Main Dish

Cherry Arugula & Wild Rice Salad

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Summer is the glorious season of fresh fruit in the northeast. The strawberries have come, with blueberries, cherries, raspberries, and blackberries quick on their heels. Evidence of which you might have seen if you happen to follow SL&G on Instagram.

When fruit is in season, it is at its height of flavor and freshness. There is no other time of year when you will get the voluptuous flavor than when a piece of fruit is newly ripe.

Yeah, you totally loved that description right?

Voluptuous flavor.

We are talking sweet, tangy, juicy, and delectable. I mean all the flavors here.

But, I digress to the topic at hand; mixing fresh fruit into our daily meals.

I’m a huge proponent of this; mainly because fresh fruit is delicious, but also because it adds a ton of extra vitamins, antioxidants, and all the other stuff that we never seem to get enough of.

A lot of people choose to add fruit to their meals with pie.

This is not my go to. Don’t get me wrong I like pie as much as the next person, but really its summer I don’t want to be inside baking away, trying to roll out a finicky crust when I could be outside. I prefer to use seasonal fruit in jams, sauces for meat dishes, or simply adding it to salads like we have done here.

This salad is hefty enough to be a main dish, but would also go wonderfully with a side of grilled salmon or chicken. The tart cherries combine with the peppery arugula and sweet lemon honey vinaigrette to create a wonderful sensation of flavors. The addition of wild rice, as well as walnuts, adds a lot of texture and some crunch as well as some bulk to an otherwise light feeling dish.

Altogether, this dish is the perfect compromise for a hot summer day. It is light enough to prevent you from feeling sluggish and bogged down, while still being filling and healthy. It goes especially well with a glass of chilled white wine, so really there’s nothing more you could ask for.

Cherry Arugula & Wild Rice Salad

Prep time: 20 mins

Total time: 20 mins

Serves: 2 servings

Ingredients

3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1 ½ tablespoons lemon juice
½ tablespoon honey
Pinch of salt
2 cups baby arugula
16 cherries, washed, halved and pitted
1/3 cup chopped walnuts
1 cup wild rice, cooked according package instructions & cooled

Instructions

Stir together the olive oil, lemon juice, honey and salt in a small bowl until well blended. Set aside
In a large bowl toss together the arugula, walnuts, and rice.
Drizzle the lemon-honey mixture over the top and serve immediately.

Turmeric Spiced Haddock with Lentils & Fiddleheads

By Jessica

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I’m starting to feel my age. Not in the sense that I feel feeble and tired, though I’m pretty tired of this shoulder injury, but I’m feeling it on an intellectual/emotional level. We’ve got summer interns in the office now and nothing makes you feel old like having a couple cocky young things almost 10 years younger than you hanging around. I mean really, I was one of the youngest people in the office until last week, my whole life ahead of me and all that, now looking at them I almost feel bad because they have so much to learn and suddenly they are looking at me like I know it all.

…

Venison with Morel Sauce

By Jessica

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Since spring has come Chuck and I have started to make walks around the yard a regular habit. It usually happens when we get home from work or on Saturday mornings before breakfast or even just randomly throughout the day if we are home. It’s a great way to look and talk over the projects that we have going and see how the garden is doing. It’s also a really great time to talk and reflect about the day ahead or behind or days far into the future. We have a lot of future plans to talk about between the two of us.

It was on one of these walks that we first stumbled across what looked like morels. Having never picked them without my dad around I sent one home with my mom to make sure before we harvested some. When we bought our house it was surrounded by trees that were owned by our neighbor, who had them removed shortly after we moved in, leaving behind a thick bed of wood chips from the process. These morels were found all along the edge of our property where the wood chips ended. I’m wondering if the small forest (she said it was something like 150 trees) was home to a well-developed morel colony and if these are all that could make their way out from the suppressing wood chips. I suppose we will never know, but I’ll take what I can get from my own back yard.

The first few morels were just sautéed up in a pan with some oil to see what they tasted like, and the second round was put into this dish. I made this meal on a whim last Sunday since it was one of the few nights that Chuck and I had alone together, we decided to have a kind of date night in. We cooked fiddleheads and morels from the back yard, micro greens from the garden, and venison that Chuck got last year. If only my potatoes had gown last year (and not gotten water logged) then all the main portions would have come from our own two hands. Creating a meal from things completely at my own hands is something I would like to make a regular occurrence one day and a goal that I’ve had for a very long time. We are getting closer every day and I’m so excited about that.

Venison with Morel Sauce

Prep time: 10 mins

Cook time: 40 mins

Total time: 50 mins

Serves: 4 servings

Ingredients

5 tablespoons of unsalted butter, seperated
1 ½ cup chopped fresh morels
1 large shallot, chopped
1 lb venison roast, steak or loin
1 teaspoon of salt
1 teaspoon of pepper
1 tablespoon flour
1 cup venison, beef or vegetable stock
1/4 teaspoon thyme
1/2 teaspoon pepper
Salt to taste

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
In a large, oven proof skillet heat 1 tablespoon of butter over medium high heat. Add the morels and cook for 1 to 2 minutes, until they have released all their water and continue to cook until the water has reduced. Add the shallot and sauté for another 3 to 4 minutes, stirring often. Remove the vegetables from heat and set aside.
Wipe out the pan and add 2 tablespoons of butter to the pan.
Generously season the meat with salt and pepper. Then place the meat in the pan. It should sizzle on contact. Sear the meat until a brown crust forms (about 2-3 minutes each) on each side.
Remove from the stove top and place in the oven to cook for 15 to 20 minutes for rare to medium rare.
Remove from oven and let stand for 5 to 10 minutes.
While the meat rests return the pan to medium high heat. Add the final 2 tablespoons of butter and allow it to melt. Add the flour and stir well to make a smooth sauce. Deglaze the pan with the broth, thyme, and pepper and stir until well combined, scraping the browned bits from the bottom of the pan. Add the morel shallot mixture and any liquid back into the pan and cook for 1 to 2 minutes, or until the morels are heated through. Stir to combine and remove from heat.
Slice the meat and serve atop the morel gravy immediately.

Kofta Meatballs with Tzatziki

By Jessica

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We eat a lot of salad in this house.

Like a lot of salad.

We are talking basically everyday for lunch and a dinner or two each week, sometimes more. Its A LOT.

Why so much salad you ask? Because it’s easy, it’s healthy and you pack a ton of veggies into salads and we love our veggies. But really sometimes we need to spice it up a bit right? Right.

I’ve been dreaming of warm summer days that are coming soon. I’m hoping that by then my deck might look a little more put together and my grill could possible be used for more than a tool rest. I’m picturing the kind of days we had the last time I made Kofta, with pretty blue skies and toasty warm weather. It’s coming man, I can feel it.

I decided to make Kofta Meatballs last week as a way to bring back those summer feelings and really liven up our kind of tired salads. I’m over winter vegetables for a little while man. I just want a really nice sun warm tomato right now so this salad hit the spot for the whole house.

The warm meatballs are bursting with flavor that is perfectly balanced by the cool and creamy tzatziki. You really couldn’t ask for a better summer salad.

Kofta Meatballs with Tzatziki

Prep time: 5 mins

Cook time: 20 mins

Total time: 25 mins

Serves: 4 to 6 servings

Ingredients

1 lb lean ground lamb, beef or venison
3 garlic cloves, crushed
1 ½ teaspoon ground ginger
3 tablespoons fresh parsley, chopped
1 tablespoon fresh mint, chopped
2 teaspoon cumin
2 teaspoon coriander
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon fresh ground black pepper
1 teaspoon salt

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees and spray a large rimmed baking sheet with cooking spray.
With your hands combine all ingredients in a bowl and mix until well combined. Using your hands shape golf ball sized balls and place them on the prepared tray about 1 inch apart.
Place in the oven and bake for 20 minutes. The meatballs should be browned and cooked through. Remove from heat and serve.

Tzatziki

1 medium cucumber, peeled, seeded, shredded, & drained

1 cup of Greek yogurt

1 clove of garlic, crushed

1 tsp lemon zest

1 tbsp lemon juice

2 tbsp fresh dill

sprinkle fresh ground pepper

Combine all ingredients in a bowl and stir until well combined.
Serve chilled.

Baked Eggplant Parmesan

By Jessica

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Spring is finally showing its face around here and while I’m excited to see the flowers poking their heads out and to hear the birds singing, I’m also pretty damn exhausted. Just being honest.

Getting garden beds prepped, spring time household chores, work and a hectic social life have been taking their toll on me. Don’t get me wrong there’s a lot of good happening here it’s just a lot and all at once.

While I love being busy and social at the core I am an introvert. I need some quiet time alone once in a while to recharge my batteries so to speak and this is one of those seasons where it does not happen often.

There was one night last week that I did, by some random miracle, get an entire evening on my own. What did I do with this evening you ask? I made Eggplant Parmesan with homemade sauce.

There is something so relaxing to me about making a meal that takes a little more time and effort than the usual week night dish that just seems so healing to me. It’s like I am saying to myself and to my body that yes you are worth it. You are worth the time to prepare this meal, this nourishing homemade meal from scratch. You are worth it.

In today’s society we are all about convenience and food that is quick and easy, while not necessarily being nourishing. With this behavior I have to ask what is it that we are telling our bodies? What are we telling ourselves with this kind of mentality? In my mind we are telling ourselves that we are not worth much if we can take 10 minutes to eat something more than what we can get from a drive through window. We get one shot on this earth with one body and I don’t want to cram it full of sub-par fuel.

Despite this hectic time of life I’m going to take a moment a little more often to cook more food that nourishes not only my body but my soul. I want to cook the types of food that remind me that I am worth the time and effort to make something not only delicious but healthy. I’m going to cook more recipes like Eggplant Parmesan.

Baked Eggplant Parmesan

Prep time: 10 mins

Cook time: 40 mins

Total time: 50 mins

Serves: 4 to 6 servings

Ingredients

1 teaspoon dried basil
1 teaspoon garlic powder
½ teaspoon salt
1 egg
1 tablespoon water
1 large eggplant, sliced into ½ inch thick rounds
2 cups tomato sauce of choice
1 cup grated mozzarella cheese
¼ cup fine grated Parmesan cheese

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees and line a 2 baking sheets with parchment paper.
In a shallow bowl toss the bread crumbs with the basil, garlic and salt. In a separate bowl whisk together the egg and water until well blended.
Place an eggplant round into the egg mixture, ensuring that both sides are evenly coated. Next place the egg coated round into the panko mixture and again coat it evenly. Place the round onto the lined baking sheet. Repeat this process until all the rounds are coated.
Place the sheets in the oven for 10 minutes. Flip the rounds and place them back in the oven for another 10 minutes. When done the rounds should be golden and crisp. Remove from the oven and set aside.
Using an 8×11 baking dish spread about 1 cup of tomato sauce evenly on the bottom of the pan. Place the baked rounds in an even layer on top of this. Spread another ½ cup of tomato sauce on top and sprinkle with roughly half of the mozzarella cheese. Place the remaining eggplant in another layer and repeat the process of adding sauce and cheese.
When complete sprinkle the Parmesan on top and place in the oven for 18 to 20 minutes. The cheese should be melted and beginning to crisp. Remove from heat and serve immediately.

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