Salad for Dinner
Page 1
Salad
FOR DI N N E R
Simple recipes for salads that make a meal
TASHA DE SERIO
Salad
for di n n e r
Salad
for di n n e r
Simple recipes for salads that make a meal
tasha deserio
t
Text © 2012 by Tasha DeSerio
Photographs © 2012 by Kate Sears
All rights reserved.
Pp
The Taunton Press, Inc.,
63 South Main Street, PO Box 5506
Newtown, CT 06470-5506
email: tp@taunton.com
editor: Carolyn Mandarano
copy editor: Li Agen
indexer: Hedi Blough
cover & interior design: Laura Palese
layout: Kimberly Adis
photographer: Kate Sears
food stylist: William Smith
prop stylist: Paige Hicks
The following names/manufacturers appearing in Salad
for Dinner are trademarks: Microplane®
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data TK
Printed in the United States of America
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
d e d i c a t i o n
To my parents, for everything.
a c k n o w l e d g m e n t s
Writer Laurie Colwin once said, “No one who cooks cooks alone. Even at her
most solitary, a cook in the kitchen is surrounded by generations of cooks past, the advice and menus of cooks present, and the wisdom of cookbook writers.”
I have had the good fortune to learn from a family of enthusiastic cooks and
eaters, talented friends and colleagues, and countless cookbook authors.
i would like to thank the following people:
To my editor, Carolyn Mandarano, thank
To all of my friends and colleagues at
To the DeSerio, Richie, Pellouchoud,
you for the opportunity, as well as your
Chez Panisse, especially Alice Waters and
and Simon-Thomas families—especially
generous support, guidance, and
chefs Gilbert Pilgram, Peggy Smith, Russell
Rosemary Richie—for a seemingly
kindness throughout the process.
Moore, and Cal Peternell—thank you.
endless supply of time and energy for
family, and grandchildren in particular.
Many thanks to the design and
For help with recipe testing, thank you
production group at Taunton for bringing
to Carri Wilkinson for a spot-on palate
Thank you to my brother, Lane Freitas, for
the project to life, including Alison
and attention to detail—and for good
writing guidance and unique insight.
Wilkes, Carol Singer, Katy Binder,
conversation in the kitchen.
and Amy Griffin.
To my sister, Jill Hoffman, for humor and
To Joanne Weir, friend, mentor, and faithful
straight talk when I need it.
Thank you to photographer Kate Sears,
dinner companion, thank you for advice
food stylist William Smith, and prop stylist
and encouragement early on, and now.
To my parents, Stanley and Marsha
Paige Hicks for the beautiful images.
Freitas, for truly believing in me, always.
To my friend, Charlene Reis, for listening
Thank you to Doe Coover, agent and
to me talk about writing a cookbook for
For comic relief, thank you to my son,
new friend.
15 years.
Nicolas DeSerio. It’s hard to take life
too seriously when you’re talking to a
To everyone at Fine Cooking magazine,
To my neighbors, Erik Schmitt and Kim
3-foot-tall Spider-Man with blue eyes and
especially Rebecca Freedman, thank
O’Neill, for tasting salad after salad—
bulging foam muscles.
you for the many opportunities to work
and offering a glass of wine when I
together through the years—it’s always
needed it.
Thank you to my son, Luke DeSerio, for
a pleasure.
an amazing palate and careful recipe
To dear friends Jim Wilson and
critique.
To all of my friends, colleagues, and staff
Annette Flores.
at Olive Green Catering, especially Brian
Last but not least, thank you to my
Espinoza, Samantha Greenwood, Kathy
To Catherine Huchting, for constant
wonderful husband, Michael DeSerio,
Batt, Curt Clingman, and Edgar Atoche.
support and enthusiasm.
for helping me get this project done in
Thank you for years of inspiration and
the midst of it all. And for never tiring of
good work.
To Kimberly Dooley, for countless cups of
salad for dinner.
tea and moments of respite.
contents
introduction 2
Making a Simple Salad 0
Leafy Salads 0
Vegetable & Fruit Salads 0
Grain, Bread, & Pasta Salads 0
Legume Salads 0
metric equivalents 000 • index 000
introduction
when i was young, salad was always served
with the meal, it was never the meal. I come from a family of meat
and potato eaters. My dad was a dairyman in the central valley of
California, and my mom was a stay-at-home mother for most of
my childhood. She cooked and cooked! Dinner centered around
meat. We butchered our own beef, pork, and lamb, so there was
frequently a package of meat defrosting on the countertop. I
clearly recall my mom planning dinner, ticking the three major
elements off on her fingers: Meat. Starch. Vegetable. Salad,
when served, counted as the vegetable —or an extra vegetable.
Nowadays, salads play a different role at the table. More and more of us are interested in eating fresh, seasonal, and organic foods as well as whole grains and legumes; in making conscious choices about the type of meat and fish we’re eating and how often; and in gardening and raising chickens for eggs. This is
thrusting salads into the spotlight as the meal.
I love making and eating salads, but in the course of writing this book and
making an inordinate amount of salads, it dawned on me: This is a good way
to eat. The focus is naturally on vegetables, fruits, whole grains, and legumes; meat, fish, eggs, and cheeses are used in moderation. In my house, we make
an effort to follow Michael Pollan’s simple suggestion in In Defense of Food: “Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants.” Salads fit. Better yet, they suit today’s busy lifestyles, including mine. Salads are relatively fast and easy to make, particularly when you’re in the habit of preparing certain elements in advance, like washing lettuces or cooking vegetables, legumes, and grains. You can stand in front of the refrigerator at the end of a long day, take an inventory, and make a quick salad.
Making salads is an art. A delicious, healthful art. I enjoy working with
beautiful raw ingredients, making the many aesthetic decisions that the salad
cook makes along the way. While cooking at Chez Panisse, the salad station was m
y favorite station on the line: I enjoyed the detail and the process of plating each salad just so. Even more, I enjoyed seeing the other cooks interpret the same salad in different ways; rustic, hearty salads versus neatly arranged, delicate salads. One cook might cut beets into coins and dot them on the plate, whereas another would choose to cut them into irregularly shaped jewels and toss them
in the salad. Given the same handful of ingredients and instruction, each cook’s salads were uniquely his or her own.
My hope is that this book will give you recipes for inspiration and guidance
on making salads a meal, as well as the information to wing it with what’s on
hand when necessary. The recipes are divided according to leafy, vegetables and fruit, grain, and legume salads, and the recipes are in order of the seasons;
spring, summer, fall, winter. I’ve included information on how to select
good-quality fruits and vegetables, as well as outline the myriad of ways to cut them, with the hope that you will make these salads your own. I’ve also included suggestions on how to make lighter salads more satisfying for hearty eaters. (My husband, hearty-eater extraordinaire, tasted nearly every one of these salads
and more often than not said, “Well, it wouldn’t hurt if you added a little
pork.”) Enjoy!
c h a p t e r o n e
m aking a
better
salad
recipes are inspir ational and helpful,
but the real joy of cooking lies in creating your own simple,
spontaneous meals, and salads are no exception. With a good
handle on the basics and a well-stocked pantry, a handful of
ingredients married with a lively vinaigrette or a tasty sauce
can be a beautiful, quick, and healthy meal.
A delicious salad requires a combination of quality
ingredients, a discerning palette, and a delicate hand. The best
salads are limited to a few good-quality, thoughtfully paired
ingredients that complement one another both in taste and
texture and that are selected and handled with care. Even the
most skilled cook can’t get around lifeless garden lettuces or a
mealy tomato on the salad plate.
Key ingredients
and techniques
The process of making salads is much more enjoyable—
and efficient—if you keep key ingredients on hand and
learn a few basic techniques.
Oil, acid (vinegar or citrus juice), and salt are
essential to a salad-friendly pantry. You’ll find all
three in every recipe in this book. If a salad is too
acidic or too dry or lean-tasting, it wants a little more
oil. If it tastes flat, it wants a few drops of acid or salt.
oil
olive oil
Start with a good, fruity olive oil. It’s an investment,
but it makes all the difference when making salads
and other simple foods. Be sure to use extra-virgin olive
oil—this is the oil from the first cold press. Avoid
pure olive oils, which are made from the remains of
Conversely, the freshest greens become a muddled
the first press, heated, and processed with additives.
mess when tossed with too much vinaigrette or weighed
If you want a lighter olive oil or a cooking oil,
down with too many ingredients. Ripe fruits and tender
blend extra-virgin olive oil with flavorless oil, like
vegetables, even grains and legumes, turn to mush if not
vegetable or grapeseed.
cooked properly.
There are a number of extra-virgin olive oils
Look for the best ingredients you can find. I
on the market, and their flavors range from mild to
typically rely on three sources for what I need: The
peppery, fruity to grassy. Taste a variety of olive oils
garden, the farmer’s market, and the supermarket
and select a couple that suit your palette and budget.
(and the cheese market and specialty market).
Specialty markets and health-food stores are often the
Sourcing quality ingredients takes some dedication,
best places to shop for olive oil. They generally carry
but it quickly becomes a way of life. And it’s worth it—
a wide variety of bottled and bulk oils and frequently
particularly on the salad plate.
have open bottles to sample.
Having a discerning palette might sound a
Just pressed new olive oil (olio nuovo) is available
little intimidating, but the most important thing
late in the fall. True new olive oil is often only used
to remember when making salads is taste. Before
as finishing oil (i.e. not combined with vinegar),
deciding what ingredients to combine in a salad, taste
but when combined with a good vinegar, it makes a
and smell the ingredients together. And whenever in
delicious vinaigrette.
doubt, err on the side of simplicity. Creativity in the
A fusti—a small-stainless steel drum from Italy that
kitchen can be just as much about what to leave out of
protects the oil from heat, light, and air—is useful for
a dish as what to put in one.
storing bulk olive oil.
5
flavorless oil
Balsamic from Modena is the best. Avoid small,
Flavorless oils—vegetable, canola, and grapeseed—are
incredibly expensive bottles labeled “Aceto Balsamico
just that: They have a neutral taste. I rarely use
Tradizionale” for salad purposes. This vinegar is
them on their own in cooking, but they work well in
aged much longer and intended to be used by the
combination with other oils. I generally use vegetable
drop rather than as normal vinegar. When shopping
oil for salads and vinaigrettes. Grapeseed oil is fine,
for sherry vinegar, look for those from Spain that
too, and many cooks prefer this of the flavorless oils,
have been aged in oak. Rice vinegar, like Champagne
but it has an odd, antifreeze-like color that I find
vinegar, is mild; it pairs well with Asian-inspired
unappetizing in salads and vinaigrettes.
salads. Don’t buy “seasoned” rice vinegar; it has
additives and sweeteners. I use cider vinegar when
nut and seed oils
making Southern or more traditional American
Nut and seed oils—like walnut, hazelnut, or sesame—
salads. Here, too, look for an artisan-made vinegar—
add richness and complexity to salads and vinaigrettes.
it’s much better than commercial cider vinegar.
When fresh, they taste and smell intensely of the nut
Try a combination of vinegars in a single recipe
or seed they’re made from. Use them sparingly; they
to get the right balance of acidity. I often temper the
can quickly overpower a dish. Look for artisan nut oils
sweetness of balsamic or sherry with a little red-wine
made from toasted nuts and seeds with a dark brown
vinegar, for example.
hue. (Clear oils lack flavor.) Be sure to store them in
the refrigerator, and use them within a few months;
citrus juice
they’re flavor turns rancid quickly.
Citrus juice varies in acidity but in general, it’s slightly
less acidic than vinegar. I use lemon juice most
&n
bsp; acid
frequently. In a pinch, I dress simple green salads with
Vinegar
olive oil, a good squeeze of lemon juice, and salt. You
Like olive oil, good vinegar transforms simple salads,
can also add lime, orange, tangerine, and grapefruit
and a nice variety is essential to the salad maker’s
juice to salads and vinaigrettes. When using sweeter
pantry. Look for unpasteurized and artisan vinegars.
varieties of citrus like these, use a combination of citrus
Although they are a little more expensive than mass-
juices or a splash of vinegar to balance the acidity.
produced vinegars, a bottle goes a long way. Store all
vinegars tightly corked and out of the light, and they’ll
salt and pepper
likely last for a year or more. As vinegars age, a cloudy,
salt
cobweb-like mass (called a mother) often forms at the
Salt makes everything taste better. When making
bottom of the bottle. It’s natural and harmless and
salads—and when cooking in general—the most
doesn’t indicate that the bottle has gone bad.
important thing to do is to salt the ingredients
I use wine and balsamic vinegars most often.
separately, then bring them together. You shouldn’t
Red- and white-wine vinegars add straightforward
taste the salt. If you do, then the dish is too salty.
acid, though white-wine vinegar is a little less
I use kosher salt for almost everything. I like
assertive. Champagne vinegar is milder than white-
its clean flavor, and after years of using it almost
wine vinegar and well suited for delicate dishes, like
exclusively, I’ve grown very accustomed to its texture.
shellfish salads.
When using finer-grain salts, I tend to over-salt. Sea
Balsamic and sherry vinegars are sweeter, richer,
salt (fine or coarse), like fleur de sel, sel gris, or Maldon,
and less acidic than red- or white-wine vinegars.
is another good option for everyday cooking. Their
6 Making a Better Salad
flavorful than curly. I love the classic combination
known as fines herbes: parsley, chives, chervil, and
tarragon, as well as a combination of parsley, basil, and
mint, especially in Mediterranean-inspired salads.
Use hearty herbs sparingly in salads. When used
in excess, they tend to taste medicinal. In salads, I
often use them individually with parsley, but they
can work well in combination with one another (for