Roasted Red Pepper Vinaigrette

Wow - How long has it been since someone posted on here? WAY TOO LONG. So - hopefully this post will spring me back into the habit of keeping up with my kitchen adventures in blog form... and force my sisters to comply as well.
So I'll start off with something nice and simple. A salad dressing.
Last night, I was in the mood for a salad but had a bunch of random ingredients and not quite sure where to put them. I had bibb lettuce, a tomato, goat cheese, a red onion, walnuts, a red pepper, blue cheese, mushrooms, and a pomegranate. Now - how do you pick the perfect salad from these ingredients? Do you go with the mushroom, onion, goat cheese, walnuts, and pomegranate seeds with a nice balsamic vinaigrette? Nah - done it too many times. I wanted to use that red pepper! So then I thought - roasting it would be nice! But.... I didn't want something soggy/soft nestled in my salad.. I like my salads to be crunchy. So - I made a vinaigrette! I also enlisted the help of Brandon to help tie it all together nicely.
So the salad I ended up with was Bibb Lettuce, shaved red onion, toasted walnuts, and crumbled buttermilk blue cheese... oh and some tomato slices - topped off with a nice roasted red pepper dressing.

Roasted Red Pepper Vinaigrette
Makes about 1 cup

Ingredients:

• 1 Red Bell Pepper, roasted and diced
  
• 3 cloves of roasted garlic, or 1 clove unroasted (I like the flavor of roasted better)
• 1T balsamic vinegar
• 1T honey or agave nectar
  
• 1T stone ground mustard
• 2T mayo
• a splash of apple cider vinegar
• 1/3+ c olive oil
• salt & pepper
• paprika

Directions:

1. Place the red pepper, garlic, honey, balsamic, mayo, mustard, & cider vinegar in a mini food-pro or blender. Blend until well combined.
2. Drizzle olive oil in and continue to blend - at this point, you may want to add more oil or more mayo to change the consistency of the dressing. Add salt/pepper/paprika to taste

So yeah - simple recipe - was perfect for the salad!

Enjoy!
-Lauren

Grilled Watermelon Salad

My new favorite thing to eat!! I had no idea this would be so amazing... but something about the flavor the watermelon takes on once it hits that grill.... It satisfies every taste bud - yes that's cheesy to say, but honestly - you have the sweetness from the watermelon, the tangy-ness from the goat cheese, the bitterness/spicy-ness from the arugula, and the sweet and tangy balsamic to top it off... Oooh its so good.
You don't need to own a grill to make this, either - but you do need a grill pan. I have one of those cast iron grill pans from Lodge that does the trick perfectly - although the first time was done over a regular grill, and it might add a hint of smokiness to the melon that you can't get from a grill pan.
It's quickly become my new favorite summertime meal - and its really simple and really affordable (especially since entire watermelons sell for $4 at the store this time of year!)

Grilled Watermelon Salad
serves 4

• 4 slices of seedless watermelon, about 1/2" thick or so, rind removed
• 4oz log of goat cheese, crumbled
• baby arugula, enough for 4 people - not sure how much that is
• balsamic vinegar
• salt & pepper

1. Heat your grill pan over medium - medium/high heat. Or if you're using an outdoor grill, I would suppose it would be because you're grilling something else, so just leave some room on the side for some watermelon.
2. Brush some vegetable or safflower oil on both sides of the watermelon and place on your preheated grill, about 1-2 minutes per side. You want the watermelon to start getting grill marks on them and picking up a slight caramel color. Flip and cook another 1-2 minutes. If you're using an outdoor meal, you'll want to grill this over indirect heat.. just off to the side of whatever you're cooking.
3. Remove from grill, place on plates, and crumble goat cheese over the top of the warm watermelon. Dress the arugula with some balsamic vinegar, salt, & pepper and set on top of the goat cheese and serve!

Really, I know it sounds weird - but its sooooo good. AND it's relatively healthy! Even better.

Posted by Lauren