Arugula, Peach & Piquillo Pepper Salad with Goat Cheese

This time of year, just walking by the peaches at the market is enough to get my mouth watering, their sweet scent wafting yards away. Their flesh is tender -- almost too tender, you can't pack them away- and their juice is sweeter than pie. My favorite peaches are those grown on the Western Slope of Colorado. Palisade Peaches are worth every penny and the wait all summer for their peak season. 

Have you heard the saying "what grows together goes together?" This salad is further proof it's true: peppers are also a late-summer crop, and in this salad piquillo peppers are a perfect "pop" of flavor. Piquillo peppers are a little bit sweet but with a smokey, spicy edge. They match the brightness of peaches, with out overshadowing them. 

The combination of peaches and sweet peppers is pretty much begging for a bed of arugula. Arugula is a tad bitter, which balances out the other sweet ingredients. It keeps this salad from getting too sweet. It's delicate and leafy.

The final touch is goat cheese, which adds a streak of richness that makes this salad oh so satisfying. It's soft enough that it just barely begins to melt away as you pour the dressing in, emulsifying and cream-ify-ing the entire thing. It also cuts through the pepperiness of the arugula, and is the ingredient in this salad that brings it all together. 

Arugula, Peach & Piquillo Pepper Salad with Goat Cheese

Published August 24, 2015 by Caitlin Sherwood

Serves: 4   |    Total Time: 20 minutes

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Ingredients:

1 pound baby arugula

2 ripe peaches, sliced thin

1/2 cup roasted piquillo peppers, diced (find these with the olives & pickles in the store)

1/3 cup soft goat cheese, crumbled

1/4 cup red onion, finely diced

Creamy Balsamic Dressing (try this recipe)

Directions:

1. In a large salad, bowl, combine arugula, sliced peaches, peppers, and onion. Sprinkle goat cheese over top.
2. Just before serving, drizzle with balsamic dressing to taste.

Cilantro Lime Sweet Potatoes

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Sweet potatoes. There are so many ways to make them delicious -- close to a blank canvas, but so much better, due to their naturally sweet earth flavor. Puréed, waffled, caramelized or as a hash... it's all amazing.

Ever since I went to a potluck and someone brought a southwestern roasted potato salad from a local deli, I've been a bit obsessed with adding chili, paprika, cilantro, and a squeeze of lime to my sweet potatoes. It's good warm or cold, which means I can eat RIGHT NOW if I'm starving, or as a cool side dish the next day. The southwestern flavors also scream summer to me, and even though sweet potatoes aren't necessarily a summer crop, the added peppers and cilantro are.

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Between this and my recent paleo ice cream experiments, I'm set for hot days. It's supposed to be close to 90°F here for Independence Day, so you can bet I'll be eating ample amount of both of those things to cool off! I'll actually be spending the long weekend rock climbing in northern Wyoming, so in order to do that I need to spend the next few hours figuring out how to make both of those items out of our tent... (Mission Accepted!). 

Wishing everyone a happy 4th of July (if you celebrate it)! 

Cilantro Lime Sweet Potatoes

Published May 17, 2018 by Caitlin Sherwood

Serves: 4   |    Total Time: 15-20 minutes

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Ingredients:

• 1 teaspoon coconut oil
• 1 medium sweet potatoe
• 1 red bell peppers
• 1/2 red onion
• 2 cloves garlic
• Juice from 1/2 a lime
• 1/4 cup cilantro leaves, minced
• 1/8 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1/8 teaspoon ground paprika
• 1/4 teaspoon ground chile powder
• Dash of ground cayenne
• Salt & pepper to taste
• Optional, for serving: avocado and a fried egg

Directions:

1. Mince the garlic and slice the onion and wash and cube the potato. Dice the bell peppers and remove seeds.
2. In a 10-inch skillet, heat coconut oil over medium heat. Once the oil is hot, add the garlic, onions, pepper and sweet potatoes. Stir and cover pan, reducing heat to medium-low.
3. After 5 minutes, stir the potatoes again. Add the spices and salt. Allow to cook for 10-12 more minutes, until sweet potatoes are cooked through and browned on the outside. Squeeze the lime juice into the pan. Toss the potatoes to coat. Remove from heat and stir in cilantro leaves.
4. Serve how with a fried egg and avocado or as a dinner side.

Seared & Curried Eggplant (Paleo & Vegan)

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I wasn't going to post this recipe today. I was going to post a recipe for a gorgeous chia pudding with berries and bananas. Very red, white and blue, you know. Thing is, I just couldn't get myself excited about it. It was great, it was fine, but it felt so ho-hum sitting next to this recipe. Now this recipe--this has flavor. This gets me excited. 

Eggplant? Exciting? Yea, you heard me. If you had asked me a few years ago if eggplant was exciting, I would have laughed. The first thing that would have come to mind is that slimy Eggplant Parmesan with soggy breading that we all know and hate (some Eggplant Parmesan is delicious, but the bad versions are quite bad). 

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I don't know when I first tried Baingan Bharta (Eggplany Curry), but it's the dish that redefined eggplant for me. 

I've had this dish in all sort of ways: some people puree the eggplant after cooking it, some people leave it chunkier. Some people serve it with more of a sauce, and some keep it simple.  I have enjoyed them all but none as much as when they're like this: the eggplant is seared, almost crispy on the outside and not at all soggy. The spices are blended with only a bit of tomato, so as not to overwhelm the dish, and it's loaded with heat. 

Recently I was listening to a radio show on NPR about Picky Eaters, and how kid's learn their eating habits. You know when you arrive at your destination and you just want to going around the block a few more times to finish listening to your show? It was one of those. I've always attributed my willingness to eat just about anything to my dad: when I was a kid, he had my try new things every week (this also probably played a role in turning me into such a foodie!). This show, however, explained why kids have different tastes than their parents: their tastebuds are still young and sensitive. I guess my tastebuds finally "matured" enough to like eggplant. ;) 

The moral of the entire interview? Try everything ten times. At least ten times. Try cooking it different ways, and try serving it with different things. One of them, you're sure to like! 

Seared & Curried Eggplant

Published May 7, 2015 by Caitlin Sherwood

Serves: 4-6   |    Active Time: 30 minutes

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Ingredients:

2 teaspoons coconut oil

1/2 onion, diced

2 garlic cloves, minced

1-inch nob ginger, minced

2 eggplants, diced into bite-sized pieces

2 roma tomatoes, diced

1 jalapeño, minced

1 teaspoon ground cumin

1 teaspoon whole black mustard seed

1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper

1 teaspoon ground coriander

1/4 teaspoon whole fennel seeds

2 teaspoons curry powder

1/4 teaspoon turmeric

1/8 teaspoon cardamom

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/4 cup cilantro, minced

Optional, for serving: spicy chili peppers, if you like your curry really hot

Directions:

1. Heat the coconut oil over medium heat in a skillet. Once hot, add the onion, garlic, ginger, and jalapeño. Sauté.
2. When the onions are translucent, add the tomatoes to the pan, giving everything a stir.
3. Add the diced eggplant to the skillet, stirring into the onion mixture. Sprinkle salt over top, and stir in (this helps draw out the natural juices). Increase the heat a small amount, to medium-high. Stir occasionally, giving the eggplant time to sear on each side.
4. When the eggplant is softened through an browning in some places, add the spices and minced cilantro.
5. The eggplant is done when it’s completely softened through and browned on some of the sides. Remove from heat and serve hot over rice or as a side dish with One-Pan Beef Korma or Slow Cooker Kashmiri Curry Leg of Lamb.