Brussels Challenge #5: Salade pour le déjeuner

Salads are great for any meal of the day! There is an endless variety of ingredients, countless combinations, and many easy ways to bulk up or lighten up your meal. Whether lunching for one or cooking a crowd, give this simple salad selection a search...and liven-up your lunch (or dinner).

Simple Sauteed Tomatoes

So simple, so quick, but so delicious.  A handful of cherry tomatoes, a bit of garlic, a dash chopped spinach, and a splash of balsamic vinegar...wow.  Literally bursting with flavor!

Asian Salad with Peanut & Lime Dressing

Try this tasty salad to add some new flavor to your spinach! It has become a staple meal at 51 Porter. 

Roasted Carrot Salad with Sautéed Apple Vinaigrette

This is a delicious warm salad with a unique flavor combination: sweet roasted carrots; fresh, crisp spinach; and a fresh apple-balsamic vinaigrette.  The balsamic-apple vinaigrette is a vibrant, nutritious, and unique dressing or topping.

Kitchen Sink Salad: Orzo, Sun-dried Tomatoes, Feta, Pesto, and Spinach

This is a great lunch or dinner to use up all your leftover veggies!

Not Your Average Meatball Sub

These meatballs are made from vegetarian meat as a substitute for the real thing, but if you're a meat eater go ahead and swap it out for some lean ground beef! The general conversion is 12 oz. of vegetarian meat to 16 oz. of ground beef, because the beef loses more moisture during the cooking process.

Recipe and idea compliments of Momma Tammen.

Spinach Salad with Pear, Cranberry, Feta, and Candied Nuts

This is one of my all time favorite salads. It is a great side dish at any meal and pair beautifully with most main courses. The dressing is a combination of sweet balsamic vinegar and fruity olive oil with a hint of Dijon to emulsify. You can switch up the nut or fruit varieties or add grilled chicken to make it a heartier dish!

Roasted Sweet Potato, Lentil, and Spinach Salad with Goat Cheese

Ingredients

1. 1 cup dried lentils

2. 3 sweet potatoes, peeled and chopped into bite-size chunks (1 small butternut squash works well too).

3. 1 small red onion, chopped

4. 3 Tablespoons olive oil

5. 1 1/2 teaspoons salt

6. 1 teaspoon ground black pepper

7. 1 1/2 Tablespoons balsamic vinegar

8. 1 cloves garlic, crushed
9.  1 medium apple, chopped (I like tart varieties like pippin, honeycrisp, etc).

10. 4 ounces crumbled goat cheese

Directions

1. Soak the lentils in water for 10 minutes. Meanwhile, boil water in a saucepan (enough to cover lentils). Add a dash of salt. Drain the lentils and add them to the boiling water. Cook the lentils in the boiling water for about 25 minutes (until tender). Drain the lentils and set aside.

2. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Toss the sweet potatoes and onions with 2 tablespoons olive oil, salt, and pepper on a cookie sheet. Roast for about 30 minutes, stirring once or twice...until sweet potatoes are tender. Cool slightly.

3. In a skillet, add the remaining 1 tablespoon of olive oil and crushed garlic. Saute over medium heat about 1 minutes. Add the cooked and drained lentils. Saute about 3 minutes. Pour the garlic-lentil mix into a large bowl and add the roasted sweet potatoes, spinach, and apple. The heat from the lentils and potatoes will wilt the spinach slightly. Add about 3 ounces of the goat cheese and balsamic vinegar. Stir to evenly combine.

4. To serve, divide salad among bowls and top with remaining goat cheese. mmm...mmm...good!

Difficulty?

Kelly's Kut Rating:  This dish is so easy and so delicious.  It can be prepared in about 1/2 an hour.  The lentils and the sweet potatoes are the only things that really need to cook.  Chopping is a minimum, so no bloodshed, scrapes, or bruises.  Note: You could get this meal out in about 10 minutes if you had roasted the veggies and cooked the lentils ahead of time...in this case, all you would do is saute it all together.

Taste?

Renee's Mmmmm-gasm Scale: So, 51 Porter has a special place for Kelly's amazing wilted spinach salads, and this one was absolutely outstanding. When we took a trek to Costco, we decided to purchase a huge box of sweet potatoes, and seriously that was a smart choice, green check! First and foremost, the lentils added a nice texture contrast to the softer roasted sweet potato pieces that graced the salad. I think cooking the lentils in vegetable broth next time would be a good idea in order to add a little more flavor. The goat cheese was a delightful addition, however I would love to see some feta involved as well. Overall, the warm lentils, the sweet potatoes, and slightly melted cheese in a bed of spinach greens tickled my mouth pink with 9,5000 Mmmmm-gasms.

Looks?

Stephanie's Hotty Hot Hotness Rating: A beautiful, colorful fall salad!

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A Trip to Greece: Greek Salad and Spanakopita

1 word...feta.

This meal is simply delicious...the refreshing flavors can take you all the way from 51 Porter Road to Greece!

Roasted Vegetable Salad with Pesto and Homemade Croutons

This recipe can be varied in many ways and this version is just a starting point. This salad is great served for dinner or lunch or, as we had it, on the go!

Ingredients (Makes about 4 salads):

1 small eggplant cubed

~20 asparagus spears

1 cup chopped roasted red/yellow peppers (homemade or jarred from Trader Joe's!)

2 zucchini chopped

1 medium red onion chopped

4 Tbs. Pesto (recipe to come)

3/4 cup feta

2 medium tomatoes chopped

Olive Oil

Salt and Pepper

4 cups chopped spinach (chopped in ribbons)

4 slices of whole wheat bread cubed in large pieces

1 garlic clove, crushed

1 ripe avocado, sliced

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees

2. On a baking sheet combine the cut zucchini, red onion, eggplant, and asparagus with about 2 Tbs. olive oil, about 1/2 Tbs. salt and black pepper. Add a sprinkling of garlic powder and toss it all together.

3. For the veggies: Roast in the oven for 25-30 minutes or until the vegetables are lightly golden and tender (but not mushy). Sometimes eggplant cooks faster so you may want to do the eggplant on a separate sheet and remove from the oven earlier.

4. For the croutons: Toss the cubed breadwith olive oil, salt, pepper, and the crushed garlic clove.

5. Place the bread on a baking sheet and bake in the oven 10 minutes checkin' every few minutes and giving them a quick shack. You want them to be golden and toasty so about 8-10 minutes at 375 degrees.

6. To assemble: On each of 4 plates or salad bowls, start with 1 cup of the chopped spinach. Add 1/4 of the chopped roasted red peppers to each. Next, add 1/4 of the roasted veggies (zucchini, asparagus, onion, and eggplant) to each. Next add 1 Tbs. of pesto and about 2 Tbs. of feta to each salad. Next, add the 1/4 of the diced tomatoes to each salad and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Add 1/4 of the sliced avocado to each salad and top with the homemade croutons!

Feel free to vary it up with different seasonal veggies such as roasted butternut squash, arugula, and goat cheese! mmm...

Difficulty?

Kelly Kut Rating: Minor injuries from vegetable cutting but otherwise simple and blood free!

Taste? 
This salad garnered 9,000 mmmmm-gasms. The only issue for me was the eggplant...I didn't fancy the chewiness of it. Otherwise, the flavor profile was very nice with bursts of different vegetable flavors--a bit of zucchini in one bite and then waves of pesto with red pepper...YUM. (The orgasmic noises had to actually be restrained as I was eating the salad while attending a student forum on the "Smart Choices" food labeling. This was indeed a challenge!)

Looks?

Stephanie's Hotty Hot Hotness Rating: The artistic curvature of avocado slices atop the thick and juicy chunks of colorful roasted vegetables pleases the eye. The flavor combination of the various vegetables and garlicky pesto flavors, and the texture brought by the croutons please the tongue!