50 Women Game Changers in Food: #15, Sheila Lukins and Julee Rosso

My copy of Silver Palate has seen better days, but that's always the way to find a favorite recipe....look for the dirty pages! There are quite a few of those in this wildly popular cookbook by Sheila Lukins and Julee Rosso with Michael McLaughlin. Between them, Lukins, Rosso and McLaughlin introduced many Americans to French, Southern and Eastern European cooking techniques and ingredients. 

In the 1970s, after Lukins had spent some time at the Cordon Bleu in London and had worked with chefs in France, she returned the New York and started a catering business. In 1977, she co-founded (with Rosso) a gourmet and catering shop in NYC called The Silver Palate. McLaughlin managed the Silver Palate and when owners Julee Rosso and Sheila Lukins decided to write their first book, he created many of the recipes. Lukins sold her interest in The Silver Palate in 1988 when it was sold to new owners and the store finally was closed in 1993.

After 11 years working together, Rosso and Lukins split up in the 1990s in a widely-reported feud, although they were reunited in 2007 to publish a new 25th-anniversary edition of The Silver Palate Cookbook. Lukins passed away in 2009. Rosso and her husband Bill own an inn in Saugatuck, Michigan. She gives cooking lessons there.

McLaughlin stayed in the background (this poor photo was hard to come by) for the most part and left the Silver Palate in 1984 when he opened the Manhattan Chili Company in New York’s Greenwich Village, a restaurant that showcased Southwestern cuisine. Michael died in Santa Fe in 2002.

To honor these "game changers" I chose to make a seafood salad I've been making for years. What I like about this recipe is you can dress it with different salad dressings. A basil purée or a sherry mayonnaise are the two I use the most; I like them both, or you could use any recipe for a basil pesto you may have.  I chose to use the sherry mayonnaise this time. I also like to add tomatoes as it seems to call out for some additional color.

Pasta and Seafood Salad
From The Silver Palate Cookbook

Ingredients:

1 pound raw shrimp, shelled and deveined

1 pound bay scallops, rinsed

3 squid, dressed

1/2 pound corkscrew or shell pasta (I used cavatelli here, but I do prefer corkscrew or something unusual.)

1 cup peas, defrosted

1/2 cup diced red pepper

1/2 cup minced purple onion

1/2 cup olive oil

4 Tablespoons lemon juice

salt and pepper

1 cup black olives, preferably Kalamata or Alfonso

Method:
Boil scallops and shrimp in boiling salted water for 1 minutes. Boil the squid and tentacles for 3 or 3  minutes. Then cut squid body in 1 inch rings. Be sure to use the squid tentacles! Cook pasta, drain. Mix all ingredients in a salad bowl and toss with sherry mayonnaise or the basil purée. Top with black olives. Serves 4-6.

Sherry Mayonaise
Ingredients:

1 whole egg

2 egg yolks

1 Tablespoon Dijon mustard

1/4 chup sherry vinegar

salt and pepper

2 cups corn oil

Method:
Combine egg, egg yolks, mustard, vinegar in processor. Season with salt and pepper and process 1 minute. With motor running, dribble oil in a steady stream. When done and thick, refrigerate.

Basil Purée
Ingredients:
7 cups washed and dried fresh basil leaves
3-4 tablespoons olive oil

Method:

Purée in a food processor, cover and refrigerate

Join Mary from One Perfect Bite and all the other participants in this fun series.

Val - More Than Burnt Toast
Joanne - Eats Well With Others
Taryn - Have Kitchen Will Feed
Susan - The Spice Garden
Claudia - A Seasonal Cook in Turkey
Heather - girlichef
Miranda - Mangoes and Chutney
Jeanette - Healthy Living
April - Abby Sweets 
Katie - Making Michael Pollan Proud
Mary - One Perfect Bite
Kathleen -Bake Away with Me
Viola - The Life is Good Kitchen
Sue - The View from Great Island
Kathleen - Gonna Want Seconds
Amy - Beloved Green
Jeanette - Healthy Living
Linda - Ciao Chow Linda
Martha - Lines from Linderhof

Three Simple Non-Salads

Very rarely do I eat lunch out. And because I've been watching my weight, I've been eating a lettuce-based salad for lunch every day for months. B.O.R.I.N.G. Yes, yes, I know it's good for me AND it fills me up. I try to make them as interesting as possible by making my salads with endive and all the veggies I can find in the fridge, along with chicken or shrimp shredded on top. But still....I'm really getting sick of it and I confess: salads that are mostly lettuce, any kind lettuce, are not high on my preferred lunch list. I'd rather be eating non-salad salads or salads with little or no lettuce. Am I the only one?

When I eat out, I order quiche, caprese salad (It may say salad, but it really isn't.), chicken salad (ditto) or an omelet.  At home, if a lunch takes too much time to make or if the stove or oven has to be turned on, forget it. Not worth it for one person.
Now that summer is nearly here,  I thought I'd share three of my favorite non-salads that are easy and quick to make and perfect for 1 or 2 people. Not a lettuce leaf in sight. :) I bet all of you have your own favorite "non-salads" and I'd love to hear about them. 

The first I saw many years ago in one of Lee Bailey's cookbooks. He always has such clever ideas for entertaining and this one was for a company lunch. I changed it a bit and he served it with chicken, which I never do, but if you want, you could add a couple slices of chicken or turkey. If you insist, you can also add a lettuce cup under the cottage cheese. For presentation purposes only, of course! 
I can't even remember what he called it, if anything, because it was on a page full of quick lunch ideas, so I just named it:


Cottage Cheese Salad

Ingredients:
1 cup small curd cottage cheese (lo-fat)
1 tablespoon chives
3 radishes, sliced
1 red pepper, diced
2 hard boiled eggs, sliced
1 tomato, quartered
1/2 cup toasted pecans, roughly chopped
freshly ground black pepper
seasoning salt (I use Lawry's)

Method:
Mix cottage cheese with radishes, chives and red pepper. Top with pecans and serve with sliced tomatoes and hard boiled eggs. Season all with Lawry's.

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The second non-salad is something I invented a long time ago, although it wouldn't surprise  me to read in the comments that you make something like this often. I'm not much of a fan of pasta lunches, mainly because you have to cook the pasta and I'm usually in too big a hurry. But if the kids are here, this is an easy one to make. I usually use whole wheat pasta but the only photo I found in my file was one with regular pasta. Whole wheat gives it such a lovely nutty flavor, that I rarely make it any other way. I must have been out of it the one time I thought to dig out the camera. I add any veggies happen to be in the fridge.

It may say cold in the title, but often the pasta is still warm when I mix everything and I actually like it that way. So don't refrigerate it unless you have to.

Cold Pasta Salad

Ingredients:

1/2 box fuselli pasta- regular or whole wheat

1 small can black olives, sliced

5 green onions, finely sliced, white and green

6 to 8 cherry tomatoes, halved

2 radishes diced

carrots, sliced , if desired

1 red pepper, diced

Freshly grated Parmesan

Your favorite vinaigrette

Method:

Cook the pasta, rinse in cold water and drain. Add ingredients, dress with vinaigrette and toss with some fresh Paremsan.

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The last salad came from my dear friend Nancy. She's not with us any longer and I miss her a lot and think of her often. She invented this herself and ate it frequently. I posted this back when I first started blogging. It's worth reposting.

Nancy's Cauliflower Salad

Ingredients:

1 small head cauliflower, in florets                                      

3 carrots, sliced
3 celery stalks, sliced                                                                                                                   

1/2 cup pimento stuffed green olives, sliced

1/4 cup salad oil

1/4 cup vinegar

seasoning salt and freshly ground pepper to taste

Method:
Make a simple vinagrette with the oil, vinegar, salt and pepper. Or use your own favorite vinaigrette. Mix with the other ingredients and chill.

A Simple Holiday Salad: Heirloom Tomatoes and Burrata Cheese

Our Garden Club had their annual Christmas party last weekend. We each bring something and they buy a filet of beef at the market. Everyone prefers to bring appetizers and desserts (of course), so I thought I'd choose to bring a salad. I noticed someone else was doing tossed so I wanted to think up something different.

My daughter Tracy said: why not serve burrata cheese and some heirloom tomatoes, simply tossed with a balsamic vinaigrette? A super idea and I had just had something similar at Michael's in Miami Beach during the Art Basel Miami show the first week of December. (The second biggest contemporary art show in the world; the biggest being the one in Basel, Switzerland in June.) Tracy had a booth in the show so I was back and forth quite a bit that week. AND she also had the salad at Michael's, hence the idea.

Now, I'm sure you know all about burrata, but in case you don't: it's a fresh Italian cheese, made from mozzarella and cream. The outside is firm like mozzarella and the inside, which contains both mozzarella and cream, is very soft. It's served at room temperature. The name "burrata" means "buttered" in Italian and that is the literal truth: you cut into it and it's like butter inside! Michael's served it whole in the center of a plate with the heirloom tomatoes all around it. It made such a pretty presentation and then I thought I'd scatter some basil around to complete the Christmas colors.

I'm trying to keep this nice and easy as we're all so busy this week. So no recipe here today, just make a simple vinaigrette with balsamic vinegar (I added a touch of fresh garlic), toss the tomatoes in it and sprinkle a little olive oil on the cheese. Easy as can be, lovely and light, and burrata is divine.

Heirloom Tomatoes and Burrata Cheese with Balsamic Vinaigrette

Lobster and Mango Cocktail

Black Friday has arrived...which always makes me sit up and take notice: the Christmas holidays are upon us. The Christmas trees have filled the lots on main street and the stores, bless them, have had their holiday decorations up since Halloween. It's that time, my friends....of good cheer, carol singing, happy children's faces and candy canes.

So, even before the turkey leftovers have disappeared, are you planning your next holiday meal? At least on paper? I am. I'm an inveterate list-maker. My Christmas list has been made for months and I'm nearly done. I like to finish early... no panic shopping for me.... so I can kick back and enjoy the sparkling tree lights, wrap gifts with care, cook with love, share egg nog with friends, help the less fortunate children among us with the Spirit of Giving Network, remembering what Christmas really means and taking time to enjoy the holiday.

I'm really looking forward to everyone's postings for the next few weeks...I just know you're all going to be chock full of great holiday ideas. I hope you can discover an idea or two here that will help with your planning as well.

Here's an elegant starter for a sit-down holiday dinner. I normally use lobster, but don't see any reason why you couldn't substitute shrimp or crab. I've never really cared for the Cognac addition (so unlike me!), but do a little taste test for yourself and  decide. I debated about using rum instead. Next time, perhaps. It has all those lovely Caribbean flavors, doesn't it?  Also, try to find a nice sweet mango. If it's unavailable where you live, you could try melon. Lots of possibilities with this appetizer.


Lobster and Mango Cocktail
From Gourmet Magazine, June 1992

Ingredients:
1/3 cup mayonnaise
1/3 cup plain yogurt
2 tablespoons Cognac (optional)
1 tablespoon ketchup
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice, or to taste
four 1 1/2-pound live lobsters (I used lobster tails)
3 firm-ripe mangoes
1 cup finely diced celery
4 whole Belgian endives plus 12 leaves for garnish
3 tablespoons minced fresh chives plus 24 whole chives for garnish

Method:
In a small bowl whisk together the mayonnaise, the yogurt, the Cognac, the ketchup, the lemon juice, and salt and pepper to taste and chill sauce, covered. Plunge the lobsters into a large kettle of boiling salted water and boil them, covered, for 10 minutes. Transfer the lobsters with tongs to a bowl and let them cool until they can be handled. Crack the shells, remove the meat, and cut it into 3/4-inch pieces. Transfer the lobster meat to a large bowl and chill it, covered. The lobster cocktail may be prepared up to this point 1 day in advance.

Halve the mangoes by cutting just to the sides of each pit and, using a 3/4-inch melon-ball cutter, scoop the flesh from the mango halves. (There should be about 2 cups.) To the lobster meat add the mango balls, the celery, the whole endives, trimmed and sliced thin crosswise, the minced chives, and the sauce and toss mixture until it is combined. Divide the lobster mixture among 12 chilled small glasses and garnish each serving with 1 of the endive leaves and 2 of the whole chives.
Serves 12.

A Duck Tart

In the fall, I always think of serving game of some kind. I think it's my Michigan roots and a father and grandfather who loved duck hunting. We had duck often when I was a child. So while I made this recipe a while back, I saved it to post now. And you don't need wild duck to make it either.

 

Grandpa, circa 1954

Last spring, Kate at Serendipity had two intriguing posts. The first was about making duck confit; I loved reading it, knew I would never make it and wished I was Kate's neighbor so I could taste her version. Then the next month, she trumped it with this post: a duck tart made with her duck confit. That did it, no excuses, I had to make this! When I need gourmet game or meat products like duck confit, I always turn to D'Artagnan.  And sure enough, there was duck confit on their list. They are the best...I am never disappointed.

Kate used puff pastry for her tart with the following instructions: "I put some puff pastry in a little tart tin and covered it with another tart tin. I weighted the top one with beans and baked them for about 10-12 minutes. This kept the puff pastry from puffing up too much, and kept the form clean."
I didn't have the individual deep tart pans that Kate had, so I used my normal little tart pans, poked holes in the puff pastry, lined the pans with foil and filled them with pie weights. The puff pastry didn't flatten out like Kate's, which I would have preferred so I will have to work on that aspect. Perhaps roll out the puff pastry with a rolling pin to thin it even more and use heavier weights. ( BTW Kate, where did you find those adorably shaped tart tins? )

The recipe also calls for duck fat, but that was no problem because there was plenty of fat under the skin of the duck confit. I removed the skin, scraped some of the fat off and then stuck the duck in the oven a bit to warm. I wanted any remaining fat to melt away.

Then I cooked the lentils. I had some green French lentils so I used those.
Here's how: Check for and discard any dirt, tiny stones, and damaged lentils. Place them in a strainer and rinse thoroughly under cold water. They are ready to cook after rinsing. The lentils do not require soaking before cooking.  I used 2 cups of water to every cup of lentils. And I put in a bay leaf and a couple sprigs of whatever herbs I had on hand. Bring water to a boil and add the lentils. Boil for 2 or 3 minutes and then reduce heat to a simmer. Cook until tender, about 45 minutes.

Kate says she considers this tart essentially a leftover dish. She used the vegetables she had. You could also add tomatoes, green beans, zucchini, onions instead of the leeks. Kate's recipe looked wonderful to me, so I followed her recipe as posted. Next time, I'll get more creative.

I have to say, this tart was fabulous. We ate it for dinner and the vinaigrette was perfect. Exactly the right touch of tang. Yes, I would make this again. You don't need to serve it in puff pastry, but it made a great foil for the duck.

Duck Tart
From Kate at Serendipity

Ingredients:

3 small carrots
2 stalks celery
1/2 bulb fennel
1 leek
1 Tablespoon duck fat
1/2 pound lentils, cooked
1/4 cup cider vinegar
2 Tablespoons olive oil
juice of 1/2 lemon
shredded meat from 2 cuisses de canard confit
Salt and pepper to taste
4 pre-baked tart shells


Method:
Chop the carrots, the celery and the fennel about the size of the end of your little finger. Include the green tops of the celery. Clean the leek: cut off the tough part at the top and cut the leek in half lengthwise. Holding the two halves together, wash the leeks under cold running water, making sure to check between the layers where there’s often sandy dirt lurking to chip your teeth. When they’re clean, cut them crosswise into small strips.Melt 1 tablespoon of duck fat left from the cuisses de canard in a large-ish pan. Add the vegetables and cook till they’re softened, about 7-10 minutes. Add the lentils, mix well and drain if necessary.In a separate bowl, mix the vinegar, olive oil and lemon juice. Pour over the lentils and vegetables and mix well. Add the duck meat, fill the tart shells and garnish with whatever greenery you have. Serves 4.

Thomas Keller's Tomato Sorbet, good and bad breaks and a giveaway preview!

Breaks come in several forms. In my case, there are two; a broken wrist and a vacation. What is unfortunate is these two breaks are happening simultaneously. The broken wrist is going to prevent me from doing a lot of commenting for a while...you'll have to hang in there with me. I'm reading you though!

And the other break? We are taking a vacation in August ( I wish I could tell you I will be diving and snorkeling in the beautiful Caribbean but it looks as though I will be watching, not doing). So next week I will be posting a short recipe and a lovely giveaway from American Spoon Foods and then we're off.

Please be patient with me for a month or so...I'll be back the end of August with a giveaway winner, but will still be typing with one hand!

On to a lovely Thomas Keller recipe!

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Let's be honest: you're probably not going to make this entire dish. It takes too long. (And even then, I skipped a couple elements.) But if I tell you the tomato sorbet has one of those roll your eyes flavors, will you at least try the sorbet part? It's worth the time.

The composed dishes that comprise most of The French Laundry Cookbook recipes are time consuming to make. I think that's why I like Ad Hoc...geared more for the home cook. But I couldn't resist making the sorbet and when I licked the spoon before I put it in the fridge to chill, I DID roll my eyes and say Mmmmmmm. Will it be as good frozen? Yes, it was! I discovered it's best to use the same day because this sorbet freezes really hard if you keep it overnight. But if you're not able to, just let it soften and all will be well.

And do you have to skin all those little grape tomatoes? No. (Although that was the easy part and aren't those little veins in the tomatoes neat looking?) Just slice some heirloom tomatoes, dress them and top them with a small scoop of this sorbet. It does look nice on the bread, so do what I did. I took a left-over croissant half, cut a circle out of the bottom and toasted it. You could, however, serve it on a lettuce leaf.

That little cracker on top? It's adorable (and delicious), but you don't have to make it. I did omit the basil oil which, when I serve this again, I will definitely make if only for the sake of presentation and I also skipped the tomato tartare. I liked mine just the way it was. I'll give you recipes for the components I used, OK? Up to you which ones you use.

Thomas Keller's Tomato Sorbet on a Tomato Pyramid

Ingredients for sorbet:
6-7 medium tomatoes, peeled, seeded and chopped into 1 inch pieces (I didn't peel)
1 tablespoon canola oil
1/3 c. finely chopped onion
2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
pinch chopped tarragon
pinch cayenne
3/4 cup simple syrup
julienned zest of 1/2 orange (about 1 teaspoon) brought to a boil in cold water, drained and repeated 2 more times
salt and pepper

Method for sorbet:
Bring the tomatoes to a boil in a saucepan, reduce heat and cook, stirring often about 45 minutes or until the tomatoes are reduced by half. There will still be some liquid remaining

Heat the oil, add the onions and cook for 7-8 minutes until tender.

I ran the tomatoes through a food mill to remove the skins. Then put both the tomatoes and onion in a blender until smooth.

Press the mixture through a tamis (I don't own one so I used a sieve) and then blend again. There should be about 1 cup. Add the remaining sorbet ingredients and blend again. Refrigerate until cold. Freeze in an ice cream maker. Best to use the same day.

Ingredients for garlic tuilles:
1/4 cup flour
2 tablespoons sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
4 tablespoons (2 ounces) unsalted butter, softened but still cool to the touch
1 large egg white
2 teaspoons garlic paste
1/2 cup grated Parmesan Reggiano
1 1/2 teaspoons rosemary, minced
1 1/2 teaspoons Italian parsley, minced

Method for garlic tuilles:
Mix the flour, sugar and salt in one bowl. Beat the butter in another bowl by hand until creamy. With a spatula or spoon, beat the egg white into the dry ingredients until smooth. Add the butter by thirds. Whisk until smooth. Preheat oven to 325°.

On a silpat, spread about 3/4 of a teaspoon of the batter with the back of a spoon. The batter does not have to be even, the silpat can show through; it actually looks more interesting. Make it the size of a small cookie. Sprinkle the tops with the rosemary and parsley. Bake 8-10 minutes until golden brown.

Ingredients for cherry tomatoes:
A variety of cherry tomatoes, try to choose the same size
EVOO
salt and pepper

Method for cherry tomatoes:
Blanch the tomatoes in salted boiling water for a few seconds to loosen the skin. Peel the skin with a paring knife. Toss the tomatoes in olive oil, salt and pepper. Refrigerate until ready to use.

To complete:
Soften the sorbet if needed.
Arrange a layer of the tomatoes on a crouton and top with another layer. You may need to trim the bottoms to get them to sit evenly. Try to make them the same size. Top with sorbet quenelle.
Keller adds basil oil around the base.

Here's a smaller version with just one layer of tomatoes:

A Mid-Summer Salad

All the tomatoes are beautiful right now but I'm eating the heirloom tomatoes almost every day. They've got so much flavor. And there were some lovely ones in our Fresh Market last week, I couldn't resist.

I had Thomas Keller's tomato sorbet in mind when I bought them, (which I ended up making as well and will post soon) but then I remembered a recipe I had seen on Top Chef made by Miami Chef Jeff McInnis. I had copied and saved it. (Jeff is the Chef de Cuisine of The DiLido Beach Club at the Ritz-Carlton South Beach.) He made a Heirloom Tomato Salad, Asparagus and Cucumber Ribbons with a Goat Cheese Sorbet for one of the challenges.

                                                                                               Jeff McInnis

Lest we forget, tomatoes are a fruit. So I thought, hmmmm. Goat cheese sorbet? Well, I do love goat cheese in my salads, so this sounded good to me. And I really wanted to see how McInnis's flavors went together.

The sorbet couldn't be easier to make, although you do need an ice cream maker. I love that it's mainly Greek yogurt with honey as a sweetener. The goat cheese is melted into some cream and then mixed with the yogurt mixture. I stuck my spoon in it before I stuck it in the fridge to chill, it's a bit sweet (even though I cut way back on the honey) and I could barely taste the goat cheese (I thought it would be stronger), but I went ahead and froze it. I taste-tested again right out of the ice cream maker; it's tart, slightly sweet and yes, I could taste both the goat cheese and the yogurt. And it was ever so slightly grainy. I really was surprised I liked it so much with the tomatoes and think it would also be great with some caramelized fresh fruit over it for dessert. But I went ahead and made the salad....there's plenty left to use for an interesting dessert experiment later. (With port-infused figs maybe? Or a scoop of this would be marvelous on an apple tart!)

The heirloom tomato part is easy enough to throw together. McInnis suggests Verjus vinegar for this recipe and I was pleasantly surprised.  Deana from Long Past Remembered did a post on Verjus a while back and I was intrigued and ordered some. (Thank you Deana!). This vinegar does make a difference, but if you don't have any, don't let that stop y0u from making this salad, just use white wine vinegar.

Heirloom Tomato Salad with Goat Cheese Sorbet

Courtesy Jeff McInnis

Ingredients:

Tomato Salad:
6 heirloom tomatoes (each a different type)
1/8 ounces micro basil
pinch sea salt
pinch sumac
asparagus and cucumber for garnish

Verjus Vinaigrette:
3 tablespoons Verjus vinegar
8 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon pepper

Goat Cheese Sorbet:
2 cups Greek yogurt (I use Fage)
juice of 2 lemons
1-1/2 cups honey (this seemed like a lot, so I cut this down to 3/4 cup)
1/2 cup cream
4 ounces goat cheese
1 teaspoon salt

Method:

For the Tomato Salad:
Slice the tomatoes any way you like. Cut bottom hard area from jumbo asparagus and discard. Using a thin vegetable peeler or electric slicer peel strips of jumbo asparagus like little ribbons and plunge in cold ice water. If you cut the asparagus thin enough it will curl up after sitting in ice water for a short period of time. Slice the cucumber in the same manner.


For the Vinaigrette:
Mix all ingredients well and splash over tomatoes.


For the Sorbet:
Heat cream over medium heat in small sauce pot with goat cheese until melted, whisk. Place in bowl with remaining ingredients and whisk quickly. Refrigerate until cold and then freeze according to your ice cream maker's instructions. Note: the chef suggests using the sorbet the same day. Also in a machine this sorbet can break if over spun. If using a machine, spin until just frozen (still like soft serve ice cream).


For Plating:
Remove asparagus and cucumber from ice water and toss with tomatoes and vinaigrette. While plating these vegetables, season the tomatoes with a generous pinch of sea salt and sumac. Place a scoop of the sorbet on the tomato salad. Garnish with micro herbs.

Culinary History 101: Five Bean Salad (and The Picnic Game!)

Did you ever play the picnic game as a child? Well, Louise at Months of Edible Celebrations is hosting a virtual Picnic. In order to participate in the Picnic Game, each blogger chooses a letter and brings a dish that begins with that letter. Would you like to play? Then contact Louise and join in the fun!  (Please note that I am leaving space to list the other picnic dishes as soon as they become available.)




I'm going on a picnic and I'm bringing.....
A:
B:
C:
D:
E:

And my letter F: Five Bean Salad

Do you remember this one? It was standard picnic fare when I was a child. Every once in a while when I'm asked to bring a salad to feed a crowd, I turn to this old standby. With Mother's old recipe, you can take short cuts and use some canned veggies. And to keep things fresh, you can make nearly the entire thing with lovely crisp vegetables. I personally use canned kidney and garbanzo beans, but use fresh yellow and green beans, quickly steamed. I use frozen limas, but steam briefly and cool them. Sometimes I add a carrot, or radishes...odds and ends of whatever's left in the vegetable bin. You can also add other kinds of beans like black or cannellini beans, but I am posting Mother's original recipe, cans and all; tweak it any way you like. It all depends on how much of a hurry you're in.
Note: This has to be made a day ahead.

Mother's Five Bean Salad
Easily feeds 15 or more depending on portion size.

Ingredients:
1 can slender green beans (or fresh, steamed until crisp-tender)
1 can yellow wax beans (or fresh, steamed until crisp-tender)
1 can small lima beans (I use frozen, thawed and steamed briefly)
1 can kidney beans
1 can garbanzo beans
1 cup diced celery
sweet red onion rings to taste
1/2 cup diced green bell pepper
1/2 cup diced red pepper
2 cups cauliflower florets
1/2 cup water
2 cups cider vinegar
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 tablespoon salt
1 clove garlic, split, remove before serving

Method:
Mix the water, vinegar, sugar and salt in a saucepan and heat until sugar is dissolved. Cool.
Place all canned beans in a colander to drain the liquids and then place in large bowl. Add any fresh vegetables you have made, then add celery, onions and green pepper and cauliflower. Mix.
Pour the dressing over the vegetables. Push the split garlic down in the marinade. Refrigerate for at least 24 hours, stirring several times.

Discoveries

Every once in a while one of my blog favorites mentions another blog and while checking it out, I notice some others that interest me. Happens to all of us, right? Some I find are fairly new, some aren't and you wonder why you've never run across them before. When I discovered these three last week, I was totally blown away.

The first gem is Nikole at Forty-Sixth at Grace. Very minimilist layout which really appeals to me and she has an online shop I love. Thank you Lecia for steering me her way. Lots of us share Nikole's taste in her lists of "things I like" and her photographs tell the story better than words. Nikole uses words minimally as well, but you'll love the way she expresses herself. There are not tons of recipes, but when you see one, you're going to want to make it ASAP.

Then I found a marvelous blog if your focus is on really healthy eating. Be sure to visit 101 Natural.  Eleni's blog is brand new, beautifully done with a light and cheerful layout that makes you smile. Her photos are fabulous and her recipes are gourmet material but made with some surprising ingredients. Eleni will introduce you to lots of innovative ways to cook healthy with ingredients you may not have thought of. (I loved the Polenta-based Pizza. )Her dishes are so appealing, you'll want to try all sorts of new things. Great fun!

I'm saving the best for last. Let me introduce you to Sprouted Kitchen. You may already know about it because Sara's blog is a year or so old and she's garnered quite a following. There's a good reason for it: you'll love her recipes AND (once again) her photographs. I was bowled over by her presentations. Sara also tends towards healthy ingredients, but not exclusively. I found her posts fun to read and am tempted to run right to the kitchen by nearly all of them. I wish I was as talented as these women and had a more professional eye with design and with a camera. Be sure to scroll down through Sara's other recipes, it's worth the time and you'll be drooling.

Now how could anyone resist making a salad Sara calls Veggie Le Crunch? Certainly not me and you're going to love this salad, it's simple and delicious.

Veggie Le Crunch
From Sprouted Kitchen, May 27th, 2010

Ingredients for the salad:
(Sara suggests using farmers market and or organic vegetables here. She feels when you are eating them raw like this, the genuine flavor of the vegetables is important.)

6-7 radishes, depending on size
1-1/4 cup black beans, cooked and drained ( I used canned)
1 cucumber (I used an English cucumber so did not have to remove seeds)
1 cup fresh, diced pineapple
Some scallions to taste (my addition)
Handful of Fresh Basil ( I made a chiffonade)
1 head of lettuce (any soft green will do)

Ingredients for the avocado dressing:
(Sara says you could make this vegan by using 2 tbsp. olive oil and an extra tbsp. of vinegar in place of the buttermilk. )
1 avocado
1/4 cup buttermilk
1 tablespoon honey (more to taste)
1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
juice of one lime
Splash of Cholua/Tapatio Hot Sauce
Salt/Pepper

Method:

In a small blender or in a bowl, mix the avocado, buttermilk, vinegar, lime, honey, hot sauce and salt and pepper to combine. The blender will make it smooth, but a bowl and whisk will still get you a dressing consistency.
Use a mandoline to slice the radishes thin. ( I didn't) Cut in fourths. Peel and halve the cucumber, scoop out the seeds and dice into small pieces. In a large bowl, combine the radish, cucumber, black beans, diced pineapple and a pinch of salt and pepper. Add desired amount of fresh basil.

To serve:  you can put the veggie mix in a lettuce leaf and dribble dressing on top or mix the dressing with the veggies and put them in the leaf, already dressed.

A Quinoa Salad

Before we talk recipes, let's get down to some quinoa basics. It's pronounced keen-wa and I've been seeing it all over the food blog world. But this is the first time I've ever made anything with it.  It's referred to as a grain, but technically it's not. It's actually a seed of the Chenopodium or Goosefoot plant. It's used as a grain and substituted for grains because it cooks like a grain. The plant grows from 4 to 6 feet high and the flower heads are branched and when in seed have large clusters of seeds at the end of a stalk.

Beets, spinach and Swiss chard are all relatives of quinoa. I was surprised to see how small the seeds are, not much bigger than the head of a pin.

I like to know a little history about anything new, don't you? If you'd rather not, skip the next few paragraphs.......

Quinoa has been cultivated in in the lush Andes mountains of South America since at least 3,000 B.C. and has been a staple food of millions of native inhabitants. It was known by the ancient Incas as the mother grain and was revered as sacred. Quinoa was so sacred for the Incans they broke the ground with a golden tipped shovel at its first planting to show respect. This grain was also part of their religious ceremonies.

In 1532, Francisco Pizarro, the Spanish explorer, reached the Andes with a small army and in one year's time destroyed the quinoa fields, killed the god-king Atahualpa, and forced the Inca culture into submission.

                                                                                                        Francisco Pizarro

Under Pizarro's rule they were forbidden to practice any ceremonial rituals that centered on quinoa. Fortunately, quinoa still grew wild in the higher altitudes where it could be hidden from the Spaniards. Small amounts were consumed in secret. Still, the culture of the Incas had been changed forever. For centuries quinoa fell into obscurity until the revival of interest in the 1980's.

At this point quinoa made its way north of the Equator to the United States and Canada and has grown in popularity since then. Two entrepreneurs from Colorado learned of this seed/grain from a Bolivian. They developed test plots in the central Rockies and began test marketing in 1985. However, most quinoa sold in the United States is imported from South America and it can be found in most natural food stores in the U.S. Many countries have now begun to recognize the importance quinoa could play in providing a healthy and sustainable food source for centuries to come. It's been referred to as the "Supergrain of the Future."

The quinoa seed contains an almost perfect balance of all eight essential amino acids needed for tissue development in humans, contains more protein than any other grain, some varities more than 20%! The seeds are also gluten-free, light, tasty, easy to digest and a rich and balanced source of other nutrients. It's still not a common item in our pantries, but if the food blogs are any indication, it soon will be. You can also use quinoa flour to make pasta and a variety of baked goods like pancakes, bread, muffins, and crackers.

When I'm looking for information about healthy eating and grains, I always turn to Heidi at 101 Cookbooks. Don't we all? So I searched her site for quinoa recipes and look what I found:  Big Delicious Bowl; Lemon-scented Quinoa Salad; Warm and Nutty Cinnamon Quinoa; and Quinoa and Grilled Zucchini. She's obviously sold on quinoa! 

When you're ready to start cooking with quinoa, be sure to rinse the seeds to remove their bitter resin-like coating, which is called saponin. Quinoa is rinsed before it is packaged and sold, but it's best to rinse again before using. I just put quinoa in a strainer and rinsed it well with cold water, swishing it around. The seeds cook in only 15 minutes. I found quinoa to have a fluffy, creamy, slightly crunchy texture and a somewhat nutty flavor when cooked.

Due to the relatively high oil and fat content of quinoa, the grains and flour should be stored in glass jars in the refrigerator. Use the grains within a year and flour within 3 months.

Now, on to my recipe. It's a quinoa salad, which looked so pretty in the photo (and had bacon on top...while not exactly healthy, certainly pushed me over the edge.  LOL. Don't worry, it's optional.) that I just had to try it. It's quite similar to a pasta salad I make which is what attracted me I suppose. I found this gem of a recipe in Florida Table Magazine, which I love and have blogged about before. BTW: this particular issue features Florida's Top Chefs, one of which, Michael Schwartz, chef/owner of Michael's Genuine in Miami, is a favorite of mine and has just won the James Beard award for Best Chef, South!  Well deserved I might add.  And his pastry chef, Hedy Goldsmith, was a semi-finalist! It's a "don't miss" restaurant if you're ever down Miami way. And you really should subscribe to this quarterly magazine, people. It's a gem.

Anyway, if you've been debating about trying quinoa, this is a great way to start.

Quinoa with Black Beans, Corn, Tomatoes and Basil
Adapted from Florida Table Magazine, Summer 2010 Isssue

Ingredients for salad:
1 cup quinoa
4 ears fresh corn, roasted and kernels cut from cob
1 can black beans, rinsed and drained
1 pint cherry tomatoes, halved
3 scallions, finely sliced (my addition)

Ingredients for dressing:
1/4 cup white wine vinegar
1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
1/4 cup washed and dried basil leaves (I made a chiffonade with them)
1/4 teaspoon cumin
salt and pepper to taste
Bacon crumbles (optional)
Fresh basil for garnish

Method:
Soak quinoa in water, covered, for 30 minutes. Drain and rinse well with cold water. Put into a stockpot with 1-1/3 cups water. Bring to a boil then reduce heat to simmer and cook, covered, for 15 minutes. Remove from heat and let stand for 5 minutes, then fluff with a fork and allow to cool.

Roast corn and cut the kernels off. (I drizzled some olive oil on the corn and roasted it, turning once in a while, in a 400° oven for about 20 minutes or until it turned golden. It would be delicious done on a grill.)
 

Toss the quinoa with the corn, black beans and tomatoes. Make the dressing by blending the olive oil, vinegar, basil and cumin together. Season to taste.Dress the salad with about half the dressing (more if you like) and garnish with basil leaves and crumbled bacon. Keep chilled, but remove from fridge about 30 minutes before serving.
Serves 4.

Printable Recipe

Roasted Edamame Salad

Well, once again I am on a get-healthy kick so I’m on the lookout for some new salads. I’ve gotten incredibly bored with my old basic luncheon salads; I have a couple favorites I’ve already posted – but any new ones have to be comparatively simple to make. Who has time to take a couple hours just to make lunch? For one person? It has to be a salad you can make ahead at the very least AND it needs to satisfy the basic foodie in me too. I’ve been trying one after another; yesterday I made Giada’s Israeli Couscous salad. Uh uh. Not for me. Maple syrup in a salad? It looked so good with the almonds, apples and dried cherries and the reviews were excellent. But I thought it perfectly ghastly. Something about the sweetness with the fresh herbs maybe? Even writing about it today makes me cringe a bit.

Soooo…. after weeks of experimenting I decided on one I just know is going to become one of my favorites: Roasted Edamame Salad.

My introduction to edamame was years ago in New York City at a restaurant called Match. They brought a big steaming bowl of perfectly seasoned edamame in their pods and it was such fun to pop them out and nibble. They had some kind of lobster salad I loved too, but I guess not too many other people shared my fondness for Match because it went under ages ago. Now I wish I had asked someone there what seasoning they used on their edamame. With a little begging I may have gotten an answer. Oh well, too late now.

In Boca Raton we have a charming Japanese Museum and Gardens called Morikami. They have a restaurant called Cornell Cafe and steamed edamame is on the menu. The seasoning doesn’t hold a candle to Match, but it’s a charming little cafe just the same. And they serve a killer ice cream dessert called mochi. Traditional daifuku mochi is a Japanese confection made from sweet glutinous rice paste and normally filled with sweet azuki bean paste but in Morikami’s case they serve yukimi daifuku which is mochi filled with ice cream- green tea, chocolate or mango. It’s dusted with something like cornstarch or maybe confectioners sugar. Oddly enough, Tea and Cookies discussed this very thing in a recent post. Well anyway, I hope you’ve tried it, because it’s fantastic. And if you haven’t, it’s worth a search.

Okay, now back to the important stuff: Roasted Edamame Salad. Delicious, chewy and all the colors make for a lovely presentation. It would make a great picnic salad too- it travels well, and is best served at room temperature. On the other hand, I have made it, had it for lunch, refrigerated it and served it for dinner and then again the next day. It was still wonderful. Not many ingredients and amazingly simple to make considering the wonderful flavors that result.

Roasted Edamame Salad
(Recipe courtesy Alton Brown)

Ingredients:

2 cups edamame

2 ears of corn, uncooked, kernels cut off the cob

1/4 cup sliced green onions

1 minced garlic clove

2 tablespoons olive oil

kosher salt

freshly ground black pepper

1 cup diced tomato

1/4 c. fresh basil, minced

1 tablespoon red wine vinegar

Method:
Preheat oven to 400°. Mix first 7 ingredients and place on a baking sheet.


Roast about 15-20 minutes or until lightly browned.



Place in a bowl and cool in the refrigerator for 30 minutes. Add the remaining 3 ingredients. Correct seasoning. Serves 2-3, depending on appetites.

Farro, Two Ways

Once upon a time there was a grain called emmer wheat. It was the original grain from which all other grains derive. It was the primary wheat grown in Asia, Africa and Europe through the first 5000 years of recorded agriculture, feeding the Mediterranean and Near Eastern populations for thousands of years. It was the standard ration of the Roman Legions and, ground up, it was also the primary ingredient in polenta which was eaten for centuries by the Roman poor.

However, farro (the Italian name for emmer wheat) was a low-yield crop and by the beginning of the 20th century, higher-yielding wheat strains had replaced farro almost everywhere, except in parts of Europe and Ethiopia. My tale might have ended here except- isn’t this a familiar refrain?- some savvy French farmers began to supply it to elegant restaurants and those chefs began to use the grain in soups and other hearty dishes. Their success sparked renewed interest in farro and now the grain is enjoying a resurgence in popularity especially among trendy health-conscious cooks.

Farro is a barley shaped grain and has a chewy texture and nutty flavor. You can usually find it at Whole Foods or other health food suppliers and, surprisingly, at Amazon. I buy mine at Blue Bird Grain Farms.

If you've never tried farro before (or haven't even heard of it), this familiar salad is an excellent way to be introduced. Understandably, farro is very popular in Italy which certainly explains the origins of this particular recipe. You might be thinking: boiled grains? But the olive oil and creamy mozzarella make it rich and the tomatoes provide a fresh and juicy contrast. Besides, the very texture of farro lends itself well to salads; it travels well to picnics and it can be mixed with many ingredients to create a lot of flavor options. In this recipe, I simply combined cooked (and slightly warm so the mozzarella softened) farro with sweet cherry tomatoes, chunks of fresh mozzarella, chopped fresh basil and dressed it lightly with balsamic vinegar and olive oil. It is a perfect lunch: delicious, hearty and healthy.

Caprese Farro Salad
(Adapted from Blue Bird Grain Farm's recipe)

Ingredients:
1 cup farro
3 cups water
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
1/2 cup chopped shallot
2 medium tomatoes (or halve several cherry type tomatoes)
2 tablespoons slivered fresh basil
4 ounces fresh mozzarella
kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

Method:
Place the farro, water and salt in a medium saucepan over high heat. Bring to a boil, then turn heat to low, cover, and simmer for 35 to 45 minutes. (Do not overcook, you want the farro to be tender, but chewy.) Drain excess water. This should make 2 cups cooked farro.

Place the warm cooked farro in a large mixing bowl and add the olive oil and balsamic, stir to mix well. Add chopped shallot, basil, salt and pepper and stir to combine all ingredients. Top with tomatoes and fresh mozzarella. Flavors are best when served warm or at room temperature

Simply because I became intrigued with farro and continued to search, I found this next scrumptious recipe in a cookbook called Whole Grains Every Day, Every Way by Lorna Sass. Served with a piece of grilled salmon it was a fabulous dinner. Fish seems to go beautifully with this hearty farro/mushroom dish, but I can see steak here as well.

Surprise your friends and family; they will be really impressed at this creative alternative for rice or potatoes- I can't begin to tell you how delicious it is- good for you too.

Farro with Mushrooms
(Adapted from Whole Grains Every Day, Every Way by Lorna Sass)

Ingredients:
3 tablespoons olive oil
2 cloves garlic, cut in half lengthwise
1/2 cup diced shallots
24 ounces Crimini mushrooms (Baby Bella), stems cut in half lengthwise and caps sliced in 1/2 inch slices
pinch kosher salt
1/2 cup basalmic vinegar mixed with 1 tablespoon Marsala wine
1 tablespoon chopped fresh thyme
3 cups cooked farro (see above salad recipe for directions)

Method:
In a large skillet, heat the oil and add the onion and garlic. Saute until they begin to soften, remove the garlic and then add the mushrooms. Sprinkle with salt and pepper and saute until mushrooms have released their liquid and are well browned.

Stir in the balsamic vinegar mixture and cook until liquid is mostly evaporated. Add cooked farro and heat for about 2-3 minutes, stirring gently. Add the fresh thyme, correct the seasoning and serve warm.
Serves 4-6.