Imagine Academy recently held its first salad tasting event in the home of Vivian and Hymie Gindi. The focus of the event was to promote the upcoming, long awaited, hard covered “Salad Cookbook, Greens and Grains.”
Although the streets were covered with ice and snow, it was a packed house. The table was set with a gorgeous array of 20 salads, prepared by talented community chefs and are featured in the new cookbook along with a collection of over 100 other amazing salad recipes.
Community members came and went all day long, sampling each of the salads and voted for the one they liked best. Two salads were so good that they tied for first place. They were Jacqueline Chehebar’s Asian Mushroom Salad, and Elaine Serure’s Colorful Quinoa Salad. The second place winner was Sheila Gindi’s arugula, pomegranate and fig salad.
Delicious lunches were served, graciously donated by Pomegranate. Fresh fruit juices were donated by Ouri’s fruit market, and Fuji Hana donated their signature salad dressing. A special thank you to Victoria Mamiye and Danielle Massry for providing delicious, homemade veggie burgers. They were a hit! The Chinese Auction, featuring stunning prizes, created a lot of excitement.
Three fabulous demonstrations were the highlight of the event. Patty Baum taught the art of preparing homemade gnocchi, Claudia Bildiricci dazzled everyone with her tissue thin chocolate babka, and finally, Elliot Chrem amazed all the guests with his five 1-minute salad dressings, which are included in the cookbook.
All of the salads in the cookbook were meticulously prepared by the fabulous women of our community. Photo shoots have been taking place in kitchens throughout the community. The spectacular photos of each salad are the result of the styling talents of Elliot Chrem and the magical photography of Morris Gindi. Their combined efforts transformed the recipes into works of art!
The highly anticipated book launch of “Greens and Grains” will take place this summer, at Imagine Academy’s Annual Summer Event. Here is a preview of one of the delicious recipes.
[tabs]
[thead]
[tab class=”active” type=”tab” href=”#dws_first_tab12″ title=”Forbidden Rice Salad with Chopped Vegetables”]
[/thead][tcontents]
[tcontent class=”active” id=”dws_first_tab12″] 
Ingredients
• 1½ cups forbidden rice (prepared according to package directions)
• 1½ cups chopped red pepper
• 1 ½ cups chopped yellow pepper
• 1 ½ cups chopped cucumber
• 1 small red onion
• 1 mango, peeled and chopped Dressing
• ½ cup unseasoned rice vinegar
• ¼ cup olive oil
• 2 tablespoons soy sauce
• 1½ tablespoons pure maple syrup 1½ teaspoons toasted sesame oil
• ¼ teaspoon fresh ginger (optional)
Directions
Combine rice and vegetables. In a separate bowl, whisk together dressing ingredients and pour over rice mixture. Adjust seasoning. Spread rice onto serving platter. Pour ½ the dressing over rice. Arrange vegetables in strips over the rice and pour in remaining dressing. Serve.[/tcontent]
[/tcontents]
[/tabs]
