Dinner: Around the World and Ya Ya Ya Salad, Redux

Luscious salmon from the Lobster Place in Chelsea Market, glistening in your own fish oils (and maybe a little bit of olive oil) after a quick pan-fry, plated on top of a bed of lettuce, sprouts, pears and… . Hmm, wait a minute. What are those krinkly things? (And didn’t we sort of have this last night?)

Well, sort of. Both last night’s salad and tonight’s salad represent but two of an infinite number of salad compositions, if we keep going in this vein, with goods from various parts of the world (and ya ya ya). Last night it was Australia, England, Greece. Tonight it’s:

— Asia: Those crinkly, crenulated bits are oyster mushrooms, one of a half-dozen worthy mushroom varieties spotted at the Chelsea Market recently. (I’m guessing that they’re also not half-bad for you, in that oil-rich, Omega 3 sort of way.)

— Pears.

— Salmon. Pac Northwest, I’d guess. Or maybe somewhere more local Northern Atlantic. Let’s chalk it up as U.S.-adjacent. (speculation)

— Nicoise olives. Oh so very French.

I love this game.

Sunday: Meet the Rolls-Royce of Lamb Chops (aka the “FreshDirect Discovery” Post)

Australian lamb loin chops from FreshDirect, $9.99/lb.:

Flown in from the sheep-rich plains of Australia, these flavorful, juicy chops have just a hint of earthiness and a velvety texture. These are the Rolls-Royce of lamb chops. Leaving the bone in lends a flavor boost that stands up to seasonings and marinades. But lamb loin chops are great with just a little salt and pepper. …

I couldn’t put it better myself. In my humble opinion, these little charmers — essentially, they’re little lamb t-bone cuts — don’t need a single thing, other than some olive oil and a few minutes under the broiler.

I didn’t do the cooking tonight, but I will be signing up for FreshDirect so I can order them myself. The petitness of the cut, the huge flavor, so reasonably priced — this is meat I can manage. (The exact inverse reaction I had walking into Whole Foods a few weeks ago, all geared up to buy a porterhouse steak (on sale), until I got to the butcher counter, saw its size and lost my nerve.)

Anyhow, the lamb loin chops (sliced into strips) were the last and crowning bit to a lovely salad that, as I describe it, couldn’t decide from whence it came: spinach, a sweet balsamic glaze, Feta cheese from Greece, sprouts and sprouted beans, Australian lamb, proper English mint sauce.

It was pointed out to me that the Greek are a big fan of lamb, but I wasn’t buying this salad as a wholly Greek-inspired salad. It had a little bit of everywhere, and I mean that in the most complimentary sense possible.

Dinner: Playing with Fava Beans

I love playing with food. One great playdate: Produce (or greenmarket) curiosities. And these oversized, lumpy, browning fava bean pods that I found the other day are just about a perfect match.

For starters, I know what fava beans are; I’ve had them dozens of times, mixed in pastas, or sauteed with garlic and shallots (a side dish). They’re that bean that almost looks like a lima bean, but isn’t, and tastes so much better.

But who knew these things are locked away in such a high-security ward: To get to the bean, you have to first shuck these pods from the shells, then you have to extract the beans from a second, interior pod (see below). This recipe ended up being the loose basis for my fava bean experiment:

First, shuck: Just break the pods, and open. (It gets easier as you go).

Second, blanch: Dumped the beans in their inner casing into boiling water and let bubble away for 2ish minutes. Drain, and dump the beans into a new vessel, let the cold water run (maybe throw a few ice cubes in). That’s blanching.

Third, pop out the beans: Just don’t squish them. The Internet tells me, there are various methods of doing this. My own method was moderately successful.

Fourth, blend/puree: Just do it. Put the blanched beans, plus minced garlic, plus olive oil (liberally, as needed), plus lemon juice (also as needed), plus salt, pepper, and  whatever else you’d like. The blades shouldn’t get stuck too much; if they do, tap down with a spatula and add a little more olive oil.

I didn’t do this, but one solution might be: Add a dollop of sour cream or greek yogurt.

When it gets about the texture of humus, it’s done. Scoop, smile and enjoy saying the word “crostini.”

Dinner: Impromptu ur Caesar Chicken Salad

A Caesar salad gets away with being so sparse in content because that dressing bullies anything in its path: Romaine, croutons, shavings of Parmesan, grilled chicken, all defer to that mighty dressing, and they like it that way. So it’s no surprise that the chopped Romaine in my fridge was just begging to be a Caesar salad, but I had other ideas.

I bought a bottle of Kerry Wood’s Healthy Salad Dressing recently after sampling it at Whole Foods a few weeks ago, and I’m totally in love with this dressing, big, bold flavors, New Orleans-style.

I marinated the chicken cutlets (purchased from one of the most amazing supermarkets I’ve ever seen, under the Queensboro Bridge, literally) in about 2 Tbls. of the dressing, more olive oil, Cayenne pepper, lemon juice, salt, pepper for about 40 minutes before cooking them in a shallow bath of sizzling-hot olive oil (a few minutes each side, or until no longer pink inside).

After the cutlets cooled, I gave them a rough chop, and tossed them in with the romaine — and more Kerry Woods’ dressing. So simple, so good.

Dinner: The Fate of the Pita Chips … and More

To resolve the second-lunch cliffhanger of: “Whatever happened to the pita chips,” they became a part of my triumvirate-scroungy dinner:

Part One: Said pita chips from Pita Pan Cafe. No way those freshly deep-fried bits of old pita would last even until morning. Paired with a newly-bought Sabra hummus and a fine Catalonian E.V.O.O.

Part Two: Personal-sized repeat salad from simple steak salad night just last week. Minus the Parmesan, plus the radish slices. Not exactly even trade, but not crap, either. (I like radishes.)

Part Three: Vaguely more complicated. I start getting anxiety when I look in my fridge and there is no block of cheese — not even an end of block of cheese — in sight.

Separately, I also got mildly excited about The Food Emporium’s “Taste of Nature: Austria” circular that I discovered recently (clearly an Austria tourism-sponsored tourism plug; specials are on through July 2). So when I realized tonight that Austrian cheese happened to be on special, when I happened to stop in the Food Emporium nearest to my apartment tonight … well …

Let’s leave this with another to be continued. Surely, the cheeses will surface again soon.

Lunch: NYC Fried Chicken, Not So Scary (aka Deskside Chicken Salad)

Understandably, I’ve been a little intimidated by NYC Fried Chicken in the few months since I began working in the neighborhood.

I pass by not infrequently, and there always seems to be a number of men standing and eating at the street-facing counters, tearing into fried chicken, fried whiting fish sandwiches, fistfuls of fries, blatantly staring at passersby. The crowd, coupled with the overwhelming smell of fried grease being pumped out through some kind of vent as you pass the restaurant on the W. 39th Street side … well. You can see my point.

I was on my way up to try the fried chicken at Piece of Chicken, when, on impulse, I decided to duck into NYC Fried Chicken. (Might have had something to do with the rain.) Inside, NYC Fried Chicken was cleaner than I expected, even if the front display cases where a restaurant might normally have takeaway containers of potato salad or cole slaw were oddly empty. The clerk was helpful and nice, even after I started asking (probably obvious) questions, such as, “Can you just buy chicken by the piece?” I couldn’t help it; the whole menu is combos, no a la carte posted, and this is the sort of thing I just have to ask.

Back at my office, in prep of my salad, I really dug into the chicken: It wasn’t can’t-touch-this, straight-out-of-the-fryer hot, but it was warm, had good flavor and not dry. Slightly smallish pieces of chicken, in terms of the amount of meet you get, but two pieces worked like a charm for my hodgepodge salad of mixed greens, red onion, tomato, brown rice, fried chicken and ranch dressing. It was sort of like a Southern-style salad with the fried chicken, ranch, etc. … except, well, not really.

TIP: I paid $3.70 for a breast and a thigh; next time, if I don’t have the rest of lunch waiting back at my desk I’m going for the $4.20 combo which includes 2 pieces of chicken (one large, one small), mashed potatoes and a biscuit. That’s about a dollar more with tax.

Lunch: The Surprising Success of the Salad that Was an Afterthought

I paused, passing the kitchen on my rush out the door this morning, remembered I had some salad greens in there that needed eating, grabbed them, along with a bit of chicken and some onion that needed eating, and ran to work.

At work, I remembered that I had the end of a container of Wakim’s Foods garbanzo salad (which I’ve blogged about before, here and here), and some couscous.

I sensed something Mediterranean-ish transpiring, so I picked up some cubes of feta, marinated artichoke pieces and red onion (forgetting I had onion) and a hot pepper at the corner deli salad bar.

Somehow, all these forgotten elements conspired to make a really excellent salad: chickpeas in a lemon-y, herbal, olive oil dressing, plus rotisserie chicken, feta cheese, sliced onion. I love when an afterthought leads to a revelation.

Lunch: The Late Springtime Pick-Me-Up

Something about this combination reminds me of what Springtime is supposed to be about, which is all things fresh and pretty. (At least in the world of greeting cards.)

I guess they are all sort of fresh and pretty:

eggs = Springtime symbol of renewal, new life
sprouts = By definition, newly sprouted
fiocchi = The puckering, dainty, pocket-like shape is pretty dang cute
arugula = A vibrant and zesty leafy green, with a slim-yet-curvy shape, if I ever saw one

Missed: the How-To Make a Leftover Salad Better Post (Friday Lunch)

I just couldn’t get to it yesterday, was too busy. But still really worthwhile content, so here it is: 

Say someone, let’s call this “someone” a “coworker,” offers up a take-out container of spicy Thai chicken salad, which is sort of along the lines of what you’re in the mood to eat, anyhow. 

It’s not beautiful, but it’s not wilted. Kind of smells good (spicy). And you just spent $6 on breakfast. Do you take it? Yes. Do you eat it right then and there out of that container? No! Rule no. 1 about leftover salads is you don’t eat them beyond a few hours of original prep. Rule no. 2 is, make it better. 

How? By adding in fresh greens and maybe a little extra protein, to start. Also pick out any unsavory parts, such as soggy wonton noodles, or bits of lettuce that are starting to turn already. 

Combine in a fresh container (KEY), and shake. Don’t worry about the dressing; salads are perpetually overly-doused with dressing, so there will be enough on the original salad to gently flavor the additions. 

Enjoy.

Dinner: Monday, May 4, 2009

It’s been a wild ride today, one that is ending on a sweet note (thankfully). Hint: There’s a reason I’m logging this from my iPhone.

My roommates offered to share some dinner with me, which was really kind. Or maybe the way I was watching the prep made them nervous, I’m not sure.

But thankfully they did, it being 9 o’clock and I still didn’t have a clue.

Out of their extras I made a brilliant little salad: queso fresco; green mango; a few bits of sliced jalapeño; avocado; flank steak that was tenderized then breaded then cut into strips; a legitimately spicy chutney-turned-sauce.

So good. So light. So small, and with plenty of room for dessert. Now it was my turn to treat: I kept it classy with a pair of cupcakes from Velseka and a cold glass of milk.

TIP: I’d you’re running low on salad dressing or any sort of sauce, add  a splash of olive oil and you’ll probably manage to get one more  serving out of it.