I am always challenging myself to make salads that have enough flavor in and of themselves that they don’t even need dressing. When you have a sad looking iceberg lettuce salad, the only thing that makes it actually taste good … Continue reading
When I was in New York a few months ago on a business trip, they brought in lunch for us from Birdbath Bakery. After one taste of this salad, I ignored every other option on the luncheon buffet and made my entire meal out of it. I was so madly in love, I had to find out how to make it!
So, I searched until I saw Marcus Samuelsson was also a fan of the very same salad and had created his own version of it. He’s almost exactly dead on with the flavors. The combination of the creamy cheese with the strong red onion flavors and the toasted hazelnuts is amazing. I don’t know how else to describe it. You just have to try it yourself.
I’ve made this recipe many times since and have introduced a few friends to the joy of raw kale as well. I hope you take the time to try this recipe and I’m sure you, too will become a fast fan.
I recommend serving it with the Lentil Soup with Curried Brown Butter from 101 Cookbooks I posted about recently. Also, you may want to make this a few hours in advance of serving it so the flavors have some time to meld together. Don’t worry, the raw kale is so… shall we say… ‘stout’… that it won’t wilt under the pressure of the dressing.
Photo by Lindsay Hunt via Marcus Samuelsson
Serves 2. Recipe derived from Marcus Samuelsson
Lately I’ve been obsessed with arugula. It has that perfectly peppery zing that really appeals to me and makes a great backdrop for a variety of other ingredients. My most recent uses are on my faux bacon, lettuce, tomato and avocado sandwiches on wheat lavash and this poached egg salad (thanks to Alton Brown – I finally learned how to properly poach an egg!) The slightly runny egg yolk creates a natural, creamy dressing, adding a decadent warmth to the spicy arugula. It’s really fast and easy!
Serves 2
Dressing
Salad
I’ve been making this dressing for a while, mostly in my head and loving it. It’s fresh for spring and just overall tasty! It tastes especially good on butter lettuce with canned (or homecooked) beets – not pickled – and goat cheese. Maybe even some slivered almonds. I made this salad for some friends over the weekend and they were asking for the recipe. I usually do it all by “feel” and “taste”. But I did my best to capture it here. (and sorry, no pics)
Whisk together sugar and lemon juice until sugar dissolves. Whisk in dill, shallots, salt and pepper. Finally, whisk in olive oil. Drizzle over salad and toss or serve separately.
Inspired by a tofu salad I had a Trader Joe’s recently, I tried my hand at my own homemade version with a few tweaks to the flavor. I tried to make it somewhat Vietnamese Spring Roll-esq, so to speak. The result was a smashing success. I served it to a group of friends and they had nothing but raves. I have cravings for it on occasion. The flavors compliment each other so well.
I had a small dinner party at my house Saturday and we had a fabulous time. But, of course, the main highlights (for me anyway) were all the amazing flavors in the food. I thought I’d take a few minutes to share with you, my faithful readers.
If you don’t want to try all of them, there are two you MUST try: Tomato Olive Butter and the Strawberry Spinach Salad with Goat Cheese. Don’t ask questions. Just do it! (I even moved them to the top of the post so you could get to them easier.)
Enjoy!!!
It’s so easy, it’s scary. And I have to ask myself, “Why didn’t I try it before?” I’m using it on all my salads lately. It was especially good on my fuji apple, blue cheese, candied pecan salad I made the other day. Light enough to let all the fabulous apple/cheese/pecan flavors shine through.
Shake together. Eat on salad. It really is that simple.
