Happy Birthday, Julia! –Celebrate with Salade Niçoise

I don’t know why I haven’t posted Salade Niçoise until now.  It’s one of my favorite dishes.  My thoughts of it were triggered today as I watched several episodes of The French Chef on WLIW’s tribute to Julia Child on the anniversary of her 100^th birthday.  It’s a simple composed salad but exuding what you might expect to be served in an outdoor café in Nice.

My version features French potato salad, cooked string beans, sweet peppers, hard cooked eggs, chick peas, cucumber slices, olives and tuna.  Of course, you might add or substitute cooked asparagus, cooked sliced beets, avocado, anchovies, capers, in short, whatever suits your fancy. The string beans, simmered in boiling water just until they still have a  slight crunch, and the chick peas should be tossed in a little vinaigrette before added to the ensemble.  Your own selections should be placed atop a bed of Boston lettuce also tossed with a small amount of the vinaigrette.  A tablespoon or two of chopped fresh herbs sprinkled on at the end add an  inviting touch.

Many chefs seem to feel that they have to upgrade this classic salad by switching out the canned tuna for fresh grilled tuna.  Personally I prefer the classic version featuring a good quality canned tuna in olive oil.  The accompanying flavors of anchovies, capers  and vinaigrette dressing are complimentary.  The olive oil from the can, having enhanced the flavor of the tuna, is drained and discarded.  Tuna in water has had the flavor leached out of it and tuna in other oils simply lack the flavor of olive oil.  I prepare the potatoes in the style of Julia Child’s French potato salad. An Alsatian Riesling is the perfect accompaniment.

Vinaigrette Salad Dressing:

Ingredients

2 cloves garlic

2 large shallots

1 T Dijon mustard

¼ cup good wine vinegar, red or white

½ cup extra virgin olive oil

¼ c up peanut oil

¼ t freshly ground black pepper

1 t sea salt or kosher salt

Procedure

1. Mince garlic and shallots and place in a bowl.

2. Whisk in Dijon mustard and vinegar.

3. Slowly drizzle in olive oil and peanut oil, whisking vigorously.

4. Add pepper and salt, taste and adjust seasonings.

Julia’s French Potato Salad

Ingredients

8-10- medium boiling potatoes, such as Red Bliss

4 T dry white wine

2 T chicken stock

2 T minced shallots

Procedure

1. Simmer potatoes in water until easily pierced with a knife.  Let cool enough to handle.

2. Peel and slice into 1/8-inch slices.  Place in a bowl.

3. While potatoes slices are still warm, pour on wine and chicken stock and toss gently.  Set aside while potatoes absorb liquid.

4. Add minced shallots and toss.

5. Add 1/3 cup vinaigrette salad dressing. Toss gently to blend.

Photo by sweetpaprika

Szechuan Peppercorn Chicken

This is a wonderful summer dish and I was holding off posting it until the weather warms up but the forecast for tomorrow is 80 degrees!  So even though it’s April, I feel I’m not jumping the gun in bringing you this amazing combination of Szechuan peppercorns, shredded chicken enrobed in a succulent sauce and the highly underrated cold crisp iceberg lettuce. (Serves 6-8)

Ingredients

2 whole chicken breasts with skin and bone (4 pieces)

2 slices fresh ginger root

1 stalk scallion

1 T light corn syrup

1 T dark soy sauce

1 T hoisin sauce

2 cloves garlic, finely minced

¼ cup peanut oil

¼ cup chopped scallion (green and white parts)

1 T minced ginger root

1 t Szechuan peppercorns (crushed with the broadside of a cleaver)

¼ t crushed chile pepper flakes

4 cups shredded iceberg lettuce

Directions

Bring 2 quarts of water to a boil in a sauce pan.  Turn flame to medium and simmer chicken breasts along with ginger and scallion for 15 minutes.  Turn flame off and let chicken cool in the water for 20 minutes.  Skin chicken and pull off bone into shreds.  Place in serving bowl.

Mix corn syrup, soy sauce, hoisin sauce, and garlic.  Set aside.  Heat peanut oil, scallion, ginger, Szechuan peppercorns and crushed chile pepper flakes to boiling.  Simmer for one minute.  Add corn syrup mixture and combine.

Add lettuce to shredded chicken.  Pour sauce over all and toss just before serving.  Serve cold.

Adapted from classes with Grace Chu

Photo by sweetpaprika

Not Your Deli Pasta Salad

“THE STORE”*  ZITI SALAD

WITH TOMATO AND PEPPERS

I am not a fan of  pasta salads.  I find them usually anemic, in other words, bland and slathered with mayonnaise, or worse, in a too tart oil and vinegar dressing.  Not so, Bert Greene’s “Store” ziti salad.  “Store” because Bert made it by the vatful for the “beautiful people” who picked it up for their beach parties in the Hamptons in the 70s.  The late Bert Greene and his partner Denis Vaughn operated The Store at Amagansett preparing upscale summer food to hordes of Hamptonites.  This fresh and colorful salad was his biggest hit.

I wasn’t one of those customers but I did have the good fortune to study with Bert who was a wonderful personality and a great teacher.  His philosophy was to use the best ingredients and prepare them simply to their best advantage.

Ingredients:

1 lb. box ziti

¼ cup milk

1 medium red onion

2 tomatoes

6 sweet midget gherkins

1 red sweet pepper`

1 yellow sweet pepper

1 large shallot

½ cup sour cream

1 ½ cups mayonnaise

2 packets G. Washington brown bouillon powder

¼ t freshly ground black pepper

Dash of balsamic vinegar

1 T pickle juice

Handful of chopped fresh dill

Procedure:

Cook a 1-lb. box of ziti according to package directions.  (For this recipe, add 2 T olive oil to water to keep ziti from sticking together.)  Be careful not to overcook.  Drain.  Rinse thoroughly in cold water.  Drain again.  Place the cooked ziti in a mixing bowl and add enough milk to thoroughly moisten the ziti and toss.

Chop the onion, tomatoes, pickles and peppers into ½ inch cubes.  Reserve a tablespoon of each for garnish.  Mince the shallot.

Beat the sour cream and mayonnaise together with a whisk until creamy.  Add the bouillon powder, ½ teaspoon salt and ¼ teaspoon pepper. (Thin with milk if necessary.)  Pour over the ziti.  Add the shallots, tomatoes, pickles, peppers, vinegar and pickle juice.  Mix well.

Scoop salad into a serving bowl, garnish with reserved vegetables and cut fresh dill over all.  Serve chilled.  Serves 8 – 10.

*Bert Greene’s top seller at The Store at Amagansett in the 1970s and appearing in The Store Cookbook.

Mediterranean Version of Bert’s Salad

Here’s a delightful variation of “The Store” salad substituting rigatoni for the ziti and adding 1/2 cup sliced black olives and 8 oz. crumbled feta to the dish.  In place of the mayonnaise mixture, substitute 1/3 cup vinaigrette dressing.

Photographer Bill Brady http://bit.ly/9wFYxm
Food Stylist Brian Preston Campbell

 

 

 

 

Citrus Grilled Shrimp Salad

As June rolls around, the name of the game is easy cooking. In fact, the less work, the better, so long as the results are fresh and mouthwatering. And since farmers’ markets and farmstands are bulging with their summer best, select your favorite mix and match favorites and toss together a great salad. Top it with citrusy grilled shrimp and pair it with a French baguette and you have a delicious lunch.

Shrimp and marinade: (Serves 4)

20 extra large shelled and deveined shrimp with tails left on

2 cloves garlic, crushed

½ cup extra virgin olive oil

1 fresh lime, juiced

½ t salt

¼ t pepper

1/8 t crushed red pepper flakes

Whisk together marinade ingredients and toss with shrimp. Place in refrigerator for ½ hour.

Orange vinaigrette:

1 clove garlic

2 shallots, finely minced

1 T Dijon mustard

¼ cup freshly squeezed orange juice

½ cup extra virgin olive oil

½ t salt

1/8 t freshly ground pepper

1 t fresh thyme leaves

While shrimp is marinating, make orange vinaigrette salad dressing. Mash garlic in a small bowl. Add shallots and mustard. Whisk in orange juice and then slowly whisk in olive oil. Season with salt, pepper and thyme leaves. Adjust for preferred acidity.

Grill shrimp on a hot grill for 2 minutes on each side or just until opaque. Use metal skewers if you think shrimp might slip through grate.

Salad ingredients:

Medium head of red radicchio

Segments from 2 oranges, pith and membranes removed

Small head of leafy green lettuce

16 red cherry or grape tomatoes

1 small red onion, cut into thin slices

Mix salad ingredients together in a large bowl. Toss with just enough orange vinaigrette to lightly coat greens. Divide among 4 salad plates. Top each with 5 shrimp. Serves 4 as a lunch entrée.

Photographer Bill Brady http://bit.ly/9wFYxm
Food Stylist Brian Preston Campbell