Salads

Tomato-Pancetta Stacked Salad

Tomato-Pancetta Stacked Salad, from side

The Frenchman is gone on a two-week business trip, and I am restless. I walk to the market, to get out of the house, to take a break from writing. On a whim, I buy two punnets of raspberries, right out of the gate.

Consider folding them into cold cream. There are egg whites in the fridge which, stiffened with almond extract, makes a raspberry version of Eton Mess. Or, simmer the raspberries with honey until they collapse, swooning, into a syrupy jam. You could thin the cream with milk and make a posset. If you are charmed by old world, summer desserts, try a fool, a cranachan, a syllabub. Read more »

Radish and Green Gem Couscous

As summertime approaches, I’m thinking more and more about deviating from my standard winter plate paradigm: protein, veg, veg. (That second veg is often a potato in some form, but I digress.) Like most people, I tend to reach for lighter options when it’s warm outside, and this dovetails nicely with the lovely herbs and vegetables available at the market these days.

I’m currently entertaining an enduring knackering for little green gems in all forms–favas beans, English peas, snap peas, etc. I’m also eating radishes with almost every meal; as a sliver of color and bite in salads, stirred into scrambled eggs and mellowed by heat, or simply with butter and flaky salt on hot toast. Combine this with my relatively new discovery of Israeli (or pearl) couscous, and you have the inspiration for this recipe. Read more »

Kitchen Sink Salad

I’m sure this has happened to you: staring into the depths of your fridge one afternoon, you start to notice leftover tidbits hiding in every corner. All manner of fruit, vegetable, cheese and nut in minute quantities, long overlooked, and frankly, a little sad. When this happens, I know it’s time to throw everything—everything but the kitchen sink—into a bowl, and call it lunch.

At the moment this means a half bag of baby potatoes starting to grow eyelets, and a few handfuls of arugula beginning to wither in the crisper. It means the few remaining morsels of cheese I bought for another purpose, and then abandoned in the fridge. It is the tablespoon or so of pine nuts I toasted too many of, for a soup I also made too much of. But alas, you cannot add soup to a salad…. Read more »

Arugula, Sugar Snap Pea and Poached Egg Salad

This recipe sprung to life one fine, June afternoon as I strolled through the Union Square Market wondering, “what’s for dinner?” Sugar snap peas lay in heaps at many a farm stand, so those went into my bag. In went some baby arugula for a lemony contrast. I completed my produce pillage with yellow and green zucchinis, selected for color. At home I added goat cheese, at once milky and zesty, and some breadcrumbs I amped with garlic for texture. In France, entrée salads are often topped with a poached egg; when negotiated open with a fork, the yolk provides a creamy sauce all its own. I garnished my salad with just a crack of pepper, french vinaigrette and a dusting of lemon zest—voila! Read more »