How to Make a Salad that Feels Like a Celebration @lucyburdette

LUCY BURDETTE: after posting the recipe a couple of weeks ago about a tomato dumpling salad, I had salads on my mind. Why don’t I think of them more often for a tasty main course? I did some searching in our index and found that I actually have made quite a few salads, and some of them are memorable. But what makes them feel hearty and celebratory?

In order for a salad to sticks to the ribs, you’ll need to add protein. That can be in the form of cheese, nuts, beans, meat, or combination of all of the above. For cheese, my favorites are some good blue cheese, fresh, mozzarella, or the mild feta cheese I get at our farmers market.

Here are a few of my favorites:

Baby's house salad – this is one that I made copying the salad that we always get at our favorite pizza place in Key West, Clementes.

Panzanella, a.k.a. Italian bread salad. I could practically eat this every night. Love the croutons, love the fresh peppers, Love the tomatoes, love the added mozzarella.

Peach and cucumber salad: Wait till the peaches and cukes are ripe from the farmers market and add your best feta cheese.

Buffalo chicken salad – I used to order this at Archie Moore’s in New Haven and now you can make it yourself at home. If you can’t find their buffalo wing sauce, I’m sure there are other brands that would work.

Another restaurant knock off, this time, a Caribbean salad from Paseo’s (sadly no longer located in Key West.)

My big fat Greek salad: speaks for itself.

Salad for lunch: put out a smattering of different ingredients and let your guest pick and choose

Grilled steak salad, with or without the steak. You’ll see one of the photos is missing the meat and that could be so easily filled with some marinated beans.

Another summer salad, watermelon and cucumber with feta cheese.

Hope you find some inspiration there! For any of these, if you feel starved for carbs, add a tasty, homemade biscuit! 

Don’t forget to pre-order LUCY BURDETTE’S KITCHEN, Recipes and Stories from the Key West Food Critic mystery series...

Lucy Burdette writes the Key West food critic mystery series including USA Today bestselling and Florida book award winning A CLUE IN THE CRUMBS. You can order that wherever books are sold. 

If you’re all caught up, try Lucy’s first women’s fiction title, THE INGREDIENTS OF HAPPINESS.

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Roasted Potato Salad #recipe from Molly MacRae

 

This is a nice, loaded potato salad. To load it up even more, and turn it into a main course, I added hard-boiled eggs to the original recipe. Meat-eaters might also like to add chicken, shrimp, or something like salami. It’s easiest to make in summer when the tomatoes are coming in and fresh dill is plentiful.

 

Roasted Potato Salad

(adapted from Yossy Arefi at The New York Times)

 

Ingredients

1 1/2 pounds Yukon Gold potatoes, cut into 1-inch pieces

3 tablespoons olive oil

Kosher salt and black pepper

2 tablespoons lemon juice

4 hard-boiled eggs, roughly chopped

1 cup cherry or grape tomatoes, halved

1/2  cup roughly chopped pitted Kalamata olives

1/2 cup chopped fresh dill

1/2 cup chopped fresh parsley

1/2 cup sliced pepperoncini

1/2 cup crumbled feta cheese

 

Directions

Heat oven to 400 degrees. On a large, rimmed baking sheet, toss the potatoes, 2 tablespoons olive oil, and a pinch each of salt and pepper. Shake baking sheet to distribute potatoes into an even layer. Roast for 15 or 20 minutes then toss potatoes and shake baking sheet again to redistribute potatoes into even layer. Roast another 15 or 12 minutes until golden-brown and beginning to crisp.

Let potatoes cool 5 minutes then add to a large bowl with the lemon juice. Toss to coat and let cool to room temperature.

Add eggs, tomatoes, olives, dill, parsley, pepperoncini, and remaining tablespoon olive oil to bowl with potatoes. Stir gently to combine. Sprinkle feta of the top. Taste and add more lemon juice, salt, and pepper if desired. Serve at room temperature or cold. 

Look for Molly’s new series—the Haunted Shell Shop Mysteries—coming in July 2024!

Book 1: Come Shell or High Water

 

When widowed folklorist Maureen Nash visits a legendary North Carolina barrier island shell shop, she discovers its resident ghost pirate and the mystery of a local’s untimely death . . .

Buy links:

IndieBound (locally owned independent bookstores near you)

Barnes & Noble

Amazon 

 

And in the meantime, you can enjoy Molly’s other books. 

The Boston Globe says Molly MacRae writes “murder with a dose of drollery.” She’s the author of the award-winning, national bestselling Haunted Yarn Shop Mysteries and the Highland Bookshop Mysteries. As Margaret Welch, she writes books for Annie’s Fiction and Guideposts. Her short stories have appeared in Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine and she’s a winner of the Sherwood Anderson Award for Short Fiction. Visit Molly on Facebook and Pinterest and connect with her on Twitter  or Instagram.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Strawberry chicken salad with mixed greens and toasted almonds #summerfood #maindishsalads

MARY JANE MAFFINI

Long ago and far away, in a place called Sioux Lookout, Ontario, a summer salad drew some attention.  A popular radio show host (Stuart MacLean on Vinyl Café) came across it and mentioned it on air and everyone in Canada seemed to want the recipe! 

I first came across a version of it in Chatelaine Magazine, a source of many great recipes.  Like all recipes in my house, it’s undergone a few changes over the years.  As our discussion was on main dish salads this past Sunday here on Mystery Lovers Kitchen  (thank you, Tina!),  I decided to make a variation and toss in some chicken and make a few more tweaks.  I admit I was slow to approve of adding fruit or berries to savory dishes, but I’ll add chicken to anything.  Chicken Ripple Ice Cream, anyone?  

Our delicious local strawberries still available and Ontario blueberries coming in and the time was right.

All to say here is the result.  I tried the updated recipe twice, changing to toasted sliced almonds and adding blueberries, because I could. The second time I discovered a bit late that we were out of baby spinach.  We were not out of mixed greens though and I actually liked that better. 

In the original slivered almonds are caramelized in sugar. That didn’t work on my low-carbish diet, so I just toasted the sliced almonds.  There is a lot of scope with this salad and I think you could have great results playing with different ingredients. 

The official Salad King in our house said this version was the best yet, so I’m very happy.

Strawberry chicken salad with mixed greens and toasted almonds

INGREDIENTS:

4 cups mixed greens (or baby spinach)

2 ½ tbsp EVOO

2 tbsp white balsamic vinegar (we used white wine vinegar the first time but prefer this)

2 tsp fresh thyme leaves (or your favorite herb)

1 ½ tsp maple syrup

½ tsp fresh ground pepper

1 tsp sea salt

½ tsp paprika (we use Penzey’s Half Sharp)

1 ½ cup strawberries, hulled and chopped

1 cup fresh blueberries

2 chicken breasts, cooked, cooled and sliced diagonally

1 tablespoon butter or oil (optional to cook chicken)

1/3 cup (give or take) sliced green onions

1/3 cup Feta cheese

½ cup sliced or slivered almonds, toasted

DIRECTIONS:

 Toast the almonds for 5 minutes or so at 350 degrees. 

Cook the chicken breasts however you like them.  

I seasoned them with salt, pepper and paprika and sauteed them in a bit of butter.  

We made enough for leftovers today., so more than you need for the salad. You could grill them or poach them or even use a rotisserie chicken.  Why didn’t I think of that earlier?  Cool chicken and slice diagonally.

 Mix olive oil, vinegar, salt, pepper, maple syrup and thyme leaves.  Take 1/3 of dressing for mixed greens  or spinach. 

Add the strawberries to the remaining dressing, mix and let sit until ready to combine in salad.  BTW, these are in a clear glass bowl and not sitting in their dressing on the counter (in case you were worried).

To serve, add reserved dressing to greens.  Mix in green onions.  Place on serving dish. Mix in blueberries and feta cheese. Add sliced chicken and strawberries.  Top with toasted almonds. 

And here's my earlier version with spinach, less dressing and toasted pecans instead,

 

We loved the combination of flavors: sweet strawberries, tart blueberries, salty feta and the savory chicken and almonds.   So what would you add or take away?  I always enjoy your comments.

 

 Mary Jane Maffini is the award-winning author of three and a half mystery series: the Camilla Maffini mysteries, the Fiona Silk capers and the Charlotte Adams organizer mysteries – number six coming soon! With her daughter Victoria Maffini, MJ collaborated on The Book Collector Mysteries as Victoria Abbott. Victoria Abbott spent several happy years on Mystery Lovers Kitchen. MJ  is very glad to be back and Victoria is waving at you all!

The first five Charlotte Adams are being reissued by Beyond the Page Publishing. Recipes have been added and of course, the organizing tips continue! The Charlotte Adams books have recently been optioned for television films.

Organize Your Corpses was re-released as an e-book and a trade paper on May 18. There's a great deal for the e-book.   You can order it HERE!

The Cluttered Corpse was reissued on June 15th and Death Loves a Messy Desk arrived on July 13th. 

Watch for Closet Confidential next.

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Jordan Bingham has a tough time: she's the first person in her large family to go straight. She has learned some useful skills from her crooked relatives but she's trying to hang on to a legit job working for a curmudgeonly book collector. But of course, the bodies keep piling up.  There's lots of fun in the book collector series from Victoria Abbott.

Don't forget to check out MJ's Canadian books:  Camilla MacPhee features a fortyish widowed lawyer who runs an advocacy agency for victims of violent crime, in Ottawa, Canada's capital city. Life would be easier if she didn't have the world's worst office assistant, the world's bossiest sisters and, arguably, the world's greatest stubborn streak. If you like your mysteries a bit edgy with a side order of humor, these could be for you.  

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