A Friend for Dinner

We had a dear ex-neighbour visit and stay for dinner tonight. I decided to go with my tried-and-true salad recipe Green Salad with Creamy Mustard Vinaigrette for our first course. And for the entree, my favourite way to prepare chicken on the barbeque: paillard style (see blog dated July 18 for recipe). As sides I served a Warm Nugget Potato Toss with Sundried Tomato Vinaigrette and steamed green beans finished with a good dousing of lemon juice and a handful of slivered almonds.

Green Salad with Creamy Mustard Vinaigrette
(recipe from Barefoot Contesssa Family Style with some modification)
3 tablespoons champagne vinegar
1/2 teaspoon Dijon mustard
1/2 teaspoon minced fresh garlic
1 extra-large egg yolk at room temperature (or 1 tablespoon mayonnaise)
3/4 teaspoon kosher salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/2 cup good olive oil
Salad greens or mesclun mix

Put all dressing ingredients in a a jar and mix using an immersion/stick blender.
Toss the greens with enough dressing to moisten and serve immediately.




Warm Nugget Potato Toss with Sun-Dried Tomato Vinaigrette
(recipe from Vancouver Sun newspaper, date unknown with some modification)
Salad:
2 pounds small nugget potatoes (unpeeled)
1/3 cup slivered fresh basil
salt and pepper
Vinaigrette:
1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
1/4 teaspoon each salt and pepper
1/4 cup olive oil from bottled sun-dried tomatoes
1 garlic clove, minced
1/4 cup slivered, drained sun-dried tomatoes (packed in oil)

Salad: Scrub potatoes. Cook in large pot of salted boiling water for 15 to 20 minutes or until just tender, drain, reserving 1 tablespoon potato water for vinaigrette. Put potatoes in large bowl.

Vinaigrette: In glass jar, place all salad dressing ingredients except sun-dried tomatoes, and blend with an immersion/stick blender. Then stir in sun-dried tomatoes.

Drizzle vinaigrette over warm potates, toss gently to coat. Add basil, toss gently. Add salt and pepper to taste. Transfer to platter and serve warm.

A Trio of Salads

SALAD #1: I couldn't resist the fresh peas at the veggie store today so decided to make them a part of the dinner menu and spent the afternoon shelling them while listening to an old Louie Prima album.

Peas with Lemon, Mint, and Scallions
(Recipe from Fine Cooking Web site, with some modification)
Kosher salt
8 oz. shelled fresh peas (about 2 cups)
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
4 large scallions (white and light green parts), thinly sliced
1/4 cup heavy cream
2 tablespoons finely chopped fresh mint
1/2 teaspoon packed finely grated lemon zest
Freshly ground black pepper

Fill a large saucepan half full with water and 2 tsp kosher salt and bring to a boil. Drop the peas into the boiling water and cook until just tender (taste one or two), 2 minutes for smaller peas, 3 minutes for larger, older peas. Begin timing immediately; don’t wait for the water to return to a boil. Use a mesh strainer to transfer the peas to a dish towel or a few layers of paper towels to drain. Discard the water the peas were boiled in, but reserve the pot.
Melt the butter in the reserved saucepan over low heat. Add the scallions and sauté until softened, about 3 minutes. Add the heavy cream, half of the mint, the lemon zest, 1/4 tsp of salt, and a few grinds of pepper. Bring the mixture to a boil and cook until it thickens slightly and a wooden spoon leaves a wide path when scraped across the bottom of the pan, about 1 minute. Add the peas and stir until they’re heated through and well coated with the sauce, 1 minute more. Remove the pan from the heat, taste for salt and pepper, and serve immediately, garnished with the remaining mint.

SALAD #2: I felt like adding a little pasta to tonight's meal so the orzo with all the pantry staples (canned artichoke hearts, sun-dried tomatoes, tuna) fit the bill nicely. I buy the Raincoast brand of canned tuna. It's expensive, but the quality is worth it. It's the equivalent of having a tuna steak in a can.

Lemony Orzo with Tuna and Artichoke Hearts
(recipe from Fine Cooking magazine, issue #100, with some modifications)

Kosher salt

1-1/2 cups dried orzo

1 tablspoon extra-virgin olive oil

1 small yellow onion, finely chopped

Freshly ground black pepper

1/3 cup vegetable stock

1 14-oz. can artichoke hearts, drained and quartered

1/2 cup sun-dried tomatoes (soaked in hot water to rehydrate, drained and thinly sliced)

1 5-oz. can water-packed solid white tuna, drained

3 tablespoons sour cream

3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice

3 tablespoons coarsely chopped fresh basil

Bring a large pot of well-salted water to a boil. Add the orzo and cook according to package timing until al dente. Drain well.

Meanwhile, heat the oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the onion, 1/2 tsp. salt, and 1/8 tsp. pepper and cook, stirring often, until deep golden brown, 7 to 8 minutes. Remove the skillet from the heat and add the vegetable stock. Return the skillet to the heat and stir well, scraping up any browned bits from the bottom. Add the artichoke hearts and sun-dried tomatoes and cook just until tender and heated through, 2 to 3 minutes more. Off the heat, gently stir in the tuna.

Transfer the hot orzo to a large bowl and toss with the sour cream and lemon juice. Add the onion-artichoke mixture, 2 Tbs. of the basil, and salt and pepper to taste. Toss gently to combine. Spoon into bowls, garnish with the remaining 1 Tbs. basil, and serve.

SALAD #3: Seeing as how we're having a trio of salads for dinner, I thought it was approrpriate to use a trio of lettuces to make a Green Salad. Extra veggies added included celery, yellow pepper, cherry tomatoes, and cucumbers.

To dress the salad, just a simple Vinaigrette:

(Recipe from Enlightened Eating cookbook, with some modfications)

1/3 cup olive oil

1 tablespoon red wine vinegar

2 tablespoons lemon juice

1 tablespoon maple syrup

1 teaspoon Dijon mustard

1-1/2 tablespoons fresh oregano, chopped

1/2 teaspoon unrefined sea salt

1/8 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

Put all ingredients together in a jam jar (or other like vessel) and blitz with your immersion/stick blender.

The lettuces are fresh and beautiful in the market so I purchased three varieties. Although I like the convenience of the Earthbound Organics boxed mixed greens, I'm finding they're not as good as they once were. Somehow, even though the sell by date is still another week or so away, there's already half-dead and limp lettuce in the box. Plus I find just after a few days there's a funny odour from the lettuce. Definitely not as good as preparing your own lettuce - and then there's the cost. Why spend $4.99 on a box of already wilted lettuce, when you can get a big, beautiful head of lettuce for 69 cents! (or a buck, tops!) When I got my red leaf, butter, and green lettuces home, I filled up three big bowls with water, separated the leaves and gave them a quick rinse under the tap, then dunked and swirled them in each of their prepared bowls and left them to sit in the water a while. Then I gently lifted out the lettuce making sure not to upset the water at the bottom of the bowl and inadvertently stir up any dirt that had sunk to the bottom, and gave each lettuce a turn in the salad spinner. For each variety of lettuce, I took some paper towel, soaked it in water, then wrung it out. I lay the damp paper towel out and put the lettuce on top and then wrapped the lettuce in the damp paper towel and popped it into a Ziploc bag making sure to press out as much of the air as possible. Then into the fridge it all went. This way whenever I want to make a salad, and especially for those weekday mornings when you don't have all the time in the world to prep lunch, you have crisp, clean salad greens at your fingertips.

Ninja Rice Bowl

Sometimes I have the best intentions of what I'm going to make mid-week, but then when I get delayed either by work or by transit (or both), the task of preparing a meal that has a number of different components seems like a daunting task. Tonight was such an event. I had planned to make the Ninja Rice Bowl from the cookbook Refresh, which calls for preparing three different sauces, but time got away from me and it turned out I didn't have some of the ingredients on hand. As I had already marinated the tofu cubes in the morning, I went ahead with part of the recipe and provided some improvisation for the rest. So here's my version of the Ninja Rice Bowl (serves 2):


Marinate a package of tofu (cut in cubes) in a mixture of 1/4 cup apple cider vinegar, 2 tablespoons water, 5 teaspoons of sunflower oil, and 1/2 cup of tamari. (Let marinate for 1 hour or up to 5 days in a sealed container in the fridge).


Cook some brown basmati rice.


Make a marinated sundried tomato paste by combining 1/2 cup water, 1/2 cup olive oil, and 1/2 teaspoon of each of the following dried herbs: sage, tarragon, basil, oregano, thyme, and marjoram. Add 1/2 cup of reconstituted sundried tomatoes*, finely chopped, and using your immersion (stick) blender, mix together.


Slice some green onion and celery, and grate some carrot (use as much or little of each as you prefer).


To assemble: place rice in bowl, arrange vegetables around the inner edges of the bowl; spoon the marinated sundried tomato paste on top of the vegetables; arrange the marinated tofu in the middle of the bowl and top with some broccoli sprouts.


*to reconstitute dried tomatoes, place the sundried tomatoes (not the ones packed in oil) in a bowl and cover with boiling water. Let sit for 20 minutes or until soft. Remove tomatoes from the water and proceed with your recipe. Note: I typically keep the "tomato water" for adding to soups and stews. There's lots of flavour to be had here. It will keep in the fridge for a few days or, alternatively, you could freeze it until ready to use.