Caprese salad is one I make all the time in the summer months once we start getting good Jersey tomatoes.  Burrata cheese is a fresh Italian cheese that is made of mozzarella and cream.  It is very similar to fresh mozzarella but the center is creamy.  Along with roasted tomatoes, burrata cheese adds a nice twist to caprese salad. 

You'll Need:

For salad:
3/4 lb mixed yellow and red cherry tomatoes, or just use regular fresh garden tomatoes
2 Tbs olive oil
salt & pepper
1 pkg baby romaine or mixed greens, enough for 4 small salads
1 lb fresh burrata cheese at room temp (leave out of fridge for about 30 min prior to making salad)
10 fresh basil leaves, julienned (sliced into thin strips)


For dressing:
1/8 tsp dry mustard
salt & fresh ground pepper
1/4 cup olive oil
2 tsp fresh squeezed lemon juice

Half the tomatoes and toss with olive oil, salt and pepper. Roast in a shallow baking pan under broiler for a few minutes until skins just start to get browned.
Remove from oven and let cool while you prepare dressing.  

Whisk together dressing ingredients and set aside.

Arrange salad greens on a serving plate, top with burrata cheese and the tomatoes (which should be about room temperature by now).  Sprinkle the julienned basil on top of the cheese and tomatoes.  Then drizzle the dressing over all and serve immediately.  If making ahead, add dressing right before serving. 

In the hot summer weather, sometimes you just need to eat salad for dinner.  It's too hot to eat a big plate of hot food.  But, it's also dinnertime, and we want something more substantial than just salad.  So... here's a different way (other than adding chicken) to make that salad feel like a meal.   

Makes 4 servings.

You'll Need:

4 large eggs
1 tsp salt
1/2 cup vinegar
8 strips of thick cut smoked applewood bacon (I got this from the deli at Freshdirect; but you can use regular bacon if that's all you can find)
5 oz pkg of Spring Mix mesclun lettuce (or whatever lettuce you like)
1 large tomato chopped or 1 1/2 cups cherry/grape tomatoes sliced in halves
1/2 English cucumber chopped in small pcs (the kind without seeds)
1/4 of a red onion, sliced very thin (or as much as you like on salad)
1/2 cup canned Garbanzo beans (chick peas; rinsed with water and drained)
1 1/2 cups of croutons (you can use store-bought or make your own with this link)

Dressing:
1/4 tsp garlic salt
1/4 tsp dry mustard
fresh ground pepper
1/2 cup olive oil
3 Tbs red wine vinegar
1 Tbs fresh lemon juice. 

To Make:

Begin cooking bacon til crispy.  Dry/cool on paper towels and set aside.  

Meanwhile fill a large bowl with all salad ingredients:  lettuce, tomatoes, cucumber, red onion, beans.  In small separate bowl, whisk together the dressing ingredients and set aside.   

To poach your eggs: Boil water in a small pot with 1 tsp salt and 1/2 cup vinegar added to the water.  While waiting for water to boil, get a small bowl of ice-water ready in the sink.  Carefully crack the eggs into a ladle or small dish, then place the ladle or dish just over the boiling water and turn the bowl so they slide into the water very carefully instead of plopping in and making a splash.  Boil for 2 minutes.  Immediately remove eggs from the boiling water with a plastic slotted spoon, and carefully place the eggs in the ice-water for 30 seconds to stop them from cooking.  The middles will be runny but the outside will be cooked delicately.  Set aside in a bowl.  

When you are just about ready to eat, add croutons and dressing to the bowl of salad ingredients, and toss to coat all the veggies and croutons.  You don't have to use all the dressing, you can set some aside on the table for those who want to add more to their salad.  Then transfer salad to large plates for individual servings, top each plate with 2 strips of crumbled bacon, and 1 of the poached eggs.  Sprinkle salad with some fresh ground pepper and serve!  

Lately I have been making a lot of my own salad dressings...which I never before realized could be so simple and so delicious!  My new favorite go-to is a dijon mustard, balsamic vinegar vinaigrette.  It's a little sweet, got a bit of a kick from the dijon, and goes really well with a light, summery salad.

You will need:
1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
1/2 cup canola oil (this is what I used but I imagine any oil will do)
1 heaping Tbs good dijon mustard
2 tsp honey
S&P to taste

SO simple.  You just whisk all those ingredients together and voila!  I like to use fresh cracked pepper rather than all ready ground for a bit more flavor.  And I tend to like this dressing most on a salad with a little bit of sweetness to it (like fresh strawberries or candied walnuts or something).  

Note: You can make your own candied walnuts super easily by simply heating up granulated sugar in a saucepan.  As the sugar heats up, swirl it around until it's all melted and turning caramel colored.  Once all melted pour in a bunch of walnuts and stir to coat.  Turn the walnuts out onto a cutting board and cool.  As they cool they will harden and then you can chop them up and throw them on your salad.  YUM!

I've been into making my own salad dressings lately.  We had a random few summery days here in NH in March so we made grilled chicken Caesar salads! 

You will need:
Scant 1/3 cup mayo
2 Tbsp lemon juice
1 Tbsp olive oil
2 tsp cider vinegar
1 tsp worcestershire sauce
1 tsp fish sauce
1 tsp dijon mustard
1 garlic clove
1 cup shredded parmesean cheese *
pepper+ salt to taste

*I shred my own parm, so 1 cup might be different than if you use pre-grated instead.

Blend all ingredients in a blender or food processor.  Makes about 1/2 cup. 

My great friend Jess and her husband came to visit and help ring in the new year this past weekend, and when I get to see her I am guaranteed to eat well, talk a LOT, and be left with a sore belly from laughing so hard.  I think you will get the picture...needless to say, we had a great time and came up with some great recipes! 

Jess really challenges my creativity when it comes to cooking because while I tend to rely on cheese and meat to make things really hit the spot, she is lactose intolerant and a vegetarian!  You would think this would ruin a meal for me, but honestly, I am shocked at how delicious our meals always are when we cook together...

The menu for New Year's Eve was Maple Glazed Salmon accompanied by Local Fixin's (which is her new project of bringing local Illinois farm products to the people of Chicago - it consists of black beans, wheat berries and an incredible seasoning mixture) sided with mixed greens tossed in a dijon vinaigrette.  If the picture doesn't cut it (mine never seem to) do yourself a favor and trust me on this one and make this for yourself sometime...DELICIOUS!

Local Fixin's take a bit longer than your average side dish to make, so we started early.  We soaked the black beans and wheat berries in water for about 6 hours.  This sounds time consuming but it's not at all...just takes some good old memory (or your phone alarm).  Seriously though, how hard is it to wake up, cover the dried stuff with water and then not think about it until 2 hours before dinner - piece of cake.

Once those suckers were good and soaked, we rinsed them off and put them into a 6 quart pot with 3.5 cups of water.  Jess was super smart in creating this little goodie jar because the mason jar has measurement lines on it and doubles as your measuring cup - how convenient!

Then we added the contents of the spice pack and stirred.  After bringing this mixture to a boil, we lowered the heat and simmered for about two hours, or until all the water was absorbed.  Again...cake!

While that simmered we cracked open the bottle of vino that she brought us wrapped up in this hilarious little monkey suit...the monkey got a little tipsy too. 

While sipping our monkey wine, we marinated our salmon by combining all the ingredients below and sitting the salmon skin side up in it for about an hour.  If you make this, you should marinate for at least 10 minutes but not longer than an hour or so just in case the vinegar breaks down the salmon.

Maple Salmon Marinade:1/2 cup balsamic
1/4 cup soy sauce
1/2 cup maple syrup (thank you Miranda for my New Hampshire Maple Syrup!!)
Dramatic drizzle of olive oil over top everything
S&P

Now for the mixed greens.  We made a simple vinaigrette by mixing up the ingredients below, tasting along the way until it was what we wanted.  Tossed with a bunch of mixed greens, this made a light and easy side for our dinner.

Dijon Vinaigrette:
Two heavy squirts of Dijon mustard
A large splash of apple cider vinegar
Double the amount of vinegar with olive oil
Season with S&P 
Add a dash of maple syrup 

After a few more laughs and a wine refill, we set the oven to broil and took our salmon out of the fridge.  We put the salmon skin side up in a baking dish with about a 1/4 inch of the marinade in the bottom of the pan and broiled for about 10 minutes.  Then we flipped it over and broiled until the salmon turned from shiny orange to matte peach, about 10 more minutes, depending on the size of your salmon pieces.  The top gets a little candied and is delicious! 

While that broiled, we chopped up some fresh ingredients from the fridge to mix with our Local Fixin's.  Here is what we used...   

Black Bean and Wheat Berries with Veggies:
One Jar Local Fixin's (black beans, wheat berries and seasoning)
Carrots, cut real thin for easy eating
Edamame, steamed and removed from pods
Cherry tomatoes, chopped
Sun-dried tomatoes, just a couple, chopped
Red onion, just a touch, finely chopped
A heavy sprinkle of feta cheese for on top

One bottle of wine and lot of good laughs later...everything is ready, monkey man is happy, and we are ready to dig in!  

Cheers to good friends, good food, and monkeys who hide wine bottles!

NOTE: If you aren't able to get your hands on Local Fixin's for yourself, you can try to recreate them by cooking black beans with wheat berries and a combo of dried basil, oregano, marjoram, parsley, dill, mint, onion, black pepper and mustard.