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I may be a little obsessed with the sriracha and corn combo that I discovered at Myers + Chang and posted about yesterday. There is something about the sweetness of the corn, the spice of the sriracha, and the yummy, melty butter that scream summer in a hot, gourmet kinda way. Since I can’t eat just corn for dinner, I brainstormed with some of the fresh ingredients that we had in the house to come up with a healthy, filling, and easy to cook meal.

shrimp, corn, arugula, heirloom tomatoes

I shucked and boiled the corn on the cob until it was about 3/4 the way cooked. In the meantime, I was cleaning a bunch of medium sized shrimp and getting them into a pan with a few drops of olive oil on low heat.

shrimp, corn, arugula, heirloom tomatoes

Once the shrimp were pink on one side, I cut the corn off of the cob and tossed it into the pan of shrimp. Then the magic began. I added 3 small pats of butter and a bunch of sriracha and stirred the shrimp and corn until fully coated. Two minutes later, everything was cooked, and I added the shrimp and corn to a bed of fresh arugula and heirloom tomatoes.

shrimp, arugula, heirloom tomatoes, corn

Simple and delicious! This was another home run meal, if I do say so myself. I have been really enjoying the intense heat and the fresh, local food that summer has brought upon us. I really feel like I FINALLY feel thawed out after the winter! As everyone else is complaining about the heat, I reflect back on those Boston Marathon training days. . . and look ahead to this year, knowing that I will crave the summer heat then!

While cooking, I had a tiny glass of a great wine that I picked up at The Urban Grape last week. The 2007 Aramis is deep purple in color, as you can see in the photo on the right. I loved swirling it around in my glass and looking at it’s lovely color in the summer sunlight 🙂

Interestingly, the first night that I tried this wine, I got lots of dark berry flavors, but after I poured a glass from the day old bottle, I got an intense whiff of cocoa before the fruit came through. This wine feels round and luscious in the mouth and has a long, smooth finish. It is really an exceptional wine and was among many great choices that were open for the tasting.

Aramis Vineyards Shiraz Cabernet Aramis Shiraz Cabernet

This is not necessarily what most people would consider an ideal wine for a 100 degree evening, but for some reason I often want to drink red wine over white, even when it is hot out.

I can’t believe we are leaving for California so soon, after such a great long weekend! I am a little stressed. . . I always get stressed when we travel even though we do it pretty often. Often I just worry about my cats, but this time my cousin will be housesitting which is nice. I don’t know, I feel like leaving home takes away from of the control from this control freak 😉 Does that make sense? I am of course really excited and have some great restaurants, winery visits, and boating on Lake Sonoma planned.

Do you get stressed when traveling?

Tags: Aramis Vineyards, arugula, corn, healthy recipes, heirloom tomatoes, recipes, salad, Shiraz Cabernet, shrimp, sriracha, summer, Urban Grape, wine

Ever since the delicious blogger dinner at Vlora last weekend, I have been thinking about the traditional Albanian watermelon and feta combination, and I knew that I would have to try it in some capacity at home. And that’s just what I did for dinner.

But first, lunch. We got off to a late start on the 4th. My husband was kind enough to drive our friend Kari to the airport for her flight to San Diego, and while he did that I went back to sleep. . . until 10:30! I never ever sleep that late, and it felt soooo good.

I woke up, blogged, did some cleaning, and then we headed to Yankee Lobster for a little New England seafood lunch.

Yankee Lobster is a cute little place for fresh seafood down by the Seaport area of Boston. They have great, fresh, cold, Harpoon beer on draught (the brewery is something like .1 mile away!), and in addition to all of the prepared foods, they also sell fresh fish and lobsters to cook at home.

We shared the fried oysters and a lobster roll with fries and coleslaw. The oysters were a hit with a crunchy, light batter, and bursting with briny ocean flavor.

fried oysters at Yankee Lobster

The fries were excellent, but they don’t serve Heinz ketchup. . . next time I will bring my own. The coleslaw was really good as well, but the lobster roll was a little disappointing. The lobster was really dry, and while I used to love my lobster rolls with lobster salad: lobster, celery, mayo, I think I have become a devotee of the hot lobster roll with just lobster and butter. Decisions, decisions.

Yankee Lobster lobster roll and fries

After hitting up a completely empty Trader Joe’s- apparently grocery shopping ON a holiday is a good idea- we had a relaxing afternoon at home and eventually decided to just stay in for the evening.

I cooked up some tofu hot dogs and then got started on this splendidly simple salad.

Chunks of cool, sweet watermelon, crunchy yellow bell pepper, creamy, salty feta, and a dash of olive oil and balsamic were all I used.

watermelon feta salad

And next time, I think I would leave the olive oil and balsamic out and just let the flavors of the fruit shine through. Maybe a tiny handful of chopped fresh mint? All I know is that I am hooked on watermelon as part of a salad (or eaten by the bowl full for snack), and you will likely be seeing it here again.

After dinner, I ran into the living room to get something and discovered this:

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Smuckers and Scout, sleeping together on top of the wine fridge. These two usually play and fight with each other, but I haven’t seen them sleeping together, and especially on such a small surface, in a long time. It was adorable.

Yes, that plate is theirs. They have their own plates in addition to their regular food bowls. Cats run the house, I tell ya.

The rest of the night was spent making chocolate chip cookie ice cream sandwiches and watching Shutter Island: cookies from store-bought cookie dough and Trader Joe’s brand chocolate ice cream which is the best ice cream I have had in a LONG time. I am always disappointed when we go out for ice cream, but this has just that perfect chocolate flavor and rich, creamy texture.

Looking back and feeling rested and refreshed, I am glad we decided to spend the holiday together, at home, relaxing.

Do you ever feel pressure that you HAVE to do something on holidays like New Year’s Eve or the 4th of July?

 

Don’t miss my guest post on The Daily Craic, my Top 5 Things to Do in Ireland

Tags: holiday, recipe, salad, summer

Hi guys! I am up in lovely Truro, MA enjoying a beachy weekend with the girls. Since my laptop nearly snapped in half and is in the hospital, I thought I would share with you a guest post I recently did on The Food Passport. It’s a great summer salad and wine pairing I think you will enjoy. And speaking of guest posts, I am seeking guest posters (and opportunities to guest post myself!) so if you have anything send me an email: traveleatlove (@)gmail.com. Have a lovely Sunday and I will be back tomorrow with beach, wine, and lobster filled posts! 🙂

Many people don’t know that New England has its own small but thriving wine industry that produces high quality wines from home grown grapes. Two summers ago I first visited Westport Rivers Winery on a trip to Horseneck Beach and became very interested in supporting local winemakers. Last year, we attended the Coastal Wine Trail kickoff event which brings together several coastal Massachusetts and Rhode Island wineries for a day of food and wine. It was at this event that we first discovered Travessia Urban Winery, and we have been hooked ever since.

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Travessia’s owner and winemaker, Marco Montez, recently sent me a bottle of his 2008 Pinot Grigio to sample, and I thought that my first Food Passport post would the perfect place to share it.

I wanted to create a recipe that was easily accessible without lots of fancy or expensive ingredients, so I used only items that I had in the house.

Recipe (Serves 2)

12 medium sized shrimp

3 cups sweet corn

2 cups sweet grape tomatoes

1 medium jalapeno, seeds removed

¼ cup finely diced red onion

Chopped cilantro to taste

3 TSP Extra Virgin Olive Oil

Ground black pepper to taste

This is the ideal recipe for a warm summer night when you don’t want to heat up the kitchen. I simply thawed a package of sweet corn at room temperature and once everything was diced and chopped, tossed the veggies together in a bowl. I did leave the EVOO off until the very end as I don’t like the salad to get bogged down and soggy from the oil.

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I grilled the shrimp plain on our George Forman grill which only took about 3 minutes. You can sauté the shrimp in a pan, toss them on an outdoor grill, or if you feel like eating them cold, boil or steam and then chill them.

The flavors of the salad ingredients paired well with the Pinot Grigio’s slight acidity because the major ingredients in the dish leaned more toward sweet and balanced flavors. Had the tomatoes been an acidic variety, there may have been some competition between the food and wine, but this pairing turned out perfectly.

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This year’s  Coastal Wine Trail kickoff was May 23 at Truro Vineyards in Truro, MA, and it was a wonderful event as it had been the year before. The Coastal Wine Trail is made up of 9 coastal New England vineyards, including Travessia, and they are all worth a visiting for a tasting, tour or special events.

Do you have a favorite annual special event in your area that you just love?

Tags: food and wine pairing, healthy meals, Pinot Grigio, recipe, salad, shrimp, summer meals, Travessia, wine

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