Caesar Salad with Seared Scallops

You don’t have to reinvent the wheel for a meal. Especially not in the summer, when it’s often hot and humid enough to make the stove a scary place. I seem to wind up with so many heads of lettuce in the summer, too—from my CSA or farmers markets or friends—that I have to play a version of pin the tail on the donkey with them that involves lettuce heads, not donkey tails.

Sundried Tomato Caesar Salad Dressing

This recipe is dedicated to all the do-gooders hosting gatherings who’d like to make their standby favorites, but find that something’s not vegetarian… and someone attending is. Caesar salad is one such popular crowd-pleaser that pairs well with rich, holiday fare. But the classic dressing gets its umami oomph from minced anchovies, a taboo for certain diets.

Pasta with Lettuce, Pecorino, Pine Nuts & Lemon

This could either be really offensive or really resourceful-sounding. I’m clearly hoping for the latter scenario. It’s because so many have recently shared with me their frustrations of lettuce overabundance, and salad-eating fatigue, that I deemed this recipe worthy of sharing (and caring) in return. Yes, it’s that point for me, too, thanks to the CSA season: produce is coming in too fast, too soon. Yes, I have reached the maximum capacity of lettuce that can be stuffed in the … Read More

Salade Me-coise (and Trials & Retribution)

Trial: I get on my bike to run some errands, including a grocery store trip to get ingredients for a classic French salade nicoise. I have a craving for slick, smushed beads of brininess otherwise known as olives. It’s almost ninety degrees outside. I get out of the store, unlock my bike, and get on it only to find that the back tire is sagged like an empty sail.