Tom's Classic Caesar Salad [Zack]

I have very fond memories of learning to make a true caesar salad from my uncle Tom.  I went over to his apartment for one of our cooking sessions and was surprised that our grand adventure was making a lowly salad.  Surprisingly, crafting a classic caesar salad with Tom taught me a lot of useful tips!

We uncorked a bottle of white wine, turned up the music, and had an amazing meal.  I had never realized that the original Caesar salad didn’t contain cream, but did contain anchovies!  I learned a lot of through the process:

• Adding the correct amount of anchovies to a recipe does not mean that you can necessarily distinguish their flavor, but they can quietly enhance the taste of the dressing
• What a “coddled egg” is and how to soft boil an egg
• That I should actually use an egg timer for its intended purpose instead of guessing – there are certain things in the kitchen that you can’t do by feel
• It’s way more fun to learn how to make a classic recipe from scratch versus glopping it out of a squeeze bottle

Process:

Get a small pot of water boiling for your eggs.  Reduce the water to a simmer and place your eggs gently into the pot and start the timer.  Take 1 egg out after 4 minutes (coddled egg for the dressing), and leave the rest in until your timer has reached between 5 and 7 minutes.  Five minutes will give you a runny yolk, 7 will be “just set”.  Take the pot off the heat, gently pour out the hot water, and fill the pot with cold water to stop the eggs from cooking.  Peel the eggs after they have cooled off for 5 minutes.

Slice your day-old bread into cubes. Place them into a frying pan with a generous amount of butter + olive oil.  Keep an eye on the bread and make sure to mix it around frequently.   It’s up to you how you would like to flavor the croutons – my favorite is garlic powder, onion powder, black pepper, and some type of dried herb.

Now, on to the dressing.  If you have whole anchovy filets, you’ll need to add them to a bowl and mash them up with a fork.  This will take a bit of muscle/patience.  Once you have a paste, add the minced garlic and peeled coddled egg.  Mash these up with a fork a bit to combine.  Then, whisk in the liquids - mustard, red wine vinegar, and olive oil.  Crack a ton of black pepper into the bowl, and add the grated parmesan cheese.

In a bowl, toss the lettuce with the dressing and add any other toppings that you’d like.  I usually add sliced red onion, a soft-boiled egg, croutons, and sometimes sliced avocado.  You can get as creative as you’d like: shrimp, chicken, sliced leftover steak, etc.

Ingredients:
Makes 2 dinner-sized salads or 4 side salads

Dressing:
4 anchovy fillets or 1T anchovy paste
1 medium garlic clove
1/2T mustard
2T apple cider vinegar
4T olive oil
1 coddled egg (soft-boiled for 4 minutes)
1/3 cup grated parmesan cheese

Salad ingredients:
a head of lettuce
a few eggs
sliced parmesan cheese
day-old bread
herbs and spices for the croutons
olive oil
butter

Song:  Zusammenklang - Morgenblaue

Grilled Watermelon and Shrimp [Rhonda]

More Louisville influence from Jack Fry's restaurant...

Like I mentioned in a previous post, our whole family was in Louisville, KY, as support crew for Matt's Ironman race last weekend. (He did extremely well, by the way, finishing in the top third of the participants. Whoomp! There it is!)

This grilled watermelon and shrimp recipe was inspired by an appetizer I had at Jack Fry's: crispy pork belly with watermelon, watermelon radish (tricky to find), ginger vinaigrette, cantaloupe coulis and sesame seeds, topped with fried leeks.

Food Network chef Cat Cora posted a recipe that I used as a base. This makes a refreshing dinner salad, or, as a small plate appetizer.

Degree of difficulty: moderate
Time: prep 40 minutes, grill time for shrimp and watermelon 10 minutes
Serves: 4

Ingredients:

1 lb. large shrimp, defrosted if frozen, cleaned and deveined, tails left on

2 cups water
1 cup granulated sugar
2 bell peppers...1 red, 1 orange, cored, seeded and chopped
2 jalapeno peppers, seeded and chopped
3 sprigs cilantro, chopped
1 clove garlic, minced

1/4 cup olive oil
2 limes, halved
1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
2 teaspoons chili powder
2 teaspoons smoked paprika
Salt and pepper

1 small seedless watermelon, halved, then sliced into 1/2 inch wedges, rind on
Unsweetened coconut, toasted for garnish
1 scallion, sliced for garnish
3 cilantro sprigs, chopped for garnish

Optional (but fab) salad addition:
2 Roma tomatoes, diced
1/2 cup jicama, diced
Arugula
Cilantro
Applewood smoked bacon
Ponzu sauce
Olive oil

A couple of tomatoes, a few chunks of crispy applewood smoked bacon, a handful of jicama, some arugula, and some fresh cilantro, chopped, will make a nice salad to slide under the shrimp and grilled watermelon. Toss these with a splash of ponzu sauce and olive oil.


Preheat the grill.
In a small sauce pan over medium heat, add the water and the sugar. Cook over low heat until the sugar is dissolved. Pour 1 cup of the syrup into a small bowl and set aside. To the remaining syrup, add the red and orange peppers, jalapenos, garlic and cilantro and simmer on medium heat for 35 to 45 minutes or until thickened and marmalade-like. (I added a splash of soy sauce and some lime juice to cut the intense sweetness.)

Toast the coconut for garnish. Once finished, it can sit for a bit while you do the rest.

Toss the shrimp in a bowl with half of the olive oil, juice of 1 lime, cayenne, chili powder, smoked paprika, salt and pepper. Let marinate 20 to 30 minutes. Place on the hot grill and grill each side until cooked through, 4 to 5 minutes. Set aside.

Prepare the watermelon for the grill. Place the watermelon on a plate and brush each side with the reserved sugar syrup and the remaining olive oil. (I used a sprinkle of salt instead of the simple syrup...) Place on the grill and cook on both sides, about 2 minutes.

If using the optional salad, arrange it on the plate first. Once the red and orange pepper marmalade is thickened, place watermelon on plate (I removed the rind and cut it into chunks) with shrimp on top. Squeeze the remaining lime over it and spoon on the marmalade. Garnish with coconut and scallions and serve.

Suggested soundtrack: "We Will Rock You" by Queen. Brilliant race, Matt. Way to crush 'em.

Raspberry Vinaigrette Salad Dressing [Zack]

I’ve come a long way from my early cooking days in my presentation.  My improvements have come less from an increase in skill, but I now take a little bit of time to conceptualize and arrange the plates before serving.  I used to think that the flavors of my food would speak for themselves, but taking an extra minute or two to wipe down a plate or to add some fresh accent colors to a dish makes a marked difference.

Note:  Unless you are my Mom (who will light candles and use accents like parsley when eating alone), this tip only applies when you are cooking for others.  When I’m fixing a salad for myself, I use large Tupperware container indiscriminately add the ingredients.  I pour the dressing over the top, cover it with a lid, and shake until the dressing is evenly distributed.  I plop a few warmed goat cheese circles to the top, and voila! 

This recipe is my new favorite dressing recipe for your fancy or Tupperware salad.  The light sweetness from the Raspberry jam offsets the tartness from the vinegar, and is balanced with a great umami note from the soy sauce and mustard.  Goat cheese is the perfect complement to the dressing.

Process:

Making salad dressing in a jar is one of my favorite life pro tips.  Just spoon or pour each ingredient into the jar, cover with a lid, and shake like crazy.  It will emulsify your dressing, plus if you don’t use it all, it’s ready to go into the fridge for a second use.

Therefore, add the raspberry jam, mustard, olive oil, vinegar, and soy sauce to the jar.

Give it a good shake, and dress your salad with it.  I like to shake it (Always Sunny reference)

Pour it over your salad to lightly coat the leaves.  You can toss the salad in a bowl, then add the rest of the ingredients for a nice visual.

My salad was:  warmed goat cheese circles, butter lettuce, sliced red peppers, and whole grain croutons (sautee leftover bread cubes in olive oil, butter, and any powders or herbs that you enjoy).

Ingredients:

3T raspberry jam
2tsp dijon mustard
3T extra virgin olive oil
2T apple cider vinegar
1tsp soy sauce
freshly-cracked black pepper

Song:  John Legend - who did that to you

World's Easiest Summer Lunch [Rhonda]

World's Easiest Summer Lunch

Degree of difficulty: what did I just say? Easiest!
Time: 5 minutes, if.
Serves: one very hungry dancer or two politely sharing.

Columbus was enjoying almost-record heat, and after going hard for an hour-plus at a Michael Nicholson hip hop event in a large gym with 150 sweaty others, no AC, no fans, I came back home obviously hot, but famished, needing something filling but cool, and right now. And maybe mayonnaise wouldn't immediately spring to mind, but when you mix it with two ingredients and gently coat cooled steamed shrimp or (splurge!) crab meat, it makes one amazing summer salad.

Magic Mayo:
1 big dollop any brand real mayo
1 small splash ponzu
1 slightly bigger splash good soy sauce (I like Yamasa brand)
Mix and serve, baby, mix and serve.

Suggested soundtrack: Big Sean's "Early in the Morning" (not responsible for the content of this message)

California Crab Salad [Rhonda]

Degree of difficulty: easy
Time: 10 to 15 minutes
Serves: 2

The first night of a recent visit to LA, Matt took us to Froma on Melrose, a hip little wine and cheese shop with a few scattered tables and a surprisingly deep menu of crostinis, salads, pizzas and paninis.

I just wanted something fresh. And light, after a day of bad airplane food (purchased, no less!) and unsatisfying snacks.

Their crab salad, paired with a glass of sparkling wine, was the exact balance of bitter, sweet and tang that I craved. It makes for a sunny departure from the heartier soups and stews of February, and screams California from the get-go.

California Crab Salad
Ingredients:
1 8-ounce container jumbo lump crabmeat
Baby arugula
1 pink grapefruit, peeled and sectioned
1 avocado, peeled and sliced into super-thin strips
1 endive, sliced into thin strips
1/2 jalapeno, diced into tiny bits
1 tablespoon fresh chives, chopped fine
Citrus vinaigrette to taste

Citrus Vinaigrette:
1/2 cup orange juice (I used blood oranges for their beautiful red color and sliced a few for the plate)
1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
1 teaspoon mustard
1 tablespoon ponzu (Optional. Can just use little more soy sauce if you don't have ponzu. [Wait. You don't have ponzu? What's wrong with you?])
Soy sauce to taste
1 tablespoon mayo



Whisk the mustard and soy sauce into the orange juice. Slowly add the olive oil. Then add the mayo. Whisk to combine. Gently mix a small amount into the crab meat (don't break up those gorgeous lumps of crab!!) and drizzle a little over the rest of the plated salad.

Suggested soundtrack: Diana Krall's "Look of Love"

Fall Fresh-Market Mushroom Salad [Zack]

Antwerp has an open air market every Saturday in the center of the city.  It’s immensely popular with the locals - they do some food shopping and have fresh oysters with champagne before noon :).  Can’t hate on that.  I love wandering around, looking at each of the food booths and imagining fun things to cook/eat.  In the late fall, mushroom purveyors are prevalent and I decided to make a chicken and mushroom salad as a fresh lunch.

I always like asking opinions of experts – and in this case the woman in the booth was extremely helpful.  I explained that I wanted to make a fast and fresh salad, and she let me sample a bunch of different types of mushrooms and made great suggestions.  I ended up using chanterelles, pink oyster mushrooms, and some unknown mushroom that she brought from below the table.  Feel free to use any combination of mushrooms that you have available to you, just make sure they are fresh and delicious!

Process:

Start by making your mise en place.  

Grab a cup and put some very hot water into it.  Submerge your sun-dried tomatoes and let them stand for about 20 minutes to re-hydrate.

Wash the mushrooms to clear off the dirt.  Some people suggest using a mushroom brush, but if you are sautéing them in a frying pan, I don’t see the need to take the extra time.  Slice them until they are nicely-sized bites.  Mince the shallots and slice the sun-dried tomatoes (when they have hydrated enough).  Start 2 pans on your stove on medium heat.

You will use the first pan for sautéing the mushrooms.  Put 1 T olive oil and 1 T butter into the pan and let it melt.  Add your shallots and sliced sun-dried tomatoes into the pan and cook for about 4 minutes.  

Once that is cooked, add in your chanterelle and pink oyster mushrooms and let them cook down and eventually get some color.

While your mushrooms are going, sprinkle your chicken breast with salt and pepper and put in the pan with a small bit of olive oil.  Feel free to pound out the chicken breast so it isn’t tough.  Cook, turning once until it is cooked through.  

Let rest for 5-10 minutes while you finish the rest of your salad.

Knock out a quick salad dressing – my favorite method is to make it in a glass jar with a nice snug lid.  Add all of the ingredients at once and shake until emulsified.

Dice your fresh mushroom that you are going to add to the top.  This is optional.  Slice your rested chicken breast diagonally.  

Dress your salad and then add the chicken, cooked mushrooms, and the fresh mushroom on top.  Garnish with some fresh parsley on top if you'd like.  Enjoy eating healthfully!

Ingredients:

1 chicken breast (preferably organic and free range - it tastes better I swear!)

1 cup sliced pink oyster mushrooms

1 cup sliced chanterelles

1/3 cup fresh white mushrooms, sliced

6 sun-dried tomatoes

1 small onion or 2 shallots

1 head of lettuce

optional 1 T of minced parsley for garnish

Salad Dressing:½ c. apple cider vinegar
1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
1-2 cloves finely minced garlic
2-3 tablespoons tamari or soy sauce
1 ¼ c. olive oil
Freshly ground black pepper
1-2 tablespoons heavy cream, optional

Citrus Salad Topped with Cracked Glass [Rhonda]

Degree of difficulty: easy to medium, depending on the weather
Time: 20 to 30 minutes prep (How good are you with a paring knife?)
Serves: 4

This has got to be one of the most unusual, prettiest, and delightfully refreshing salads I've ever had. (Sounds like a commercial for Florida citrus growers, doesn't it?) Kate Thomas brought this to the New Albany Cooking With Friends gathering in November, and whether or not it reflects her Louisianna roots or her husband Tony's Missouri upbringing, she says it has been a Thanksgiving tradition at their house as long as she can remember.

Don't file this under Turkey Day, though, because it will stand as a beautiful side dish year-round.

Having said all that, the first time I made it for two, it was a breeze and took practically no time.

Second time was in volume for our Christmas trip to SC and I might as well have been a first-time-in-the-kitchen know-nothing. Embarassing to admit, but I finally had to google "how to peel a grapefruit" because I was struggling with pith and section skins, while sticky juice ran down my arm, onto my jeans and dripped on the floor. (There's a most helpful YouTube video with a chef who suggests you slice a little off the ends of the grapefruit so it stands up by itself, peel it with a sharp knife, removing all the white pith, then section it by slicing down through one side of the grapefruit wedge, prying the wedge loose from the other section skin. That keeps the sections in a more desirable shape, ie whole, as opposed to the mashed and mangled bits I was producing.)

The pomegranate seeds take a bit of time to extract and separate. (And yes, there were crimson splatters on the white cabinets when I was done. I told you that particular day was amateur hour for me.) You can buy a container of pomegranate seeds at Trader Joe's. Just be aware they don't keep too long.

Now, about that cracked glass. Again, first stroll out with the recipe for two took no more than a few minutes. But all the cooking for SC was done on a rainy day. My first attempt at the cracked glass that humid day sported hard knots of sugar crystallized in the amber. Tossed it and began again. Second attempt went fluffy. Really fluffy, as in fresh-powder-snowfall-at-Deer-Valley fluffy. Tossed. (By then, time was short and I'm starting to get tense...) Third time, I slowly melted the sugar over lower heat, stirring constantly to eliminate any sugar crystals, then whisked continuously as I upped the heat. It worked.

Worth the effort, too. Kristi and Alena, my 7- and 3-year-old nieces, were mightily impressed, especially with the cracked glass. "More?" Alena demanded, smiling and nodding. "L'il more?"



Citrus Salad Topped with Cracked Glass
Ingredients:

2 oranges
2 pink grapefruit
2 white grapefruit
1 pomegranate, seeded
Butter lettuce for plating

Peel citrus fruit, making sure to remove all white leaving only citrus exposed; slice fruit between membranes into large bowl.



Add seeds from pomengranate. Refrigerate until ready to serve.

Cracked Glass Topping
1 cup sugar
1/4 cup water

In a heavy saucepan over medium heat, carefully stir sugar in water until the sugar melts.



Raise heat and cook until liquid turns a light amber color. Pour hot mixture to thinly coat aluminum foil and let harden.



Crack into little pieces when ready to serve.

Mix citrus well. If plating, put a leaf of butter lettuce on salad plate, add mixed citrus salad and top with cracked glass.


If serving from a bowl, line the bowl with lettuce before adding citrus. Top entire bowl with the glass topping.

Suggested soundtrack: Rockin' old schoool with Earth, Wind and Fire's "September"

Autumn Salad with Spicy Pecans and Champagne Vinaigrette [Rhonda]

Degree of difficulty: simple
Time: 10 minutes to spice your nuts, 10 minutes to pull it together
Serves: 2

Two recipes are involved here: the vinaigrette and the spiced nuts. The vinaigrette will keep, so make a lot for those nights when you're lazy.

Warning...the nuts are so delicious you'll have to make a double batch. Most will be eliminated through unintentional snacking. Suddenly, nothing left for the salad.

Autumn Salad with Spicy Pecans and Champagne Vinaigrette
Ingredients:

Salad:
Mixed greens, bibb lettuce, or red leaf lettuce, enough for two salads
1 Granny Smith apple (Or other variety. Don't make a trip to the store just for G Smith! Use a pear. Pear would be awesome.)
1/4 red onion, sliced into slivers
1 handful dried cranberries (dried cherries work nicely too)
Stilton cheese (Trader Joe's has a marvelous mango ginger stilton. I know. There's no Trader Joe's near you. Go with a regular Stilton, or do gorgonzola. Blue cheese, even.)
Crisped prosciutto (brown prosciutto in pan over medium heat until crispy)

Champagne Vinaigrette:
1/2 cup champagne vinegar, or white wine vinegar
1 shallot, minced
1 teaspoon dijon mustard, or more to taste
1/2 cup good olive oil
Salt and pepper to taste

Combine everything except the olive oil. Add it slowly, whisking. Taste the dressing and adjust the seasonings. This makes way more than what you'll need for two salads. Refrigerate the rest for another day.

Spiced Pecans:
1 1/2 cups pecans (or walnuts)
Bake in a 375 F oven for 8 to 10 minutes or until nuts are toasted.

2 tablespoons granulated sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cayenne (go big or go home!)
Mix these three ingredients in a bowl. Set aside.

2 tablespoons maple syrup
1 teaspoon dark brown sugar
2 tablespoons butter
In small saucepan, melt butter. Add maple syrup and dark brown sugar. Stir. When nuts have finished toasting in the oven, add them into the saucepan. Stir. Then dump this over into the bowl of sugar, salt and cayenne. Stir well. Spread the spiced nuts on the cookie sheet and let cool. Refrigerate leftover nuts. Leftover what?




Suggested soundtrack:

Pancho Vladigerov's "Autumn Elegy"

Greek Salad [Rhonda]

Degree of difficulty: easy
Time: 5 minutes
Serves: 10 or more

I make a big bottle of this Greek stuff and keep it in the fridge for a switch-up from the other dressing I love ("That Famous Salad Dressing," posted earlier on this blog).

Greek salad typically involves chopped iceberg lettuce, tomatoes, cucumbers, red onion, pepperoncini, black olives, and feta of some sort (they even have Mediterranean crumbles now).

Greek Salad Dressing
Ingredients:
1 cup red wine vinegar
1 to 1 1/4 cups olive oil
2 cloves garlic, minced
Lots of dried oregano (to taste, I mean)
Pinch of sugar (optional)
Grated romano cheese (or parmesan if you don't have romano)
Salt and pepper to taste



In a mixing bowl, add the minced garlic to the vinegar. Stir in oregano. Slowly whisk in the olive oil.



Keep whisking and add the grated romano, some salt and pepper, sugar if you want, and taste it. Adjust your seasonings.

Suggested soundtrack: Neyo's "Give Me Everything Tonight"

Summer Salad with Figs and Ricotta [Zack]

If you don’t know what weather in Belgium is like, picture London or Seattle.  It has rained at least once a day for each of the 3 months of “summer”, was just warm enough to wear t-shirts, and cloudy even at night.  I’m guessing it rendered more than one weatherman useless (and jobless) because the weather really lacks variety.  I don’t mind the rain, but when the weather god(s?) decide to give us a nice day or two, I really appreciate the sunshine.  To take advantage, almost every Belgian goes on long walks, rides his bike everywhere, sits on terraces with a cold beer in hand, and enjoys the precious days while they last. 

Matt, you aren’t allowed to comment about your beautiful sunshine in Cali.

In celebration of the summer season coming to an end, I decided to make a fresh salad for lunch.  The combination of sweet and savory is one of my favorites, but the dish still ends up feeling light and relatively healthy.  Enjoy this one on a nice day with a cool glass of wine - hopefully on a porch swing.

Process:

This recipe has a few things to assemble and place in the oven at once.  It takes a bit of advance prep-work, but if you run short on time you can omit the bacon-wrapped goat cheese bites and the phyllo “croutons”.

I posted on the phyllo croutons earlier - they are really easy to make.  Caramelize your onions and apples for your croutons.  Put them into your defrosted phyllo cups and top with brie cheese.  Set aside – you’ll put these in the oven with the rest of the salad components.

Pre-heat your oven to 200 C / 400 F and start to prepare your bacon-wrapped goat cheese bites.  You can most likely find these pre-made in your grocery store.  If not, buy goat cheese with similar consistency of feta (so it doesn’t melt too easily) and cut into squares or circles.  Wrap with your favorite bacon.  Place these in a baking dish or sauce pan.  They will go in the oven at the same time as the figs (for ~15-20 mins) until the bacon browns nicely.

Stand the figs up on their flat bottoms.  Cut off the stemmy end of the fig.

Make a cut in the shape of an X ¾ of the way down the fig.

Gently pinch the base of the fig to open it up like a flower.

Lay them out on a tray with enough space between them so they open up and caramelize.  Drizzle olive oil on them and sprinkle liberally with salt and pepper.

Add a handful of pine nuts to one of your baking trays.  Now you are ready to place the phyllo croutons, figs, and bacon goat cheese in the oven at the same time.  Make sure that the pine nuts don't burn - they toast quickly!

Get a small sauce pot of balsamic vinegar slowly reducing on low heat while you prepare the rest of the salad. It should coat the back of a spoon when finished.

To prepare the ricotta filling, simply open your ricotta container and grind pepper in it to taste.

Now it’s time to make your dressing.  Dice some garlic and place it in a bowl.  Add the vinegar, mustard, and soy sauce and mix.  Whisk to combine the mustard.  Then add in the olive oil and mix until you get an emulsion. 

Everything in the oven should be finished around the same time - the figs should be nicely browned, the cheese melted on the croutons, and bacon nice and crispy on the goat cheese.

Take everything out of the oven and dress your salad.  Put the figs on your plate and put a dollop of ricotta in each of them.  Drizzle the balsamic over the top of them.  Add the croutons and bacon goat cheese bites and serve.

Ingredients:

Makes ~4 medium-sized salads

firm goat cheese squares wrapped in bacon
toasted pine nuts

8 fresh figs

Dash of olive oil

½ cup ricotta

Cracked black pepper

Fresh salad greens (you can choose the variety – I like some rocket in there)

Reduced balsamic vinegar (optional)

Phyllo cup “croutons” (optional – this recipe will make more than you need)

24 phyllo cups

1 diced apple

1 diced onion, caramelized

brie cheese

honey

sprig of thyme

Balsamic dressing (follow this recipe, but substitute the apple cider vinegar with balsamic vinegar)

½ c balsamic vinegar
1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
1-2 cloves finely minced garlic
2-3 tablespoons tamari or soy sauce
1 ¼ c. olive oil
Freshly ground black pepper

Jamiroquai – you give me something

Hoisin Duck Breast Salad [Zack]

Any time I order duck at a restaurant, it's either an amazing dish, or it's tough and not that tasty.  I think that most of it has to do with how it's cooked and the quality of the meat.  All of the fancy restaurants serve their duck breasts medium-rare (like a nice steak) and this seems to be one of the main keys to success.

This salad is different than your normal mixed greens vinaigrette.  The toughest part is judging when the duck breast is cooked, but you can always use a thermometer and let it come to 130F / 54C.

Process:

Start by taking the duck breast out of the fridge 30 minutes before you want to cook it so it comes to room temperature.  It will cook more evenly because it's an constant temperature throughout the meat (instead of being cold in the middle).  Put it on a plate and pat it dry so it will brown better in your pan.  You can score the skin in a cross-hatch pattern which would help it render more of the fat - I'll do this next time.  Rub it with paprika, salt, and pepper and set aside.

Dice up your ginger, shallots, and garlic.  In a small sauce pot on medium low heat, slowly sweat the shallots and ginger in the sesame oil.  After a few minutes, add the garlic and cook for an additional minute.

Then add in your hoisin sauce, vinegar, and sriracha.  Cook down for about 5 minutes so it's not runny and sticks to the spoon.

While the sauce is cooking down, put the ginger, garlic, shallot, chile, and vinegar to the food processor and blend until it's a smooth paste.  Then, add miso paste, honey, oils, and mayo in the food processor and blend again until you have a silky dressing.

Pre-heat your oven to 400F / 200C and start your oven-proof frying pan on medium low heat and let it come up to temperature for 10 minutes.  Add some sesame oil to the pan and place the duck breast skin side down.

Let the fat render for a few minutes until it's brown and crispy.

When the skin is nicely browned (in 6 - 9minutes), flip the duck breast over and coat with your hoisin sauce and sprinkle sesame seeds on top.

Place the whole pan into the oven and cook until medium-rare (6 - 10 minutes depending on the thickness of the meat).  Let it rest for 10 minutes so the juices distribute evenly through the meat and don't end up on your cutting board.  Slice thinly against the grain with your sharpest knife.

Toss your greens with the dressing and slice the avocado vertically and layer on top of the salad.  Add the sliced duck breast to the salad and go nuts with the sesame seeds!

Ingredients:
Serves 2-3 for a full meal or 4-6 for a small appetizer

1 duck breast with the skin on
paprika, salt, and pepper
Hoisin Glaze:
1/2 inch ginger
1 clove garlic
1 small shallot diced
2T Hoisin Sauce
1T Sriracha (or less if it's too spicy)
1/2 T Rice Wine Vinegar
1 tsp sesame oil

Salad Dressing:
1 T miso paste
2 T rice wine vinegar
1 T Kewpie Mayo
1/2 T honey
1/2 inch ginger
1 clove garlic
1 small shallot diced
1 small bird's eye chile
1 T sesame oil
2 T canola oil (or non-flavored oil)

Lettuce
1 avocado

Song to jam to:
Maxwell - Something Something

Summer Salad with Grilled Pears & Cherry Dressing [Tom & June]

Serves Two

Dressing:
- 2 Tbs Cherry Preserves
- S & P
- ½ tsp Worcestershire sauce
- ½ tsp Balsamic Vinegar
- 2 Tbs Red Wine Vinegar
- 1 Minced Garlic Clove
- ½ tsp Honey
- 1/8 cup or less EVOO

Add all ingredients except oil in a small bowl. Whisk or stir combining the ingredients.
Then, slowly add the oil while stirring.

Place in refrigerator until ready to serve.

Grilled Pears:
- 1 Pear seeded and cut into quarters.

Lightly coat with olive oil and grill. Not necessary to “cook” all the way through. You want some nice grill marks and to “warm” the pear.

To assemble:

- Lettuce (we used green leaf)
- 2 oz. Goat Cheese
- 1 Grilled Pear
- 1/4 cup Walnuts or Pecan Pieces


Place lettuce on 2 plates – add pear sections, top with goat cheese and chopped nuts, finish with the cherry dressing. Voila!!

"Spinach Salad Gourmet" [Tom & June]

This recipe dates back to the early 70's. I was a bartender at the Hazard Powder Company located on 2nd Ave. between 82nd & 83rd. This was a "shout & holler" bar. No food - only alcohol! There were no tables or chairs. Everyone sat on the rug floor. The juke box blasted - The Who - Stones and all the sounds of the times. One night, in walks this guy wearing a starched shirt, pressed pants and a Hollywood haircut. After he orders a drink, we talk and I learn he just ended a tour. I introduced him to the owner.

Steve had just finished a tour with Steve Lawrence & Eydie Gorme. He was their personal chef. Steve had also done the same with one of the with Rowan & Martin guys as well as other celebs.

So, 5 days later, Steve Kenney is behind the bar with me and so it begins. We did 2 separate stints together at the Hazard. We had the place rocking. We installed 2 turntables, huge speakers, bought 50 records and hired hot ladies to spin the sounds while customer stared at their bouncing butts. The only time the owner came in was during the day to do the books. He loved that we increased his sales by 200% but did not want to know how! Each night we worked, it was a SHOW! We danced, tossed the shakers in the air and flipped bottles back & forth. (this was long before Tom's Cruise's Cocktail)

We took jobs in Sugarbush, Vermont at the Phoenix Restaurant. Steve was the head chef & I was was his sous chef. Steve taught me much about food and we had as much fun cooking as we did bartending. Steve stayed in Vermont and became a local celebrity. He was known as "Sky Chef" and spent years on a local cooking show. He was way ahead of his time.

Steve created this salad for Eydie while he was on tour with them. Steve told me Eydie wanted light, healthy and non-fattening meals.

So it was named -"Spinach Salad Gourmet"
The salad has a warm vinegar dressing - serves 2.

One bag fresh spinach
6 slices of thick bacon - cut into small pieces prior to cooking (DO NOT discard renderings)
1 tsp Dijon mustard
1 tsp Worcestershire sauce
2-3 cloves minced garlic
2 Grated hard boiled eggs
5 tsp red wine vinegar
1 tsp honey
Salt & pepper
Croutons (optional)
For additional substance I added a sliced grilled chicken breast that was marinated in Italian dressing.

You'll also need -
Big stainless steel bowl
Pair of tongs
Big frying pan

Fry the bacon pieces until crispy, remove to paper towel with a slotted spoon. Save renderings to be used for the dressing.

Place washed, dried spinach in stainless bowl.
Add minced garlic to the - let's call it what it is - bacon fat. Saute for 2 minutes on low.

Add mustard, Worcestershire sauce, honey, S & P, vinegar and simmer. This just needs to be warm - not hot!

Slowly pour the dressing around the bowl then put the frying pan (cooking side down) to clamp the bowl pan together for one minute. This will semi-steam the spinach.



Uncover bowl and with tongs, gently toss spinach to coat with dressing. Place on plates. Top with bacon bits, chicken, grated egg and croutons.