Salads galore!

It’s summer and we are finally having nice temperature. I know I haven’t blogged in a while. It isn’t that I have not cooked; it is simply that nothing was quite worth of blogging about. I made very simple dished and repeated many of what has already been posted. I also ate in restaurant too much.

Anyhow, summer is great for salads and here are few pleasers. The Lemon pepper scallops on a bed of heirloom tomatoes, balsamic vinegar and goat cheese is particularly incredible.

The first one is my friend’s favourite summer salad, it’s rather simple, I thought it wouldn’t be enjoyable but lo and behold, I quite enjoyed the tangy lemon taste.

Neeley-Bee’s simple salad

- Spinach
- Cherry tomatoes
- Cucumber
- Juice of 1 lemon
- Coarse salt and pepper
- Hardboiled egg




Put the spinach in a bow, add cucumber, and add tomatoes, drizzle with the juice. Sprinkle with coarse salt and pepper. Add the egg. Enjoy.

Summer fruity-nutty salad with scallops

- Butter lettuce
- 1-2 green onions
- Strawberries
- ½ avocado
- 1 small container of mandarins, drained
- A big handful of walnuts
- Your favourite dressing (Mine is a creamy Walla-Walla dressing that I get from my husband each time he goes on bike race in the Washington state)
- Few scallop



First step is simple, put the lettuce and the chopped green onions in a bowl, add the vinaigrette and mix. Top with the chopped strawberries, avocado and add the mandarins. Cook the scallops the way you like them. For a summer salad like this one, I love grilled scallops as it cook in not fat and kind of counter balance my creamy dressing.

The Best:

Lemon-Pepper scallops on a bed of yellow and orange heirlooms tomatoes with crumbled goat cheese and balsamic drizzle.



Believe me, this is divine!

- 1 yellow tomato (I prefer to use the organic heirloom as the taste is sooo good)
- 1 orange tomato (again, organic... I think pink tomatoes would do well too)
- Quality balsamic vinegar
- Fleur de sel (I use fleur de Camargue)
- Few fresh string of chives
- 2 big teaspoon of goat cheese crumbles. (You may want to add more, it’s so yummy!)
- 3 big and fresh scallops
- Juice of ½ lime
- pepper



I’ll start with the scallops as few people do not know that they have to be patted dry before cooking. Anyhow, I pan fried them in butter and olive oil. Few second before putting on a plate to wait to be “placed on the salad”, I drizzled the lime juice on them and peppered them.
The salad is very simple; slice each tomato, put on a plate alternating colors. Drizzle with balsamic vinegar. Sprinkle the goat cheese around. Place the three scallops in the middle; add the chives in the middle. Sprinkle with the fleur de sel. Eat. It is delicious!

Spinach and Strawberries salad

I have been taking pictures of my food, cooking and baking a little bit less than usual, but I still do. I figured I have been a really bad foodie blogger lately.

My husband is doing the Hawaii Ironman in October (vacation for me!!) and he told me he needs to lose some weight before. He has always struggled with his weight (so does most of his family) and I wasn’t a very good wife. Us French, loves to use butter, cheese, cream and extra rich ingredient. The obesity rate is a lot lower than in America and I think that even if our food is decadent, we just don’t eat as much. There might be an entire tray of delicious cupcakes in front of us, we’re only going to have one.

Anyhow, I’ve tried to include more vegetable in our alimentation (if at all possible, we’re already having ¾ veggies each night ¼ proteins.) As a side, for the remaining sunny day, I’ve made a simple, but delicious spinach salad.

Spinach and Strawberries salad

- Spinach
- 3-4 thinly sliced strawberries per serving
- A handful of shaved almonds
- Few crumbles of herbs goat cheese feta

Vinaigrette

- Lemon juice
- Drizzle of olive oil
- A crack of pepper (surprisingly, pepper goes really well with strawberries)



Put everything together and enjoy!

Asparagus salad with scallops and mango-chilli sauce

I am going away on business for the whole week next, so I won't be posting much. However, after I cooked my simple dinner tonight, I knew it was a winner and that I had to post it out here. It was fresh, healthy, simple and delicious!

Asparagus salad with scallops and mango-chilli sauce

Mango Dressing:

- 2 very ripe mangoes, peeled and diced
- 2 cloves garlic, chopped
- 1/4 cup rice vinegar
- 1/4 tablespoon vegetable oil
- 1/4 cup Asian chilli sauce
- Salt and black pepper, to taste

For dressing, place mango, garlic, and vinegar in a blender. Puree. Add oil and chilli sauce and blend to mix. Season with salt and pepper. It would give you a lot of sauce. I am sure it would be good on grilled chicken or pretty much anything.

Asparagus

I quickly steamed them, and then grill them on the barbecue.

Scallops

I seared them, I had too small scallops to grill them and I felt like I wanted a little bit of that crusty butter taste on the edge.

How to:

Put the asparagus on the plate, cover with all the scallops you want and drizzle with the mango-chilli sauce.

Seared duck breast on a warm spinach salad.

I finally got around finding good duck in Calgary. Thanks to the farmers market, I am now sure that I will always have inspiration, fresh products and other meats than beef or chicken.

My husband and I went to the movie on Friday and before, we went to play few games of pool. We love to have a wager and this time, it was who was going to cook (as if I wouldn’t be cooking anyway). I lost, therefore I had to cook Saturday and Sunday night (I didn’t hate losing that much to be honest, I had the following menu planned).

Duck breast on warm spinach salad with white wine and shallot dressing.

Duck

When cooking duck, it is important not to remove the fat (It’s the best!). You have to cut little diamonds in the fat, but make sure you are not cutting the meat itself, Season well with salt and pepper. Pre-heat the oven at 350 degree. Heat a pan that can also be put in the over (I used either my stainless one or our good old cast Iron one). Do not add butter or oil, there will be enough fat for it not to stick. Once the pan is very hot, throw the duck breast skin side on the pan and cook for 6.5 minutes. Turn on the meat side and cook for another 2 minutes. Then put in the oven for 6 more minutes. Duck should be served pink.



Warm spinach salad

- 2-3 garlic cloves sliced not crushed (I used 4.. addiction)
- 1 medium shallot thinly sliced (Red onions would do)
- Oil
- 2 table spoon of butter
- ½ cup of white wine
- Juice of 1 lemon
- Salt
- 1-2 lbs of spinach.

Heat the pan, once hot, turn on low heat; put the butter and the oil. Add the garlic, after 30-45 second, add the shallot. Let them get soft but make sure you don’t caramelize the shallot, the heat should be low. Add the wine and lemon juice (Wine first, I don’t know why, but my mum always told me to put the wine first). Let simmer, and then add the spinach. Toss around until wrapped in the vinaigrette and let the spinach reduce size.



Take the duck out of the oven; let the meat sit for 5-10 minutes and then slice. Lay the spinach on a nice plate, and then add the duck on top. Decorate with some lemon quarter to drizzle juice on top.




Very healthy, very yummy.