Monday, June 14, 2010

Hot Weather Dinner

It has been hot here, near 90 on Saturday, and I haven't felt like cooking much. Luckily, we were invited to brunch at our friends, Jon & Augusta's house on Sunday and were in for a treat. Not only was it cooler at their place but they have a lovely shaded yard with a nice breeze. Brunch was equally lovely; pasta with fresh tomatoes and basil tossed with brie, roast chicken and a crisp green salad with red and yellow bell peppers. We sipped champagne under the trees with our hosts and Duke, Jan, Eric and Cindy and felt a million miles away from the heat. I wanted something light and cool for dinner and decided on one of my quick and easy favorites with minimal cooking. This is not really a recipe but a salad idea. It's great alone or if you didn't have a nice brunch like we did, some crusty bread would round it out nicely.

Crab & Shrimp Salad

1/4 lb. fresh crab meat
1/4 lb. small cooked shrimp
1 avocado, chopped
1 egg, boiled & chopped
3 pieces bacon, crisply cooked and chopped
1 head romaine lettuce, torn into bite size pieces
2 green onions, chopped

Vinaigrette

1/8 cup olive oil
2 tablespoons champagne vinegar
1 small garlic clove, pressed
1/2 teaspoon Dijon mustard
1/4 teaspoon anchovy paste
kosher salt & freshly ground pepper to taste

Combine the ingredients for the salad. Mix together the vinaigrette. Mike likes Thousand Island on this salad but I prefer the vinaigrette. I didn't have a cucumber or bell pepper but would have added them if I did. Feel free to add your salad favorites.

By 7:30 it had cooled down and we ate outside. It was heavenly. We just needed Abigail to complete the picture but she's in Amsterdam eating french fries with peanut sauce. Super bomb apparently.

Enjoy!

1 comment:

  1. We must have been on the same wavelength because we had crab salad 'quesadillas' last night for the very same reason... I was tired and it was just too darn hot to think of anything else! Your salad sounds delicious!

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