Cucumber Sesame Salad
There is nothing not to like about this salad side dish: crunchy, cool, tangy, imminently refreshing, conveniently hydrating. This is the perfect summer salad. Picnic ready and good in the fridge for a couple of days in advance.
what you need
5-6 cucumbers of choice (I prefer Kirby or Persian cucumbers)
Ideally, a mandolin
4 tablespoons toasted sesame seeds
4oz instant rice vermicelli noodles
1/4 cup toasted peanuts, chopped
2 tablespoons rice vinegar or 1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
1 teaspoon sugar
1 tablespoon soy sauce or Tamari
1 tablespoon toasted sesame oil
1/8 red onion, sliced very thinly
how to make it
Ideally, you make this dish using a mandolin, but feel free to slice your cucumbers by hand if you’re so ambitious. Slice them up super thinly along with the red onion and toss in a mixing bowl along with your sesame seeds.
Mix vinegar, sugar, soy sauce, and sesame oil together in a small cup, and pour over cucumber mixture. Toss generously to combine. Add a pinch of salt and let stand in refrigerator while you prepare the vermicelli noodles (blanch in boiling water for a few minutes until just cooked through, then rinse in cold water).
Drain the noodles and add in small clumps to the cucumber salad, tossing between each addition to coat thoroughly in the sauce that will have accumulated at the bottom of the bowl. Top with toasted peanuts and serve cold.
If you are making this ahead of time, leave the peanuts off until you are about to serve.
Signature Salad
There is a lot of salad in the OneandahalfSlices universe. You know, #eatfoodnottoomuchmostlyplants. That said, this is easily the favorite. It is green, zesty, and light. It works as a side salad or stands on its own with a hard boiled egg and some extra avo.
Peach Caprese
This is a continuation of my summer eats glorified snack dinners (see Watermelon Feta Salad). For when the summer months take hold, the cicadas ring true, and the humidity is as thick and sticky as fresh Florida honey against a sunset sky, you need something super fresh! During these months, my CSA tends to have all-you-can-take tomatoes, which the Piemaker and I willingly turn into tomato-soup-and-grilled-cheese-movie-marathons (see Roasted Tomato Soup and Grilled Cheese recipes – forthcoming). All you need for this recipe is one of those tomatoes and a handful of garden basil. I fancy it up a bit here with a sweet nectarine and some unnecessary accoutrement, but it does not disappoint as an appetizer, snack, or full summertime dinner plate.
Warm Brussels Caesar Salad
That’s a lot of adjectives in front of “Caesar Salad,” but I assure you this salad is not difficult. It is also fantastic. The spicy comes from cayenne. The crunchy comes from toasted almonds, and the quinoa if you feel so inclined to try crisping it. The tahini Caesar dressing is also king – super lemony and salty with parmesan cheese as any good Caesar should be.
Caesar Salad
Your classic, tried and true, foolproof, Caesar Salad Dressing Recipe. Side salad or main course, this is really all you need. Add grilled chicken, avocado, hard boiled or fried egg, or red onion and you’re good to go.
Watermelon Feta Salad
Sometimes when the summer turns hot and the appetite begins to naturally wane, the fresh and light, zesty and fruitful begin to take precedence over the hearty. My solution to that is a collection of fruit-forward glorified snack meals that inventively leverage my latest CSA harvest and don’t fill me up to the point of sluggish. Summertime is the time for watermelon – the hydrating, vibrant, impossibly sweet fruit that gave me my childhood moniker ‘Watermelonie.’ A favorite springtime flavor combination is strawberry-basil or strawberry-mint. Turns out that this also works well with watermelon. So if you’ve got one to spare this summer, try this as a salad or a snack. It’s got 3-4 total ingredients and won’t disappoint in the flavor category.
Sticky Salmon
Wow, did I get sidetracked with The Protein Trio. But in case you were following along with Hot Honey ‘Baked Fried’ Chicken and then Rabbit/Chicken Cassoulet, the third protein in our protein trio is this sticky salmon. I paired it with a side salad/salsa that bears some resemblance to The Florida Salad of this summer where mangoes and avocados abound! From weeknight to datenight!
