Panzanella Salad

I bought some beautiful heirloom tomatoes at the Farmers' Market last Sunday and during the week I just kept staring at them, wondering what I could make that would highlight the amazing flavor of these little guys.  I was paging through a recent issue of Cooks Illustrated when it hit me: panzanella salad!  Panzanella salad is a "peasant food" that is basically a bread-and-tomato salad, developed as a way to use day-old bread.  The people at Cooks Illustrated in their infinite wisdom tested and retested this recipe, and I have to admit, the result was spot-on amazing.  I could NOT stop eating this salad.  I kept going back for seconds...and then thirds...and then it was gone and I was very sad.  I used heirloom tomatoes, so the flavor of the tomatoes and the dressing was unreal.  You could just as easily use regular tomatoes, but I cannot imagine that the sad tomatoes at the grocery store would produce a salad so rich in flavor and texture.  So try it out using the tomatoes in season right now at your local farmers' market.  Heirlooms, if you can.  You're in for a tasty, salad treat!

This recipe is from Cooks Illustrated, changed minimally to suit my own personal tastes.  This will serve two people some very large salad portions.

Ingredients

3 small/medium heirloom tomatoes, cored, seeded, and diced

2 cups of hearty Italian bread, cut into 1-inch cubes

1/3 cucumber, peeled, seeded, and chopped

1/2 shallot or 1/4 cup red onion, sliced thin

1 1/2 tbls red wine vinegar (or more, depending on your taste)

Extra virgin olive oil
Salt & pepper
handful chopped basil

Directions

Heat your oven to 400 degrees.  Toss the bread cubes with about 1 tbls of olive oil.  Spread in an even layer on a baking sheet and bake the bread until lightly browned.  It should take about 10-15 minutes.  Set aside.

Gently toss the tomatoes with 1/2 tsp of salt.  Move tomatoes to a colander, and drain over a bowl for 15 minutes.  Don't toss the collected tomato juice! 

Put the red wine vinegar and reserved tomato juice into a small bowl and slowly drizzle in the olive oil, whisking rapidly.  Stop adding olive oil when you read the desired consistency.  You should have about a 1/2 cup.  Add the baked bread pieces to the bowl and toss to coat thoroughly.  Set aside for about 10 minutes.  (I put the colander of tomatoes over the bowl so the bread could collect even more tomato juice.)

Toss the tomatoes, cucumbers, shallot/onion, and bread together.  Add a handful of chopped basil and mix together.  Season with salt and pepper to taste.  Serve with a delightful Oktoberfest beer (another reason I LOVE FALL). 

Epic dinner! 

Raw Kale Salad with Tomato & Avocado

After eating out for like five days straight, I felt like Monday was a day for a light, healthy dinner.  Before going to work, I looked in my crisper and saw the big bunch of beautiful kale that I bought on Sunday at the Farmers' Market.  Kale is such a tough green that I wasn't sure I could make it into something that wasn't sauteed greens or more delicious kale chips.  BUT I remembered that my new cookbook Clean Start has a recipe for raw kale salad and decided to give it a whirl. 

While it's certainly fine to eat a super crunchy salad, but I wanted to try out Clean Start's tip to delicious kale salad: massage.  Yes, you read that right, you have to massage the kale in order to make a tender salad.  Ah the things we do for our food.  But it totally worked!  This massage technique left me with a delightfully crispy kale salad.  Plus, the salad was still crunchy and perfect the next day for lunch!  The ingredients in this salad are completely up to you, but I would not skimp on the ginger.  It added an extra burst of freshness that was hard to beat!  This recipe is adapted from the Clean Start cookbook and will make two very large salad portions

Ingredients

One big bunch of kale
1 1/2 tbls extra virgin olive oil

1/2 avocado, peeled and chopped

1 heirloom tomato, chopped
1 tsp freshly grated ginger
2 tbls roasted sunflower seeds

Juice from half of a lemon

Juice from half a lime

Sea salt

Directions

Wash and dry the kale thoroughly.  Remove the stems from the kale leaves and rip or chop into bite-sized pieces.  Put the kale into a large bowl and add in the olive oil.  Massage the oil into the kale leaves until they are fully coated.  Add in a pinch of salt and avocado.  Massage the kale leaves again until they are fully coated.  Work the avocado in there!  Set aside to marinate for 15 minutes.

Add in your lemon/lime juice, chopped tomato, grated ginger, and sunflower seeds.  Toss and season with salt and pepper to taste.  Eat and enjoy!

........you know what would have been great in this salad?  goat cheese......... 

mmm farmers' market tomatoes made this salad extra tasty!

Adjust the salad fixings to fit your refrigerator contents, your farmers' market, and your taste.  But don't forget the kale massage and the ginger!

Ruminations on Homemade Vinaigrettes

When spring starts moving in, I start dining on fresher, lighter fare.  Whether that's my subconscious realization that swimsuit season is approaching or some other reaction to the spring weather, the other night all I could think about was eating a delicious salad. 

Homemade vinaigrettes are insanely easy to make and really tasty.   Once you know the basic combinations, it's really easy to play around with the recipe to get the flavors you want.  All you need are these three things: mustard, vinegar, and oil.  Just combine about one tbls of mustard and 1 tbls of vinegar.  Whisk it together with a fork and add some salt and pepper.  Then while you're still whisking, add in the oil slowly until it emulsifies (or comes together).  It'll be about 2-3 tbls. of oil.  This will make you enough dressing for about 2-3 servings, depending on how heavy you like your salad dressed.

Beyond that, you can really add whatever you want!  Garlic, shallots, green onions, herbs, or spices.  You can change up the vinegar and use balsamic, cider, champagne, and you can also add some freshly squeezed fruit juices or flavored oils.  You can even use different bases for the emulsion -- honey mustard, dijon mustard, or even jams and marmalades.  Even honey can work, depending on the taste you're looking for.  Don't be afraid to try out your own combination.  The worst that will happen is you're out 5 minutes and a couple spoonfuls of oil!  Play around with this basic formula you'll be surprised at how easy it is to make your own, amazing dressing. 

Here are two examples to get you started: 

salad with berry vinaigrette

Berry Vinaigrette
1 tbls berry jam or marmalade (I used strawberry)
1 tbls balsamic vinegar
1 shallot, minced
Salt and pepper
~3 tbls extra virgin olive oil

Combine the jam, vinegar, shallot, and salt and pepper in a small bowl.  Then with a fork or small whisk, whisk in the olive oil until it all comes together at the consistency you desire.  3 tbls should be about right.  Add salt and pepper to taste.  If it's too sweet, add a dash of the vinegar or some pepper. 

This dressing goes perfectly with some mixed greens, raspberries, and blue cheese or goat cheese crumbles.  This will make about 2-3 servings.

Mustard Grain Vinaigrette
1 tbls whole grain mustard
1 tbls apple cider vinegar
1/2 tsp sugar
1 clove pasted garlic (chop fine with salt or grate using microplane)
1 minced shallot
salt and pepper
2 - 2 1/2 tbls olive oil

Combine all of the ingredients same as in the previous recipe and then whisk in the oil.  This vinaigrette goes very well with a classic green salad.  Throw together some baby spinach leaves, grated carrot, and quarters of hardboiled eggs and you've got yourself a delicious side salad.

The moral of this rumination: don't be scared to make your own dressing!  It's fun and easy.  As I develop more of these I'll post them on my blog.  And feel free to post your own creations here so we can all learn from each other's success!