Cobb Salad

I've been a bit lazy about making my own lunch as of late. Some weeks you just don't feel like planning what you want to make for every meal, so then you end up at the cafeteria every day. I tried to make healthy choices there, but you know that even if you get soup or even the salad bar, you end up with sub-par ingredients and extra, unforeseen calories. So I finally took action and took back my lunch.

Earlier this year, Saveur Magazine did a story on the origin of Cobb salad. They showed their recipe for the quintessential Cobb. For me, it involved a few too many ingredients for my state of mind, so I slimmed it down both in steps as well as in calories.

Cobb Salad
Makes 4 servings (or, in my case, 5 lunches)

Ingredients
Dressing
1/4 cup canola oil
1/4 cup olive oil
1/4 cup red wine vinegar
1 tbsp lemon juice
3/4 tsp dry mustard
1/2 tsp Worcestershire sauce
1/4 tsp sugar
1 clove garlic, minced
Salt, to taste
Pepper, to taste
Salad
1 head romaine lettuce, cored and chopped
2 oz blue cheese, crumbled
6 slices turkey bacon, cooked, chopped
3 hard-boiled eggs, cubed
2 tomatoes, seeded, cubed
2 chicken breasts, cooked, cubed
2 tbsp chives, chopped

Instructions
To make the dressing, combine all ingredients in a blender or plastic shaker and blend until smooth. I'm not sure why, but many recipes call for a lot of oil in their dressings, so I've halved the total oil content so you can taste more of the other ingredients.

The rest of the salad is pretty straightforward. Put some lettuce on a plate (or plastic container), and top it with the blue cheese, turkey bacon, eggs, tomatoes, and chicken however you like. Dust it all with chives and drizzle on dressing to taste.


A good salad should be satisfying. It's as simple as that. If you want to eat a salad as a meal to help cut calories, then you have to do it right. You can't eat lettuce with salt and pepper because you will be hungry in about an hour or so. You also can't go overboard with tons of creamy dressings and calorie-dense ingredients, because that defeats the purpose. This Cobb salad is a good balance of these extremes. You get good protein and vegetables to fill you up without ruining your figure. The dressing in this salad is good, but for me a Cobb is all about the vast array of ingredients that you get to eat in various combinations. A little salty, a little crunch, a little soft, a little bland, you get it all. So if you're tired of the same-old, bland cafeteria options, you can liberate yourself with a little blending and chopping.

Kale-Kohlrabi Salad

What is this weird alien plant? Is it the offspring of an octopus and collard greens? Or is it a Pokemon? Turns out this odd vegetable is kohlrabi.


After a bit of a trim, it looks more manageable. I found these little guys at the local farmer's market. After seeing them a few times over the past few years, I decided to give them a try. Luckily, among my myriad of recipes, I had exactly one that called for kohlrabi. It was an unassuming side dish recipe from Gourmet magazine that paired kohlrabi with rough and rugged kale for some interesting vegetable vittles.

First, the kohlrabi is very thinly sliced on a mandolin. Then a marinade is prepared using the zest and juice of two limes, 2 tbsp olive oil, salt, and pepper. The kohlrabi is tossed in this marinade.


On to the kale: two pounds of kale are chopped and wilted in batches with some olive oil and chopped garlic. The kale is then left to cool with a sprinkling of salt. The kohlrabi and kale are combined with a healthy dose of roasted pistachios for some extra crunch.


This was the first time I've ever prepared and eaten both kale and kohlrabi, so I really had no idea what to expect from this side dish. The kale was a very sturdy green next to the softer rounds of kohlrabi. Both just tasted very fresh, especially with the citrus flavors from the marinade. The salty crunch from the pistachios added extra interest as well. All in all, this dish turned out surprisingly well and it made me feel healthy and satisfied.

Lamb with Greek Salad

Some people in my life have been going low-carb recently. During my last year of high school, I was on the Atkins diet, so I know a little bit about cutting down on the carbohydrates. One problem I had with the diet was learning to eat reasonably. If all you’re counting is carbs, you don’t have to worry about eating as much bacon as you want. That’s a huge problem for the inevitable point when you go off the diet and you don’t know how to judge what’s a reasonable meal. For those who want to cut down on carbohydrates, from refined sugars to pre-made pastas to overly starchy vegetables, here’s the simple formula: meat + lots of veggies + good seasonings. The main goal is to use the vegetables in a way that you don’t miss the rice or potatoes. Make the dish feel whole so you don’t realize what you’re omitting from the diet. The same principle applies to low-fat, low-cal and most other diets where you are purposefully removing something from the diet.


For dinner this week I went Greek. Lamb is a tasty meat that is underused by most families. It has it’s own characteristics that set it apart from the “blank slate” meats that need a lot of coaxing to imbue with flavor. The meat itself was flavored simply with some salt and pepper, then cooked in olive oil until it was a healthy pink on the inside. Spinach was sauteed in the juices afterwards until it was wilted. The last component was the Greek salad made from sliced cucumbers, tomatoes, onion, feta, and a little bit of Italian dressing to help meld the flavors and textures together. To plate it, I decided to build upwards so that my focus was on the main stack and not on a lack of carbs. Salad, topped with spinach, topped with sliced lamb. Everything tasted good and I felt filled in stomach and fulfilled in mind, all because I did not focus on what I was missing and let the dish languish. Instead, I made sure to utilize the ingredients I still have available to their fullest.

Magic Pie & Salmon Salad - 3/19/2009

I've been mostly eating last week's leftovers, but I did do some culinary work this week (I swear!). To continue my push to avoid eating sandwiches, I made this miso salmon salad.


I may have said this before, but I'm not a huge fan of salads. For me, while a pile of lettuce may relieve your hunger pangs, it is not, by any stretch of the imagination, satisfying. For instance, I only ever get the salad bar if I know it will have meat and/or hefty, dense add-ons (broccoli, chickpeas, olives, potato salad, avocado, boiled eggs, etc.). That's why Cobb salad is probably one of my favorites. Anyhow, this salad has some nice non-traditional add-ons along with lots of protein. After marinating salmon fillets in a combination of rice wine, soy sauce, grated ginger, white miso paste, sugar, and lemon juice, it is baked for about 15-ish minutes in a 400 degree oven until they are cooked to your liking. Remove from the oven and allow to cool. While cooling, make the rest of the salad by tossing fresh spinach, blanched and halved snow peas, cucumber chunks, and chopped scallion. Make salmon into chunks and put on top of salad. For the dressing, combine equal parts soy sauce, rice vinegar, rice wine, and sugar with 4 parts white miso paste. Drizzle on top of salad and enjoy. The salmon itself was moist and dense but not fishy in any respect, and there was a vast array of other flavors: salty/tangy from the dressing, aromatic from the green onion, and sweet from the snow peas. Nicely Asian but appropriately light for a lunch course.


Yes, yes, another baked good. I made it in honor of National Pi Day (3/14), celebrating the wondrous glory that is the transcendental number pi. This one is called "funny cake pie." It's claim to fame is two-fold: 1) it is part cake, part pie, and 2) it performs a bit of a magic trick while baking. While I'm sure everyone would love me explaining the magic of pi, I will have to save that for another day and settle for the magic of pie. The recipe is very simple and is split into two parts:
Batter
1.5 cups sugar
0.5 cups vegetable oil
2 eggs
2 cups flour
2 tsp baking powder
1 cup milk
1 teaspoon vanilla
Beat the first three ingredients until well blended. Then add the remaining ingredients and beat on medium for 2 minutes. Pour into pie crusts (I used store-bought graham cracker crusts). Don't worry too much about overmixing the batter because it comes out a bit like pancake batter.


Pretty basic so far. Next, mix together 1 cup sugar with 0.5 cups cocoa powder and 1 cup of hot water. If presentation is important, be sure to mix this together well. I was a little lazy and didn't fully mix the cocoa powder into the water (It is hard to mix chocolate into water with all of the oils in the chocolate, another reason I like to make hot chocolate with milk.). Top the pie(s) with the chocolate mixture. As you can see from the picture, the watery chocolate mixture sinks right through the cake batter. My theory is the batter has been aerated from the mixing, so it allows the thin chocolate mixture to fall right through it's pores, invisible as they may be to the naked eye. As you can see, some chocolate residue was left on the top of my pies.


Bake at 350 degrees for 1 hour for a full pie, about 30-40 minutes for minis (check with a toothpick or you can just eyeball it.


The inside of the pies turned out very good. The cakey portion had a nice vanilla sweetness, paired with a thinner layer of fudgey goodness on the bottom. A basic dessert, but very fun to make.

Steak au Poivre with Pasta Pesto and Goat Cheese-Walnut Salad - 9/25/08

This menu pretty much created itself after my mom sent me a recipe for a pesto made with arugula and walnuts instead of basil and pine nuts. Arugula has a nice peppery flavor to it, so what better to pair with it than steak au poivre and a salad with walnuts.


Cook up the pasta according to package directions. I used creste di gallo (rooster crowns - they look like large macaroni with some fringes on them) because I liked the multiple colors they come in. For the pesto, combine one garlic clove, salt, half a cup of walnuts (toasted for extra credit), 2 cups arugula, half a cup of basil, 2 tablespoons of parmigiano, and one tablespoon of lemon juice in a food processor. While processing, stream in about one third cup of olive oil until the pesto is smooth. Adjust the flavor with salt and pepper as desired. Toss the pesto over the pasta.

For the steak, salt both sides of the meat and cover both sides with cracked peppercorns. If you want a lighter pepper flavor (or if you start sneezing uncontrollably), you can use ground pepper, just make sure you use a good amount of it. The pepper is the only real seasoning for the steak, so use as much as you can tolerate. You may be concerned that the pepper will be overpowering, but the cooking process dulls the flavors a bit so you probably won't have a problem. Anyways, cook the steak in a pan to desired doneness. If you really want, you can add a little brandy or red wine to deglaze the pan, then add a little heavy cream and cook until thickened. Be careful with the cream, though, because if you cook it too long past the thickened stage, the sauce will break and become more watery. This sauce is not totally necessary to enjoy the dish, though, as the pesto makes a nice accompaniment.


For a nice side salad, start with a base of fresh spinach and arugula, then add some toasted walnuts and crumbled goat cheese. For the dressing, whisk together some walnut oil, red wine vinegar, salt, pepper, and Dijon mustard. Pour a smattering if this dressing on top of the salad and toss to mix.

Pulled Pork Meal - 8/15/08

A lot of what I cook comes from random inspiration. The inspiration behind today was to make a spin on BBQ sauce. My first idea was to make a pineapple BBQ sauce, so after scouring Food Network's website, I found a recipe for a sauce using cola, so I thought that would be a pretty good base for me to replace the cola with pineapple juice. The end result was:

2 cloves garlic, mashed
1/8 tsp salt
1.75 cup pineapple juice
3/4 cup ketchup
1/8 cup cider vinegar
1T Worcestershire sauce
Pepper, to taste

All of this was combined in a saucepan and simmered for 45 minutes to make a ketchup/BBQ sauce consistency. The flavor is a toned down pineapple-tomato with some nice tang to it too.


Ever since I tasted an espresso BBQ sauce, I wanted to make some for myself. I found this recipe for it from Michael Chiarello. You cannot taste the coffee as a flavor, but it deepens and darkens the flavor of the sauce. Instead of the prescribed 10 minutes, I cooked it for 45 minutes to thicken it up.


What better vehicle for BBQ sauce than pulled pork sandwiches? Paula Dean has a good recipe pulled pork sandwiches, though I will admit I used chicken stock instead of the apple juice just because after 3 trips to the grocery store for this meal, I wasn't going back just for some juice. This pork turned out quite delicious by itself and was even better combined with the BBQ sauces. I will admit that I did cheat and buy some Bush's baked beans to serve on the side as well.


In the above picture, you can see I made some cole slaws. One is more classic - cider vinegar, honey, salt, pepper, a little mayo, and celery seed. The other is more Asian - mirin, sesame seeds, sesame oil, and seasoned rice vinegar. I ate the classic one by itself, but with the Asian one, I wanted to try something new. In North Carolina, it is common to eat a BBQ pork sandwich with cole slaw on it. In keeping with tradition, I put some of the Asian slaw on top of some of the pork that had been mixed with the pineapple BBQ sauce. The combination of these two items was quite good - soft yet crunchy, sweet yet tangy and nutty. It was a veritable East meets North (Carolina).


As another side, I made a salad inspired by one from my trip. It is a base of spinach leaves, heirloom tomatoes, purple bell pepper (yes, purple), and tangelo segments (membranes removed). The mimosa dressing is made with the juice of one tangelo, champagne vinegar and a little lemon-infused olive oil. I wish the tangelos were a little sweeter right now, but the dressing still had enough of the mimosa taste to it to make me happy.

Italian Feast - 1/12/2008

I wanted to invite a couple of friends over for a nice meal, so I was brainstorming ideas for a nice, full meal. Here is what I ended up with:


As an accompaniment, I made this herb focaccia. It was originally going to be a grilled vegetable focaccia, but I forgot to pick up a couple vegetables at the store. The dough itself has some oregano, thyme and caraway seeds. On top is fresh basil, garlic salt, rosemary, and romano cheese. In the past I have made focaccia using store-bought pizza dough, but it is always very difficult to work with and turns out rather puffy. I would be good for sandwiches, but for breadsticks like the ones above, it doesn't cut it.


As a starter/side dish, I served this tortelloni salad. In the salad are chicken tortelloni, fresh mushrooms, spinach, croutons, basil, and a dressing made with white wine vinegar. It turned out nice, although I do realize that it is just an excuse to get some vegetables in while still eating pasta.


Now for the main course: pesto-stuffed chicken parmigiana. You pretty much make a chicken parmigiana, but before you cook the chicken, cut a pocket into the breast. After pan-frying for a nice golden brown, put a prepared pesto (leave it thick) into the pocket. Continue as you normally would including baking in the sauce covered with cheese for about 20-25 minutes. On the side you will also see some penne with a pasta sauce on top. I know what you're thinking: "Two pastas?" I just wanted to make sure we had enough food and the penne made a nice side dish.



Dessert came from the baking book I received for Christmas: a dark chocolate tart. The dough is a chocolate tart dough which I managed to make well. If you've seen my apple pie on this site, then you know that I do not have the best luck with pastry doughs. This dough, though, came out very nicely. The filling is a chocolate ganache with a little bit more cream than the typical 1:1 ganache ratio plus some coffee to amplify the chocolate flavor. It turned out quite delicious and very rich. After eating the slice show above, I thought I should have made it only half as big. So if you try this at home, be warned that this is not something to serve in giant pieces.