Black Girl Chef’s Whites

Winter means root vegetables…carrots, potatoes, squashes of all kinds, turnips, and parsnips.  Roasting root vegetables brings out their sweetness, making them a great side dish.  I developed this recipe to be featured on the Family Bites page from Foodbuzz, presented by Newman’s Own.  Please visit the site to more family friendly recipes using Newman’s Own products.

This salad adds a slight twist to your average roasted vegetable, by infusing them with a maximum flavor boost from vinaigrette while still hot, then allowing them to cool to room temperature before serving.

Roasted Vegetable Salad

1 bag (16 ounce) baby carrots

2 small sweet potatoes, cut into bite size pieces

1 package (8 ounce) crimini mushrooms, halved

1 large red onion, cut into bite size pieces

¼ cup olive oil

½ tsp salt

½ tsp freshly ground black pepper

1 cup Newman’s Own Balsamic Vinaigrette

1. Heat oven to 400 degrees F.
2. Place baby carrots, sweet potatoes, mushrooms and red onions into a large bowl.  Add olive oil, salt and pepper and toss to coat.
3. Spread the vegetables in a single layer onto a large baking sheet.
4. Roast the vegetables for 40 minutes, until tender.
5. Pour the balsamic vinaigrette over the hot vegetables, and let them cool on the baking sheet.
6. Serve the vegetable salad at room temperature.

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Honey Mustard Pork Salad

Recently I was honored that my blog was chosen to be featured on the Foodbuzz website Family Bites page, presented by Newman’s Own. If you are unfamiliar with Newman’s Own products, the company was started by the late Paul Newman in 1982.  All profits are given to charity, so not only are you buying a high quality product you are giving back to those who need help.

I developed nine original recipes using Newman’s Own products, all designed to be family friendly and uncomplicated.  But uncomplicated does not mean it should not taste great.

This recipe has only a few ingredients, but is packed with flavor.  If you do not eat pork, you can substitute with chicken or turkey cutlets.

Please visit the Foodbuzz Family Bites page to see more recipes.

Honey Mustard Pork Salad

1 pork tenderloin

1/3 cup Newman’s own Light Honey Mustard dressing

1 Tbsp olive oil

2 bags (7 ounces) butter lettuce and radicchio blend

1 package (5 ounce) crumbled feta cheese

1 package cherry tomatoes

1. In a large bowl or re-sealable plastic bag marinate the pork for at least one hour in the dressing.  When ready to cook heat the oven to 400 degrees F.
2. Heat the olive oil in a large oven proof skillet. Brown the tenderloin on all sides, then finish cooking it in the oven for 20 – 25 minutes.  Let the tenderloin rest for at least 15 minutes before slicing thinly.
3. Divide the lettuce among four plates.  Sprinkle ¼ cup of feta cheese and some cherry tomatoes over the lettuce on each plate.  Divide the pork slices among the plates, fanning them out.
4. Drizzle each salad with Newman’s Own Light Honey Mustard dressing and serve immediately.

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Shades of Summer

Summer produce is such a wonderful thing.  As you may have read in my last post, my neighbors gave me a bounty of fresh tomatoes from their organic garden.  I made a Slow Roasted Organic Tomato Bisque that was delicious.  I decided I needed to share some of the bisque with my neighbors, since it was their sharing that made the bisque possible in the first place.  As I passed a bowl over the back fence (we talk to each other through the 6 foot fence like they used to do on that TV show “Home Improvement”) Kate passed over more big, beautiful ripe tomatoes!  Oh the joy!

I had just bought some ears of sweet corn, and knew that they were destined to be joined with those red, ripe and juicy tomatoes.  But something was missing…yellow corn, red tomatoes, but no green.  I often think up recipes in terms of colors first, not flavors.  Once I have the colors, the flavors are easy to come up with.

Fresh herbs abound in summer and they are green, but which should I use?  Tarragon? That would be very yummy.  Oregano?  That would be tasty too.  Basil?  That’s what I’m talkin’ about!  Sweet basil, fragrant basil, bright green basil.  And my friend Holland had a gazillion basil plants in her backyard for me to go “borrow” from.  So I called Holland and asked if I could come by and get some basil, which she graciously allowed me to do. I now had the shades of summer; bright yellow, deep red and verdant green.

Sweet Corn, Tomato and Basil Salad

4 ears fresh corn, shucked

6 cups chopped fresh organic tomatoes, about 4 large

1 cup whole basil leaves + 1/4 cup basil chiffonade (thinly sliced)

1 medium shallot, roughly chopped

1 tsp sea salt

1/2 tsp freshly ground black pepper

1/2 cup Yuzu rice vinegar* or white balsamic vinegar

1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil

In a large , deep pot of boiling water blanch the corn for about 3-4 minutes. Fresh corn does not take long to cook, so do not overcook it.  Remove the corn from the boiling water and place into a bowl of cold water to stop the cooking and cool the corn.

Meanwhile, place the chopped tomatoes into a large bowl.

Chopped tomatoes

Once the corn has cooled, carefully cut the kernels from the corn cobs.

Cutting corn kernals from cob

Place the kernels into the bowl with the tomatoes while you make the vinaigrette.

In a food processor, place the whole basil leaves, shallot, salt, pepper and yuzu vinegar.

*I used a Yuzu Rice Vinegar, which added a citrus kick to the salad.  A Yuzu is a Japanese citrus fruit, whose rind is very aromatic. You do not have to have a yuzu vinegar, as a white balsamic or champagne vinegar would also work very nicely in the dressing.

Process the mixture until it is very smooth, stopping to scrape down the sides as needed.  Slowly drizzle in the oil while the processor is running, until the vinaigrette becomes thickened and emulsified.

Basil Vinaigrette and Yuzu vinegar

Pour the vinaigrette over the corn and tomatoes, add the basil chiffonade, and gently mix them together.

Mixing corn, tomatoes and vinaigrette

This is a salad that should be eaten right away.  The flavors really shine when it is fresh, but it good the next day also.  The tomatoes will continue to release their juices, so expect any leftovers to be really juicy.  I suggest dipping some crusty bread into the juice.  Don’t want to be wasteful, do we?

Corn, Tomato and Basil Salad

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