My friend Sorchia DuBois, author of Zoraida Grey and the Family Stones, has a light bright salad and dressing to share.
Sorchia has a unique twist on this lighter fare. She calls it The Writer’s Scotch and Salad Diet. She'll tell you about it herself so read on.
About Sorchia DuBois
Award-winning author Sorchia Dubois lives in the piney forest of the Missouri Ozarks with 7 cats, 2 fish, 1 dog, and 1 husband. She enjoys a wee splash of single-malt Scotch from time to time and she spends a number of hours each day tapping out paranormal romance, Gothic murder, and Scottish thrillers.
A proud member of the Ross clan, Sorchia incorporates all things Celtic (especially Scottish) into her works. She can often be found at Scottish festivals watching kilted men toss large objects for no apparent reason.
Her stories blend legends, magic, mystery, romance, and adventure into enchanted Celtic knots. Halloween is her favorite time of year (she starts decorating in August and doesn’t take it down until February), and her characters tend to be mouthy, stubborn, and a bit foolhardy.
Nothing makes her happier than long conversations in the evening, trips to interesting places, and writing until the wee hours of the morning. Well, chocolate cake makes her pretty happy, too.
Visit Sorchia Online
Blog/Website * Twitter * Pinterest * Facebook * Amazon Author Page * Goodreads Author Page * Google +
by Sorchia DuBois
Well, we’ve gorged on roast beast or fowl and we’ve stowed the left-overs or sent them home with departing guests. It’s time for something light and healthy, with a restorative splash to wash it down.
I do a little thing on my blog, Sorchia’s Universe called The Writer’s Scotch and Salad Diet. It consists of a salad recipe with a suggestion for a Scotch to accompany it. (Spoiler: the preferred Scotch is always my favorite though I may mention another kind just to be nice. It’s also the favorite Scotch of most of my characters.)
In my little town, fresh ingredients are hard to come by unless I grow them myself, but the Produce Nazis at my local store slipped up. I found all the bits and bobs to make this salad and dressing.
The Salad
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You’ll need fresh spinach, strawberries, fresh parsley, fresh cilantro—a bit of feta cheese would be nice.
It is a good practice to add protein to the carbs—even though these are good carbs—to balance out the nutrients. You can add cheeses or sunflower seeds to accomplish that in this salad.
To rinse veggies and fruit from the store, soak for fifteen minutes to half an hour in water with about a quarter cup of white vinegar. This helps get rid of any lingering bacteria that may have accumulated on the stuff as it was picked, shipped, and processed in the dingy backroom of the grocery store.
I don’t recommend dried parsley or cilantro, though, in a pinch, I suppose it would be better than nothing.
I used a good handful of curly parsley, chopped with my hand-dandy herb chopper. I like cilantro, so I use about half a handful of that, but it will make it pretty cilantro-ey so if you don’t like cilantro, use less or leave it out altogether. You can add just a little mint if you prefer––with or without the cilantro.
Drain and tear the spinach into pieces. Slice the strawberries. Chop the cilantro and parsley. Toss them all together.
You’ll need white wine vinegar, honey, fennel seed, poppy seed, pepper, olive oil, celery seed, and salt.
Start with a half cup of white wine vinegar, a quarter cup of olive oil, two tablespoons of honey. Add spices to taste—you can see the proportions I used in this bowl--about a teaspoon of each. Mix and let sit for at least half an hour. Don’t refrigerate—let the flavors mix at room temperature. Add more of everything, depending on preference. A little more honey is nice. This dressing would be good with fruit salad, too.
For this salad, I prefer to add the dressing at serving time. The thing about homemade dressing—besides the fact that it contains no preservatives or sugar—is that it won’t be mixed as well as the processed dressings.
I put it out in the bowl in which I mix it with a small ladle. You can stir and dip to get a good portion of all the goodies.
The ScotchA Speyside Scotch like a light Glenlivet or a sweet and fruity Macallan would be good. Okay, I just said that to be generous. As far as I’m concerned, no other Scotch exists besides my favorite Laphroaig.
Though I consider it sunshine in a bottle, this peated beast isn’t for everyone. Even those of us who love it describe it like this: “Its like drinking the sweat from Santa's Boot after Christmas Eve” or “like the kiss of a bearded mermaid.”
The Toast
Always toast. Here's one for this occasion.
May all of your herbs be fresh and all of your strawberries sweet, and may the Produce Nazis lose your trail in the snow.
(Book 2: Zoraida Grey and the Voodoo Queen is coming soon!)
Granny’s dying, but Zoraida can save her with a magic crystal of smoky quartz. Too bad the crystal is in Scotland––in a haunted castle––guarded by mind-reading, psychopathic sorcerers.
Getting inside Castle Logan is easy. Getting out––not so much. Before she can snatch the stone, Zoraida stumbles into a family feud, uncovers a wicked ancient curse, and finds herself ensorcelled by not one but two handsome Scottish witches.
Up to their necks in family intrigue and smack-dab in the middle of a simmering clan war, Zoraida and her best friend Zhu discover Granny hasn’t told them everything.
Not by a long shot.
Add Zoraida Grey and the Family Stones to Your Library. You'll find it at: Barnes and Noble * Amazon * Kobo * Wild Rose Press.
Takeaway Truth
Since I like Scotch, I'm going to try this salad and Scotch tonight. Try Sorchia's latest book for after-dinner entertainment.
Thanks so much for hosting me, Joan. Enjoy your Scotch and salad.
ReplyDeleteMy pleasure, Sorchia. Loved your post.
ReplyDelete