Curried Cashew, Pear, and Grape Salad

We spent our Memorial Day with friends.  We were invited to another couple’s house for an afternoon BBQ. Like I mentioned yesterday, I was supposed to bring a side dish and a salad. The side dish was Dan’s pick. He’s a huge baked bean fan – his whole family likes them. He normally makes Bush’s Original and adds some Sweet Baby Ray’s BBQ sauce and brown sugar.

He’s been taste testing the new Bush’s Grillin’ Beans product line over the past few weeks. So far he has tried the Steakhouse Tradition and the Southern Pit Barbeque flavors. He didn’t like the Steakhouse Tradition (too sweet) but really liked the Southern Pit Barbeque. We still have Bourbon and Brown Sugar and Black Bean Fiesta to try. Since we knew Southern Pit Barbeque was good, I picked two cans up and we were good to go with the side dish. Nothing fancy… but super tasty. (Turns out… our friends knew how much Dan liked baked beans, they unexpectedly made them) – needless to say, we have a shelf of beans in the pantry for a later date.

I hunted online for a salad recipe. I knew they were making Chili Rubbed BBQ Chicken and I thought something with fruit in it would go great. I found a recipe on AllRecipes.com and I doctored it a bit.

Curried Cashew, Pear, and Grape Salad Ingredients:
3/4 Cup Cashews – Whole and Halves
4 Slices Bacon – Coarsely Chopped
1 Tablespoon Melted Butter
1 Teaspoon Chopped Fresh Rosemary
1 Teaspoon Curry Powder
1 Tablespoon Brown Sugar
1/2 Teaspoon Kosher Salt
1/2 Teaspoon Cayenne Pepper
3 Tablespoons White Wine Vinegar
3 Tablespoons Dijon Mustard
3 Tablespoons Honey
1/4 Cup Olive Oil
Salt and Pepper to Taste
10 Ounces of mixed salad greens
1/4 head of iceberg lettuce – added for crunch
1 Medium Pear – I used a D’Anjou pear
1 Cup Seedless Red Grapes

The Cashews:

In a large, dry skillet over medium-high heat, toast cashews until golden brown – it took about 3-4 minutes. Remove the cashews and set into a bowl for cooling.

In a medium bowl, stir together your melted butter, rosemary, curry powder, brown sugar, salt, cayenne pepper and the toasted cashews. I tasted one and it definitely had a kick – next time I might use a little less cayenne, but I’m a lightweight when it comes to spices.

The next step is to cook the bacon strips until crisp. Set on paper towels when done to soak up the grease. Coarsely chop the bacon and then set aside.

The Dressing:

In a small bowl, stir together white wine vinegar, mustard, and honey. Slowly whisk in olive oil, and sprinkle with salt and pepper to taste. I used a pinch of salt and probably 10-15 cranks of the pepper grinder.

The Salad:

In a large salad bowl, toss dressing with greens, pear slices, grapes (I cut them in half) and bacon –  then add the cashew mixture and toss again.

I had to take the final photo at our friend’s house. I carried the plate to every flat surface in their backyard – hah! I ended up on their pavers with a 95-100 lb. Great Dane very interested in what I was doing – super cute and eager to please his Mommy in the backyard.

He also had the lingering smells of the BBQ chicken to keep him busy…

The Menu:
Chili rubbed BBQ chicken, Curried Cashew, Pear, and Grape Salad, blue cheese potato salad, baked beans, corn on the cob and pugliese bread. Everything was fabulous! The salad was a hit. I will with 100% certainty be making it again. It definitely has a kick, if you aren’t into that, you could easily leave out the cayenne.

We were very thankful to be surrounded by great friends and amazing food, while remembering the soldiers that have given their lives to let the rest of us live in freedom. I feel very blessed and grateful.

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Sunday Farmer's Market

A trip to the farmer’s market was the perfect way to start off the day.

Table after table of yummy veggies…

Just a small sample of the flowers…

There were probably 5 or more flower stations. I refrained and didn’t pick any up this time. I had purchased sunflowers from Trader Joe’s that lasted 10 days – the bunch was only $3.99 – thinking I’ll go back for some more of those.

Sidenote: I went to see Sex and the City II with a group of girlfriends Thursday night. The one thing I noticed is that all of the girls had fresh and beautiful flowers in their zillion dollar apartments. I stopped doing that for a while, but have been buying myself flowers for the past few months – I love it! A few bucks and I smile every time I walk by them… that is until the water starts stinking and they need to be replaced ~ Hah!

I’ve got these “Red Hot Pokers” growing in the backyard right now and they look awesome.

O.k., back to the farmer’s market – We met up with 3 of our friends and each of us had an agenda… I was on the hunt for some staples and a few “out of my comfort zone” items to play with this upcoming week. Another friend was on the hunt for his asparagus for broiling and his pull apart bread. We had a cherry pie maker in the group too. We sorted through cherries side by side. It’s always fun to see what your friends put in their bags. We had a last-minute car switch, so I was left without bags – I store them in my car, whoops.  It ended up being o.k., our friends had extras.

We all went to brunch after the market. I ordered an Eggs Benedict dish –  2 poached eggs, Canadian bacon and fresh tomato slices served on toasted focaccia with Hollandaise sauce and a side of red potatoes cooked with onion and peppers. Delicious! My camera ran out of battery juice, or I would have included more photos. The cafe is also known for their French toast – Huge slabs of French bread (cut on the diagonal – 10-12 inch pieces) dipped in rich custard and served with whipped butter – heavenly!

We got home, I put the camera battery in the charger and I unpacked my farmer’s market goodies and waited until I had enough battery juice to take another photo.

My goodies consisted of pretzel bread coated with sesame seeds, pretzel croissants (new obsession), yellow summer squash, middle eastern squash, pencil California asparagus, tri-color baby potatoes – haven’t tried the peruvian purples before – thinking of all sorts of possibilities recipe wise. I also got some cherries – regular with a few Rainier thrown in. One of my friends stated that California cherry farmers were worried about the cherries splitting due to all of the rain we’ve been having – I noticed it on some as I picked through them, but all in all… they looked and tasted awesome! The last thing I brought home was fava beans. I’m excited to try something with those too.

I’m having so much fun searching for different recipes, cooking methods, etc. We’re attending a Memorial Day BBQ with friends tomorrow. I’m bringing a salad and a side dish – Dan picked the side dish, so I’m going to focus on the salad. Off to make a grocery list.

Permanent link to this article: http://foodiddy.com/?p=309

Stromboli

I was first introduced to “Stromboli” as a kid. My Dad used to bring it home on special occasions. There was a little place in San Jose, CA called Tony Di Maggio’s Pizza that claimed to be the home of the original “Stromboli” – Wikipedia gives credit to Roman’s in Philadelphia – but whatever – in my eyes,  Tony Di Maggio’s was the shiz and definitely knew what they were doing.

Di Maggio’s Stromboli included ham, salami, Italian sausage, mustard, American and mozzarella cheese, wrapped in dough – topped with butter, oregano, black pepper and homemade tomato sauce. Had I actually looked up the website prior to writing this post, I might have changed the way I created my first attempt… maybe next time.

Foo’s Stromboli Ingredients:

Trader Joe’s Pizza Dough
Trader Joe’s Pizza Sauce – w/added Italian Seasoning
8 Slices Ham
8 Slices Genoa Salami
8 Slices Pepperoni
2 Cups Fresh Spinach
1 Medium Shallot
3 Mushrooms
1 Small Can of Sliced Black Olives
Fresh Basil – I used 3 large leaves – shredded
8 Slices of Provolone Cheese (Thinly sliced from the deli)
2 Cups Shredded Mozzarella Cheese
1 Clove Garlic
Splash of EVOO for the Sautéed Veggies
1 Egg White
1/2 Teaspoon Poppy Seeds
Flour – Used for Dough Prep

The first step was to preheat the oven to 450 degrees. I then removed the dough from the fridge and let it sit out for 20 minutes.

I sautéed the garlic, chopped shallots, mushrooms, spinach, and Italian seasonings in a little EVOO while I waited.

I then attempted to make my dough ball into a rectangle – hmm… guessing that is why all of the recipes online call for Pillsbury Refrigerated Pizza Crust – pop the can, unroll and you are golden. It took me 2 failed attempts with major dough rips and then my third attempt was semi solid – I did have several thin spots and flour all over my shirt, hands and face… but in the end, felt it was as good as I was going to get.

I started creating my masterpiece on the cookie sheet. I went meat heavy on Dan’s side and veggie heavy on mine.

I started off with sauce down the center of the dough. I used 3/4 of the small Trader Joe’s Pizza Sauce container. I then layered the meat and put the provolone slices between the meat layers. I really don’t think the order matters. I got to where I was just throwing things on randomly. A little more olive here, some mushrooms here, basil everywhere…

The next step was to fold the sides in, creating a seam on top and then fold the ends under.

I used a brush and coated the outside with egg white and then sprinkled on the poppy seeds. I placed the Stromboli in the oven and checked it at 20 minutes. I ended up putting it in for another 10 – until golden brown.

You can definitely see the thin spots – the cheese grease shines right through them – yum! I let the Stromboli cool for about 10 minutes before slicing.

This my friends was Stromboli heaven on a plate… We both LOVED it! The two of us finished all but 2 slices and I will definitely be making this again.

Thank you Tony Di Maggio’s and Dad for bringing this tradition into my life… so happy to be able to re-create it to share with Dan – too bad I waited this long to do it.

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