The Funky Kitchen

“Hello keyboard my old friend…

I’ve come to speak with you again”"

I’m so sorry for the radio silence as of late; summer just has a way of running away with you, doesn’t it? It is good to be back.

What have all of you out there been up to these glorious days? Anything delectable going on in your kitchens? The have been a truckload of tasty things coming and going through here, and I will endeavor to get them all up here in the coming days. The glut of gorgeous summer produce is upon us, and when I’m not maintaining a sprint just to try to keep abreast of things, I’m trying to enjoy it to the utmost.

Last weekend came with a family reunion, next weekend we’re off to Saskatoon for a wedding, and this weekend Mister is out of town with his family. I started missing him the moment he left, but I’m taking this lonely opportunity to catch up on things on my to do list. Also, I treated myself to some pistachios. Mister’s nut allergy is not so bad that we can’t have them in the house, but I feel so guilty indulging in a snack that I cannot share. It was a nice treat, though, the time between makes them seem extra special.

To jump right back into things from my absence, I bring to you a simple summery salad. Take the vegetables you have handy, you don’t need to use exactly what I use here (though it was a phenomenally tasty salad), just bung in the produce you have in the kitchen, and dollop on some creamy tart dressing. It is perfect for a hot day, you don’t need to turn the oven on even for a minute.

Stacked Summery Salad

100 g mixed greens

1 bell pepper

1 tomato

1/2 a Long English cucumber

handful cremini mushrooms

handful carrots

handful snap peas

1/4 of leftover roast chicken

• Wash all of the produce well.
• Tear the lettuce manageable sized pieces and tumble into your serving bowl.
• Cut the pepper in half, removing the stem, seeds and gills. Slice into 1/2 inch slices and then cut those all in half to shorten them. Layer these on top of the greens.
• Break your snap peas open, so that the peas are exposed, and layer on. Snap peas give a salad such a lovely crunch and sweetness; I also find them a point of visual interest amongst the other vegetables.
•  Slice the mushrooms thinly and place them overtop the snap peas.
• Cut an inch or so off of the cut end of the cucumber and retain for use in the dressing. Slice the remaining cucumber into thin quarter rounds. I left the skin on, but feel free to peel it off. Add the cucumber to the salad.
• Slice the carrots very thinly, or run them through a mandoline, so that you are left with paper thin little rounds of crunchy sweetness to sprinkle over the salad.
• Remove any skin from the chicken, and then shred it into coarse strands with your hands. Top the salad with it.
• Serve with the following tangy dressing, or the dressing of your choice, alongside so that people can add as much as they like.

Tzatziki-esque Dressing

• Measure out your labneh into a bowl sizable enough for some mixing.
• Put the minced garlic into the lemon juice to start infusing its flavor out.
• Grate the cucumber section finely, and squeeze out as much of the cucumber juice as possible with your hands.
• Put the garlicy lemon juice, and grated cucumber into the labneh, and grind in a little pepper.
• Stir to combine into a claggily thick dressing.
• Use on salad or with cold leftover chicken.

This dressing is very thick, almost like a dip, but it gives a lovely creaminess and tang to what you eat it with. Bon appetit!

Tags: bell pepper, carrot, cremini mushrooms, garlic, labneh, lemon, long english cucumber, mixed greens, roast chicken, salad, snap peas, tzatziki