Tag: recipe

Chopped Salad with Chickpeas, Goat Cheese & Avocado

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Image of a white bowl with salad, croutons and a fork.


This recipe is from Lidey Heuck in the New York Times, but appears to also be from Ottolenghi. I made it with raw shallots the first time, but it’s better with the shallots sautéed in a little olive oil first. It’s a really delicious, satisfying salad that also keeps well. Something about the fresh herbs, the warm croutons and the creamy goat cheese is just so good!

Ingredients

2 cups bread, diced into 1/2″ pieces
6 Tbsp olive oil
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 Tbsp grated (or minced) shallots
1 medium butter lettuce, cut into ½-inch pieces (can also use Romaine)
1 (15-ounce) can chickpeas, rinsed & drained
1 medium (or ½ large) English cucumber, halved lengthwise, seeded and diced
½ cup pitted Castelvetrano or other green olives, roughly chopped (about 3 ounces)
1 Tbsp Capers
⅓ cup thinly sliced scallions–about 2 (green onions)
2 Tbsp red wine vinegar
1/4 tsp Dijon mustard
1 avocado, halved, pitted and diced
¾ cup diced or crumbled goat cheese or feta cheese (about 4 ounces)
¼ cup chopped fresh herbs, (I used dill and parsley – you can also use mint or basil.)

Directions

Heat oven to 350 degrees. Place diced bread on a sheet pan, drizzle lightly with olive oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Toss, then bake for 10 to 12 minutes, until well toasted. Set aside to cool.

In a small frying pan, sauté shallots in a little bit of olive oil for a few minutes until softened. Let cool.

Meanwhile, place lettuce, chickpeas, cucumber, olives and scallions in a big bowl.

In the small frying pan, whisk together olive oil with the vinegar, capers, cooled shallots, mustard, ½ teaspoon salt and ¼ teaspoon pepper. Pour over salad and toss well. Add the avocado, feta and herbs and toss gently. Top with the croutons and serve.

Asian Chicken Noodle Soup

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This soup is super fast and very delicious. I started with a recipe from Jamie at drivemehungry.com, but made tweaks based on what I had handy. It was the perfect supper for a cold, wintery day.

I used chicken thighs since I was out of chicken stock, and just added a bouillon cube. If you have chicken stock, you can use that instead and skip the bouillon cube. Jamie mentions that this is a flexible recipe and you could add sautéed veggies, too.

Ingredients

1 lb. boneless, skinless chicken thighs
4 cups water and 1 chicken bouillon cube or 4 cups chicken stock
2 Tbsp olive oil
3 cloves of garlic, smashed
½ inch piece of ginger, smashed in one piece
2 stalks green onions, white parts cut off in 1″ pieces and green parts in 1/4″ rings
½ tsp fish sauce
½ tsp sesame oil
½ tsp chili crisp (use less if you don’t like it too spicy)
salt to taste
½ package of Pho noodles or any really thin noodles, enough for 4 servings
1 Thai red chile, or a red jalapeno, very thinly sliced (also optional)
1/4 cup chopped cilantro leaves

In a stock pot, bring water to a boil and add chicken thighs and bouillon cube. If you really love ginger, you could add the ginger, too. Reduce heat and simmer for around 30 minutes.

Remove chicken to a plate and chop into roughly 1″ pieces. Strain chicken stock from pot into a bowl, discarding the yucky stuff, but saving the ginger for the next step if you used it.

Add olive oil to the pot, and add garlic, ginger and the white parts of the green onion. Sauté for a few minutes until the garlic starts to get brown.

Add chicken stock back in and stir well. Simmer for a few minutes and remove the ginger. (You can leave the onions and the garlic, which gets super sweet.)

Add fish sauce, sesame oil, hot chili oil, chicken and noodles. Cook for just a couple of minutes until the chicken is warmed back up and the noodles are softened. If you’re using a different noodle, follow suggested cooking times. Taste broth and add salt if needed.

Place noodles and soup in a wide bowl and garnish with green onion rings, cilantro and a few thin slices of red chili. Yum!

Vietnamese Tomato Salad

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  • Version #2 with grape tomatoes, cucumbers and cashews.


Saw Emily Paster’s recipe in Midwest Living Magazine and realized I had everything I needed to make it. It’s so good and ready in just a few minutes. The dressing would be great on other fresh veggies, too. It’s really the perfect summer salad and we ate every last drop!

Ingredients
2 Tbsp lime juice
1 Tbsp fish sauce
1 Tbsp honey (or agave nectar or sugar)
1 Thai (or Serrano) chile, seeded and minced
2 Tbsp light olive oil ( or a neutral oil like canola oil)
5 medium plum (or heirloom) tomatoes, sliced
1/4 of a red onion, sliced
1/2 cup chopped fresh herbs – I used regular basil and spearmint, but you can also use Thai Basil and peppermint
1/2 cup dry roasted peanuts, chopped – I used half peanuts and half cashews
1/4 teaspoon flaky sea salt

Directions

For dressing: whisk together lime juice, fish sauce, honey and the chile, then continue whisking whil you slowly drizzle in the oil.

Arrange tomato slices on a large platter. Top with onion, herbs and nuts.

Spoon dressing over salad, sprinkle with flaky sea salt and serve immediately.

Version #2; Used grape tomatoes, with some quartered, sliced cucumbers (about a cup) and used cashews instead of peanuts. It was good, too.

Greek Style Beans with Onions & Spinach

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I found this recipe by The Doctor’s Kitchen, aka Dr Rupy Aujla, on the BBC website. I was incredibly skeptical about these flavors combined, but I have to say I am totally won over.

It’s super satisfying – a very solid healthy main dish, and very quick and easy to make. I made some tweaks, since he uses some ingredients less easily available in the US.

It uses mostly pantry ingredients, but tastes super fresh and delish. Kumy and I had it with naan and we totally devoured it! It’s also great with toast.

Ingredients
2 Tbsp olive oil
1 yellow onion, halved and thinly sliced (red’s fine, too)
½ tsp kosher salt
1/4 tsp freshly ground black pepper
1 can chopped tomatoes, with juice (14.5 oz)
2 tsp honey
1 small dry red chilli, deseeded and broken into chunks
3/4 tsp ground cinnamon
½ tsp paprika
1 tsp dried oregano
1 can Cannellini beans, drained and rinsed, 14.5 oz (Can use any white beans.)
8 oz baby spinach (really big handful)
Feta cheese, crumbled for garnish

Instructions
Preheat oven to 400.

Heat the oil in a large oven-proof frying pan over a medium heat. Add the onion and season with salt and pepper. Cook for 3-5 minutes until softened.

Add the tomatoes, honey, chilli, cinnamon, paprika and oregano. Simmer for a few minutes. Stir in the beans and the greens. Toss the spinach to help it wilt.

Bake uncovered for 20 minutes and serve sprinkled with Feta.