Olive and Onion Flatbread and Roasted Winter Vegetable Salad

Packed with roasted vegetables, white beans, and walnuts, this salad is warming and substantial enough to serve for dinner even in the middle of winter. I've paired it with some salty and sweet flatbread with caramelized onions and pungent olives - using leftover frozen dough to make it easy and fast to prepare for dinner. Or serve the flatbread without the salad as hors d'oeuvres.


Olive and Onion Flatbread

Makes 2 8" rounds

1/3 focaccia recipe, (or substitute defrosted pizza dough
1/4 cup olives, halved
1/4 large onion, thinly sliced
2 tsp olive oil, plus more for breads
2 tbsp grated Parmesan (optional)

Lightly flour counter, divide dough in half, and roll out to form 2 8" rounds. Place on baking sheet and lightly brush olive oil to cover surface. Saute onions over medium-low heat until light brown (if they start to brown quickly turn down the heat, they should cook very slowly). Evenly spread olives, caramelized onions, and Parmesan on rounds, cover with plastic wrap and let rise for 40 minutes. Bake in a 425 oven for 15 minutes or until golden brown and puffed.


Roasted Winter Vegetable Salad

Serves 2

1 cup cauliflower, cut into bite sized pieces
3/4 cup green beans, trimmed and halved
1/2 red bell pepper, cut into bite sized pieces
1 medium fennel bulb, core removed and cut into 1/8" slices
6 crimini mushrooms, washed and halved
olive oil
1/4 tsp paprika
1/4 tsp fennel seed
1/8 tsp red pepper flakes
1 cup cannellini beans, drained and rinsed
2 cups mixed lettuce (such as arugula, spinach, romaine, or heirloom lettuces)
2 tsp balsamic vinegar
1/4 cup roasted walnuts
Parmesan, thinly slice with a vegetable pealer (optional)
salt and pepper to taste

Preheat the oven to 425. Cover a rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper or aluminum foil. Group cauliflower, green beans, bell pepper, fennel, and mushrooms individually on a baking sheet and drizzle with olive oil, toss to coat evenly. Season all with salt and pepper. Season fennel with fennel seed, cauliflower with paprika, and red pepper with red pepper flakes. Roast for 15 minutes, remove green beans, red pepper, and mushrooms. Toss in a large salad bowl with cannellini beans. Return cauliflower and fennel to oven, place under broiler until golden and crispy on edges. When roasted vegetables have cooled slightly, combine all with salad greens, balsamic vinegar, and walnuts. Top with Parmesan curls if desired.

Southwest Quinoa Salad

For a vegetarian, dining at a good vegetarian restaurant is rather liberating. At most restaurants, you're confined to the less interesting salads, the kind that the chef doesn't feel could be improved upon with the addition of prosciutto, or anchovies, or smokey bacon, or duck confit. And the inevitable vegetarian-overly-rich-creamy-cheesy-starch-based main course - ravioli, risotto, etc (which is always served with truffles when it's meant to be extra fancy). And while these are usually pretty tasty, they don't offer that much in the way of nutrition, or variety. But when you dine at a vegetarian restaurant, there's a whole menu available to you. Which is pretty exciting if you've spent most of your life skimming menus for meaty words and hidden meaty foods lurking behind the menu (chicken stock in the rice at a Cuban restaurant, lard in 'authentic' refried beans, fish sauce in anything Asian that doesn't expressly say it's vegetarian, and half of what does). And what's even more fun is dining with another vegetarian who shares your enthusiasm for dishes with tofu and seitan and whole grains.


And so, a few years back I had the pleasure of sharing such a meal with my friend Anna at the Candle Cafe in New York. I had a salad that sounded delicious and proved to be quite good. There was a bed of spinach, then quinoa, grilled chipotle marinated tofu, and a plump avocado half spilling over with black beans and a creamy dressing. And when I asked for a wine pairing, our waitress turned me toward something I'd never seen, an organic torrontes. Torrontes - a white, unique to Argentina, is fruity and floral and still somewhat dry and delicious with spicy and smoky foods - which paired perfectly with my salad, quickly became one of my favorites. And the combination of quinoa, tofu, black beans and avocado inspired this salad that I think has evolved into something even more fun to eat that the original.


Southwest Quinoa Salad
Makes 2 servings

1/2 cup quinoa
1 cup vegetable stock

2 cups mixed greens, washed dried and torn into bite sized pieces
1 avocado, peeled cored and diced
1 mango, peeled cored and diced
1 cup cherry tomatoes, halved (oven roasted if out of season)
1/4 cup frozen corn kernels
1/2 (15 oz) can of black beans, drained and rinsed
2 tbsp roasted salted sunflower seeds or pepitas

4 1/2 inch slices firm tofu, pressed in a paper towel to removed excess water
1/2 teaspoon chili powder
salt to taste
2 tsp honey
1/4 cup orange juice
2 tsp soy sauce

2 tbsp chipotle ranch dressing, or substitute any southwest dressing

Combine quinoa and vegetable stock in a medium saucepan, bring to a boil, then reduce to a simmer and cover. Simmer for 15 minutes, then turn off heat and let cool slightly. Fluff with a fork before serving.


Meanwhile, prepare fruits and vegetables. Heat a small skillet to medium high (without oil). Toss in frozen corn kernels along with a pinch of chili powder and allow to blacken in spots, one or two kernels may pop out of pan. Turn out onto cutting board and allow to cool.


Lay tofu slices out in a single layer. Season liberally with chili powder and lightly with salt, press seasoning into surface, flip and repeat on other side. Heat a very small amount of vegetable oil - just enough to lightly coat the bottom - in a small frying pan on medium high. (This technique for cooking tofu is easy in a nonstick skillet, can be done in a well seasoned cast iron pan with a flexible spatula, and proves very difficult in a stainless steel pan.) Lay tofu slices in pan shaking pan after they're in place to make sure they do not stick. Allow to cook on medium high heat for about 2 minutes per side until a slight crust has formed. Quickly add orange juice, soy sauce, and honey to pan (they may spit at you, but it's worth it) allow to bubble away and reduce into a glaze, flip tofu slices, turn off heat and allow to cool slightly in pan.


To assemble salad, lay out a ring of mixed greens, pile quinoa in center, then sprinkle on black beans, corn, avocado, mango, and tomatoes. Then top with tofu slices drizzle on dressing and top with sunflower seeds.


Note: When discussing my post for this salad Jon suggested that I have an awesome scale on my blog because "you wouldn't know just by looking at it how awesome [this] is" and he went on to say that everyone should try this at least once in their life. Just a word of advice.

Warm Parsley-Walnut Pesto Pasta Salad

This recipe solves 2 problems. (1) If you ever go to the grocery store in search fresh parsley because you just need a bit for some recipe, you're forced to buy a gigantic clump of it. And while it's much cheaper than other herbs, and you can understand why they don't sell miniature 30 cent bunches, that leaves you with a lot of extra parsley once you're done with whatever it is you bought it for. And (2), I really love pasta when it's first made, but I really hate the consistency of microwaved saucy pasta when I'm eating my leftovers at lunch the next day. It soaks up all the moisture from the sauce so that it's both mushy and dry - gross! So if I'm going to bring it in to work for lunch, I prefer pastas that are good served cold, or barely warmed through like pasta salad.

But pasta salad is something you eat in the summer when picnicking or barbecuing, and is well, kinda boring and not very satisfying as a meal. This recipe for Warm Parsley-Walnut Pesto Pasta Salad is both satisfying and a complete and balanced meal. And it's an easy and quick one bowl kind of meal at that. And even better, it will hold up well in the fridge for a few days so it makes a perfect packed lunch.

Warm Parsley-Walnut Pesto Pasta Salad
Makes 2-4 servings

Parsley-Walnut Pesto

Adapted from Everyday Food, March 2009

1 cup packed fresh parsley, washed and dried
1/4 cup walnuts
1/4 cup grated Parmesan
1 garlic clove, roughly chopped
1 tbsp lemon juice
2 tbsp olive oil
2 tbsp water
salt to taste

Toast walnut pieces in a small skillet on medium heat, until fragrant. Combine all ingredients in a food processor and pulse until smooth and paste-like.

Pasta Salad
1 cup dry shaped whole-wheat/multi-grain pasta, such as rotini
2 tbsp cured black olives, roughly chopped
1 cup cherry tomatoes, oven roasted
2 tbsp chopped walnut pieces, toasted
1/2 (14.5 oz) can garbanzo or cannellini beans, drained and rinsed
2 cups baby arugula, washed and dried
salt and pepper to taste

Cook pasta in salted water to al dente. Meanwhile, toss arugula, beans, walnuts, tomatoes, and olives in a large bowl. When pasta is cooked, drain and toss with pesto into arugula mixture adding a ladle of pasta cooking water to thin as necessary. Allow for arugula to wilt slightly.

Serve immediately or allow to cool before packing in resealable containers for lunch.