Before we get too far into today’s recipe, I’m going to kick things off with a disclaimer. If you don’t like dill, you will not like this Herby Rice Salad. It’s hard to get away from the dill. The dill is pervasive. You can, of course, substitute the dill for another herb like chives or cilantro. But at that point, it’s kind of a whole other dish. What I’m trying to say is dill is central to this salad’s personality. So if you have beef with dill, feel free to peruse my extensive salad index instead. There are many alternatives there that are 100% dill-free. You can leave right now, I won’t be offended. Okay, now that it’s just us dill-lovers, let’s dig into this dreamboat of a salad.
Guanciale Chickpea Salad with Preserved Lemon Dressing
This Guanciale Chickpea Salad is a play on an Italian Antipasto Salad. It features crisp gem lettuce, olives, sliced red grapes, pickled shallots, torn fresh mozzarella, and chickpeas tossed in a preserved lemon vinaigrette and topped with seared slabs of guanciale and hard-boiled eggs. This salad may seem a little disjointed and it certainly does have a lot going on. But I think you will find that each forkful makes a certain sense. This dish hits all the notes: salty, sweet, savory, sour, tart, and meaty. No two bites are the same. And while this dish has a lot of moving parts, it is a cinque to make. This salad isn’t a side or a starter, it’s definitely a main course.
Marinated Kale Salad with Braised Tofu
Kale and I are not the best of friends. I know it’s good for you and yes, I am aware of its versatility but most of the time it’s just too fibrous for my taste. That’s why you’re far more likely to see Tuscan or Lacinato kale on this blog rather than the green or red variety. But even the more tender members of the kale family can require a lot of chewing. That’s where this Marinated Kale Salad comes in. This fully loaded bowl of green goodness features bite-sized pieces of kale marinated in a pickled shallot rice wine vinaigrette. The bowl is rounded out with soy braised tofu pieces, heirloom carrots, blood orange segments, and tamari almonds. Trust me, this is far from a sad desk salad.
Smoked Gouda and Pear Pasta Salad
For me, pasta salad is not seasonal. Pasta, both hot and cold, has a place on my table throughout the seasons. Admittedly, a pasta salad is less likely to turn up in February. But if I happened upon one, I cannot imagine a context in which I would say no to it. So yes, I am serving you this Smoked Gouda and Pear Pasta Salad deep into October and I’m not the least bit sorry about it. I did, of course, intend to post it at some point in September as a bridge recipe between summer and fall but did that happen? No. Late summer and early fall are always a time warp for me but that’s unimportant. What is important is this salad, while seasonally questionable, is very good. Like, very very good and you should make and eat it good. So let’s get into it.