ravenously

Here are recipes for two salads I served at a little party we had on Saturday–was supposed to be a BBQ, but weather didn’t permit, so we grilled emu and grass-fed beef indoors.

Also on the menu:

• drinks: home-brewed German summer ale, Belgian Red cherry lambic-esque beer from New Glarus brewery, whiskey and coke
• amazing cheese platter that Liz brought with gluten-full and gluten-free crackers: 3 soft sheep cheeses (tomato basil was my favorite; also there were plain and garlic herb) and one semi-aged one
• Mary’s saag with spinach, mustard greens, and broccoli rabe; served with yogurt and rice.
• Liz’s black-eyed pea and bell pepper salad
• Kelly’s Key lime pie. I love Key lime pie to a ridiculous degree and piggishly had two slices.
• a rhubarb pie I made to use up week-old rhubarb–Joy of Cooking pie crust with about 2/3 whole wheat, 1/3 white flour, 100% butter, 1/2 vodka and 1/2 water to moisten; 1 lb. rhubarb and 1 cup turbinado sugar, with a sprinkle of salt, lemon zest, and vanilla
• Bananagrams!

Rice salad

White rice (I used medium-grain Jasmine rice; Molly’s recipe called for long-grain, and Italian recipes use Arborio/superfino)

Bacon

Celery

Flat leaf parsley

Fresh lemon juice

Olive oil

Grapeseed oil

Salt

Pepper

Boil the rice in plenty of water (like making pasta, rather than steamed rice). As it’s cooking, make a vinaigrette from the lemon juice, oils, salt, and pepper.

When the rice is cooked, drain it in a colander and rinse with plenty of cool water to get the excess starch off. Dress it immediately so the vinaigrette can soak into the warm rice.

Fry the bacon until crisp, and crumble it into pieces. Dice the celery and chop the flat-leaf parsley. Mix these into the salad, let sit for a while, and serve at room temperature.

Molly’s recipe calls for capers instead of bacon, but I didn’t have any capers, so substituted another source of umami, salty goodness.

Watermelon feta salad

Watermelon, cubed

Lemon juice

Olive oil

Salt

Pepper

Cilantro, chopped

Flat leaf parsley, chopped

Feta cheese, crumbled

Red onion

Slice the red onion into thin half-moons and marinate in lemon juice for a couple of hours.

Make a vinaigrette from the lemon juice, olive oil, salt, and pepper.

Just before serving, gently mix the watermelon, feta, herbs, onion, and dressing together. Let sit for a minute or two and drain as much liquid out as possible. (The salad will continue to accumulate liquid, unfortunately.)