salad for people you love

[ellencho]

Ok, so I'll be the first to admit it, I'm a carnivore. I like meat. A lot. I usually try to include some form of meat in each of my meals and use the excuse that I'm anemic, so I need the iron (yes, yes I know there are iron-rich veggies out there).

Anyway, my bf's been complaining about feeling fat lately, and I guess I can't blame him because I tend to cook for 4 instead of cooking for 2, and he ends up eating more than he intends to eat just because it's there.

So being the sensitive girlfriend that I am, I decided to make him a good healthy salad for dinner. I adapted this recipe from an Alfred Portale recipe I once saw him make on Martha Stewart. It's a pear and bleu cheese salad with mixed greens. It has a great balance of flavor and is satisfying as a full meal IMO.

If you want to make it yourself, it's really quite easy. This is what you need and it should feed 4 as a salad/appetizer or 2 as a big meal with leftovers definitely:

2 Tb chopped parsley
a small head of radicchio - cut into manageable pieces
a bag of arugula
a bunch of watercress - trim off the ends
your favorite salad dressing
1/4 lb of your favorite bleu cheese, mashed up
2 pears sliced into 12 pieces each
a fresh baguette
butter
half a cup of walnuts or pecans, they can be sweetened or just plain. If you wish you can toast them up for 5 minutes at 350 beforehand.

Preheat oven to 500 degrees F and put a cookie sheet or a pizza stone in there to heat up with the oven. Wash and dry all your salad greens.
This is my arugula, it doesn't always come with the lobed edges, sometimes the edges are smooth.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v250/ellencho/arugula23MAR05.jpg

This is the radicchio, I mixed it with the chopped parsley.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v250/ellencho/radicchiopar23MAR05.jpg

This is the watercress.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v250/ellencho/watercress23MAR05.jpg

Slice 8 rounds off of the baguette, and spread one side with butter. On the opposite side, smear some bleu cheese, it's ok if it's crumbly, just crumble it on evenly.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v250/ellencho/beforecrostini23MAR05.jpg

Go ahead and place the baguette rounds, butter side down on your cookie sheet in your oven, set your timer for 5 minutes, allow to cool when they're done.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v250/ellencho/aftercrostini23MAR05.jpg

To dress each plate: Drizzle about 2 tsps of your salad dressing onto the bottom of a medium sized bowl, add 1 handful of your radicchio and parsley mixture and the arugula to your bowl. Either use your hands or tongs, and mix gently to coat greens. Mound the greens on your salad plate. Add another 2 tsps of the dressing to the bowl, add a handful of watercress and add 6 pear slices, coat to mix. Pile the watercress atop the radicchio and arugula for more height. Arrange the 6 pear slices on the plate where you wish. Add pecans or walnuts to plate. Doesn't the gluetrap in the background make my salad look more appetizing?
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v250/ellencho/IMG_0101.jpg

Serve with bleu cheese crostini on the side.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v250/ellencho/dinner23MAR05.jpg

FoodType_salad
origin_US
from_ellencho
notes_vegetarian, cheese

[kimtae]

looks good, now I suggest 25 ozs. of grilled beef thinly sliced to go on top, you know, just for contrast :D .

[Altaira]

Ellen, are you sure you're mainly a carnivore? Your glowing, clear skin is more indicative of a vegetarian or a high vegetable consuming omnivore.

[ellencho]

Sadly, my secret for good skin is purely from being an old lady. My skin has settled down because my hormones are no longer raging. Recently, my two brothers, aged 25 and 18 and I blotted our faces with that special blotting paper that sucks up oil and while theirs were saturated, mine barely had any spots on it.

[DijabutiA]

Quick note, OBVIOUSLY those are ASIAN pears (Korean pears for me :lol: ). It might be overkill, but if you grill those pears and then put them on the salad... they taste mighty good.

[eskimo]

Nice, ellen. Mouth-watering photos, too. For a second, I thought I was looking at a cookbook.

[Altaira]

Sadly, my secret for good skin is purely from being an old lady. My skin has settled down because my hormones are no longer raging. Recently, my two brothers, aged 25 and 18 and I blotted our faces with that special blotting paper that sucks up oil and while theirs were saturated, mine barely had any spots on it.

You must eat a substantial amount of healthy whole foods and fruits and vegetables, in addition to meaT, because your skin has a glow typically seen on vegetarians.

[kimtae]

I've never seen a healthy looking vegetarian. They all seem to have pasty thin skin and a paunchy build. Not fat, usually skinny but with a slab of flab on the lower belly. No muscle tone and limp hair seem to be traits as well.
Gotta eat lots of fish.

[Bizarre_Female]

Omg i am drooling. I love salad and I'm starving right now.

[Altaira]

The vegetarians I've seen had glowing skin. Raw fruits, nuts, and vegetables have live enzymes and their maxium nutrients that are good for you.

Fish have omega fatty acids, especially salmon which is heart healthy and good protein for the skin.

[poisenedrice]

So being the sensitive girlfriend that I am, I decided to make him a good healthy salad for dinner. I adapted this recipe from an Alfred Portale recipe I once saw him make on Martha Stewart. It's a pear and bleu cheese salad with mixed greens. It has a great balance of flavor and is satisfying as a full meal IMO.

Haha, the salad looks healthy, but the baguettes smeared with butter and bleu cheese do not :)

Looks good though, I will definitely have to steal you from your bf. My strict diet of Taco Bell, Pizza Hut, instant noodles and beer is killing me.

[ellencho]

looks good, now I suggest 25 ozs. of grilled beef thinly sliced to go on top, you know, just for contrast Very Happy . I was thinking the same thing! I'm a big fan of steak salads actually because it's another excuse to eat red meat but you feel less bad about eating the meat because you've got some fresh greens to go along with them for "balance".

Quick note, OBVIOUSLY those are ASIAN pears (Korean pears for me :lol: ). It might be overkill, but if you grill those pears and then put them on the salad... they taste mighty good.
To be honest, I'm not sure what kind of pears they were. All I know is that they were small, and red and on sale! This isn't pear season at all so I shopped around before picking these pears out. I do enjoy cooked pears in savory dishes too, Lidia Bastianich has a recipe for a pork chop, pears and red onion roast that is SO good in the fall.

Nice, ellen. Mouth-watering photos, too. For a second, I thought I was looking at a cookbook. Thanks for the compliment! I just got a new digital camera and I'm just starting to get a feel for it.

You must eat a substantial amount of healthy whole foods and fruits and vegetables, in addition to mean, because your skin has a glow typically seen on vegetarians. In terms of my age, I really should be more vigilant about my eating habits and luckily for me, spring is here, so in the supermarkets we'll be seeing a better variety of fruits and veggies available. But for the most part, to go along with the large quanitites of meat that I seem to consume, I serve some sort of green, usually asian greens, like snow pea leaves, choy sum, and I know watercress isn't necessarily "asian" but it's really good sauteed with a touch of soy and shao hsing rice wine. I figure that the leafy greens will contain lots of iron which is good for my anemia.

Haha, the salad looks healthy, but the baguettes smeared with butter and bleu cheese do not :) I know! I HAD to make some sort of fatty accompaniment to make the salad look more appetizing :wink:

[Altaira]

So far, my favorite salads are:

Carrot

Apple/Walnut/Celery/Raisin/Mayo

Baby spinach/Cranberry/Pecan/Blue Cheese/Olive oil and wine vinegraite dressing

7 layer salad

Pasta primevera

I like butter lettuce, sweet tomatoes, fruit, peas, black beans, garbanzo beans, cheese, nuts, and either olive oil and lemon juice, mayo, or buttermilk dressing.

[kimtae]

Ellen, just so you know Koreans eat a lot of watercress, it's called 미나리 (minari). Usually in fresh form but also in some fish soups, very tasty.

[ellencho]

Ellen, just so you know Koreans eat a lot of watercress, it's called 미나리 (minari). Usually in fresh form but also in some fish soups, very tasty.
Yeah, I know about that. When I was little and we'd go out for Korean for dinner, I'd always be disappointed when I took a bit of what I thought was spinach banchan and it turned out to be watercress. But now that I'm older, I have a new found appreciation for bitter-er greens. I don't know where watercress originated, but I said it wasn't necessarily asian bceause I know other types of cuisine use watercress. But I love watercress in any sort of soup, dropped in at the last minute, just to soften it. Try arugula instead of watercress in Korean soups, it's delicious too.

[cattygurl]

GAAAAH the arugula looks great.

Arugula is really good with cheese. Many ppl don't like the "bite" and the strong peppery flavor (i love it, personally), and the cheese really mellows the flavor out.

[ellencho]

So your favorite porn monger is back (other than aowebmaster) with another salad for people you love.

This salad isn't nearly as fat-tastic as the last one and it's pretty easy to make and good for impressing folks with some veggies they might not be familiar with.

This is what you need to make a salad for 4.
A bunch of watercress, trimmed and cleaned
1 bulb of fennel
5 radishes
3 oranges
1 Tb of grated shallot
1/4 cup olive oil
salt and pepper
half a lemon

parmesan cheese


Let's get started shall we?
Here's a pic of most of the stuff you need. I forgot to include the half lemon, the shallot, the olive oil and the salt and pepper in the pic. :(
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v250/ellencho/prep22APR05.jpg

This is a pic of the shallot that I grated right into the bowl
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v250/ellencho/gratedshallot22APR05.jpg

Next you need to take your oranges and supreme them. Supreming an orange is when you remove the outer skin of the orange -
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v250/ellencho/supremingA22APR05.jpg

Once you've got that done, you want to remove the orange flesh from between the fibrous junctions.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v250/ellencho/supremingB22APR05.jpg
Save the slices in a bowl.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v250/ellencho/supremed22APR05.jpg
Squeeze the fibrous part into your shallot bowl for your dressing.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v250/ellencho/juice22APR05.jpg

Now you want to take your fennel and your radishes and slice them as thinly as possible, with either a knife or a mandolin.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v250/ellencho/finelysliced22APR05.jpg

Here's the finished sliced veggies.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v250/ellencho/crunchy22APR05.jpg

So now we can finish up the dressing. From your bowl full of orange slices, go ahead and pour any juices into your shallot bowl. Squeeze in the half lemon, add the oil, and the salt and pepper to taste. Once you mix it up you'll find it emulsifies quite well (and not like this pic, this is before I mixed it up).
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v250/ellencho/dressing22APR05.jpg

Now dress each portion of the salad individually and arrange them how you like on a plate. Shave some parmesean cheese over the top of your salad.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v250/ellencho/finishedsalad22APR05.jpg

I realized that my presentation was sort of crab-ish looking so I made my plate a little bit silly just for fun.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v250/ellencho/crabsalad22APR05.jpg

[vsoy]

You gave me a great inspiration for dinner tonight Ellen! I'm going to slice up some left over steak for salad and maybe even pick off a few leaves from my arugula seedlings. I've been eyeing them for the past week, restraining myself from picking the few leaves they have.


Next you need to take your oranges and supreme them. Supreming an orange is when you remove the outer skin of the orange -
Once you've got that done, you want to remove the orange flesh from between the fibrous junctions.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v250/ellencho/supremingB22APR05.jpg


Uh, I hope you got some help with shooting that pic, that looks kind of dangerous as it is, along with juggling a camera and getting orange juice everywhere. I am so jealous of people who can make such pretty salads. I'm pretty much a romaine lettuce and tomato salad person- boring!

[da Tao]

It's 4:15 am where I am... and you got me on a salad craving! Gah! :evil:

Nah, seriously, that's one solid salad... but I am wondering how did you get that picture of you holding both the orange and knife?

a) You have someone take a picture from the perspective of your eyes...
b) You pressed the timer trigger and held the camera with your chin or mouth...
c) You have more than two arms. :shock:

Not that we discriminate non-two arms people here.

[ellencho]

Not to worry, the boyfriend lent me his hands. I held the orange and knife and leaned back so he could get an ellen's eye view of supreming an orange.

It's quite a refreshing salad. The veggies really benefit from thin slicing so make sure you have sharp knives or a sharp mandolin.

Oh, and if you REALLY want to make this salad fancy, serve it with small cubes of raw sushi grade tuna. I got the idea for this salad from a restaurant in NYC called Fiamma's. They served a salad with similar ingredients and then charged $16 bucks for it - and believe me, I'm much more generous with my servings :?

[dragon]

I swear to god...you best tell yo boy not to slip, cuz... :wink: