Salad | I Can Cook That

Pear Arugula Salad with Walnuts and Parmesan

I found a recipe for Fig & Arugula Salad with Parmesan and really wanted to try it, but figs are not in season until September-ish. Comments for the recipe suggested using red pears as a substitute, so I tried it out. I also didn’t have any shallots so I nixed those, and added in some walnuts for a bit of crunch. The result was this Pear Arugula Salad with Walnuts and Parmesan!

Ingredients:
1 1/2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 red pears, peeled, cored & chopped
6 cups trimmed arugula (about 6 ounces)
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/4 cup (1 ounce) shaved fresh Parmesan cheese
A handful of walnuts

Combine the balsamic vinegar, olive oil, and salt. Whisk to combine.

Very exciting photo, I know

Peel pears.

Cut in half and remove the seeds and stem. (You can use a melon baller or just a spoon)

Chop into bite-size pieces.

Add the pear pieces to the vinaigrette and toss to coat.

Cover and let marinate for 20 minutes. In another bowl, add the arugula.

You can add raw walnuts, or if you’re up for it, saute them in some butter until fragrant.

Remove and place on a paper towel to drain the butter.

Allow to cool and add to the arugula. Add the cheese. After 20 minutes, add the pear pieces.

This was really refreshing! I wish I could have made it with fresh figs, so I will have to attempt that again in the fall. There was just the right amount of sweetness from the pears, tangy-ness from the vinegar, crunch from the walnuts, and spice from the arugula. This would be a perfect summer dinner and a great spring board dish. Grilled salmon or chicken would be a great addition to this dish.

Wilted Spinach with Garlic Vinaigrette

Most sides are a bit of an afterthought. I tend to just whip something up really quick to give my dish more color, or to make me feel like I’m being healthy because there is some green on my plate. But this Wilted Spinach with Garlic Vinaigrette side dish is so good, I’d be happy to have just this for dinner. I am not the biggest fan of mustard in general, but the small amount of Dijon mustard really ups this side from good to great.

Ingredients

1 ½ tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

1 tablespoon white wine vinegar

½ teaspoon Dijon mustard

¼ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

1/8 teaspoon salt

3 garlic cloves, minced (or thinly sliced, whatever makes you happy)

6 cups baby spinach leaves

¼ cup sliced red onion

To prepare the vinaigrette, combine the first 5 ingredients in a bowl (up to salt) combining with a whisk. Heat the vinaigrette in a sauté pan over medium-high heat. Add onion and garlic and cook for 2 minutes. Gradually add the spinach (it will shrink up a lot!) and toss to combine. Remove from heat when wilted (1-2 minutes).

The spinach ended up stealing the show when I made it (I had a pasta/chicken dish along with it). It was a very quick and easy side; I cannot wait to make this again!

Scallops Grapefruit and Fennel? Hmm…

After watching a few episodes of Top Chef Masters recently, I had a hankering for some scallops (which I’m going to blame on seeing Jamie, who made like 14 scallop dishes during her season on Top Chef). Luckily, the December issue of Cooking Light had a recipe for scallops that looked really appealing: Seared scallops with fennel and grapefruit salad. I was interested to see how such strong flavors would work together.

Ingredients:

1 large grapefruit

1.5 cups sliced fennel bulb (1 small-ish bulb)

½ cup flat-leaf parsley

2 teaspoons extra-virgin olive oil

1 tablespoon butter

½ – 1 lb sea scallops (about 12 for two people)

Salt and Pepper, to taste

To start, peel and section the grapefruit, reserving about ¾ cup grapefruit sections in a bowl. With the remaining grapefruit, squeeze to extract the juice (about ¼ cup) and set aside (apart from the grapefruit sections.

To cut the fennel, trim off the stalks and discard. Remove any dirty or hard areas on the bulb (that white part at the bottom) by peeling off the first layer if needed. Cut the bulb in half and lay them on the cutting board flat side down. Slice across the bulb in thin slices.

Combine the grapefruit sections, fennel, and parsley in a bowl. Set aside.

grapefruit and fennel salad

I always thought cooking scallops would be a daunting task, but it is actually really easy, and quick too! However, be careful to not overcook them, scallops can get very rubbery if left on the heat too long. This recipe called for pan frying the scallops so I started by heating 1 tablespoon of olive oil and 1 tablespoon butter in a sauté pan. While waiting for the pan to heat up, I sprinkled some salt and pepper on the scallops and then added them to the pan one by one (I used tongs to put them in so that the liquid didn’t splash all over the place). Let the scallops cook one that one side for about 4 minutes. Use the tongs to flip the scallops over and cook for another minute. Remove the scallops and keep warm.

seared scallops

Add the reserved grapefruit juice to the pan and cook for about two minutes. Remove from heat.

To assemble the dish: place half of the fennel mixture on each plate (I made two servings). Divide scallops evenly (each plate should have 4-6 scallops) then top with half of the rendered juice.

This ended up being a really pretty dish, if I do say so myself. Taste-wise, it was something nice and different, but I don’t think I enjoy fennel ( = mild licorice) enough to add this to my list of rotating dinners. However, I’m pretty jazzed to add scallops to my list of foods I can handle cooking!