Avocado & Orange Salad with Sesame Soy Dressing

I love to walk. My mom is a walker too. As long as I can remember, Mel has walked 2-4 miles every day, up and down the wooded country road I grew up on. When we were kids, Amanda and I went with her. I would inevitably fall and scrape my knees, which often led to me fainting right there on the side of the road. In addition to being a walker, I’m a fainter.

My family also went on evening strolls after dinner—up the street a mile, then back down a mile. Sometimes I stopped a few yards before the turn-around spot, and waited. Then, when they got to me, I pretended I was an orphan, and that they found me on the road and were adopting me. I watched a lot of All Dogs Go to Heaven and Annie.

Seattle is a small city, and you can easily go from one end of downtown to the other on foot. I’ve done it plenty of times. I walk from my office to the gym, from my doorstep to the farmer’s market. I have a car and a bus pass, but I just prefer to get around on foot.

Lately, with the cherry blossoms blooming like crazy, the temperatures rising, and the sun staying out later and later each evening, I have a strong desire to just get out there and walk. Not to go anywhere in particular, but just to walk. To take in the fresh air and give my computer-strained eyes a break.

I can usually bribe Evan with snack-stops, but he prefers walks that have a destination in mind (I mean, what he actually prefers is driving). The other day, I tricked him into walking across town to my favorite grocery store and back. The sunny walk and the store’s bountiful produce inspired me to make this springy salad with buttery bibb lettuce, red onions, creamy avocados, juicy oranges, umami filled dressing, feta for tang, and almonds for crunch.

Evan, the non-salad lover, even asked for seconds. Maybe it was all that fresh air. I’ll give partial credit to the walk, but you can taste this salad and decide for yourself!

Avocado & Orange Salad with Sesame Soy Dressing

Serves 2

Dressing

1 tablespoon sesame oil

1 tablespoon soy sauce

1/2 tablespoon mustard (I use spicy brown)

juice from 1/2 lemon

1 teaspoon olive oil 

salt & pepper

Mix ingredients together (either shake in a jar, or whisk in a bowl). 

Salad

1/2 head bibb lettuce, torn into largish bite size pieces

1 orange, peeled and cut into bit size chunks

1 tablespoon diced red onion
Dressing (recipe above)

1 avocado, sliced

1/4 cup almonds, roughly chopped

1/4 cup feta

Fresh ground pepper

Put lettuce, orange, and onion in a bowl, and toss with about half the dressing. Arrange on plates or a platter, and top with avocado slices, almonds, feta, fresh ground pepper, and if desired, more dressing. Note: wait til just before serving to toss dressing with lettuce, to avoid soggy salad. 

Simple Saturday: Grilled Eggplant Tartine

Spring is in the air, so rain or shine, I’m firing up the grill. And, since I’m lovin’ Mediterranean flavors right now, I came up with this fairly quick and simple grilled eggplant recipe that you can serve as an open-faced sandwich (or tartine), or as crostinis for a delicious spring appetizer.

Or…you could just stand on the balcony devouring it straight off the flame, while your neighbors enviously take in the sights and scents of grilled eggplant and crusty charred bread with thyme, tangy feta cheese, sweet balsamic vinegar, and fresh herbs, mingling with the floral fragrance of the cherry blossoms blooming nearby.

If that doesn’t put a little spring in your step, I don’t know what will!

Grilled Eggplant and Feta Tartine

1-2 Japanese eggplants cut lengthwise into ¼ inch thin slices
Olive oil
Salt and pepper
Fresh thyme
4 baguette slices
Feta cheese
Balsamic vinegar
Fresh basil
Fresh mint

Preheat grill pan or grill over medium. Brush eggplant slices and baguette slices with olive oil, sprinkle with salt, pepper, and thyme. Grill eggplant until tender and golden with visible grill marks. Grill bread until toasted. Top baguette slices with eggplant, feta, a drizzle of good olive oil and balsamic, and a sprinkle of basil and mint leaves.

Out Like a Lion

Biscuit the Lioness

I don’t know if spring came in like a lamb or a lion this year. In Seattle, the spring weather has been changing drastically by the day! One day it’s a record breaking heat wave with shorts and flip flops, and the next its 48 degrees, grey, and pouring. All I know is that I’m stoked for spring to be here, especially with the abundance of tasty, fresh treats it brings! With spring comes many food-related wonders: ham at Easter, fresh asparagus, flower shaped sugar cookies, colorful eggs, lamb…wait, lamb!?

Yep, that’s right. Apparently lamb is the very definition of spring for some people. Some people just can’t get enough of the stuff. I however, am not one of those people. Until I started dating Evan, I had never tried lamb. Then, the first family event I went to with him, I was horrified. The main course… was lamb. Cute, fuzzy, white, little lamb. I tried the smallest of all small bites. The next time I went, I tried a bigger bite. I eventually got to the point where I tasted his lamb and beef gyro at Aladdin’s Gyro Hut. But alas, that’s about as far as that went. With the strong, unfamiliar, gamey flavor, and pictures of darling little fuzzy wuzzies in my head, I couldn’t get past just a bite or two.

As someone who professes to love food, I think this might be a big no-no. Lamb. I mean… chefs and foodies alike love that shit. Last summer, shortly after I started this little blog, a friend asked if I wanted to have food challenges on my blog… like say, a friendly competition, or people proposing a secret ingredient—Iron Chef style—for me to turn into something awesome. His challenge, however, was lamb. I sat on it. I sat on it for almost a year. Until a few days ago, when Food 52 also challenged me with lamb.

There comes a time in every young woman’s life when she must rise to the occasion, and take the challenge. The lamb challenge. I stood up, put on my armor, drew my sword, and looked my challenger in its’ cute fuzzy little face, and then I kicked it’s fleecy, white-as-snow ass. Presenting: the mythical and glorious Perseus Burger.

Perseus was a mythic hero of Greek mythology famed for defeating various monsters of epic proportions. Up until a few nights ago, lamb was my monster. This Greek-inspired lamb burger is sort of an intro course into cooking and eating lamb... it's simple, and has a lot of amazing flavors that meld together to ease even the wariest of lamb-eaters through their first or second lamb experience. Mixed with ground beef, herbs, and spices, and topped with zingy tzatziki, the lamb actually tastes…good! It’s juicy and not over-powering in flavor, but really does have more depth than a solid beef burger. Evan says he’ll never go back to ‘normal burgers.’ I’ve created a new monster.

With the Perseus Burger in your line-up you can take down any beast, be it lamb or lion.

Perseus Burgers
Serves 4-6

Burgers:
1 pound ground lamb
1/2 pound lean ground beef
1 minced garlic clove
1/2 cup finely diced onion
2 tablespoons finely chopped parsley
1.5 teaspoons Hyssop*
1 teaspoon oregano
1 teaspoon paprika (not sweet)
salt/pepper
4-6 tablespoons crumbled feta
olive oil
4-6 buns (I used ciabatta type rolls)
Tzatziki sauce (recipe below)
sliced tomato, red onion, fresh spinach, and sliced black olives for garnish

Mix together lamb, beef, onion, garlic, parsley, hyssop, oregano, paprika, and s&p until well combined. (*Israeli Hyssop is an herb that is mixed into a powdery blend w/olive oil, sesame seeds, and often other spices. I got this Olia brand hyssop from a friend! )

Separate meat mixture into 4-6 balls, depending on how big you and your guests want the burgers (I made one biggun, 2 medium, and 2 small.) To stuff with feta: flatten into a pretty flat oblong shape, and add about a tablespoon of feta to half. Fold the other half over, squish to seal the edges, and flatten to desired patty flatness. I like mine more patty shaped, less ball shaped. Put patties on plate, brush with olive oil, sprinkle with a pinch more hyssop, paprika, s&p.

Light BBQ and brush grill with olive oil. Grill burgers, turning once, for about 10 minutes total- until desired doneness. Grill buns. On bottom half of bun, make a bed of spinach and olives for burger, add burger, and top with red onion, tomato, and tzatziki! Savor your first delicious bite, because you just showed that lamb who's boss!

Tzatziki:
1/2 seedless cucumber- peeled
2 cloves garlic- minced
1 teaspoon each salt & pepper
1 teaspoon paprika (not sweet)
1/2-3/4 cup crumbled feta
1 cup plain Greek yogurt
2 tablespoons Extra Virgin Olive Oil
3 tablespoons chopped mint
juice from half a lemon

Grate cucumber and squeeze out then discard excess liquid. Whisk to combine all ingredients. Serve with delicious lamburgers and Greek fries!