Citrus Blossom Salad

In the middle of winter, most salads fail to hit the spot because the produce isle is generally sad and farmers markets are closed (though this roasted sweet potato and kale salad is usually a good bet). Around January citrus finally hits the shelves, freshly picked and shipped from warmer climates. It’s in that window that this salad should take the spotlight, a perfect stage for citrus varieties you can’t easily find other times of the year.

Orange flower water adds a subtle, elegant twist to the vinaigrette in this recipe (and also how it got its name). It smells incredible and one bottle will last you forever (plus, you’ll be one step closer to making baklava).

Serve this salad with with roasted chicken, a panini, or a warm stew like tagine to make a meal.

Citrus Blossom Salad

Published January 4, 2021 by Caitlin Sherwood

Serves: 4   |    Active Time: 15 minutes

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Ingredients:

1 head tender romaine lettuce, washed and spun or patted dry

3 oranges (for a fun pop of color, mix-and-match a variety of oranges: cara cara oranges for pink, blood oranges for deeper red, valencia/navel for traditional orange)

¾ cup chopped walnuts, toasted

1/2 cup feta crumbles

1 tablespoon minced parsley leaves

Optional: Freshly cracked black pepper to taste

For Orange Blossom Vinaigrette:

1/4 cup freshly squeezed orange juice

Pinch of salt

1 tablespoon Orange Blossom Water

1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil

Directions:

1. Arrange lettuce on 4 plates, optionally tearing with your hands to remove any tough stem pieces.
2. Segment the oranges by slicing off the peels with a knife, and then carefully cutting segments out from between the pith. It can be helpful to do this over a bowl, to catch any juice. Reserve the left over pieces — we’ll use them to make the vinaigrette. Here is a good video on how to do this. Arrange orange slices over the lettuce.
3. Sprinkle walnuts and feta over each salad, and sprinkle with parsley.
4. Prepare vinaigrette: Squeeze as much juice from the remaining orange pieces into a bowl. Add salt, orange blossom water and olive oil, and whisk to combine. Drizzle to taste over salads.
5. Top with freshly cracked pepper to taste, and serve immediately.

Beet + Wild Rice Grain Bowls

It has taken me seven days to put fingers to keyboard on this one, and before that, three weeks to slow down for long enough to take photos. Despite being forced to slow down in 2020, life—the world- still feels very chaotic. This makes it hard to write about something as simple as a grain bowl. Where do you begin when there are so many important things happening in the world?

Yet here, on planet Earth—the ground we all stand on- we must still eat. Food is a symbol of its own: a cultural symbol, a mark of a movement, a taste of history, a connection to the ground. When I think of this recipe, my mind goes to the earth. It boasts deep flavors that remind you of where your food came from (nutty wild rice, sweet and earthy beets, buttery feta cheese), and in that way, this meal is grounding.

I grow a small patch of beets in my garden every year. They are one of the easiest vegetables to grow, resilient and hardy. This dish puts beets, such a humble root, on show. Eat it warm on a rainy evening, or cold for a mid-day work lunch.

Beet + Wild Rice Grain Bowls

Published July 30, 2020 by Caitlin Sherwood

Serves: 4   |    Active Time: 30 minutes

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Ingredients:

4 beets

2 cups cooked wild rice (for serving cold, allow rice to cool first — for serving warm, rice can be freshly cooked or reheated)

1 cup cucumber, sliced

1/2 cup feta cheese crumbles

1/2 cup walnut pieces, toasted

1/2 cup pitted Kalamata olives, halved or roughly chopped

1/4 cup parsley, minced

For vinaigrette:

Juice of 1 lemon

1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil

1 teaspoon dijon mustard

Generous pinch of salt

1/8 teaspoon freshly cracked black pepper

Directions:

1. Cook beets: Pierce each beet with a knife (this allows steam to escape during cooking). Place beets in a large microwave-safe pyrex with a lid, and add 1 cup of water. Microwave until softened through, about 10-12 minutes. When done, beets will be softened and a fork or knife should easily go through. Allow to beets to cool 5-10 minutes.
2. While beets cool, make the vinaigrette: combine ingredients for vinaigrette in a jar. Secure lid, and shake until well mixed.
3. Dice beets into bite-sized pieces, then assemble bowls: scoop 1/2 cup of rice into each bowl. Divide beets, cucumbers, cheese, walnuts, and olives amongst bowls. Garnish with parsley, and drizzle vinaigrette to taste. Serve hot or cold.

Roasted Sweet Potato Salad with Cranberries, Walnuts, and Goat Cheese

You know that feeling the week after the holiday season, or a vacation, when you just want a bowl full of veggies, because you haven’t had enough recently? Because I do! And salads like this are the answer. A bowl full of greens, but also sustenance — sweet potatoes, walnuts and goat cheese!

This salad is one even veg-haters will like (said it already, but: potatoes, cheese, nuts… I mean is it even a salad? You don’t have to tell them there’s — ehem - kale under all those potatoes). The whole thing is drizzled with an apple cider vinaigrette which has shallots and dijon mustard and even a little bit of honey, for just the right balance of sweet and acid. It’s a pretty classic vinaigrette and one that you can use on just about any kind of salad or with any veggie (not just this salad!).

Roasted Sweet Potato Salad with Cranberries, Walnuts, and Goat Cheese

Published January 8, 2018 by Caitlin Sherwood

Serves: 6   |    Active Time: 50 minutes

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Ingredients:

2 medium sized sweet potatoes, roughly diced

1 tablespoon oil, such as avocado

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper

6 cups kale, stems removed and torn into bite-sized pieces

1 teaspoon lemon juice

1/4 cup dried cranberries

1/3 cup walnut pieces, toasted

1/4 cup goat cheese crumbles

For the vinaigrette:

2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar

1 tablespoon minced shallot

1 teaspoon honey

1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil

1 teaspoon dijon mustard

1/16 teaspoon salt

1/16 teaspoon ground black pepper

Directions:

1. Roast sweet potatoes: Preheat oven to 400°F. Toss potatoes in 1 tablespoon oil, and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Spread in a single layer on a sheet pan. Roast in oven for 40-45 minutes, until sweet potatoes are soften all the way through and crisping on the edges. Set aside to cool.
2. Prep the kale: place torn kale pieces in a salad bowl. Drizzle with lemon juice. Using your hands, massage the kale with the lemon juice until the kale is bright green (Why do this? It makes is softer, easier to digest, and nicer to eat).
3. Top kale with sweet potatoes, cranberries, walnut pieces, and goat cheese crumbles.
4. Make vinaigrette: combine all ingredients for vinaigrette in a jar and shake to combine. Drizzle vinaigrette over salad, and serve.