Smoked fish salad with dill dressing and potato chips

 

The recipe was billed as an excuse to eat potato chips. I can't argue with that. Here they stand in for croutons in a salad. I had to make this one because the dill came up and tried to take over the yard.

I substituted candied salmon for the smoked trout because the trout price made me go eep! The salmon did too, but it was $4 less eep-inducing so I opted for that.

Smoked trout salad with dill dressing and potato chips

Adapted from the Washington Post as published in the Star Tribune Taste section. Serves 2.

Ingredients
5 ounces cucumber, thinly sliced (the original recipe calls for Persian)
¼ cup white wine vinegar
Dash of sea salt
Pinch of sugar
3 cups mixed salad greens
6 ounces smoked trout or other smoked fish
1 small bunch of fresh dill, divided
2 tablespoons grainy brown mustard
1 teaspoon honey
2½ tablespoons olive oil
Potato chips for garnish (I used Lay’s dill-flavored chips)

Method
Combine sliced cucumbers, vinegar, salt and sugar in a jar with a tight-fitting lid. Shake vigorously for at least 30 seconds.

Line two plates with salad greens. Flake salmon over top of the greens on the plates. Drain cucumbers, reserving liquid. Strew the cucumbers over top of the salmon on the plates.

Pour liquid back in the jar. Chop half of the dill and add that to the jar along with mustard and honey. Mix well and drizzle in olive oil, stirring as you go. If it resists emulsifying, put the lid back on and shake it.

Pour dressing over salads. Top with potato chips, breaking up the larger ones, and top with remaining dill fronds.

Rating: Nice spring or summer salad. We used some gem-like red lettuce from the farmers market and some volunteer green lettuce from the garden along with a bunch of that volunteer dill. Perfectly fine as is, and the potato chips aren't a bad touch. If I make it again I might try letting the dill infuse the white wine vinegar a tad long. 

Note: The recipe calls for shaking the cucumbers vigorously with vinegar, sugar and salt on the theory it bruises the cucumber and causes it to release liquid. Not sure if that happened or not; I used mini snacking cucumbers instead of the Persian cucumber called for because there wasn’t one in the store. Plus, when you’re using a partial cucumber you know you’re going to wind up tossing it in the compost because an opened cucumber turns from a solid to liquid even more dramatically than a cat.

Basil honey dressing

 

This is a good one to pull out if you've got a bumper crop of basil about to probably take a dive as the weather trends cooler.

Basil honey dressing

From “The Spoonriver Cookbook,” by Brenda Langton and Margaret Stuart. Spoonriver is no more, but the cookbook remains. The recipe notes that you could substitute rice or champagne vinegar.

Ingredients
1 cup olive oil
1 cup white balsamic vinegar
1 cup packed basil leaves
¼ cup chopped onion
1 tablespoon dry mustard
3 tablespoons honey

Method
Blend all ingredients in the blender. 

Rating: Very bright flavors. The honey helps balance out the vinegar and onion bite, but this can still pack a bit of a wacka-wacka punch.  This is a fairly thin dressing, which personally I don't mind, but if you're looking for something fairly viscous, this isn't it.

Similar to: The dressing on this arugula fennel salad, which gained a place in my dressing rotation, and has the advantage of staying mixed.

Pair with: This worked well on a chopped salad with grilled chicken breasts, blue cheese crumbles, tomatoes and wonton strips.

 

What else I'm cooking this week

It's peak produce-preserving time at our house, so these usual suspects came into play:

Pepperonata makes a wonderful condiment, a great pizza topping with goat cheese and works as a pasta sauce sprinkled with feta.

Ditto with cherry tomato confit, which freezes beautifully, and makes great use of all those volunteer mini tomatoes.

Honey Dijon dressing and chicken, feta, tomato pasta salad

 

Aside from whomping up a vinaigrette as needed, the honey mustard dressing used in this salad is kind of our house dressing. Both it and the salad have been stand-bys for decades.

 

Bistro chicken with feta

Adapted from a recipe promoting Athenos crumbled feta. After this much passage of time, I can't remember whether it was in a magazine ad or on a package. It specified their basil-tomato version, but it works fine with any good feta.

Ingredients
1 pound penne or rotini pasta, cooked until al dente and drained
1 cup cherry or grape tomatoes, quartered if large or halved if small
4 ounces crumbled feta cheese
½ cup honey Dijon mustard (or to taste)
⅓ cup lightly packed fresh basil leaves, torn (a bit of lemon basil is especially nice in this recipe)
¼ cup chopped red onion
¼ cup chopped sun-dried tomatoes (oil-packed and drained)
2 boneless skinless chicken breast halves, grilled and cut into bite-size chunks

Method
Mix all ingredients. Serve warm or chilled. (If you’re going to serve it chilled, err on the side of more dressing to keep it moist.)

Rating: It's like cheating, really, to combine those ingredients. It comes together quickly and keeps well. It's been on many a picnic with us. You could skip the chicken if you wanted to make it vegetarian and it would still hold up flavor-wise.

 

 

Honey-mustard dressing

Adapted from Better Homes & Gardens “Great Cooking for Two.” Any kind of Dijon-ish mustard will do. Makes about ¾ cup.

Ingredients
⅓ cup light olive oil
2 tablespoons honey
2 tablespoons lemon juice
2 tablespoons Dijon or coarse grain mustard
1 garlic clove, minced

Method
Whisk ingredients together. Can be made ahead, but it’s best to allow it to come closer to room temperature before using.

Rating: There's a reason this sweet-tangy concoction is our house dressing. It's like the little black dress of dressings. It works as a basting sauce for grilled chicken or veggies, and if a pasta recipe needs just a little brightening, a smidge will give it subtle help.

 

Summer broccoli slaw with creamy dill dressing

 

Creamy dilly summer salad dressing

Adapted from “True North Cabin Cookbook,” by Stephanie Hansen, who also is apparently afflicted/blessed by volunteer dill. I had a super abundance this spring, and it's enjoying a second wave this fall.

Ingredients
½ cup plain yogurt
⅓ cup mayonnaise
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
Zest of ½ lemon
1 tablespoon water (or liquid from yogurt)
1 clove garlic, chopped
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1 teaspoon ground mustard
1 teaspoon black pepper
2 tablespoons chopped fresh dill
1 tablespoon chopped fresh parsley

Method
Combine everything but herbs to mix well. Stir in herbs a bit at a time until well blended. 

Rating: Good for sturdy salads. The flavor is fine enough when made and used right away, but the dressing improves a bit if you've got time to make it ahead and refrigerate it a bit before using.

 

What to use it for

Summer broccoli slaw. Mix half a package of broccoli slaw mix (or to make your own chop two medium broccoli stems and 1 medium carrot into matchsticks and toss with ½ cup shredded red cabbage) with 7 sliced radishes and 1 cup broccoli florets torn into bite-size pieces. Mix with about half the creamy dill dressing. Makes about 4 servings. Nice mix of crunch and creaminess.

Quick pasta salad: Cook 1 cup orzo according to package directions. To drained, cooled orzo, add 1 cup chopped English cucumbers or snap pea pods,  ½ cup chopped red peppers, 2 chopped green onions and 1 tablespoon chopped fresh parsley. Mix in creamy dill dressing to taste.

For a completely different take on a dill dressing, try the dressing on this strawberry spinach salad.

Garlicky Greek salad

 

This is an old standby that's great for a lunch at home if you add chickpeas or grilled chicken chunks. I say for at home because this recipe is seriously garlicky, so probably not the best fare for the office, but very tasty.

Garlicky Greek salad

Adapted from Bon Appetit, October 1994

Ingredients
1 large head red leaf lettuce or mixed greens
½ cucumber, quartered lengthwise and cut into ¼-inch slices
3 large plum tomatoes, chopped
½ cup pitted black olives, chopped
½ cup crumbled feta cheese
Garlic vinaigrette to taste

Garlic vinaigrette

6 tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
1 tablespoon chopped fresh garlic
1 teaspoon red wine vinegar
Salt and pepper to taste

Whisk together vinaigrette ingredients. Pour about half the dressing into a large bowl. Add the lettuce leave and toss to coat. Add cucumber, tomatoes, olives and feta. Mix, adding more dressing as needed.

Rating: Always a great counterpoint to something grilled or roasted. Providing you really like garlic. Not a recipe you can make completely ahead however; those ingredients and dressing turn the lettuce into mush if you try to store leftovers.

Also good with: Using this same recipe but substituting zoodles for the lettuce is also excellent. Plus the zoodles actually stand up a bit more than the lettuce.