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? There has 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!

I love the combination of these ingredients. Initially, reading the recipe, I was a little distrustful because these amigos don’t really spend much time together in my kitchen. Watermelon, we eat a lot of that. Briny feta cheese finds it’s way onto the plate regularly too. Shrimp? Both Mister and I would be good to consume shrimp most days. Still, all three in conjunction seemed a little weird. I was also excited to bring arugula back into the house, though Mister felt differently (more about that later).

As it turns out, I shouldn’t have been apprehensive. The ingredients went together really well, and truly do make up a quintessential summer salad. It’s substantial enough that you can eat it on its own; and it has a protein source, which certainly makes the carnivore I live with more happy. What is it with the majority of men and not liking salad unless it involves animals too? Ha ha. The really awesome thing, though, is that for a hot day, the combination of watermelon and feta is so good for your body. It’s so refreshing because the watermelon helps hydrate and the feta replenishes some of the salt your body needs to maintain equilibrium. Also, they’re a very tasty flavor combination.

To top it off, the shrimp are spiced with cayenne pepper. It may be a salad to cool you down, but the twang of heat really is invigorating. Maybe all of those cuisines based in equatorial areas have it right, spice in scorching climes isn’t a bad thing.

Shrimp, Feta and Watermelon Salad

(adapted from Gordon Ramsay’s Healthy Appetite)

200 g shrimp, peeled and deveined

2 Tbsp olive oil

1/4 tsp cayenne pepper

salt and pepper to taste

1.5 kg seedless watermelon

50 g arugula leaves

120 g feta cheese

2 Tbsp sunflower seeds

2 Tbsp lime juice

1/2 tsp sugar

4 Tbsp olive oil

• Toss the shrimp with the first measure of olive oil, and then sprinkle with the cayenne, salt and pepper. Set aside.
• Cut the watermelon into wedges, and then remove the flesh from the skin.
• Cut the watermelon into oblique, or haphazard, bite sized pieces. The different shapes are visually appealing.
• Toss the watermelon with the arugula leaves, tipping them into a large serving platter.
• Crumble the feta cheese over top.
• Set a skillet over medium heat, and toast the sunflower seeds. Remove from heat as soon as they start to release their aroma.
• Sprinkle the sunflower seeds over the salad.
• Tip the shrimp into the skillet and cook until opaque, about 1 minute per side.
• Tumble the cooked shrimp over the top of the platter.
• Whisk together the lime juice, sugar and olive oil to create a vinaigrette for the salad.
• Drizzle over top and serve.

February is almost over, isn’t that nuts? The year is well underway and it still seems to me like New Year’s Eve wasn’t that long ago. This month has been weird for me in terms of blogging. February has been a month of falling back on standards, making things that I make often, things that I’ve made and posted about here before. I don’t know what it is, settling into the house or it being so freezing cold without relenting for so long, but the comforting favorites are the foods that have been coming up on the menu lately. Now that there is no more renovating, not so much unpacking and lots of time to cook and blog, most of the things I’m cooking are things that have already made their appearance here, or I don’t plan on posting them up.

I’m working on it. New and exciting things are going on in my funky kitchen (including a new amazing stove, who will make an appearance soon) and they’ll make their way on to here soon.

This is an awesome salad that made its way onto the table when we had some people over for dinner. It was so simple and super tasty, but my favorite part was the vinaigrette.

Vinaigrette, you say? Haven’t you talked about vinaigrette before, Dana?

I have. But seriously, this one was good. And they’re so easy to make on your own. Here’s the handy dandy guide: Three parts oil, two parts vinegar, 1/2 a part of mustard (to help emulsify), and the add ins that fit your fancy. Put it in your jar and shake it up. Easy, right?  For my salad, which was made to serve 6 with a meal, my proportion measure was 1 1/2 Tbsp. Therefore 1 part = 1 1/2 Tbsp, 2 parts = 3 Tbsp, 1/2 a part = 3/4 Tbsp and so on.

Tangy Pomegranate Vinaigrette

3 parts olive oil

2 parts red wine vinegar

2 parts pomegranate molasses

1/2 part honey

1/2 part dijon mustard

salt and fresh cracked pepper

Directions

• Take all of your ingredients and add them to a clean jar.
• Pop the lid onto the jar and give it a shake. (Vinaigrette dance party V2.0!)
• Dress your salad just before serving.

If you have any leftover vinaigrette, store it in the fridge, in the jar with the lid on, for up to a week. The acidic brightness from the red wine vinegar and the pomegranate molasses played against the creaminess of chevre in this salad:

Salad with Cranberry and Chevre

2 heads of romaine lettuce

4 oz chevre

3/4 Cup dried cranberries

tangy pomegranate vinaigrette (recipe above)

Directions

• Wash the lettuce leaves, spin dry, and tear (don’t cut) into bite sized pieces.
• Add the lettuce leaves and dried cranberries into the intended salad bowl.
• Pinch off little bits of the chevre with clean fingers onto the salad. Once you’re about 2/3 of the way through the chevre, toss the salad so that it distributes through, and then add the rest of the cheese the same way on top. Refrain from tossing it too much more, or the little clumps of chevre will stick together.
• Drizzle with vinaigrette before serving.

I think the salad could have really done with some additional crunch, potentially from some walnuts or pecans. I used a crunchy romaine to lend that texture, because we’re a mostly nut-free house due to allergies, but if you’re going to give this salad a spin, you may want to contemplate the idea of adding nuts. Mister is a sucker for anything creamy, and so he rated the salad (vinaigrette included): 10/10!