Our spring garden is in full bloom! Nothing makes me happier then going out there and picking lots of fresh greens for a salad, and checking on the progress of my tomatoes, beets, carrots and radishes. We even have a cute little strawberry plant! Well, I didn't use our plan ton this one, since organic strawberries have been on sale at the store. I love how simple this salad is to prepare, and it's easily scalable for 1-4 people. This recipe below is for a generous lunch salad for one, or side dinner salad for two. You could easily make this vegetarian by removing the prosciutto!
Spring Salad with strawberries and garden greens
1 portobello mushroom cap
2 tablespoons olive oil, divided
1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
1 small sprig fresh rosemary
1 clove of garlic, finely chopped
1 shallot
1 thin slice prosciutto
3 ounces spring greens (I used a mix of spinach, swiss chard, lettuce and arugula)
4 strawberries, quartered
1 ounce goat cheese, crumbled
handful of marcona almonds (or nut of your choice)
Freshly cracked black pepper
Clean the mushroom cap then slice. Drizzle 1 tablespoon oil and balsamic vinegar over theh slices and sprinkle rosemary leaves and chopped garlic. Gently toss. Let marinade 30 minutes - 3 hours, tossing occasionally, until mushroom slices are softened.
Heat a small saute pan and warm remaining 1 tablespoon oil over low heat. Slice shallot then saute, stirring often, until lightly caramelized (about 5 minutes). Remove shallots and set side. Add prosciutto to the pan and crisp over medium heat, about 1 minute then flip and cook another 1 minute. remove and chop into bite-sized pieces.
In a large bowl, combine marinated mushrooms (including marinade), shallots, prosciutto, greens and strawberries - toss to combine. Add goat cheese and almonds, then toss again gently. Season with some cracked black pepper. Enjoy!
That's right! The fearless, ever-talented, always ambitious members of the Austin Food Blogger Alliance wrote a cookbook, and I'm a part of it! That's right - my name is in print. You can see for yourself by visiting Austin-area
bookstores, including BookPeople, Whole Foods Market, Central Market and Breed
& Co, or by purchasing online at Amazon.com, and BarnesandNoble.com.
A huge thank you to Addie Broyles and the rest of the gang who compiled, edited, photographed and labored over this book. All I had to do was supply my recipes and photos (the cocktail photo isn't ours, the pasta one is) and say thank you!
It was so much fun celebrating with the group this week at Freedmen's - a newish bar in West Campus that is anything but a "West Campus" bar (present and former UT students know what I mean). Thank you to Freedmen's for having us and for sharing your delicious beer, wine and BBQ (omg the ribs and potato salad espwith the hungry & thirsty bloggers :) I can't wait to go back.
The recipes I have in the book are two that I've blogged about before - Tagliatelle with Fresh Corn Pesto (tweaked and renamed Bacon Corn Pesto Pasta in the book) and Italian Grapefruit Cocktail (tweaked and renamed Italian Grapefruit Cocktail with a Texas Twist in the book).
I hope you'll support the AFBA and me and order a copy of the book for yourself and a friend :) Thanks to our publisher, The History Press, and sponsor, Cooking
Planit.
CONGRATS to all the bloggers who are included in the book!
Also, this happened:
That's right, I turned 28 on Wednesday! Thanks to the lovely ladies at The Pie Society for continuing to satiate my pie addiction :)
We've had a busy past few weeks with lots of fun activities and weekend guests! I'm looking forward to having a nice week full of relaxing cooking, since I know that next week will be full of Austin Restaurant Week outings (so far I know I'm hitting Flour & Vine, and Luke is supposed to surprise me on Wednesday for my birthday!). We might also try the Russian spot, Russian House NaZdorovye, this week if we can swing it. AND, the launch party for the much anticipated Austin Food Blogger Alliance cookbook is next week! I'm so excited, and not just because I have two recipes in there - it's beautiful!
Now for the week's menu!
Where are you going for Austin Restaurant Week?
Heat a small saute pan and warm remaining 1 tablespoon oil over low heat. Slice shallot then saute, stirring often, until lightly caramelized (about 5 minutes). Remove shallots and set side. Add prosciutto to the pan and crisp over medium heat, about 1 minute then flip and cook another 1 minute. remove and chop into bite-sized pieces.
