount of salad I made for the six of us.


Before serving add candied walnuts...I just threw in a couple of handfuls.... (as you can see, with this salad, you can take a lot of liberties.)


Pour dressing over the salad right before serving and add shaved parmesan cheese...whatever looks right.


Dressing:

1/2 cup white balsamic vinegar

1 TBSP sugar (I think I used a little more than that)

1 tsp. Jane's Crazy Salt

1/2 tsp. pepper

2 TBSP Olive oil (I think I used a bit more than 2 TBSPs.

Shake vigorously in a jar.

Pasta Salad with Tomatoes, Basil and Cheese
12 oz. medium shells or rigatoni
1 clove garlic
4 oz. Havarti, cut into cubes
1 lb. tomatoes cut into cubes
1/2 cup fresh basil leaves, chopped
1/4 cup thinly sliced green onion
2 Tbs. olive oil or more to taste
1/2 tsp. salt, 1/4 tsp. fresh pepper
grated Parmesan cheese

Cook pasta according to package directions. Drain and drizzle with olive oil. Set aside.
Rub the inside of a large bowl with the garlic (cut). Add cheese, tomatoes, basil and green onion to bowl and drizzle with olive oil.
Add mixture to pasta, toss to blend then add the grated Parmesan to the top of the salad.

Can be served warm or cold (we had it cold).


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