Spring Lettuce Salad

Happy Saint Patrick Day my friends!!

I hope you all indulged in some yummy Irish snacks and green beer!

Today was a BEAUTIFUL day in southern California. I know all of you that don’t live here think it is stunning every day, but some days are on another level.

It truly felt like the first day of spring. And even though there are a couple of days left of winter, some of my favorite spring produce items are starting to hit the shelves.

Which means extra yummy salad ingredients.

Good for our taste buds, good for our waistlines.

You will need…

4 heads Belgian endive, chopped

1 head frisee lettuce, chopped

2 cups arugula

3 small carrots (rainbow if they are available), thinly sliced

½ cup crumbled blue cheese

½ cup chopped walnuts (candied if you want to get wild)

¾ cup red wine vinaigrette

Start by combining the endive, frisee and arugula in a bowl or on a large platter.

Drizzle with vinaigrette and toss well.

Top with carrots, blue cheese and walnuts and serve.

Love and Beer Floats

Angela  

Spring Lettuce Salad

4 heads Belgian endive, chopped

1 head frisee lettuce, chopped

2 cups arugula

3 small carrots (rainbow if they are available), thinly sliced

½ cup crumbled blue cheese

½ cup chopped walnuts (candied if you want to get wild)

¾ cup red wine vinaigrette

Start by combining the endive, frisee and arugula in a bowl or on a large platter.

Drizzle with vinaigrette and toss well.

Top with carrots, blue cheese and walnuts and serve. 

Lobster, Avocado, Grapefruit Cups

Serious question. Are ya’ll on Pinterest?

If the answer is no, I highly suggest you click that little blue/green word above and get acquainted with my new best friend.

I am well aware that this website is not new. For months and months now I have been dragging my feet to join. Not because I don’t need something else to fill my time, but because I knew I would become infatuated with it.

Welp, if I know one thing about myself, it is my ability to become consumed by things.

And consumed I have become.

Thanks to my virtual pinboards, I am now wishing I had a home to decorate, more bucks in my shopping bank account, unlimited travel resources and thirty hours in every day to allow for more cooking.

It’s a disease really.

The upside to my time consuming new buddy is that I never have to worry about what to cook again.

I have an internet based lineup of things I want to cook.

And this was first on the list.

I made this as a little appetizer for our NYE celebration and I suggest you make it to celebrate something. Pinterest perhaps?

You will need…

1 pink grapefruit, peeled and pith removed

1 avocado, peeled and pitted

3 ounces cooked lobster meat (I used the tails of two little lobsters, but you could also use crab or shrimp for this dish)

4 heads of Belgian endive (about 8 ounces)

2 tablespoons fresh tarragon, chopped

Salt and pepper

If you are unfamiliar with a way to cook your lobster meat, fill a medium pot with about ½ inch worth of water.

Place a little rack or something you can rest the lobster on in the bottom of the pot and place the lobster on top.

Over high heat, bring the water to a boil in order to steam the lobster. Steam until the lobster is a vibrant pink.

Meanwhile, using a small paring knife, remove the sections from the grapefruit. Work over a bowl so that you catch the tasty grapefruit juice.

If any of the pieces are large, cut them in half crosswise.

Slice the avocado into little slices and add them to the bowl of grapefruit juice.

Season them with salt and pepper and toss.

Trim the bottoms off the endives and separate them into spears.

Lay out the endive spears and place a piece of avocado and grapefruit inside.

Add a tasty bite of your cooked lobster.

Top with a little bit of your tarragon.

Delish. Happy pinning.

Love and Beer Floats

Angela

Apple, Grape and Endive Salad with Tangy Buttermilk Vinaigrette

It is that dreaded time of the year. No, not the holidays. Flu season.

The last couple of weeks I had been hearing mumblings about various illnesses around the building at work and now it is no longer mumblings. It is full blown screaming.

Both Lindsey B and I have running noses, and tickling coughs and I highly suggest that if you see us coming, you run the other way.

Tonight, I’m going to try and sweat it out, drink lots of liquids (alcohol free of course) and try to get a good night’s sleep.

No cooking for this little nugget until conditions improve.

Good thing I have a couple of gems stockpiled away for such an occasion.

You will need…

2 honeycrisp or fuji apples cored and thinly sliced

1 ½ pounds Belgian endives, halved lengthwise and cut crosswise into 1-inch pieces

2 cups green grapes (preferably seedless) halved

½ cup toasted pecans, broken into pieces

¼ cup goat cheese crumbles

½ cup reduced-fat sour cream

¼ cup low-fat buttermilk

2 tablespoons cider vinegar

Salt and pepper

Start by combining everything but the wet ingredients in a salad bowl.

In a bowl or food processor, whisk together the sour cream, buttermilk and vinegar.

Season the mixture with salt and pepper to taste.

Toss the salad with the creamy dressing and serve.

Love and Beer Floats

Angela

Warm Endive Salad with Parmesan and Hazelnuts

One of the craziest things about food is how much the flavor can change just by heating something up. A couple of minutes in a pan can drastically alter the flavor and texture of an ingredient.

Endive happens to be one of those ingredients. It also happens to be one of those foods I hated as a child. Being the sick child that I was, I often had hives. One of those times happened to coincide with the first time I ever had endive, so I spent the next decade claiming I was allergic to it. I’m not. I probably just pet a cat. I’m not allergic to any foods.

I’m allergic to soap, but not foods.

But that is neither here nor there.

The bottom line is, endive is yummy. I know I just made it sound super appetizing with my story about hives, but the point is it is tasty hot or cold.

I’m going to stop talking now and show you the pictures. Maybe then I can convince you it’s worth making.

You will need…

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 large garlic clove, finely chopped

4 large heads of Belgian endive, halved lengthwise

¼ cup dry white wine

¼ cup chicken broth

2 teaspoons white wine vinegar

8 tablespoons freshly grated parmesan cheese

Chopped toasted hazelnuts

Chopped fresh chives

Heat the olive oil in a heavy large skillet over medium heat. Add garlic and stir for 30 seconds. Add in the endive with the cut side down.

Add wine and broth and bring to a boil. Cover and cook for 5 minutes. Using tongs, turn the endive over. Cover and cook until crisp-tender, about 1 minute longer.

Remove skillet from heat. Using tongs, lift endive from skillet draining liquid from each head back into the skillet. Transfer 2 halves, cut side up to each of 4 plates.

Add vinegar to skillet and cook over medium heat until sauce reduces slightly. About 1 minute. Season to taste with salt and pepper and spoon over endive. Sprinkle leach salad with 2 tablespoons parmesan cheese then hazelnuts and chives.

Please ignore the first part of this post about hives and focus on the pretty pictures. Really pretty pictures.

Love and Beer Floats

Angela