This is a quick, easy, and delicious dish for using leftover pork roast.
We’ve just returned from a trip back to Kansas to move my mom out of her assisted living apartment and into the nursing home. An exhausting whirlwind trip which left us mentally and physically worn down.
I’m sure hoping you’ll sit up and take notice and give this one a try very soon. And preferably on a work week evening for a quick easy meal that just happens to end up on your plate as restaurant-quality delicious. Now that’s a treat that deserves a standing ovation.
This is just a quick post with another great big little summer salad recipe.
I’ve been out of town this week drenching myself in alpine tranquility, lazy mountain lake strolls, wildflower meadows and campfired evenings on our first trip of the season to the high country.
Knowing the trip was going to be another fatstravaganza food event, I took it easy before we left and whipped up this delicious summer salad.
As you can imagine after my Memorial Day fat-stravaganza I’ve been preparing on the light side this week and spending a lot of time browsing the vegetable isles.
I can’t tell you how many times I passed this beautiful and mysterious display of “baby artichokes” wanting to bring them home and swaddle them in some sort of sauce, but honestly I didn’t have the foggiest idea how to prepare them.
By luck, I ran across an article and recipe for them in Bon Appetit Magazine and b-lined it up to Whole Foods to grab the next to last package of these adorable little veggies.
Bon Appetit tells me that baby artichokes aren’t babies at all but are full-grown veggies that are found on the lower part of the plant. They are more tender and easier to clean than their big brothers.
So let’s get started.
Bring large saucepan of salted water to boil. Fill large bowl with cold water and squeeze juice from one lemon into water.
Working with one artichoke at a time, pull off all dark green outer leaves until only tender inner yellow leaves remain.
Cut off top tip of artichoke.
Cut off stem and trim around stem base of artichoke.
Cut artichoke lengthwise in half and immediately drop into lemon water to prevent discoloration. Repeat with remaining artichokes.
In the meantime, cut the tough ends off a one pound bunch of asparagus.
Drain artichokes then add to saucepan of boiling water. Blanch 3 minutes. Drain again. Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Line 2 rimmed baking sheets with foil. Place artichokes on one and asparagus on the other. Drizzle with olive oil, sprinkle with salt and pepper and toss to coat. Roast asparagus for about 8 minutes and artichokes for about 15.
Adapted from Bon Appetit Magazine
With the aioli in the middle I arranged the artichokes, asparagus some sliced yellow bell pepper and some cold boiled shrimp. This is a great aioli recipe and a fresh and delicious start to the week.
Roasted and Fresh Vegetables, Cold Boiled Shrimp with Aioli Sauce…
It’s Just What The Doctor Ordered After Memorial Day.
1 year ago: Flank Steak with Onion Marmalade
I know this doesn’t look like much, but please believe me, it is “much”!
Maybe I should have put a shiny fork across the salad bowl. But not to fret, I’ll have plenty more photography chances with this one as I’ll definitely be serving it up over and over.
I found this on Sunday while leisurely catching up on food magazine reading. You see, I have this pile of food magazines next to the bed that can get quite unruly if I get behind on my reading. My husband calls it the “Rat’s Nest”.
Currently in the Rat’s Nest, you’ll find Food and Wine, Bon Appetit, Saveur, Sunset, The Food Network Magazine…Oh, I guess you can count Wine Spectator too, since some of those wineries can put out some great little recipes here and there.
I’ve been wanting to prepare lamb since Easter and haven’t done it, so this recipe with its interesting combination of lamb and cumin vinaigrette promptly received a sticky note to mark its location.
This salad is as texturally interesting as it is in flavor. Matchstick pieces of jicama, cucumber and carrot all with different levels of “crunch” make a fabulous combination as well as looking quite pretty. And tossed with that Cumin Vinaigrette…Lordy! Delicious. So delicious that you almost forget about those tender slices of grilled leg-0-lamb until they melt in your mouth with flavor. Did I mention easy? Especially easy using a mandolin for those matchsticks. Take a look:
I love Chef Sang Yoon’s comment for this creation: “Lamb seasoned with cumin is very Indian, as well as Sichuan and Yunnan. But no one in Asia would serve lamb on a salad; that’s just me being Californian”.
You’ll find the recipe below, or hop on over to http://www.foodandwine.com/recipes/grilled-lamb-salad-with-cumin-vinaigrette to add it to your “favorites” over at foodandwine.com. It’s really a more high tech method for marking recipes you want to try. 
Grilled Lamb Salad With Cumin Vinaigrette, by Sang Yoon, February 2010 Issue, Food and Wine Magazine:
