Tag Archives: Fall Salads

Winter Squash Salad with Waffled Halloumi Croutons and Pomegranate Vinaigrette

After my successful venture with Croffles (Croissant-Waffles), I started to look at other ingredients in my fridge with the same lens. Will it waffle, I wondered. It seems like such a shame to let my waffle iron sit in the cupboard gathering dust, only to pull it out twice a year to make waffles.

I had a package of halloumi cheese about to expire so I decided to experiment. I heated the waffle iron to medium and sprayed it lightly with cooking spray. I tried a range of thicknesses and settled on 1/2 inch slices. Because halloumi is so firm, it waffled beautifully. I achieved a burnished golden brown colour and crispy edges, with that tell-tale squeak in the centre. Resounding success.

I decided to build a winter salad around these “halloumi croutons”. Check out this video to see how it all came together.

I started with butternut squash. Seasoned with salt, smoked paprika and a good drizzle of olive oil I roasted it until tender and browned. I like to cut the squash into small pieces to maximize the crispy surface area. Pro tip: Use a grapefruit spoon to scoop out the seeds and stringy fibres in the squash. The serrated edge of the spoon is the perfect tool for this.

For greens I decided on a mix of baby kale, micro arugula, and shredded raw Brussels sprouts. Arugula, frisée lettuce, radicchio, and Tuscan kale would all be good choices. You need a fairly bitter, assertive lettuce/green to counterbalance the sweet squash and mild, salty cheese.

If you have a food processor with a slicing disc, it produces julienned Brussels sprouts in seconds. If not, with a sharp knife and some patience, and it can be done by hand.

Every salad needs crunch. This one comes from spiced walnuts. If you have never made your own spiced nuts before, it’s quite simple. A lightly beaten egg white acts as the glue to help the spices stick to the nuts. I used a mix of sugar, salt, sumac and a pinch of cayenne. They only take about 12 minutes to toast and they keep for weeks in an airtight container. You can play around with the nuts and spices.

For the dressing, I created a sweet and tangy pomegranate vinaigrette. Pomegranate seeds were the final garnish, twinkling like glittering jewels.

Click here to print recipe for Winter Squash Salad with Waffled Halloumi Croutons and Pomegranate Vinaigrette.

Fried Green Tomato Salad with Basil Vinaigrette

When life hands you green tomatoes, it’s time to get frying. Fried green tomatoes were not a part of my childhood. I grew up on KD (Kraft Mac and Cheese), Swanson’s TV dinners and Jello molds. We were a modern family!

I was recently gifted a big basket of green tomatoes and decided to make a fried green tomato salad. Never having made them before, I did a quick google search and discovered many different methods. Some swear by deep frying, other recommend a shallow fry. Some use cornmeal for breading, others extol the virtues of rice flour. I turned to Erin at Dish Catering for a lesson. Her team made them for our daughter’s wedding weekend and they were so delicious.

The secret to that outer crispy shell is Panko breadcrumbs mixed with finely chopped parsley and grated Parmesan. Set up a breading station. Dip first in flour, then beaten eggs and finally the Panko breadcrumbs.

Make sure to slice the green tomatoes quite thick, about a 1/2 inch. Lay slices on a baking sheet lined with paper towels. Salt the tomatoes and leave them sit for about 15 minutes before breading.

A neutral vegetable oil, such as sunflower or safflower is good for frying. Heat oil to about 350°F. (Bust out your instant read thermometer). If your oil is too cold the tomatoes will be soggy. Too hot and the coating will burn before the inside gets creamy and soft. Don’t crowd the pan and be patient. Don’t flip until they are deeply golden brown. Drain on a paper towel, lightly salt and transfer to a wire rack to cool. They will stay crispy for at least an hour or two after frying.

If you can still find some ripe yellow and red tomatoes, it looks so beautiful to mix them into the salad. A bit of soft fresh cheese, like fior de latte or buffalo mozzarella is the perfect creamy contrast to the crispy fried tomatoes. I made a basil vinaigrette for drizzling over the salad.

A perfect way to say goodbye to summer.

Pear and Kale Salad

If we’re being completely honest here, I must confess that salads in the salt and serenity kitchen are usually served tossed, in a stainless steel mixing bowl and eaten while standing over the sink. Perhaps some of you loyal readers can relate.

I created this salad as a homework assignment for a course I am taking on food composition from the immensely talented Rachel Korinek. The objective was to focus on the macro-level of styling salad. Let the salad be the hero and fill the frame.

I went grocery shopping to get inspired. I ignored all the obvious orange fall produce like pumpkins and squash. I dislike pumpkins (well, more like detest pumpkin spice, but that’s a rant for another day) and I always cook with squash, so that didn’t present much of a challenge for me. When I saw these gorgeous Starkrimson red pears, I knew I had found my intended. The shape of pears is so graceful.

Once I had chosen my hero, I could figure out the rest. I added some pomegranates because they add shine and a beautiful jolt of red. If you have ever studied colour theory, you know that the complementary colour choice to red is green (opposites on the colour wheel). I went for a mix of greens, kale for a dark emerald shade and arugula for a a hit of brighter green.

I picked up some shallots. Their violet colour be a beautiful accent against the red and green. Pickling them would add a sour counterpoint to the sweet pears. For crunch, I candied some walnuts in maple syrup.

I decided to plate this on a cutting board (top photo), for a casual feeling. I saw Jamie Oliver do this on his show and you know how I feel about Jamie Oliver! I decided to roast the pears instead of using them raw in the salad. I sliced them two different ways for a variety of shapes.

Butternut Squash and Israeli Cous Cous

Let’s ease into this new season together, gently. No to boots and sweaters just yet, but I will encourage you to turn on the oven and roast some butternut squash. If you’re intimidated by a whole butternut, I’ve got you covered. Here’s an old video I made showing you the safest way to get the job done.

I like to dice the squash quite small for this salad. Little cubes, about 1/4 inch in size is perfect. Be patient and methodical, it will be worth it. Tiny pieces cook more quickly, plus, when all that surface area makes contact with a screaming hot pan, the result is lots of little crispy bits. Toss diced squash with some olive oil, salt and pepper and a few sprigs of fresh thyme and roast at 400°F.

I love to pair the squash with Israeli couscous (also known as pearl couscous). Israeli couscous is technically not a grain, but rather a pasta. Made from wheat flour and semolina, it is toasted, rather than dried. The easiest way to cook it is in lots of boiling salted warter, just like any other pasta. Cook it until it’s al dente. Part of the charm of Israeli couscous is the chewy, bouncy texture.

The squash and couscous are quite bland, so they need an assertive dressing to make it come alive. My vinegar of choice is sherry vinegar (labelled vinaigre de Jerez). It’s more rounded and complex than red wine or apple cider vinegar and way less cloying than balsamic. It has a crisp, bright acidity with lots of nuttiness and some caramel undertones. Don’t buy anything labelled “cooking sherry”. That’s not the same thing. My favourite brand sells for about $12 a bottle and it’s commonly sold in higher end grocery stores. In Ottawa I buy it at Herb and Spice. If you can’t find it, red wine vinegar would work quite well in this salad.

My green of choice for this salad is arugula. It’s peppery bite is perfect with the bland couscous and the sweet squash. A sprinkling of deeply toasted hazelnuts adds a welcome crunch. Any leftovers keep well in the fridge for 1-2 days.

Arugula Apple Salad with Spiced Cider Vinaigrette

One Friday night, about a month ago, my cell phone began pinging furiously with text messages from my mom and four sisters. Our last mass text convo was when my brother sent out a group email to all his sisters with the subject “Mom passed.” He was referring to her driver’s licence renewal test, not her life. He immediately heard from all his sisters.

This text chat was much less controversial. Apparently my daughter brought an apple salad to a family dinner that I wasn’t able to attend. They all raved about it, assumed I had given her the recipe and wanted me to forward it to them. I couldn’t take credit for this salad. My daughter got the recipe from Ingrid Beer’s blog, thecozyapron.

Ingrid used frisée lettuce, arugula, honeycrisp apples and candied walnuts in her recipe. My adaptation kept the arugula and apples but I added spiced pecans and pistachios, radicchio, Belgian endive and pomegranate seeds. I mixed in some Gruyere cheese  because I think that apples and Gruyere are a match made in heaven.

Feel free to make the salad your own. Goat cheese would be great. Pears would be a nice change from the apples. I did not change anything in the dressing. It is perfect exactly as created by Ingrid. It has become my new house dressing.

You’ll be hooked from the first forkful!

Click here to print recipe for Arugula Apple Salad with Spiced Cider Vinaigrette.