Recipes

[Carol1229]

We love salads.......all kinds of them. And with summer upon us, I make sure I have plenty of fresh items on hand to make dinner salads. I load them up with all kinds of goodies to make them a meal in one.

I had roasted a small turkey breast last night and wanted to do something different with the leftover turkey. A supper salad seemed like the perfect solution.

When I saw this salad posted by Lauren on Tasty Kitchen, my supper decision was made. I had everything in the house I wanted to put into it to make my version of her beautiful salad. AND it would be the perfect place for that leftover turkey.

I made the dressing first-. I prefer to "paste" the garlic so that there aren't any pieces of garlic in the dressing. This is easy to accomplish by crushing the garlic with the side of a chef's knife, sprinkling it with a little kosher salt and sliding the side of the chef's knife over the garlic while pressing it-before you know it, you'll have a garlic "paste" that works great in dressings. I used the Microplane to grate the fresh ginger that I always have peeled and ready to use in the freezer. Instead of white wine vinegar, I decided to keep with the Asian theme and use rice vinegar. I love it in dressings for salads like this one.

Before I started chopping vegetables for the salad, I made sure to get the almonds and noodles toasted so they could cool off. I used a dry pan and toasted the almonds over medium heat first, then transferred them to a dish to cool and used the same pan for the ramen noodles. Just make sure to stir both the almonds and the noodles as they're toasting-they can burn fast. Toasted sesame seeds would also be great in this salad-I just ran out of time!

I don't measure when I make salads.......I always make a huge one to have plenty for leftovers for a few days. That's what I did with this one, but sort of kept track of about how much I used of each ingredient. Good news is-if you need more dressing because your salad grows out of control? It's super easy to make another batch.

This is one DELICIOUS dish-and it's so pretty too. The dressing compliments the vegetables so nicely and the toasted almonds and ramen noodles add a nice crunch.

Bob was in a hurry to photograph this as it was super cloudy outside so I didn't have time to add the dressing before he took these photos.

I tossed the salad and served the bulk of the almonds and toasted noodles on the side for sprinkling over top. This amount of dressing coated the salad I had-which was a huge one-nicely with no pooling in the bottom of the dish. If you do measure the ingredients as listed, I would add a little dressing at a time and toss the salad so it isn't overly soaked with dressing. I've made salads like this before and even though they have dressing on them, the ingredients hold nicely because the dressing is a light coating. You can certainly serve the dressing on the side and dress each portion separately if you prefer.

Oh boy I can't wait. We enjoyed each and every bite of this tonight and will enjoy it again tomorrow. This would be super with some leftover grilled chicken in it too.

Feel free to add whatever fresh vegetables you love to this one-I'm thinking some chopped fresh broccoli would be pretty darned good added to the mix.

Another salad recipe for my favorites file....that makes me very happy.


Carol


CHINESE CHOP SALAD WITH TURKEY
(Source: adapted from recipe from Lauren @ laurenslatest-her original recipe HERE and HERE)

SALAD:
1 Romaine heart, chopped
2 c. thinly sliced cabbage
2 medium carrots, shredded
1 medium red bell pepper, seeded and chopped
3 green onion, sliced
1/2 bunch cilantro, chopped
1 English cucumber, chopped
1 c. canned Mandarin orange sections, drained
3 stalks celery, sliced
6 oz. fresh snow peas, chopped
1/4 c. sliced red onion (optional)
1/2 c. sliced almonds, toasted
1 (3 oz.) pkg. ramen noodles, seasoning packet discarded, noodles broken into pieces and toasted
2-3 c. cubed cooked turkey breast (cooked cubed chicken would be awesome in this too)

DRESSING:
2 cloves garlic, very finely minced (I "paste" them with the side of a chef's knife)
1 Tbsp. grated fresh ginger
3 Tbsp. lite soy sauce
1/4 c. packed light brown sugar
2 Tbsp. sesame oil
2 Tbsp. rice vinegar
1/4 c. canola oil
Salt and pepper, to taste

For the dressing, whisk together garlic, ginger, soy sauce, brown sugar, sesame oil, rice vinegar, oil, salt and pepper until very well mixed (I whisk the ingredients in a glass 1 cup measuring cup); set aside.

For the salad, toss together lettuce, cabbage, carrots, pepper, green onion, cilantro, cucumber, oranges, celery, snow peas and red onion.

If desired, toss salad with dressing (dressing can be served on the side and added to each individual serving if you prefer).

Sprinkle top with toasted almonds and ramen noodles.* Serve immediately. 4 servings.

*I keep the almonds and toasted ramen noodles separate and sprinkle over top of the individual servings.