Author Notes
A few weeks ago, I tested homebytherange’s Basil Beans recipe (which is divine, by the way). One of the best things about that experience was all the garlic basil confit oil that I had leftover to use for my own devices. I had invited some friends for dinner and had to come up with a salad. With summer fresh nectarines bountiful, blue cheese left over from my own recipe escapades and the garlic basil confit oil – this is now my go-to-summer salad – I have been eating a version of it every night for about a week! My latest version included making the garlic oil using rosemary instead of basil and it is equally good with this salad. Note: The garlic basil (or rosemary) oil is extremely perishable and should be kept in the refrigerator for no longer than a week.
—gingerroot
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Ingredients
- for the dressing
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1/2 cup
garlic basil confit oil (homebytherange's recipe on food52)
-
1/4 cup
of your best balsamic vinegar
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2 teaspoons
dijon mustard
-
sea salt to taste
-
freshly ground black pepper to taste
- for the salad
-
4 cups
arugula, washed and thoroughly dried (roughly torn if leaves are large)
-
4 cups
mixed baby greens, washed and thoroughly dried
-
2-3
firm, ripe nectarines, halved, cut into wedges and chopped
-
1/2 cup
favorite mild blue cheese, crumbled
-
6-8
French Breakfast radishes, washed, trimmed, halved lengthwise and sliced into wedges
Directions
-
Combine dressing ingredients in a small jar with a lid. Cover lid and shake well to emulsify.
-
Combine arugula and mixed baby greens in a large salad bowl. Top with nectarine pieces, radishes and blue cheese. Add dressing to taste, toss and enjoy.
My most vivid childhood memories have to do with family and food. As a kid, I had the good fortune of having a mom who always encouraged trying new things, and two grandmothers who invited me into their kitchens at a young age. I enjoy cooking for the joy it brings me - sharing food with loved ones - and as a stress release. I turn to it equally during good times and bad. Now that I have two young children, I try to be conscientious about what we cook and eat. Right about the time I joined food52, I planted my first raised bed garden and joined a CSA; between the two I try to cook as sustainably and organically as I can. Although I'm usually cooking alone, my children are my favorite kitchen companions and I love cooking with them. I hope when they are grown they will look back fondly at our time spent in the kitchen, as they teach their loved ones about food-love.
Best of all, after years on the mainland for college and graduate school, I get to eat and cook and raise my children in my hometown of Honolulu, HI. When I'm not cooking, I am helping others grow their own organic food or teaching schoolchildren about art.
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