Read A Good Food Day: Reboot Your Health with Food That Tastes Great Online

Authors: Marco Canora,Tammy Walker

A Good Food Day: Reboot Your Health with Food That Tastes Great (10 page)

BOOK: A Good Food Day: Reboot Your Health with Food That Tastes Great
6.72Mb size Format: txt, pdf, ePub
ads

Dandelion Salad with Hard-Boiled Eggs

DANDELION SALAD WITH
HARD-BOILED EGGS
SERVES 4 TO 6
This is one of my favorite salads. It also happens to be one of the easiest, quickest salads to throw together. A few bunches of nicely bitter dandelion greens are simply dressed with red wine vinegar, olive oil, and hard-boiled eggs. As you combine everything, the vinegar breaks down some of the egg, creating a thin, rich coating that mutes the bitterness of the greens. When I was growing up, my mom cooked dandelion greens a lot, saying fresh dandelions clean your blood. She knows her stuff—that naturally bitter flavor is actually a sign of dandelion’s detox power. So if you eat a bunch of heavy, fatty, or processed foods, do your liver a favor and dig in on this salad for some cleansing action.
▪
Many of the nutrients in leafy green vegetables are fat-soluble, which means they need to be eaten with some fat so that your body can adequately absorb the nutrients. Eggs and olive oil provide the fat in this salad, but nuts, avocado, and cheese do the job too.
2 bunches dandelion greens, thick stems removed, cut into 2-inch pieces (about 6 cups)
½ medium red onion, thinly sliced
2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
¼ cup extra virgin olive oil
Fine sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
Crumbled croutons or toasted breadcrumbs (optional)
Put all the ingredients (except the croutons, if using) in a large salad bowl and really get in there with your hands to thoroughly mix everything so the egg yolks break down and coat the greens. Sprinkle with croutons or toasted breadcrumbs, if you like.

Tomato and Peach Salad

TOMATO AND
PEACH SALAD
SERVES 4 TO 6
This refreshing salad is one to make in the summer, when the farmers’ markets are blowing up with big, fat, juicy tomatoes, and peaches are at their height of sweetness. The two are perfect together, with the peaches balancing the acidity of the tomatoes. Thai basil is a bit spicier than regular sweet basil, and the purple tinge on the leaves adds more color to the mix. No biggie if you can’t find it—sweet basil is great here too. My farmers’ market occasionally carries small yellow cucumbers that I’ll snatch up for this, along with a couple of colors of heirloom tomatoes. Don’t resist the urge to add cheese, if that sounds good to you. Use a dry, crumbly goat cheese, feta, or ricotta salata.
▪
This salad doesn’t stick around long, so if it’s been a day and you still have some left, dump it in a blender and turn it into a gazpacho by adding a bit more vinegar and adjusting the salt to taste.
2 large ripe tomatoes, cut into large chunks
2 peaches, cut into wedges
1 small cucumber, thinly sliced
¼ cup Thai basil leaves
1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
Fine sea salt
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1
On a platter or in a large, shallow serving bowl, combine the tomatoes, peaches, and cucumber. Tear the basil leaves and scatter them over the top.
2
Drizzle the vinegar over the salad, add salt to taste, and pour on the olive oil. Toss gently.

Escarole Salad with Pear and Pecorino

ESCAROLE
SALAD WITH PEAR AND
PECORINO
SERVES 4 TO 6
We serve this classic winter salad at Hearth, but I often make it at home too because it comes together fast. Escarole is a sturdy, leafy lettuce that’s high in fiber and beta carotene, which the body converts into vitamin A and vitamin K. Slightly bitter escarole and sweet pear are great mates, but what makes this hearty salad really sing is using the walnuts and cheese in two different forms. Finely grated cheese and ground walnuts coat the leaves, so their flavors permeate the whole salad. Shavings of cheese and chopped walnuts allow you to have bigger bursts of those flavors with some crunch. Don’t be shy with the pepper here—it goes great with pecorino cheese.
▪
1 head escarole, washed, cored, leaves torn into bite-size pieces
½ red onion, thinly sliced
1 Bosc pear, thinly sliced or shaved on a mandoline
½ cup toasted walnuts—¼ cup chopped and ¼ cup ground (do this with a coffee grinder)
¼ cup finely grated Pecorino Romano cheese, plus a small chunk for shaving on top
Fine sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
In a large bowl, combine the escarole, onion, pear, ground walnuts, and grated Pecorino. Add as much vinaigrette as you like, along with salt and a generous amount of pepper. Toss to combine. Scatter the chopped walnuts and Pecorino shavings over the top and serve.
MY POST-WORKOUT SALAD
SERVES 1
On those crazy days when time and energy are in short supply, it’s way too easy for me to fall into old food habits. I’ve found that the way to ace a good food day when I’m insanely busy is to plan ahead for leftovers that can be quickly combined in an energizing meal that’s as exciting and crave-worthy as any trashy convenience food. This salad is all about using what you have on hand—leftovers plus a few pantry and refrigerator mainstays, chopped up and tossed with olive oil and vinegar.
I started making these salads after my daily workout and realized there’s a simple formula that boosts my energy, fills me up without weighing me down, offers tons of nutrients, and has enough flavor and texture to keep it interesting. This salad is endlessly adaptable, so use this recipe as a template to give you inspiration. If you switch it up with different greens, proteins, vegetables, and dressings, you’ll never get sick of this. Think about a couple simple things that you can keep on hand: White anchovies? Marinated artichokes? Oil-cured olives? Having your special something around will help pull you toward the salad.
▪
1 cup chopped dandelion greens
1 cup shredded or cubed cooked chicken
¼ cup cooked lentils
1 celery stalk, chopped
¼ red onion, sliced thinly
1 small garlic clove, grated
1 tablespoon pumpkin seeds
1 tablespoon sunflower seeds
¼ cup loosely packed flat-leaf parsley leaves, chopped
½ avocado, cut into chunks
1 tablespoon plus
1½ teaspoons red wine vinegar
1 tablespoon plus 1½ teaspoons extra virgin olive oil
Fine sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
In a salad bowl, combine the greens, chicken, lentils, celery, red onion, garlic, both seeds, parsley, avocado, vinegar, and olive oil. Add a couple pinches of salt and several grinds of pepper to taste. Toss well and dig in.
MY POST-WORKOUT SALAD BLUEPRINT
1 LEAFY GREEN
—dandelion greens, spinach, Tuscan kale, Swiss chard, arugula
1 ANIMAL-SOURCED PROTEIN
—chicken, salmon, sardines, hard-boiled egg, white or brown anchovies
1 TENDER BEAN OR GRAIN
—lentils, cannellini beans, quinoa, millet
CRUNCHY VEGETABLES
— celery, carrots, red bell peppers, cucumbers
1 TO 2 ONIONS
—red onions, scallions, shallots, garlic
A HANDFUL OF HERBS
—flat-leaf parsley, cilantro, basil
SLICES OF AVOCADO
1 OR 2 TYPES OF SEEDS OR NUTS
—pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds, sliced almonds, chopped walnuts
EXTRA VIRGIN OLIVE OIL AND VINEGAR OR CITRUS
— red wine vinegar, apple cider vinegar, fresh lemon juice
FINE SEA SALT AND FRESHLY GROUND BLACK PEPPER

Bibb Lettuce Salad with Bee Pollen

BIBB
LETTUCE SALAD WITH BEE POLLEN
SERVES 4
My wife, Amanda, brought home a jar of raw bee pollen after reading about its spectacular nutritional benefits, and it’s been a staple in our fridge ever since. The soft, spongy yellow granules have a sweet and surprisingly complex, earthy flavor. I like it in oatmeal, smoothies, yogurt, and salads, and sprinkled over nut butter on toast. It’s best as a finishing touch, since all the good stuff in bee pollen is destroyed by heat. Here, it plays well with the fruity tang of tangerines and gives a pop of texture to the salad.
▪
A jar of bee pollen is a little pot of gold. It contains up to 35 percent protein and is high in B vitamins, so it’s great for a natural boost of energy. A regular dose of fresh, local pollen gives some people relief from seasonal allergies because it helps build up resistance to the pollen floating around in the air. Ideally, you can buy local bee pollen from a vendor at your farmers’ market, but you can also find it in most health food stores.
2 heads Bibb lettuce, separated into leaves
2 tangerines, divided into segments
2 tablespoons bee pollen
Fine sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
In a large salad bowl, combine the lettuce leaves, tangerine segments, bee pollen, and dressing. Season with salt and pepper to taste and gently toss to combine.
BOOK: A Good Food Day: Reboot Your Health with Food That Tastes Great
6.72Mb size Format: txt, pdf, ePub
ads

Other books

Seducing Cinderella by Gina L. Maxwell
DAIR by R.K. Lilley
Camo Girl by Kekla Magoon
Loving True by Marie Rochelle
Joe Golem and the Drowning City: An Illustrated Novel by Christopher Golden, Mike Mignola