Lobster Salad w/Creamy Citrus Dressing

This weekend, I ordered a lobster and wild mushroom frittata at brunch. Though it was rather mediocre, it inspired me to steam my first lobster.

Later in the day, we stopped at the Asian seafood market and picked up a 2.5 lb lobster. When I got home, he went straight into the freezer for a nap while I looked up how to steam a lobster. I settled with 1-2 inches of water, a pile of salt, and a few slices of lime. When the water started to boil, I snipped off the rubber bands securing his claws, dropped him into the pot and put the lid on. The freezer treatment must have worked because he was a lot less feisty than the crabs that I don’t usually have enough space for.

Honey Mustard Vinaigrette

As you can see, we’ve been eating a lot of salads lately. We roast a chicken on Sunday night which gives us both a few salads for lunch and dinner throughout the week. One of my favorite new dressings is a honey mustard vinaigrette. The honey is from the farmer’s market and everything else is already in my pantry.

I used an almost empty bottle of mustard to not waste the last bits stuck inside. It also doubled as serving and storage–resourcefulness learned from my mom. It is the little things like this that remind me of her and make me miss her every day.

Ingredients: 

• 1/2 cup olive oil
• 3 Tbsps vinegar
• 2 Tbsps water
• 1/4 cup honey
• 1/4 cup mustard
• 1/2 tsp dried basil
• 3/4 tsp salt
• black pepper to taste

Mix it all together and pour on top of your salad for a sweet and tangy dressing!

Ahi Tuna Salad: Two Ways

I try not to eat too much tuna these days due to excessive mercury levels but once in a while…

Yes, more arugula salad. This time with ahi tuna prepared two ways: simply seared with salt and pepper, and then poke (salt, chiles, sesame oil and seaweed). I added heirloom cherry tomatoes and roasted mushrooms and tomatoes and topped it all off with miso dressing.

We had this while watching football…a stark contrast to the type of stuff we ate while watching football in Chicago (like buffalo chicken dip).

Vietnamese Grilled Pork Salad

We’re trying to eat healthy around here, which means a lot of fresh vegetables from the farmer’s market. This salad is an amalgam of leftovers from previous meals during the week: Vietnamese grilled pork, roasted mushrooms and Chinese chicken salad dressing. In addition to all that, we have colorful, small heirloom tomatoes and roasted baby squash on top of arugula. As you can tell, we’re eating a lot of arugula right now…I like the spicy bite and its a nice change from our usual spinach. I’ve also been making our own dressings: I like knowing exactly what is in my dressing, no gums or other things I can’t pronounce.

Roasted Mushroom and Farro Salad

We liked farro so much we couldn’t wait to try another recipe. I found this recipe on Food52 and just added roasted tomatoes and arugula (yes, we put arugula in everything right now) to the basic recipe. This is going into our regular rotation. The mushrooms are so meaty we didn’t even miss the meat.

To make things easier, I cooked the farro the night before. After work the next day, all I had to do was wash the vegetables, and roast the mushrooms and tomatoes. Since the farro was in the fridge, I didn’t have to wait for the mushrooms or farro to cool off before mixing everything together. The cold farro and the hot mushrooms combined temps to reach the room temp that the salad is intended to be eaten at.