Day 852 : My new summertime salad obsession

When it's 93 degrees out, the idea of a crisp and fresh salad just sounds fabulous with an herbaceous and light glass of white wine, right?

My current go-to salad is a pretty simple melange of ingredients but is bright and lively and hits the spot on a day like today!

What goes into my summertime salad?

Baby Spinach
Fresh Basil
Steamed corn
Sliced cucumbers
Cilantro
Sauteed Zucchini
Pine Nuts
Cypress Grove Psychedillic Chevre - Fresh chevre infused with dill pollen that adds a fabulous aromatic herbaceous tangy-ness to the salad.
Sea salt
Black Pepper
Homemade vinaigrette (Dijon mustard, Apple cider vinegar, EVOO, 1/4 sauteed shallot, lemon juice)
Young Goat Gouda

First step is to steam your corn and once it is finished, remove the corn kernels from the cob. While preparing your corn, dice up a zucchini and place with some EVOO and sea salt in a saute pan over low heat. Cook till golden brown. While that is on the stove, combine in a big salad bowl your corn, diced cucumbers, pine nuts, diced cilantro and crumbled Cypress Grove Chevre. Next up add your spinach and basil to the mix. Mix together and then add in your sauteed zucchini. Drizzle your homemade vinaigrette over the top and mix together. Lastly top with a nice amount of grated Young Goat Gouda for a fresh, crisp, tangy, goaty milky finish to this wonderful summertime salad!

Enjoy folks!

Day 783 : A Springtime Salad

The days are longer, the flowers are blooming, ramps are in season, and its time for rose wine!

At this time of year I get very excited about everything green and fresh and just can't get enough of it! So I thought I would utilize some of my fresh greens to craft an herbaceous, flavorful and alive salad to go with that glass of Rose wine that just works perfectly at this time of year.

What's in this simple salad?

Arugula
Sugar snap peas
Perisan Cucumber
Fennel
Fennel branches
Asparagus tips
The Amazing Real Live's Stella Vallis Tomme
EVOO
Butternut Squash seed oil
A dollop of mustard
Sea Salt

Dice up a quarter of a fennel bulb, some of the branches, one Persian cucumber and then a big handful of sugar snaps really small. Place these in the bowl with the arugula. Lightly saute a handful of diced asparagus tips with some EVOO, Maille Dijon Mustard, and sea salt for about five to six minutes so that the asparagus is still crunchy and flavorful. While your asparagus is cooking crumble a nice handful of Stella Vallis Tomme into the salad. Top with your asparagus and a small drizzle of EVOO and an even small drizzle of Butternut Squash seed oil. Mix together and you are ready to go with your rose and your salad.