the tyranny of green salads

Yes, yes, yes. Local produce, seasonal produce. Blah blah blah. Sometimes at this time of year there's just too much. And so beginneth my whining.

No, actually, what I find at this time of year is that there's all this wonderful stuff that cries out to be laid on plates and consumed. Among the things we tend to have a lot, then, are salads with all the great greens popping up. And after a while, well, I get kind of bored with them. It's a tyranny of green salad: delicate leafy things in various shades, some other fresh produce, a protein (smoked fish? cheese? nuts?), a dressing. It's tasty, but it begins to dictate my dinner planning. I blame the salad greens.

We're getting rather warm weather lately in Chicago, and I've wanted to keep my cooking as minimal as possible, another thing that pushes me toward salads. Tonight, though, I had no lettuces in my fridge. A napa cabbage, yes, but no lettuces. And that's quite fine. Time to break free and salad up some other items. And that, friends, led me to cauliflower.

This was an easy one to make. I blanched some florets and drained them, then tossed them with sliced red onion, capers, black olives, golden raisins, diced red pepper, sherry vinegar, coarse salt, pepper, thyme, oregano, and olive oil. If I had anchovies, I might have tossed them in, too. As it was, it made for a nice mix to sit and marinate while we were at the pool.

Once home, it was out on the balcony with these simple marinated cauliflower salads. I also set out some smoked salmon, almonds, radishes, and a bit of feta on a plate. A very easy dinner for post-practice, and the apartment isn't any hotter because of it. Hooray!

But best of all, it was just a little different. It didn't bore me. A touch of green came from some chopped parsley, and that was good for me. No leafy stuff tonight.

And now I sit and blog while Conrad packs for Honolulu. A week and a half without him. I'll have to challenge myself to come up with another half-decent dish or two.