A Pail Greek Salad To Go With Road Kill. (It's Mostly a Juicy Story With A Little Dryness Here and There.)steemCreated with Sketch.

in #food7 years ago (edited)

Last week I was the guest judge for the 32nd week of the Steemit Culinary Challenge. All the entries were great fun and they looked and read deliciously.

One of the entries was submitted by fellow Steemian @rouketas. If you missed his post you can view it here:

https://steemit.com/food/@rouketas/steemit-culinary-challenge-32-mediterranean-outdoors-grande-bouffe-with-bikini-bottom-burger#@rouketas/re-rebeccaryan-re-rouketas-steemit-culinary-challenge-32-mediterranean-outdoors-grande-bouffe-with-bikini-bottom-burger-20170629t103307406z

He made several delectables as part of his offering but what I was most intrigued about was his fresh watermelon, feta cheese salad with mint and black sesame seeds. It just looked refreshing and like it would be the perfect accompaniment to any main dish or other salad selections that might be served on a hot summer's day.

On Sunday morning, @knarly327 and I received a dinner invitation for later that afternoon. It was an impromptu kind of affair. Both our hostess and host are good cooks and they both really enjoy cooking and entertaining. Their love of good company and their ability to provide genuine hospitality, is second to none.

I love being invited to dine at their table because they are always trying new recipes and they prefer to prepare everything from scratch.

This afternoon was no exception and this is where the drier part of the story starts:

A few months back, our host had been driving along (not far from where we all live) when a wild turkey hit the vehicle that was driving in front of him, on a secondary country road. The turkey had been roosting in a stand of trees that was located close to the road's edge. Something must have startled it because wild turkeys don't normally make a habit of fly at or into the path of moving vehicles. The driver of the vehicle kept driving and didn't stop. Allegedly, because it appeared like the bird merely bounced off the hood and kept flying on its way.

This is a photo that I took in the winter of a wild flock of 75 wild turkeys. The hen that flew into the moving vehicle was slightly smaller than the ones you see in the photo and where she met her demise was not that far from this particular corn-field. As you can see, these can be big birds. They have approximately 6,000 feathers, so that makes them look even bigger when they puff them out.

Back to the story...

Our host, having a different vantage point, saw that the bird hit pretty hard and tumble into the ditch. He stopped to check on it and saw immediately that the bird had broken its spine and had probably died instantly on the impact. Being a hunter, our host immediately returned to his house with the wild turkey. He cleaned it, dressed it and put the bird in their freezer for a special occasion.

This afternoon was that special occasion.

I had mentioned (in passing to our host) that I have never eaten wild turkey and I was interested in trying it sometime.

This request did not fall on deaf ears and it was a day of 3 firsts for me, because up until now, I had never eaten: wild turkey, road-kill (like wtf!?! I can't even believe that I just typed that) or, watermelon and feta cheese together.

OK, lets have a look at this bird (who quickly lost its life one minute and was scooped up by my friend so she wouldn't go to waste, in the next):

        

Our host, cooked a store-bought turkey along side the wild turkey. You can see that the wild turkey isn't nearly as plump as domesticated turkeys that are raised for human consumption. The dark meat on the legs of the wild turkey was really dark and quite dry. There wasn't any fat on the wild turkey and I was quite surprised that it did not have a "gamey" after taste.

Other than being a little drier, the wild turkey was really good and I enjoyed it very much.

Our gracious host and hostess even sent us home with a wild turkey care package. In it, you can see how dark, some of the meat actually was:

                                   

With the information that we would be having turkey for dinner, I decided to try my hand at a version of @rouketas' watermelon and feta cheese salad. I didn't want to serve salad greens with mine, so I left those ingredients out and added several new ingredients, like strawberries, cucumber, Kalamata olives and fresh oregano.

I've called this a "Pail Salad" because I knew that there would be 12 dinner guests at the party and I needed a container that would hold a lot of salad, transport in the car easily and be able to fit compactly into a refrigerator until it was time to serve it. I just went to my local hardware store and bought a pail with a lid that would hold 1 gallon or 4 litres of material. It cost approximately $6 for my fancy pail and I will be able to re-use it for other "pail salads" in the future.

                                 

This salad will easily serve 12 people and make 3/4 of a gallon or approximately 3 litres of finished salad.

The ingredients that I used to make the salad are:

  • 7 cups of watermelon cut into small cubes (This is 1/2 a medium size watermelon);
  • 1 lb (454 grams) of fresh strawberries, clean and cut into small pieces;
  • 1 whole English cucumber, cut into small pieces;
  • 1/2 lb (227 grams) of feta cheese cut into small cubes;
  • 1/4 cup of kalamata olives, pitted and cut into small pieces;
  • 1/4 cup of toasted sesame seeds;
  • 3 tbsp of fresh mint leaves, cut into small pieces;
  • and 1+1/2 tbsp of fresh oregano leaves, cut into small pieces.

Here's the ingredients that I used for the dressing:

  • 2 tbsp of white balsamic vinegar infused with honey (or any balsamic vinegar you have on hand);
  • and 3 tbsp of exrta light olive oil.

Directions:

  • Peel and chop the cucumber into small pieces.
  • Add these pieces to a large mixing bowl that will be large enough to accommodate the tossing of one very large salad.

     

  • Chop the strawberries and watermelon into small pieces also and add them to the mixing bowl next.

    

  • Tear the fresh mint leaves from its stalk and then cut or tear them into small pieces.
  • Add this to the salad next.

        

  • Harvest the oregano. Strip its leaves from its stalk and cut it into small pieces too.
  • Add this to the salad.

 

  • Cut the feta cheese into small cubes and slice the olives (about 12) into small slices.
  • Add both of these items to the salad.

    

  • Toast the sesame seeds over a medium-high heat or flame. (This takes less than 3 minutes and the seeds can burn really easily, so keep them moving with a spatula while they toast. Do not leave them unattended. There is a fine line between nicely toasted and burnt.)
  • Add them to the salad.

  • Mix the dressing next by combining 2 tbsp of white balsamic vinegar with 3 tbsp of extra light olive oil.
  • Once this is combined and mixed thoroughly, pour it over top of the salad.

  • Toss the salad really well to make sure that it is evenly coated in the dressing.

  • Put the salad in the pail. Then seal the lid and put it in the refrigerator until you are ready to transport it and or, serve it. I served it right from the pail with a big serving spoon. It was slick. I simply plopped the pail on the table and threw a big serving spoon in it. It offered a great splash of colour to the buffet.

The pail is perfect for transporting the salad and it is a fun way to serve a salad.

Pail Salad is a great "new" thing and @rouketas was right! I love watermelon and feta cheese together and so did the other 11 people who greatly enjoyed it on a hot summer afternoon!

I welcome your comments and I invite you to follow me. There's always room for one more at my table. ;)

~ Rebecca Ryan

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You are such a great storyteller. I had a similar experience when a previous roommate brought home a young deer (a fawn) that had been killed by a truck in front of him, and cooked it the same day. I came home to such a mess and asked, "What is Bambi's head doing on the stove top?" What a horror. He had never skinned a deer before. Fur everywhere and the house reeked. Tasted pretty good, though!

Pail salad sounds delicious. Glad I stopped by your page. Since HF19 none of my favorite authors are in my feed anymore. Going to have to stop by more often. Wishing you a great day!

Hi @magic323! I'm happy you stopped by with your great comments! I can only imagine the carnage in your kitchen that day. I guess at the very least we can be thankful that the fawn didn't go to waste.
I have noticed the same thing in my feed and now have to make a point of going to other people's blogs to catch up with them. I am making my rounds now but what I can publicly say is that I am also making a habit of awarding good comments that have some teeth to them. So if I don't make it to a blog page for a few days, I will award people through comments. Right after the hardfork my 100% vote was worth almost $12. Now, it's worth $4, as you can see. I think this is due to the value of a SBD at the moment. :)

Aww thank you so much! I felt the same way about the wild turkey. Waste not want not. Tribal people of the earth live in harmony with nature and would never waste anything. We can still learn a lot from them.

Exactly!

Great fruits.

Sorry I missed this post during its payout time! I bet that was a great salad with the turkey! I have eaten a lot of roadkill. Where I grew up, any roadkill pheasant was called "prairie chicken". And when I lived in Michigan, the winter was a good time to pay attention along the road. Things keep real well in the winter cold. It's nothing to be embarrassed about -- it respects the life of the animal, and is so much better than letting it rot by the road or draw other animals to the roadside, where they get hit, too. I'm glad you got to appreciate that wild turkey!

Note: I'll have to be sure to look under the foraging-trail tag. I usually just look under foraging. So that's how I missed this! Rats! Please don't hesitate to drop me a comment in any of my posts, when you have a foraging post, too. It's too easy to miss things -- and you have great stories!

Thanks for adding to the discussion on this article @haphazard-hstead!
I say "don't knock it until you try it" when it comes to culinary experiences.
If I was blind-folded and presented the domestic turkey along side the wild one, the only notable difference was that the wild turkey was drier. That was it, otherwise no taste difference.
Thanks for all your support and encouragement @haphazard-hstead, I really appreciate it and your knowledge and expertise. It's always a pleasure to communicate with you. I'm never quite sure if I should still be using the -trail tags, but I don't cover foraging that often so I thought it may help. :)

All the whole turkeys we buy at the store are injected with broth or saline solution, so no wonder they are more moist, lol. Regardless of what happens with the SteemTrail efforts, I'll always be checking the foraging tag, just because that's what I like to read about. And Steemit has a lot of good foragers -- and adventuresome food folks, too, like you!

@rebeccaryan
Excellent post. Lots of work went into preparing the food and then in putting all the information to the post.
Anyone wanting to try a new dish, can find all your instructions. That is the Steemit way. You epitomize to all Steemians how to be a successful part of the great Steemit family. Your reputation should be going up soon. I haven't read any blogs that are more consistent than yours and filled with good information.
Thank you for helping us and Steemit to grow.

Francis

Thank you Francis! It's taking me about 30 posts of this calibre just to rise a step in a reputation level. I wrote 30 posts last month and as of this morning, I have managed to rise from 67.3 to 67.4. I have to say that this is hard to swallow. I hit a rep of 67 in March. 4 months of writing almost everyday and I'm still stuck in 67...and I went from 100+ people upvoting my articles to now, (after hardfork19), I'm lucky if 30 people see what I'm posting.
Thanks for hanging in here with me. I know I am not alone, I guess I just have to figure out what and how to change what I am doing to achieve a different outcome.
I have to admit that I am struggling to stay motivated. :(

@rebeccaryan
I can understand. As I wrote before. Your posts take lots of time. It isn't just some words and pictures thrown on the screen. Doesn't happen like that with you.
But, the cream rises to the top. That is where you are going to be. Among the best. You have already achieved more than most will ever reach. Me included, most likely. But we plod on.

Thank you for your upvote and reply. I cannot forget that. If I ever do, it is curtains for me.
Others can take note of that truth also.

Francis

Every day is a new day and we can either decide to spread positivity with our actions or we can can spread negativity. From time to time I need a little pep talk to help me stay motivated. Thank you for providing this for me, Francis. I really appreciate it. ;)

That's nuts! Your content is always well done. Steemit is a strange place, especially now. Well, just about any time we could say that. Hard Fork 19 has been a struggle, for sure. Folks are just not voting like they used to. And with the new people resteeming so much and posting so much, it's hard to even see old friends in my feed, at least. But one thing about Steemit, it evolves.

Wow, very professional presentation

Thank you for commenting @mave64!
I really appreciate it and I have followed you. :)

wow feta and watermelon.. extremely interesting. and ive just learned what to do with all the sesame seed i have..ive noticed it lacks some taste im used at, but never thought about baking it. :S this is absolute bingo!

Thanks for commenting @interceptor! The feta and watermelon were not my original idea. (It belongs to @rouketas) He told me that it would become my new favourite flavour combination and I have to say that he was right.
It is worth trying sometime.
I have followed you. ;)

Have a meat well!

Thanks for your comment @king1527!
What is a meat well? ( I have never heard that term before.)
Welcome to my blog page.
I have followed you.

I like salad because doctors recommend me more salad .

This one is fairly healthy and you can add green leaves of any description and that would help nutritionally.

More crazy Turkey stories hahaha. That salad looks amazing!

Hahaha @jeffjagoe! These turkeys will not leave me alone!!!
What does one serve with "road-kill"...I don't know. It completely stumped me so I too went a little red-neck with my latest version of Pail Salad. LOL!

Looks like the best roadkill I've ever seen! The turkey had a good after-life

Hahaha! OMG!!! I still can't believe that I ate it and liked it. LMAO

we have a different word for the "road kill" in the Ph
it's double dead :D
damn ... I hope they let the blood drop because .. toxin
but am not an expert to it I just learned it

edit : drip not drop

Double Dead is right!

Our friend is an avid hunter. He goes out every fall, deer and moose hunting. Plus he does all the butchering for all the guys that he hunts with.
The turkey was delicious...just drier than a domestic one. I can't believe that I have eaten road-kill. LMAO

Great fruits and great post. Thank you for sharing. Keep posting.

Thanks djmalith!
Welcome to Steemit. I have followed you. ;)

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