Summer Salads for the Season

We've been ordering in quite a bit these days -- much more than I'd like. Not only is it getting expensive, but I'm actually getting tired of eating restaurant food. I can't believe it, but I miss cooking. Avo recently reminded me that last summer we mostly dined on Mark Bittman's 101 Simple Salads for the Season, his collection of light, flavorful salads made fairly simply from fresh ingredients.

Last summer, I tried to work my way through all 101 of them (I think I only made it to 20 or so). Looking over the notes I jotted into the margins on the print-out from last summer, next to a recipe for bulgur and cauliflower, I noticed a review from Avo. "I'd say it's a winner," he had proclaimed. I decided to give it a shot.

Here's the recipe:

#92 (out of 101): Simmer a cup of bulgur and some roughly chopped cauliflower florets until tender, 10 to 15 minutes. Toss with chopped tarragon, roughly chopped hazelnuts, minced garlic, Dijon mustard, oil oil and lemon juice.

I had the ingredients on hand, but how do I go about simmering bulgur? In "How to Cook Everything," Bittman's recipe for bulgur calls for pouring 2 1/2 cups of boiling water on top of a cup of bulgur and covering for 20 minutes or so. Where does simmering come into the equation?

I go wild chopping up cauliflower florets (he did say "roughly" after all) and toss them into a pot with 1 cup of bulgur and 2 1/2 cups of water. I stir and simmer for about 15 minutes until the florets are tender.

Meanwhile, I chop up the tarragon, the hazelnuts and the garlic and toss in some Dijon mustard, olive oil and lemon juice to make a dressing.

What I like about Bittman's recipe is that he doesn't actually tell you how much of each ingredient to use. I find it liberating not to have to measure things out. Of course, it's tricky finding just the right balance. Luckily, I managed okay. I drained out some extra water from the bulgur cauliflower combo and then tossed in some of the Dijon/tarragon/hazelnuts/garlic/olive oil/lemony dressing.

"I'd say it's a winner," Avo declares yet again. It was tasty the first time around, but even tastier when Avo whipped up the leftovers today -- he had sauteed them in bacon grease and added bacon. "Bacon makes everything better!" said Avo. Can't agree with him more.

An Unexpected Delicacy

Remember when I was obsessed with Mark Bittman's 101 Simple Salads for the Season? It was fun working my way through Bittman's list, but then the season changed and I moved on to heartier fare.

Although I won't be able to get all of the fresh produce required for the 101 Salads, some of the salads can work even in Autumn. In fact, brussels sprouts are generally better this time of year.

70. Shred brussels sprouts in the food processor, preferably with the slicing disk. Toss with vinaigrette and crumbled bacon.

On Sunday night, Avo tried out the recipe, adding his own twist. After shredded the sprouts and frying the and crumbling the bacon, he threw them both in a wok and stir fried them. He tossed the mix with a vinaigrette dressing and the result was surprisingly tasty. Then again, anything tastes good with bacon.

It re-heated amazingly well for lunch yesterday.

Since Ruby is home sick and I strained a muscle in my back, I don't plan to do much cooking (or cleaning) today. But Avo is excited to make a meat lasagna when he gets home tonight. Can't wait.

Salad #37

Damn you, Mark Bittman. Why did you have to list 101 Simple Salads for the Season? Why couldn't you stop at 10 or so? Now the summer is nearly over and I'm not even close to finishing my quest to try out the entire list.

My latest attempt was #37.

37. Cube smoked tofu, then brush it with a mixture of honey and orange juice; broil until browned. Toss with chopped cucumbers, radishes and peas or pea shoots; drizzle with soy sauce and lime juice.

I had no problem buying smoked tofu and cubing it. Then I brushed it with the mix of honey and orange juice. No problem until I get to the part about broiling.

"You mean I put it on a pan and broil it?" I asked Avo.

"Yes, but keep an eye on it. If it's too far from the flame, nothing will happen. If it's too close, it will turn black."

That sounds ominous.

I tried my best to keep an eye on it, but I guess I got distracted because the tofu ended up a bit crispy.

My second mistake was to use frozen peas rather than fresh ones.

The result? Somewhat inedible.

Avo added salt and hot chili sauce and then piled it on fresh rice, but it still wasn't quite edible. In fact, the unlikely combination of peas, honey and orange juice was somewhat disgusting.

Sadly, we ended up tossing out our dinner (better than tossing it up!)

It's worth noting that this is the first recipe from Bittman's list that didn't work out for us.

Don't worry: I haven't lost faith in Bittman and his salads. Next up, I'm going to try #87, cold not-sesame noodles. Let's hope that I have more luck with that one.

Bulgur is my New Best Friend

As promised, here is #98 of Mark Bittman's 101 Simple Salads for the Season.

98. Toss cooked bulgur with cooked chickpeas, quartered cherry or grape tomatoes, a little cumin, lots of chopped parsley, and lemon juice.

Once again, the obvious question is "how much?" How much bulgur? How many chickpeas? How many tomatoes, cumin, parsley and lemon juice?

Bittman trusts that readers will figure it out for themselves, but I'm not so confident I can pull it off. I guess I'll have to wing it...

Instead of cooking raw chickpeas, I took the way out and opened up a can. Unsure of how to cook bulgur, once again, I turned to The Joy of Cooking (page 266).

Here are the basic instructions for cooking bulgur:

1 cup bulgur to 2 cups of water. Rinse bulgur. Bring water to a boil, add bulgur. Return to a boil, reduce heat to low, cover and cook for about 15 minutes until soft.

In this case, I substituted 1 cup of water with Avo's homemade chicken broth to enhance the flavor.

I think I overdid it with the parsley (Bittman did say "lots" after all), but I got it just right with two lemons. I regret that I used both cherry and grape tomatoes since it would have looked better with just one type. Oh well. No biggie.

The result was nutritious and delicious!

Encouraged by my success with bulgur, I jumped to:

92. Simmer a cup of bulgur and some roughly chopped cauliflower florets until tender, 10 to 15 minutes. Toss with chopped tarragon, roughly chopped hazelnuts, minced garlic, Dijon mustard, olive oil and lemon juice.


After the first bite, Avo declared "it's a winner!"

Who knew bulgur could be so yummy?

Up next: #37.

Salad #94

I never like to be too systematic when it comes to anything domestic.

It drives Avo batty when I clean a few dishes, then start to neaten the toys, and dust the mantel...I end up doing a little bit of everything and never doing a good job at anything.

Therefore, it seems fitting that I start at the random #94 when I attempt to cook my way through Mark Bittman's list of 101 Simple Salads for Summer.

94. Cook and cool quinoa. Toss with olive oil, loads of lemon juice, tons of parsley, some chopped tomatoes and, if you like, toasted pine nuts. Call it quinoa tabbouleh.

First, how do you pronounce quinoa? Keen-wa. Apparently, it's an ancient Aztec grain that is really good for you (high in protein and minerals).

The good news is that quinoa cooks quickly, but, apparently, it also becomes rancid quickly, so be sure to refrigerate it.

Next, how do you cook quinoa?

I turned to my handy copy of The Joy of Cooking (p. 254) for basic directions. There are actually several easy ways to prepare quinoa. I go with the following:

1. Rinse 1 cup quinoa in a fine-mesh sieve and drain

2. Heat 1 tablespoon olive oil in a large, deep skillet over medium heat

3. Add and cook 1 clove finely minced garlic, stirring constantly to avoid burning

4. Add the quinoa and cook, stirring constantly, until the grains are separate and golden.

5. Stir in 2 cups water (I used 1 cup of water and 1 cup of Avo's homemade chicken stock for added flavor) and 1/2 teaspoon salt

6. Reduce to a boil, reduce the heat, and simmer until the liquid is absorbed (12 to 15 mins). Fluff with a fork.

"Can't I just buy toasted pine nuts?" I asked Avo. "Do I actually have to toast them myself?"

He didn't bother to answer me. Instead, Avo walked me through the steps for properly toasting pine nuts:

1. Get a small frying pan.

2. Toss in pine nuts.

3. Turn up to low heat (don't add oil).

4. Toss gently until they are lightly browned.

I think I overdid it with the lemon juice (Bittman did say "loads of lemon juice"), but the amazing August tomatoes kicked this dish up a notch (as Emeril might say).

You might have noticed that Bittman's recipes don't include specific proportions. On the one hand, it's a bit scary because you might go overboard on lemon juice or another ingredient (as I did in this recipe).

But, on the other hand, it is sort of liberating. Not having to worry about messing up the measurements gives me confidence to tinker with Bittman's recipes and make them my own.

Next up...Salad #98.

101 Simple Salads for the Season

It was one of The New York Times' most emailed stories for what seemed like forever. Mark Bittman's list of 101 Simple Salads for Summer certainly captured my attention.

To Avo's delight. I've begun to work my way through Bittman's recipes.

As Bittman states in the preface to his article, the criteria for the list was as simple as the salads:

In theory, each salad takes 20 minutes or less. Honestly, some may take you a little longer. But most minimize work at the stove and capitalize on the season, when tomatoes, eggplant, herbs, fruit, greens and more are plentiful and excellent.

Bittman breaks the salads down into categories: mostly vegan salads, vegetarian salads, salads with seafood, salads with meat, salads with noodles, grain salads.

Maybe because Avo and I are big grain eaters, I began at the end of the list with the grain salads.

So far, I've learned how to cook quinoa and bulgur (hooray!). In my next few blogs, I plan to let you know how my mission is going. Are you with me?