"Norcal" Nicoise Salad – Layered for Your Pleasure

"Norcal" Nicoise Salad – Layered for Your Pleasure

French Cuisine Potato Salads Seafood Vegetables

I know I’ve made fun of salads served in Mason jars before, but when I was asked to contribute a layered Nicoise to an Allrecipes Easter feature, I immediately thought of this tragically hip presentation. Also, I didn’t have a straight-sided, see-through glass bowl to do the layered salad in.

I love a good Nicoise, and it’s perfect for layering, especially if you slice/chop up the ingredients first. Not only will your layers be easier to keep straight, but chopped salads are always a pleasure to toss with dressing. Speaking of which, I really enjoyed this avocado spiked French-style vinaigrette, and it paired perfectly with the rich, fatty, olive oil-packed tuna. 

Look for something from Spain or Italy, and you will be impressed with how much nicer it is than the stuff Charlie and his buddies are pushing. So, whether you composed this on a plate, in the classic fashion, or follow my lead, and create the world’s trendiest Nicoise, I really hope you give this a try soon. Enjoy!

Ingredients for Nicoise (amounts are up to you)

3-4 ounces per person olive-oil packed tuna

tender green beans

Yukon gold potatoes

cherry tomatoes

hard boiled eggs

Nicoise olives, or other pitted olives

parsley and/or chives

anchovy fillets, optional

Ingredients for the dressing:

1 tablespoon Dijon mustard

3 anchovy fillets

2 teaspoons minced shallots

1 teaspoon minced fresh tarragon

2 tablespoons lemon juice

3 tablespoons white wine vinegar

1/4 cup ripe avocado

1/3 cup olive oil, or more to taste

freshly ground black pepper

pinch cayenne

water as needed to adjust texture

salt to taste

Grilled Shrimp Louie – Dressing Up a Classic

Grilled Shrimp Louie – Dressing Up a Classic

Dressings Salads Sauces Seafood

I don’t do a lot of salad dressing videos, since it’s pretty much just adding things to a bowl, but when that dressing is going on a grilled shrimp Louie, I’ll make an exception. By the way, this is usually done with crab, but I think the smoky, grilled shrimp are a great summertime twist.

This is my take on a classic Louie dressing, and as with all such recipes, you’ll need to taste and adjust for acid, salt, and heat. Just be sure to wait until the dressing is nice and cold before tasting. You’ll get a more accurate reading, since that’s the temperature we’re going to be serving at.

If you do grill the shrimp, don’t toss it with the oil and lemon until right before you grill. This isn’t a marinade, and we don’t want the shrimp to start “cooking” in the acid. I really hope you give this a try soon. Enjoy!

Ingredients for about 1 3/4 cups:

1 cup mayonnaise

1/3 cup ketchup

1/4 cup crème fraiche

1 tablespoon freshly squeezed lemon juice

1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar

1 packed teaspoon brown sugar

1 teaspoon paprika

1/8 teaspoon cayenne

1/4 teaspoon kosher salt, or to taste

1/2 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce

2 tablespoons minced green onion

2 tablespoons freshly chopped parsley

For the grilled shrimp:

2 pounds peeled and deveined shrimp

1 tablespoon olive oil

juice from 1/2 lemon

1/4 teaspoon smoked paprika

1 teaspoon kosher salt

This Tuna Poke is No Joke

This Tuna Poke is No Joke

Appetizer Asian Cuisine Rice Salads Seafood

There are many of foods I’ll stand in line for, and/or pay too much for, but Hawaiian-style tuna poke isn’t one of them. I can’t make a world-class croissant at home. I can make a decent one, but not a perfect one, so I’ll happily queue up at a boulangerie that does.

However, when it comes to poke, the technique is so basic that even the most inexperienced cooks can get something pretty much identical to what they’d get out. There’s one catch though. You have to use only the freshest possible tuna, even if that means it’s frozen.

Hopefully you’ll be able to get a hold of some fresh, sushi-grade tuna, but if you can’t, frozen will work. What many people don’t realize, is that most of the fish they enjoy at their favorite sushi restaurants has actually been frozen beforehand anyway. Google it, it’s true.

So, as long as the tuna is Grade A, or sushi grade, the frozen variety will work. Above and beyond that, all the other ingredients, except for the soy sauce, are optional. So, please use this video as merely a guide to the technique, understanding that this will work with so many different ingredients. I really hope you give this a try soon. Enjoy!

Makes 4 portions Tuna Poke:

1 pound sushi-grade ahi tuna (aka yellowfin), cut into about 3/4-inch cubes

1/4 cup high-quality soy sauce

2 tablespoons sesame oil
1 teaspoon grated fresh ginger root

1/3 cup thinly sliced green onions

2 tablespoons roasted macadamia nuts, crushed

1 tablespoon finely crumbled dried seaweed

1/2 teaspoon hot red pepper flakes

1/2 teaspoon Kosher salt, or to taste

1 teaspoon toasted sesame seeds

Other delicious additions include (add to finished poke, not the marinade, otherwise you may lose that gorgeous appearance):

- seasoned rice vinegar

- lemon or lime juice

* Toss tuna with marinade, and chill for 2 hours in the fridge before serving.

“Local” Roasted Beets with Goat Cheese and Walnuts – Kill Once, Cook Twice

“Local” Roasted Beets with Goat Cheese and Walnuts – Kill Once, Cook Twice

Cheese Salads Tips and Techniques Vegetables

They say if you video blog long enough, you’ll eventually post a snuff film. Okay, so no one says that, but that’s what this roasted beets with goat cheese and walnuts kind of felt like, as I harvested my homegrown, and completely defenseless beet.

I was obviously kidding about vegetables being able to sense pain, but the more I think about it, who knows? Anyway, until I find out otherwise, I’ll assume the bloody root didn’t suffer for my pleasure, and just enjoy its incredible goodness. It’s the same assumption I use when eating chicken wings.

There are very few things that pair as perfectly as roasted beets and goat cheese. Simply a match made in occasional-vegetarian heaven. When you toss in some crunchy walnuts, foraged greens, and a simple walnut oil/vinegar dressing, you have something that’s way beyond the sum of the parts. 

I really can’t think of a more perfect fall lunch. By the way, in addition to making a great mid-day meal, this would also work nicely as a fancy side dish come holiday time, and you have plenty of time to practice. I hope you give this a try soon. Enjoy!

Ingredients for 2 portions:

1 or 2 tbsp walnut oil

1 roasted beet (*about 8 oz)

2 oz goat cheese

salt and pepper to taste

1/2 cup roasted chopped walnuts

2 tbsp champagne or sherry vinegar

thinly sliced beet greens and fresh chives to top

toasted walnut bread to serve with

*Note: Since beets come in all sorts of sizes, you’ll just have to go by feel. Roast a beet or two, slice it up, see how much you have, pick a baking dish that large enough for one layer, cover the bottom with walnut oil, toss in the beets, fill in between with goat cheese, season, bake and dress as you see fit.

Salad Lyonnaise – A Super Salad from a City of Meat

Salad Lyonnaise – A Super Salad from a City of Meat

Dressings French Cuisine Pork Salads

How great is Salad Lyonnaise? Lyon is considered the meat capital of France, and yet the city’s most famous, and reproduced dish is probably this simple frisee salad. Now that’s some delicious irony.

Don’t worry…this salad is far from vegan. The mildly bitter greens are dressed in a shallot and Dijon dressing, it’s spiked with a generous handful of crispy lardons, or bacon in my case, and topped with a runny egg.

By the way, unless you’re some kind of crazy person, you’re going to need some crispy croutons or crostini to finish this masterpiece off. Here’s a link to the ones I used for this, sans Parmigiano-Reggiano. You’ll also want to taste and adjust the dressing to your liking. I use a 2-to-1, oil to vinegar ratio, as I think you need some acidity to cut the richness of the bacon and egg yolk, but you may not want it as sharp.

As I joked about in the video, this is so tasty, it may be the only salad that has a chance to be picked as someone’s last meal. There’s good, and then there’s death row good. Anyway, I’ve been dying to film this old favorite, and I really hope you give it a try soon. Enjoy!

For 4 generous portions:

2 heads frisee lettuce, aka curly endive, or use arugula

8 oz bacon (or pancetta if you want to experience something closer to real lardons)

4 large eggs

1 tbsp chives

For the dressing (makes extra, about 3/4 cup total):

1 generous tbsp minced shallots

1 generous tbsp Dijon mustard

salt and pepper to taste

1/4 cup sherry vinegar

1/2 cup lightly flavored olive oil

A Tomato and “Dirt” Salad You’ll Really Dig

A Tomato and “Dirt” Salad You’ll Really Dig

Appetizer Salads Tips and Techniques

It’s not unusual for me to steal a recipe idea from a local restaurant, but it’s not everyday that I’m inspired by something I eat at a bowling alley. This happened recently at the Mission Bowling Club, a fun and funky, six-lane bowling alley located just a few blocks from our home, which despite the cacophony, features some of the City’s best bites.

In addition to an otherworldly fried chicken appetizer, and a “granulated,” aged beef burger some (including my wife Michele) consider the best in the City, the MBC also features daily specials, and one such offering was described as an “heirloom tomato salad topped with a crispy rye crumble.”

That sounded great to us, and our server vouched for its excellence, so we happily included it among our starters. What we didn’t know at the time, was that our server had defied the kitchen and refused to use the dish’s official name, “tomatoes and dirt.”

She made this stunning admission as we raved about its deliciousness, and admitted to going rogue and changing the name because she just didn’t think that “dirt” sounded appetizing. What?! I thought this plate of tomatoes and “dirt” was just about the most creative thing I’d heard/seen/tasted in a while.

I was this close to going into that kitchen, ratting her out, and maybe getting a free dessert for my trouble, but thought better of it, and decided to quietly finish the salad, knowing that I would share it here, dirty name and all.  Anyway, this is my version, and I hope you give this a try soon. Enjoy!

Ingredients for 4 Small Portions:

8 oz burrata cheese, or fresh ricotta

Enough freshly sliced tomatoes for 4 portions

Wine vinegar, extra virgin olive oil, salt and pepper to taste

Fresh sliced basil leaves

For the crumbs:

2 tbsp olive oil, more if needed

3 large brown mushrooms, minced fine

big pinch of salt

3 slices of dark rye, made into crumbs

1 rounded tablespoon ground almonds (aka almond meal, almond flour, or just crush your own)

The Old Empty Mayo Jar Dressing Trick – Scrap the Scrape!

The Old Empty Mayo Jar Dressing Trick – Scrap the Scrape!

Dressings Salads Sauces Tips and Techniques

They say when life gives you lemons, make lemonade; but what about when life gives you empty mayonnaise jars? Mayonade? No, of course not. We’re going to make salad dressing instead, and “scrape the scrape.”

I’ll often add a tablespoon or two of mayonnaise when I make a vinaigrette, to help emulsify things, as well as provide a little extra creaminess to the dressing. With that in mind, when I get down to the end of a jar, I don’t scrape, I shake.

I’m posting the ingredients I used below just in case you’re curious, but this post isn’t really about a recipe, but simply a tip for using up the last of that mayo without all that annoying butterknifing. Now, I just need to work on a recipe for using up the last of the dressing clinging to the inside of the jar. Enjoy!

Ingredients for 1 1/2 cups of dressing:

1 empty mayo jar, with at least 1 tbsp of mayo inside

1 clove minced garlic

1 tbsp chopped fresh herbs (I used parsley, thyme, and chives)

1/2 cup wine vinegar

1 cup olive oil

salt and pepper to taste

cayenne to taste

pinch of Herbes de Provence

View the complete recipe