Tuesday, June 26, 2007

Mixed Greens with Cashew Nut Dressing

Every month Jenn at the Leftover Queen will be hosting the Royal Foodie Joust challenging us with three ingredients to create recipes. For this month's joust, the ingredients are a dried fruit, nuts, and cheese. I picked a few ingredients that are common in Brazil, created this salad and named it Mixed Greens with Cashew Nut Dressing. The flavors blended so easily: cashew nuts and golden raisins for the dressing and grilled farmer's cheese with mixed greens for this Summer salad that was ready in a few minutes.

For the cashew nut dressing
3 tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoons lime juice
1 tablespoon chopped cashew nuts
1 tablespoon raisins (I used golden raisins)
salt and pepper to taste

For the salad:
- Thick slices of farmer's cheese
- Mango slices
1 pound greens such as:
- Outer leaves of red cabbage
- Arugula
- Iceberg lettuce
- Cauliflower florets

Directions:
1) Start with the dressing: in a small bowl whisk all the ingredients until mixed.

2) Make a salad bowl with the outer leaves of the cabbage and add the arugula, the lettuce, the mango slices and the cauliflower florets. Add the cashew nut dressing and season with additional salt and pepper to taste. (Or, in a large bowl, place the mixed greens and add the cashew nut dressing, tossing gently until all the vegetables are evenly coated.)

3) Heat a large nonstick skillet over medium heat for 2 minutes (I used my George Foreman grill). Put thick slices of cheese in the skillet and cook for 2 minutes or until the undersides are golden brown. Add the cheese to the salad. Serve immediately.

More ideas...
- Use crêpes or flour tortillas and make wraps! Just spread the salad dressing down the center of each tortilla. Layer arugula, cauliflower florets, lettuce, mango and chopped cabbage over the dressing. Roll the tortilla around the other ingredients.
-
You can also vary the type of greens you use to change the character of the salad.

4 comments:

Thistlemoon said...

Wow Cris! This looks amazing! Thanks so much for your contribution! Roberto saw your photos and remarked how beautiful they are!

Anonymous said...

Cris, this is a beautiful salad and I absolutely adore your presentation - your produce looks so vibrant and healthy!

Patricia Scarpin said...

Cris, I have never had cauliflower this way and you've got me really curious! It looks great!

Abby said...

Cauliflower is actually one of my faves! I also love walnuts in salads so this salad is a great idea to me!