Roquefort Salad

This salad came from the Birmingham, Alabama, Junior League cookbook, Tables of Content.  I adapted it below.

1 head of lettuce or bag of mixed greens
1 tomato diced
1/2 cucumber peeled and sliced thinly
1/4 red onion sliced thinly
crumble blue cheese
1 T pine nuts
Blue cheese dressing, see below

Blue cheese dressing
4 ounces Blue cheese, crumbled
3 T milk
salt and pepper
1 shallot, minced
2 T white wine vinegar
1/2 c olive oil
1 T Dijon mustard
chopped fresh parsley

Autumn Chopped Salad

I made my own recipe in a combination of an old recipe from Cottage Living and this recipe.

1 head of Romaine lettuce
4 slices of cooked bacon
1/2 small red onion
2 apples
1 cup of red grapes, quartered
1 cup of spiced pecans (see recipe below)
1 cup crumbled blue cheese
Maple vinaigrette (see recipe below)

Chop all ingredients and toss with vinaigrette.

Spiced Pecans
1 T brown sugar
1/2 t ground red pepper
1/4 t ground cumin
2 t olive oil
1 c pecans

Combine first 4 ingredients.  Add oil and stir.  Add pecans and toss until coated.  Bake at 350 for 12 minutes, tossing once.

Maple vinaigrette
1/4 c extra-virgin olive oil
2 T maple syrup
2 t lemon juice
1/2 t Dijon mustard
1 small shallot, minced
1/2 t salt
1/2 t pepper

Salade lyonnaise

This is the traditional salad of Lyon, France (where we lived for 2 years). If you go into a local bistro or bouchon, this is the "house salad." It's a bit weird to Americans, but it is delicious. I didn't get a picture...I think I was so focused on getting it to the table while it was still warm.

I've adapted my recipe from one I got when I went to a cooking class with Heather and Katie in Saint Louis.

1 large head of frisee or escarole (often I can't find this type of lettuce and I use a red-leaf lettuce)
6 slices of bacon, diced
vinaigrette
croutons
4 poached eggs

Vinaigrette
2 T minced shallots
2 T red-wine vinegar
4 T extra-virgin olive oil
salt and pepper to taste

Croutons
4-8 slices of bread, cubed
olive oil
salt and pepper

Toss the bread cubes with a bit of olive oil and seasonings. Bake at 350 10-12 minutes, tossing once.

Poached eggs
Bring a large pan to a boil, reduce to a simmer. Crack an egg in a small bowl and gently slide the egg into the simmering water. Add the others, being careful they do not touch. Cook 5 minutes. Remove with slotted spoon.

Cook the bacon. Remove from pan and drain on paper towels. Assemble the salad with the frisee, bacon, croutons and the poached egg on top. Sprinkle with the vinaigrette. Serve immediately while the egg is still warm.

Serves 4.

My chicken salad

Okay so it is nothing special. In fact, I almost made a blog request yesterday for ideas to give a kick to chicken salad, but I kept it simple...in order to please more palates.

4 split bone-in chicken breasts
olive oil
salt and pepper
3 stalks of celery, chopped
a bunch of grapes, halved
3/4 c good mayo

I roast my chicken. I think it gives it so much flavor. To roast it. I lay the breasts on a baking sheet, drizzle the olive oil on top and sprinkle with salt and pepper. I roast them at 350 for 35-45 minutes or until they're done.

I combine the rest for the salad, adding a little more salt and pepper to taste.

We're serving it tonight on French rolls.

Strawberry spinach salad

This is one of my favorite summertime salads--I got it from Southern Living a couple of years ago--and it is easy because you don't have to make a dressing...the red wine vinegar flavors it wonderfully...and is low-cal!



fresh spinach
strawberries
red onion, sliced very thinly
toasted almonds
blue cheese
salt and pepper, to taste
red wine vinegar

Spinach salad

You've probably seen a spinach salad like this a million times, but last night I combined two recipes and I liked it even better.

8 oz fresh spinach
10 slices bacon, cooked and crumbled
1/2 c Jarlsberg cheese, shredded in large pieces
1/4 c chopped walnuts

for dressing:

3/4 c vegetable oil
1/4 c white wine vinegar
1 T mayonnaise
1 t dried basil
1 clove garlic, minced
pinch of sugar
salt and pepper to taste
(This makes a lot of dressing, so you may want to 1/2 the recipe.)