Buca Di Beppo Apple Gorgonzola Salad with Italian Vinaigrette

I am a vegetarian. I love vegetables. I like salads when they are made well, but I rarely LOVE salads. I eat them on a regular basis, but don't make them very often. I think they taste better when someone else makes them. :) I also am a little funny when it comes to putting fruit on salads. I'm just not usually a big fan. I don't like to mix sweet and savory. I like them better separate. I don't like the sweet potatoes with marshmallows served at Thanksgiving. Weird, I know. I'd probably like them if they were savory roasted sweet potatoes or something along those lines. I'm weird. As my husband would say "wonderfully weird" (Thanks 'Friends'!)

Back to the salad ... I went to Buca Di Beppo (we don't have one where I live, the closest one is 80 or so miles away) with my family and my mom ordered a salad. Not just any salad. This salad. I was hesitant, but tried it. I LOVED it! I think it's one of my favorite salads, hands down! It's delicious. Even my husband who doesn't eat salad very often craved it for dinner one night, so I had to look up a copycat recipe online. (Thank you Google!) It tasted exactly the same. Try it! You won't be disappointed. If you are. . . sorry in advance.



Buca Di Beppo Copycat Apple Gorgonzola Salad with Italian Vinaigrette
(Thank you meemoskitchen.blogspot.com!!)

Ingredients:
1 granny smith apple (chopped, and sliced for garnish)
8 oz romaine lettuce (washed and chopped)
2 Tb Gorgonzola cheese (crumbled)
2 oz Spiced California Walnuts (chopped .. recipe below)
1/4 cup dried cranberries
1/2 cup Italian vinaigrette (recipe below)

Preparation:
Make spiced walnuts. (They take roughly an hour) While waiting for walnuts, make the vinaigrette. (This will be best if it sits for at least a half hour) While waiting for walnuts and vinaigrette to sit, slice and chop apple. Chop lettuce and crumble cheese.

Once everything is ready, mix vinaigrette into lettuce. Add chopped apples, 3/4 of the walnuts and 3/4 of the Gorgonzola cheese. Toss well. Plate and garnish with remaining walnuts, cranberries, apples and cheese. Serve immediately.

Buca Di Beppo Italian Vinaigrette

Ingredients:
1/3 cup white wine vinegar
3/4 tsp dried oregano
1/2 tsp dry mustard
1 tsp salt
1 pinch black pepper
1/8 cup red onion, chopped fine
1 1/2 tsp garlic, minced
3/4 cup olive oil

Combine the vinegar, oregano, dry mustard, salt and pepper in a blender. Add the onion and garlic. Blend together while slowly adding the olive oil. By adding the olive oil slowly, it will emulsify with the other ingredients creating a thicker vinaigrette. Let vinaigrette sit at room temperature for 30 minutes before serving. This is best made shortly before using.

Spiced California Walnuts
(Recipe from the California Walnut Board)

Ingredients:
1 egg white
1 Tbsp water
2 cups California walnuts (halves and pieces)
1/2 cup sugar
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp allspice

Preheat oven to 225 and line a large shallow baking pan with foil.
Combine egg white and water. Beat until foamy. Add walnut halves and pieces and toss to coat. Pour the mixture into a strainer and let drain 2-3 minutes.
Combine sugar, cinnamon and allspice in a plastic or paper bag. Shake to mix.
Add the walnuts; hold the bag shut and shake vigorously to coat the nuts.
Spread the nuts in one layer on the prepared baking sheet.
Bake for 1 hour, stirring every 15 minutes.
Cool completely, stirring occasionally and breaking nuts apart if stuck together. Don't worry if they stick to the foil, it's easy to peel them off.

Store in a tightly-capped jar.
Makes 2 cups.

Cabbage Slaw

Normally, I don't care for cole slaw. I think it's bland and just overall not very good. The only thing I like about it is the crunch of the fresh cabbage. This past weekend when I received my bountiful basket it had 2 huge heads of cabbage in it, combine that with the 1 already in my fridge, and well ... I needed to figure out something to do with all of that cabbage. I decided to make a slaw that I actually liked and would want to eat again. My attempt was successful. Not only was this slaw crunchy, it was delicious! I would totally make it again, and probably will with the ever ending supply of cabbage in my fridge.



Cabbage Slaw

2 lbs cabbage, sliced thin
1 small onion, sliced thin and then diced
1 can black beans, rinsed and drained
1 can corn, drained
3/4 cup mayo (I made fresh mayo for this slaw, I will post the recipe)
1 tsp celery salt
2 Tbsp white vinegar
1 Tbsp sugar
1 tsp hot sauce (I used Franks Red Hot)
Salt and pepper to taste

Shred the cabbage and put in large bowl. Add onion, beans and corn. Toss.

In a small bowl, combine the mayo, celery salt, vinegar, sugar and hot sauce. Mix well. Pour over cabbage and toss again. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

Put in fridge to let the flavors mingle for about 30 minutes.

Serve!

Homemade Mayo
(Recipe found in KitchenAid, Great Baking and More)

3 egg yolks
2 cups vegetable or olive oil
1 lemon, juiced (I just poured a little bottled lemon juice in)
1 tsp salt
1/4 tsp dry mustard
1 Tbsp cider vinegar

Place egg yolks in a bowl and whip for about 3 minutes on high, until yolks are stiff and pale yellow. Reduce speed to med-high and slowly add the oil in a thin stream. If the mixture becomes too thick, thin with a little lemon juice. Continue to add oil until completely absorbed.

Reduce speed to medium and add lemon juice, salt, dry mustard and vinegar and whip until blended.

Store in the refrigerator.

Cabbage and Ramen Noodle Salad

Cabbage and Ramen Noodle Salad

Ingredients:

Salad:
1 small head cabbage, chopped
1 handful of green onions, chopped
1/2 cup slivered almonds, toasted
The noodles from 1 package oriental ramen

*Optional: Chicken, sunflower seeds, sesame seeds, chives instead of onions, etc.*

Dressing:
3 Tbsp apple cider vinegar
2 Tbsp sugar
1/2 cup olive oil
Seasoning packet from oriental ramen noodles
Salt & Pepper to taste
Season salt to taste
*I also added a little smoked paprika and it was delicious!*

Dressing:
Mix together all the ingredients and set aside.

Salad:
Chop cabbage into bite size pieces and put into large bowl. Add green onions and nuts. Break up noodles into bite size pieces and add to salad.

Toss with dressing and serve immediately

Grilled Veggie Pasta Salad

Grilled Veggie Pasta Salad
(Courtesy of Cooks Illustrated)

Ingredients:
1 bunch (about 1-1 1/2 pounds) of asparagus, tough ends trimmed
3 large red bell peppers (I used red and orange)
3/4 cup extra virgin olive oil, plus more to toss with vegetables
1/4 cup fresh squeeze lemon juice from 2 lemons
1/2 tsp grated lemon zest
1 medium clove garlic, minced
1 pound short, bite sized pasta
2 Tbsp chopped fresh chives
2 Tbsp chopped fresh basil
1/3 cup grated parmesan cheese

1. Grill peppers and asparagus on grill until lightly charred and tender. Cool to room temperature (They could also be roasted if you'd prefer that)



2. Chop the veggies up and toss with oil, salt and pepper to taste.
3. Bring water to a boil over high heat. Add pasta and salt to boiling water. Cook until pasta is al dente and drain.
4. While pasta is cooking make dressing. Whisk lemon juice, zest, 3/4 tsp salt, garlic and ground black pepper to taste in a bowl. Whisk in 3/4 cup oil in a slow, steady stream until smooth.
5. While pasta is hot toss with veggies, chives, basil, parmesan cheese and dressing and mix thoroughly. Cool to room temperature. Adjust seasonings and serve.

(Can be covered with plastic wrap and refrigerated for 1 day; return to room temperature before serving.)

Chicken Salad Sandwiches

Chicken Salad
Ingredients:
Cooked chicken, cubed
2-4 stalks celery, diced
1/2-1 red onion, diced
Toasted almonds
Mayo
Old Bay seasoning
Salt and pepper

Combine chicken, celery, onion and almonds in a bowl. Add mayo and stir until well coated. Season to taste with old bay, salt and pepper.

Serve on a croissant or in eclair shells (pate a choux - I will try and post a recipe later. That's what's pictured above)

Southern Dill Potato Salad

(Sorry about the weirdo shadow on the picture, it was the best one I got)


At school Amy was making a potato salad and it looked really yummy. I am normally not a huge fan of potato salad, but she gave me a taste and I was hooked. This is probably one of my favorite potato salads I've ever had. I don't like a lot of mayo and try not to use it very often, so I really liked that this was half mayo and half sour cream. There are also a few other things I might change for next time, I will put my notes in the recipe.

Amy's Southern Dill Potato Salad

4 lbs unpeeled red potatoes (about 10)
5 hard boiled eggs

Sauce:
3/4 c. sour cream
3/4c. mayo
1 Tbs apple cider vinegar
1 Tbs dijon mustard
1/2 white onion, finely chopped
1 stalk celery, finely chopped
1 tsp celery salt
Salt and black pepper to taste
1 Tbs fresh dill (recipe calls for dried, but we used fresh and it was super good!)

(Kelsie's changes: I would probably not use the entire half an onion and maybe grate it up instead of dicing to keep the flavor but not have the crunch and intensity of it. Also, I would add 1-2 additional stocks of celery. It's also very good with a little paprika on top)

Cook the potatoes whole until tender. Cool.
Boil eggs, cool and peel.

Dice the potatoes and eggs up so they are about the same size (bite size). Mix sauce and coat potatoes. Chill.

Fiesta Corn Salad

Tuesday Amy (a lady in my class) and I made a fiesta corn salad for a lunch meeting we were catering that day. It was delicious! I didn't have my camera that day, but the recipe was blog worthy so here it is without a picture.


Fiesta Corn Salad

Ingredients:
Corn on the cob (maybe 5 or 6)
1-2 Roasted red bell peppers
1 red onion, diced
Cilantro leaves
1-2 tomatoes, sliced into wedges
1-2 avocados sliced
Salt and pepper to taste
The juice of 1-3 limes (it just all depends on how big you are making your salad)
Toasted cumin seeds (Just put whole cumin seeds in a hot pan and toss for a minute or two until they smell cooked and nutty!)

Blanch the corn (drop into boiling water for just a minute or two) and pull out and put into cold water to stop the cooking process. Cut the corn from the cob and put in a bowl. Add diced red onion, diced roasted red peppers and a handful of torn cilantro leaves. Coat with lime juice and season with salt, pepper and toasted cumin seeds. Put on top of a bed of fresh romaine lettuce and top with a lime wedge, a couple of tomato wedges and a few avocado slices. The lime juice should have enough flavor to not need any dressing, but if you want it, you can add ranch and it would be delicious that way as well.

Roasted Red Pepper and Basil Salad

This salad is super easy and really delicious! If you've never roasted peppers before, it's really easy, it just takes a little bit of time. It's well worth the effort though!

Also this salad has basil cut into thin strips (That is called a chiffonade) on top and mixed in the salad, but it's not added until the end. The basil is fantastic with the peppers, it is light and fresh!

(This picture was taken right before it was put in the fridge to marinate, so there is not basil in it yet)




Roasted Red Pepper and Basil Salad
(This salad has 16, 6 oz servings. If you want bigger portions it won't stretch as far. If you don't need as much, just cut the recipe in half)

Ingredients:
10 Bell peppers (Use mostly red, if you want some color add just a couple of either green or yellow or one of each)
2 cups Extra virgin olive oil
1/2 cup White wine vinegar
Salt and Pepper to taste
Handful of fresh basil


1. Roast and peel the peppers.

How to roast peppers:

Hold the peppers over an open flame (just on your stove if you have a gas stove). Leave them there turning every couple of minutes until the skin is black all the way around. If you do not have a gas stove you can put them under a broiler or in a hot oven. If you do this, they will not turn as black, but the skin will loosen enough for you to peel off.

If you are putting them in the oven, cut them in half, clean out the seeds and the veins and put open side down on a cookie sheet lined with foil. Broil on high for 7-10 minutes or until skins are very black.


Once the peppers are black, put them in a bowl covered tightly with plastic wrap or in a ziplock bag. (Put them in as soon as they are finished, one at a time if you need to). This will keep the moisture from the peppers on the peppers making it easier to peel the skin off. When you are finished with the peppers.



Once they cool off enough you can easily handle them, you can just rub the skin right off just using your fingers. There will be black pieces left on the pepper, that is completely normal.

2. Quickly rinse off the pepper under water to get any remaining black or skin off that is loose. Don't leave the peppers under the water, it will wash away flavor so just quickly put it in and pull it out.



3. Cut off the top and the bottom of the pepper and one side of the pepper. Roll out into a flat rectangle. Remove the core, seeds and veins

4. Cut the pepper into strips about 1/2 inch wide and you can either leave them the length of the pepper or cut them in half lengthwise so they are easier to fit in your mouth.

5. Combine the oil, vinegar salt and pepper to make a dressing. Pour over the peppers in a bowl and marinate for at least 2-3 hours.

6. Just before serving, finely shred most of the basil leaves and mix with the peppers, reserving a few leaves for garnish.

7. If you want, serve with bread to dip in the dressing.

Cucumber Salad

Kelsie's awesome cucumber salad!

Ingredients: (This is for a large batch, if you don't want it so big, just cut it in half)
6 large cucumbers, sliced thin
1 medium tomato diced
1 medium onion diced
1 Tbsp salt

Dressing:
1/2 cup cider vinegar
4 Tbsp canola oil
2 Tbsp honey
1 tsp celery salt
1 tsp dried basil
1 tsp ground mustard
1 tsp garlic powder
1/2-1 tsp salt (to taste)
1/2 tsp dried oregano
Couple dashes of cayenne pepper

Put sliced cucumbers in a strainer and toss with 1 Tbsp salt. Let stand for 30+ minutes. (This draws all the water out of the cucumbers, so either put it on a plate to catch the water or in the sink. I like it on a plate in the fridge so the cucumbers stay cold)
In a large bowl, combine diced tomatoes and onions.

In a small bowl whisk together all the dressing ingredients. When you are ready to serve, rinse the cucumbers to get all the salt off and drain. Add to tomatoes and onions. Toss with dressing.

Yum!!

This is by far one of my very favorite salads. In fact, it's a recipe I refused to share for a very long time. But now, it's time to share the love!

Shrimp and mixed vegetable salad

Shrimp and mixed vegetable salad:

4-5 Large white mushrooms
1 avocado
2-3 sweet peppers
1 tomato
1 carrot
1/2 an english cucumber
handful of shrimp
Salad greens

Chop veggies in bite size chunks and mix together until avocado starts to break up and coat everything. Season with salt and pepper.
In a frying pan add shrimp to a small amount of olive oil. Season with garlic pepper, Tony's, chili powder and a little bit of lemon pepper. Add to vegetables.

Top salad greens with vegetables and add your favorite dressing if you want it. It's good enough even without dressing. I like fresh ranch like Atwoods.




(These are both pictured before dressing was added)

Grilled Italian Salad

As a vegetarian, I've eaten my fair share of vegetables. Some people focus more on the meats they eat than on their vegetables and their vegetables are very very bland. I focus a lot on vegetables because who wants to eat bland vegetables for 8 years? Not me. Anyway, this is one of my favorite salads. It has also become quite a favorite in my household as well so I make it quite often.

Kelsie's awesomely amazing grilled Italian salad.




Ingredients:
Romaine hearts
Kosher salt
Fresh cracked pepper
Olive oil
Homemade Italian dressing (or a really really good store bought)

Take as many romaine hearts as you want and cut them in half. Drizzle olive oil over the inside and sprinkle with kosher salt and fresh cracked pepper. Then drizzle with homemade Italian dressing. Put on grill and leave there until warm all the way through and until the lettuce has char marks on it. (over cooking it doesn't taste bad, but I like mine better crunchy). When the lettuce is done on both sides cut into pieces and toss with more dressing to taste. Yum!