Warm summer night salad bowl

Recipes: Chef's salad, Thousand island dressing, Vinaigrette

May. That time of year when one day it's summer and the next day it's not. When it's summer and hot, the last thing you want to do is heat up the stove and work hard over dinner. That's when it's time to go for the salad bowl - crisp lettuces, a little protein, some veggies, maybe a few crumbles of cheese. And, definitely, home made dressing. If you haven't tried making your own salad dressings, you're in for a big treat! I promise, you'll never go back to supermarket dressings again.

Salad Dressings 101: Thousand Island

This is my BF's favorite dressing. He's been known to order Caesar Salad with Thousand Island on the side. Serious. The bad thing is, even the best supermarket Thousand Island tastes like chemicals, because that's the only way it doesn't spoil on the shelf. The good thing is, it's easy to make at home, so why wouldn't you? I make just enough for two with a big dinner salad. If there's any left over we have it for lunch the next day. Thousand Island lasts in the fridge no more than three days, so don't make a double batch unless you're feeding a crowd.

In case you're curious, Thousand Island dressing was named for the thousand islands in the St. Lawrence River between Canada and the northern border of the U.S. Legend has it that it was invented in that region and popularized at the Waldorf Astoria Hotel in New York. It was wildly popular by the 1950s.

• 1/4 cup chopped sweet pickles. Bread and butter pickles work well for this (Trader Joe's, most supermarkets) or regular sweet pickles or gherkins. Don't use sweet pickle relish, which will give the dressing a bad taste.
• 2 chopped green olives with pimientos, or 6 chopped pickled jalapeno slices (the favorite at our house)
• 1/2 cup mayonnaise
• 1/4 cup ketchup
• 1/2 tablespoon chili powder (generic, or I use New Mexico Red Chili powder)
• 1 clove garlic, chopped fine
• 1 teaspoon water
• Juice of half a fresh lemon
• 1/2 teaspoon sea salt
• 1/4 teaspoon black pepper

Mix all together in a bowl. Cover with cling film and refrigerate while you are making your salad. If you can let the flavors meld for an hour, that's great. If not, it'll still be fabulous.

Thousand Island dressing is also wonderful on burgers, or in Reuben sandwiches. Yum!

Salad Dressings 102: Vinaigrette

This is my favorite, and there are at least a million ways to make it. Unlike Thousand Island and other mayonnaise-based dressings, vinaigrette lasts a week or more in the refrigerator. I make a little jar of it and keep it on hand. When I want to use it, I take it out of the fridge so it can come to room temperature, then I shake it up good. Never can tell when you might want an avocado or some raw cauliflower with a drizzle of vinaigrette!

• In a small jar with a cover, add 1/2 teaspoon mustard powder, 1/2 teaspoon sea salt, 1/2 teaspoon sugar, 1/2 teaspoon herbes d'Provence (or other dried herb you like), 1 tablespoon unflavored rice vinegar, and one tablespoon fresh lemon juice. Put the cover on, and shake well.
• Add 5 tablespoons good extra virgin olive oil. Put the cover back on and shake well again. Keep in refrigerator and bring to room temperature before shaking and using.

Use vinaigrette sparingly on your salad, and toss well to distribute it.

There are other good salad dressings you can make at home. One of them is Blue Cheese Dressing, which we've already covered in this post. Blue Cheese dressing is another one where the supermarket version falls far short of home made. If you've tried the supermarket dressing and didn't like it, try the home made. You might find true love.

Chef's Salad

Chef's Salad is a name for a salad that has in it whatever the Chef wants to put in it. That's you!! There are a few traditional items that you'll get if you order a chef salad in a restaurant, but you don't even have to pay attention to those if you don't want to.

Just for the record, the traditional items are:

• Lettuce, often iceberg or chopped romaine
• Julienned ham and/or turkey
• Some kind of cheese, usually cut in sticks
• Bell pepper strips
• Avocado chunks
• Tomato wedges (in or out of season, argh!)
• Hard-boiled eggs, cut in wedges

Here's the Chef's Salad I served the other night with my home made Thousand Island dressing. In this case, I made individual salads rather than one big one, just because. In our salads we had:

• Chopped romaine lettuce
• Sliced green onions
• Crumbles of Maytag blue cheese
• Roasted red bell pepper our neighbor made and shared
• Raw cauliflower from our garden
• Marinated and pan-grilled chicken breast (marinated in olive oil and lemon juice for 30 minutes, salted and peppered, pan-grilled for 5 minutes each side over med-high heat, let sit for 10 minutes to finish, and sliced thin)

You see, you can vary your Chef's Salad any way you, the Chef, desire. Buon appetito, and stay cool!

Pizza! (or beyond pepperoni)

Recipes: Simple tomato sauce, Pizza Margherita, Roasted eggplant and ricotta pizza, Long-cooked onion with mushrooms and anchovy pizza, Salad pizza, Vinaigrette

We're going simple this week, dear readers, but still simply delicious. What could be more right, more exactly-what-you-feel-like-eating-tonight, than pizza? It's kind of amazing how good pizza is at satisfying that craving when you're in the mood - maybe it's because there are so many topping options. The good news is that many of those toppings are also good for you! Yay!! No guilt.

It is possible, of course, to make your own pizza crust. I did it just the other day and it only took me only...well, four or five hours. Somehow, I don't think that's what you have in mind when you say to your true love, "How about pizza for dinner?" For one thing, this usually happens in the late afternoon, maybe even after work. You wouldn't have time. For another thing, even though it's not hard, making the dough from scratch is really an all day project. Another time, perhaps.

You can still have the advantage of freshly made pizza dough, though. Many stores, including Trader Joe's and Whole Foods, stock pizza dough that is ready to use. They often have several kinds, including whole wheat and gluten-free, if that's what you want. Most quantities can be divided in two for two 10-inch pizzas.
Note: You might struggle to roll or stretch the packaged dough into pizza shape - it is sometimes pretty springy and stubbornly wants to go back into a ball. If that happens, cover the dough and let it rest for 15 minutes. It should straighten right out once it's more relaxed.

Or you can get pizza crusts already baked, like Boboli crusts. These will not be your thin crispy crusts, but if you like a thicker crust, they're very easy to use.

Once you have the crust, the fun starts. Now you can be creative in your toppings. Here are some ideas:

Simple Tomato Sauce

Yet another way to use fresh tomatoes while they're in season. If you don't have fresh tomatoes, or if they're not actually in season by the time you get around to making this, just use a can of good quality chopped tomatoes instead.

• 4 or 5 medium ripe tomatoes, chopped, or a 14-ounce can of chopped tomatoes with juice
• 3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
• 1 large clove garlic, sliced thin
• 1 teaspoon dried oregano
• sea salt

Heat the olive oil in a medium skillet. Add the sliced garlic and turn the heat off, stirring a bit. Let the oil and garlic cool down for a few minutes. Then add the tomatoes, 1 teaspoon dried oregano, and a good pinch of sea salt, and turn the heat to medium low. Cover the skillet and cook for 20 minutes, stirring and checking the liquid every 5 minutes. After 20 minutes, take the cover off and cook until the tomatoes have made a sauce and the liquid is almost gone.

This sauce is great for a classic

Pizza Margherita

Place a pizza stone on the lowest rack and preheat the oven to 500 degrees (450 degrees if using Boboli crust). Stretch your dough into a 10-inch crust on a floured pizza peel or the back of a baking sheet. You'll want to be able to slide the pizza off the peel or sheet onto the hot stone - flouring or sprinkling with cornmeal makes this easier.

Brush the dough with olive oil. Leaving an inch around the edge uncovered, spread the tomato sauce evenly. Top with grated mozzarella cheese, or with clumps of cheese if you prefer, or a combination of grated mozzarella and asiago cheese. Tear 6 or 7 basil leaves over the cheese.

Slide the pizza off the peel or sheet onto the stone. If it's on a sheet and it won't slide, just put the sheet on top of the pizza stone in the oven. After a few minutes you will be able reach in and slide it off. Bake for 20 minutes (10 or 11 minutes for Boboli crust), or until cheese is melted and the outside crust is lightly browned.

Variations: Add meat before baking if you wish . . . thinly sliced prosciutto, julienned or chopped ham, sliced salami. Don't add too much, just enough for some taste. Or instead of meat, you could add sliced or chopped olives, any color or a combination. Or you could add chopped garlic. A good rule of thumb is no more than 5 ingredients, including tomato sauce.

Roasted Eggplant and Ricotta Pizza

To roast eggplant: Cut off the ends and slice 2 medium or 3 small eggplants into 1/2 inch slices. Drizzle olive oil on a parchment-lined baking sheet and lay the eggplant slices in the oil. Drizzle a little more oil over the tops of the slices. Season liberally with sea salt. Roast in a pre-heated 375 degree oven for 25 minutes, or until the eggplant is soft and the underside of the slices is slightly browned.

Turn the oven up to 500 degrees (450 for Boboli crust). Prepare your crust and brush it with olive oil. Leaving an inch around the outside, lay the roasted eggplant slices on the crust, or you could cut or tear them into strips first. Top with dollops of fresh ricotta cheese and a few chopped tomatoes, if you like. A few leaves of basil would also be a tasty addition.

Bake as indicated in the previous recipe for 20 minutes (10 or 11 minutes if using a Boboli crust).

Long-cooked Onion with Mushrooms and Anchovy Pizza

This is my personal favorite, and it might become yours too. The onions are the best.

To cook the onions: Peel and cut a whole large yellow onion in half. Slice each half into thin slices. Heat a tablespoon of oil and a tablespoon of butter in a medium skillet. Put the onions in with a good pinch of sea salt. Stir to distribute the seasoning, turn the heat to low, and cover the skillet. Cook the onions, looking and stirring occasionally, until they are soft and turning brown. Be careful not to burn them, but they can get dark brown in spots with no harm done. In fact, that's the tastiest part.

To cook the mushrooms: Cut 6 or 8 medium white or crimini mushrooms into small bite-sized chunks. Heat 2 tablespoons olive oil in a medium skillet. Add the mushrooms and a good pinch of sea salt. Cook, stirring, for just a few minutes. These mushrooms can be cooked less than you would normally, because you want them to remain juicy after they're baked.

To make the pizza: Heat the oven to 500 degrees and prepare the crust as we've discussed in the previous recipes. Brush the crust lightly with olive oil. Distribute the onions and the mushrooms evenly over the crust, leaving the outside inch free. Lay several anchovy filets (the kind that are preserved in oil in small cans or jars) over the onions and mushrooms - if you love anchovies, use a whole can or jar. Do not use anchovy paste.

Bake as indicated in the previous recipes for 20 minutes.

Salad Pizza

This totally feels like cheating, but it's so delicious and last-minute wonderful that I had to tell you about it.

1. Get a frozen pizza you like. I like DiGiorno's Rising Crust Pepperoni.

2. While it's baking (according to directions on the package, about 22 minutes at 400 degrees), wash greens, slice a few sweet onions, and make a quick vinaigrette dressing.

3. Vinaigrette dressing: In a small jar with a cover, combine 1/2 teaspoon dry mustard, 1/2 teaspoon sea salt, 1/2 teaspoon sugar, 1 tablespoon plain rice vinegar, and 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice. Put the cover on and shake. Add 5 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil. Cover and shake again.

4. Combine the lettuce and onions and dress them lightly with the vinaigrette. When the pizza comes out of the oven, slice it and top the whole thing with the salad. Buon appetito!