Recipe: Salade Vincent

Here's a classic from the Turney Family Cookbook. My grandpa puts out a new addition every few years for the whole family to enjoy. A couple years ago I was touched when he produced a special vegan edition just for me: Shaun's Choice Edition. I use this cookbook more than any other cookbook in my collection. One of my favourite salads in the cookbook is Salade Vincent. It's a cucumber salad named after Vincent Van Gogh for macabre reasons -- the way the cucumbers are sliced makes them look like severed ears! Gross, but it tastes refreshing and delicious. My partner and I had a ridiculous amount of cucumbers in our fridge and I immediately knew what we should do with them. Here I've modified the recipe to better suit what I happened to have in my fridge, but I make note of how to make the original recipe.

That's a lot of cucumbers for two people!Thankfully, a triple batch of Salade Vincent used up half of them in a delicious way.

A perfect summer meal with some adorable little potatoes and a field roast veggie dog.

Ingredients:
Serves 4

1 large english cucumber
1/4 fresh chopped mint (original recipe calls for dill, not mint)
1/2 cup sprouted lentils (optional -- see this post about sprouting for instructions)
4 leaves of bib lettuce

Vinaigrette:
1/4 tsp salt
1bst Dijon mustard
2 tbsp wine vinegar
3/4 cup virgin olive oil

1. Peel the cucumber and slice it in half lengthwise. Scoop and scrape the seeds out with a spoon. Eat the seeds as you scoop them out if you're like me, or discard them if you're a normal person. Slice the halves into thin crosswise slices (the "ears").

2. Mix together the vinaigrette ingredients with a fork.

3. Assemble the salad: toss together the cucumber, sprouts, mint, and dressing. Serve on a bed of bib lettuce. Enjoy!

Cooking with Dr. Mom: Wakame cucumber salad

Here's a simple and refreshing salad from my mom:

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Wakame is a type of seaweed that can be purchased chopped and dried in Asian grocery stores.  It resembles loose leaf green tea when dry and it increases by about 8-10 times its size after being soaked in water for 20 min.  Wakame has a very subtle flavour, slightly salty, that pairs very well with cucumber.
This salad could be turned into a vegan salad meal by adding cubed tofu and cooked, cooled transparent vermicelli noodles (mung bean noodles).

 

This is dried wakame seaweed. It can be found in many Asian grocery stores.

 Check out these before and after photos of soaking the wakame! After only 20 minutes, the wakame completely absorbs the water.

Recipe: Cucumber and wakame salad
1 large field cucumber, peeled, seeded, chopped
1 sweet red pepper, chopped
1/2 cup dried chopped wakame
Japanese style dressing
1/4 cup soya sauce
2 tbsp sugar
1/3 cup rice wine vinegar
2 tsp sesame oil
Toasted sesame seeds for garnish
Soak the dried wakame in 3 cups cold water for 20-30 minutes.  Drain the soaked wakame to remove any excess water.  Toss together the cucumbers, red pepper and wakame.
Mix together the dressing ingredients then pour over the cucumber mixture and toss. Allow to sit for 15-30 minutes before serving.  Garnish with toasted sesame seeds.
Serves 6 as a side dish.

 Enjoy!

Guest recipe: Vietnamese-inspired lentil salad

Here's another delicious-sounding recipe from my wonderful mother!

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Yesterday was cold and had us craving roasted veggies.  Today was hot, sunny and had us craving salad.  It is Victoria Day today and so all grocery stores are closed.  Time to invent from ingredients on hand.

 A lovely ripe mango was the starting point for creating this recipe.  For protein I chose the beluga lentils because I love the way these small black pearl-like lentils contrast with the bright orange mango.  Beluga lentils are a wonderful ingredient.  They are packed with protein and fibre, they do not require soaking before cooking, and they hold their shape and color  when cooked. The veggies were what I had in the fridge.  Any combination of crunchy veggies would work here - the goal is combining colors and flavors. The dressing is a variation of a vietnamese noodle salad dressing.

 

Recipe:

1 1/2 cups dry beluga lentils
3 cups water

1/2 sweet red pepper
1/2 English cucumber ( to provide approx 2 cups diced cucumber)
1 ripe mango
2 stalks celery
1 tomato
1 green onion, finely sliced
1 bunch fresh cilantro, (to provide approx 1/2 cup finely chopped cilantro), or to taste

Dressing
1/4 cup fresh squeezed lime juice (approx juice of 1/2 large lime)
2 tbsp sugar
1 tbsp soy sauce (I prefer sodium reduced)
1 tsp sirachi sauce
1 tsp sesame oil

Sesame seeds for garnish

Place lentils in a sieve and pick out any extra bits that aren't lentils (some brands are cleaner than others). Rinse thoroughly under cold water until water runs clear.  Place lentils in a pot with 3 cups of water and a pinch of salt.   Bring lentils to a boil then cover and simmer for 25 minutes. Stir the lentils occasionally and add more liquid if the pot is getting dry.  Ideally there is very little water left in the pot when the lentils are finished cooking.  Remove from heat and allow to cool before adding to the salad.  If you are in a hurry, place the cooked lentils in a fine sieve and run cold water over them until lentils are cooled. Drain well before adding to salad ingredients.

Dice the mango and veggies so that all the ingredients are approximately the same size.  I prefer to dice to about 1-2 cm size so that each forkful of salad contains a variety of flavors.
Combine the cooked, cooled lentils with the mango veggie mix.

Combine all the dressing ingredients in a cup.  Taste for balance of sweet, salty and sour and add more sugar/soy sauce/lime juice as required to get the desired balance.

Toss the lentil salad with the finished dressing.  Sprinkle sesame seeds on top for decoration.

Enjoy :-)


Variations in Mint, Part 1: Mint, lentil, and quinoa salad

Today was the first day in Montreal that actually feels warm, and it was a beautiful thing after the unusually long winter we've had. It was the first day since last summer that the weather forecast included the UV index! The sun was out today, the birds were singing, and people were out and about in t-shirts. It's starting to feel like summer may even arrive one day. I was feeling in a summer mood, and nothing says summer like fresh herbs. I picked up a large bundle of mint at the grocery store early this afternoon and by the early evening I had already used it up. It went into two different recipes. The first was a mint, lentil, and quinoa salad, and the second (which will be described in the next post) was mint iced-tea. Both taste like the summer we're all yearning for in Montreal!

I made this mint, lentil, and quinoa salad this evening before I went for a run and I let it marinate while I was running. By the time I'd gotten back and had stretched, the flavours had all mixed and melded together quite well. I have no doubt that this salad will be even better tomorrow. Feel free to mix up the vegetables to your taste. I think it would be good with a diced yellow or orange bell pepper. It could even be good with chopped fruit mixed in, maybe orange or honeydew melon. I made this salad with a bulgar-quinoa mix that I found at my local grocery store, but it would be just as delicious with regular quinoa. All of the volumes are approximate and depend on your personal preferences.

This is the quinoa-bulgar mix I used and it turned out great. Feel free to substitute regular quinoa.

Here's to the summer -- I sure hope it comes quickly!


Recipe: Mint, lentil, and quinoa salad
3 meal-sized servings or 6 side dish servings

Ingredients:

Salad
-1 cup diced tomatoes
-1 cup diced cucumber
-1 cup chopped mint (loosely packed)
-1-1/2 cups cooked lentils (dried or canned)
-2 cups cooked quinoa or quinoa/barley mix

Dressing
-1/4 cup olive oil
-2 limes worth of lime juice
-1 tbs dijon mustard
-3 tbs white sugar
-1 small clove of garlic
-salt and pepper to taste

1. Mix together all the salad ingredients. You may wish to wait until the quinoa has cooled somewhat so that it doesn't wilt the mint.

2. Mix together the dressing ingredients, then dress the salad.

3. Enjoy as is, over a bed of lettuce, or with some crusty bread.