Tag: Feta

Weekend Finds 7:20:14

It has been HOT in Portland, you guys. I’m talking like 90 degrees, humid, blech. The kind of hot that just makes you want to dip your toes in a fountain, drink milkshakes, and take a nap in the afternoon with the fan blowing full force. When it’s this hot, it officially becomes salad season. Here are some weekend finds to help deal with the heat.

1. Gazpacho

Gazpacho Season // Weekend Finds on Serious Crust
Ooh I could go for a cup of gazpacho right about now.

Jonah claims he doesn’t like gazpacho, but I’m convinced I can change his mind if I find the perfect recipe. I haven’t committed to one yet, but I’m determined to make some this week, before it cools off too much. I’ve been looking at recipes like this, this, and this. Let me know in the comments if you have a great gazpacho recipe.

2. Tomato, Corn, Cucumber Salad

Corn, Tomato, Cucumber, and Feta Salad // Weekend Finds on Serious Crust
Doesn’t that look just like the definition of summer?

Earlier this week, we needed a quick, crunchy, cold dinner before we went to play a show. I picked up some corn, grape tomatoes, and feta on the way home, we sliced it all up, added some cucumber, and voila, dinner (via this recipe). Then last night we went over to a friend’s house for salad night and we pulled out the leftovers, threw them on top of some spinach, added some chickpeas and a tahini dressing (this one minus the ginger and garlic, plus a little more vinegar). It was filling and refreshing and really delicious.

3. Crispy Tofu with Sriracha Honey Lime Sauce

Crispy Tofu with Sriracha Honey Lime Sauce from I Am a Food Blog // Weekend Finds on Serious Crust
Beautiful tofu from I Am a Food Blog

On the nights it isn’t so hot, we cook things like this crispy tofu with sriracha lime honey sauce from I Am a Food Blog. I think this might be my new favorite way to make tofu. Be warned though, that sauce is spicy. (I like eating spicy things when it’s hot out – why not be hot on the inside and the outside?) Also, if you don’t know about I Am a Food Blog, you should. Go to her site and poke around. Everything we’ve made from her has been awesome.

4. Cleaning out your spice drawer

Cleaning out the Spice Drawer // Weekend Finds on Serious Crust
Look at how organized that spice drawer is. I want that in my life.

We are re-signing our lease, and that means we are doing a massive cleaning of our house. We’ve probably cleaned out our spice drawer(s) multiple times since living here, but it can’t hurt to do it again. It’s important to know how long you can keep things before they lose their punch. This guide from The Kitchn is a great help.

5. Miso Quinoa Pilaf with Eggplant and Cucumber!

Miso Quinoa Pilaf from Food52 // Weekend Finds on Serious Crust
Plus this quinoa pilaf features one of my favorite flavors ever: miso!

I don’t usually like quinoa. I find that it tends to be underseasoned/underdressed, and as a result is awfully bland. But my roommate is slowly changing my mind… We made dinner together a few weeks ago from some leftover, and we made this really delicious quinoa bowl with roasted vegetables. Anyway, point is, I’d like to try to eat more quinoa, and this miso quinoa pilaf looks like a great place to start.

Shaved Asparagus Salad

Shaved Asparagus Salad // Serious Crust

Sometimes,  you make a meal, thinking one dish will be the star. Especially when you lay down a hefty chunk of change on a cut of meat. But things happen – you run out of time and you don’t season the meat properly or sear it the way you’d like, and then maybe you leave it in the slow cooker a little bit longer than you should have. And when that happens, there are side dishes that sneak up and surprise you. Like this shaved asparagus salad did.

Don’t get me wrong, I knew this salad would be good. I love asparagus, and there are seemingly a million shaved asparagus salad recipes out there (like this one, and this one, and this one). And yeah, they’re all relatively the same. But man, something about the freshness of this salad – crunchy, sour, salty – just got me. It was exactly what I needed after a long day of work. And it certainly was better than an underseasoned, overcooked (only slightly) piece of meat.

Shaved Asparagus Salad

Serves 4

Ingredients

1 bunch of asparagus
juice from half of a lemon
olive oil
salt (course is good, if you’ve got it)
freshly ground pepper
1/4 cup, roughly, of toasted pine nuts, sliced and toasted almonds, or shelled pistachios
parmesan cheese, though crumbled feta would work nicely too

Instructions

Don’t snap the tough ends off your asparagus just yet! Leave them on and use them as a handle. Lay the asparagus on a cutting board, and use a peeler to shave off wide strips, shaving away from you. You’ll have some thick pieces at the end, but do the best you can. Apparently the consensus is that y-shaped peelers are better for this, but I don’t have one of those. Make do with what you’ve got. Discard the woody ends. Put the peeled pieces into a bowl or on a platter or whatever you’re planning on serving on/in. Pour the lemon juice over top of the asparagus, and drizzle with olive oil. I can’t tell you how much olive oil, because I didn’t measure. A good glug should suffice. Sprinkle some salt and pepper over the top, as well as the toasted nuts. Rinse your peeler and use it to shave some thin pieces of parmesan to top the salad (or use a fork and crumble the feta over top). We’re big cheese fans, so we did more cheese instead of less.

Enjoy on a spring or summer day, preferably with a glass of refreshing white or rosé wine. I think this salad would be perfect alongside some grilled fish or chicken for a summer soirée.

Corn Salad

Corn Salad // Serious Crust by Annie FasslerCorn Salad // Serious Crust by Annie Fassler

Guys, it’s September, and I have a few summer recipes, like this corn salad, to get to you before the season slips from our fingers. At this point, it feels like summer might never end in Portland – it cooled off a bit last week, and this week hit a high of about 98 degrees (get it? like the band? ok. I’ll stop.). But this weekend, it’s supposed to rain, and the temperature is supposed to drop, and I am feeling strangely ready for that to happen.

I usually mourn the end of summer, but lately I have been craving heartier dishes and squash, specifically butternut and acorn. I’ll take peaches and tomatoes, but the hankering for those fall dishes is starting to nag at me.

But while it’s hot and there are still things like corn and nectarines, you should eat things like this corn salad. Inspired by a few different recipes, this is one of those dishes that uses corn as a base, but you can really toss in whatever you have around. Quickly cube and cook up some zucchini and throw it in, or add in some chopped tomatoes (seed them first), or chop up some basil. Here’s what I used.

Corn Salad

Serves 4

Ingredients

3 ears corn, lightly cooked (boiled), and kernels cut from the cob
2 nectarines, cubed
1 bell pepper, cubed
1 jalapeño, seeded, chopped
1-2 limes, juiced (start with one, see how you like it)
1/2 cup crumbled feta cheese
Salt and pepper

Instructions

Combine ingredients in a bowl, stir it up, add more of anything you like, and eat with friends as the hot day starts to cool off, preferably accompanied by grilled chicken or fish or something like that, as well as some cold beers.

Pasta Salad with Feta and Snow Peas

Pasta salad

Pasta salad

One of my resolutions this summer is to have more picnics. This shouldn’t be too hard, seeing as we have a lovely park a few blocks from our house. So a couple weeks ago, we had our first picnic! I texted a bunch of friends and asked everyone to bring some food and we all met at the park.

Jonah and I brought this miniature amp we have and hooked my phone up and played some music, we had chips, strawberries, veggies and ranch dip, and this delicious pasta salad that Jonah made. It was perfectly filling and refreshing. Great for a summer day! And it was a big hit.  We found the recipe on Martha Stewart’s website. We adapted a little bit (because I’m not a huge fan of bell peppers, which is beginning to change), so here’s our version.

Pasta Salad with Feta and Snow Peas

Ingredients

Coarse salt and ground pepper
1 pound fusilli
4 oz snow peas, strings removed, cut in half
2 scallions, thinly sliced
1/2 cup chopped fresh cilantro
1 cup (4 ounces) crumbled feta cheese (we did a bit more)
2 Tbl olive oil
2 Tbl rice vinegar
1 1/2 tsp balsamic vinegar
1 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper

Instructions

Cook your pasta according to the package. During the last minute of cooking, add in the snow peas so they’ll be a little cooked. Drain the pasta and peas and rinse with cold water to cool and stop from cooking. In a large bowl, combine the pasta and peas with scallions, cilantro, feta, oil, vinegars, salt, and pepper. Toss to combine, and serve chilled or at room temperature.