I make this salad for family gatherings because kids and grown-ups alike always love the mixture of ingredients. Parents are happy because their kids are eating broccoli, and kids are happy because it tastes yummy! It’s a total crowd-pleaser.
You can easily make this dairy-free by using coconut yogurt or cashew yogurt. Just make sure it’s unsweetened. I really love the sour taste of plain sheep’s milk yogurt, and nowadays it’s pretty easy to find at most health food stores and in the natural foods section of big grocery stores. I like to serve this with my Rustic Mediterranean Summer Galette (page 199). And for dessert, the Almond Butter Rice Crispy Squares (page 220) are perfect.
Watermelon is perfect all on its own, but in the warm summer months, I add this hydrating melon to as many meals as possible. A feta and watermelon salad is classic, and for good reason: the salty cheese combined with the sweet, refreshing melon is a match made in salad heaven. I throw in some fresh mint and Middle Eastern spices like sumac and za’atar for a kick of flavor.
MANDY | While we were working on this book, we found some of our old “vintage” menus from about 10 years ago. These were printed on flimsy ream paper, then laminated at Bureau en Gros (Quebec’s equivalent of Staples). And one of the salads we had back then was called Mint Madness! I have always been obsessed with fresh herbs. Each one has a story to tell and a menu you can create around it. Or, in our case, a salad. This beauty of a recipe has been on and off our menu for years, in various incarnations. We love pairing mint with the delicate anise flavor of fennel, and with pear, and salty hardened feta. It’s a joy to play around with the subtlety versus dominance of certain ingredients—grapefruit is an amazing addition, as is watermelon in the peak of summer—and then infuse it all with the highlighted herb, in this case mint.
Note: This summertime salad is perfect with the addition of mock chicken (page 142) or roasted chicken breast (page 149).
Juicy summer peaches. Peppery olive oil. San Daniele prosciutto. A ball of burrata cut into its middle, oozing its creamy, cheesy glory. Are you drooling yet? You get the idea. This salad is best served on a hot summer day with a carafe of ice-cold white wine (see our wine guide on page 111) and looks lovely when served on a platter.
Note: If you want to make use of a whole ball of burrata, this salad will serve four people. Just be sure to multiply the other ingredients by four also.
Echoes of Greek moussaka are correctly heard here, both in the name and the feel of the dish. It’s a vegetarian take on the hearty, humble, healthful, and completely delicious sheet-pan dish. It works well either as a veggie main or as a side with all sorts of things—piled into a baked potato, for example, or served alongside some grilled meat, fish, or tofu. It’s just the sort of dish you want to have in the fridge ready to greet you after a day at work. It’s also lovely at room temperature, so it’s great for an on-the-go lunch.
Getting ahead: You can make and bake this in advance; it keeps in the fridge for up to three days, ready to be warmed through when needed.
The journey of these rolls can be traced through Lebanon to Armenia, where kubez el tahineh comes from. They are simple to make, impressive to look at, and loved by all. They’re a particular favorite with kids. Eat them as they are, or sliced and spread with dibs w tahini, the Palestinian equivalent of peanut butter and jam, where creamy tahini is mixed with a little bit of grape or date molasses.
Keeping notes: These are best eaten fresh on the day of baking but are also fine for up to three days once baked, warmed through in the oven. They also freeze well, after they’ve been baked and left to cool; you can pop them into the oven straight from the freezer until warmed through.
This is my go-to method for quickly cooking up just about any fresh fish fillets. Simply dredge them in lightly seasoned flour and pan-fry in brown butter. Aromatic, herbaceous Old Bay Seasoning is perfect with fish. Look for it at your fishmonger’s; if you can’t find it, use chili powder, poultry seasoning, curry powder or your favourite spice blend. And nothing beats bright, lemony homemade tartar sauce alongside freshly pan-fried fish.
We are lucky to have one of the biggest and best cherry farms just down the road from the distillery in Vineland, Ontario. With both sweet and sour cherries available, we opted to go with the sour ones for this cocktail. The tart flavour from the fresh cherries holds up nicely against the orange liqueur and fresh lime juice, making this a nicely balanced cocktail for all to enjoy.
Tuesday June 16, 2020
Black Lives Matter. Action Is Necessary.