Grilled Romaine Salad

ingredients (listed as 'per person')

• 1 slice bacon
• 1/2 onion, chopped
• 1/2 head of romaine, cut lengthwise
• extra virgin olive oil
• feta or blue cheese crumbles
• 1/4 cup Nan's Fig Balsamic Vinegar
• pat of butter

Chop bacon into small pieces, and combine with onions in a fry pan over medium heat. Once cooked, add fig balsamic vinegar, lower heat and simmer for a few minutes. (Take care here, as balsamic vinegar can burn easily). When it has reduced slightly, remove from heat and add the pat of butter. Stir to combine.

Have the heads of romaine cut lengthwise so they are held together by the stem. Brush with olive oil and place cut-side down on hot grill. When charred and slightly wilted, remove from heat and place on platter cut-side up. Spoon balsamic mixture over the the top. Sprinkle with the crumbled cheese. Enjoy!

Alternatively, this recipe is equally delicious using our Traditional Barrel-Aged Vinegar!

Curry Mustard Dip

 

This dip has been a part of Nan's Christmas Eve celebration for years. It is delicious with any type of raw vegetables. Our favorites are cauliflower, carrots, celery and red pepper. We do allow the pretzels to participate, however...

ingredients:

• 1 part mayonnaise (alternatively, this can be made with sour cream)
• 1 part Exotic Ginger Curry Mustard Blend

Mix mustard & mayonnaise in a small bowl. Add salt and pepper to taste. You may wish to adjust seasonings or with more curry mustard. We recommend making this in advance and allowing flavors to meld in the refrigerator for a least an hour or two.

Serve with fresh cut raw veggies of your choice, and/or pretzels.

Fig Balsamic Caprese Salad

 

ingredients:

• 1 firm tomato per person (heirloom preferred)
• fresh mozzarella
• Nan's Fig Balsamic Vinegar
• fresh basil leaves

Wash tomatoes and cut into thin (1/4 inch) even slices. Similarly slice the mozzarella. Pat both dry with paper towels to dry them just a bit.

Place tomato slices on individual plates or a serving platter and cover with cheese slice, slightly offset. Take a whole basil leaf or slice into ribbons and place on top. Drizzle with fig balsamic and finish with a small amount of salt and freshly ground pepper.

Sriracha Mango Chicken Sauté

 An awesome customer of ours was kind enough to share her recent creation using our Sriracha Mango White Balsamic Vinegar. She even sent a tasty looking picture!

If you are looking to recreate this, here is Deborah’s guide:

ingredients:

• 2 chicken breasts
• equal parts: sweet potato, red bell pepper, onion, fresh mango - ½ inch dice
• 2 teaspoons garlic powder (or to taste)
• 2 teaspoons ginger powder (or to taste) 
• half bottle (3 ounces) Nan's Sriracha Mango White Balsamic
• corn starch to thicken
• salt & pepper to taste

Pat chicken dry, and salt & pepper both sides of the breasts. Brown and cook in a sauté pan with some olive oil 3 to 4 minutes per side until cooked through and set aside. Coat fruit/veg dice with the garlic and ginger powder and sauté using the same pan.  Deborah added about a ½ cup + of water with some corn starch while simmering.  Cook for about 8 minutes at medium heat. Add Sriracha Mango White Balsamic. Dice the chicken and add back to the pan. Heat through.

Serve over brown rice, if desired.

Hexclad pan optional (but I want one!)

Thank you for sharing, Deborah Johnson!

An Easy Summer Cucumber & Tomato Salad

Summer cooking fits this free-form and easy salad which goes well with any main dish. In cooking, we think of ‘free-form’ as something where measuring is not essential, and the ingredients can be varied. In this case, we had a leftover red onion half, some basil leaves and fresh mozzarella (a rare event in Nan’s Test Kitchen), so it became an easy, healthy and tasty salad!

We have also made a version of this salad with our Passion Fruit White Balsamic Vinegar. The Passion Fruit marries well with both tomatoes and basil and gives a tropical summer flair.

Again, this is one of those recipes where more or less is fine - feel free to increase, decrease or change the quantities depending on your taste and what you have on hand.

ingredients

• 1 cucumber, quartered lengthwise and sliced thin
• 1 ½ cups cherry tomatoes, halved
• 8 ounces fresh mozzarella, ½ inch cube
• ½ cup red onion, thin slices
• salt & freshly ground black pepper
• 5 to 10 basil leaves, chiffonade
• Nan's Basil Pesto Olive Oil, to taste (about 2 tbs)
• Nan's Barrel-Aged Balsamic Vinegar, to taste (about 2 tbs)
  
  

Prepare and combine first four ingredients in a large salad bowl. Sprinkle with salt and freshly ground black pepper. Add the slivered basil and mix to combine. Drizzle with the basil pesto oil and combine. Finally, drizzle the balsamic vinegar, and combine once more. Allow to stand in the fridge for an hour before serving for the flavors to meld.

Serves 4 as a side salad.