When I was growing up, Labor Day weekend always marked the beginning of fall.  The air would start to turn cool and crisp in the morning, Read more…

Here is a simple and alternative version of the famous Italian dish vitello tonnato (veal with tuna sauce).  The original dish calls for a cooked veal roast to be chilled, sliced very thin and robed with a tuna sauce made with fresh eggs, oil, tuna, capers, lemon juice, mustard, anchovy and olive oil. It is absolutely delicious but quite a bit of trouble.  Read more…

I recently returned from an amazing “girl’s weekend” with my book club.  We had so much fun together as we always do—sharing a love for food and cooking in addition to our passion for books and conversation. Read more…

Home cooks around the world are ingenious when it comes to using their leftovers.  Day old bread exists in every culture, and in Italy, they frequently use it in this famous salad.  Their original concept was to lightly soak a very sturdy, hearty (and hardened) bread in water and then combine the bread with tomatoes, olive oil and other odds and ends to make a salad where the bread sort of dissolves into a delicious grainy consistency.  Read more…

At the market these days, the deli or prepared food counter will often have three or four versions of chicken salad.  You can buy it made with grapes, with pickles or pineapple, with poppy seeds, walnuts or apples—sweet and savory, Southwestern and Asian—to name just a few of the variations—and the collective “we” must be buying it like crazy, because the bowls seem to empty by the end of the day. Read more…

This salad takes a bit of time to make, but is worth it if you, like me, have to have salad every single day and like a little variety from time to time.  This is a little bit Caesar-y (anchovies, garlic and Parmesan give it that special tang we all love) and a lot Southwestern because of the boldness of the jalapeño and the generous amount of cilantro.  It pairs beautifully with steak (see my previous Grilled Skirt Steak post) and I love it by itself for lunch with a few avocado slices on top.

Southwestern Chopped Salad

Serves 6

Ingredients:

For the dressing:

2/3 cup chopped fresh cilantro
¼ cup plain yogurt
¼ cup red wine vinegar
1/2 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese
1 medium shallot, chopped
2 anchovy fillets
2 garlic cloves
1 jalapeno chili, seeded, chopped
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
¾ cup olive oil
Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper to taste

For the Salad:

1 head romaine lettuce, washed, rinsed and chopped
3 corn tortillas, cut into thin strips
2 teaspoons olive oil, divided
1 ear of white corn, kernels removed
¼ cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese
Kosher salt

Preparation:

Place all of the dressing ingredients except for the olive oil in a food processor and purée until smooth.  Continue to process and slowly add the olive oil through the feed tube until the mixture is well blended.  Cover the dressing and refrigerate until ready to use.

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.  Place the corn kernels on a small baking pan and drizzle them with a teaspoon of olive oil and a light sprinkling of salt and pepper.    Roast the corn in the oven for 5 to 10 minutes.  Set aside.   While the corn is roasting, in a small skillet, heat the remaining teaspoon of olive oil.  Add the tortilla strips to the oil and sauté them, stirring frequently until they are crisp.  Remove them to a paper towel to drain and sprinkle them with a bit of kosher salt.

To serve the salad, combine the lettuce, tortilla strips, white corn and Parmesan cheese in a large bowl.  Toss with enough dressing to coat. Taste for seasoning.