Italian Orzo Salad with Lemon Basil Vinaigrette

We do a lot of salads similar to this, but Justin was specifically craving an orzo salad.  We thought we'd use the cherry and yellow tomatoes out of our garden, as well as the poblanos Justin grew.  (Poblano taste real similar to green bell peppers, and I figured most people are more familiar with bell pepper, so I put that in the recipe.)  What I really love about this salad, though, is the Lemon Basil Vinaigrette!  I so love making my own salad dressings.

I know I just used Op Ivy a few recipes ago, but we were listening to them in the car whilst running errands this morning, and so all day I've been singing "Bombshell".  Actually, I've just been singing the "Oh yeah!" backup vocals part.  I'm really good at that part.  -jen

ITALIAN ORZO SALAD
Time: 40 minutes (mostly just chopping veggies)
Difficulty:  Easy
Makes:  6-7 cups

• 1.5 cups dry orzo pasta
• 4 cups chicken broth
• 1 cups broccoli florets
• 1 cup cucumber, seeded and diced (about 1 medium)* 
• 1 cup cherry tomatoes, halved
• 1/2 cup bell pepper, diced (about 1 small pepper)
• 1/2 cup green onion, diced (2-3 medium onions)
• 1/2 cup carrot, shredded (about 1 medium carrot)
• 1 large clove garlic, minced
• 1/4 cup sun dried tomatoes, diced
• 1/4 cup green olives, rough chopped
• 6 oz mozzarella cheese, small cubed
• 1/2 cup Lemon Basil Vinaigrette (see recipe below)

*  To seed a cucumber:  Cut off both ends.  Cut cucumber lengthwise.  Run a small spoon down the length of the seeds, scooping them out. 

Bring chicken broth to a boil in a large pot.  Stir in orzo and cook 10 minutes, pasta should be al dente.  Drain in a strainer and transfer to a large bowl.  Set aside to cool slightly.  (Good time to cut veggies and make the Lemon Basil Vinaigrette!)

Add all remaining ingredients to cooled orzo and toss.

LEMON BASIL VINAIGRETTE
Time: less than 5 minutes
Difficulty:  Easy
Makes:  about 1/2 cup

• zest of 1 lemon (about 1/2 tbsp)
• juice of 1 lemon (about 3 tablespoons)
• 3 tablespoons olive oil
• 3 tablespoons canola oil
• 1/2 cup basil leaves, packed
• 1 small green onion
• 1 large garlic clove (about 1/2 teaspoon)
• 1/2 teaspoon salt 
• 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
• 1/8 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1/8 teaspoon onion powder
• 1/4 teaspoon Dijon mustard
• 1/4 teaspoon anchovy paste (optional)
• 1/8 teaspoon sugar
• 1.5 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese
• pinch of red pepper flake

Add all ingredients into a blender and blend until combined.

Mexican Four Bean Salad

We'd gotten all the ingredients for Mexican dinner tonight - taco and/or enchilada stuff, ingredients for fresh guacamole, fryin' up some corn tortillas for fresh chips.  But lunch time rolled around, we'd skipped breakfast, and I decided to make 3-bean salad for lunch.  Looking in the fridge, I was staring at all the tasty Mexican ingredients and decided to do a spin on my salad.  It rocked!  I think we're going to use some of it in our tacos or enchiladas tonight!  Way better than refried beans!

Just learned about this band and kind of digging their sound - think I'll check out more.  Latterman singing "We Work the Night Shift".  -jen

MEXICAN FOUR BEAN SALAD
Time:  15-20 minutes
Difficulty:  Easy
Serves:  4-6

• 1 can (15oz) garbanzo beans
• 1 can (15 oz) red kidney beans
• 1 can (15oz) white beans
• 1 can (15oz) green beans
• 2 tablespoons fresh lime juice (about 1 lime)
• 2 tablespoons white wine vinegar
• 1/2 teaspoon Dijon mustard
• 1/2 cup olive oil
• 1 teaspoon Mexican oregano
• 1/2 teaspoon cumin
• 1/4 teaspoon celery seed
• 1/4 teaspoon (4 dashes) green Tabasco sauce
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/8 teaspoon fresh ground black pepper
• 1/2 cup chopped green onions (about 4 medium sized) 
• 3/4 cup chopped red bell pepper (about 1/2 a pepper)
• 1/2 cup chopped green olives (or black if you prefer)
• 1/2 cup cilantro, chopped 
• 2 teaspoons chopped jalapeño (fresh or canned)
• 1 heaping tablespoon minced garlic

Combine all four cans of beans in a colander.  Rinse, then set aside to drain.

In a large mixing bowl, combine lime juice, vinegar, and mustard.  While whisking, slowly drizzle the olive oil in until combined.  Whisk in oregano, cumin, celery seed, Tabasco, salt and pepper.  Add the drained beans to the dressing.  Add green onions, bell pepper, olives, cilantro, jalapeño and garlic.  Toss to coat.  Serve at room temp.

Italian Chopped Salad with Dressing

In keeping with Justin's summer theme on the last post, I made this fantastic summery vegetable salad with a homemade Italian dressing.  I'd been feeling like raw veggies lately, and one thing with veggie salad is that it's usually cut into large pieces that you can fit two, maybe three veggies on the fork.  I wanted this salad chopped a little smaller so that I got all the flavours with every bite.  It reminds me of a large-chopped relish.  But it was really good... especially after it sat refrigerated overnight.  And it's versatile!  The first night, we just ate it in a bowl.  The next night, we sprinkled it onto lettuce greens.  I was thinking it might be tasty warmed and served on crustini, too!

When we make olive oil and vinegar based dressings, we usually just whisk all the ingredients together and you get big bits of dried herbs.  It's always good, but I was thinking about the dressing packets you can buy at the store, so I took all my dry dressing ingredients and blended them into a fine powder with our herb grinder and then used the stick blender to blend it into the oil. It came out good, so you could do it that way... but for the ease of those without herb grinders or stick blenders, I posted regular blender instructions

As soon as I started thinking about posting this salad as a summer salad, I got The Atari's "Boys of Summer" song stuck in my head.  Well really, it's Don Henley's song, I guess, but it's their version that got stuck on repeat.  It's a little poppy... but so was the original, and I still like that one too. :P  -jen


the Ataris - boys of summer by dairygalpal

ITALIAN CHOPPED SALAD WITH DRESSING
Time:  15-20 minutes prep
Difficulty:  Can you handle a knife?
Serves:  About 6, as a side dish

• 3 medium zucchinis (about 2 cups), large dice
• 2 carrots, large dice
• 1 cup grape tomatoes, halved
• 1 orange bell pepper, large dice
• 1 cup crimini mushrooms (about 7), large dice
• 1 medium shallot, diced 
• 3 green onions, diced
• 1/4 cup parsley, chopped
• 1/4 cup fresh basil, chopped
• 1 and 1/2 cups mozzarella (12oz), diced
• 1/2 cup rough chopped green or kalamata olives 
• 1 can (15oz) garbanzo beans, drained
• 1 can (15oz) red kidney beans
  
• 3 teaspoons capers, drained
• 2 teaspoons minced garlic
• 1 and 1/2 cups Italian Dressing (see recipe below)
• 1/4 cup pepperoni, diced (optional)

Place all ingredients into a large bowl.  Toss with dressing.  Serve at room temp.
Note:  I'd have put some fresh herbs in this if I'd had any on hand, but since I didn't, I didn't want to put it in the recipe.  Maybe 1/4 cup chopped basil or flat leaf parsley.

ITALIAN DRESSING
Time:  7 minutes
Difficulty:  E-Z
Makes:  1.5 cups

• 1 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
• 1/2 teaspoon Accent or MSG (optional)
• 1/2 teaspoon granulated sugar
• 1 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1/2 teaspoon onion powder
• 1 teaspoon dried rosemary
• 1 teaspoon dried thyme
• 1 teaspoon dried oregano
• 1/2 teaspoon coriander
• 1/3 cup balsamic vinegar
• 1/3 cup white wine vinegar
• 1 cup olive oil

 In a blender, combine all dry ingredients and vinegars.  While blending, remove the middle spout of your lid (most blender lids have these) and very slowly drizzle in the olive oil so that ingredients emulsify.

Some Summer Sauciness

Jen and I love to try our own BBQ sauces and whatnot as it gives us a chance to learn how to make something we love and it let's us tailor them to our specific likes.  I've played around with a few different "styles" of BBQ and have always had a fondness for fruit sauces that have heat!  I've done some lime chipotle, a few blackberry ones, a blueberry, as well as various vinegar bases and tomato bases, different types of booze to flavor them, and fresh vs dried/powdered ingredients.  This time, I felt like trying to recreate a Raspberry Chipotle that I had years ago.  It came out sweet and smokey with a long slow burn that isn't too strong at all.  Exactly what I was going for!

In addition to BBQ sauce, I recently tried my hand at a mustard dill sauce.  There's a local company here that sells one that residents rave about and it seemed simple enough to mimic the flavors.  It's sweet, sour, and has a strong herbiness to it that regular mustard doesn't have.  Some folks don't dig curry (and I respect that) so just leave the seasonings out if you prefer something like a dill/honey/mustard sauce.  This would go well on a sandwich, or on a bagel with cream cheese, in a wrap, in potato/egg/pasta salad, or whisk with a little olive oil for a quick salad dressing.

Lately, I've been listening to some hardcore punk, some gutter stuff, and some real garage sounding stuff.  During this cooking session, I happened to be blasting some early AFI (whom I've always had a soft spot for because of my high school days and having grown up around various band members) back before they had developed their popular sound and style and thinking that they were absolutely the first punk performance I'd ever seen.  I remember watching them in '93 at the small amphitheater in Low Gap Park and wondering if they'd ever make it big.  Makes me feel glad to have heard them practicing in garages and playing high school parties and stuff back in my youth before they got so big.  Anyway, so here's one of their songs off their first full album Answer That And Stay Fashionable called "Rizzo In The Box". - justin

Mustard Dill Sauce
Time: 10 minutes
Difficulty: A five year old could do it
Makes: 1 3/4 cups sauce

• 1 cup yellow mustard (I used French's but feel free to use stoneground, dijon or whatever you desire)
• 3/4 cup honey or dark agave necter
• 1/2 tsp dried dill
• 1/4 tsp curry powder
• 1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
• 1/8 tsp lemongrass powder or ground coriander

Here's the tricky part.  Just mix it all together.   Store in the fridge or use right away.

Raspberry Chipotle BBQ Sauce
Time: 45min
Difficulty: Medium
Makes: Roughly a quart

• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 1 medium shallot (1/2 cup)
• 1/2 tsp minced garlic
• 6 oz fresh raspberries
• 1/3 cup packed dark brown sugar
• 1/2 cup cider vinegar
• 2 tbsp molasses
• 1/4 cup Worcestershire sauce
• 2 tbsp amaretto (or other booze if you like)
• 2 tbsp yellow mustard
• 1 tbsp chili powder
• 2 tsp fresh ground black pepper
• 1/2 tsp ground allspice
• 1/4 cup tomato paste
• 3 tbsp Chipotles in Adobo, pureed 
• 10 oz Raspberry preserves
• salt and pepper to taste

In a large sauce pan heat oil over medium heat and add shallot, garlic and raspberry when hot.  Sweat until shallot is translucent and raspberries break down, about 5 to 7 minutes.  Add sugar, vinegar, molasses, Worcestershire sauce, amaretto, mustard, chili powder, black pepper, allspice, tomato paste, and chipotles.  Simmer over medium-low heat for 10 minutes, uncovered, stirring occasionally.  Add the raspberry preserves and simmer an additional 10-15 minutes, or until desired thickness is reached.  Puree for a smooth consistency.  Strain through a colander with small mesh if you don't like the seeds.  Refrigerate.