sel et sucre

Category: entrees

  • Balsamic Steak Salad with Pickled Cherries and Blue Cheese

    balsamic steak salad

    You may take a look at this photo, then at the title of the post, and back, noticing that I left off a crucial ingredient when photographing this salad – the blue cheese. As soon as I sat down to eat it, I knew something wasn’t quite right. Once I added the cheese, the flavors came together perfectly. Umami-laden balsamic-marinated steak, sweet and tart pickled cherries, and tangy blue cheese ensure all your taste buds get involved with each bite. With, of course, a little crispness from cucumbers and crunchiness from walnuts. So imagine that there are pretty blue-veined crumbles scattered atop the salads in the photo, and don’t forget the blue cheese – although you can substitute with goat cheese for a milder take, if you’re not a fan of blue cheese.

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  • Roasted Cabbage with Soy-Glazed Shiitake Mushrooms

    roasted cabbage with soy-glazed mushrooms

    The past three months in Buenos Aires have been an exciting time for me – getting adjusted to a new city, learning Spanish, and settling into a new food routine (an amazing verduleria down the street for fresh, great quality vegetables when I feel like cooking and a cheap empanada place for when I don’t). But I’m taking a little break now from Argentina to check out Montevideo for a month. As I was preparing to leave, one of the main things I focused on was cleaning out my kitchen, and this recipe was great for the half head of cabbage rolling around in my refrigerator and the dried shiitake mushrooms sitting in the back of my cabinet. I’m already a big cabbage fan, but roasting cabbage just might be my new favorite preparation. As with most vegetables, roasting draws out the natural sweetness of cabbage and makes it easy to eat a lot of without even thinking about how healthy it is. I brushed the cabbage with sesame oil to pair with the Asian flavors of the shiitake mushrooms which are cooked in their soaking water along with soy sauce and sugar, boiling down to a flavor-packed glaze. Not a bad way to use up the last of some basics on my kitchen – now it’s time for me to start stocking up my new place.

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  • Sun-dried Tomato Polenta

    sun-dried tomato polenta

    I’ve never cooked polenta before, but recently I found myself browsing recipes for it and wondering more and more why I hadn’t yet given it a shot. I especially loved the idea of the solidified form with a still creamy interior. Despite being my first attempt, I found it quite easy to throw together (though I’ve heard it can be made even easier by cooking it in the oven – which is probably what I’ll try next time). I’ve been really into sun-dried tomatoes lately so I tossed some in. Not only do they look gorgeous studded through the polenta, but they add great bits of texture and concentrated flavor. I also, on a whim, added a little dried mint – just enough to add a subtle unusual twist (that you wouldn’t even necessarily guess was mint) without being overpowering. The result is polenta that works great as a snack on its own and can also be served with various stews, topped with a fried egg and grated parmesan, or cut into smaller pieces and used on top of a salad.

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  • Roasted Broccoli and Sun-dried Tomato Salad

    roasted broccoli and sun-dried tomato salad 1

    I’ve long been a proponent of roasting vegetables – it’s an easy way to enhance their flavor without even needing to add anything (other than a little olive oil and a pinch of salt). But I don’t think I’ve posted any recipes before with roasted broccoli. It’s a great focal point for a salad like this, where the concentrated flavors are well-complemented by the intense umami of sun-dried tomatoes. A simple balsamic honey reduction adds sweetness. Hard-boiled eggs add a great additional texture and help to balance the other strong flavors (although I think this salad would still be quite good as a vegan version without them). I can never resist putting nuts, seeds, and dried fruit on my salads, and this is no exception, with almonds, sesame seeds, and raisins rounding things out here. All together, the ingredients make for a sophisticated and delicious salad, with more than enough components to make it a satisfying meal.

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  • Black Bean Kimchi Quinoa Salad

    black bean kimchi quinoa salad

    Okay, I know I just posted about quinoa bibimbap, and yet here I am posting another recipe using both quinoa and kimchi. But this recipe doesn’t follow traditional Korean flavors; instead, there’s great fusion going on here with the incorporation of black beans and zucchini. In fact, you could take this recipe even further from your usual Asian flavors by seasoning it with a more traditional salad dressing instead of the mix of rice wine vinegar, soy sauce, sesame oil, and brown sugar I use here. The black beans and zucchini are a surprisingly good match for the fermented flavors of the kimchi, and the overall effect is a great meal option that’s healthy but not boring.

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  • Quinoa Bibimbap

    quinoa bibimbap

    On Monday, I posted a great recipe for when you don’t have the time or energy to cook something elaborate. By contrast, here’s a complex recipe – for when you do feel like dedicating some time to the kitchen. Bibimbap is a classic Korean dish with a rice base and various vegetables as toppings. There are a lot of components here, but you can make this easier on yourself by preparing some ahead of time or omitting some. Or you can get creative and add different components using whatever you have on hand (bell peppers and zucchini, for example, are commonly used).

    quinoa bibimbap

    I stayed mostly traditional with the components here, with two main differences from the bibimbap you may have encountered before. For one, I omitted bulgogi (Korean barbecued beef) for a vegetarian version – you can add it back in, if you’re a meat-lover, or conversely, go a step further, and omit the fried egg and kimchi (or use a vegan kimchi) for a vegan version. For another, intead of rice, I used quinoa, mixed with chia seeds, as a substitute. Quinoa is a favorite of mine – a lot healthier than rice with a bit of a nutty flavor – and the inclusion of chia seeds helps to create a nice, sticky texture (while adding even more health benefits). Of course, using rice will also work just fine. However you customize this recipe, it’s a fun kitchen experiment and a tasty way to eat fresh veggies.

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  • Black Bean and Corn Salad

    black bean and corn salad

    On some days, it feels like a burden to cook something, especially something healthy. I want to be creative, to dedicate time to an elaborate recipe, but can’t stand the idea of actually doing so – there are lots of other more important (or just more exciting!) things to do. But we all need to eat, and a tasty dish can be easy as this salad. A fresh mix of black beans, corn, and diced vegetables, pulled together by lime juice and Mexican spices. Even with the chopping, it only takes fifteen minutes or so to throw together. And this recipe is incredibly versatile – serve it as a salad over lettuce (as pictured here), mix it with rice or quinoa for a twist on a burrito bowl, or use it as a side to accompany fish, meat, or grilled vegetables. Make this, and then you can quickly get back to everything else you have to do, with a delicious and healthy meal fueling you!

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  • Roasted Strawberry Quinoa Salad

    roasted strawberry quinoa salad

    Ever since I first heard of roasting strawberries, I’ve been waiting for a chance to try it out. Since strawberries are starting to show up around here, I tossed a pound of them with balsamic vinegar and threw them in the oven. The result is wonderfully concentrated flavor, perfect for savory or sweet applications. I chose to use them in this savory salad with quinoa. The quinoa is a great foil to the strawberries, absorbing their juices and providing a good base for the salad, along with spinach. Walnuts on top for crunch and blue cheese to balance the sweetness of the strawberries make this salad a winner. It comes together quickly, with the quinoa cooking while the strawberries roast, and I liked it best served at room temperature – perfect for packing for lunch. I think this would also be a great unique addition to a brunch spread.

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  • Ginger Butternut Squash Soup

    ginger butternut squash soup

    I love bright, colorful food. Not only does it evoke a much better visual response to a dish, making me excited to delve in, but colorful foods are also usually the healthiest ones – win, win! So here’s a nice colorful soup, using bright orange butternut squash as the base. Carrots and red lentils add to the delightful orange hue, and ginger provides the main flavoring (you can add even more than the recipe calls for, if you’d like, or stir in ginger juice (from grated ginger, wrapped in cheesecloth and squeezed) at the end). A squeeze of lemon or lime juice (either will work just fine – or even a splash of vinegar, in a pinch) helps contrast the sweetness of the squash. You can also stir in a little plain yogurt, which the original recipe called for, but I didn’t find necessary. Instead, I topped my soup with pepitas for a pop of contrast in color and texture.

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  • Fall Salad with Butternut Squash, Apples, and Blue Cheese

    fall salad with butternut squash apples and blue cheese

    I’m starting to miss fall. Winter, I don’t mind skipping – bitter cold and biting wind, all the color sucked out of everything, and root vegetables and leafy greens the only thing in season (and even those shipped from milder climates further south). But fall is pleasantly cool with gorgeously tinted leaves and matching squashes of various shapes and sizes, driving an hour or two to taste crisp apples straight from the tree, and cinnamon-scented everything. I’ve been craving seasonal fall dishes. So I decided, despite the rising temperatures here, to put together this fall salad. Everything was easily available here (except for the radicchio called for in the original recipe which I chose to replace with red cabbage, for color, and arugula, for bite), and the end result has a great mix of flavors and textures. Butternut squash roasted with brown sugar for extra sweetness and ancho chile powder for spice, as well as sweetness from a honey garlic vinaigrette and apple slices, but all balanced by spicy arugula and crisp cabbage, the crunch of pepitas, and the funkiness of blue cheese. Not quite your typical fall salad, but a great remedy for my homesick self.

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