Seasonal Salads with Marcella

We welcomed Marcella Paraskevas Ramirez from NJ to the tea room this week as our guest chef instructor. As a Personal chef, she tailors special diets suitable for vegan, vegetarian, gluten free, allergies, macrobiotic diets, etc. For our event, she shared creative healthy salads representing the four seasons and demonstrated assorted dressings to sample with them. In addition to her culinary skills as a chef, she is a holistic practitioner and consultant for humans and animals specializing in aromatherapy, Bach Flower Remedies, and clinical herbalism.

The Spring Salad featured spring greens and edible flowers. The edible flowers were harvested from our herb garden and included rose petals, white violets, horseradish blossoms, sage blossoms, and pansies, all organic pesticide free of course. A rice vinegar and oil combination with fresh ginger comprised the dressing and a delicious homemade artisan bread was served alongside this pretty salad.

The Farmer's Market Salad with a Tomato Basil Vinaigrette represented Summer. Veggies such as zucchini, yellow squash, radishes, shallots, and cherry tomatoes all topped with feta cheese completed the plate. A creamy cilantro dressing was offered to complement this salad.

Celebrating Autumn, Marcella's Fiesta Salad was served. This salad included a combination of cucumber, sweet orange peppers, onion, garlic, jalapeno, corn, tomatoes, and black beans. Soaked cashews, blended with avocado, cilantro and coconut milk created a nice thick creamy flavorful topping. For a lighter dressing, rice vinegar, lime juice, olive oil and a combination of spices (cumin and cayenne) were blended together to create an alternative choice.

The winter salad featured kale and mixed greens with a Ginger Carrot Dressing. It was an evening of flavors to sample! Tastebuds were dancing all night long! A special thank you to Marcella for sharing her enthusiasm, knowledge, humor, and culinary talents with our group.