Emilie-inspired salad

This is my take on the type of salad that our housemate Emilie used to whip up in about 5 minutes (a simple version with lettuce/kale, cucumber, red onion, and cashews).

I have come to almost exclusively make salad this way.. adding the salt and vinegar first then olive oil at the end instead of mixing a dressing together separately.. both because this is easier, faster, and because I find it tastier. It does work best with a balsamic you really like — I think if I only had more questionable vinegar, I would make my dressing separately, but maybe this would work well in that case too???

Ingredients 

• Lettuce, ideally romaine or medium-finely chopped kale but any lettuce or combination of lettuces will do (if you use only kale, you may want to salt and massage it lightly to soften it a little)
• A small amount of finely sliced red onion, to your liking (but at least a small amount is strongly recommended)

All remaining ingredients are optional, but avocado makes a huge difference if you have it, and a protein source like feta or roasted cashews or beans will make it a lot heartier). Include some combination of the following, depending on what you have on hand and what you like:

• Sliced cucumber (I half it lengthwise and slice so they don’t roll around)
• Diced apple or tomato or orange (probably not all together)
• Crumbled feta cheese
• Broken up or roughly chopped roasted nuts (eg cashews or pecans or…?)
• Sliced red pepper 
• Finely sliced fresh basil can be a nice addition
• Optionally some black beans or chickpeas?
• Some homemade croutons if you’re feeling really fancy 
• Etc

For the dressing you will need..

• Kosher salt
• Black pepper (optional)
• Good quality balsamic vinegar (I really like the Costco one and I like that it is a bit sweet - if yours is more sour, you may want to add a good pinch of white sugar at the same time as the salt. To me, this makes a big difference)
• Olive oil 

Method

1. Put all the main salad ingredients you are using (aside from the dressing) in a large bowl
2. Sprinkle with a couple of good pinches of kosher salt (and optionally sugar - see note in the dressing ingredients list) and toss lightly. Add some pepper at this stage too, if you like.
3. Pour over some balsamic vinegar (maybe start with around a tablespoon, possibly more? I just eyeball it)
4. Toss well, taste, and if needed, add more vinegar/salt/sugar to your taste (but err on the side of too little rather than too much)
5. Finally, add olive oil at the end (about as much as you did vinegar or a little less) and toss well to bring it all together (again, err on the side of too little not too much).

The key here is to coat everything with the salt and vinegar before you add the oil so they can penetrate really well. The oil is an important touch at the end but you don’t need much when you do it this way.

Childhood favourite cabbage noodle salad

This was a favourite in my house when I was a kid, and now that I have kids it has made a major comeback. Adults love it too!

Part of the point of this recipe is to throw in what you have, so feel free to add other stuff that you think might belong… (peas, cooked broccoli, ..)

Ingredients

Main salad

• 2 tbs toasted sesame seeds (or just a random amount)
• 2 tbs toasted chopped nuts (I typically do sliced almonds, if I have them)
• 1/2 head finely chopped cabbage (I just got my first mandoline, which makes really fine much easier - it doesn’t have to be that fine though, but quite fine is good. If your cabbage is small, do the whole thing!)
• 3-4 packages of ramen noodles (I have been using 4 if they are Mr. Noodles and 3 if they are Sapporo Ichiban .. usually I use chicken flavour but it doesn’t really matter)
• Cut up leftover chicken (or you have use fresh rotisserie chicken)… about 1/2 a chicken’s worth
• Chopped cilantro if you are a cilantro family

Dressing

These quantities are for 3 packs of noodles. If you use 4 packs you may want to bump everything up a little bit.

• 3 tbs white sugar
• 4 tbs vinegar (rice wine or apple cider)
• 3 tbs oil
• Pepper
• Flavour packets from the noodles

Directions

1. Toast the almonds and sesame seeds in a dry frying pan. Set aside in a small bowl.
2. Quarter the cabbage and cut out the core. Slice the quarters with a knife or mandoline into long thin strips, no more than about 2-3mm wide if possible, ideally closer to 1mm (you want them to kind of blend in with the noodles). Put the cabbage in the largest bowl you have. It will seem like A LOT of cabbage.
3. Bring a large pot of water to a boil (no salt needed). When it is at a rolling boil, add all the noodles (don’t forget to remove the flavour packets first). Set the timer for 1 minute and prepare a strainer at the sink. When the timer goes off, strain the water off and give the noodles a shake to get out excess water. Dump the steaming hot noodles on top of the cabbage so they soften the cabbage a little.
4. Add the diced chicken on top of the noodles.
5. Put all the dressing ingredients in a microwaveable container (such as a 2 cup Pyrex measuring cup) and microwave for a minute or 2 then give it a good stir to dissolve the sugar.
6. Pour the dressing over the salad.
7. Sprinkle the toasted nuts and sesame seeds and the cilantro over top. (I add these at the end so they stay a little more crunchy).
8. Now for the hardest part - toss everything together, trying not to fling too many noodles and too much cabbage out of the bowl. Consider using a bigger bowl next time. When everything is well mixed, it is ready to serve. 

Serve kids a healthy portion with plenty of cabbage and chicken for their first bowl so that when they ask for seconds and try to get only noodles, they have already had some good balance :)