Avocado and Peach Salad with Roasted Red Pepper Dressing

This salad, with homemade roasted red pepper dressing, is a great course for your next dinner party. I recently served it alongside crab cakes.

Ingredients
Arugula
1 red bell pepper
4 tbsp red wine vinegar
1 vanilla bean
1 tsp sugar
1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
salt and pepper
2 avocados
2 peeled peaches

Preheat over to 450 degrees. Slice pepper in half and deseed. Roast pepper cut side down for 15 minutes or until pepper starts to brown. Once pepper is cool, peel skin and chop remaining pepper. In a blender mix pepper, red wine vinegar, seeds from vanilla bean, and sugar. While blender is mixing, gradually add in olive oil. Once pureed, set mixture aside. Arrange plates with arugula, chopped peaches, and sliced avocado. Drizzle with dressing and enjoy.

Arugula Salad with Pears, Pancetta, and Goat Cheese

If, like me, you indulged a little too much over the weekend then this salad is the perfect treat for this evening. The Arugula salad with Pears, Pancetta, and Goat Cheese was derived from the cooking website Epicurious and serves 4. Serve alongside roasted vegetables and your favorite fish and you have the makings for a delicious, healthy dinner. Enjoy!

Ingredients for vinaigrette

1 tablespoon Champagne vinegar

1 tablespoon honey

1/2 tablespoon fresh lemon juice

1/8 teaspoon salt

1/8 teaspoon coarsely ground black pepper

3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

Ingredients for salad

5 slices of pancetta

1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil

2 pears

4 cups baby arugula

3 oz goat cheese

Vinaigrette

Whisk together vinegar, honey, lemon juice, salt and pepper in a bowl. Add in the oil and whisk until well combined.

Salad

Heat the oil in a skillet over medium heat. Once the oil is ready, cook the pancetta, turning frequently for 5 minutes. Transfer the pancetta to a paper towel to drain and cool. Once cooled, tear the pancetta into bite-size pieces. Cut the pears into thin slices and discard the core. Add the pears to the dressing along with the arugula, cheese, and pancetta, tossing to coat. Pair with your favorite vegetable and fish.

Fennel & Orange Salad

After indulging this past weekend on your every heart's desire, something light for dinner is a must. A Fennel and Orange Salad is an easy and light recipe that will pair well with the meat or fish of your choice. This tasty, summer salad serves 2.

Ingredients

2 fennel bulbs

3 small oranges

Salt

1 tablespoon freshly squeezed lemon juice

2 tablespoons fresh basil, chopped

Cut the fennel into small slices and place into a bowl. Discard all but a few fennel fronds. (For an informational video on how to cut fennel click on the following link. You will want your fennel sliced much thinner and in longer strips than the video portrays). Squeeze the juice out of one orange unto the fennel. Add the salt and the freshly squeezed lemon juice. Let the salad sit for up to an hour. (If pairing with a meat or fish, you could take this time to prepare the accompaniment that you select). Peel and cut the remaining 2 oranges into small pieces and put into the salad. Toss the basil and a small amount of fennel fronds into the salad and serve. Enjoy!

Spinach Tuna Salad with Oranges, Cilantro and Almonds

Good Morning Readers,

We have big plans this evening. Brandon is cooking as one of the “100 Men Who Cook”. Every year a 100 of the town’s male chefs reach into their recipe boxes and cook for all attendees. This charity event rose over $42,000 dollars last year for the Boys and Girls Club! In light of the festivities and the ungodly amount of food that will be consumed this evening, something light for lunch is definitely in order. This delightfully yummy and light dish serves 4 people and is an inspiration from one of my favorite cooking websites, Epicurious.

Ingredients

1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
1/4 cup red wine vinegar
1 tablespoon chopped garlic
3 oranges, peeled and chopped
1 red onion, thinly sliced
1 9-ounce can tuna packed in water and drained
1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro
8 cups spinach leaves
1/3 cup slivered almonds, toasted

Whisk together the olive oil, vinegar and chopped garlic in a bowl until blended together. Disperse spinach leaves evenly on each plate. Mix together the oranges, red onion, tuna, cilantro, salt and pepper. Spoon tuna mixture evenly over spinach leaves. Sprinkle cooled, toasted almonds over the spinach leaves. Drizzle dressing onto the tuna salad and serve. Enjoy!

Pan Seared Tuna Steaks & Nutty Vinaigrette Salad

It’s Friday Night. You might have a movie to catch or a drink date with friends. Even if your plan consists of curling up on the couch with a good book, you probably do not want to spend the entire night cooking and cleaning after the long workweek that just ended. With this simple recipe you can cook, eat, and clean up in under an hour and a half. Make this meal in a flash and head out to the theater or whatever else your night might bring.

Sidebar: This meal is perfect for “Date Night” and serves 2. If you are cooking for more people just increase the recipe as desired. If desired the strawberries, goat cheese, and hazelnuts can be increased or decreased depending on your preference. Additionally, they can be substituted for other ingredients of your choice.

Serving Size 2
Special Cooking Equipment: Food Processor (If you do not have a food processor the following will work: blender, magic bullet, etc.)

Ingredients for Nutty Vinaigrette Salad
3 cups Spinach Leaves
1/2 cup crumbled goat cheese

1 cup sliced strawberries
1 garlic clove
3 tablespoons balsamic
¼ cup hazelnuts
½ cup extra virgin olive oil

Place the garlic clove, balsamic, hazelnuts, and extra virgin olive oil in the food processor. Blend until mixed through. Place spinach leaves on small plates. Top with goat cheese and strawberries. Drizzle nutty vinaigrette over salads. The salads can be prepared before the Tuna Steaks.

Ingredients for Seared Tuna Steaks
2 -3.5-5-oz. boneless, skinless tuna steaks (If tuna steaks seems thick you can slice in half down the middle to cut down on cooking time)
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 Tbs. extra-virgin olive oil
½ medium shallot, finely chopped
½ cup yellow tomatoes, halved
½ cup cherry tomatoes, halved
1/8 cup sliced pitted green olives
1 Tbs. finely chopped fresh basil
1/4 Tbs. fresh lemon juice
Season the tuna with 1/2 tsp. salt and 1/8 tsp. pepper. Heat the oil in a 12-inch skillet over medium-high heat. Place the tuna in the skillet and cook, turning once. Total cooking time will be around 3 to 4 minutes total for medium rare. Transfer the tuna to a large plate and cover with aluminum foil.

Reduce the heat to medium and add the shallot to the skillet. (Helpful Hint: A great way to test to see if the oil is ready is by placing just a few pieces of shallot into the pan. If it sizzles then it is ready to go).Cook the shallot for about one minute. Add the tomatoes, olives, basil, 1/4 tsp. salt, and a few grinds of pepper; cook until warmed through and the tomatoes are just softened, about 2 minutes more. Remove the skillet from the heat and gently stir in the lemon juice.

Transfer the tuna to plates, top with the tomato mixture and serve. Enjoy!

*Seared Tuna retrieved in part from Fine Cooking Magazine.