by Scott Ingenito

If you’re like most people, rainy dreary days get you in a relaxed, reflective mood. I found myself today staring out the window at work (as I do most days) reflecting on the things in my life. To this point, 31 years on this planet, numerous jobs and careers in different areas- but the one thing I found myself reflecting on most was cooking, my newest venture in life. Although I’ve been cooking most of my life it has only been since this past september that I decided to take my passion for the culinary realm and try to give it “ the old college try”.  It has been about eight months now since I started my forward momentum, seven months since I launched this blog, 6 weeks into my culinary certificate in college, and only two weeks into my apprenticeship at the restaurant. I found myself sitting back and smiling, realizing that this really is a true passion of mine, the only thing in life I have this type of passion for is playing drums, which I have been doing for 26 years now. That passion has taken me all over the United States, Canada and also scored me a recording contract, a success that has filled my life with great accomplishment, and although I still play drums and create music with my band, I now hope to have a budding career as a chef. Like drumming, Cooking is one of the oldest arts. In so many ways similar to art or music; it is the tearing down of the natural things around us, that are then broken down even more, rendered and transformed to create something to be consumed again and returned- it is the gift that gives back over and over again. It’s the scent of creation in the kitchen, the friends and family that gather to share good food and conversation that fuel the passion for cooking inside me, and as I have said before; “ great food leads to great conversation “

With that being said, What better to do on a rainy day than cook?  Cook with friends… I have off from school, and got off work early, and my friend Steve also had off. He has been impressed with some of the recipes I have been testing out and having him try in school and my test kitchen.  As a vegetarian and someone who has been trying to be extra health conscious, I have been experimenting and coming up with some great healthy recipes for salads. Steve recently expressed and interest in learning some ways to make these salads and add them to his diet. We both are health conscious, work hard, study in college, and train in Mixed Martial Arts, so eating healthy is a must for people with such busy schedules.

Steve (left), Scott (right) in the kitchen

I came up with a few great, healthy recipes, I gave him a shopping list, and then grabbed my knife kit, some supplies and headed over to his house. Here is what I worked on with him:

5 healthy salads, easy to make, just fresh ingredients & quality spices,

Roasted Edamame Salad

Ingredients

12 ounces fresh or frozen shelled edamame, about 2 cups

1/2 cup fresh corn kernels, about 2 ears of corn

1/4 cup finely diced scallion

1 clove garlic, minced

1 tablespoon olive oil

3/4 teaspoon kosher salt

1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

1 cup chopped fresh tomato

1/4 cup chopped fresh basil leaves

1 tablespoon red wine vinegar

Directions

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.

Place the edamame, corn, scallion, garlic, olive oil, salt and pepper into a 13 by 9 metal pan and stir to combine. Place on the middle rack of the oven and roast for 10 to 15 minutes, just until the edamame begins to brown. Remove from the oven and place in the refrigerator until completely cool, approximately 30 minutes.

Add the tomato, basil and vinegar to the edamame mixture and toss to combine. Taste and adjust seasoning, as desired. Serve chilled or at room temperature.

Barley Lentil salad

by Scott Ingenito

Ingredients

2/3 cup pearl barley

2/3 cup green lentil

1/3 cup green onion, finely sliced (or chives or red onion)

2 Roma tomatoes diced small

Dressing

3 tablespoons lemon juice

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 garlic clove, minced (or as much garlic as you can stand)

3 teaspoon ground cumin

2teaspoon salt

pepper, to taste

2 tbsp red wine vinegar

1 tbsp olive oil

2 tsp celery seed

2 tsp smoked paprika

Directions

In a large pot, wash and rinse the barley and lentils. Fill pot with a lot of water, and bring to a boil. Once boiling, reduce the heat and boil until cooked – 45 minutes to an hour. Drain and rinse with cool water.

Transfer to a salad bowl and toss with the onions/chives.

Combine all the dressing ingredients, then add to the lentil-barley-onion mixture, stirring until well combined.

Macaroni salad

The seal of approval from Steve

1 lb of whole grain elbow macaroni

1 red pepper diced

fresh chopped parsley

1/2 shallot minced

1 cup of mayo

Red wine vinegar

Salt & pepper

Garlic

Mediterranean Tomato salad

3 tomatoes

1 english cucumber

Feta cheese

Black or kalamata Olives

Salt & pepper

Balsamic vinegar

olive oil

Basil

Sweet & Savory Slaw

1 head of purple cabbage

1 head of standard cabbage

1 bag of long carrots

1 cup of mayo

2 tbsp of sugar

2 tbsp of white distilled vinegar

Salt & pepper