Posts by: Andrew Cohen
This salad is about contrasts; of flavors, of textures, colors, and if you are quick enough, you can even work contrasting temperatures into the salad. Escarole and radicchio are both bitter, but the roasted beets with their marination of balsamic vinegar provide a sweet contrast. If you wait to grill the radicchio until just before dressing the salad you can even get a contrast between the hot red radicchio and the rest of the salad which is served cool, or even cold. Radicchio can be quite bitter, but grilling it mitigates much of the bitterness. To step this salad up, check the options in the ingredients. The use of avocado or a creamy blue cheese, or adding romaine lettuce will mitigate the bitter elements further and will contrast nicely with the crunchy elements.
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This dressing was made to go with the Salad of Grilled Radicchio, Escarole, and Roasted Beets, where the creamy sweetness will tame the assertive bitterness of the chicories. Try this with peppery greens like rocket and cress, or use for a cold pasta salad with broccoli or rapini.
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The “Hasselback” in the title refers to a restaurant that came up with a famous potato dish of the same name. The technique is applied here to carrots, and then another twist is added. The technique involves slicing the potatoes, or carrots, thinly across the width without going all the way through, so the vegetable stays whole. The easiest way to do this is to get a pair or disposable bamboo or wood chopsticks and place one on either side of the vegetable you are cutting. Then, when you slice down, you have a built in brake so you don’t cut through. For this recipe, you want very thick carrots for the desired effect.
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This basic dressing uses lemon juice bolstered with vinegar for acid. The vinegar adds balance to the lemon juice, which can sometimes be harsh, especially when combined with a sharp Tuscan style extra-virgin olive oil. If your lemons are really tart, you could use all lemon juice. You can also use water to lower the acidity if you do not want to use a vinegar.
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Soba is a Japanese buckwheat noodle that is like a squared off perciatelli noodle. Although it is served hot, it is probably best known as a cold preparation. Here is a twist on that dish with summer squash and carrots replacing the noodles. Soba is typically dipped into a soy-based sauce that is seasoned based on the weather. Sweeter when it is cold, ginger grated into it when it is hot out. Green onions and sesame seeds almost always. Here the dish is a little different than the traditional. It is dressed lightly with a variant of a Japanese dressing that is used with vegetable salads, and then has the dipping sauce that is traditional with soba as well. Both sauces keep well and have a myriad of uses. You want to use the middle comb of a Ben-Riner for this dish.
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This does not use as much oil as a standard vinaigrette nor the Japanese Style Sesame Dressing v.1, and is closer to a traditional sanbaizu (three-taste) dressing. This version was concocted for a “soba” made with threads of summer squash standing in for soba noodles. It is quite good on cucumbers or a “slaw” of savoy cabbage with grated carrots and slivered mei-quin choi. For sesame oil, I favor Kadoya brand for its pure clean flavor and aroma. If you can find it, try the Black Sesame seed oil for a deeper flavor. Using a blender for this dressing makes it a snap, although shaking it up in a quart jar with a tight fitting lid is good too.
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The basic version of this would be to simply lay down a circle of beets, and then pile a mound of diced avocado in the center of the circle, and then dress it with the dressing of your choice. To make it fancy, use a ring mold to form the beet circle on the plate, and then a smaller one centered in the beets for the avocado. From there, this combination splinters into so many variations. Adding different lettuces changes the tone of the salad. Using cilantro takes it to the Southwest or to Mexico. Switch to arugula with almonds or pistachios for something different, but where the nuts and avocado complement each other. Utilizing shrimp will add another dimension as well. This recipe is just a door way to ideas. Step through.
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This does not use as much oil as a standard vinaigrette, so is much lighter. Excellent on cucumbers or a “slaw” of savoy or nappa cabbage with grated carrots. For sesame oil, I favor Kadoya brand for its pure clean flavor and aroma. If you can find it, try the Black Sesame seed oil for a deeper flavor. Using a blender for this dressing makes it a snap, although shaking it up in a quart jar with a tight fitting lid is good too.
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These quick pickled beets can be seasoned with whatever herbs or spices will suit your palate or recipe. For this recipe, the quickling solution is heated up and the beets lightly cook in it while absorbing the flavors. Use these in salads, sandwiches, and as a side to a main course.
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Here, the zucchini is cut into thin strands resembling spaghetti. For this dish you will need a fixed blade slicer (a.k.a. mandolin) of some sort such as a Ben-Riner. Use the comb that gets you closest to spaghetti. This iteration of squash as pasta sees it dressed with a quick tomato sauce with caramelized onions and fennel.
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Let’s get this straight right off the bat. This is not a “light” dressing as in low-cal or dietetic. It is light in that it uses both regular and white balsamic vinegars for a lighter flavor and color. This is for when you want that wonderful complexity of flavor you get from balsamic vinegar, but you don’t want something as forthright as a straight-up balsamic vinaigrette, or there are elements of the salad that already have some balsamic vinegar.
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Here is one use for the stalks of fennel that recipes always tell you to “reserve for another use”. Putting the salmon on the stalks of fennel allows the fish to cook a little more gently, preventing drying out and also imparting a subtle fennel flavor tinged with a bit of smoke. Top the fish with Quick Braised Fennel for Fish or Chicken to compound the flavors, and then if you wish, to take it further, put the salmon in a large bowl with braised vegetables such as carrots and cauliflower and then ladle Fennel Broth (see recipe) around the fish, top with braised fennel and drizzle with olive oil and serve.
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The silky butter lettuces contrast with the crunch of the broccoli and the crisp bite of the turnip dice fills in for croutons. The broccoli (and turnips) can be made ahead of time and kept in the refrigerator, and the broccoli is great as is for a snack or a side, or you can even chop it up and add it to a sandwich.
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This dressing goes with an escarole, arugula, almond, and white peach salad, but would be nice with Little Gems or romaine with almonds and Gorgonzola Dolce and some peach scattered around. It would even be nice drizzled on crostini topped with Gorgonzola and arugula. If you don’t feel like washing the blender. You can do this by hand, just be sure to thoroughly pulverize the white peach before whisking it in.
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This is a versatile dressing that is good on the Arugula Cherry salad it was meant for, but it works on roast chicken or duck, charred hanging tender steak, pork chops or roasts, even with grilled salmon or swordfish. The cherry syrup is a tart or sour cherry syrup produced in Eastern Europe and is used for drinks (sodas and cocktail), but has plenty of other applications as well.
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This is a hummus where the cauliflower stands in for the chickpeas, so it is lighter both in texture and flavor. The garlic is blanched as well so the sweetness of the cauliflower stands out, but if you like, feel free to use raw garlic for a more assertive flavor. Using garlic roasted in its skin would enhance the sweet and nutty flavor of the cauliflower while backing off the heat and breath enhancing qualities of raw garlic. Use this where you would traditional hummus.
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As egg whites contain no cholesterol, and the “yolk” consists of tofu and mayo made from oil and avocado, this is a cholesterol free dish that is full of flavor.
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This dressing was made for a salad of butter lettuces and broccoli carrot quickles and avocado, but would be nice with Mediterranean inflected foods. Try it on grilled lamb or swordfish, or with grilled and peeled peppers and onions. Be sure to use a good quality vinegar as there is nowhere for a bad one to hide, and there are a lot of less than good wine vinegars out there.
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These are great straight out of the refrigerator, or make for a great salad, which is what they were first made for.
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This salad is a study in contrasts with the tender slightly bitter Butter lettuces and the silky nutty avocado up against the crunchy sweet-tart elements of the quickles. Using plenty of Italian parsley in the vinaigrette gives an earthy and green element to bring things together.
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Depending on the cheese you use, this can be sort of light and cheesy, or you can make it nice and gooey with plenty of chew to it. For the latter, use a mixture of provolone and mozzarella with a little parmesan or romano thrown in for flavor depth. You could also use a sharp cheddar if you wish, and add some bacon if you are feeding carnivores who typically eschew vegetables.
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If you love the silky texture of mayonnaise, but cholesterol is not your friend, try this cholesterol free substitute. Avocados are a good source of potassium, magnesium, omega 3 and 6, vitamins K, E, B6, and C. Although this mayo is not as flavor neutral as egg based mayo, with a little thought it should work well in many applications.
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This sauce has an intensity to it-both sweet and deeply earthy/carroty. The color adds a burnished look to the plate, and this technique is pretty versatile. I know this sauce is really good, as I once watched a couple at my house eating it, and when the wife asked the husband to get something for her, she ran her bread through his sauce and got half of it. When he called her on it, she was unrepentant. Next time they were over and I made the sauce, I doubled the amount and put some in a pitcher next to her. It all disappeared.
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