Salad Days: Part I Salade Niçoise

I've been on the road again as is evident from my lack of posts. First it was a stressful work week in NYC filled with photography work and voice lessons. Upon my return I was hostess to my sister-in-law for a week. We had a wonderful visit peppered with a few wonderfully successful cooking experiments but all of our traipsing around Midwestia and its environs left little time for blogging.

During my NY visit one of my dearest friends informed me that I was looking a teensy bit more 'happy and plump' than usual, which, combined with the poll results asking for more healthy, fast, and vegetarian recipes has me excited to share these next few posts. In short, as it is nice to look happy I don't want to look plump and I know that these salads can help :)

Salads. As I've stated before I'm not naturally inclined to love salads. In fact, until this past week I only really enjoyed three of them. But the past eight days or so have proven me wrong. It wasn't that I didn't like salad, it was just that I didn't like BORING salad. I love when a salad has so much flavor, texture, and heartiness to it that you don't feel as though you've joined a cult of asceticism but rather you've taken the first steps to living a life of European luxury. I think this first Salad is a perfect example of a satisfying meal that happens to be a made up primarily of vegetables. I first learned to make it during my time living in Paris and I can't stress enough how simple, delicious, and filling it is.

Salade Niçoise au Thon

(Nicoise salad with tuna)

(makes 2 very large portions or 4 rather small)

1 bag of Spring Mix greens

4 cooked red potatoes, cubed (from a bag of steam-in-microwave red potatoes or a few red potatoes from last night's roast.)

2 handfuls French green beans (from a bag of steam-in-microwave French green beans/haricot Verts or steamed on stove)

2 cans Tuna packed in olive oil (This is a MUST! It MUST be the rich and delicious kind packed in olive oil or it is decidedly un-French, un-decadent, and un-satisfying.)

2 Tbsp capers

10 niçoise olives (or your favorite black olives)

a few anchovies (optional)

2 hard boiled eggs, peeled and sliced

2 tomatoes, diced

a few slices of red onion for each salad

French Vinaigrette

1/4 cup red wine vinegar

2 Tbsp minced shallot

1 Tbsp minced garlic (optional)

1 tsp dijon mustard

3/4 cup good Extra virgin olive oil

s&p to taste

Combine all ingredients except oil until well blended. Then wisk in oil, slowly, until emulsified.

SALAD ASSEMBLY

Distribute ingredients evenly among plates. Drizzle with vinaigrette. Bon Appetit!

Capery-mustardy fish

It's amazing how quickly a favorite dish can become tiresome. I often find myself making the same dishes ad nauseum because of their prep time, no matter how sick I am of the dish itself. That's one of the reasons I discovered this next recipe. Prof. Hubs and I like to eat fish a few times a week but we seem to grow tired of them faster and faster these days! I wanted to find a new, fast, tasty recipe for white flaky fish filets and this one fit the bill-and after making it a few times we're not sick of it...yet. Thanks to Ina Garten who's classic take on good food made this recipe possible. And thanks to Prof. Hubs who is always willing to try a new recipe, especially if it presents him with the opportunity to eat sour cream.

YUMMY NEW CAPERY-MUSTARDY FISH

based on a recipe by Ina Garten

• 4 (8-ounce) fish fillets (we used cod)
• s&p
• 8 ounces sour cream
• 3 tablespoons Dijon mustard
• 1 tablespoon whole-grain mustard
• 2 tablespoons minced shallots
• 2 teaspoons capers

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F.

Lightly oil a baking dish. Salt and pepper the cleaned fish filets and place in dish.

Combine sour cream, 2 mustards, shallots, capers in a small bowl. Spoon the sauce evenly over the fish fillets, making sure the fish is completely covered. Bake for 10 to 15 minutes, depending on the thickness of the fish, until it's barely done. (The fish will flake easily at the thickest part when it's done.)

Bon appetit!!!

Salmon resurrection

I ruined salmon. The whole species. It became something I couldn't eat without gagging. Prof. Hubs and I were so over the usual preparations we'd been ingesting the last few months that it became impossible to enjoy. And then I found THIS salmon recipe... A wonderful week night preparation for those evenings when the last thing you want to do is prepare a healthy meal. And somehow, the combination of fennel, onion, and orange made salmon delicious again. I really can't remember the last time I enjoyed a piece of salmon so much!

Salmon with Fennel

(based on a recipe by Ina Garten)

1 Salmon filet

1 fennel bulb, cut into 1/4 inch slices

1 onion, cut into thin rounds

olive oil

1/2 tsp dried dill

2 TBSP chopped fennel fronds

2 TBSP orange juice

S&P

Preheat oven to 500 degrees.

Sautée the onion and fennel in olive oil over med-high heat for 10 minutes. Stir in fronds, dill, orange juice, s&p, cook for 5 more minutes.

Put salmon in oven-safe dish, cover with fennel mixture and bake for 15-25 minutes, depending on your oven and preference of done-ness.

Bon Appetit!

Ducks and Barbeques: a natural combination?

Prof. Hubs and I attended a BBQ recently for new faculty members and their families.  It was at the home of a returning professor at the college in a nice suburban neighborhood; the kind you see in every suburb in every state of this grand country of ours.  It was your usual shindig, with heaping serving plates of potato salad, coleslaw, bbq-ed meats and chips, etc.  The only odd thing was the yellow adolescent DUCK who was waddling between the attendee's feet.  He was a very social duck.  He joined in on people's conversations, respecting the circle of conversation.  He was gregarious and jovial.  He entertained the children and adults alike with no complaints (that I could see.)  I became quite fond of him in the first moments of my becoming aware of his presence at the party.  After he began nipping at my painted toenails, however, our amicable relationship ended.  Then the terrorist tactics began.  I felt especially sorry for the children-he's half their size and not shy about eating the food right off of their plates or drinking out of anyone's cup...  The creepiness factor set in when he went crazy for one of the kid's chicken tenders....ewwww....  After he had sufficiently riled up the guests he went home to the neighbor's house.  Apparently, he is a house duck.

It was quite an adventure.  I don't think I would have been to a bbq in NYC with a duck that wasn't on the menu...  Oh, Midwestia!

In completely unrelated news:

I concocted a lovely Provençal sauce of sorts to top white fish filets after Prof. Hubs and I returned from Trader Joe's (an hour's drive, mind you) with those amazing frozen Halibut steaks...  We will definitely be eating this again, mostly because it's made of all pantry items:

PROVENÇAL TOPPING

 for white fish filets (cod, haddock, halibut, bass, etc...)

Olive oil

3 cloves garlic, chopped

1 large shallot, chopped

1/2 tsp oregano

pinch of red pepper flakes or a few turns black pepper

1 can diced tomatoes

1/2 cup chopped black olives (I used Kalamata)

2 Tbsp capers, chopped

1 cup dry white wine

1 Tbsps Balsamic vinegar

In a sautée pan heat olive oil on Med-High heat.  Add garlic, shallot, oregano, pepper, cook until garlic is light brown.  Add tomatoes, black olives and capers.   Combine, cook for one minute.  Add wine, cook until alcohol smell has gone.  Add Balsamic vinegar, stir all around, top  your fish filets!  Yay for cheap food that is made of stuff you have in your house already!!!

Vocalizing, otherwise known as frightening my neighbors

I am absolutely convinced that in the next few weeks the police will be called in response to my vocalizing in our living room.  I can only imagine the terrible images that fill the minds of our neighbors when they hear my caterwauling from 1-2:30 pm daily...  Suffering kitten?  Seal pup bludgeoning?  Voodoo ritual?  So far no one has confronted us regarding the noise, but it's only a matter of time before I'm explaining to the friendly sheriff that "I'm singing high notes not screaming of misery" in the middle of a work day in rural Ohio...  I've seen out of the corner of my eye a few neighbors rushing past our window so as not to draw attention to themselves.  They don't want to be the next victim of whatever godforsaken activities are going on in #7...

In order to counteract the terrifying sounds wafting from our windows I've been trying to cook foods with particularly appetizing scents in the last few days.  One of these is fresh pesto.  Who doesn't love the herbal creaminess of basil combined with pines nuts and cheese emulsified with crisp tuscan olive oil?  Well, hopefully whoever they are they don't live in our neighborhood...  

One of the best things about our little house is the little plot of land I've turned into a vegetable and herb garden-it's perfection!  Currently I'm growing zucchini plants (more for the blossoms than the squash,) tomatoes, basil, oregano, and Italian parsley...  I am absolultely obsessed with my zucchini plants.  I literally go outside and count the burgeoning blossoms five times a day-I need a support group.  So, from the garden to the kitchen went some basil and it became pesto (I'm not going to include this in recipe form, but in case you don't already know it's basically 2 cups basil, 3 cloves garlic, 1/2 cup pecorino or parmigiano, 1/4 cup pine nuts in a food processor with a lot of olive oil.)

Here are 2 really simple ways to use the pesto that will make it more interesting than just putting on pasta-though that's pretty amazing in itself.

PESTO SALMON  (this smells so good while it cooks)

filet of salmon

some fresh pesto

preheat oven to 400

spread salmon filet with a nice layer of pesto sauce.  Bake until cooked through-about 12 minutes in my oven.  YUM!

HUB'S PESTO VINAIGRETTE

Heaping spoonful of fresh pesto

One nice squeeze of fresh lemon juice

Olive oil

In a small mixing bowl wisk lemon juice into pesto to break it up into a thinner liquid, then slowly add olive oil until desired consistency is reached (basically, salad dressing consistency...)

Add to green salad or potato salad or poached asparagus, or poached halibut or basically anything savory....

Happy Pesto-ing!

Scenes from Ohio

We've had some rather bizarre interchanges since moving here.  As of today I still can't quite grasp the fine line between Midwestern friendliness, flirting, and being rude.  One example of my inability to understand these distinctions occurred in the first days following our arrival.  I was leaving the public library and a rather shaggy and vagrant-looking fellow asked me if "that was my motorcycle parked next to his."  I thought he was just being friendly, so I answered, "why yes, how did you know?"  (note:  I do NOT own a motorcycle.)  His reply was delivered in such a creepy tone it is impossible to embody in words, "because I know when I'm being flirted with.  Do you need a ride?"  EEEEeeeewww!!!  Then he followed me as I drove off, on aforementioned motorcycle until I called the fiancé and ignored the motorcycle-riding suitor...  Needless to say, I have not returned to the public library since this episode-a shame, really.  

I really need to get the hang of the appropriate tone of rapport in this part of the country.  Every time I go to the grocery store I feel the stares of the Mennonite men as though I'm wearing a bikini!  Probably this is just my own narcissism, as I doubt they are really all staring, but it feels like they are!  

In the spirit of Narcissism, I am going to share one of the simplest recipes that I am particularly proud of.  It's my version of Sole Meunière and it's the best.  See, it's so good it feeds my narcissism...

Sole Meunière

(note: you do not need to use actual filet of sole for this recipe.  I use whatever sweet white fish is on sale, be it cod, haddock, sole, etc...)

Serves 4

1 lb sweet white fish filet (Sole, Cod, as you like...)  separated into 4 pieces.  

 1 cup flour

s&p

4 Tbsp butter

1 Tbsp Olive oil

Juice of 1 lemon, plus a dash of zest

3 Tbsp capers, chopped

2 shallots, chopped

1/4 cup white wine (optional)

bit of parsley (optional)

(depending on your pan size, you may have to cook in 2 batches)

Dredge fish filets in mixture of flour, salt and pepper.  

Heat half of butter and Olive oil in a skillet on med-high heat.  

Add fish filets.  

Cook on one side until ALMOST cooked through, then turn.  

lower heat to Med.  

When fish is opaque (after about 2 minutes) remove from pan, and cover to keep warm as you make sauce.

Sauce

Return pan (with fish crumbles) to heat.  Add the rest of the butter.  Use spatula to pick up crumbles.  When butter is melted, add shallots.  When shallots are translucent, add capers.  Then lemon juice.  If not using wine, just cook for a minute or so.  Then top fish with sauce!

If using wine, add that now, and a bit extra butter.  Wait until alcohol smell has cooked off.  Then top fish with sauce and, top with parsley and enjoy!!!

Bridezilla

I may have failed to mention in previous posts that I have not only moved back to the midwest in the last several days, but I am also getting married in about 2.5 weeks...yeah, somehow it slipped my mind...

With all of the moving craziness I was able to put the wedding collage that is my brain on hold for about a week.  It was bliss, believe me.  As excited as I am about this wedding I am just as excited to not have to plan a wedding anymore.  It's really quite stressful!

Today I zipped all over the major great lakes states dealing with wedding related paraphernalia.  I arrived home quite fried.  Dinner, however, had not been fried nor microwaved so I could not relax quite yet.  When I need a nice meal in a pinch one of my favorite recipes is Mustard-y salmon filets.  Every time I make this for someone new they believe that I took all of this time whipping up some sort of sauce, when it reality it couldn't be further from the truth!  We usually eat these filets with a side of short-grain brown rice topped with super sharp English Cheddar (don't knock it till you've tr

ied it) and some sort of green salady goodness.  Oh!  And don't forget a nice cool glass of Vinho Verde!

Mustardy Salmon

Filets of Salmon

Whole-grain Mustard

Preheat oven to 375

Place fish on baking dish skin side down.  

Rub entire filet with a nice coat of grain mustard.  Bake until desired doneness, in my oven that means about 12 minutes.