Category: Sides and Salads

Antipasto Salad

This salad is a meal in itself.  Variety is the key here:  Do what you like, but be sure to include lots of different veggies, greens and Italian deli meats.  Also, be sure to make the dressing from scratch – the dressing really livens up the salad, and since you’re having salad for dinner, you might as well go all out.  Store bought dressing in a salad like this one just won’t meet expectations.

Ingredients & Instructions

For the Dressing:

  1. 1/2 cup olive oil
  2. 1/2 cup red wine vinegar
  3. Juice of one lemon
  4. 4-5 cloves garlic, minced or run through a microplane zester
  5. 1 tablespoon dried powdered oregano
  6. 1 teaspoon salt
  7. 1/2 teaspoon white pepper
  8. 1 teaspoon sugar

Whisk all ingredients together and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes.  Dressing can be made 1 day in advance.  When left standing for a while, dressing will separate – not to worry, just re-whisk to incorporate right before serving.

For the Salad

  1. 10oz Romaine lettuce hearts
  2. Jar of marinated artichoke hearts (6-8oz), drained
  3. Jar of pepperoncini (6-8oz), drained
  4. Croutons, as desired
  5. Assortment of fresh veggies: Mushrooms, Asparagus, Broccoli, Tomatoes (steam certain veggies first and the shock in an ice-bath if necessary)
  6. 6oz assorted Italian Deli Meats:  Salami, Prosciutto, Capocollo, Calabrese
  7. Mozzarella or Provolone cheese

Combine ingredients 1-5 in a large tossing bowl.  Chiffonade Deli Meats and cheese into fine strips and add to bowl.  Toss well to combine.

Final Assembly:

Dress salad all at once or allow eaters to dress for themselves in individual serving bowls.

Southern Chicken Salad

Chicken Salad is one of those things that people apparently have really strong opinions about.  That should come as no surprise, considering the number of different versions there are out there; there’s chunky chicken salad, smooth chicken salad, Napa Almond chicken salad.  Some people like to add grapes, some people like to add Indian or Eastern spices; Trader Joe’s actually stocks three entirely different versions on its shelves.  All that being said, I prefer the version here – what I call “Southern Chicken Salad” – a bit tangy, nice and smooth but still with a bit of texture, not too much mayo.  The secret here is using a food processor to chop the chicken rather than doing it by hand.

Level:  Easy
Cost: Cheap (especially if you’re using leftovers)
Serves: A Lot
Times: 15-20 minutes

Ingredients:

  1. Chicken.  Use leftover chicken, one of those store bought roasted whole chickens, or whatever kind of chicken you like.  Sous Vide chicken breasts are exceptionally nice.
  2. 2 or so stalks celery, finely chopped
  3. 1 carrot, peeled, then peeled some more, with edible shavings finely chopped
  4. Juice of 1 lemon
  5. 2 TBSP minced shallot or sweet onion (optional)
  6. Creole seasoning (Old Bay works well), to taste (optional) – adds a little zing.
  7. Mayonnaise – to taste.

Method:

  1. Add chicken to food processor, work in batches if necessary.  Hit ‘pulse’ a bunch of times to chop the chicken, scraping down the sides between pulses as necessary.  You don’t want to turn it ‘on’ nor do you want to make chicken paste here.  You just want it finely chopped.
  2. Transfer chopped chicken to a large mixing bowl.  Add ingredients 2-6 and stir well to combine.
  3. Begin adding mayo, 1-2 tablespoons at a time, until desired consistency is achieved.

Serve with crackers, over a bed of lettuce, or in a sandwich.  Enjoy!

New Mexico Sopapillas

I love these guys – puffy, airy little pastries designed to do one thing: be a delivery mechanism for awesome flavors.  They are a staple of New Mexican cuisine, and as far as I can tell, almost exclusive to it as well.
Sopapilla literally means “little soup pillow” and that’s what they are best at – sopping up delicious sauce from the plate, or soaking in delicious chili.  My first encounter with a sopapilla was at a Sadie’s in Albuquerque, NM back when I was in high school.  This was also the first time I encountered Chili Verde, chili in general, and food that was legitimately spicy.  I had been wanting to try to make these for years, but for a whole variety of reasons never got around to it until the other night, and they were amazing.  Sprinkled with a bit of cinnamon sugar or a drizzle of honey, they also make an awesome breakfast.  Also, this was REALLY easy.

Time: 30 minutes
Level: Easy
Cost: Really, really cheap seeing as they’re made from stuff you probably have on hand
Makes:  Approximately 18-24 sopapillas

Ingredients

  1. 3 cups all purpose flour, plus perhaps 1-2 TBSP
  2. 2 tsp double-acting baking powder
  3. 1 tsp salt
  4. 1 cup whole milk
  5. 1/4 cup warm water
  6. 6 TBSP unsalted butter, melted
  7. 1.5 quart (48 oz) vegetable or canola oil, for frying

Instructions

  1. Combine dry ingredients (1-3) in a large mixing bowl and whisk to combine.
  2. Create a well in the bowl using the dry ingredients, it should look like a little volcano; a mound of ingredients with a little hole, perhaps 2 inches in diameter, in the top.
  3. Combine wet ingredients (4-6) in a 2 cup measuring cup and whisk briefly to combine.
  4. Add about half of the wet ingredients to your flour-mixture volcano.  Using your hands, begin scooping the dry ingredients from the edges of the volcano into the wet ones on top.  Add the rest of the wet ingredients and continue to mix until a rough dough has formed.  If your dough is super sticky, coat it with 1 TBSP flour.  Once the dough is fairly consistent, coat with 1 more TBSP flour and cover with plastic wrap or a clean towel.  Punch down and fold a few times to make sure everything is really worked together.  Allow dough to rest for 20 minutes.
  5. Once dough is rested, remove it from the bowl and divide into two parts.  Place one part back in the bowl and cover while you work with the other part.  On a lightly floured work surface, use a rolling pin to roll the dough out to about 1/8 inch thick, trying to get it as consistent as possible.  Cut off rounded edges to make a rectangular piece of dough and discard the trimmings.  Cut dough into rectangles approximately 1.5″ x 2″.  Repeat with the remaining dough.
  6. Heat oil in a large pot to 375°F – 400°F
    • Cook’s Note:  When frying stuff, I’ve found that my 5qt sauté pan is actually the perfect size.  480z of oil comes do about 2″ deep, which is all you really need to fry just about anything.  The fact that it’s fairly wide (12″ across) means that the oil will come up to temperature more quickly and I can fry things in larger batches.  There’s only one serious drawback:  A sauté pan has a handle, and handles can be accidentally knocked, and the potential for knocking a large volume of 400°F oil onto yourself or the floor is a VERY bad thing.  So, if you use your sauté pan for this, PLEASE make sure the handle is pointed AWAY from you, toward your stove, and well away from any place it could be inadvertently knocked.
  7. Once oil is up to temp, carefully slide a sopapilla into the oil.  It will submerge, sizzling quite a bit, and then float to the top.  Then the magic happens:  Before your very eyes, it will puff into a beautiful little pillow.  Continue to fry for 2-3 minutes until golden brown, and the flip with a slotted spoon to brown the other side.  Once you’ve done one as a tester, you can probably do 3-4 at a time.
    • Cook’s Note:  If your sopapilla doesn’t puff, chances are your oil isn’t the right temperature.  It’s got to be hotter than 350°F but no hotter than about 410°F.  Remember:  Every time you add a sopapilla to the oil, it’s going to bring the overall oil temp down a couple of degrees.  This is why I recommend starting with your oil somewhere between 375°F – 400°F.   Either that or you’re trying this at high-altitude.  In either case, if after a few test batches your sopapillas don’t puff, don’t worry – they’re still tasty.
  8. Once fried, remove sopapillas to a plate lined with a paper towel to drain.  Repeat until all sopapillas are fried.  They can be kept warm in a 200°F oven for 30-45 minutes.  Also, they refrigerate pretty well and can be gently reheated in a 325°F oven until just warmed through, about 5 minutes.

Caesar Salad

This Homemade Caesar Salad is tangy, delicious and the perfect compliment to almost any meal. If the whole raw egg and homemade emulsion thing either makes you nervous, or it’s just too much work, you can make a simpler, equally delicious version that will last you longer in the fridge – just substitute the 1 cup vegetable oil and the raw egg for 1 cup of mayo (preferably Kewpie, but any mayo will work great).

Continue reading “Caesar Salad” →

Arugula Salad with Lemon and Olive Oil

This is my go-to salad for serving alongside barbecued or grilled meat.  The pepperiness of the arugula, combined with the jolt of fresh acidity from the lemon juice and the sharp flavor of freshly grated Parmesan cheese is the perfect compliment to a smoky savory piece of meat or poultry fresh off the grill.  And it couldn’t be simpler.

Time: 5 minutes

Ingredients

  1. 10oz fresh arugula (it looks like a lot, but it will wilt quickly when dressing is introduced)
  2. 3 TBSP cup Olive Oil
  3. Juice of one lemon
  4. 8oz freshly grated Parmesan cheese, or to taste
  5. Salt and freshly ground pepper to taste.

Instructions

Place arugula in a large salad or mixing bowl.  Add olive oil and lemon.  Grate Parmesan cheese over top, add salt and pepper.  Toss and serve immediately.

Note:  This salad doesn’t last long on the counter top, so make it directly before serving the rest of the meal.

This recipe is featured in a complete meal, served alongside Santa Maria Tri Tip, grilled corn, and grilled garlic bread. Find the complete meal here.