If you’ve never heard of Columbia Restaurant, it means you haven’t spent much time in Florida.  It’s a chain of about a dozen restaurants that to my knowledge is restricted to the Sunshine State.  To be perfectly honest, it’s not a very spectacular restaurant overall.  It definitely caters to the tourists and the snow birds, and as a college student, I found it severely overpriced.

So why is it worth mentioning?  Because they have a spectacular salad on their menu, called the 1905 salad, named for the year their flagship restaurant opened in Ybor City, a district in Tampa.  The 1905 salad is Columbia’s big ta-dah, because all the servers know the recipe by heart and whip it up table-side.  This should clue you in to how simple and fast you can prepare this for a weeknight dinner.  The classic is with ham, which you can swap out for turkey or shrimp.  I like the combo of ham and turkey, but rock it out to your tastes.  Oh and did I mention it was really delicious?

Columbia Restaurant’s 1905 Salad
Makes 2 giant entree portions, or 4 appetizer/side dish portions

For the Salad:
1 small head of iceberg lettuce, chopped
2 vine ripe tomatoes, diced
1/4 lb swiss cheese, sliced extra thick and julienned
1/4 lb deli ham, sliced extra thick and julienned
1/4 lb deli turkey, sliced extra thick and julienned
1/4 cup green spanish olives, sliced
2 tbsp fresh grated romano or parmesan cheese

For the Dressing:
1/8 cup white wine vinegar
1/8 cup lemon juice
3 cloves garlic, finely minced
1 tsp Worchestershire sauce
1 tsp dried oregano
1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil, preferably Spanish

In a large bowl, whisk together all the dressing ingredients except the olive oil, along with salt and a fair bit of fresh ground black pepper.  Pour in the olive oil in a slow stream, whisking vigorously until fully incorporated.  (Alternatively, you can also drop all the ingredients into the blender, or mix them quickly with an immersion blender as I did here.  The bowl-whisked dressing is traditional.)

You know the drill.  Drop all of the salad ingredients into the large bowl, coating everything in the dressing.  Portion out into serving bowls, and top with more ground pepper and romano cheese as desired.

Pre-dressing…

And yum…

This really makes for a filling, yet light dinner.  The flavors are very balanced and the dressing is super yum.  And I seriously cannot stress enough how quickly you can whip this up on a weeknight.  Enjoy everybody!  Oh, and thanks to that magazine that published this recipe which I found in that snobby coffee shop in Sarasota that I never patronized again.

You see, I’ve had a batch of homemade chicken stock sitting in the freezer, just waiting to be used.  And since I spent so much time on it, I wanted to showcase it in a recipe that would be all about the broth.  Hence the obvious choice, soup.  All it took was Kim talking about soup today and I knew it was time.

This is my take on Italian wedding soup, partly inspired by a Tuscan soup called ribollita, sortof a minestrone thickened with bread with tons of local, cheap vegetables.  And since we’re still getting our CSA veggie delivery we had a plethora of local, cheap veggies on hand.  It basically came down to luscious chicken stock base with delicious, basily chicken meatballs, cannellini beans and lots of healthy, vibrant kale.

Tuscan Wedding Soup
Makes 4 generous portions

For the Meatballs:
1 lb ground chicken
1 shallot, minced
1 clove garlic, minced
1/3 cup grated parmesan cheese
1/4 cup fresh basil, finely chopped
1 egg, lightly whisked
3/4 cup fresh breadcrumbs

For the Soup:
1/2 sweet onion, small dice
1 rib of celery, small dice
1 carrot, small dice
1/2 cup dry white wine
8 cups chicken stock, preferably homemade
2 – 12oz cans cannellini beans, drained
3/4 lb kale, washed and roughly chopped (i like a mix of dinosaur kale and curly kale for this)
Parmesan for serving

For the meatballs, preheat the oven to 400°F.  Combine all the ingredients in a large bowl and mix well to combine.  Season with salt and pepper.   The mixture will be looser than ground beef/pork, but it should still hold together when formed into a ball.  Place meatballs on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper and bake for 20 minutes until they begin to brown.  Alternatively, you can cook the meatballs in the soup, if you like them softer and don’t mind their lack of color.  I’ll point out where in the next step.

For the soup, put a large stock pot over medium-high heat.  Saute the onion, celery, and carrot in a few turns of olive oil until softened, about 7 minutes.  Add the wine and cook until its reduced by half or almost fully evaporated.  Add the stock (its a good idea to have this heating up in another saucepan on your stove, so you don’t have to wait to bring this to a boil) as well as the cannellini beans and bring to a simmer over medium heat. Go ahead and check the seasonings on the soup at this point and add some salt and pepper.  Now’s a good time to prep your kale and allow your meatballs to finish browning.  If you’re cooking the meatballs in the soup, go ahead and add them now and bring the heat up closer to a low boil.  They should take about 10 minutes to cook through, then proceed with the next step.

Add the meatballs and kale to the pot.  You might have to add the kale in two batches if your pot is not large enough, but don’t worry, it wilts down quickly.  Bring the soup back to a simmer and allow to cook for at least 10 minutes for the kale to soften.  If you prefer your kale softer, go ahead and simmer an additional 10-15 minutes until its cooked to your liking. Ladle the soup into large bowls.  Top with freshly grated parm cheese and a tiny drizzle of good extra virgin olive oil.  Serve with toasty garlic bread on the side.

The ingredient list is fairly simple and is mostly things I have on hand. A medium sized spaghetti squash, a bunch a ripe roma or vine tomatoes, a medium onion, couple cloves of garlic, a bunch of fresh basil and some extra virgin olive oil.

First off, halve and clean your spaghetti squash. Discard all the seeds and fibers. It’ll look something like this:

Then stick them in a microwave safe container with about a half cup of water, cut side down please, and wrap it tightly with syran wrap. You want to trap all that good steam in there for super fast cooking.

Now nuke it in the microwave for a solid 13 minutes. I know that seems like a mightly long time for anything in the microwave, but it really steams it perfectly. If you’re weirded out by microwave radiation, feel free to roast the halves in the oven, but it takes 5 times as long and I don’t find much of a difference in taste or texture.

While the squash is happily steaming away, nows the time to whip up a quick fresh tomato sauce for it. Give your onion, tomato and garlic a good small dice. Start by sauteing your onions in some extra virgin olive oil over medium-high heat. Give them about a 5 minute head start to get soft before adding the finely minced garlic. Once you can start to smell the garlic, add in all the diced tomatoes and juices. Like this. Be sure to stop and admire Firat’s fine tomato dicing. Oh and photography.

Give this a shimmy shake and let it cook down for 5-10 min on medium heat while the squash halves cool down a bit. Now’s a good time to add in your salt/pepper. Also, if my tomatoes arn’t beautifully in season, I’ll throw in a 1/2 tsp of sugar to help balance out the flavors.

Back to that squash. Those suckers are reeeeally hot, so be careful with this next step. When they’re cool enough to handle (or you’re impatient enough to grab one with a towel) carefully scrape out the strands of the squash with a fork. I like to do one side, then the other, before dumping all the strands from one half out into a bowl. I find it helps keep the strands as long and intact as possible.

Now the final step! Dump the faux spaghetti strands into your sauce and stir to coat evenly with the sauce. I throw in a handful of chopped basil and another swirl of your good extra virgin olive oil to finish it. Make sure to check your salt/pepper seasonings now, since the squash can be a little bland. And don’t forget to throw on some freshly grated parm cheese!

We served ours up tonight with some grilled chicken tenders to complete our light and delicious dinner!

Ok, it probably won’t replace pasta for everyone, but the squash retains a nice al dente bite to it that’s crisp and fresh without being chewy like pasta sometimes can. And its extremely versatile. It can hold up to any pasta sauce, like alfredo or pesto. Some nights we add small bites of fresh mozzarella to the fresh tomato sauce for a caprese style squash side dish. It can be served hot, like a pasta dish, or room temperature like a pasta salad. Any way you make it, I hope you guys enjoy this as much as we do!