.................. Cooking with Barry & Meta: Kalamata Olives

Showing posts with label Kalamata Olives. Show all posts

Greek Summer Salad

Light, refreshing and a recipe that allows us to use garden produce. I halved this recipe and serviced it with sandwiches for a light summer supper.

Assembed salad, ready to refrigerate.

Salad Dressing mixture.

Greek Summer Salad

Vegetables:

1 English cucumber

1 orange, yellow or red bell pepper, diced

1 cup cherry tomatoes, halved

1/2 red onion, thinly sliced

1/2 cup pitted kalamata olives

A few torn pieces of fresh oregano, optional

Salad Dressing:

1/2 cup olive oil

1/4 cup red wine vinegar

1 lemon, juiced

3 cloves garlic, minced

1 teaspoon Dijon mustard

2 to 3 teaspoons fresh oregano, chopped or 1 tsp. dried

1 teaspoon kosher salt

1/2 teaspoon cracked pepper

Vegetables: Slice the cucumber in half lengthwise and then into chunks.
Add the cucumber to a mixing bowl along with the diced peppers, cherry tomatoes, sliced onion, olives, and oregano leaves.
Dressing: Whisk together all of the ingredients for the dressing and taste for flavor. Adjust seasonings to taste.
Assemble: Pour dressing over the vegetables and toss to combine.
Cover and refrigerate for one hour or longer to allow flavors to develop.
Serve cold or at room temperature.

Carrot Salad A La Mode De Gautier

Barry pulled fresh carrots just about the time Inge Teasley and Gwyn Johnson began singing the praises of this salad. Inge then shared the recipe and I made it to accompany last night’s fish. Originally I thought the olives and eggs were a strange accompaniment but after one bite, I changed my mind. An interesting and tasty recipe that will become a staple at our house.

Carrot Salad A La Mode De Gautier 4 servings

1/4 teaspoon finely chopped garlic (about 1 small clove)

Scant 3/4 teaspoon salt (I used kosher)

1/4 cup salad/vegetable oil (preferably peanut oil)

4 teaspoons wine vinegar (I used white wine vinegar)

1/4 teaspoon Dijon mustard

½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

8 to 10 young, thin carrots

8 black Greek olives (I used kalamati and increased amount)

2 hard-cooked eggs, sliced

Dressing: Put the garlic in a small bowl, add the salt and press garlic with a pestle till it is well mashed. Add the oil, vinegar, mustard, and pepper. Beat with a fork or whisk; cover and set aside.
Peel the carrots. Shred them into long thin pieces using the side with round holes on a four-sided conventional kitchen grater. Shred enough carrots to make 2 firmly packed cups.
Re-beat/whisk the oil-vinegar dressing and pour on the carrots. Toss lightly together, tossing till the dressing thoroughly coats the carrots.
Pile on a platter and garnish with the olives and eggs.
Newspaper clipping of recipe — NOTE at the bottom suggests serving this salad as a "lightful" hors d'oeuvre with drinks on small plates in the living room before going into dinner.

Salad-in-a-Jar, Italian-style

Instead of our usual sandwiches, I assembled salads in jars for our backroad Saturday outing. There are so many ideas and variations but I used an Italian theme simply because of the ingredients I had on hand. The ideas are limitless. The ingredient list is vague as I just added the amounts we wanted and assembled them in the order I preferred—there are no rules except to start with the dressing and then to place a durable food ingredient on top, one that can marinate without becoming soggy.

Note: I first made these salads-in-a-jar in quart jars but that is a lot of food. Now we make them in wide-mouth pint jars.

Salad-in-a-Jar, Italian-style 2 quart-sized servings / cut amounts in half for pint jar

INGREDIENTS

1/2 cup Creamy Italian Salad Dressing –homemade or commercial version with added chopped fresh herbs: rosemary, parsley, basil & oregano (or used dried Italian seasoning)

Chopped cucumbers with salt & pepper added (about 1 small)

Chopped tomatoes with salt & pepper added (about 2 medium)

Cannelini white beans, drained (about half of a 14.5 oz. can )

2 handfuls of baby spinach leaves

About 3/4 cup cooked pasta (a smaller sized variety; I used small shells)—after cooking marinate in several tablespoons of extra Italian Salad Dressed

About 1/4 to 1/2 cup uncured hard salami cut into halves or quartered

About 1/4 to 1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese

About 16 pitted kalamata olives

Additional baby spinach leaves

Sprinkling of additional Parmesan cheese

DIRECTIONS:

Advance Preparation: Make the salad dressing and cook the pasta and allow it to marinate in some of the salad dressing. Chop tomatoes and cucumbers and season with salt and pepper.

Salad assembly: Assemble jars in the order of the ingredients listed above, dividing ingredients among 2 jars.

Storage: Store jars in refrigerator until ready to eat. May be assembled the day before eating.

Final Preparation: Before eating, shake jars to distribute dressing.

We took our Salad-in-a-Jar to one of our Saturday outing—this one to Wilson Lake. Here's Barry shaking the salad to distribute the dressing on our picnic.

Scenic pics from our hike at Lucas Park, Wilson Lake

Recipe without photos: