Arugula Nectarine Salad

I've been feeling summery. Walking up and down Sacramento St. in sandals and skirt during today's sidewalk sale, enjoying live jazz music, a roving magician, and friendly purveyors of goods - all I could think about was a salad, but a special salad. I'd procured a beautiful, local finishing olive oil from March Pantry during today's festivities, and then picked up a bottle of chilled Grgich Fumé Blanc from Wine Impressions. I let these purchases inform my choices at the market. Some baby arugula - I knew just the dressing to make! - and a nectarine; even if they're not quite perfect, yet, my mood insisted. And I built from there.

Now I know plenty of anti-arugula naysayers, who claim the leaf is too bitter for a salad. To them I say two things: 1. BABY arugula, and 2. Dress it right. I used what I remembered from a Cook's Illustrated recipe for an arugula salad with oranges and radishes. It's a simple dressing with a lime juice base. The light tartness compliments the arugula to mask any bitterness. Pair that with the sweetness of nectarine and chevre, toasty pine nuts, and grassy olive oil - well, that's summer right there.

Arugula Nectarine Salad

Serves 2 as an entrée, 4 as a side salad. Multiplies well for a larger group.

4 cups baby arugula
Juice of 2 limes
1/2 tsp ground coriander
2 Tbs pine nuts
Salt and fresh ground pepper
1 small dollop dijon mustard
3T high quality extra virgin olive oil, separated
1 nectarine, sliced thin
2oz. chevre or other mild goat cheese
Cilantro (optional)

Toast coriander in a small, dry pan over medium high heat until fragrant, about 30 seconds to a minute. Add to lime juice. Wipe out pan and return to heat. Toast pine nuts in pan for a couple minutes until golden brown, stirring often. Set aside. Into the lime juice and coriander, whisk dijon, salt, and fresh ground pepper to taste. Slowly add 1 tablespoon of the olive oil, whisking constantly.* Toss arugula with the dressing and divide evenly between individual plates. Top each mound of greens with a portion of nectarine slices, toasted pine nuts, and dots of chevre. Sprinkle with coarsely ground sea salt and pepper. Finish with a drizzle of the remaining olive oil and a few ripped up cilantro leaves.

*For me, the beauty of this combination is the tartness of the lime juice. If someone is overly sensitive to sour flavors (like the husband man), try whisking in a bit of honey to taste before adding the olive oil.

Roasted Sweet Potato Tacos with Lime Crema

I'm just pleased as punch with myself right now. It's kind of disgusting how proud of myself I am over this recipe. These are just about the best darn tacos I've ever made, and I would put them up against just about any restaurant's.

As you may know, I'm participating in a 500 Taco Summer (though I'm expecting my number to be just upwards of 100). Tacos can be surprisingly cheap, easy, and healthy to make at home, so I've prepared most of the 30 I've eaten so far myself. I wanted to experiment with more vegetable varieties and remembered some yam tacos I loved at a Seattle Mexican joint, Agua Verde. They may have been the only decent thing on the menu, but they were very good. I figured I could make my own version. And boy did I ever!

I started with some tips from Cook's Country on successfully roasting sweet potatoes and tweaked it for my needs. They suggest double roasting sweet potato wedges - first on a rack at a lower temperature, then on a preheated cookie sheet at a high temperature. I adjusted the time for smaller pieces better to fill tacos and created my own seasoning mix. Then I threw together a lime crema that is so slurpilicious you'll want to eat it out of the bowl with a spoon.

As for the cheese, I tried mine with both queso fresco and cotija. Both were excellent, but I liked the salty squeak of the cotija a little better with the sweetness of the potatoes. If you can't find cotija at your local grocer, try substituting queso fresco, feta, ricotta salata, or cheese curd crumbles. This recipe makes four tacos, enough for two people. It doubles easily.

Roasted Sweet Potato Tacos with Lime Crema

Roasted Cumin Sweet Potato filling:
2 small sweet potatoes (about a pound), any color, peeled
1  1/2 tsp vegetable oil
1 tsp sugar
1/2 tsp seasoned salt
1/8 tsp black pepper
 3/4 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp chile powder, mild


Preheat oven to 325 with rack set to middle position. Chop sweet potatoes into chunks just larger than bite-sized (they will shrink upon roasting). Arrange chunks on wire rack set inside rimmed baking sheet.

I used one yellow sweet potato and one orange. Purple would work great, too.

Bake until just tender, about 20-25 minutes. Meanwhile, combine sugar, seasoned salt, black pepper, cumin, garlic powder, and chile powder in a small bowl. Remove potatoes from oven and increase heat to 425. Wipe off baking sheet and return, empty, to oven to preheat. Cool potatoes on wire rack for a few minutes.


In a large bowl, gently toss potatoes with oil and seasoning mix until evenly coated. Remove heated baking sheet from the oven and arrange potatoes in a single layer. Roast, flipping once, until browned, about 12 minutes.

Lime Crema:

1 cup sour cream
1/4 cup chopped cilantro
2 Tbspn fresh lime juice
2 tsp fresh lime zest
2 cloves garlic, crushed
1/2 tsp salt

Blend all crema ingredients together in a medium bowl. Makes a full cup of crema. Refrigerate leftovers.

For the tacos:

4 corn tortillas

Roasted Cumin Sweet Potato filling

2 ounces cotija cheese

4 Tblsp Lime Crema

Front taco topped with crumbled cotija. Back taco topped with chopped queso fresco.

Heat tortillas on both sides in a dry skillet over medium heat. Divide sweet potato filling evenly between tortillas. Top with crumbled cotija cheese and lime crema.

Easy Carne Asada Tacos

Tonight I used a cheap cut of meat and a simple marinade to bring the taqueria to me.

Tequila Lime Carne Asada

1/4 cup fresh lime juice
2 Tblspn tequila
2 garlic cloves, pressed or minced
1 tsp salt
few dashes Cholula or other hot sauce
1/2 lb. affordable steak (I used a boneless crossrib steak, but other cuts would work, too)
fresh ground black pepper

Mix together first five ingredients. Prick holes in the steak with a fork. Pour the tequila lime mixture over the steak and marinate for a 2-4 hours, turning occasionally if necessary to ensure full coverage. Preheat countertop grill to 400. Sprinkle steak with fresh ground black pepper and grill for about 5 minutes. Chop into bite sized pieces. Divide between warm taco-sized tortillas and top as desired. Pictured above with pico de gallo and guacamole. Makes 4 small tacos (or two, if you fill them with as much meat as the husband man would).

The lime and alcohol not only added great flavor, but helped make my affordable protein incredibly tender. This would also make a great filling in other favorite taqueria dishes, like quesadillas or burritos. I plan on using what was leftover after my two tacos as a topping for nachos tomorrow.

And I did it all with a few simple ingredients I had on hand.