Grilled Tuna Salad with Late Summer Vegetables and Spicy Lemon-Basil Vinaigrette

I'm not sure there's anything like a summer salad that appears to be a Niçoise-Caprese mix.  It's the best of summer flavors combined and makes you feel as if you're in Italy and France at the same time.  Especially if you've added grilled eggplant and zucchini along with a lemon-basil vinaigrette.

I never pass the fish and seafood in the store without seeing if something's on the fire sale.  $9 OFF a pound is a fire sale for fresh tuna.  It means they have to get rid of it that day, preferably immediately. I'm willing to eat that tuna. I'm happy to run home and cook it straight away.  Here's what I did with it,which was all dependent on what I had in the fridge and on the counter after a visit to the market at the Capitol in Saint Paul:

Eggplant-Tomato Salad on Mint Rice with Warmed Mozzarella

If you're a loving cook (and most cooks are), you make your loved ones' favorite foods.  In fact, you know that what we love -- or hate-- in some ways defines us.  For instance, I am a chocolate fiend and, if I'm smart, when I'm trying to slim down, I don't even keep it in the house.  I buy a tiny, perfect piece at the grocery check out (50 calories or so) and I eat JUST THAT ONE.

If I want chocolate cake, I make one for a friend's birthday and have a piece.  Perfectly happily.  This one was Roberta's.

Dave's a baseball nut.  My mother-in-law loves peppermint.  My sister-in-law hates green vegetables.  Roberta has a  life-long love affair with the organ--even has one in her house.  Your favorite color is ____.   My boss "never met an egg she didn't like."  Tony's passion is national parks and scotch; I don't know in what order.  Artist friend Dan is nutty about bluegrass and my friend Bud waited long years for his Bosendorfer piano.  My sister Helen adores green beans.  Sue loves the beach and anything lemon.  We know who people are (partly) because of these things. 

Ina Fridays -- Main Courses -- Israeli Couscous & Tuna Salad

   I'm going on vacation after this post. The blog is going with me.  See you late June! 

If you weren't up for a new tuna salad, this full-of-flavor high-five salad from Ina Garten's newest book BAREFOOT CONTESSA:  FOOLPROOF; RECIPES YOU CAN TRUST, might make you change your mind.  Made from a good many pantry ingredients (canned tuna, Israeli couscous, roasted tomatoes, olive oil) plus a short list of freshly-purchased ones (oil-cured olives, lemon, herbs), this meal comes together in about fifteen easy minutes.  While the couscous cooks, you're doing a bit of chopping; by the time the couscous is done, you're mixing up and serving.

Great for a hot night on the patio, you could stir this up in the morning before the heat begins--or even the night before.  Pop it in the frig and you're all set.  Leftovers are perfect for lunches.

Vietnamese Chicken Salad with Mango

Most people, when they decide to make salad, just make a salad.  A quick opening of the refrigerator door.  A glance at the counter.  A whisk and a shake of vinegar and oil.  I love almost every salad I make (surely I should be thinner) and Dave does, too.  With a couple of exceptions, I rarely repeat one, though I am crazy about fresh spinach with lime vinaigrette.  And, maybe even more, green beans and mushrooms with tarragon.  Or Caprese with bacon....  Well.

38 Power Foods, Week 15 -- Winter Squash -- Israeli Couscous-Butternut Squash Salad with Fall Fruit, Cheese and Orange Vinaigrette

Israeli (Pearl) Couscous, butternut squash, apples, pears, figs, cranberries, cheese, and pecans with an orange vinaigrette--cornucopia salad.

How are new salads born at my house?    Like this......

I've had some Israeli couscous (actually a blend) in my cabinet for a few months.  Waiting.
Typically I throw some leeks, garlic, and asparagus in a sauté pan come spring and throw those lovely things into a bowl of couscous or orzo with a handful of grated Parmesan and lots of black pepper.

Alyce's Tortellini Salad Goes to Denver, but Misses Olivia's Birthday

Summer comes and this tortellini salad comes with it.  Just ask my family.
Full of tender cheese-filled tortellini and lots of chunky vegetables, it's held together with a brisk mustard vinaigrette and lots of thin slices of sopressata or hard salami.  If I'm going to a family event or a church picnic, I make a big bowl of this salad and bring it along.  In Minnesota, it goes in the cooler and makes its way up north to celebrate Joe's and Olivia's birthdays. 

Homemade Potato Chip-Steak Salad

Just add fork

Sometimes I don't know what gets into me.  I know I have something leftover and simple from which to create a meal.  Say a piece of steak or two small pieces, in this case.  (Neither Dave nor I could finish our dinner the night before. Is there something wrong with us?)  I didn't set out to make a homemade potato chip-steak salad...but here's how it happened: 

First,  I take the steak out of the frig and begin casting around for something to go with it.  Toast?  I could make a sandwich.  Pasta?  I could cook up some vegetables to go with the steak while the water boils.  Stir fry?  Omelet filled with steak?  Steak and eggs?  I could make  mushrooms in velouté  sauce with cream (Supreme is the name, I think--I made it up as a young cook without knowing its name.) and Dijon mustard, add the steak and serve it over rice.  How about a childhood favorite, beef hash?  (Who would waste great steak on hash, Alyce?) 

Instead of beginning any of those dishes,  I  find myself at the Cuisinart making homemade mayonnaise, using Daniel Boulud's method:
    

Who is Daniel Boulud?

 

Red, White, and Blue Kale Salad for 4th of July

Stay cool!

Where we live in Saint Paul, it can already be warm pretty early in the morning.  I'm a 
morning person; the earlier the better.  I'm also the daughter of both my father and father-in-law, because after I push the button on the coffee (pot filled night before), I check the temperature on my back porch.  In the summer if it's above 70, I sigh heavily, drink my coffee, and get out for my morning hike.  Why?  Because it will soon be 80, then 90, and today, my friends, the little weather gizmo on my iphone says it will be 99.  If you're a regular reader, you know what my house is like:

 

Grilled Chicken with Couscous Greek Salad and Lemon Vinaigrette

Dedicated to Gus and Irene Matthews

Hello!  I missed you.  (Actually, I didn't; I had no time to miss anything.)  But I'm happy to be back.  Thanks for being here.

Back from vacation and hot, hot, hot. HOT!  I know it's hotter out east, and the temperature has been going down this afternoon as a storm approaches, but I sort of miss Canada.  Recipe way below if you're interested...