June 27, 2007

• Food Porn of the Week: Salad and Seasonings

  First off, seasonings!

  [Cue 1950's homemaker music in a Kitchen of Tomorrow!]

  Herbs are a versatile way to spruce up that flat, flavorless supper.  Sweet, tangy, aromatic, spicy -- herbs come in a variety of flavors.  Add a little mint to a lamb rack.  It's that oregano in the sauce for delicious pasta.  Rosemary and chicken were made for each other.  For an exotically green flavor, sprinkle some marijuana atop that --

  [sound of needle being scratched over vinyl]

  Marijuana?!

  [Cue Jefferson Airplane's "Somebody to Love"]

  Yes, you heard me right! Indonesians are in some ways even more conflicted about the Demon Weed than their counterparts in the States.  It's used with some regularity in Aceh (that place on the northern tip of Sumatra that was hit very hard by the tsunami a couple of years ago) in curries and coffee.  Given that most of Indonesia is Muslim and there are some strong religious Islamic prohibitions on intoxication, most of the ruling class is quite against pot's legalization as a drug.  But as a condiment in cuisine? Bon appetite!

  Now for the salad part.

  Z-Man is getting into salads, and can pack it in when he tries.  I have always like salads, but usually resort to using various spring mixes and such rather than do my own, since I can get smaller amounts of pre-mixed greens than if I were to buy all of the separate, exotic greens I want to try.  But with an audience to show off for, well, stand back, honey.

  Friday nights are Z-Man's "finally able to relax a little" nights -- he's busy studying nearly 15 hours a day for the Bar exam -- and I have forgone my usual preference to eat right at sunset (as various folks and ayurvedic philosphy supports).  Lemon risotto with fresh peas has become something of a popular dish -- it's easy and tasty, and when Jennconspiracy brings me Meyer lemons from her sister's tree, well, why *wouldn't* I make it? But last Friday, I wanted to make it more complete of a meal and, given such motivation, also produced a Meyer lemon soufflée (not bad), but I also wanted a mixed salad of something a bit more unusual and substantial and varied than just the usual spring mix. 

  I had two main inspirations:  Café Jacqueline, the soufflée place here in San Francisco does a crazy-delicious white endive and roquefort salad.  But back when I traveled to Australia in 2001, I took a fantastic walk from Bondi Beach around Tamarama, past a beautiful cemetery right on the edge of the world, to Coogee Beach. 

  
  Above:  More or less the view I had when I was at Coogee Beach.  This is facing north, toward Tamarama, the next little inlet you can see past the northern point that juts into the Pacific.  Above that, is famous Bondi Beach, which is where I attempted to learn how to surf, with somewhat mixed results.  Coogee picture courtesty their Chamber of Commerce and used without permission, but with much fond remembrance and longing.  Sigh!

  That's a nice walk, and I was pretty hungry when I got there.  I wish I could remember the name of the place -- might have it written down somewhere.  Likely suspects I've Googled include Deep Blue or Aquarium, but it could be something that totally came and went.  Anyways, the arugula (cutely known in Australia and England as "rocket" for reasons I'm probably better off not knowing) salad had figs and blue cheese, and that was the first time I ever had a fig that wasn't Newton-ized.  The sweet, but not overpowering, taste of the fig went so well with the stronger cheese, that it's probably the only salad outisde of Jacquelines offerings that I not only remember, but remember quite fondly.  Anyhow:

  Salad:
  1 bunch dandelion greens
  1 head frisée or escarole or curly endive (all varieties of the same thing)
  1 handful fresh tarragon, chopped
  1 red belgian endive
  1 white belgian endive
  several slices of fresh fennel or anise bulb
  2 green figs, quartered
  several chunks of roquefort (or other strong snappy) cheese
  slices of scallions, including the white parts
  1 clove crushed garlic, to season the wooden salad bowl
  
  Dressing:
  1/4 to 1/3 cup high-quality olive oil
  1/2 teaspoon or less black truffle oil
  1 tbsp lemon juice (meyer or otherwise)
  salt
  pepper
  thyme, and whatever other herbs you like

  Assembly:  However the heck you want to assemble everything, is fine.  I was feeling a bit faux chef, so I went for presentation.  The colors and leaf shapes are so nice, and it didn't take any more time than if I'd just thrown it all together, but if you're in a hurry or, I don't know, serving the blind, all this is optional.

  I seasoned my Ikea wood salad bowl with the garlic, cleaned and washed everything, and -- and this is always important -- dried everything scrupulously.  Seriously, wet salad is kind of a downer, doesn't mix well with any oil dressings, makes stuff stick together, blah blah blah.  Just dry it, okay?

  All of the greens -- dandelion, frisée, tarragon -- go in first.  It's hard for me to gague how much tarragon I put in, but don't overdo it.  It's strong stuff when it's fresh.  I probably used less than 1/4 of a cup, possibly in the 3-4 tbsp range.  Start small, add more if you like.

  

  Then, with those cute little belgian endive hearts, break off the leaves and arrange them in alternating red and white round the rim of the salad bowl.  They'll get smaller as you go inward, so if you're feeling retentive, you'll want to save the very center ones for later.

  Following that, slice in the fennel/anise (I use a mandolin -- careful!) and the scallions.  Arrange the quartered figs, pink side up, in a ring in the center.  Within that ring, put in some cubes of the roquefort you managed to slice.  Roquefort is creamy and gooey at anything above refrigeration temperature, so don't even think of taking it out until you're ready to cube it up.  It won't melt like brie or anything, but it will make slicing it with a knife difficult.  Hm, note to self, use the cheese wire next time -- although I still wonder if that will save me any time and mess.

  Chill the salad until you're ready to serve it.

  Assemble the dressing, taking care to mix everything really well.  I've taken to using a hand mixer's milkshake attachment to really whip up the dressing and mingle the ingredients thoroughly.  Do this right before you're ready to serve.

  Pour over the dressing -- conservatively! You don't need a lot of this type of dressing -- and then toss the salad thoroughly in front of your audience.  Make sure you get maximum coating on the leaves, leaving them slightly glossy, but not drenched.  The dressing is light because the salad leaves themselves have so much flavor.

  Enjoy!

  • 6:39 pm
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