I'm in Love With a Salad

It's not often that I make a recipe that's so incredibly awesome that it instantaneously gets added to my arsenal of go-to meals, but this Spinach Salad with Warm Feta Dressing was one of them. My mom and I made it for Christmas dinner this year, and I think it was the biggest hit of the night, my special honey-and-lavender duck included. A few days later, I flew out to Arizona to meet my boyfriend's family, and I volunteered to make this salad as my contribution to their New Year's Eve dinner. Huge hit there, too. Since then, I've made it twice, and my boyfriend's family has made it at least four more times.

The thing is, it's incredibly quick and easy, and it's so delicious. The red onions add sweetness, and the creamy feta just kind of coats the spinach leaves, and the sherry vinegar gives the whole thing a lightly acidic but nutty flavor. Sherry vinegar can be hard to find (Williams Sonoma sells it, but it's not cheap), so if you can't find any, you can just use equal parts white wine or red wine vinegar and real sherry.


Spinach Salad with Warm Feta Dressing
Serves 4

• one bag fresh spinach leaves
• extra-virgin olive oil
• one small, or 1/2 large, red onion, sliced thinly
• one 8-oz package feta cheese, crumbled
• 2-3 Tbsp sherry vinegar (or vinegar + sherry)

Put all of the spinach leaves in a large bowl. Heat a couple tablespoons of olive oil over medium heat, then add the sliced red onion and cook until the onion is soft and translucent and lightly browned, about 5-10 minutes. Dump the onion out of the skillet onto the spinach. With the skillet off of the heat but still warm, add the feta cheese and the sherry vinegar (plus a little extra olive oil if the skillet is too dry). Stir until the cheese is softened and slightly melted. Season to taste with salt and pepper, if desired. Add to the spinach and onions, toss, and serve.

Itsy Bitsy Pieces

Sorry for the hiatus, faithful readers. Two weekends ago I had a bit of an incident, in which I managed to chip my two front teeth pretty badly. While I wait for the verdict as to whether they can be saved, I've been forbidden from using my front teeth for any purpose whatsoever. This has made eating somewhat tricky. For the first week I subsisted almost entirely on oatmeal, soup and pudding until I realized that I could eat solid food as long as it was made up of small pieces that I could place into the back of my mouth and chew with my molars, bypassing the front teeth entirely.

Last night I made a goat cheese, lentil and potato salad that fit the bill pretty well. Everything in it is in little pieces - no incisors necessary. Also, it's fast, pretty healthy and tastes good. If anyone has suggestions for other meals that are front-teeth-free, please, pass them along. It'll be at least another week and a half until I have recovered full mastication ability.


Goat Cheese, Lentil and Potato Salad
serves 2 as a main course

• 1-1/4 c. French green lentils, rinsed and drained
• 3 Yukon Gold potatoes, peeled and cut into 1/2-inch dice
• 3 scallions, thinly sliced
• 2 medium tomatoes, seeded and finely diced
• 1/2 c. finely chopped flat-leaf parsley
• 1 large garlic clove, minced
• 1/2 c. extra-virgin olive oil
• 1/4 c. fresh lemon juice
• salt and pepper
• 8 oz. fresh goat cheese, crumbled

In a large saucepan, cover the lentils with cold water and bring to a simmer. Cook over moderately low heat, stirring occasionally, until the lentils are tender, about 18 minutes. Drain the lentils well and transfer to a large bowl. Meanwhile, in a medium saucepan, cover the potatoes with cold water and bring to a boil. Cook over moderately high heat until the potatoes are tender, about 10 minutes. Drain very well and add to the lentils. Add the scallions, tomatoes, parsley, garlic, olive oil and lemon juice, season with salt and pepper and toss. Spoon the lentil salad onto plates and top with the goat cheese.

I borrowed this recipe from the October 2007 Food and Wine. They recommend a Semillon as a wine pairing, since its lemony/zesty flavors partner naturally with the earthy lentils and tangy dressing and goat cheese.

Where's the Beef?

I don't normally eat a lot of beef when I'm trying to eat healthily. (Me + a week in Philadelphia = sweet baby Jesus, I need to go on a diet.) Also, beef is not the most environmentally friendly food. Sometimes, though, I make an exception, like yesterday, when I went to my local butcher and saw a gorgeous little piece of sirloin that I absolutely couldn't live without. To balance out the fact that I was eating a hunk of red meat (although, to be fair, one of the least fatty varieties), I decided to grill it - rare, of course - and put it on a salad with a light Asian-inspired dressing. Fresh, yummy, relatively healthy. Not bad for a Monday night.


Beef Salad with Mint
serves one

• one 4-5 ounce sirloin or filet mignon
• 2 c. salad greens, your choice (I prefer romaine)
  
• 1/4 c. minced fresh mint
• 1/4 of a red onion, thinly sliced
• 1/2 a small cucumber, thinly sliced
• juice of one lime
• 2 tsp. fish sauce (or soy sauce)
• pinch cayenne, to taste
• 1/4 tsp. sugar (or Splenda)

Preheat the grill or your broiler. (I used a grill pan on top of the stove.) Grill or broil the steak until rare or medium-rare about 8 to 12 minutes. Set it aside to cool. Toss the lettuce with the mint, onion, and cucumber. Combine all remaining ingredients, and toss the greens with this mixture, reserving about 1 tablespoon of the dressing. Slice the beef thinly, reserving its juice. Lay the slices over the salad. Mix the juice and reserved dressing, drizzle over the beef, and serve.

The Boston (Junk Food) Marathon

Today thousands of people accomplished the impressive athletic feat of running the 26.2 miles of the world-famous Boston Marathon. Today I baked cookies. I don't feel too bad about this because I got my own exercise this afternoon in the form of Carmen Electra's Aerobic Striptease Vol. 2: Fit to Strip. I was gonna go to the gym and do some running myself, but I have blisters on my feet from the evil, evil shoes I wore out on Saturday. Anyway, I digress. These cookies are really good.


Dark and White Chocolate Chunk Cookies
Recipe from March 2007 Bon Appetit
Makes 2 dozen

• 2-2/3 c. bittersweet or semisweet chocolate chips, divided
• 1/4 c. (1/2 stick) unsalted butter
• 2 large eggs
• 1/2 c. (packed) golden brown sugar
• 2 tsp. vanilla extract
• 3/4 c. all purpose flour
• 1/2 c. chopped crystallized ginger
• 3-1/2 oz. high-quality white chocolate, very coarsely chopped

Preheat oven to 350F. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper (or grease). Stir 2 cups chocolate chips with butter in heavy small saucepan over low heat until melted and smooth; cool 10 minutes. Beat eggs and sugar in large bowl until well blended. Beat in melted chocolate mixture and vanilla, then flour. Stir in ginger and remaining 2/3 cup chocolate chips; let stand 10 minutes. Drop cookie dough by rounded spoonfuls onto prepared baking sheets, spacing cookies 1-1/2 to 2 inches apart. Press white chocolate pieces into top of cookies, dividing equally. Bake until cookies look puffed and slightly dry on top, about 13 minutes. Cool on sheets.

Ok, I feel like a total cow doing this cookie post immediately after the cinnamon roll post. Let me prove to you, faithful readers, that I actually ate something nutritious for dinner:

Crunch Time

It's been a while since I've updated, mostly due to my 10-day absence during spring break at the end of March. (It was lovely - I spent a weekend in New York City with my best friend from high school and then the rest of the time lounging on the beach in southwest Florida with some college friends.) Since getting back, I've been trying to eat healthier, since I always tend to binge on vacations. Over the last week I've made a lot of very simple, not-quite-blog-worthy meals: marinated and grilled chicken, steamed vegetables, fresh fruit, and the like.

Last night I stuck to my healthy theme but got a bit more elaborate. My friend Chris came over to watch a movie and we decided to make big, beautiful salads. The results were so pretty that I had to take a picture and post the recipe, which I adapted from one by Rachael Ray (yes, again).


Incredible Crunchy Salad
Serves 3-4

• Coarse salt
• 3/4-c. long grain rice
• 1 green apple, peeled, quartered, cored, and finely diced
• 1 small red or green bell pepper, cored, seeded, and finely chopped
• 1/4 medium red onion, minced
• 6 radishes, finely chopped
• 2 T plus about 2 tsp fresh lemon juice
• 2 T white wine vinegar
• 1 garlic clove, chopped
• 1 tsp Dijon mustard
• Coarse black pepper
• 1/4-c extra-virgin olive oil
• 1 small package croutons or crostini
  
• 2 packages pre-washed lettuce mix (pick your favorite)
• 1-lb. chicken cutlets

Heat 1-1/3 cups water in a small pot. When it comes to a boil, salt it and add the rice. Cover and reduce to a simmer and cook the rice for about 18 minutes or until just tender, with a bite remaining. Remove the lid and fluff the rice, then spread it on a cookie sheet to quick-cool.

While the rice cooks, combine the apples, bell peppers, onions, and radishes in a small bowl, adding them to it as you chop. Dress them with about 2 tablespoons of the fresh lemon juice and lightly toss the crunchy mixture with your fingertips.

In a bowl, whisk together the remaining 2 teaspoons of lemon juice, the white wine vinegar, the chopped garlic, mustard, and some salt and pepper. Add the olive oil gradually as you whisk.

Season the chicken cutlets with salt and pepper and saute or grill over medium-high heat (I used a stove-top grill pan). While they cook, crunch two big handfuls of the croutons/crostini into small pieces. When the chicken is done, slice it into half-inch-thick slices crosswise.

Arrange the lettuces on plates. Scatter the cool rice across the salad, layer on the crunchy apple/pepper/onion/radish mixture and the croutons/crostini, and arrange the chicken slices on top. Drizzle the dressing in a slow, even stream all over the salad.