Judith’s Caprese Salad with Burrata
What would a Portland Salad Week be without inspiring salad recipes? We’ve put together some of our greatest hits for you to enjoy at home. Creativity, flexibility, and fresh ingredients are always encouraged. If you have some fun moderations to the below recipes, we’d love to hear about them, so leave us a comment below.
Meg’s Greens with Apples, Walnuts, and Parmesan Salad
Lettuce is my favorite. Photo credit: Brittanica
I make this salad regularly, but as time has gone on I have come up with substitutions and variations. Here, I am giving you the original salad recipe.
4 to 5 lettuce leaves: red or green leaf lettuce, butter lettuce, and romaine all work well
1 apple
1/4 cup walnuts
Juice of one lemon
Extra virgin olive oil
|1/4 cup Parmesan cheese, grated
Kosher salt & pepper
Clean, dry (as well as you can) your lettuce and either chop them (that’s what I do with romaine) or tear apart the leaves, as David Lebovitz says, “wherever the leaves want you to tear them. Add them to a bowl.
Break apart the walnuts with your hands and add them to the bowl. Peel, core, and chop the apple into small dice. Add them to the bowl.
Slice the lemon in half and add the juice to the bowl; this way the apples get some lemon juice and it will stop them from browning. Add half the cheese and combine by tossing the contents together with a pair of tongs.
Then add the juice from the other lemon half. Lastly, add the rest of the Parmesan. Combine. Salt and pepper to taste.
I eat this all by myself as a lunch entree with some additional protein. It could serve two as a side salad.
Judith’s 5-Minute Salad Dressing
This salad dressing always serves as my go-to for weekly meals, as well as when I’m entertaining at home. I’ve made it in front of my guests before when I realized I was out of salad dressing. This automatically gave me some street cred, as one of my guests promptly asked, “did you just make your own salad dressing right now?” to which I replied “um yeah I did!”
Juice of 1 lemon
1 1/2 tsp of stone ground or dijon mustard
3 tbs of olive oil
Salt and pepper to taste
Mix all ingredients in a small bowl or combine them in a mason jar and shake it up. Add to your salad and serve immediately.
This dressing keeps well til the next day, or it can be a great dipping sauce for veggies, chips, or french fries.
Meg’s Summer Salad
The only rule that goes with this salad is to eat as much as you like at any one sitting. Enjoy and savor the flavors of summer!
1 English cucumber, peeled and de-seeded
1 red, yellow, or orange bell pepper
1 pint cherry tomatoes
1 avocado
1 ball fresh mozzarella
2 scallions
Juice of one lemon
2 tbs Extra Virgin olive oil
Fresh basil and/or oregano
Kosher salt & pepper
Prepare the vegetables:
Peel and remove the seeds from the cucumber and chop into small dice.
Remove the seeds and ribs from the bell pepper and chop into small dice.
Slice cherry tomatoes into quarters.
Cut the avocado in half, remove the pit and peel, and chop into small dice.
Slice the scallion thinly.
Combine the above in a large bowl.
Cut the mozzarella into small dice. Add to the bowl. Stir to combine.
Cut the lemon in half. Squeeze the juice into the vegetables and stir to combine. Taste, and if you like the amount of acid, leave as-is. If not, add the juice from the other half of the lemon.
Add 2 tbs of olive oil and stir to combine. Taste, and if you like the amount of olive oil, leave as-is. If not, add a little more until you like the way it tastes and feels.
Julienne (or rip apart by hand) as much basil and/or oregano as you like and add it to the vegetables. Fold in gently so as not to over-bruise the herbs.
Taste, and add more salt and pepper if you like. Serves 6 as a side, 3 as a main, though that is flexible depending on how hungry you are.
Judith’s Homemade Caprese Salad with Burrata
I love a seasonal tomato salad! So much so that I’m kind of obsessed with making it all summer, or as soon as local tomatoes are ripe and tasty. Here, I’m providing two variations on the classic Caprese Salad, including one with fresh burrata cheese (photo at the top of this post), as well as a fresh mozzarella version (directly above). If you’re using the latter, Meg suggests getting your mozzarella from Sebastiano’s, a local specialty foods store in Montavilla, which makes their own hand-pulled mozzarella. While available each day, the fresh mozzarella is a hot ticket item at Sebastiano’s and sells out quickly.
3-4 ripe tomatoes. You can use different colors for variety and visual appeal.
1 large piece of fresh burrata cheese or 3-4 pieces of fresh mozzarella cheese
Handful of fresh basil, chopped
Olive oil for drizzling
Salt and pepper to taste
If using burrata cheese, slice the tomatoes into rounds and layer them in a medium bowl.
Top with the burrata, chopped basil, season with salt and pepper and drizzle with olive oil. Serve alongside fresh ciabatta bread or a baguette.
If using fresh mozzarella, slice the cheese into 1/4 inch thick rounds. Slice the tomatoes into rounds.
Alternate rows of tomatoes and cheese on a medium sized platter.
Sprinkle with fresh basil, salt, and pepper and drizzle with olive oil.
Serve with fresh, crusty bread.
Judith Rich
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