Witchy Kitchen

Category: salads, veggies and sides

  • Roasted Grape and Sweet Potato Salad

    Roasted Grape and Sweet Potato Salad

    After the Renaissance Festival (shamelessly love it, go every year), my friend Gloria invited us back to her house for pumpking carving, also our yearly tradition, and fed us a delicious dinner including a salad with roasted grapes. I was fascinated by these grapes, as I often am with food I’ve eaten since childhood treated a different way, and wanted to try them myself (I roast everything else in the world, might as well try this). So here’s my version of Gloria’s yummy salad, which has a decidedly fall feel.

    Roasted Grape and Sweet Potato Salad

    For the vinaigrette
    The “Original” red wine vinaigrette:

    • 1/4 cup water
    • 1/4 cup red wine vinegar
    • 1/4 tsp sugar
    • 1 tsp fresh lemon juice
    • 2 tsp salt
    • 3/4 tsp freshly ground black pepper
    • 3/4 tsp Worcestershire sauce
    • 1/4 tsp dry English mustard
    • 1 small clove garlic, grated
    • 1 cup olive oil

    Shake everything together in a Mason jar.

    For the salad

    • 1 lb grapes
    • 1 large sweet potato, peeled and cubed
    • 3 slices dark pumpernickel bread, cubed
    • olive oil
    • sea salt & pepper
    • 10 oz or so baby spinach
    • 5 oz queso fresco, crumbled
    • 1 shallot, sliced, and soaked in red wine vinegar, pinch of sugar and salt for 30 minutes
    • couple handful pumpkin seeds

    Heat oven to 400°. On three separate baking dishes, toss grapes, sweet potatoes, and pumpernickel cubes with a little olive oil, then sprinkle with salt and pepper, then spread in a single layer. Roast, turning occasionally. Bread croutons will only take 10 minutes or so until crispy, grapes and sweet potatoes will take 25-35 minutes. Remove and cool.

    Toss together spinach, grapes, sweet potato, and pumpernickel croutons with just enough vinaigrette to coat, then sprinkle with cheese, pickled shallot and pumpkin seeds. Serve with optional extra vinaigrette on the side.

    I’m trying to put some pictures of my stinky cute kids at the Ren Fest but will figure that out later…

  • Maple Aleppo Corn on the Cob

    Maple Aleppo Corn on the Cob

    maple-aleppo-corn-on-the-cob

    We grill corn a lot in the summer, usually Pakistani style (plain, charred, then rubbed with lime and red chili), but I was looking for another way to fix the last corn of the season. I had seen a bunch of recipes for maple chipotle corn on the cob – which sounds awesome, I love chipotles in adobo – but I’ve had these aleppo pepper flakes sitting around and I’ve been looking for new ways to use them. This turned out fantastic, spicy salty sweet, even though I had to cut mine off the cob. Brace life.

    Maple Aleppo Corn on the Cob

    Adapted from Epicurious

    • 1/2 cup maple syrup
    • 1/4 cup (1/2 stick) butter
    • 2 garlic cloves, grated
    • 1 tbsp aleppo pepper flakes
    • 1/4 teaspoon salt
    • 6 ears corn, husked

    In a small saucepan, simmer (low) maple syrup, butter, garlic and aleppo pepper until it makes a thick glaze (be careful not to burn, mine got a little too done).

    Ideally you can grill these, but I roasted these in a 500° oven – lay on a wax-paper lined baking sheet and brush with glaze. Roast for 10 minutes, turn, brush again with glaze and roast 10 minutes more and brush with remaining glaze.

  • Pomegranate Brussel Sprouts

    Pomegranate Brussel Sprouts

    pomegranate-brussel-sprouts

    First, a word on the humble brussel sprout. People used to give them such a hard time. As a child, even though I had never even eaten one, I osmosed the attitude that they were gross and to be avoided. But even the first time I had them (defrosted and steamed), they weren’t nearly as bad as people claimed.

    Nowadays I feel like they are universally more appreciated. When shredded they make a substantial salad that won’t immediately wilt when dressed, and when roasted (as they are here) they take on a pleasant nutty flavor. Plus they are so cute! When I made them a few months ago, my mother-in-law called them bund gobi ke bacche – baby cabbages! Adorable!

    Of course, as nice as brussel sprouts are, let’s be honest, what takes this from mundane to magical is the gorgeous, jeweled and otherworldly pomegranate.

    Pomegranate Brussel Sprouts

    Slightly adapted from The New York Times

    • 1 lb brussel sprouts, washed, trimmed and halved
    • 2 tbsp olive oi
    • sea salt
    • 1 cup pomegranate juice
    • 2 tbsp brown sugar
    • 3 tbsp pomegranate seeds

    Toss the brussel sprouts with olive oil and sea salt, and roast at 425° for 30-35 minutes, turning once or twice, until lightly browned and crispy.

    Meanwhile, in a small sauce pan over medium head, combine pomegranate juice and sugar, and reduce to a medium-thick syrup.

    When brussel sprouts are done, serve drizzled with several tbsp’s of the pomegranate reduction (save the rest for salad dressings), and sprinkled with pomegranate seeds.

    Happy Belated Thanksgiving, Canada! I should have posted this yesterday. Oh well, still plenty of time for American Thanksgiving, for which this would also be perfect!

  • Summer Squash Salad with Roasted Tomatillo Vinaigrette

    After Ramadan (during which time I did not fast, but did eat pakoras for almost 30 days straight) and my sister’s wedding week (during which time I drank lots of wine and ate delicacies such as burgers and cheese fries – it was a classy wedding, I swear), my body was screaming at me to put something green in it. Anything.

    So I made this enormous, gorgeous rainbow salad with sweet summer squash, pretty purple cabbage, crisp radishes, juicy tomatoes, creamy queso fresco, toasty pumpkin seeds, the ubiquitous avocado, and this awesome experiment of a roasted tomatillo vinaigrette that came out even better than I had hoped – nailed it! After weeks of crap this salad is a rainbow in my heart.

    Summer Squash Salad with Roasted Tomatillo Vinaigrette

    • 2 small or 1 large summer squash, thinly sliced into half or quarter moons
    • 2 small or 1 large tomatillo, thinly sliced
    • olive oil and sea salt for roasting
    • 1 small head green leaf lettuce, thickly shredded
    • 1/4 head purple cabbage, shredded
    • 3 red radishes, thinly sliced
    • 2 roma tomatoes, sliced into half moons
    • 5 oz queso fresco, crumbled
    • 1/3 cup pumpkin seeds, toasted
    • 1 avocado
    • 1 clove garlic, grated
    • several sprigs cilantro, finely chopped
    • 1 tsp honey or maple syrup
    • zest and juice of 1 lime
    • 2 tbsp red wine vinegar
    • sea salt & pepper
    • 1/3 cup olive oil

    Heat oven to 400° F.

    Coat squash and tomatillos with a little olive oil and sea salt. Spread squash on one foil-lined baking sheet and tomatillos on another, making sure they are all in one layer. Roast approximately 15 minutes for the squash (until soft, no or little color) and 20 minutes for the tomatoes (until they are just getting starting to get caramelized).

    For the vinaigrette: finely chop the roasted tomatillo and mix with garlic, cilantro, honey, lime juice and zest, and red wine vinegar, and season generously with salt and pepper. Drizzle in olive oil while stirring.

    Toss together lettuce, cabbage, radishes, tomatoes, queso fresco and pumpkin seeds. Slice or scoop in avocado right before you lightly dress the salad with the vinaigrette (you can serve extra on the side).

  • Sweet Corn and Blackberry Salad with Basil Vinaigrette

    Sweet Corn and Blackberry Salad with Basil Vinaigrette

    This hardly needs a recipe, other than the directive: throw yummy things in a bowl. This does check all the summer salad boxes though: something fruity, something crunchy, homemade dressing (the only kind), ubiquitous pickled shallot.

    Sweet Corn and Blackberry Salad with Basil Vinaigrette

    For the dressing

    • 3 tbsp white balsamic vinegar
    • 1 tsp maple syrup
    • 2 tsp finely chopped basil
    • salt and pepper
    • 1 medium shallot
    • 1/4 cup olive oil

    In a small bowl, combine vinegar, maple syrup, basil, salt and pepper. Thinly slice shallot and stir into vinegar mixture and allow to pickle for half an hour minimum, ideally more. Right before serving, add olive oil in a stream while stirring.

    For the salad

    • 2 ears sweet corn
    • Several handfuls baby greens
    • 1 pint blackberries
    • dressing (above)
    • sliced almonds

    Boil corn in salted water for 2 minutes (turning), drain, cool, and cut off the cob. Toss together with greens and blackberries, and lightly dress with the liquid from the dressing. Spoon shallots on top and sprinkle with almonds.

  • Persephone Salad

    I am often put in charge of salad. I guess salad is a girly thing to make so I get it by default, but maybe it’s also because I can be artful in diving into the depths of the produce drawer and pantry and emerging with interesting salad ingredients and the means for a homemade vinaigrette.

    As green salads are just as much about texture as they are about flavor, here is the formula: something fresh (possibly fruity!), something creamy, something crunchy. And this salad fits perfectly.

    This particular salad concept is based on this Arugula, Pear and Goat Cheese Salad with Pomegranate Vinaigrette. I made it a couple years ago for Thanksgiving, and I’ve made variations on it ever since – including for Thanksgiving this year, and now for my daughter Zoeya’s holiday potluck.

    The ingredients are very autumnal, but the pomegranate seeds like little ruby jewels look gorgeously Christmassy as well. This is not so much a recipe as a concept with lots of options (and I’m not going to be fussy with amounts). The only absolutely essential ingredient are the pomegranate seeds, which is what makes this so lovely and appropriate for the dark months.

    Persephone Salad

    For the salad:
    greens, such as arugula, mesclun, spinach
    a green apple or pear
    seeds from half a pomegranate
    blue cheese or goat cheese
    walnuts, almonds, pecans, or pumpkin seeds (I used pumpkin seeds in this latest rendition, it’s a great options if you’re serving to people with nut allergies)

    For the vinaigrette:
    pomegranate molasses (instructions below) – this is your best option, but if you don’t have it you can use honey or jam or jelly. Maybe like that yummy lingonberry stuff they have at IKEA.
    sherry or balsamic vinegar
    olive oil or walnut oil
    salt & pepper
    a thinly sliced shallot, pickled in the vinegar, is nice

    To make pomegranate molasses, take a small bottle of pomegranate juice and heat it slowly in a saucepan, stirring, until it is thick enough to coat a spoon. Be careful not to burn.

    To assemble everything, just toss the greens and the apple or pear with some of the vinaigrette (enough to lightly coat, not to drench). Sprinkle all the rest of the ingredients on top, along with another drizzle of vinaigrette.