Cheryl Wixson's Kitchen

Keep those salads coming…how to stop propagation in your refrigerator

My nutrition professor, Katherine Musgrave, encouraged us to always serve a salad, for many good reasons: an extra delivery of fresh nutrients, leafy greens provide lutein, a taste-changer, and a good crunch! Salads in the middle of winter when eating a local, seasonal, organic diet can be a bit of a challenge, but they are possible, and here are some we like.

If we get the opportunity to enjoy some leafy greens…that’s a luxury. This past week I cooked a lunch for 20 and had a large bag of Half Moon Farm greens as surplus. Score! The salad I made for my luncheon was leafy greens tossed with chopped purple cabbage, chopped daikon radish, chopped carrot and toasted sunflower seeds. Dressing was a blueberry -balsamic, and my friend Janice wanted the recipe.

Blueberry-Balsamic Dressing

1/4 cup Balsamic vinegar
1/4 cup rice wine vinegar or cider vinegar
1/4 cup blueberry preserves
1 cup mustard oil (this is made in the county and has a nice, sharp taste)(substitute olive oil or canola oil if needed)
2 tablespoons sesame oil
maple syrup to taste (if the blueberry preserves have no sugar, you’ll need a bit of this)
sea salt and fresh pepper
chopped fresh parsley (if you have it)
dried herbs like basil or parsley
Whisk together in a bowl and store in a jar in the refrigerator

We are still enjoying these tender leaves of lettuce, asian greens, herbs….yum! They have quite a distinctive flavor, so thought I’d try a Caesar salad.

Caesar Salad Dressing
2 – 2 ounce tins anchovies, drained
2 garlic cloves
1/3 cup lemon juice
2/3 cup olive oil
1 tablespoon Raye’s mustard
2 eggs
sea salt and fresh pepper to taste

Combine anchovies, garlic cloves, lemon juice and olive oil in your blender. Add the raw eggs and mustard. Season to taste with sea salt and fresh pepper. Store in a jar in the refrigerator.

A note on raw eggs: Consumption of raw or undercooked eggs, meat and fish are not recommended for food safety reasons, in particular for the very young, pregnant or nursing mothers, the elderly, or those with challenged immune systems. That being said, I know the farmers (and chickens!) that are the source of my eggs, and do not have concerns over their safety. Personal choice.

To prepare our Caesar Salad:

In a wooden salad bowl, toss the leafy greens with shavings of parmesan, asiago, and romano cheese, a bit of chopped red onion (if you like), and some croutons. My husband made the croutons by toasting slices of bread brushed with garlic butter, then cutting them into crouton squares, and toasting them again. The extra croutons we stored in a glass jar for another salad. And to vary the theme, for lunch, I sauteed some Maine shrimp in garlic butter and oil and served them on top of the Caesar Salad. Can’t have enough of that dressing! Just like all those chain restaurants….a bit of grilled chicken on top would be good too.

This is the salad we enjoyed last night for supper with burgers on the grill, home-cooked french fry potatoes, and a jar of pickled bean salad.

Quick Root Slaw

1 beet, peeled
1 carrot, scrubbed
1 slice green cabbage
Chop each veggie in the bowl of your food processor and transfer to a serving bowl. Dress with your favorite dressing….Blueberry-Balsamic would work….this time we enjoyed Smedburg’s smoky Bacon.

Do you find that the jars of condiments propagate and multiply in your refrigerator? Does one really need all those different, pricey dressings from the supermarket?
Try making your own…they’ll taste much fresher and better…and they don’t propagate! You can even use them as marinades…mix them with sour cream or drained yogurt for a different sauce….slather them on meats before roasting….use them as a grill marinade….part of a dipping sauce for raw veggies….countless variations depending upon your imagination and taste bud adventures.

Keep those salad coming!

Norway Lake Fried Bass with Herbs

The best part of ice fishing is the fish! The crew spent the week-end tending flags and setting bait. One pickerel went to the the eagle, many went back into the hole. This bass my husband caught was cleaned and put on ice for us to enjoy.

To clean a fish: Lay newspapers on a counter or flat surface. Cut a gash in the underside of the fish with a sharp knife or shears, slitting from the head to the anal opening. Cut the entrails at the throad where attached and remove them. Rinse under running water to remove any clotted blood clinging to the backbone. Wipe out the inside with a paper towel.

To skin a fish: Cut off a narrow strip of skin along the entire length of the backbone. Loosen the skin on one side from the bony part of the gills. If the flesh is quite firm, the skin will peel of easily. A softer fleshed-fish, you may have to work slowly and carefully, pushing the skin away from the fish with the knife. Turn the fish over and skin the other side.

To filet or bone the fish: Beginning at the tail, run a long, sharp knife (a deboning knife is the best) under the flesh close to the backbone. Follow the bone for its entire length, making as clean a cut as possible. Cut away the flesh, laying the knife flat, and lift it off in one piece, if possible. Turn the fish over and repeat the process. Pick out any small bones.

Norway Lake Fried Bass with Herbs

Canola oil for frying
1/2 cup all purpose flour
1 tablespoon dried herbs (we used Stonewall Kitchen’s Seafood & Veggie Spice Rub)
1 to 1 1/2 pounds white fish filets cut into small pieces

Heat some oil in a wok or large fry-pan over medium heat until about 350 to 375 degrees.

Mix the all purpose flour and the herbs in a plastic bag. Add the fish to the flour mixture and shake it to coat each piece evenly. Set the dredged pieces aside.

Working in batches, fry the fish until golden crisp, turning, about 2 minutes per side. Drain on paper towels. Serve on a heated platter with tartar sauce.

Rabbit Hill Tartar Sauce

1/2 cup mayonnaise
1/4 cup Rabbit hill relish, drained
3 tablespoons Rabbit Hill capers, drained

Combine in the bowl of your food processor and pulse until combined. Taste and correct seasonings. Store in a jar in the refrigerator.

Tartar Sauce is really just a mixture of mayonnaise, sweet pickle relish and capers. We make our own relish and can it for the long winter. Capers are berries. They add a salty, not-so-sweet depth to the sauce. Available in the supermarket, I prefer to make my own. All summer, I harvest the seeds from my nasturiums and pickle them in a jar…specifically to make Rabbit Hill Tartar Sauce. More about this in the summer!

Bass filets ready for dredging