Archive for the 'Salad' Category

Sunchokes with a warm butter lemon dressing

Published
by
marc
on April 7, 2008
in Appetizer, Salad and Vegetable
. 5 Comments

Sunchokes with a warm butter lemon dressing

I got some sunchokes at the Greenmarket on Saturday and while I love their crisp texture, I’m always a bit stumped as to what to do with them. Sunchokes (a.k.a. Jerusalem artichokes) are the root tubers that grow on a certain species of sunflower. They look a bit like knobby ginger but have a slightly sweet nutty flavor and crisp texture of jicama or water-chestnuts.

If they’re young and fresh, you can either cook them or eat them raw. If they’re older, they tend to get a little starchy so they’re best cooked. I lucked out and found some beautiful young’uns with smooth delicate skin on Saturday, so I decided to go with a raw preparation.

The dressing adds a nice richness that compliments the nuttiness of the sunchokes and walnuts while the mint pulls it back a bit keeping it relatively light and refreshing.

salad
4 small sunchokes peeled and sliced
1-2 Tbs candied walnuts crumbled
4-6 mint leaves sliced into thin ribbons

dressing
1 Tbs butter
1 Tbs lemon juice
1/4 Tsp kosher salt
fresh ground black pepper

garnish
Pecorino Romano shaved with a vegetable peeler

To make the dressing, melt the butter with lemon juice in the microwave until the butter is just melted. Whisk to combine and add the salt and pepper.

Toss the sunchokes, walnuts and mint with the dressing and top with Pecorino Romano. Serve immediately.

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Almost spring salad with honey roast garlic lemonette

Published
by
marc
on April 6, 2008
in Appetizer, Salad and Vegetable
. 8 Comments

Beet, apple and blue goat cheese salad with honey roast garlic lemonette

I’ve been craving spring for weeks now, but the weather around here has been a tease at best. Yesterday was the first Saturday with the slightest semblance of spring, so I headed up to the Union Square Greenmarket in hopes of finding asparagus, ramps, and maybe even some fiddleheads…

Not surprisingly, I was disappointed with the same old root veggies that the vendors have been hawking all winter, but the sprout vendor seemed to have an unusually large selection of sprouts, and I found a delightful bleu goat cheese. My mind was already assembling the beginnings of a schizophrenic salad, dreaming of a day soon when the stalls will be overflowing with tender green goodness.

Field cress, Miner lettuce, and MizunaSo it’s Sunday, gloomy and cold again. On goes the oven and in go a head of aging garlic I had sitting around, and a couple beets. Meanwhile my mind is being tantalized by the baby greens in the fridge and some bright yellow lemons. Torn between a winter salad and spring salad, I came to a delicious compromise.

A layer of sweet roast beets with a layer of crisp juicy apple topped with some mizuna, cress and miner lettuce that are dressed in a mellow garlic lemonette (lemon+vinaigrette) all topped with some salty barnyardy bleu goat cheese and some crunchy candied walnuts. Wow, that was a mouthful, but so is the flavor of this salad:-)

for roasting
1 beet washed and wrapped in foil
1 head garlic, tops chopped off, drizzled with EVOO and wrapped in foil

for salad
1/2 apple peeled cored and mandolined into “o”s (leave them stuck together to keep them from turning brown)
2 C baby greens (I used mizuna, field cress and miner lettuce)
bleu goat cheese
candied walnuts
fresh ground black pepper

for dressing
1 clove roast garlic mashed
1 Tbs lemon juice
1 Tbs EVOO (extra virgin olive oil)
1/4 tsp honey
1/4 tsp kosher salt (add a little more if you feel it needs it)
fresh ground black pepper

Put the foil wrapped beet(s) and garlic on a baking sheet in a 375 degree oven. The garlic will be done in about 35 minutes, but the beets will need at least an hour (or until you can stick a knife all the way through).

Whisk all the dressing ingredients together. Peel the beet and slice into 1/8″ thick slices. Dress the beets with enough dressing to coat.

To assemble the salad, just put down 3 pieces of beet on a plate, put 1 or 2 slices of apple on top. Lightly dress the greens with some of the dressing (you won’t need it all), and place a handful of greens on top of the beets and apple. Top with some crumbled bleu goat cheese, candied walnuts and some fresh ground pepper.

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Warm winter salad

Published
by
marc
on March 26, 2008
in Fall, Salad, Vegetable and Winter
. 1 Comment

Warm winter salad

Continuing on the no-meat kick after the ridiculously-bad-for-you-but-oh-so-delicious braised bacon, I decided to start experimenting with grains. Stopping by the Union Square Whole Foods, I picked up some roasted buckwheat and quinoa. What I really wanted was some delightfully chewy wheat berries, but they were completely out so I decided on the subway that I’d give the buckwheat a go.

The smoky roasted buckwheat reminded me of barley tea and added some nice depth to the salad, but next time I’m definitely going to hunt down some wheat berry. The salad is served warm with roasted winter veggies and a sweet balsamic vinaigrette. The celery adds some nice crunch in there, but I was thinking sunchokes or asian pear would work just as well. A soft poached egg on top lends some creaminess and body that makes this a one plate meal.

for salad
1 cup cooked wheat berries (or some other whole grain)
1/3 C celery cut into small cubes
1 Tbs chopped parsley

1 Tbs good olive oil
1 C cubed kabocha or butternut squash
1/2 C cubed parsnip or celery root
1 spring onion sliced (or small sweet onion)
1 tsp kosher salt

for dressing
2 Tbs good olive oil
2 Tbs real balsamic vinegar
8 sage leaves cut into thin ribbons
1 tsp salt
freshly ground black pepper to taste

for serving
1 poached egg per serving
Mache or Frisée

Prepare the wheat berries according the the box directions and dump it into a large bowl. Toss the hot wheat with celery and parsley in a large bowl.

Heat 1 Tbs of good olive oil over medium heat and saute the kabocha, parsnip, onion and salt until the vegetables are soft enough to eat (but not mushy). Add to bowl with wheat.

Whisk together the dressing ingredients and pour enough on the wheat and veggies, tossing gently, to lightly coat everything.

To serve, put down a bed of greens, layer on the wheat and veggies, top with a soft poached egg and drizzle on a little more dressing.

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Lemony potato salad

Published
by
marc
on March 12, 2008
in Salad, Side and Vegetable
. 1 Comment

Lemony potato salad

If you’re not a big fan (or even if you are a fan) of the starchy mayonnaise that usually passes for potato salad, give this recipe a try. It’s much less creamy and if you’re totally anti-mayo, you can just omit it and replace it with an equal amount of olive oil. It’s lemony, with a little bite coming from the briny capers and a little crunch coming from the pickled onions and cucumber.

Try adding some different spices like basil, dill or caraway. A little whole grain mustard complements the capers nicely and adds another textural element as well.

2 russet potatos cut into 3/4″ cubes

1 Tsp kosher salt
1/4 small onion sliced as thin as possible
2″ length of hothouse cucumber seeded, quartered and thin

1 Tbs lemon juice
1 Tbs good olive oil
1 Tbs mayonaise (optional, if omitting add another Tbs olive oil)
1/2 tsp kosher salt

1 Tbs drained capers

Boil the potatoes in ample water until soft enough to stick a fork through.

While the potatoes are cooking, put the sliced onions and cucumbers in a bowl with the salt and add some water. This pickles them, breaking down the cell walls of the veggies and releasing water making them more crunchy. Let them sit for about 10 minutes then squeeze out as much of the water as you can using your hands (the more water you get out, the crunchier they’ll be).

Whisk the lemon juice, olive oil, mayo, and salt to make the dressing.

Drain the potatoes well and put into medium bowl and cover with the dressing while still warm. Gently combine the potatoes and dressing trying not to smash the potatoes too much. Add the onions, cucumber, and capers and mix until evenly distributed. Taste to make sure it’s okay, you can add more lemon, more salt, or even a pinch of sugar if you want to mellow it out a bit.

Serve it warm or let it come to room temperature.

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