The First Salad of the Season

By Lori Powell

The fresh air of spring has arrived and with it are thoughts of bathing suits, the ocean, vacations, spring cleaning and fresh produce. With the advent of fresh produce comes inspiration for lovely salads for dinner and for lunch, hopefully resulting in a couple of pounds and inches off my frame.

My first salad of the season is a pickled shrimp and red onion concoction with cucumber. You make a simple pickling liquid which uses seasoned rice vinegar, agave, star anise and a pinch of heat from red pepper flakes. The star anise is optional but adds nice dimension to the pickling liquid.

Star anise can be found in the spice section of the supermarket. This spice is shaped like a star about one inch in diameter and has eight dark-brown spokes. It is grown in China and Japan, similar to licorice and anise, and is one of the spices in five-spice powder.

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A Delicious Chinese Chicken Salad

By Sandy Hu

Congratulations to Blake S. from Fort Myers FL who won our Special Fork Kerrygold sweepstakes! Thanks to all who participated.

Iceberg lettuce gets no respect. In my first public relations job, I represented America’s mainstay salad green, and even then it was losing ground to sexier choices like arugula and darker, more nutritious lettuce options like butter and romaine.

With so many leafy greens today, iceberg may seem like an anomaly. But nothing beats a crisp wedge of iceberg drizzled with blue cheese dressing. And it’s still a great partner for a BLT or a burger.

Iceberg lettuce is so mild as to be almost flavorless, but the crisp and crunchy texture of a well-chilled head is incomparable. I learned the trick of preparing iceberg lettuce on the job. The secret is to core, rinse and drain, then refrigerate.

Crisp up a head of iceberg lettuce to make this Chinese Chicken Salad. You could use romaine or napa cabbage, but I still like iceberg for this one.

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Talkin’ Pumpkin (and not the Carving Kind....)

By Lori Powell

Not too long ago, I shared my story about the pumpkins growing wild in my backyard. I promised I would tell you how I cook them.

Well, the pumpkins did grow but they would not have won any national pumpkin prize for size. That was A-Okay by me.

It was a first-time thrill to have kind of raised my own. (To tell the truth, they grew by themselves. I was just an observer.)

I so enjoy squash of all kinds and now is the time cook with them, with the first chill of autumn in the air. So reluctantly, I picked my orange globes and none too soon, since I noticed the vines were shriveled and dying, I think due to all of the monsoons this summer.

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Quinoa, Melon, Chorizo and Raisins Make a Simply Delicious Salad

By Sandy Hu

Summer is a time to celebrate the bounty of luscious fresh fruits. While we tend to think of them as a snack for eating out of hand or in desserts, one of the best ways to enjoy fruits is in salads.

California Golden Raisin, Quinoa and Melon Salad features fragrant cantaloupes, which are at their peak from June to September. This salad brings together a variety of flavors in perfect balance: the fruitiness of melon balls with the spicy and savory chorizo, the zest of sherry vinegar, and bursts of concentrated tangy-sweetness from golden raisins. Mint and green onions add freshness. And the South American grain-like quinoa is the perfect foil for the bright flavors and colors.

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A Chef’s Makeover of Chef’s Salad

By Katie Barreira

Culinary historians have mused over the origins of chef’s salad, some tracing the dinner salad back to diet-conscious California, others to the kitchen of New York City’s Ritz-Carleton. But as noted in a 1999 issue of Gourmet, “Nobody has ever stepped forward to claim the title of the chef in 'chef's salad.'” No great surprise here, for truly, what self-respecting chef would put their name to the slapdash mélange of deli meat, cheese and chopped salad? Thus the sad irony of a dish, which was named for a chef but that no chef will own.

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