Caesar Salad with Scallop Croutons

 Most of my recipes are homey, stick to your ribs, "the kids will love it" recipes. But every now and then I like to fancy it up. Ya know, get out the good china (that's not chipped from "helpful" kids loading and unloading the dishwasher) and silverware and eat in the company of other adults.

I had this salad at a restaurant over 10 years ago and it has stuck in my mind ever since. I've been wanting to try to make it for years but it never crossed my mind when I was actually planning dinner parties. A couple weeks ago it popped back into my brain and right then I emailed my friend Laurie and asked her if she wanted to come over for lunch the following week, I wanted to use her as a guinea pig. To my amazement she said yes! I think she said yes because she knows I'm not a seafood fan and couldn't believe I wanted to make something with scallops, and just had to see me eating them with her own two eyes to believe it. I'm a complex gal.

So Laurie came over and helped me prepare this yummy, hearty salad for lunch. The bay scallops are breaded in panko and fried (how can that NOT be good?) and placed atop a caesar salad made with homemade dressing and act as the crunchy croutons... with a soft, slightly sweet centre.

This recipe would make 8 appetizer size salads or 4 meal size salads, and would be an elegant addition to your next dinner party.

 Caesar Salad with Scallop Croutons

dressing

1 egg

1 tbsp. lemon juice

1-2 cloves of garlic, minced

1/2 c. oil, vegetable or canola olive oil really changes the taste

1 tbsp. red wine vinegar

1/4 c. freshly grated parmesan

salt and freshly ground pepper to taste

scallop "croutons"

1 lb bay scallops  (the wee ones)

1/4 c flour

2 eggs

2 c panko (Japanese bread crumbs)

salt & pepper
oil

salad

1 head romaine hearts

1 small container mixed baby greens

6 strips bacon, fried crisp and chopped

parmesan cheese, shredded

Instructions:

1. In a food processor or blender, pulse egg and lemon juice until combined.

2. Lightly mince your garlic and add to the egg and lemon.

3. With blade spinning, slowly stream in the oil and allow to continue blending for 1-2 minutes.

4. While the mixture is blending add the vinegar and cheese and salt and pepper.

5. Transfer to a bowl or pitcher and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes (1-2 hours is better) so the dressing has a chance to set and thicken and the flavours to develop.

6. In the meantime, fry the bacon until crisp and allow to drain on paper towels. Chop  into 1/2" pieces.

7. Set up a breading station by putting flour (seasoned with salt and pepper), eggs and panko in separate shallow dishes.
8. Rinse the scallops and dry on paper towels.
9. Dredge the scallops through the flour, then eggs then roll in the panko to coat thoroughly.
10. Heat oil to 365˚F. Carefully drop the scallops into the hot oil making sure not to over crowd. Cook until scallops are golden brown.
11. Drain excess oil off by removing scallops and placing on paper towels.
12. Rinse and dry the lettuce and tear into bite size pieces. Toss with bacon, dressing, parmesan and the scallops and serve.

BLT Pasta Salad and a Giveaway!

Our barbequing has been kicked into overdrive the past two weeks. Temperatures are soaring and no way am I standing in a hot kitchen over a boiling pot of anything! I do not enjoy sweating. Thank the good people at Napoleon that our grill has a side burner, it allows me to make this amazing pasta salad outside and not turn my kitchen into a sauna.

I can't wait to take this salad to a picnic or barbeque at someone else's house, I mean, who doesn't love bacon? It'll be the most popular salad on the buffet table! This salad is also great for quick lunches and if you add some grilled chicken  you've got an easy, and totally yummy dinner salad.

I don't recommend adding the lettuce until you're ready to eat as it'll get soggy and you lose the great crunch factor of a nice head of iceburg lettuce.

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BLT Pasta Salad adapted from Betty Crocker's "it's Summer" 2010

8 strips bacon, cooked crisp and chopped
4 c cooked rotini
1 1/2 c grape tomatoes, halved
1/2 head iceburg lettuce, thinly sliced
1/2 c mayonnaise
1/2 c ranch dressing
fresh cracked black pepper
1/2 tsp seasoned salt
chives

Instructions:

1. Cook your pasta to al denté in salted water and rinse lightly.
2. Cook your bacon until crispy and chop into 1/2" pieces.
3. Mix the mayonnaise, ranch dressing, salt and pepper together.
4. Combine the pasta, bacon, lettuce, tomatoes and dressing in a large bowl mixing to coat the salad evenly.
5. Garnish with chopped chives and keep chilled until ready to serve.

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And now for a fantastic Summer Giveaway from my good friends at General Mills Canada!

Planning on hosting a Barbeque or picnic this summer? Or do you just like to grill for your family? Either way you're gonna love this Summer Prize Pack from General Mills!

Prize Pack Contains:
Barbecue Utensil Set
Paper Plates
Colourful Napkins
General Mills goodies from:
    Old El Paso
    Cheerios (including NEW Chocolate Cheerios!)
    Fibre 1
    Betty Crocker
    Nature Valley

Here are the rules:

All you have to do is head over to http://www.lifemadedelicious.ca/ and then come back here and tell me what your favourite LMD summer recipe is!

Contest is open to Canadian Residents only (We have a crazy postal strike and food items can't be shipped internationally).

Please include a way to reach you if you win (link to blog or website, email address, etc...).

A winner will be picked on July 7th. Good luck and happy Barbequing!

enjoy,

Amanda

please see my disclosure page for information on my Life Made Delicious Partnership.

Greek Feast! Chicken Souvlaki, Rice Pilaf & Greek Salad

I am not Greek. Not even a little bit (Irish, yes. British, yes. And there was something about Russian Gypsies but my Grandma was a little tipsy when she told us that story so who knows). But every now and then I get a craving for Greek food that's so over-powering I feel the need to watch My Big Fat Greek Wedding and drink Ouzo (maybe even roast a lamb on my front lawn, bah ha ha, classic!). Such a craving hit this week and being that I don't live in a city, my ability to get Greek Take-Out is less than slim.

A quick scouring of Google for recipes had me mixing and matching ingredients to recreate the flavours of some of my favourite Greek restaurants. I in no way claim this is an authentic Greek recipe, but the taste is spot on to any Greek food I've ever had and it was so easy!

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Chicken Souvlaki, Rice Pilaf & Greek Salad
This made 5 skewers and a huge pot of pilaf

Souvlaki:
4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut into 1" pieces
1/3 c extra virgin olive oil
1/3 c lemon juice
1 tbsp red wine vinegar
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 tbsp dried oregano
1 tsp dried thyme
wooden skewers soaked in water

Rice Pilaf:
2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1/2 onion, diced
1 med carrot, diced
1 stalk celery, diced
1 small zucchini, diced
1 tsp dried oregano
1 tsp dried thyme
1 1/2 c long grain white rice
3 c water or chicken stock
kosher salt to taste

Salad:
1 romaine heart, washed & chopped
1/2 English cucumber, sliced
1 c grape tomatoes
1/4 red onion, sliced thin
sliced black olives (as much as you like)
feta cheese, crumbled (as much as you like)
your favourite Greek salad dressing

1. Marinade: combine the olive oil, lemon juice, red wine vinegar, garlic, oregano and thyme. Place chopped chicken in a bowl or a Ziploc bag and pour marinade over. Marinate in the fridge for at least 3 hours (I did 6).
2. Skewer marinated chicken and grill for about 3 minutes on each side.
3. Rice: While chicken is marinating/cooking heat oil in a pot and add the onion, carrot, celery and zucchini and sautée for a few minutes. Add the oregano and thyme and salt.
4. Add the rice and stir to brown for 2 minutes. Add the water or stock and cover and simmer over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until all the liquid is absorbed and the rice is light and fluffy (about 20 minutes).
5. Salad: Combine the lettuce, tomatoes, cucumbers, onions, olives, feta and dressing right before you're ready to eat so the lettuce doesn't get soggy.
6. Serve the souvlaki over the rice, either on the skewers or removed, with a side of salad.

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Optional: Tzatziki is a traditional condiment for this meal, I have never been a fan so I didn't make any, but there are hundreds of recipes out there!

enjoy!

Asian Crunch Salad

I am all about texture. I love mixing crunchy things with smooth things (except peanut butter, don't mess with my smooth PB if you value your life) and mixing flavours like sweet and tangy. That's why this salad speaks to me.

As a mom I rarely make time for me (hence why my baby weight is sticking around longer than I'd like) and lunch is a rare treat. I went looking for some lunchtime inspiration and found this basic salad concept and fell in love. One of the main ingredients: Ramen Noodles! How complicated or time consuming can a dish with Ramen Noodles be right?

This is a real budget friendly recipe because Ramen Noodles are ridiculously cheap and one bag of the colelsaw mix will give you 4-6 servings (depending on how hungry you are!) of this salad. Great for lunch, a side dish with dinner or for a pot-luck or picnic.

A sweet & tangy dressing over store-bought coleslaw mix (hello timesaver!) with a few add-ins and garnishes and you've got a delicious lunch that isn't table scraps from your kids!


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Asian Crunch Salad

1 (3 oz.) pkg. Ramen Noodles, crushed without flavour packet
10 oz. whole blanched almonds (cashews are great also)
1 (16 oz.) package shredded coleslaw mix
1 small red onion, thinly sliced
1/4 c. white sugar
1/4 c. vegetable oil
1/4 c. red wine vinegar (any vinegar will do really)
1 tbsp. soy sauce
1 pinch red pepper flakes (optional)
2 green onions, chopped

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 350˚F and toast the crushed noodles and almonds until golden brown.
2. In a large bowl, combine the coleslaw and red onion.
3. For the dressing, whisk together the sugar, oil, vinegar, red pepper flakes and soy sauce.
4. Pour the dressing over the salad and toss.
5. Garnish salad with the noodles, nuts and green onion and enjoy.

Note: If you're making this salad to eat over the week, don't add the garnishes until you're ready to eat or the noodles don't stay crunchy.

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enjoy,
Amanda

Homemade Caesar Dressing and the Giveaway Winner

First things first, the giveaway winner:

drumroll please.........


The winner of the silicone bakeware prize is:

Comment 1

Ohhhh I want to win!

The first thing I remember baking was a cookie when I was 4 at christmas. My gave me the leftover dough to make into cookies and I made it into one GIANT mess of a cookie. I covered it in obscene amounts of sprinkles etc. I actually still have a photo of this ridiculous cookie.
-Shawna
August 4, 2009 12:50 PM


Congratulations Shawna, I'll be contacting you via email.

And now the recipe.


I haven't bought Salad Dressing in a store in years... mostly cause it was a big ol' waste of money. I'd buy it with the best of intentions of having salads more often and I'd have 1 or 2 and then the bottle would languish in the fridge until the salad bug hit me again and I'd go to grab the bottle and it was waaaaaaaay past expiration, and then the cycle would start all over again. After about 10 bottle of basically full dressing went down the kitchen sink I gave up.

And then one weekend our friends Phil and PJ were visiting and my hubby asked Phil to make his famous Caesar dressing (famous to everyone but me I guess cause I had no idea Phil was a master dressing maker). So I watched intently (PJ actually made the dressing as she had been entrusted with the recipe) as I've never seen Caesar dressing made from scratch before, I thought it was just an urban legend! When we sat down for dinner I found salad nirvana. I had no idea dressing could be that fresh, that tasty, or that simple! I recently had a Caesar salad in a restaurant where they obviously used a bottled dressing and I could tell the difference with my eyes closed and my taste buds burnt off. There really is no comparison between bottled and homemade when it comes to dressing.

So thank you Phil. Thank you for sharing your fabulous recipe with me! Goodbye wasted bottles of chemically engineered dressing, and hello simple, natural ingredients.

Phil's Famous Caesar Dressing

1 egg
1 tbsp. lemon juice
1-2 cloves of garlic, minced I use 2 cause I loves the garlic
1/2 c. oil, vegetable or canola olive oil really changes the taste
1 tbsp. red wine vinegar
1/4 c. freshly grated parmesan please please please do NOT use that pre-grated stuff in the container, it's mostly flour and will not do this dressing justice
salt and freshly ground pepper to taste

Instructions:

1. In a food processor or blender pulse egg and lemon juice until combined.
2. Lightly mince your garlic and add to the egg and lemon.
3. With blade spinning, slowly stream in the oil and allow to continue blending for 1-2 minutes.
4. While the mixture is blending add the vinegar and cheese and salt and pepper.
5. Transfer to a bowl or pitcher and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes (1-2 hours is better) so the dressing has a chance to set and thicken.
6. Serve over crisp romaine lettuce, real bacon bits (trust me people), and croutons.