Mixed Baby Greens w/ Homemade Dressing

So the oddest but most wonderful thing happened in one of our raised garden beds.  Lettuce grew on its own.  Volunteer, I think it's called.  Yesterday I harvested the baby lettuce gave it a nice shower to clean off the dirt, and then into the salad spinner to dry it off.

There was romaine, curly green leaf, red leaf, and arugula.  What a wonderful delicious surprise!

This lettuce is delicate and very tender, no heavy dressing will work...no ranch, no blue cheese, no thousand island.  The dressing recipe I made to go with the salad is light and a bit tart, and just delicious.

Dressing:

2 Tbl. White Balsamic Vinegar
1/2 tsp. Dijon mustard
3 Tbl. Extra Virgin Olive Oil
1 Tbl. finely chopped shallot*
1/4 tsp. salt
1/8 tsp. pepper

Put all ingredients in a small jar and shake, shake, shake.  Pour over baby greens and enjoy.

To the salad, I added dried cranberries and sunflower kernals.  Another option would be to add some crumbled bacon.

*We grew shallots in our garden last year.  It was quite a harvest, enjoyed them all winter and still this spring.

Enjoy Friends!

Chicken with Rosemary Dijon Mustard Sauce

I'm always searching for new ways to prepare chicken. Plus the fact that my fresh herbs are growing and are quite abundant.

This dish is very easy to make, it takes about 20 minutes and will serve two people. It is tangy and zesty. The ingredients you will need are: boneless skinless chicken breasts, olive oil OR coconut oil, white wine (I used Sauvignon Blanc), garlic, fresh rosemary, Dijon mustard, salt & pepper.

If you don't want to use wine in this recipe, chicken stock would be a great substitute.

Ingredients:

2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts (pound them down to 1/4" thick)

2 Tbl. olive oil OR coconut oil

1/2 Cup white wine (use a wine you would drink--not "cooking wine")

2 Tbl. fresh rosemary sprigs

1 clove garlic minced

2 Tbl. Dijon mustard

salt & pepper

 

Directions:

• After pounding the chicken to 1/4" thick, season with salt and pepper on both sides.
• Heat the oil in a non-stick skillet, add the chicken and cook until done on both sides, about 5 minutes per side.
• When the chicken is done, set it on a heat proof plate and keep it warm in the oven
• To the same skillet, add the wine, rosemary, and garlic.  Simmer and reduce by half.
• Take the skillet off the heat, add the Dijon mustard and stir in.
• Slice the chicken breasts on a diagonal and pour the sauce over.  Serve.

Enjoy friends!

Homemade Tartar Sauce

We are having fried fish tonight courtesy of my brother Mike!  So I wanted a really good tartar sauce. I found just the right recipe over at "Simply Recipes" and here it is.

Homemade Tartar Sauce Recipe

• Prep time: 5 minutes
• Yield: Makes about a cup and a half of tartar sauce.

INGREDIENTS

• 1 cup mayonnaise
• 1/2 cup chopped dill pickles
• 1 teaspoon capers, chopped
• 2 teaspoons Dijon mustard
• 2 teaspoons chopped shallots
• 2 Tbsp chopped scallions
• 2 teaspoons lemon juice
• 6 drops Tabasco sauce or more to taste
• Salt and pepper to taste

METHOD

Mix all ingredients together in a bowl and place in the fridge until time to eat.

Salad of Baby Greens with Citrus Dressing

This recipe for citrus dressing has been in my recipe book for too long.  Time to make this tasty dressing to have with dinner tonight.

Gather the ingredients for the dressing:  lemon, orange, olive oil, fresh thyme, Dijon mustard, honey, salt.

Here are the exact amounts:

2 Tbl. freshly squeezed lemon juice
2 Tbl. freshly squeezed orange juice
1 Tbl. Dijon mustard
1 Tbl. honey
1/4 tsp. fresh thyme leaves, chopped
1/4 tsp. fine sea salt
1/4 Cup extra-virgin olive oil

Put all of the ingredients in a bowl and whisk until well combined.  (I used my small blender)

For the salad I used organic spinach and baby greens, and a packet of salad pizzaz--orange, cranberry, and almonds.

Here's the salad after drizzling the dressing over-- don't drown the greens, just "dress" them.

Enjoy, friends!!