Bread salad? Are you kidding?

 

Bread salad

No, I don’t mean tossing some croutons out of a box and onto a bunch of lettuce and then drowning the whole thing in bottled Italian dressing. Panzanella has a long history in Tuscany and other sections of Italy. Food historians have even found a sixteenth-century poet who sang about onions in oil and vinegar served with toast. Until modern times, panzanella was all about onions, not tomatoes. The name is thought to come from a combination of “pane,” Italian for bread, and “zanella,” which is a deep dish, rather like a soup or salad plate.

Panzanella is generally considered to consist of cubes of stale bread, tomatoes, and onions in a vinaigrette. But in today’s kitchen you can throw in almost anything you want—lettuce, cucumber, celery, hard-boiled eggs, parsley, bell peppers, etc. Purists will frown at you, but, hey! It’s your salad.

Some recipes call for soaking the bread cubes in water so that they will soften and absorb the dressing. I prefer to have them hard. The vinaigrette marinates and softens them if you let the salad sit before serving. I would not recommend pre-packaged croutons for this.

For a long time, I sort of wondered about panzanella, not sure how I felt about bread salad. I knew for sure Jordan wouldn’t eat it, because she doesn’t even want croutons in a regular salad. But one night I made it when Jean came to supper, and we both loved it. We also found it was filling enough for a meal, though I have sometimes put some cottage cheese next to it. Okay, that’s my idiosyncrasy. You may laugh or recoil in horror.

Here's what I did:

To make the croutons (this will make enough for a salad for ten or twelve, but they are a bit of a pain to make and they freeze beautifully):

8-10 cups of cubed artisan bread (one-inch cubes), crusts removed only if you want/

Spread the bread in a single layer in a roasting pan and let it sit out overnight, so that the cubes become stale and hard. If you don’t have time, you can bake them for twenty minutes in a 300^o oven but watch that they don’t burn.

For the salad: (will serve two to three)

1 large heirloom tomato, chopped

¼ cucumber, diced

½ small red onion, sliced

For the dressing:

¼ cup olive oil

1/8 cup red wine vinegar

¼ tsp. salt

Pinch of fine ground pepper

Five or six finely sliced basil leaves – add just before serving

Combine the vegetables and about 3-4 cups croutons in a salad bowl. Pour dressing over and toss. Let the salad sit for at least one-half hour at room temperature before serving. It can sit as long as four hours and will only get better. Toss occasionally during this time. Add basil just before serving.

Pour a glass of good red Italian wine and enjoy!

 

 

Those blasted nachos

 

In my eternal quest to find new recipes that my family will like, I came across one for crab sheet pan nachos. I know Christian loves crab, and who could resist a sauce of cream cheese, sour cream, and mayonnaise plus green chilies and lime zest. One problem was that crab is so darn expensive—I didn’t think a weeknight meal merited a $26 lb. of crab. I considered canned crab which I’ve used successfully in other dishes, mostly the ubiquitous crab bites and once in a dip. Then I remembered Krab, the whitefish disguised as crab with red coloring. Jordan and I have had it in salads and liked it. I consulted with Christian to be sure he was okay with it. He was.

So then I decided it would be a good Saturday night supper. Recap: If you read an earlier blog, you know that Jean had to cancel for supper, because she was sick. I calculated and hurriedly stuck one pkg. of crab back in the freezer. It still had ice crystals. Then, when Jordan said Christian misunderstood and they had a previous engagement, I stuck the other pkg. back in and had canned salmon for my supper.

So this week, it seemed Tuesday would be a good night for nachos. Jean was coming to pick up rocks for her planters (a long, irrelevant story) and Jordan and Christian would be home. But I agonized over whether or not the crab was still edible, even woke in the night thinking about it. I went online, where all advice was against re-freezing because bacteria could have developed in the raw fish. Then I consulted Jean, and we decided it was okay because the seafood was already fully cooked and it didn’t stay out of the freezer long enough to hurt. As it turned out, I used only one pkg. and did discard the other. Two days later, all of us are okay. But I wouldn’t recommend such chance-taking.

The nachos were terrific but complicated, so much so that Jean read the last-minute directions to me while I worked. What follows is what I will do next time, with comments referring to the original recipe. There will definitely be a next time, because they were that good. Here’s what you need:

6 oz. cream cheese, softened to room temperature (makes it so much easier to work with)

½ cup mayonnaise

½ cup sour cream

12 oz. lump crabmeat (my opinion now is you can use a 8 oz. pkg. of Krab whole pieces, and chop them into chunks a can of lump crabmet, or even a can of flaked crab which is quite inexpensive; I wasn’t aware of eating bites of crab, and the flaked would give you the flavor)

¾ cup sliced green onions (about four or five)

1 4 oz. can chopped green chilies

Grated zest of one lime

Salt and pepper

12 oz. yellow corn chips (don’t be bound by 12 oz.—use as much or as little as makes two good layers in your pan)

6 oz. grated extra-sharp cheddar cheese (recipe said white cheddar, which is hard to find; yellow works fine; just be sure it is extra-sharp)

6 oz. grated Monterey Jack

4 oz. pickled jalapeño slices, drained and diced (totally optional: we served as a side accompaniment and did not put in the dish)

Here’s what to do:

Mix cream cheese, mayonnaise, sour cream, crabmeat, scallions, chilies, lime zest, salt and pepper. This can be done early in the day and refrigerated until supper

Grease the sheet pan lightly and spread half the corn chips on it. Spoon the cheese/crab mixture over the chips in dollops, distributing as evenly as possible

Top with half the cheddar and half the Monterrey Jack

Top with remaining corn chips and then remaining cheeses.

Bake at 375—recipe said 20 minutes, but my oven runs a bit hot, and the chips were crisp and browning much sooner, so watch the dish carefully.

Sprinkle with lime juice and serve hot.

The recipe called for a topping of diced tomatoes (Christian doesn’t like), diced fresh jalapeño (I don’t like), minced onion, olive oil, avocado, and parsley or cilantro. We made it but served it as a side with the pickled jalapeño. I had also gotten some of the fresh guacamole from Central Market and served that on the side. Next time I will not bother with the topping but will use fresh guacamole, either home-made or good store-bought (not the smooth stuff in squeeze packets, thank you).

Christian said he was glad I finally cooked the nachos, because I'd been talking and worrying about them all week. We all thought they were outstanding, worth the talk and worry.

 

Open-faced sandwiches for a quick, easy, and cool summer supper

 

Sophie keeping an eye on the cook in the kitchen.
After all, sometimes a bit of cheese falls on the floor.
Accidentally, of course.

The French have mastered the technique for this treat they call a tartine. Sounds sophisticated, but it’s really what you and I know as an open-faced sandwich. No, I didn’t need my fictional character, Irene, to teach me that. I’m a big fan of these easy-to-fix meals. All you need is a piece of bread and something to put on top of it. But it’s not that simple.

First you need a good piece of bread—artisan breads are probably just right. Sometimes a good, sturdy piece of rye is the best accompaniment for your toppings. In France, they trim the crust off bread for tartines. Recently I made an open-faced sandwich with the sourdough bread I love, but the crust proved difficult to cut. Trimming is good idea. You want to toast the bread and then give it a coating that will not only add flavor but will be a barrier between the toast and the toppings to prevent sogginess that might come from, say, sauteed vegetables. For a breakfast sandwich, spread butter or jam or cream cheese. At lunchtime, try spraying with olive oil or smearing with hummus or mayonnaise.

Vegetables deserve a dressing too, even if it’s a simple vinaigrette or lemon juice. Add salt and pepper to taste. Be sure vegetables are thinly sliced or diced so that they are easier to deal with. And things that might roll off, like capers or sliced scallions? Put them first on the bread, so the schmear will act as glue to hold them.

Finally, arrange the ingredients attractively—I keep quoting my mom who said food is half eaten with the eye. Think of the sandwich as a small chaucuterie board. What looks good next to what?

When you think of an open-faced sandwich, what comes to mind? Avocado toast? Lox and bagels, especially since I like mine on a slice of Jewish rye? A Kentucky Hot Brown? The possibilities are almost endless. Here are two I liked: one a new non-recipe I just found and served, the other a classic I’ve ordered and made for years. Caution: you need a knife and fork to eat these.

First, the new:

Roast beef and blue cheese open-faced sandwich*

(for one sandwich, amounts approximate and you can vary to taste)

Bread – I used sourdough but didn’t trim the crusts and wish I had; rye would also be good

Olive oil

Roast beef – deli style, thin-sliced about ¼ pound or two or three slices

Mayonnaise – 2 Tbsp

Fresh horseradish – 1 Tbsp.

Blue cheese – ¼ cup, finely crumbled

Fresh beet, steamed or roasted – about ¼ cup, finely diced

Simple vinaigrette – 1 Tbsp.

Watercress leaves – ½ cup

Toast the bread and spray it with olive oil. Combine mayonnaise and horseradish and spread mixture on toast; layer roast beef, blue cheese, beets. Drizzle vinaigrette over sandwich. Top with watercress.

And the classic. Years ago, this was served at Colonial Country Club but was not on the menu (that may still be the case—I don’t know). You had to ask for it. I have since approximated it at home many times. This is from memory, so it is a bit vague:

Rye bread

Baked ham (not smoked) – 2 deli slices

Roast turkey – 2 deli slices

Swiss cheese (or provolone) – one large slice

Thousand Island dressing, either homemade or bottled – I am sure Colonial had a house-made sauce, but I find this a good substitute. Use enough to cover the sandwich, but don’t drown it.

Hard boiled egg slices to decorate – (optional)

This is pretty self-explanatory. Just layer it as listed in the ingredients, but be sure to toast the bread and spray with olive oil.

Serve with a pickle spear.

*This was a description, not a recipe, published in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. The idea is attributed to Linda Gasserheimer

 

Dress up those grilled steaks and fish

 

I am a big fan, as you probably have guessed, of what I call American cooking. That’s a food type hard to define, with so many cuisines having blended together to create the foods we eat daily, from spaghetti to stir-fry to meatloaf. When I think of American food, I think of the things I grew up on in the fifties—tuna casserole, salmon cakes, mac and cheese, roast beef, and fried chicken. But I try to be open to the influx of new flavors and dishes that has dramatically changed the face of American cooking in the last decade or more, bringing contributions from South America, Asia, Africa, and the Middle East. Two that I guess would fall into the category of condiments are kimchi and chimichurri.

I have to confess I have never tried kimchi, though I’ve read a lot about it and the word that sticks in my mind is “fermented.” Kimchi comes from Korea where it is a side dish usually served with rice. It is vegetables, principally Napa cabbage, which is salted, fermented, and seasoned to taste—for instance with onion, garlic, ginger, and a couple of things I know nothing about: gochugaru (Korean red pepper—I’m leery already!) and jeotgal (salted and preserved seafood of various varieties). I love sauerkraut, which is the German version of fermented cabbage, so I ought to like kimchi (maybe without the jeotgal, though I’m a seafood lover).

In addition to a side dish with rice, kimchi is used in soups and stews. I’ve even read of sandwiches incorporating it—grilled cheese comes to mind. Kimchi is not any one flavor—it depends on the label if you buy it or seasonings you use if you make it. I suspect you have to experiment with taste to find what you like. The internet offers an infinite variety of products and ideas. Let me know if you like it.

Chimichurri comes from South America, is made with parsley, garlic, vinegar, olive oil, and

flakes of chili pepper, and is traditionally used on grilled meat or fish. The internet has countless recipes for chimichurri, but you can also buy it is most grocery stores. I much prefer the homemade version. Here’s a recipe that we fixed with a marinated skirt steak. Next to the sauce recipe, in Jordan’s writing, it says, “Love” with a big arrow.

Chimichurri sauce

1 cup fresh parsley (use Italian flat-leaf)

1 cup fresh cilantro

¼ cup olive oil

½ medium onion, diced

3 garlic cloves, minced      

3 Tbsp. fresh lime juice

2 Tbsp. red wine vinegar

½ tsp. salt

½ tsp. pepper

Optional pinch of red pepper flakes.

Blend ingredients until smooth in food processor.

Some time ago I made a green sauce that was a simplified American version of chimichurri or green salsa without the peppers (that’s important to me). I served it on grilled salmon, but you could also use it on grilled meats or in soups or stews. This too is quick and easy and is a great way to use up leftover bits of herb bunches.

Green sauce

1 cup fresh tender green herbs – parsley, basil, thyme, oregano, or use non herb flavorful greens such as celery leaves, arugula, watercress, fennel, etc.

½ cup red wine vinegar

¾ cup olive oil

1 tsp. kosher salt

3 garlic cloves, grated (use a micro plane if you have it)

1 shallot, finely chopped

You can chop the herbs by hand or use a food processor. Add other ingredients and blend.

Summer, when the grill is in frequent use is a great time to experiment with these two condiments.