COOKBOOK CLUB

Shaun Smith

The salad days of summer

Last Updated: Friday, July 30, 2010 | 4:39 PM ET

By Shaun Smith, Special to CBC News

Shaun Smith is a writer, journalist and former chef in Toronto. He is the author of the young adult novel Snakes & Ladders.

When a heat wave rolls in, the last thing any home cook wants to do is turn on the oven. In the summer I like to take full advantage of the bounty of fresh local vegetables available to make lots of refreshing salads.

The recipes in this column, gathered from three great new cookbooks, show how salads don't have to be just lettuce. They can make use of a variety of interesting and tasty ingredients.

Andrew Swallow offers up a healthy Spa Salad, made with mâche, summer lemon cucumbers and lychee, from his book Mixt Salads.

Jeanelle Mitchell provides a refreshing treat with a watercress and fennel salad in honey-lime vinaigrette, from her book For the Love of Salad.

Sisters Patricia Green and Carolyn Hemming break out the superfood with their quinoa, bocconcini and oregano salad, from their book Quinoa 365.

My recipe this month is for a fun salad that uses a simple vegetable peeler to make colourful ribbons out of vegetables. Whenever possible, I like to use organic vegetables for salads. I find that they taste better, and while organic may cost a bit more money, you can rest assured that what you are eating is not polluted by residual pesticides and chemicals.

Ribbon Salad

You'll need a good, sharp vegetable peeler for this recipe. The technique is to use the peeler to cut long ribbon-like strips off raw vegetables. Don't prepare this salad too far ahead of time; the vegetables will release a lot of liquid if left to sit for too long after cutting. It is best to serve it within 30 minutes of preparation.

Ingredients (serves four)

• 1 medium carrot
• 1 stalk of celery
• ½ English cucumber
• ½ red bell pepper
• ½ yellow bell pepper
• ½ orange bell pepper
• 4 radishes
• 8 to 10 leaves fresh basil
• 2 tsp (10 mL) Champagne vinegar (or other white wine vinegar)
• 2 tsp (10 mL) extra virgin olive oil
• salt and pepper

Wash the vegetables and trim the ends off the carrot, celery, cucumber and radishes. Peel the carrot and celery stalk. Halve the cucumber lengthwise and use a spoon to scrape the seeds out of one half. Halve each bell pepper and remove stems, seeds and ribs. (This recipe calls for only half a cucumber, and half of each pepper, so reserve the unused portions for other use.)

Serve this salad with basil strips and garnish with a sprig of fresh basil. (Shaun Smith)Cradle the seeded half of the cucumber in one hand so that the cucumber is pointing away from you and its narrow edge is upward. Starting at one end of the cucumber, run a vegetable peeler down its full length to shave off a long ribbon-like strip of the vegetable. Repeat again and again, shaving as many long strips off the cucumber as you can. The first few will be quite narrow, but they will become wider as you get past the edge of the cucumber. The majority of them should be a uniform width, with a thin line of dark-green peel running down one side. Place all the cucumber strips in a bowl.

Shave long strips off the carrot and celery stalk in the same manner as you did with the cucumber. Place all strips in a bowl.

One at a time, hold the pepper halves in the palm of your hand and shave off strips from the cut edge of the pepper. Add these strips to the bowl.

If your radishes are large, cut them in half horizontally. Hold each radish between the thumb and forefinger of one hand, with your fingers on the white flat sides. Holding the peeler in your other hand, cut into the radish's skin with the peeler and slowly turn the radish like a wheel toward the blade as you peel a strip off the vegetable. Try to make the strips at least one full turn of the radish in length. Add radish strips to bowl.

Wash and dry all the basil leaves. Stack them flat in an even pile on a cutting board and then cut the pile into strips about 1/8 inch (3 millimetres) wide. Add half the basil strips to the bowl, and reserve the other half.

In a small bowl, mix together the Champagne vinegar and extra virgin olive oil, two large pinches of salt and eight to 10 turns of the black pepper mill. Pour this dressing over the vegetables and toss well, making sure the different strips of vegetables and the basil are all mixed together.

To serve

Use two forks to pile the ribbon salad into a high mound on a serving plate. Sprinkle the top of the salad with remaining basil strips and garnish with a sprig of fresh basil.

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Andrew Swallow's Spa Salad

Andrew Swallow received his training at the Culinary Institute of America. After cooking for years in fine dining establishments, chef Andrew Swallow decided he wanted a change of pace from working long nights and weekends. Partnering with his sister Leslie Silverglide, who holds a master's degree in biodiversity, conservation and management, and with his MBA brother-in-law, David Silverglide, Swallow opened Mixt Greens in San Francisco in 2006. An eco-friendly restaurant that offers a fast-food menu of healthy salads and sandwiches made with high-quality organic ingredients, Mixt Greens has since grown to eight locations in San Francisco, Los Angeles and Washington, D.C.

Swallow's new cookbook, Mixt Salads, collects more than 60 salad recipes, some new and some drawn from his restaurants' menu. Swallow's goal with the book is to try to get people to open their minds when thinking about what can go into a salad.

"What I'm trying to get across with my book," says Swallow, speaking by phone from San Francisco, "is that salad doesn't have to be just lettuce. Everyone thinks salad has to be lettuce, but salad can be just about anything."

Swallow's new cookbook, Mixt Salads, collects more than 60 salad recipes. The new book features salad recipes that pair such ingredients as peas and morels, tangerines and beets, duck and persimmons, and crab and passion fruit. Swallow, who received his training at the Culinary Institute of America, says he always takes his inspiration from ingredients that are in season.

"I never know what I am going to buy when I go to the market," he says. "Whatever I see is what I'll grab and I'll often even make up a recipe as I am shopping."

For salad dressings, Swallow likes to keep things simple. "Use a little garlic, a little shallot, maybe a little mustard, and sherry or champagne vinegar," he says, "and mix it with a blend of canola oil and extra virgin olive oil. A bit of salt and pepper. That's the kind of dressing you can put on just about anything."

He also advises keeping it light.

"People put way too much dressing on salads," he states. "They still use the old-school ratio of three parts oil to one part acid. That leaves a greasy residue after you eat it like having lipstick on. It's way better to reduce the amount of oil and use a two-to-one, or even a one-to-one ratio."

Spa Salad - mâche with summer lemon cucumbers and lychee

(Reprinted with permission from Mixt Salads: A Chef's Bold Creations by Andrew Swallow with Ann Volkwein, copyright 2010. Published by Ten Speed Press, a division of Random House, Inc.)

Ingredients (Serves 4)

Dressing

• ¼ (60 mL) cup rice wine vinegar
• 1 tablespoon (15 mL) fresh lemon juice
• ½ (5 mL) teaspoon sugar
• ½ (120 mL) cup extra virgin olive oil
• Fine sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

Salad

• 1 pint (½ l) fresh lychees
• 1 (3½-ounce/100 g) pack enoki mushrooms
• 8 (230 g) ounces mâche
• 1 pint (1/2 l) mixed cherry tomatoes, halved
• 2 lemon cucumbers, sliced into half-moons
• 1 English cucumber
• Fine sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

(Sara Remington) To make the dressing, whisk together the rice wine vinegar, lemon juice, and sugar in a bowl. Pour the oil in a stream and whisk to emulsify. Season with salt and pepper and set aside.

Peel and chop the lychees. Gently separate the mushrooms from one another.

For each serving, toss 2 ounces mâche, 2 ounces cherry tomatoes, one-quarter of the mushrooms, 2 ounces lemon cucumber, and 1 ounce English cucumber with 1 tablespoon of the dressing in a bowl. Season with sea salt and pepper. Top with 1 teaspoon chopped lychees and a pinch of sea salt. Add more lychees if you would like a stronger floral flavour.

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Jeanelle Mitchell's Watercress & Fennel Salad with Honey-Lime Vinaigrette

Jeanelle Mitchell (right) seen with her daughter and granddaughter. Jeanelle Mitchell did not start writing cookbooks until she retired from a career as a flight attendant.

"I was with Canadian Airlines for 30 years," she says, speaking by phone from her Toronto home. "I used to read cookbooks like novels, and I always said, one day I'm going to write a cookbook."

Her first cookbook, For the Love of Soup, was self-published in 2001, and became such a success — selling 5,000 copies — that publisher Whitecap picked it up the next year and the book went on to become a bestseller.

Her new book, For the Love of Salad, is something of a natural companion to the first, offering 99 salad recipes covering everything from leafy salads, to vegetable salads, to grain and pasta salads, to meat and seafood salads.

Mitchell says her motivation for writing these cookbooks was to help her disabled nephew, Yves, in New Brunswick.

"He is a quadriplegic due to a car accident," she says, "and I wanted to raise funds to help with his therapy and other needs. It's incredible how well the first book did. I still send cheques regularly and the new salad book is also dedicated to him. It has been just so wonderful for me to be able to help."

Much of Mitchell's culinary inspiration comes from the years she spent travelling the world as a flight attendant.

"My taste buds were pretty basic when I started to travel," says Mitchell, originally from Grand Falls, N.B. "But on every flight we would have a crew member from our destination country, be it Italy or Greece or wherever."

Upon arriving at their destination, these crew members would often invite the Canadian crew out to dinner.

"I tried everything," says Mitchell, "and my taste buds were exposed to all these new flavours. As soon as I got home, I would start experimenting with new dishes."

Watercress and Fennel Salad with Honey-Lime Vinaigrette

(Reprinted with permission from For the Love of Salad by Jeanelle Mitchell, copyright 2010. Published by Whitecap Books.)

This salad is simply delicious and very refreshing. Feel free to substitute arugula for the watercress. For a main-course salad, top with grilled or poached salmon.

Ingredients (serves 4 to 6)

(Whitecap Books)

• 2 Tbsp (30 mL) fresh lime juice
• 1 Tbsp (15 mL) rice wine vinegar or apple cider vinegar
• 1 Tbsp (15 mL) liquid honey
• 1/4 cup (60 mL) extra virgin olive oil
• Sea salt and freshly ground pepper
• 1 medium fennel bulb, cored and sliced paper-thin (use a mandolin, if you have one)
• 1/2 small red onion, finely sliced (optional)
• 2 bunches watercress, larger stems removed, about 4 cups (1 l)
• 2 Tbsp (30 mL) chopped fresh parsley
• 2 Tbsp (30 mL) chopped fresh mint

For the vinaigrette: combine lime juice, vinegar and honey in a small bowl. Gradually whisk in olive oil until well combined, and season with salt and pepper to taste. Set aside. If making ahead, cover and refrigerate for up to four days.

Just before serving, combine fennel, red onion (if using), watercress, parsley, and mint in a medium-sized serving bowl. Toss gently with vinaigrette to coat.

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Patricia Green and Carolyn Hemming's Quinoa, Bocconcini and Oregano Salad

Sisters Patricia Green and Carolyn Hemming are the authors of the new cookbook Quinoa 365. You may not have heard of quinoa (pronounced KEEN-wa), but according to sisters Patricia Green and Carolyn Hemming, authors of the new cookbook Quinoa 365, it is one of the healthiest foods you can eat.

"Quinoa is what's called a superfood," says Hemming, speaking by phone from Mississauga, Ont., "meaning it is a whole food that has physiological benefits or the possibility of reducing the risk of chronic disease beyond basic nutritional function."

Because it appears as small granules, people often think quinoa is a grain, but Hemming indicates that it is actually a seed that comes from a species of goosefoot plants, native to the Andean region of South America.

"It has a neutral flavour so it can be used much like you would rice or couscous," she states. "It is extremely rich in vitamins and minerals, including thiamin, riboflavin, niacin, B6, folate, vitamin A and E. It is an excellent antioxidant. It is a whole protein on its own, and it's gluten free, which is excellent for people who are allergic to wheat."

So why isn't this superfood a part of everyone's regular diet?

Quinoa is rich in vitamins and minerals. (Whitecap Books)"A lot of that has to do with how quinoa has been socialized," says Hemming. "It was a food of the ancient Incas and they had to hide it and protect it from the Spanish, who thought it was a food of the Devil. The Incas would go to war and all they would eat for weeks would be these 'war balls' of quinoa and lard. They worshipped quinoa because of how strong it made their people. Seeing this, the Spanish destroyed their crops and made them plant potatoes, corn and barley, and that's what we've become socialized to consume."

There is now a resurgence of quinoa consumption underway, say the sisters, and in their new book, they provide a wide range of uses for the seed in recipes that include omelettes, chili, veggie burgers, casseroles, roast meats, soups, salads, smoothies, cookies, and even baby food.

"We decided to do a book on quinoa after vegetarian friends told us how nutritious it was," says Patricia Green, speaking by phone from Cochrane, Alberta. "Neither of us are vegetarians, but we became very curious about this food. We started cooking with it and quickly realized there were very few recipes available. So we started writing recipes about six years ago and then decided to do a book because people needed to know more about quinoa."

Quinoa, Bocconcini and Oregano Salad

(Reprinted with permission from Quinoa 365: The Everyday Superfood by Patricia Green and Carolyn Hemming, copyright 2010. Published by Whitecap Books.)

The delicate flavour of this popular Italian cheese and the crisp vegetables blend perfectly with the oregano vinaigrette.

(Ryan Szulc)

Ingredients (serves 4 to 6)

• ¾ cup (185 mL) quinoa
• 1 ½ cups (375 mL) water
• 1 cup (250 mL) diced zucchini
• 1 cup (250 mL) halved cherry tomatoes
• ½ cup (125 mL) diced red onion
• ½ cup (125 mL) frozen green peas, thawed
• 1 cup (250 mL) diced red bell pepper (about 1 pepper)
• ½ cup (125 mL) diced yellow bell pepper
• 3 Tbsp (45 mL) balsamic vinegar
• 2 Tbsp (30 mL) extra virgin olive oil
• 1 Tbsp (15 mL) Dijon mustard
• 2 Tbsp (15 mL) finely chopped fresh oregano (or 2 tsp/10 mL dried oregano)
• 2 tsp (10 mL) minced fresh garlic
• Pinch salt
• Pinch ground black pepper
• 1 cup (250 mL) halved mini bocconcini cheese pieces

Bring the quinoa and water to a boil in a medium saucepan. Cover, reduce to a simmer and cook for 10 minutes. Turn the heat off and leave the covered saucepan on the burner for another four minutes. Remove the lid and fluff the cooked quinoa with a fork. Set aside to completely cool.

Combine the zucchini, tomatoes, onion, peas and red and yellow pepper in a large bowl. Whisk the vinegar, olive oil, mustard, oregano, garlic, salt and pepper together in a small bowl. Pour the dressing over the vegetables and thoroughly mix all the ingredients. Add the quinoa and bocconcini and mix until evenly combined. Serve immediately or refrigerate for up to two days.

 

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