sizzlin' grillin' and saladz

It. is. so. hot. UGH!

Don't get me wrong, I love me some summer.  But the humidity is killing me, I feel like an old lady out there!

What better way to act out my inner old lady than to make... potato salad! and other various items :)  But first...

This week I received my final delivery from Green Earth Organics.  Bananas, ON spinach, ON zucchini, ON leaf lettuce, ON yellow potatoes, 2 ruby red grapefruit (um, hello.... it's raspberry season!), ON red radishes (for the 2nd time - I'm radished out), ON green onions (wilted), QC Hot house tomato (delicious...best tomato I've had all year!), ON bunched carrots (for the 2nd time - still haven't touch the first batch), and 3 spartan apples (delivering apples in July is a sin).  Pretty boring eh?

On the plus side, the newsletter I received with my box this week had details about a new delivery option - a '100 km Harvest Bin'! Neato mosquito!  The bin will be 100% local all year round.  Good luck in the winter! Summer is a great time to start though, and they maintain that while winter may include less variety, customers will receive an abundance of in-season fruit when it does become available.

On to some food!  There have been sammers and salads galore on regular rotation recently.  I can't bring myself to hear the clicking of my gas stove lighting on a 30+ degree day, air conditioning or not!

Here are a couple of no recipe salads that were big hits at a party over the weekend.

Cheese Tortellini Greek (inspired) Salad

Ingredients:

• 1 package of fresh cheese tortellini (I really like the whole wheat herb and cheese variety, but I was making a huge batch, and it's double the price of the Ziggy's brand.).
• 1 pint of grape tomatoes - halved
• 1 green pepper - chopped
• 1/2 red onion, slice very thinly
• 100-150 grams of feta cheese - crumbled
• Optional black olives

Dressing

• 1 part red wine vinegar
• 3 parts EVOO
• 1 tsp dijon mustard
• 1 Tbsp-ish of dried herbs (oregano, basil, rosemary, thyme)
• s&p

Directions:

1. Prepare cheese tortellini as directed (in salted water) and and rinse immediately in cold water to stop the cooking process. Set aside until cool.  To stop the noodles from sticking together while cooling, toss them in a few tsp of EVOO
2. Meanwhile chop your veg, whisk your dressing together, and combine with the noodles until coated. Keep a few Tbsp of dressing reserved to toss the noodles in just before serving.  This salad has a tendency to soak up all the dressing as it sits.
3. Eat and enjoy! 

Creamy Feta and Dill Potato and Pea salad

How beautiful is this salad? I used red new potatoes, steamed them whole, cooled them in the fridge over night and then sliced them in half.

I'll try to remember all the details of the salad.  I LOVE dill potato salad so much, but I actually don't have a recipe for it, I wing it every time, and every time, it just works!

Ingredients:

• a bunch of new potatoes, steamed, cooled and sliced in half (however many you want!)
• a cup or so of fresh shelled peas (available now in the produce aisle!) - blanched for a couple of minutes in boiling until bright green. Run them under cold water to stop the cooking process.
• 1/3 cup-ish of chopped FRESH dill
• 1/3 red onion, sliced very finely

Dressing

• 1 part plain yogurt (1/2 cupish)
• 1 part mayo (1/2 cup)
• Juice from 1/2 a lemon
• 50 g(ish) of feta cheese
• 2 tsp dijon mustard
• s&p to taste

Tweak all of the ingredients to your taste.  Sometimes I also add sugar to the dressing, because I just feel it's missing a little somethin'.  This salad was creamy (potatoes and dressing!), and packed with fresh dill flavour. You may see a couple more versions of it posted sometime this summer.

Friday night Port Ribs and Grilled Mixed Veg

Now I would be breaking my secrecy vow if I were to tell you how these ribs were made.  A Rory special.  They were special in two ways.   First, they were perfectly cooked - tender and moist. Second -
they were scorching hot! A raging inferno in our mouths! Rory but together a no-recipe dry rub, and used cayenne pepper as though it were any ordinary spice.  He learned his lesson ;)
The veg were tossed in s&p (and could've used a couple more shakes), balsamic vinegar, and birch syrup (like maple syrup, from a birch tree - a gift from my brother and mary his gf).  We enjoyed our ribs and veg with the tortellini salad (above) and some nice cold Bud Light Limes on a beautiful Friday evening in the backyard. Heavenly.

Spinach and Toasted Almond Pesto Chicken Pasta 

This one was inspired by a beautiful bunch of ON spinach.

Pesto Ingredients:

• 1 bunch spinach 
• 1/3 cup of slivered almonds, toasted in a heavy bottomed frying pan until golden brown (this is a crucial step for flavour! you MUST toast the almonds)
• 2 cloves garlic (1 would've been enough though!)
• EVOO
• s&p (lots of seasoning! I didn't season mine quite enough.

Directions:

1. zip all those ingredients above up in a food processor until you get a pesto like consistency (how's that for detail?!)
2. cook your pasta as directed
3. sautee a couple of chicken breasts, or use rotisserie chicken, or whatever!
4. toss it all together over low heat for a minute or two, sprinkle with parmesan (or in my case, smother with parmesan!)
5. and enjoy!

Fresh, healthy, satisfying! We had this with a simple salad (leaf lettuce, radishes, cumcumber, balsamic vinaigrette).  The pasta would be even better with a sweet component - roasted grape tomatoes, sun dried tomatoes, roasted red peppers etc. Try it! Better yet, make up your own pesto! It's so simple, and very impressive :)

Happy eating fellow foodies! Will try to post again soon! New delivery service soon...stay tuned!