side salad

we had a fun week/weekend entertaining the in-laws and are still recovering from all the food and wine we managed to consume in a short amount of time. despite the snowy weather we had some great dinners here and here. we decided to cook at home one cozy night and this side dish was the perfect addition to grilled lamb chops, garlic bread, spinach salad and roasted asparagus. it's a very easy bean salad from this awesome cookbook. hope you enjoy it as much as we did! off to see if this has opened yet and very excited for this show tonight!

White Bean Salad

serves 6-8

1 tbs minced shallot

1 tsp dijon mustard

3/4 tsp salt

1/4 tsp ground pepper

1/4 tsp worcestershire sauce

2 1/2 tbs red wine vinegar

2 tbs fresh lemon juice

3/4 cup olive oil

3 15-oz cans cannellini beans, drained

1/2 cup chopped red onion

1/2 cup chopped parsley

1/4 cup chopped dill, mint or basil

3 green onions, chopped

combine shallot, mustard, salt, pepper, worcestershire, vinegar, lemon juice and oil in a small bowl and whisk to combine. in a large bowl, toss beans, onion, herbs and green onion with vinaigrette and season with salt and pepper to taste. serve immediately or refrigerate.

herbs & nuts

i'm not exactly sure if pesto has to be made with basil & pine nuts to be called pesto but you can really make it with all kinds of other herb & nut combinations and it's equally as amazing. for this recipe i didn't have quite enough spinach so i threw in a little parsley too. one of my favorite vessels for pesto is farro (a nutty italian grain) - try it with pesto and roasted butternut squash! here are two recipes from the photo - pesto farro and a really easy yogurt sauce that's perfect on salmon. enjoy!

Farro with Spinach Pesto

1 cup spinach

1 cup parsley

4 cloves garlic

1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese

juice of 1 lemon

1/4 cup walnuts, toasted & cooled

1/4 cup olive oil

1 lb farro

3 cups chicken broth

in a food processor, combine spinach, parsley, garlic, cheese, lemon and walnuts. pulse a few times and then slowly add oil while running. cook farro with chicken broth and 2 cups of water, simmering for 20 minutes. toss warm farro with desired amount of pesto.

Yogurt & Dill Sauce

1 cup greek yogurt

3 tbs dill, chopped

2 tsp lemon zest

1 tsp olive oil

salt & pepper to taste

combine all ingredients and serve with baked, grilled or pan fried salmon.