Salad

I’m a kale lover and I’m proud of it. Kale is one of the most versatile left greens out there. And if you tell me you’re a kale hater, my response will always be, you’re probably not preparing it correctly. This is my latest favorite, a kale winter salad and it’s a keeper. Simple and […]

Baby greens with manchego and quince vinaigrette, a lovely, simple salad with staying power. From the most basic to complex, for me, salads never get old. There are limitless combinations from basic to bold, and nothing is off-limits. This is a favorite elegant favorite of mine that hinges on the sweet-salty homemade quince vinaigrette that […]

I adore frisée. I love the taste, but truthfully, it’s the name that gets me. This is my frisée and poached egg salad, lightly dressed with a homemade mustard vinaigrette and it’s a staple in my home. This classic French country salad is one I could live on, especially in the summer. What most people […]

This is one of my favorite easy and healthful salads: roasted cauliflower and chickpeas with honey mustard vinaigrette. This wonderful, flavorful cauliflower and chickpea salad is not my recipe; it’s from Half Baked Harvest. I have only lightly adapted the recipe, mainly by reducing the heat factor; the original recipe can be found here. This […]

New favorite alert. This panzanella has got to be one of my all-time favorite new salads. And since it feels like Spring in Northern California today, I just had to post about it. Packed with some of my all-time favorites; radicchio, fennel, olives, cheese, and sourdough bread, this hardy, earthy salad goes together effortlessly in […]

Dark, leafy green vegetables are among the most nutrient-dense foods, and let’s face it, we could all benefit from eating more of them. Some say kale is the “king of greens”, but Swiss chard is equally impressive in its wide array of nutritional benefits. Swiss chard is a leafy green belonging to the goosefoot family, which […]

Not all salads are created equal. Some are complex, with many competing flavors and others are simple and subtle. In the salad world, both are needed. This is a simple one; a lovely butter lettuce and watercress salad with a creamy walnut dressing. Now don’t misunderstand me, by “simple” I don’t mean boring, I mean […]

Mozzarella is an Italian curd cheese made from water buffalo milk, not to be confused with North American buffalo or bison. The Italian Mediterranean buffalo breed was believed to have been introduced to Italy during the Roman times. Because Italian water buffalo are herded in just a few countries (mainly Italy and Bulgaria), most mozzarella you eat […]

Halloumi (or haloumi), is often associated with the Greek island of Cyprus, and is a semi-hard, unripened, brined cheese made from a mixture of goat’s and sheep’s milk and sometimes cow’s milk. Halloumi cheese, is often referred to as a “grilling or frying cheese” due to its high melting point allowing it to be easily […]

Roasted beets with burrata and pistachios: these are a few of my favorite things. There is nothing all that fancy or complicated going on here, just a salad, but a fantastic one. Earthy flavors combined with creamy delicious burrata cheese make the perfect pairing. It’s a simple dish I could honestly live on all year […]

Winter is a wonderful time. Earthy, hearty, beautiful root vegetables are in abundance. But what to do with them?  I say roast them. I love slightly browned roasted vegetables lightly toasted in olive oil. Straight-up, as a side dish, or here, mixed together in a hearty winter salad. This roasted winter vegetable salad hits the […]

Chef and restaurateur Sondra Bernstein, founder of Sonoma’s wildly popular wine country farm-to-table eatery The girl & the fig, is my featured Changemaker for November. Bernstein, whose mantra is “doing one thing is boring,” is someone I have long admired. A one-woman show, Bernstein is credited with “putting Sonoma County on the big-league culinary map 20 years ago […]

Sometimes the origin of food can be surprising. Things don’t always come from where you think they should have. Caesar salad is one of those. One of the most loved salads on the planet, this simple favorite is believed to have been created by an Italian-American restaurateur , Caesar Cardini, in Tijuana, Mexico. The story has […]

My family and I are obsessed with Din Tai Fung, a famous Taiwanese restaurant in at Santa Clara outpost that we frequent.  My husband is the only one of us who has been to Taiwan, which is partly how this obsession began. Once a restaurant opened in our area, we quickly became frequent visitors. For […]

I have not been shy about my love of salads. I am, however, an admitted salad snob. My husband agrees. I like my salads to taste good and to look good. Appearance matters. Making a salad look appetizing should not be that complicated: vegetables in their natural states are inherently pretty, given the variety of […]