Tag: Salad Dressing

Oregon Shrimp Salad-stuffed Avocado with Cucumber Goddess Dressing

Oregon Shrimp Salad-stuffed Avocado with Cucumber Goddess Dressing

There have been only a few times in my life when I’ve eaten a meal somewhere and the dish I’m eating makes a lasting impression, its flavors etching its memory into my taste buds and mind. Such was the case many years ago when I was eating at a now-defunct restaurant in Fort Worth, Texas, called Celebration, and I tasted their creamy luscious cucumber dressing. They wouldn’t part with the recipe and it’s taken me several years of trial and error to replicating the flavor and consistency. And it makes a wonderful dressing for this salad of avocado stuffed with shrimp (it would be great with crab too!).

October 30, 2010 | 2 Comments More
Composed Summer Garden Salad with Salmon Croquettes and Pepper-Parmesan Dressing

Composed Summer Garden Salad with Salmon Croquettes and Pepper-Parmesan Dressing

My mother knew how to stretch a penny and on many occasions canned salmon came to our family table in the form of salmon patties. That would be “sall-mon” in our home with a distinct and noticeable lean on the letter “l”.

This tasted nothing like the salmon I have come to love in the Pacific Northwest. My mother’s salmon patties were tasty enough with some mayonnaise, onions, spices and an egg to hold it all together but the taste difference between those patties and fresh, line-caught salmon is like night and day. WOW!

August 7, 2010 | 6 Comments More
A Fetching Dinner for Seven Brides Brewing at Silver Grille Café in Silverton

A Fetching Dinner for Seven Brides Brewing at Silver Grille Café in Silverton

Shortly after Jeff DeSantis poured everyone a shell of Emily’s Ember, our servers presented the first course, Tempura of Shrimp and Oregon Dungeness Crab Beignets with Remoulade Sauce. Bringing Japanese and Creole elements together made a perfect first course. The crunch of the tempura batter was beautifully offset by the soft crab beignets and both paired well with the remoulade sauce. Without directly asking the chef, I have a hunch that a touch of Emily’s Ember was in the tempura batter and the semi-spicy remoulade.

With the first sip and bite, we knew we were in for a special treat.

February 26, 2010 | 5 Comments More
Forever Roasted Pork with Chipotle Glazed Apples and a Knockout Winter Salad with Maple Dressing

Forever Roasted Pork with Chipotle Glazed Apples and a Knockout Winter Salad with Maple Dressing

Vic gave me a copy of The Tra Vigne Cookbook from the Napa Valley restaurant of the same name some years ago. Two recipes captured me immediately — Forever Roasted Pork, and Mozzarella Martinis. The pork recipe can be made any time of the year, but the Mozzarella Martinis are best left to when the very best vine-ripened tomatoes are available. Check back in late summer for Mozzarella Martinis — they’re not what you think.

January 22, 2010 | 9 Comments More
The Cooking of Joy ♥ Savoring the Flavors of Life

The Cooking of Joy ♥ Savoring the Flavors of Life

I have been pondering writing an article on “cooking with intention” for The Taste of Oregon for some time now. For those of us who enjoy cooking passionately, is it always entered into and experienced with a feeling of joy and excitement? Where is our mind? Nothing can spoil a pleasurable experience more than chatter between our ears, nagging us: “You didn’t start early enough, you don’t have all the ingredients, you’re out of your league, no one will like this, pickled pork is so passé,” etc., etc., etc. Fortunately, I learned some methods for silencing that chatter. After a brief “negotiation” with my mind’s voice I hear it whimpering, “OK, you win, I’ll shut up.”

January 1, 2010 | 13 Comments More