Is it hot out? Make this then. There’s a little stove-top time with the pancetta, but only for a few minutes. Besides, it’s totally worth it!

The pancetta in this salad is from a recipe for Frisee with Pears and Honeyed Lardons in The New Spanish Table (my new favorite cookbook, it seems), but I kind of just used what I had rather than following the recipe completely. So, I ended up with spinach, dried apricots and pecans. Not a bad combination at all!

Spinach Salad with Candied Pancetta, Pecans & Dried Apricots
3 ounces pancetta, diced
2 tsp honey
1 tbsp red wine vinegar (+ 2 tbsp more for dressing)
2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1 bag baby spinach, washed and spun dry
1/2 cup dried apricots, quartered
1/4 cup toasted pecans
course sea salt & freshly ground pepper
Garnish: Cheese — shaved parmesan, asiago or something like that works well, I used Robusto (hmmm, I think feta would also be quite tasty)

Place pancetta in a small skillet and cook, over medium-high heat for a couple of minutes, until it starts to render its fat. Reduce heat to medium and continue cooking until it’s light brown. Pour a little fat out if there is too much. Add the honey and 1 tablespoon of the vinegar, stirring until the honey dissolves. This will happen quickly and it can burn very easily. Be careful! I actually had to make two batches because I burnt my first batch. So sad.

Remove the pancetta from the pan and let cool on a plate. If it hardens up like panchetta brittle, just break it up.

Make the dressing — whisk the remaining vinegar with the olive oil. Season with salt and pepper. Next, toss the salad with the apricots, pecans, dressing and cooled pancetta. Add the dressing and toss some more until the leaves are coated. Top with some cheese.

It is so good! Better than a spinach sald has any right to be. I am giving credit to the crunchy, sweet pancetta.

Okay, there should be another post this week and I promise that it will not have any pork in it! Need a break from pork. Hard to believe but true…

Memorial Day Weekend. Portland. Sunny. 70+ degrees. No rain. Really, no rain. What to do? Make lamb burgers!

Wow, these were good. Juicy and flavorful. The recipe is very easy to halve and make just two burgers (what I did). I found some kalamata ciabatta rolls at New Seasons which worked perfectly with these burgers.

Middle Eastern Lamb Burgers
Adapted from a recipe in Everyday with Rachael Ray
1 1/2 pounds ground lamb
1/4 cup chopped cilantro (you could sub flat-leaf parsley)
1 tbsp ground coriander
1 tbsp ground cumin
1 tsp turmeric
3/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tbsp olive oil
1/2 cup low fat, plain yogurt, mixed with 1 clove crushed garlic and 1/2 a grated English cucumber
4 crusty kalamata olive rolls, split
spinach leaves
1/2 cup feta cheese
1 tomato, sliced

In a large bowl, combine the lamb, cilantro, coriander, cumin, turmeric, cinnamon, salt and pepper. Form into 4 patties.

In a grill pan, set over medium-high heat, toast the rolls, set aside. In the same pan, heat 1 teaspoon olive oil and brush it onto the pan’s surface.

Add the burgers and cook, turning once, for 5 minutes each side for medium-rare.

After the first side cooks, add some feta to each burger top. Slather each roll top with the yogurt and stack some spinach leaves and tomato slices on the other side of the roll.

When the burgers are done, place each on top of the tomato slices, place the top roll in place and nom-nom-nom!

On the side we had a salad with 1 cup cooked lima beans, some halved cherry tomatoes, diced red onion, kalamata olives, fresh oregano leaves and crumbled feta. The dressing was some red wine vinegar, lemon zest, crushed garlic and olive oil. Delicious!

So, squid. Yeah but wait, come back, this was really, really good! Seriously! And at about $4.50/pound (cleaned even at Whole Foods), this is a great entry in the Cheap Fish Project. As a person who loves deep-fried calamari (I have a standard calamari clause while dining out — if it’s on the menu, we’re splitting it to start, no discussion), I was very intrigued to try squid (aka: calamari) in other preparations.

This was very easy and the vinaigrette is fabulous! I found this interesting wine-soaked manchego cheese at the store while buying my squid, which is why that is on the side here. Plus, I have no problem mixing fish and cheese, so there.

I think we’ll be having this a lot this Spring and Summer. I am even making grilled calamari tacos next Friday! Squid: the other seafood that’s really good and surprisingly inexpensive, especially as you can buy it already cleaned. Hooray!

There are a lot of pictures — squid is very photogenic.

Squid Bread Salad with Smoked Chile Vinaigrette
Recipe adapted from Bobby Flay*, I halved this recipe for two, as written, it should work for 4
1-pound medium-sized squid, tentacles included, cleaned
Extra-virgin olive oil
Salt and freshly ground pepper
1 clove garlic, minced
1 loaf day-old Italian bread, cut into 1-inch thick slices
2 tomatoes, sliced
1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro leaves
1/4 cup fresh mint leaves, torn
2 cups arugula leaves
1 orange, cut into wedges
Optional: A few slices of Manchego cheese

For Smoked Chile
1/3 cup red wine vinegar (I actually used balsamic as I had no red)
1 tbsp Dijon mustard
1 tbsp (or so) pureed chipotle peppers in adobo sauce
1 tbsp honey
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
Salt and freshly ground pepper
3/4 cup olive oil or canola oil
2 tablespoons finely chopped fresh mint leaves

Make the Vinaigrette first. In a food processor or blender, combine the vinegar, mustard, chipotle puree, honey, and garlic. Slowly incorporate the oil until emulsified. Stir in the mint and season with salt and pepper. Let sit at room temperature for at least 15 minutes before using.

Okay, the squid. Heat up a grill pan (you can also do this outside on the grill). Place the squid on a large platter or board, drizzle with a few tablespoons of oil, and season with salt and pepper.

Grill the squid bodies and tentacles for about 2 minutes per side.

Remove from the grill, let rest 5 minutes, then cut the bodies crosswise into 1/2-inch thick rings. You can either keep the tentacles whole or halve them — I halved mine. Toss the warm squid with the minced garlic. Set aside.

Brush the bread lightly with oil on both sides and season with salt and pepper. Grill for approximately 2-3 minutes per side on a gril pan or 1 minute per side outdoors, until lightly charred. Remove and cut each slice into 1/2-inch dice.

Toss the bread cubes, arugula and cilantro.

Add the squid and with some (or all) of the vinaigrette in a large bowl. Toss.

Let stand for 10 minutes. Lay your tomatoes slices down on the platter. Top with the squid and bread salad and surround with the orange slices.

Garnish with torn mint and drizzle with additional olive oil, if desired.

Serve with the cheese if that’s how you roll.

* Standard, amended Bobby Flay disclaimer applies.

First off, this is funny — my friend Christy just posted about her salad rolls too! The ones she made look great and she has much better pictures of her “rolling station” than I do. The main difference seems to be that some of her sauce type ingredients are on the inside as well, tossed with the noodles, which sounds like a great idea. My inside ingredients are just plain but wow — this dipping sauce is really tasty!

I’ve actually made these twice in the last month — once with shrimp and once without. I deviated from the original recipe by not using pork and by using spinach instead of a different type of lettuce. I also omitted the bean sprouts. This is one of those recipes where (if you’re not trying for authenticity), you could probably put a lot of different combination in the wrappers and be really happy with the outcome.

I found this on the Splendid Table web site, which is becoming a nice resource for me when I remember to poke around there.

Vietnamese Salad Rolls
Adapted from From The Best of Vietnamese and Thai Cooking, by Mai Pham — I totally want this cookbook!
12 medium-size raw shrimp with shells
8 (12-inch) round rice papers (keep extra on hand just in case you tear some)
1 bag baby spinach (you won’t use the whole bag)
1/4 pound rice vermicelli, cooked in boiling water 4 to 5 minutes, rinsed, and drained
1 red or orange bell pepper, cut into thin strips
12 cherry tomatoes, halved
1/2 cup fresh thai basil leaves

Cook the shrimp in boiling salted water until just done, about 3 minutes. Shell, de-vein, and cut in half lengthwise. Refresh in cold water and set aside.

Just before making the rolls, set up a salad roll “station”. Fill a large mixing bowl with hot water. If necessary, keep some boiling water on hand to add to the bowl if the temperature drops below 110 degrees. Choose an open area on the counter and arrange the following items in the order used: the rice paper, the hot water, a kitchen towel or cloth napkin for working on, and a cutting board or plate to hold all the stuffing ingredients.

Working with only 1 rice paper sheet at a time, dip the sheet, edge first, in the hot water and turn it to wet completely, about 10 - 15 seconds. You will be tempted to leave it on the water for more much longer. Don’t do it. It won’t feel that pliable when you first take it out of the water, but after you finish layering all the ingredients, the wrapper will be nice and soft.

Lay the sheet down on the towel/napkin and stretch the sheet slightly to remove any wrinkles. Line the bottom third of the wet, pliable rice sheet with 3 shrimp halves, cut side up. Make sure the ingredients are neatly placed in a straight row. Place some spinach on top of the shrimp. Next, top with a little vermicelli, bell pepper strips, cherry tomatoes and 2 to 3 basil leaves. I even added a little grated carrot here. Make sure the ingredients are not clumped together in the center, but evenly distributed from one end to the other.

Using your second, third, and fourth fingers, press down on the ingredients while you use the other hand to fold over both sides of the rice paper. (Pressing down on the ingredients is particularly important because it tightens the roll.) With fingers still pressing down, use two thumbs to fold the bottom edge over the filling and roll into a cylinder about 1-1/2 inches wide by 5 inches long. Finish making all the remaining rolls.

To serve, cut the rolls into two equal pieces and place the cut rolls on an appetizer plate. Serve with Vietnamese dipping sauce on the side. If you like, garnish the rolls with mint or cilantro sprigs.

Vietnamese Dipping Sauce
Makes 1-1/2 Cups
2 small cloves garlic, sliced thinly
1 tsp chili paste
1 fresh Thai bird chili, chopped (optional — I didn’t use)
1/4 cup fish sauce
2/3 cup hot water
2 tbsp fresh lime juice with pulp
1/4 cup sugar
2 tbsp shredded carrots

Place garlic and chili paste in a bowl and mix briefly.

Combine the garlic mixture with the remaining ingredients. Whisk until the sugar has dissolved. Ladle sauce into serving bowls and float the carrot slivers on top.

This month’s Weekend Cookbook Challenge is all about salads. The theme was picked by Mike of Mel’s Diner and he’s hosting this month. Yay, Mike! This theme sounds like a job for my newest cookbook, How to Eat Supper by Lynne Rosetto Kasper and Sally Swift. You know, The Splendid Table people.

This was one of the first recipes in here I saw and really, really wanted to try. So this WCC was the perfect excuse. I put a few arugula leaves on the bottom of my tomato stack to make it more salad-y. I also made about a half recipe of the vinaigrette (but with one full garlic clove) for two tomatoes. It worked well.

Both jwa and I liked this a lot and I am looking forward to making this with tomatoes from the garden. In like, September.

Ripe Tomato Stack with Pine Nuts & Mozzarella
3 tbsp lemon juice
1 large garlic clove, minced
1/8 tsp fresh ground pepper
pinch red pepper flakes
1/3 medium red onion, diced (I used a sweet onion because that’s all I had)
3 tbsp dried currants
salt
2 tbsp (tightly packed) fresh basil leaves, torn
2/3 cup pine nuts, toasted
6 medium, ripe tomatoes
1 lb fresh mozzarella, packed in liquid, sliced 1/2 inch thick
3 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

In a small bowl combine the lemon juice, garlic, pepper, pepper flakes, onion, currants, and alt to taste. Let the mixture stand for 20-30 minutes. Just before assembling, stir in the basil and all byt 1/4 cup pine nuts.

Core the tomatoes. I was slightly confused about this but then I took out my apple corer, shrugged and used that. If you don’t have a corer, you could probably just use a shape knife to get the core out of the top of the tomato. I was just excited to use my apple corer and see how it would work with a tomato.

Cut each tomato horizontally into 1/2 inch thick slices. You should try to have the same number of slices for each tomato. I found it was helpful to have everything sliced up and ready to go (mise en place, if you will) for easier assembly.

Put the bottom slice of each on a plate and season with salt. Add a mozzarella slice, and about a teaspoon of the vinaigrette. Add another slice of tomato and continue in the fashion until you use the last slice of tomato.

Sprinkle the tomatoes with the reserved pine nuts and the olive oil. Serve at room temperature.

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It may fall over…it’s still good. Thanks again to Mel’s Diner for hosting this month!