Gourmet Meals in Crappy Little Kitchens (11 page)
1
In your blender, pulse the mustard, anchovy, and oregano until mixed. Add the sherry vinegar and pulse until well combined. While blending at medium speed, drizzle in the olive oil and season to taste with salt and pepper.
2
In a large bowl, toss the cucumber, tomato, onion, olives, feta cheese, and romaine with ½ cup of the dressing. Taste the salad to see if it needs more dressing, salt, or pepper.
3
Mound the salad in a large serving bowl. Cut the toasted bread into wedges, tuck the wedges around, and garnish it with more crumbled feta. For individual portions, hold the toasted bread wedge in the center of each small plate, and pile the salad high around it. This makes each plate look like a sailboat. You could also serve individual salad portions in margarita or martini glasses with the toast jutting out like a sail.
4
Store the leftover dressing in an airtight container in the refrigerator. You can toss the leftover salad as well as the dressing with some pasta for a great Greek pasta salad.
This Salad Bites
Serves 8 to 10
Fresh arugula is extra spicy and peppery, which is perfect for this lemon vinaigrette. Buying baby greens like baby arugula and baby spinach means no chopping and no washing, so they scream CLK friendly!
1 shallot, chopped
2 lemons, zested and juiced
1 tablespoon ground coriander
¼ cup rice wine vinegar
1 cup extra virgin olive oil
Sea salt, to taste
Black pepper, to taste
1 pound baby spinach
1 pound baby arugula
½ cup pine nuts, toasted
¼ cup French goat cheese
1
In your blender, pulse the shallot, lemon zest, and coriander until combined. While on a low speed, drizzle in the lemon juice and rice wine vinegar. Increase the speed to medium and slowly drizzle in the olive oil. Season to taste with salt and pepper.
2
Put the spinach and arugula in a large bowl and toss with about ¼ cup of the dressing. Taste to see if the dressing needs more salt or pepper. Garnish with the pine nuts and crumbles of goat cheese. Plate individual portions exactly the same way. For that extra gourmet touch, add thinly sliced pears in the shape of a fan beneath the goat cheese and pine nuts.
3
Store any leftover dressing in an airtight container in the refrigerator, and use it as a wonderful chicken marinade.
Heirloom Tomato Stack
Serves 4
This recipe comes together with no cooking or tossing of any kind. You can make this salad from cutting board to plate in 30 seconds flat with no dirty dishes.
4 heirloom tomatoes, various colors
Sea salt, to taste
Black pepper, to taste
¼ cup aged (at least 6 months) balsamic vinegar
3 tablespoons chopped
Italian parsley
Did You Know This Crap?
Passed down through several generations for their favorable (and flavorful) charateristics, heirloom tomatoes are open pollinated, which means they are grown from seed and will come back “true to type.” They are free from genetic and chemical alterations.Without human intervention, we are able to grow a truly tasty tomato. An heirloom tomato reminds me of a juicy summer watermelon, and it's unnecessary to enhance its flavor with anything more than salt and pepper.
1
Slice the tomatoes into one-fourth-inch thick disks, which should be about four slices from each tomato. Liberally salt and pepper each tomato slice. In the center of each salad plate, stack the tomatoes slightly askew alternating colors four tomatoes high.
2
Drizzle the balsamic vinegar over and around the outside of the stacks on the plate and garnish the top slice with the chopped parsley. Serve the salads at room temperature, and enjoy the epitome of the gourmet “no-pot” wonder!
Bacon-Boosted
Red Cabbage Salad
Serves 15
The applewood-smoked bacon in this recipe provides a layer of depth to the sweet and sour braised cabbage that elevates this dish to gourmet status. Chefs agree that many recipes can benefit from the addition of bacon, and this recipe is no exception.
2 tablespoons olive oil
½ cup medium diced applewood smoked bacon
1 red onion, thinly sliced
Sea salt, to taste
1 small head red cabbage, thinly sliced into shreds
Black pepper, to taste
¾ cup red wine vinegar
½ cup sugar
4 ounces Roquefort blue cheese, crumbled
1
Preheat a 12-inch sauté pan on medium heat. When it is hot, carefully add the olive oil and bacon. The bacon should begin to cook slightly and render its fat and flavor into the oil, so only cook it for about 3 minutes. Don't allow it to overcrisp since it will continue cooking when the other ingredients are added. Add the red onion and sauté lightly for another 3 minutes, moving the onions around constantly to keep them from browning. We just want to draw out their natural liquid, and seasoning them with a little salt will help them along.
2
When the onions are translucent and the bacon is crispy, carefully add the cabbage, and feel free to do it in shifts one handful at a time so it wilts down efficiently. Slowly cook down the cabbage. As the cabbage begins to soften, season to taste with salt and pepper, which will help draw out the liquid.
3
Add the red wine vinegar and sugar, and allow the entire dish to simmer and reduce until the juice at the bottom becomes thick syrup. Taste the cabbage at this point to see if any more salt or pepper is needed.
4
Serve this salad warm with the blue cheese crumbled over the top, allowing it to melt slightly from the heat of the cabbage. For individual portions, pile the cabbage high in the center of the salad plate and garnish with the Roquefort. You can also sprinkle the salad with toasted walnut pieces (place them on a baking sheet and into a 350Ë oven for about 10 minutes) to add crunch to the salad.
Swap It
FEEL FREE to experiment with different flavors of smoked bacon for this recipe. Gourmet markets offer a wide assortment including cinnamon and green tea smokedâchoose your favorite and invoke unique personality and flavor into this salad. Whatever you do, don't use just any crappy bacon, because this ingredient is integral to the final outcome of the dish.
Poblano Slaw
Serves 10
A vibrant, crisp salad with a bit of a kick, no one will believe this Latin-fusion slaw, which is a far cry from your grandmother's soggy stuff, came out of your Crappy Little Kitchen.
3 poblano peppers
3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1 cup kosher salt
½ head red cabbage, shredded
½ head green cabbage, shredded
4 limes, juiced
¼ cup rice wine vinegar
1 tablespoon sugar
1 teaspoon ground cumin
¼ cup real mayonnaise
4 green onions, chopped (both green and white part)
1 carrot, peeled and grated
Sea salt, to taste
Black pepper, to taste
1
Preheat your oven to 500°. Place the poblano peppers on your baking sheet and drizzle olive oil over them. Roast them in the oven for 15 to 20 minutes or until they begin to blacken and blister all over. Remove them with your tongs, and place them in a mixing bowl and cover with plastic wrap. Allow them to sit this way and steam.
2
While you are waiting for them to cool, generously salt (we will rinse it off, so be sure to use enough salt to coat all of the cabbage) both cabbages using one cup kosher salt (kosher salt has a fairly large grain and will not dissolve before completing its duty of drawing out the liquid inside the cabbage), and allow them to drain in your steamer basket for an hour. Rinse thoroughly with cool water, shake to remove as much water as possible, and drain for about another 10 minutes.
3
Once the peppers are cool, pull off their tops and dump out the seeds and juice. Carefully peel off their skins, but don't rinse under water or you'll lose too much flavor! Cut them in a medium dice.
How to Shred Cabbage by Hand
Use your chef's knife to cut the head of cabbage through the core into four wedges. Cut the core out of each wedge. Place a wedge, with a cut side down, on a cutting board. Hold your chef's knife perpendicular to the cabbage and slice it into long thin strips.
4
In a large bowl, combine the lime juice, vinegar, sugar, cumin, and mayonnaise. Add the cabbage, roasted poblano, green onion, and carrot and toss. Taste at this point and season as needed with salt and pepper. Chill it for at least an hour, and serve ice cold. Simply pile the slaw high in the center of a platter for a colorful presentation. I feel the only way to serve this is family style, unless you're using it to garnish fish tacos!
Cherry Tomatoes with
Tamarind Glaze
Serves 6
Watch this beautiful salad come together in eight minutes with the use of only one small sauté pan. Majorly CLK-friendly. The glaze is a showstopper on wild birds as well.
½ teaspoon cumin seeds
½ teaspoon fennel seeds
2 teaspoons tamarind concentrate
2 tablespoons hot water
2 teaspoons honey
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
Sea salt, to taste
Black pepper, to taste
1 pint red cherry tomatoes, halved
1 pint green cherry tomatoes, halved
1 pint yellow cherry tomatoes, halved
1 bunch cilantro leaves,
¼ cup chopped, plus more for garnish
1
Heat up your 8-inch nonstick sauté pan over medium heat, and add the cumin and fennel seeds. Toast them until they begin to smell aromatic, and then chop them roughly on your cutting board once cooled.
2
In a medium bowl, add the tamarind, hot water, and honey, and whisk in the toasted cumin and fennel. While whisking, drizzle in the olive oil to create a glaze, and season to your taste with salt and pepper.
Swap It
THERE ARE MANY varieties of small tomatoes. Here I like to use cherry tomatoes because they're small while being large enough to cut in half. If they're not available, pear or currant tomatoes can be substituted, just leave them whole. In a pinch, simply use all red cherry tomatoes or large dice some plum tomatoes, which come in red, yellow, and green varieties.
3
Toss the tomatoes and ¼ cup chopped cilantro leaves with the glaze, and taste to see if you need more salt or pepper. Serve at room temperature, piled high on individual salad plates, with a few cilantro leaves on top.
Chefology
TAMARIND
Also known as an Indian date, tamarind is the fruit from a tall shade tree that grows in Asia and North Africa. Its pods are about five inches long and contain seeds and a pulp that become extremely sour when dried. Tamarind pulp concentrate is popular as a flavoring in East Indian and Middle Eastern cuisines much like lemon juice is in Western culture. You can purchase tamarind as a concentrated pulp with seeds (which is what I recommend), a canned paste, whole dried pods, or powder. Because it is so packed with flavor, a little goes a long way.
Whats-a-Matta-You
Bruschetta Salad
Serves 6
We are all familiar with traditional bruschetta as an appetizer, but I just love the idea of a deconstructed bruschetta becoming a salad. All the elements are here: toasted bread, tomato, basil, and cheese. Not intended for a large platter presentation, this salad “plates up” on individual salad plates in minutes with very little clean up.
3 Roma tomatoes
1 French baguette
¼ cup extra virgin olive oil
Sea salt, to taste
Black pepper, to taste
2 garlic cloves
2 tablespoons minced shallot
2 tablespoons sherry wine vinegar
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
1 bunch basil leaves
cup extra virgin olive oil
