Hurray!  A new cookbook!  I think Firat has figured out that if he buys me new cookbooks about the types of cuisine he likes, they end up on the table a little more often.  The cuisines.  Not the books.  So I can only assume he’s encouraging more French food with Dorie Greenspan’s Around My French Table.  I dived into it immediately, marking up more than two dozen recipes I wanted to try, but the one that stood out the most was a simple salad.  Dorie’s bacon and eggs and asparagus salad looked like the perfect place to start.  Of course, being without hazelnuts or hazelnut oil in the house, I had to make a few minor changes.

The biggest surprise was her method of preparing the eggs.  They’re supposed to go straight from the fridge into boiling water.  This seemed contradictory to every recipe for boiled eggs I’ve ever read!  But I went with it, preparing 4 eggs instead of 2 as a safety net, and not a single egg cracked.  (I learned afterward that the salted water though not able to prevent the eggs from cracking, would help the white congeal quickly and help keep the egg whole were there a crack).  The still-soft eggs are finished by being peeled whole, then gently sauteed in the bacon drippings just until they’re warmed through.  The result was as good an egg as I’ve ever encountered.  The white was set, yet tender and the yolk was luscious and velvety.  Truly, I see little reason to ever poach an egg again!

Bacon and Eggs and Asparagus Salad
Adapted and paraphrased from “Around My French Table”
Serves 2 as a main or 4 as a side

For the Dressing:
1/2 tsp dijon mustard
1 tbsp sherry vinegar
1 tbsp lemon juice (my addition, I like some bright acid to complement the deep, rich sherry vinegar)
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil (Dorie’s recipe is for 1 tbsp evoo, 1 tbsp hazelnut oil)
pinch of sugar

For the Salad:
4 extremely cold eggs
Half a bunch of asparagus, trimmed
4 large strips of bacon
3 handfuls baby salad greens
1/3 cup toasted hazelnuts or walnuts (optional)

In a medium bowl, whisk together the dijon, vinegar, sugar, and lemon juice.  Slowly whisk in the olive oil, salt and pepper to taste, then set aside.

Bring a medium saucepan of well salted water to a low boil.  One by one, gently lower the eggs down with a spoon.  Have your timer ready for 6 minutes, you don’t want them to boil for any longer.  Remove pan from heat and set directly under cold running water in your sink.  Continue running until the pan’s water is completely cold.  Leave them here in the cold water until you’re ready for them.

In a medium skillet, bring salted water to a simmer.  Drop in the asparagus and simmer for 3-4 minutes, depending on the thickness, until they’ve lost their crunch but arn’t mushy.  Remove and pat dry on paper towels.

Dump out the water, place the dry skillet over medium heat and lay in the bacon.  Cook the bacon over medium-low heat, flipping as needed until golden and crisp.  Remove the strips and let drain on paper towels.  Turn the heat off, but leave the skillet on the burner.

To assemble the salad, toss the lettuce in 3/4 of the dressing and place on a platter, topping it with some fresh cracked pepper and salt.  Roll the asparagus in the remaining dressing and layer over top the greens.  Chop the bacon into bits and sprinkle around platter.

When you’re ready to serve, very, very gently peel the eggs.  Take your time with it, as the eggs are soft and delicate.  Rinse off any bits of shell and pat them dry.  Gently spoon them into the bacon drippings skillet over medium heat and gingerly roll them around in the bacon fat until they’re covered and allow them to get just a hit of golden brown on each side.  You don’t want them in the pan for more than 2 minutes.  With a spoon, place them overtop the salad and serve immediately.  Make sure you have some nice flaky sea salt and additional black pepper for your guests to season their eggs as they like.

So there you have it.  We shared a wonderful small steak on the side, and though a lovely Parisian complement to the meal, it was outshined by this salad.  Apologies for not taking some in-progress pictures, but then I didn’t expect the eggs to be such a success on our first try!  That to me proves what an exceptional cookbook this is.  Dorie is precise and thorough with her writing.  Much like Julia Child’s recipes, you’re never left wondering if what you’re doing is right or not.  I really can’t wait to take on another recipe and that just might happen later tonight.

As I’m sure you’ve seen, we’ve been eating a lot of decadent food over the holiday break.  Yeah, common, I know you were too.  In fact, we were actually starting to, dare I say it, long for our lighter, healthier pre-holiday diet.  On the whole we’ve been cutting out a lot of processed foods and starchy carbs and looking for more ways to get the most nutrition into our diet, which can be a tricky thing on a busy schedule.  A few months ago I spotted a bag of broccoli slaw at Trader Joes, which consists of raw julienned broccoli stems and carrots, and I thought it would pair nicely with an asian-flavored vinaigrette.  Yet despite all the good ingredients I was putting into the dressing, I always felt like something was lacking.  The breakthrough for this recipe came when I realized what bugged me most about the dressing was that it wasn’t thick enough to cling to the broccoli, leaving a flavorful, neglected puddle on your plate.  So looking for a healthful solution I tossed in a handful of cashews and voila, problem solved!  This makes a super speedy weeknight side, which goes great with some grilled teriyaki chicken, salmon, or shrimp.  It’s light, crunchy and full of yum.

Raw Broccoli Slaw with Cashew Lime Vinaigrette
Serves 4 as a Side

1/8 cup lime juice (1/2 a big lime)
1/8 cup brown rice wine vinegar (i find this has a deeper, richer flavor than the regular kind)
2 tbsp soy sauce
2 tsp sugar or honey
1 clove garlic, minced (or grated on a microplane)
2 tbsp mirin
1/2 tsp sriracha sauce (or a pinch of red chili flakes)
1/4 cup canola oil (substitute any mellow flavored oil)
1/4 cup toasted cashew pieces plus 3 tbsps for the dressing
Handful of cilantro, torn into pieces
2 scallions, thinly sliced on the bias
1 12-oz bag of broccoli slaw (or 1 1/2 cups grated broccoli stem and 1/2 cup grated carrot)
Handful of sesame sticks (optional)

In a food processor, or in a tall-sided bowl with an immersion blender, combine the lime juice, vinegar, soy sauce, sugar, garlic, mirin, and sriracha.  Blend briefly to combine.  With the blender running, slowly stream in the oil so the dressing emulsifies.  Then toss in the 3 tbsps of toasted cashew pieces and blend until smooth.  The dressing should be thick enough to coat the back of a spoon.  It’ll still be a liiittle gritty from the nuts, which I didn’t mind at all, but feel free to strain it through a fine mesh sieve if you’re looking for a silkier texture.

In a large bowl, combine the raw broccoli slaw, cilantro, scallions, and cashew pieces.  Gently toss with the dressing and top with crunchy sesame sticks and additional scallions and cilantro leaves for color.

Yet another post on my crusade to rid the world of bottled salad dressings.  Mixing up a fresh dressing barely takes 3 minutes out of your day and maximizes the flavor of your salad.  Plus, dressings can be made from the most basic items of your pantry – vinegars, oils, garlic, spices, and are further heightened by whatever fresh produce you have on hand — like citrus and fresh herbs.    The best thing about a simple weeknight salad with a homemade dressing is you really only require two tools: a medium-sized, comfortable whisk and a large mixing bowl that’s big enough to mix your entire salad.  This keeps dishes to a minimum which is more often than not how I measure the success of a weeknight dinner.

Creamy Southwestern Dressing
makes enough dressing for 5oz of salad or about 2 dinner portions

Juice of half a large lime (about 2-3 tbsps)
1 clove garlic, grated into a paste
1/2 tsp sugar
1/8 tsp cumin
Pinch of chili powder
Pinch of cayenne to taste
2 tbsp grapeseed oil, or any plain vegetable oil
2 tbsp sour cream
2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
Salt and pepper to taste

Combine the lime juice, garlic, sugar, cumin, chili powder, and cayenne in a large bowl and whisk to combine.  Continue whisking vigorously and slowly drizzle in the grapeseed oil.    Now whisk in the sour cream (I prefer to counter the acidity of the lime juice with some oil before adding the sour cream to help prevent the dairy from breaking).  Finally, whisk in the olive oil and season with salt/pepper to taste.  Drop in your salad ingredients and toss to coat.

Tonight we used the dressing on a simple salad of 1 cup halved grape tomatoes, 1/2 cup defrosted frozen corn, and a sliced avocado served next to some grilled fajita-style chicken and onions.  Feel free to elaborate on the salad by adding black beans, jicama, cilantro, tortilla strips, scallions, crumbled queso fresco, or whatever you fancy.  Truly a perfect weeknight dinner.  Enjoy!

Hello friends, remember me?  It’s that old blog you’ve forgotten about. Today I thought I’d post some old-school deliciousness: spinach salad with warm bacon dressing. Here’s my spin on the 100-year-old classic.  Traditionally its a wilted salad, but that’s because the recipe was concocted when there was only one type of spinach readily available: the giant, gritty full grown leaves.  I prefer to keep some of the fresh crispness in the baby spinach to counter the rich, tangy dressing.  BTW, this makes a great, speedy weeknight dinner for two.

Baby Spinach Salad with Warm Bacon Dressing
Serves 2 for dinner, or 4 as a side-dish

4 slices of bacon, diced
1 shallot, fine mince (or an 1/8 cup finely minced red onion, if you must)
1/4 cup apple cider vinegar — no substitutes this time.  this is the real deal.
1 tbsp sugar
1/2 tsp dried mustard
1 tsp dijon mustard
1 package baby spinach (about 6 cups)
1 cup white mushrooms, sliced paper thin (about half a small package)
1/4 cup red onion, sliced paper thin
2 hard-boiled eggs, cut into wedges

Go ahead and put your eggs on to boil.  Seriously, I know you don’t have any sitting around in your fridge.  For the record, I like to start mine in cold water, bring to a rapid boil over high heat, cover and switch the heat off.  20 minutes later the eggs are perfectly cooked.  Then drop the whole pan under the faucet and run cool water in until the eggs are chilled enough to handle.

While the eggs are cooking, drop the bacon into a large skillet over medium heat.  The closer the bacon gets to done, the lower I drop the heat.  It takes 7-10 minutes for the bacon to get beautifully golden and crispy.  Remove with slotted spoon and let the bacon drain on a paper towel while you finish the dressing.

You should have about 3 tbsps of drippings left in the pan. Add some olive oil if you’re short to round it out. Gently saute the shallot over medium heat until its lovely and golden.  Now add the vinegar, sugar, mustards, a healthy grind of pepper and a pinch of salt and whisk to combine, scraping up all the little bacony bits that stuck to the pan.  Allow to simmer for 1-2 minutes so the dressing can thicken up and for some of the bite of the vinegar to cook off. If you really feel the need to wilt your baby spinach, or if you’re using the adult spinach leaves, toss the greens into the skillet for the last 30-60 seconds of cooking, being sure to flip/stir the spinach to ensure even wilting.

In a large bowl, combine the spinach, mushrooms and red onions and toss gently. Pour the warm dressing straight from the skillet into the bowl and quickly toss to coat evenly.  Now sprinkle over those yummy bacony bits.  You forgot about them, didn’t you?  No you didn’t, you’ve been snacking on them the whole time you’ve been cooking.  Wait, that was me.

Season the egg wedges with a bit of salt.  Serve the salad in a big bowl with the wedges of egg adorning the outsides.  Look at that, what a pro.

I’m a big advocate for whisking up a super simple salad dressing rather than relying on the fatty, chemically bottled alternatives from the super market. I mean, seriously, it takes all of 3 minutes.   Typically I just rock a vinaigrette on some baby greens.  Tonight, however, I spotted a mixed container of mache and butter lettuce on the refrigerated shelf at Trader Joes, which made me a very happy lady.  If you’ve never tried mache, do it.  Do it now.  It’s tiny, sweet, tender and slightly nutty.  And for a lettuce as mild and gentle as mache, this called for a special dressing.

Yogurt Chive Dressing
yields about 1/2 cup of dressing

1/4 cup greek yogurt (I use Fage 0% greek yogurt)
1 small clove garlic, very finely minced
Zest of 1/2 lemon
2 tbsp lemon juice (about half a lemon)
1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
2 tbsp chopped chives (I use my kitchen scissors for easy cutting)
1/4 tsp sugar or honey
large pinch of salt and fresh ground pepper

Whisk together all of the above ingredients in a large bowl.  Season and sweeten to taste, depending on how tart your yogurt and lemon juice are.  Add  4 cups loosely packed greens and gently toss to coat.  Serve as a delightfully light and simple side dish for chicken or fish, such as the breaded pan-fried chicken tenders pictured above.