This is the first weekend—in what feels like many weekends—that I have nothing to do. No one to visit. No doctor’s appointments to keep. No festivals to attend. No dinner parties. Nothing.
I don’t even have a book I’m close to finishing that, hence, would take up all my time. No crazy, laborious recipe scheduled into my weekend. No real reason to even make a blog post. But hey, lets not go crazy. I’m not going to forget about my ol’ Cav and Cod just ’cause I got a case of the lazies.
So here’s a recipe for your lazy weekend—and if you live in the Northeast, with all this glum and gloom weather today, you know what I’m talking about. Go ahead, get into your pajamas. Sit on the couch with a cup of tea. Do nothing today. I promise it will feel great.
And then, when you do feel like getting off the couch for a few minutes, throw together this salad. It’s quick, it’s colorful, it’s amazing. The mangos are a perfect component to erase any ill-feelings you have about tomatoes right now (because oh, my, god, when is it ever going to be tomato season again, it should be now!) and they work so harmoniously with watercress’s stringent quality. And, even if you think that the dressing seems just a bit too intense to work (1 tablespoon fish sauce!) or that there’s too many herbs, follow the directions exactly and trust me—it works.
Mango and Watercress Salad
serves 2-4//adapted from Gourmet
For Dressing:
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 1/2 tablespoons Asian sesame oil
1/4 cup fresh lime juice
1 tablespoon Asian fish sauce
1-2 tablespoons sugar
2 dashes hot sauce such as Tabasco
Freshly ground white pepper to tasteFor Salad:
3/4 lb watercress, coarse stems discarded (about 6 cups loosely packed)
1 3/4 cups thinly sliced Napa cabbage (from 1 head) *
1 (1- to 1 1/2-lb) firm-ripe mango, peeled, pitted, and cut into 1/2-inch dice
1/2 cup coarsely grated carrot
1/4 cup torn fresh cilantro leaves
1/4 cup torn fresh basil leaves
1/4 cup torn fresh mint leavesWhisk together all dressing ingredients in a small bowl, then whisk in salt to taste.
Gently toss all salad ingredients together in a bowl. Add just enough dressing to coat, then serve immediately.
* The easiest way to do this is with a mandoline. Set it to the thinnest slice and the cabbage slices will be the perfect thinness.
Sounds like fun, lounging in the P.J.s all day long! … err … guess I should go buy some … 😉
That salad looks nice and fresh and good. I like the use of the mango in the salad.
Oh what I wouldn’t give right now for a day of lounging in my PJ’s but with 2 young ones it is just not to be!!! That salad looks great though. Nice, fresh and sunny!
Looks so light and refreshing. And I agree, saturdays are best spent in PJ’s.
Ah, the good old days before kids. Enjoy your PJ days while you can!
P.S. The salad looks delish!
What a perfect Saturday! I’d be lounging around in jammies and baking up dozens of cookies… that would be my perfect Saturday!
I absolutely love watercress when it’s at it’s greenest and freshest. It’s hard to find good bunches of it around here. I’ll keep this salad recipe for when I find a good bunch 🙂
Gorgeous salad! I usually have my watercress salad quite plain with a spicy dressing, but this sounds like an interesting new way to dry it!
What a perfect-sounding weekend! And that salad… mmmmmm!
That’s my kind of day, and my kind of salad. If I could stay all day, every single day, with my pjs (not the same one of course 😉 I would.
I trust you completely on this one, Robin. If you say 1 tbsp, 1 tbsp it is.
yesterday was like that for me. total relaxation for the first time in a long time. I’m glad you got to have a weekend like that, after all your stresses lately.
pretty salad too. 😉
How refreshing! I so want a day to do nothing!
those are the absolute best weekends. I haven’t had one of those in far, far too long! Perhaps I should take inspiration from you Robin 🙂
I’m jealous! It has been so long since we have had a weekend like that. They are so worth the wait when they happen though, but always go by too fast!
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