Salads

New potato and asparagus salad with lemon-dijon dressing

3 May 2013 Food
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We’re having a heat wave in northern California, and it’s got me thinking about summer food. This potato salad, which I love warm or cold, is a dish you will want to remember for summertime entertaining. No mayonnaise or dairy involved, it’s a fresher take on potato salad that can endure the heat. And when [...]

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Northstar Café salad

23 January 2013 Food
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All restaurants have salads, but very few have good ones. Maybe it’s the low expectations: plenty of people would send back a disappointing appetizer, or main dish, or dessert, but no one sends back a salad for being limp, overdressed, or uninteresting. With so much creative talent in restaurant kitchens, too little of it makes [...]

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Quinoa with roasted vegetables

5 October 2012 Food
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I’m not one for trends, food or otherwise, so it took me a while to bring quinoa (“keen-wah”) into my kitchen. But now I’ve developed a real fondness for this crunchy little pseudo-grain with a funny tail. It’s easy to make, versatile, keeps well and satisfies the increasing number of friends I know who are [...]

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Breakfast-for-dinner salad

5 September 2012 Food
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It’s the sounds, not the clock, that tell me when it’s time to get dinner on the table. The creak of cabinet doors opening and the firm slam of them shut. The suction release of the refrigerator door tugged, then the electric hum as its contents are casually contemplated, with no regard for the cold [...]

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Homemade croutons

20 July 2012 Food
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My 10-year-old salt fiend of a son loves to grab a bag of croutons out of his grandma’s cupboard and eat the whole thing. I dislike the idea – low-quality bread doctored up with cheap oils, excessive salt, MSG, fake butter flavor – but I do understand the crunchy appeal of croutons. So he and [...]

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Shaved zucchini and parmesan salad

3 July 2012 Food
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July is a good time to enjoy young zucchini, before it becomes a overgrown burden come August. Zucchini (aka courgette in much of the world) is a versatile cooked vegetable – grilled, sauteed, shredded, stuffed. With its subtle taste and texture, zucchini is a useful partner in both savory dishes and baked treats. Rarely do [...]

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Taco salad

29 June 2012 Chicken/poultry
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Aside from being a happily addictive way to enjoy a huge bowl of vegetables, this taco salad is the ideal antidote to an overindulgent taco night. Even though we’ve gone lighter and healthier on taco filling by doing away with the seasoning packet and using ground turkey, it’s still easy to go overboard with rich [...]

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California Greek salad

24 April 2012 Food
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To me the cooking ideal of fresh, seasonal and local is hardest to live up to in the spring. Summer is bounty time; crisp fall brings novel late-harvest crops; cold winter welcomes hearty root vegetables and winter squashes. But spring’s warmer air and bright green landscape tickle yearnings for fresh new produce. And right now [...]

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Kale salad with cranberries and toasted walnuts

6 March 2012 Food
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The best way for me to keep up my vegetable intake is to make a big batch that lasts for several meals. In the wintertime, roasted vegetables fit the bill handily. But by March I’m ready for a fresher taste. Salad greens are sad this time of year, but kale – a dark leafy green [...]

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Crunchy curry chicken salad

21 October 2011 Chicken/poultry
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To me there’s one problem with most chicken salads: too much chicken. Plain old chicken and mayonnaise seems like a lost opportunity when instead you could add in fruit, nuts and spice have something crunchy, savory, sweet, nutty, creamy and tastebud-tingly. In my house, curry chicken salad makes leftover chicken a reason for celebration. The [...]

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