Monday, May 30, 2011

It's all about vegetables soaked in vinegar...

So, I recently read Molly Wizenberg's book A Homemade Life.  It is filled with great stories about food and life and how the two are intertwined.  It also left me with a serious cravings for crusty bread, cheese, and salads of all kinds.  I ended up making two salads with vinegary dressings based on recipes from two different Mollys, both turned out to be fantastic and will taste even better after hanging out in the fridge overnight.

I started with a wilted cucumber salad based on the one from Molli Katzen's Enchanted Broccoli Forest cookbook.  The recipe called for 4 medium cucumbers, but I used 2 fair sized field cucumbers and it filled the jar right to the top.


Wilted Cucumber Salad
adapted from The Enchanted Broccoli Forest

2/3 cup white wine vinegar
1/3 cup water
4 tbps sugar
1 tsp salt
1/2 cup thinly sliced onion
2 large field cucumbers peeled and thinly sliced
2 tsp dried dill
ground black pepper

Heat the vinegar, water, sugar, and salt in a saucepan just until boiling.
Place the cucumber and onion slices in a heat-proof bowl, and pour the liquid over the veggies.  Allow to cool.
Add the dill and black pepper then transfer everything to a large jar with a tight fitting lid and refrigerate overnight.
Feel free to eat right out of the jar.
Will keep for approximately two weeks in the fridge.



I also made myself a red cabbage salad based on a Red Salad from Orangette.  It turned out great (which is good because it makes lots!), and would make a nice alternative to traditional coleslaw.



Red Salad
adapted from Orangette

8 cups of red cabbage sliced into thin strips
1/2 pound of radishes thinly sliced
1 small red onion thinly sliced

the juice of one lime
1 clove of garlic minced
1 tbps sugar
3 tsp rice vinegar
3 tbsp vegetable oil (I used sunflower oil)
freshly ground black pepper to taste

Place the veggies in a large bowl.
Mix the remaining ingredients in a small jar with a lid and give it a good shake.
Add the dressing to the salad (I didn't use it all, so I put the lid back on and put it in the fridge for another salad), toss.
This could be eaten right away or let is sit for a half hour or so like I did so it marinated a bit.

1 comment:

  1. These both look really good. I read A Handmade life, too, and really enjoyed it.

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