Not Derby Pie » salad

Sesame-Crusted Tuna on Arugula Salad

rivka — Thu, 29 Jul 2010 14:00:37 +0000

Much as I love to serve fish for dinner, I return to my weeks-old whining about the heat. How are we expected to endure an hour of 400-degree air in the kitchen, followed by several hours of still-not-cool temperatures, just to get a piece of protein on the table? We’re not, is the answer. We make a salad — any salad will do, but there are lots of nice ones here — and call it a night. But we both know that gets old. At a certain point, we start craving something more.

Here, then, is an entree that won’t blow the gasket on the delicate balance between the blazing outdoors and the “little engine that could” of an air conditioning system. It requires no braise, no long boil, but a quick flash-sear on a hot stovetop, followed by a rest in the fridge, while you set the table, stick your head in the freezer for a moment, and suck on an ice cube hoping for that sweet, sweet redemption known as fall.

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Fattoush

rivka — Sat, 24 Jul 2010 21:42:35 +0000

If the history of this blog is any indication, I’m a huge fan of bread salads. My love is easily explained: bread adds heft to make a salad feel like a meal, and since i’m going to dunk a hunk of baguette in my leftover dressing anyway, ripping bread right into the salad is the best kind of shortcut.

Fattoush is a member of the bread salad family, an honored and much loved one at that. Its origins are Levantine, and in various Middle Eastern countries, it’s a definitive staple. Instead of the crusty bread you often find in American or Italian bread salads, fattoush relies on the Middle Eastern staple, pita. Like other bread salads, the idea behind fattoush is to use stale bread — but the salad is so addictive, I confess to finding myself at the bread basket, grabbing some perfectly unstale pita to toast for the purpose.

For some, fattoush is all about the pita. For others, it’s about those beautiful persian cucumbers — the skinny, seedless variety that have finally found their way to farmers’ markets on the east coast. But if you ask me, especially in this season, fattoush begins and ends with excellent tomatoes.

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Taco Night Coleslaw

rivka — Wed, 21 Jul 2010 14:00:16 +0000

Taco night is a perennial favorite. It’s an easy meal to prepare, most components can be prepared well in advance, and if you make it for a dinner party, you’ll be feasting on leftovers for days. When I say “taco night,” of course, I’m referring to that generic category of weeknight suppers, including but not limited to tacos, fajitas, burritos, and anything else involving tortillas, fillings, and toppings of your choice.

In case you’re at a loss for where to start, here’s my go-to iteration of Tex-Mex dinner: I serve warm flour tortillas, refried beans, sauteed peppers and onions, cabbage slaw with lime and chile, and salsa, guacamole, and queso fresco to top it all off. It’s a regular feast.

And please, don’t let me cramp your style: the possibilities aren’t limited to beans and whatnot. If you’re not a fan of the legumes, pan-fry some chicken, fish, or beef slices over high heat until charred, squeeze a lime juice and sprinkle some salt and pepper, and you’ve got yourself a taco or fajita filling.

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Arugula and Bean Salad with Cumin Dressing

rivka — Sat, 26 Jun 2010 16:11:52 +0000

DC does not mess around with summer, and boy, this one’s a scorcher. This week, temperatures climbed into the upper 90′s — maybe even the triple digits — and the A/C at our apartment is, well, the little engine that could. We’re getting to that point in the season where it’s too hot to even consider turning on the oven, and even stovetop cooking must be kept to a minimum. Needless to say, we’re not doing much bread-baking around here.

But let me tell you, we’re eating salad like it’s our job. It’s cool and refreshing, it requires no heat (phew!), and it can take on many different personas. There’s a big bunch of romaine in our fridge right now, waiting to become a crouton-loaded Caesar; I’ve got a couple heads of butter lettuce that I dress simply with horseradish dressing and top with toasted breadcrumbs; and of course, I’ve been making my way through a pound of arugula in salads just like this one.

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Spicy Smoky Sour Cucumber Salad…and a Giveaway!

rivka — Wed, 09 Jun 2010 14:45:42 +0000

In my kitchen, cucumbers are always the bridesmaid, never the bride. They find their way into so many of my salads, and play supporting roles in soups and even cockails (working on a sake-ginger martini…). But still, I’ve never been one to swoon over a dish composed entirely of cucs. In my mind, it’d be like eating a bowl of nothing but tofu. Meh. Where’s the good stuff?

I hope cucs can forgive me for overlooking their star power. In this salad, this humble combination, cucumbers need no company. In fact, what makes this salad great is that without the dominating flavors and textures of their usual salad accompaniments, the cucumbers can really shine. Their fresh crunch provides a perfect canvas for an addictively spicy dressing of lime juice, hoisin sauce, chopped scallions, and the real magic — freshly ground chili powder. Subtlety has no place in this dish. The combination is at once sour and salty, tongue-lashingly spicy and utterly clean. Make enough for two, and I guarantee just you will eat it all.

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Singapore Slaw

rivka — Mon, 17 May 2010 23:25:34 +0000

A couple weeks ago, a bunch of us went to a newish restaurant in town. Within days of the restaurant’s grand opening, word of its 19-ingredient Singapore Slaw had spread like wildfire. If there was a gold medal for slaw affection, I’d have it. So naturally, I needed to go check it out.

I’d pretty much planned my meal in advance. I’d have an app of crudo or sushi, and the slaw as my main. But from the moment we sat down, I know we’d met trouble. We sat down, and the waitress asked if we’d been to the restaurant before. “Yes,” I said. I always lie about these things: saying “no” inevitably subjects you to a treatise on “what you’re about to experience,” or “how many dishes the chef recommends per person” (yes, we know the chef would like us to each plunk down 100 smackeroos, but it’s just not in the cards tonight, thanks), or, worse yet, which dishes we “absolutely must try” and which ones are “terrible and should be removed from the menu.” Ask and you shall receive, I suppose. I always say I’ve been to the restaurant before. Unfortunately, my companions were the wholesome, truthful types, and they revealed that it was our first time. Ten minutes later, we’d been coerced into ordering a slaw for the table while we mulled our orders.

I felt I couldn’t, in good conscience, be the girl who eats the same salad as an app and a main. I ordered the next-best thing on the menu (way too rich, not particularly delicious) and secretly stewed. The slaw had been salty and a bit sweet, crunchy and nutty and fresh and truly addictive. I was determined to have more.

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Spring Salads

rivka — Mon, 03 May 2010 11:37:29 +0000

Back in March, when I posted the fourth or fifth consecutive recipe calling for raw fennel, I started to get guilt pangs. Readers, you must have thought I’d gone mad with all that fennel! Truth be told, I’d only recently come to love the vegetable, and once I discovered how delicious it was, the wheels started turning and wouldn’t stop. Fennel was everywhere.

Well, those days are behind us now. I have one lonely bulb of fennel in the fridge, and while I do plan to use it in a salad, I promise not to bore you with yet another fennel recipe. No no. Today is about salads that celebrate Spring produce. When there’re asparagus to discuss, who wants to talk fennel?

That’s what I thought.

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Caesar Salad

rivka — Mon, 29 Mar 2010 18:13:45 +0000

In this age of micro greens and heirloom radishes, homegrown basil and truffle vinaigrette, is there anything more retro than caesar salad? It’s an all-romaine salad — no baby spinach! — with croutons, anchovies, and a thick, eggy, garlicky yellow dressing coating the leaves all but delicately. You may as well be sitting at Listrani’s an old-school red tablecloth Italian joint that’s been around at least since I was a kid. The waiter always says “Bongiorno!” and then carries on the rest of the conversation in English. You order spaghetti with red sauce or eggplant parmesan — the two lunch specials — and start, of course, with the house caesar. It’s mighty retro.

I’m normally one for ultra-green salads dressed with a very light hand. But lately, I’ve had an inexplicable craving for good old Caesar salad. Tomatoes haven’t yet come back to the market yet, and the cucumbers aren’t quite crisp, so it’s nice to have a salad whose ingredients are all available right now, that requires little improvisation or substitution, and whose main ingredient isn’t fennel. (Not that I don’t love fennel.)

Let’s face it: when spring vegetables return to the market, we’ll probably all forget about Caesar. That’s why now is the perfect time to make this standby.

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Fennel and Apple Salad

rivka — Mon, 15 Feb 2010 00:19:40 +0000

If you’re like me, the snow isn’t the only thing that’s making you crawl the walls a bit this February. White stuff or not, it’s pretty hard to find a good lookin’ salad in these parts. Restaurants are peddling beets and potatoes with a very erstwhile passion, with nary a leaf in sight. Okay, I’m exaggerating, but the greens are endangered these days. And snowpocalypse didn’t help; at some point, a friend pulled out a bowl of lettuce, and someone at the table actually squealed with enthusiasm. If you’re listening, internet, I could really use some salad.

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Lynne Rossetto Kasper’s Thai Cabbage Salad with Cashews and Chili-Coconut Dressing

rivka — Fri, 22 Jan 2010 14:54:34 +0000

Not everyday is as productive as last Friday. In about 2 hours, I made a fantastic salad, discovered a new cooking technique, and finally learned how to achieve that elusive sweet-salty-tangy-spicy balance in a Thai vinaigrette. It’s all thanks to Lynn Rossetto Kasper. As if I’m surprised.

I am a huge fan of Lynn Rossetto Kasper. I’m a loyal listener to her “The Splendid Table” podcast, and I absolutely loved her pithy and clever “How to Eat Supper” podcasts, which she co-hosted with TST producer Sally Swift (until recently, when they suddenly stopped coming out…) So I’m sort of embarrassed to admit that it took me until last week to sign up for Lynn’s “Weeknight Kitchen” newsletter. Now maybe it’s too soon to pass judgement, seeing as I’ve only gotten two issues. But this is Lynn Rossetto Kasper. Every recipe is a run-to-your-kitchen recipe. As expected, just one day after the email landed in my inbox, I was at the counter, surrounded by heaps of green cabbage.

The recipe in last week’s edition was for a Thai cabbage salad with tofu, cashews, and pineapple. D was quick to point out that I cut my pineapple slices so large as to intimidate my guests (sorry, ya’ll! Hope the yellow didn’t scare you away) so in the future, I’ll make my pineapple more….welcoming. But aside from that, I found this salad delightful. It’s got really well-layered flavor: the bitter freshness of cabbage, the tangy sweetness of pineapple, a generous handful of cashews, scallions and herbs, and a biting vinaigrette rounded out with fish sauce (one of Lynn’s favorite ingredients: it’s got tons of umami, or glutamate, which helps give that extra something to…well, almost anything.)

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Smoky Corn Salad

rivka — Mon, 31 Aug 2009 02:42:28 +0000

So sorry that posts have been so few and far between (and so short) lately. I’m doing my best to offer some great summer suggestions between work and work — bear with me; just two more weeks of this insanity, and I’ll be back on track.

Meanwhile, hopefully you’re taking advantage of the last of summer’s produce more than I am. If you find yourself swimming in corn, this smoky number is a great variation on the corn salad theme. It combines raw corn that’s charred in a smoking castiron pan, poblanos that are cooked over an open flame to remove the skins and intensify their flavor, a bit of red onion, and of course, some of those delightfully plump and round cherry tomatoes that are so good this time of year. The method is so simple it’s a joke: just char everything in the castiron pan all together, and add the tomatoes just before serving. It’s just the way to take advantage of summer’s abundance. Have a plate in my honor, and once I crawl out from under this rock, I’ll be back in the kitchen in no time.

Smoky Corn Salad

3 ears of corn, husks and fibers removed
1 cup cherry tomatoes, halved
1/4 of a red onion, diced
2 poblano peppers
1/2 a jalapeno, diced, optional
1/4 tsp. smoked spanish paprika
olive oil
salt
pepper
1 lime

Roast poblanos over an open flame, turning to blister skin on all sides. When fully blistered, turn off heat and transfer peppers to a paper bag or roll inside tinfoil. let steam for 5 minutes, then run under water to remove skins. Chop roughly and set aside.

Heat castiron or heavy stainless steel pan over high heat. Remove corn from cob, and combine with chopped onions and jalapeno, if using. Add 1 tablespoon olive oil to pan and immediately add corn mixture. Toss to coat, then let sit for a 30 seconds at a time just to develop a real char on the kernels. Add smoked paprika, and add salt to taste. Keep tossing and charring, tossing and charring, until there are enough brown spots to give some serious smoky flavor. Remove from heat, add tomatoes, and toss to combine. Transfer to a plate, and squeeze 1 fresh lime overtop. Serve warm or at room temperature.

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Pesto Streudel and Panzanella Salad

rivka — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 13:41:12 +0000

Now that it’s summer, my counters are teeming with beautiful red tomatoes and my fridge is packed with brightly-colored produce of all sorts: radishes, favas, beets, strawberries, you name it. It’s a welcome change from the endless supply of potatoes, yams, potatoes, and kale, oh, the kale. Thank goodness I’ve got some red back in my life!

Of course, with beets and radishes come a whole new type of greens — the kind attached to the stems of the beets and the radishes, of course. Both are too often overlooked — especially radish greens, for which I’ve never seen a recipe. Until now.

Here’s the thing. Pesto? It doesn’t just have to be basil in there. Stick in some cilantro and call it chimichurri or — better yet — send some radish greens under the knife and start to enjoy what too often ends up in the disposal (or, in my case, the compost bin. Yay!)

Radish greens are best used within a couple days of buying or picking them, so they’re a bit more finicky than basil. But they’re spicy and a little bitter like arugula, and quite flavorful. They’re also almost always attached to the radishes you buy, so why not use them? I’ve blended them up with walnuts and pinenuts, and they pair beautifully with both. But I’ve got a lingering curiosity about how they’d play with pecans, so if you try it, lemme know.
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Avocado Tomato Salad

rivka — Sat, 13 Jun 2009 23:12:02 +0000

It’d be a shame to spend too much of this day indoors, because it’s beautiful outside and I have an all-day pool pass — so I’m going to keep this short: It’s summer, people! That means I’m barely to be seen at the grocery store, stocking up on fruit and veggies almost exclusively at the three nearby farmers’ markets to supplement my CSA. I’m high on summer produce.

Avocados and tomatoes are especially excellent right now. Tomatoes haven’t quite hit their peak, but I picked up some beautiful heirlooms this morning and we enjoyed them in salad, with a bit of salt and not much else. Last week, I had some beautiful on-the-vine tomatoes in the house, as well as some perfectly ripe avocados and some baby lettuce from a friend’s garden, so I threw together a really simple salad that’s definitely going to be a staple on my plate this season. It’s just lettuce, avocados, tomatoes, a crumble or two of my usual Keswick Creamery feta, and some lemon, salt, and pepper. It doesn’t get much simpler or better than that.
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Quinoa Salad with Tofu, Beets, and Avocado

rivka — Wed, 06 May 2009 18:35:58 +0000

This is another installment of my “weekday lunch” series, where I offer suggestions for dishes that can hang out in your tupperware til 12:30 rolls around. For other weekday lunch options, see my weekday lunch archive page.

Here’s a super-easy salad that holds up very well in the tupperware container. It came together late one night when the contents of my fridge were scarce and I needed lunch for the next day. Red quinoa — available at Whole Foods and other similar stores, both in packages and in the bulk section — is a wholesome and nutritious grain, actually a berry, that takes about 15 minutes to steam. I cooked some quinoa (about 1 cup raw), chopped up two small beets I’d roasted earlier in the week, sliced up one avocado and one small block of teriyaki-marinated baked tofu, tossed them all together, and drizzled some rice vinaigrette over the salad (recipe below). It doesn’t get much easier than that. The bonus upside to bringing quinoa for lunch is that, unlike other grains, quinoa holds its shape and crunch very well even in the fridge overnight and in tupperware, and doesn’t tend to clump together or get sticky.

If you’re in a rush, this is really a perfect salad to throw together. And as always, feel free to improvise my recipe, adjusting for the contents of your fridge. I could imagine adding greens, red bell peppers, edamame, perhaps some raisins, even almonds or other sliced nuts for crunch. Get to it!

Rice Wine Vinaigrette

1 tsp. finely grated ginger or 1/2 tsp. powdered ginger
4 Tbsp. rice wine vinegar
1 tsp. sugar
1 tsp. soy sauce
1/2 Tbsp. lemon juice
3 Tbsp. olive oil
1 Tbsp. sesame oil

Combine all ingredients except for oil, and whisk vigorously. Add oil in a steady stream, whisking all the while, until well combined. Drizzle several Tbsp. of the dressing over the salad and toss to coat. Serve cool or at room temperature.
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Strawberry Avocado Salad

rivka — Mon, 06 Apr 2009 15:13:50 +0000

Not exactly a recipe, but this was a part of my Sunday morning breakfast last week and I couldn’t resist sharing it. It’s a sign of the warmer days that are (I hope!) just around the corner, and it’s a healthy and filling alternative to my usual morning grind. It’s also dead simple to make. So what are you waiting for?

Strawberry Avocado Salad

1 lb. pea shoots, arugula, or other nice-looking salad greens
1 pint strawberries, washed and sliced
2 avocados, sliced
champagne vinaigrette or other mild vinaigrette

Transfer the greens to a big salad bowl, and salt and pepper them. Distribute strawberry and avocado slices overtop. Drizzle the vinaigrette around the sides of the salad bowl, (in other words, dress the bowl, not the salad) and toss the salad around to coat very thinly with the dressing.

Serve with some crusty baguette, some good cheese, or even a bowl of good organic yogurt.

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Edamame Cabbage Slaw with Sweet Potatoes

rivka — Sat, 14 Feb 2009 16:30:00 +0000

Hello from vacationland! We’re in Israel for the next few days and beyond thrilled to be back. It’s been way, way too long — almost two years since I lived here. I’ve missed every bit of it. Yesterday, I spent the most lovely afternoon at the shuk (market) with my dear dear friend S. We met up in my favorite corner of the shuk… A little cafe tucked in the back portion that’s locals only and serves up a mean cup of coffee. After lots of hugs, kisses and catch up, we ran around to the different vendors so that I could grab my favorite spices (more on those in a future post…) And met up with her mom, where I freshened up on my slightly-rough but actually not-too-bad Hebrew. We spent the past 24 hours hanging out with family and friends, relaxing and eating copious amounts of food. Tonight we’re planning on hitting up another of my favorite restaurants, Tmol Shilshom. There’s something at once familiar and refreshing about being in a place I used to call home; it’s wonderful to be back.

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Yam, Zucchini, and Chickpea Salad

rivka — Tue, 03 Feb 2009 03:23:46 +0000

I’m definitely a bag-luncher. While I enjoy the occasional salad-bar salad or panini, I find that bringing my lunch to work is often healthier and more cost-efficient than the alternative. Especially since I work in Georgetown, where lunch joints are pretty high-end, and (as you all surely know) I’m not the biggest fan of Subway, bag lunches are my speed.

As someone who routinely brings my lunch to work, and I’m always on the lookout for recipes that are simple to make, easy to nuke or tasty at room temperature, and pack in servings of carbs, vegetables, and protein. Needless to say, there are plenty of these recipes floating around the blogosphere, which has given me ample opportunity to experiment.
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Easiest Broccoli Slaw (ever!)

rivka — Sat, 09 Aug 2008 03:26:51 +0000

Yes, yes, summer’s almost over (eek! I won’t say it again, I promise) — but there’s still plenty of time for you country folk to fire up your grill while we city folk peer jealously out our windows and inhale the aromas. Meanwhile, if you’re an urbanite lucky enough to get invited over to said grill-equipped home, here’s a great slaw to bring along with. I guarantee it’ll win you some fans — maybe even get you invited back. (You’ll notice that I actually just brought it for lunch one day. I promise it tastes good both outdoors and in A/C.)

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Mediterranean Orzo Salad

rivka — Sun, 13 Jul 2008 00:17:52 +0000

Well hello dear readers! Nice of you to join me here, at this oft-neglected blog of mine. Work has taken a turn for the busier, and I’ve not been posting as much as I’d like. The craziness will likely continue through the end of the month, but then I’m home free and will post much more! Meanwhile, thanks for hangin’ in there. And you’ll be handsomely rewarded for your patience — I have a couple of smashingly delicious recipes in the queue.

As you may have noticed, it’s pretty smokin’ hot these days. For those of us city folks without a porch, grilling isn’t much of an option, but nonetheless, I try to minimize indoor cooking as much as possible during summer months. This orzo salad requires no oven time, and just around 20 minutes of stovetop cooking. It can also be tweaked in any number of ways; as usual, the recipe I provide here is entirely a function of what was in my fridge when I made it, and you should listen to your fridge’s innards just as carefully.
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Sweet-Tart-Crunchy Skirt Steak Salad

rivka — Mon, 23 Jun 2008 00:11:46 +0000

If you haven’t noticed, we at NDP eat almost all vegetarian food. Meat and poultry rarely make their way into our weekly diet, and I personally couldn’t be happier. I can’t say the same for my co-habitant, but who makes the food? I do. That’s right.
An important distinction: I am NOT a vegetarian. No, no, no. That would never be. Every once in a while, I really, just really really need some meat. When that happens, I like to humor D with a little beefy deliciousness.

I’ve been seeing skirt steak everywhere lately, from other blogs to Top Chef and beyond. It’s a summer favorite because it cooks up in minutes, and it’s lovely on salad. It also happens to be particularly flavorful, which can’t hurt. We picked some up on our way home this afternoon, and my usual patient self decided to make it right away. I’d tagged an epicurious recipe for skirt steak with wine sauce, which I imagine was intended to serve as a main dish, but as I had a hankering for spinach salad tonight, I plopped the saucy steak on top of a bed of leaves.

Not to sound like a broken record, but you can make a thousand variations of the salad I made tonight. In fact, I’ve probably made spinach salad at least 30 different ways during my measly 25 years. Granted, not all varieties would go well with wine-flavored skirt steak, but lots would. I happened to have some plump dried cherries that D’s mom sent me a while back, as well as my favorite “crunchy mix” consisting of sesame seeds, sliced almonds, and raw crushed-up ramen noodles that I’d toasted. I threw both of those in with the spinach, dressed it all with some balsamic vinegar, olive oil, and a few drops of pomegranate syrup, and laid slices of steak on top. So long as your skirt steak isn’t loaded with fat and connective tissue as mine was, I guarantee you’ll have a delicious dinner.

Sweet-Tart-Crunchy Skirt Steak Salad

1 1/2 lb skirt steak, cut into 4 pieces
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
3/4 cup dry red wine
4 fresh thyme sprigs
1 Turkish or 1/2 California bay leaf
1 teaspoon sugar
1/2 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce

Pat steak dry and sprinkle all over with salt and pepper. Heat oil in a 12-inch heavy skillet over moderately high heat until hot but not smoking, then cook steaks, turning over once, 5 to 7 minutes total for medium-rare. Transfer to a platter.

Pour off fat from skillet, then add wine, thyme, bay leaf, sugar, and Worcestershire sauce and bring to a boil, scraping up brown bits. Continue to boil until reduced by half, about 3 minutes. Add any meat juices on platter, then remove from heat and discard bay leaf and thyme. Slice steaks thinly, drizzle with pan sauce, and serve.

Sweet-Tangy-Crunchy Spinach Salad

3/4 cups loosely packed spinach
1/2 cup dried cherries (or substitute cranberries, raisins, black currants, etc)
1/8 cup sesame seeds
1/4 cup sliced and/or slivered almonds
1/2 cup ramen noodles, raw and crushed

2 Tbsp good olive oil
4 Tbsp balsamic vinegar
1 Tbsp pomegranate syrup
salt and pepper to taste

In a 350-degree oven, toast noodles, almonds and sesame seeds until golden brown, about 15-20 minutes. Let cool completely. Aside from that, you know the drill — combine the dressing ingredients; drizzle over the salad ingredients; eat.

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Endive, Orange, and Avocado Salad

rivka — Sat, 03 May 2008 22:47:56 +0000

Now that farmers’ markets are fully stocked and hot weather is creeping up on us, I’ll be kissing my oven goodbye and putting it to sleep for a few months. I don’t know about you, but it costs us an arm and a leg to pump the A/C into our apartment enough that I don’t faint from oversweating; the last thing I want to do is make it harder for our little cooling engine that couldn’t. So long as I can hack it, I’ll be making salads regularly. Summer’s produce is fresh, juicy, flavorful, and tasty without any heat applied. Why make stew when tomatoes are perfect, yes perfect, with just some olive oil and salt? And when I’m making salads, I’m using avocados in almost every one of them.

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The most interesting salad

rivka — Sat, 17 Nov 2007 22:50:00 +0000

This week at the farmers’ market, I got lucky: I found two bags of greens left over from the previous week, labeled $1 each! One was pea shoots, and one was baby rainbow chard. I snagged ‘em both and ran home to make something yummy.

I’ve never used pea shoots before; they’re quite pretty. There are lots of small, round leaves, and little tendrils on the tip of each sprig. They also taste quite sweet, much like peas…

And rainbow chard, from what I can tell, is a prettier, more exciting version of baby spinach. The texture is similar, but the stems are colored red, orange and yellow.

I tossed a handful each of the two greens with other farmers’ market finds: radishes, mushrooms, honeycrisp apples, and an extra-sharp cheddar. The honeycrisp apples are as their name suggests — sweet-tart and extra crunchy. They go very well with sharp cheddar.

Since the cheddar was quite creamy, I wanted to keep the dressing light and tart. I settled on a dijon vinaigrette: equal parts lemon juice, dijon mustard, and blue agave syrup (can substitute brown sugar or other sweetener; see note below for details). I poured a stead stream of one part olive oil into the mix, stirring vigorously to emulsify, and poured the dressing over the salad.

Pea Shoots, baby rainbow chard, radishes, mushrooms, honeycrisp apples, sharp cheddar, dijon vinaigrette: how’s that for a whimsical little salad?

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Asian Cabbage Salad

rivka — Mon, 22 Oct 2007 02:47:00 +0000

I promise lots of posts this week with various recipes and pics from our housewarming, but this recipe was requested multiple times tonight with varying degrees of urgency, so it gets first attention. My mom and I first encountered this salad at a potluck. One of the guests showed up with four ziploc bags, and in a matter of minutes had a beautiful salad ready to go. Naturally, we went home and attempted to copy the fantastically sweet and tangy dressing for our own cabbage slaw. After a little tinkering, my we got it just right. Ever since then, it’s been a family favorite. I’ve been known to devour this salad whenever it’s in the fridge — and that’s pretty often, considering my mom always keeps around tupperwares of toasted “crunchies,” dressing and the other ingredients. This will soon become a staple in your house — and it’s quick to prepare. I should add that this salad will welcome whatever you toss its way: yesterday, I had leftover chopped and spiced water chestnuts, carrots and fennel from some Asian dumplings I had made, so I added them to the salad and they worked quite nicely.

Asian Cabbage Salad
serves 6-8.

salad:
1 bag sliced cabbage or 2 small heads of cabbage, one green and one purple sliced thinly
2 scallions, washed and slivered
1 can mandarin oranges
1 avocado, sliced (optional)

crunchies:
1 bag instant ramen, broken up into small pieces
1/3 cup sliced or slivered almonds or pine nuts
1/4 cup sesame seeds

dressing:
1/4 cup soy sauce
1/2 cup apple cider vinegar
1/4 cup brown sugar
several dashes sesame oil

1. Preheat over to 300 degrees. Put ramen noodles, nuts and sesame seeds onto a baking sheet in a single layer. Bake 10-15 minutes, or until ramen are golden. Cool completely.

2. Toss all vegetables in a large salad bowl.

3. Combine dressing ingredients in a small bowl and whisk with a fork.

4. Toss together shortly before serving. Noodles will gradually get soggy, so the sooner served, the better.

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A sweet sort of salad and a holiday dinner

rivka — Fri, 28 Sep 2007 20:02:00 +0000

On the first night of Sukkot (the Jewish holiday where we build funny booths and, if we’re good, live in them for a week), I made a brisket so finger-lickin’ that none was left over for sandwiches. Truthfully, I never plan recipes in advance, and I’m not one for precise measurements (as you may have noticed…) so making a brisket consists of taking sauces and spices out of my pantry and adding them to the pan, one by one, until it seems right. I can’t taste the sauce as I go, since I add make it in the pan with the meat, but so far I haven’t had any problems, so be it a flawed method, it’s my method and I’m stickin’ to it.

Anyway, the brisket was so good, I decided to make my chicken in exactly the same way: a mix of homemade tomato sauce, last night’s red wine (a nice cheap cab), a splash of bbq sauce, a dash of soy sauce, sea salt and fresh pepper, and the key ingredient — dried oranges and cranberries. The fruit infuse the sauce as it cooks, leaving you with an orange-scented brisket (or chicken) which deceives your guests with its complexity. Unfortunately, due to the holiday, I have no pics of the meat. Some other time though, promise.

About the salad….I wanted to bring the same orange scents into the salad I was serving, but dried oranges are rather unpleasant to eat, in my opinion, as they can be a bit leathery and slightly bitter. I decided instead to add some of the cranberries, which had absorbed much of the orange scent from being dried and roasted together. Their tart, citric quality complemented my salad of baby spinach, asian pear, carrot, and caramelized nuts. My vinaigrette was super simple: 2 parts dijon, 2 parts honey(I used buckwheat, which has a very distinctive flavor), 3 parts lemon juice, salt, pepper, cumin, and a health drizzle of olive oil whisked in. Try this one at home, folks — it’s a winner.

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