Appetizers | The Humble Onion

Fall Salad with Apple Cider Dressing, Pears, Goat Cheese and Pomegranate

November 7, 2018

I love this salad SO much. It has everything I love about fall produce – pears and pomegranates – plus a tangy apple cider vinegar dressing. The crunchy walnuts and tangy goat cheese just round out the flavors and textures in this dish. It would be beautiful on a Thanksgiving table (and lighter, with a nice note of acid to balance the other heavy foods). You could also sub cranberries for pomegranates too. It’s the kind of dish at a buffet that surprises me and makes me want more.

I recently thumbed through Ina Garten’s Cookbook, How to Cook Like A Pro, and when I got to a page that listed her Apple Cider Dressing, I had to laugh. It was the exact dressing I had just made and put on this salad. I don’t know if that qualifies me as a pro, especially because it’s a very simple, basic recipe that is delicious and easy and you’ll use it all the time.

I actually buy all the ingredients for it in bulk at BJs, including a one pound bag of shallots. I guess I really need to have the makings for it in my pantry. Yes, that is a giant Dijon jar you see there and I love it!

This dressing just brings every thing in this salad together. The toasted walnuts…

The pomegranate seeds and crumbled goat cheese…

This salad hits the high notes for flavor but also it’s just so pretty.

That whole ‘we eat with our eyes first’ idea means that our mouths and our tummies will be so satisfied with this on our plate. And you can play around with the ingredients – roasted butternut squash, candied pecans, dried cranberries all play well with this dressing. And I highly recommend grabbing a big wooden bowl like this if you see one! This functions as our fruit bowl but I have made a huge salad in it for parties before and it always dresses up the table and is always one of the first dishes to be polished off.

Hope this salad helps you round out your fall entertaining table! But it is equally as good for a simple dinner or a lunch for one.

Happy Eating! xoxo Katie

Fall Salad with Apple Cider Dressing, Pears, Goat Cheese and Pomegranate (printer versions here):

16 oz. of mixed greens (the mix I used had shredded carrot, pretty but optional)

3-4 oz. of crumbled goat cheese

1-2 sliced pears

⅓ cup toasted walnuts

⅓ cup pomegranate seeds (or substitute dried cranberries)

For the dressing:

¼ cup apple cider vinegar

⅓ cup olive oil (I like a 2:3 ratio of vinegar to oil but you make like it 1:2 and use 1/2 cup of oil)

2 teaspoons dijon mustard

2 T. chopped shallots

S & P

Directions:

Slice pears, toast walnuts, and prepare pomegranate seeds and goat cheese, if you’ve bought them whole.

Mix dressing, then add most of it to greens, tasting to see how well-dressed it is. Add more dressing if needed.

Layout in a wooden bowl, then top with sliced pears, pomegranate, goat cheese and walnuts.

Lemony Lentil Salad with Roasted Veggies and Fried Halloumi Cheese

May 30, 2018

Let me tell you what led me to the discovery of my new favorite food: lentil salad with roasted veggies and fried cheese. What’s that? A salad with fried cheese on top? Health meets decadence? Virtue meets indulgence?

YES to all of this.

It started when I had exactly 5 minutes to run through the grocery store, with my whole family waiting out in the car, for a quick stop to ‘pick up a few things’ (have you ever been in that situation? My heart pounded thinking about what will happen if they go rogue on my husband). When I walked by the cheese case and saw Halloumi cheese, ‘great for grilling!’ I grabbed it to possibly throw on the grill with our other food without much thought because *rogue children*.

And then I forgot about it.

Days later when I found it in the cheese drawer, I googled recipes to use it up and found one that fried it with honey. I had to try it.

You’ll find out pretty quickly as you assemble this dish that every single ingredient is delicious on its own and you’ll have to stop yourself from eating it. Roasted broccoli and cauliflower? So good.

Lemony garlic lentils cooked with a bay leaf and vegetable stock? Love.

And the final touch that is really more of a religious experience then salad topping: fried Halloumi cheese that is tossed in honey at the end so it becomes caramelized.

If you haven’t cooked with Halloumi before, it is a Greek hard cheese that is sort of like a cross between Manchego and Feta. It is great for grilling, and these recipes by Bobby Flay and the NYTimes both look excellent.

But this recipe, which is adapted from one by Jamie Oliver, opens up a whole new world for me: frying your cheese and finishing it with honey. The sweet-salty bite is one of those tastes that make you want to keep coming back for another taste.

This dish composes so many elements – salty cheese, sweet honey, crunchy nuts, toothsome lentils, bitter roasted veggies, sour lemon and pungent garlic to make everything else sing. The dressing poured over the hot lentils infuses so much flavor.

Its truly like nothing I’ve ever eaten before.

It’s also a great dish to bring to a party, since you can cook all the different parts ahead of time, and set aside, then assemble all the ingredients before you go. Or just make it for yourself on a Monday night.

Hope you find a way to bring this into your life – you will thank me!

Lemony Lentil Salad with Roasted Veggies and Fried Halloumi Cheese (printer version here):

Ingredients:

4 cups broccoli and cauliflower (I used orange cauliflower)

olive oil

4 cloves of garlic

1 cup lentils

1 litre organic vegetable stock

1 fresh bay leaf

2 lemons

extra virgin olive oil

¼ cup walnuts or sliced almonds

1 large bunch of mixed soft herbs (parsley, mint, chervil)

250 g halloumi cheese (about a cup)

2 tablespoons runny honey

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 425ºF.
Cut the broccoli and cauliflower into even-sized florets, then spread out in a single layer in a roasting tray. Drizzle with olive oil, sprinkle with sea salt & black pepper.
Toss in the unpeeled cloves of garlic, then spread everything out in the tray and pop in the oven. Roast for 20 to 25 minutes, or until the veg is cooked through and charred on the outside.
Pop the lentils in a medium-sized pan, pour over the hot stock and add the bay leaf. Gently bring to the boil over a medium heat, then reduce to a simmer and cook for 25 to 30 minutes, or until they’re cooked but still retain some bite. Drain and set aside.
Make the dressing by squeezing the garlic out of its skin into a bowl. Mash until creamy, then squeeze in the lemon juice and season. Whisk to combine, then add a couple of tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil.
Toast the walnuts or almonds in a dry frying pan over a medium heat. Pick and chop the herb leaves, then toss with the walnuts and set aside.
Toss the hot lentils through the garlic dressing, followed by the roasted veggies, herbs and nuts.
Pour a lug of olive oil into a medium-sized, non-stick frying pan over a medium heat. Chop and fry the halloumi until it’s golden.
Drizzle over the honey and fry for 1 more minute, until sticky and caramelized. Scatter the halloumi over the salad and serve immediately.

Blood Orange Salad

June 1, 2017

This season you can find Blood Oranges in the grocery stores, and if you have ever wondered what to do with them (besides juice them and turn them into sangria or buy some of the packaged fizzy blood orange drinks and also turn them into sangria) this salad will help you out. They are segmented for the salad and used in the dressing, and their unique flavor just permeates this salad. But even if they weren’t in season I would still be craving them since I can’t seem to get enough fruit, especially citrus. (I may have eaten 2 of these salads in a row and then ate a grapefruit.)

They taste like sweet oranges, and have a gorgeous jewel color:

I love the combination of citrus fruit, goat cheese, (or blue or feta) crunchy nuts and vinegary dressing. So think of this as a template, and feel free to swap the blood orange for grapefruit or oranges, and use your favorite cheese and nuts. I used Marcona Almonds with Rosemary from Trader Joes, but I am guessing that ingredient is going to be pretty hard to find elsewhere. But I have to say, there rosemary was a really good note in this salad. So feel free to mix plain Marconas with some of this herb to eat alone or add to salad.

The dressing is really easy. Once you get the hang of making vinaigrettes, it suddenly feels so freeing and the possibilities seem endless. Basics are a 3:1 ratio oil to acid, but I actually prefer mine a little lighter and usually keep it 2:1. But the official stance on vinaigrettes is 3:1. If you want a little ‘tutorial’ I just found this post ‘7 Tips for Making the Perfect Vinaigrette’ that is really helpful, I highly recommend looking it over if you are curious about making your own salad dressing.

I used both blood orange and red wine vinegar here, Dijion, salt and pepper are a must, since you are usually trying to season a lot of veggies and salt brings out all the other flavors. And I found that often times when my vinaigrette needed something it was usually a little sweetness to counter-balance the acidity, and a little Agave syrup or sugar does the trick.

This is such a great first course to a dinner party, or to make a big salad for a party. But it is also great for lunch for 1 or 2, and I have kept the recipe to serve 2. Don’t wait for an invitation to make this – it is too good!

Happy Eating, xoxo Katie

Blood Orange Salad (printer version here):

Ingredients for Dressing:

Juice from 1 blood orange (2 T)

1 T red wine vinegar

1/2 teaspoon Dijon

1 tsp. agave syrup

S&P

1 T Extra Virgin Olive Oil

Ingredients for 2 Salad Servings:

2 blood orange segmented

4 c. Mixed Greens

2 oz goat cheese

1/2 cup Marcona almonds

Directions:

Whisk all ingredients together for dressing, saving oil for the last. Stream oil in, whisking as it is added. Taste with a piece of lettuce to check for seasonings, adding more in needed.

Assemble salad with greens on the bottom. Add dressing just before serving.

6 Ingredient Zucchini Tart

August 17, 2016

It’s that time of year again, when gardeners and CSA members ask themselves: what else can I do with zucchini?

If your garden is anything like ours, then you might have blinked and then looked down to see one laying on the ground that is roughly the size of a baseball bat:

^ An offering to grandpa. I love how Andrew looks like he is paying homage with all his might.

I’ve seen a ton of recipes around for zucchini (I’ve added my favorites at the end of this post!), but in true Humble Onion philosophy that simple ingredients make the best food, I wanted to make a light zucchini tart with simple ingredients. So I gathered up these:

My number one way to use up garden veggies is just to sautee them with a bit of garlic and either serve them as a side dish or toss with sausage, ground beef and tomato sauce to serve on top of pasta. But zucchini is such a special ingredient I wanted to come up with a recipe that really showcased it’s simple goodness.

Enter puff pastry, which just makes everything special. I usually keep some in my freezer (it is so great for party apps on the fly). I rolled it out, then scored a one-inch boarder around the edge and pricked the middle with a fork so it wouldn’t puff up.

I sautéed some onions with thyme that is over flowing in my herb pot, and then sprinkled some gruyere cheese over that. In case we didn’t all need a reminder that sautéed onions make anything delicious, here is Exhibit A:

Then coat the top with a little olive oil and sprinkle the whole thing with salt, pepper, and cook at 350 for 30 minutes or until crust is brown. And of course, I added more cheese on top, because why not?

Whatever you do, don’t announce that you’re bringing this to something like, say, your final tennis league round robin and then taste it with your husband when it comes out of the oven and is warm and gooey, because if you do, you will have to bring some cheese and crackers and fruit instead since you will have eaten it all. Hypothetically speaking, of course!

The next time I made this (which was 2 days after the first time because it is so good it hurts) we dolloped goat cheese all over the top and it was AH-mazing. It was for my best friend’s house warming party and I honestly don’t think there is a better way to welcome people into your house then cutting up a piece of this tart and giving it to them.

(Cook’s Note: I did try to get the water out of the zucchini the first time by salting it and letting it sit in a colander for an hour and rinsing it, which I usually do for eggplant and zucchini, but I suspected this was unnecessary and the second tart proved me right when I omitted this step and it was a perfect velvet texture. Just in case you thought about it, I thought I would save you the angst.)

I’m going to layer my next one with tomato/zucchini, just waiting on some tomatoes to turn red. The bottom line is you really can’t mess up something so simple, but you can add whatever you want to it – summer squash, eggplant, all the ingredients for ratatouille – and it will still be amazing. Have fun with it.

So if you have any late summer bounty laying around, you know what to do with it! Just call me when it comes out of the oven and I’ll be right over.

Happy Eating, xoxo Katie

Other Zucchini Recipes I love:

{Tomato and Zucchini Gratin: if you can handle the old blog post pics, this is still my favorite}

{ Zucchini Parmesan from Alexandra Cooks (she has a ton of links on this for more zucchini recipes too).}

{Baked Zucchini Fries: these are next on my list to make! Or these crisps which are a close variation.}

{We make this zucchini salad with pine nuts when we go to Maine every year}

{Ina’s Zucchini Pancakes – my daughter loves these!}

Even as I added these, this tart remains my favorite. No bias here, obviously.

6-Ingredient Zucchini Tart (printer directions here):

1 large zucchini, cut into circles or sliced lengthwise

1 small onion, diced

1 garlic clove, diced

1 sprig of thyme, about 3-4 sticks

1 package puff pastry

2 oz. grated gruyere cheese

Olive oil, salt and pepper (since they are staples, not counting them as ingredients)

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Let puff pastry thaw according to package (1 hour at room temperature when fully opened, or overnight in the fridge).

Put saute pan over med-high heat, and add 1 tablespoon olive oil. Add onions with a pinch of salt and cook, 3-5 minutes. Add garlic, stir frequently, cook for about 1-2 minutes. Add thyme and pepper, and cook till onions are browned a little, about 5-8 more minutes.

While onions cook, roll out one piece of puff pastry on clean surface with a rolling pin. (One sheet makes 3-4 servings, for 6-8 servings use two sheets and add more cheese).

Add cooked onions in even layer to pastry. Then add gruyere cheese to cover. Finally add zucchini in co-centric layers, and coat with olive oil using a pastry brush. Sprinkle with salt and pepper, and cook for 30 minutes or until pastry is golden brown.

Alternate Variations:

// Add dollops of goat cheese to top of tart

// Use tomatoes, summer squash or eggplant in any combination with zucchini

Game Day Food

January 14, 2012

Naan Bread Pizzas

This is AMAZING pizza. The asiago cheese and arugula with olive oil will make you feel like you’re having a foodie feast, while the easy assembly and paper plates will make your pre-and-post game time a snap.

Serves 2
1 package of Naan Bread
1 c. grated Asiago Cheese
1 c. Alfredo Sauce (jarred is fine)
1/4 c. sundried tomatoes
large bunch of arugula
olive oil to drizzle

Preheat oven to 375. Spread alfredo sauce around Naan Bread, then sprinkle with asiago. Place sundried tomatoes on top, then cook in oven 10-12 min. until the cheese is melted. Remove from
oven, then place a handful of arugula on top. Drizzle with olive oil.

You can also set out other toppings and let people build there own. Mushrooms, sausage, onions, olives, capers are a good start. My husband loves his with meatballs.

Feta and Chive Dip

Warning: This dip is so addictive.

1 package cream cheese
1 c. sour cream
1 6 oz. brick of feta cheese, crumbled
2 garlic cloves, finely minced
2 T. chives, chopped, plus some for garnish

Mix all ingredients together. Add a little salt and pepper, then garnished with chives.

Pulled Pork – just put this in the crock pot and serve with rolls and coleslaw.

1 pork shoulder or butt roast, about 3 lb., rolled and tied
S & P
2 T. canola oil
1 chopped yellow onion
1 garlic clove
1/2 c. chicken broth
Eileen’s BBQ sauce (double recipe or enough to yield 2 1/2 cups):2 Tbsp EVOO
1 rib celery, chopped
1 small onion, chopped
1 cup ketchup
2 Tbsp cider vinegar
2 Tbsp brown sugar
1 Tbsp Worcestershire sauce
1 Tbsp yellow mustard
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 cup water

Directions: Sautee Celery & Onion in Olive Oil. Add next 7 ingredients and simmer until brown sugar is dissolved. Double or triple quantity depending on how much meat you have.

This sauce is delicious smothering a rack of ribs that you have broiled on each side for 10 min. or in a crock pot with 3 lbs of pork loin for pulled pork. (SEE Game Day Post above).

Season pork with salt & pepper, then heat canola oil. Brown pork on each side, turning frequently, about 10 min. Pour off all but 2 T fat from the pan. Sautee onions over medium heat, 3-5 min. Then add garlic, cook for 1 min. Add broth, and taste to check S & P.

Transfer pork to a crock pot, and add broth mixture. Cook for for 8-10 hours on low setting. Transfer pork to plate and let cool, then shred, removing excess fat. Add to the slow cooker with the BBQ sauce and mix, the set on warm setting for serving.

Cole Slaw:

Dressing:
1/2 c. mayo (I always use light and don’t notice a difference)
2 T. cider vinegar
1 t celery seed
1 t. celery salt
pepper

1 bag of cole slaw salad mix

Taste dressing and add regular salt if needed. Sometimes I also want
more cider vinegar. Mix with cole slaw salad mix just before serving as salt
will draw water out of veggies and make it soggy.

A Trifle Easy

December 5, 2011

This year I have vowed to keep things simple at the holidays, so I am sharing with you 2 easy go-to ideas to bring to any party or when people come over.

The first is Ina Garten’s Ham & Cheese in Puff Pastry –
so good & all 4 ingredients can be on standby for a fancy appetizer.
The best thing about this idea is you can substitute any great combo
such as Brie & Raspberry Jam, Turkey and Cheddar, Fig Jam & Goat cheese,
or whatever you have on hand.

Ingredients

1 package (2 sheets) frozen puff pastry, defrosted (recommended: Pepperidge Farm)
2 tablespoons Dijon mustard
1/4 pound black forest ham, sliced
1/2 pound Swiss Gruyere cheese, sliced
1 egg, beaten with 1 tablespoon water, for egg wash

DirectionsPreheat the oven to 450 degrees F. Place a piece of parchment paper on a sheet pan.

Lay 1 sheet of puff pastry on a floured board and carefully roll it out to 10 by 12 inches. Place it on a sheet pan and brush the center with the mustard, leaving a 1-inch border around the edge. Place a layer first of ham and then cheese, also leaving a 1-inch border. Brush the border with the egg wash.

Place the second sheet of puff pastry on the floured board and roll it out to 10 by 12inches. Place the second sheet on top of the filled pastry, lining up the edges. Cut the edges straight with a small, sharp knife and press together lightly. Brush the top with egg wash and cut a few slits in the top to allow steam to escape.

Bake for 20 to 25 minutes, until puffed and golden brown. Allow to cool for a few minutes and serve hot or warm.

The second Idea is for an easy trifle – the holiday dessert that looks so pretty in
a glass bowl with layers.

Chocolate Peppermint Trifle:
Layer brownies, vanilla ice cream, and crushed peppermint candy in 3 layers, finishing with whipped cream and candy pieces. You can think of other easy to grab cakes, such as angel food cake or pumpkin bread, and pair with ice cream and candy flavors that complement the cake & the season.