The mercury is soaring right now, which means we are eating a lot of salads. We are definitely carnivores, and when I make main meal salads, they contain meat. So we eat a lot of chicken salads, steak salads, salads with shrimp or seafood, and much more. This time I made another steak salad. The cumin vinaigrette was what I really focusing on though, but I needed a delicious salad to to with it in order to highlight the dressing. 🙂
The salads were made with a bed of Romaine lettuce with corn, black beans, red onions, green onions, grape tomatoes, red bell peppers and cucumber. Larry’s salad had some shaved white cheddar cheese and fried tortilla strips. I was making my salad with little bits of this and that and I did not have enough fried tortilla strips for both of us, and I didn’t feel like making more because I wanted to use what I already had, so I added some pepitas to mine. I love pepitas, so no problem for me.
Cumin Vinaigrette
1/3 cup olive oil
2-3 TBSP red wine vinegar
1-2 TBSP orange juice
1-2 tsp spicy honey
1 tsp cumin
1-2 tsp garlic
salt to taste
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper or to taste
fresh cilantro, chopped
1 red chili pepper, diced fine
lemon verbena, optional
Mix everything together well and dress up your salad right before serving.
I have so much lemon verbena growing in my backyard and am trying to use it as much as I can, while I can. It seems like I have an endless supply though. But whatever I do use it for, it adds a nice fresh, lemony taste to it.
I made a little extra dressing because I marinated my steak in it as well. I marinated the steak for about 2-3 hours before cooking it.
Be creative and play with your food. Have fun with it. Life is short. Make the most out of everyday. Live life to the fullest and enjoy the ride. ‘Til next time.
A Jeanne in the Kitchen 