Smoked Salmon Salad with Honeyed Mustard

Why yes, yes, this is indeed another salad recipe...however, it is an awfully tasty one! This light meal salad merges bright colours, rich flavours and delicious protein to make a filling, nutritious and decadent salad. In my opinion the summery crisp crunch of fresh romaine marrying the smoky salmon is the perfect way to celebrate the transition between summer and autumn. In this salad you'll find poetry of texture in the velvety softness of the salmon which is complimented by the luscious mouth-feel of mustard and honey. Couple this with the tang of red onion and the woodsy crunch of roasted walnuts and I daresay you have an easy but decadent light supper ahead of you! 

*Caution, this recipe was winged so all quantities listed are approximate, bear with me though, you can't mess it up! Follow the approximations and feel free to let go a bit, if you taste each element of the salad separately you should be able to gauge about how it's meant to taste together, one tip? Better to sweeten less than more...now get to it!

 

Ingredients: 

For the Salad:

-Half a romaine lettuce washed and dried

-1 slice of red onion, cut into long strips

-About 30g of smoked salmon

- 1 Handful of roasted walnuts (you can roast walnuts in a preheated oven on a rack at 350 for 3-5 minutes, let them cool completely before using)

-1/2 small garden cucumber

Vinaigrette:

-1/2 tsp honey

-1 tsp dijon mustard

-dash of rice vinegar

-sprinkle of dried parsley

1) Cut onion and soak in cold water

2) Tear romaine into bite sized pieces, peel cucumber and combine

3) After about 5 minutes, add the onion to the lettuce alongside the salmon and walnuts

4) Make the vinaigrette, coat the salad and season liberally with coarse black pepper

Sadly when I took the photo I had no walnuts, however, if you would like some briny taste to your salad feel free to add some capers!

Simply Summery: Black Bean Salad with Lime

When I originally wrote this recipe corn season was in mid swing. The summer, the heat and this pleasant thing to eat were all readily available. However, with moving, the start of my MA and a complete change in lifestyle this post was delayed, delayed, delayed, whoopsies! Needless to say, although the cold is returning and us students are back to the grind we're lucky enough to be able to enjoy the end of our late summer bounty.

On that note, nothing quite says late summer like the fresh firm flavour of good local corn on the cob and juicy fresh peaches. While peaches are quite averse to Quebec weather, a tragedy which forces us to rely on our dear neighbours les ontariens, no one can complain about our corn crop. For those of us who eat corn on the cob, and who don't see it simply as something that is "pour les vaches" ie for cattle, like some Parisian urbanites I've heard of, we are familiar with the amazing taste provided by only the most perfectly ripe ear of this summery carb.With this in mind, here is a perfect little recipe that does justice to this tasty veggie and makes a lovely home for all that corn you may have cooked in an overzealous barbecue moment, a crime we're certainly all guilty of.


Duplicate it according to how much leftover corn you have, this makes a nice fresh addition to a potluck!

Ingredients:

-2 green onions
-Juice of 1/2 lime
-1 cup black beans
-1 mango
-1 corn
-dash of tamari (or other light soy sauce)
- A small handful of cilantro (optional)

Directions:
1) Remove all corn kernels from the cob, running a sharp, thin knife down it.
2) Prepare the beans (either by rinsing canned ones or re-hydrating dried ones) and combine with the lime juice.
3) Chop the green onions and cut the mango into bite-sized cubes, combine all ingredients. The main goal here is to get everything bite-sized (ignore my over sized mango chunks, I was being lazy) so a well mixed spoonful gets you a blast of sweet, salty, starchy, fragrant and sweet.
4) Enjoy alongside some fish tacos with chipotle mayo and a big, tall, cold cocktail in the sun!