CHOPPED SALAD WITH A FRIED EGG
The first thing I cooked in my new kitchen, fittingly, was a salad.
This is a chopped salad: chopped greens, chopped grape tomatoes, chopped cucumber, chopped oven roasted turkey slices. A fried egg on top. As all LA girls know: a salad tastes better when chopped. New York is slow to that simple fact.
Served with vinaigrette: 1/2 tablespoon grainy dijon mustard, 1 tablespoon olive oil, 1 teaspoon balsamic vinegar, a good dash cider vinegar, and few grinds of salt and pepper.
Tomato Chevre Salad with Trufffle Oil Pesto
Yesterday morning I was at the Union Square Greenmarket at 8am. I happily skipped from one vendor to the next, and picked up ingredients for a dinner I planned to cook around 8pm when I returned from work. From the green market, I went to exercise class, from exercise I went to work. Pretty successful start to the day, no?
Unfortunately, the congress decided to postpone their vote on the bill on the debt ceiling last night. But that final word didn’t come in until after 10pm. All this means to me, since I work for a news network, I had to stay put till all the congressmen went to bed. This is the job I signed up for, and though it seems like I am complaining, it is what makes this job fun.
I ended up getting home around 10:30 and starting the oven then. This tomato salad was easy to throw together. These New Jersey beefsteaks are juicy, and almost at their peak. I bought a box of chevre from a goat farmer there (http://www.lynnhavennubians.com/ ) and crumbled that on top of the tomatoes. For the pesto, I didn’t have pine nuts or parmesan on hand (as usually goes into a pesto) so instead I just went heavy on the extra virgin olive oil and a good dash of truffle oil. Recipe below:
2 large Beefsteak tomatoes, sliced (2 colors of tomatoes if possible)
One stalk of basil, cleaned, leaves removed from stems
Several ounces of chevre (or any goat cheese)
Several tablespoons extra virigin olive oil
½ Tablespoon truffle oil
Kosher salt
Fresh ground pepper
for the pesto:
Directions: blend basil and the oils in a food processor. Add salt and fresh ground pepper intermediately to taste.
Drip pesto on top of slice tomatoes, sprinkle with salt and pepper and an extra dash of olive oil. Serve
Lemony Avocado Asparagus Salad
My friend Erica and I decided to recreate a tomato tart that we cooked last summer. While we emailed during our workday, trying to remember what ingredients we used, and the steps of the recipe we’d need to follow, we decided we’d want a side dish as well. This dish was impromptu. My friend Elizabeth made a great grated asparagus salad earlier in the spring, and at first I thought I would make a copy. Here’s how it came together.
Ingredients
1 bunch asparagus
1 avocado
1/4 cup pine nuts
1 lemon
1/4 cup grated parmesan
Extra Virgin Olive Oil
Vinegar
Salt
Pepper
Parboil the asparagus in water with a splash of olive oil and salt. After four minutes, remove the asparagus and drain in a collander. Cut asparagus into 1/2 inch pieces, on the diagonal. In the meantime, roast pine nuts on the stove top or in over for 2-5 minutes. Slice avocado, add to bowl. Grate 1/2 cup of parmesan, or to your liking. Add pine nuts to salad. Grate lemon peel over salad.
For dressing:
Mix extra virgin olive oil; balsamic vinegar or red wine vinegar, a splash of dijon, and juice from half a lemon. Add salt and pepper. Whisk to a mixture. Dress salad.
