(originally published on lime.com)
Many sad salads lurk in refrigerators at restaurants, or languish in the bins of the nearest Salad Toss counter at the deli, or cower inside taco shells or the latest fast food delivery contraption, waiting to depress the nearest eater. Leathery lettuce, alien tomatoes, and canned garnishes can create the impression that a salad is a poor substitute for food. As a powerful antidote to this dispiriting category, creating your own salad is a great way to connect with fresh ingredients. Along with a bit of bread and a glass of wine, it’s a delicious, light, and healthy supper.

The key is to use the most inspired selection of ingredients you can find, with the barest of seasonings. Shopping for a salad can be a great experience of foraging locally for things that are seasonal and fresh. I like to think of an unconventional salade Niçoise or a vegetable antipasto: an artfully curated selection of flavors, textures and colors displayed on individual plates or a large serving dish. Temperature is a key component of getting the best flavor from your salad. A cold tomato is a thing from hell, whereas one that has been warmed by the sun for a few hours just prior to being picked and eaten is a Proustian experience. Not everything you include has to come straight from the garden, but bringing all produce to room temperature is crucial. I rarely refrigerate produce I plan to use within 24 hours, except for onions (colder onions make for fewer tears.)

A salad as it should be is so personal to the taste of the cook and so dependant upon what is in season that it is difficult to give a recipe, but here are some ideas for combinations, along with my favorite salad dressing recipe. As far as that goes, you can do just as well and sometimes better with just a drizzle of high-quality extra virgin olive oil, a squeeze of lemon or lime juice and a sprinkle of salt.

Don’t feel as though you have to throw in the kitchen sink. Think of five or six things that might taste good together, treat them well, and assemble them in an appealing way.

Lettuce and other greens: Mesclun mixes of various varieties, baby spinach, sorrel, dandelion greens, and lettuces are in season around the country for the next several months. If you have a farmer’s market, look there first, but many stores now carry a good selection of bulk mesclun or bagged, washed greens. Look carefully for wilted bits, dive to the back of the shelf for the bagged lettuce with the farthest expiration date, and be generally picky. Sub-par greens can become more inspired with a brief cold water bath, and all greens should have one in any case to remove any dirt, sand, or bugs. Dry very carefully in a salad spinner or between paper towels (or both) as wet greens prevent dressing from adhering.

Fresh herbs : Cilantro, tarragon, chervil, basil, mint and parsley are some of my favorites to use in salads. Stick to milder herbs without an overly fibrous texture. Rosemary and sage are better in cooked foods, for example.

Other Vegetables: Some vegetables need a bit of blanching or steaming, including peas, green beans, and fava beans. Beets and potatoes should be boiled until just tender, while tomatoes, avocados, radishes, fennel, peppers, cucumbers, carrots, scallions, sweet onions, celery and sprouts can just be sliced or chopped or included whole.

Fruits: Apples, pears, plums, peaches, watermelon cubes, grapes, mango, berries, grapefruit or orange sections, and thin slices of lemon with the peel still on all have their place in a salad. Raw is always great, but apples, pears, and peaches can also be halved and baked first. Be sure to buy organic when it counts.

Toasted Nuts: Toasting, either in a toaster or on top of the stove in a small skillet, really develops the flavor of nuts. I like to use pine nuts, hazelnuts, pecans, walnuts, and in a salad with Southeast Asian-inspired flavors, peanuts.

Cheeses: A salad is one of the tastiest ways to set off the flavors of good cheese. Try blue cheeses like Cabrales or sweet Gorgonzola, rich Brie and soft and tangy goats’ milk cheeses, nutty Parmigiano Reggiano, delicate Mozzarella Bufala or dry, salty Feta and Ricotta Salata.

Legumes: High-quality canned cannellini beans or chickpeas, or beluga lentils or lentils du puy cooked in vegetable stock, can work very well in salads. If using canned legumes, wake them up by washing them very well in cold water and marinating in a quick dressing of olive oil and lemon juice.

Others: High-quality canned tuna fish (try the Italian versions packed in olive oil), olives, hard boiled eggs, poached eggs, poached or grilled shrimp, croutons made from stale wholegrain bread, cubed salami, and slab bacon cubed, fried, and drained are all great additions to a salad. I’m told that anchovies are delicious, but they’re too strange for me.

Salad Dressing

I make this in my blender. You can make it without one, but you will need to chop the shallot very finely and whisk the olive oil into the other ingredients by droplets.

1 small shallot, roughly chopped

1/4 cup rice vinegar

Juice of 1 lemon (pick out the seeds)

1/4 tsp Dijon mustard

1/2 cup olive oil

Salt to taste

In the bottom of a blender, macerate the shallot in the vinegar and lemon juice for about 15 minutes while you assemble the salad. Add mustard, and blend on high for about 30 seconds. While the blender is running, open the middle of the lid. In a slow, steady stream, add the olive oil. Stop the blender, taste, and correct seasonings. To dress the salad, just barely moisten and toss as close to serving as possible. I like to assemble the salad and then dress and toss it at the table.

You may prefer a lower or higher ratio of vinegar to oil, so experiment. This makes almost a cup of dressing, which will be way more than enough unless you are making a very large salad. It keeps in the refrigerator for up to a week, but be sure to bring to room temperature before using.

Inspired Combinations

• Mache or mesclun, parsley, tuna, olives, red potatoes, tomatoes, hard boiled eggs, anchovy (if you must.) This is the classic Niçoise salad.
• Arugula, sliced fennel, slivered pecorino romano, toasted pine nuts. Dress with just a splash of olive oil and a small drizzle of red wine vinegar, with sea salt and pepper.
• Grilled radicchio, parsley, celery, chickpeas, cubed ricotta salata, cubed salami.
• Frisee, tarragon, cubed fried bacon (lardoons), toasted baguette, poached egg.
• Baby romaine, cilantro, mint, grilled shrimp, watermelon cubes, scallions, toasted chopped peanuts. Dress with lime juice mixed with a tiny bit of fish sauce, a dab of honey, and salt.
• Mesclun, baked Seckel pears, Cabrales, toasted pecans.
• Arugula, cannellini, tuna, fennel slices, lemon slices, chopped fennel fronds.

Image courtesy of Chocolate and Zucchini

Easy, inexpensive, and highly delicious, roast chicken is the preferred Sunday night supper around our house. The basic recipe I use is a slight variation on the one my mother has made since I was little. Between the two of us, my mother and I have roasted a hundreds of chickens, and here in print for the very first time are our tried-and-true methods. Roast chicken is great with any number of accompaniments, but my favorites are mashed Yukon Gold potatoes or yams, roasted Cipollini onions, and a simple green salad.

Chicken Procurement

The first step is selecting a chicken. It’s easy to see the difference between naturally-raised chickens and their factory-farmed counterparts – factory farmed chickens are unappealingly yellow, unsavory and fatty looking, and ooze gross liquid from their packaging, where natural chickens have creamy skin and a much more firm, dry, and plump appearance. I prefer Bell and Evans chickens. They’re air-chilled, raised on natural feed, and allowed to roam freely. Also tasty are Whole Foods chickens. Don’t shy away from spending a few extra dollars for a high-quality chicken. It’s simply not worth wasting your time with inferior ingredients, and even spending up, you’ll still be paying $7-8 for a whole bird, which will easily feed four normal appetites. I usually buy a 3.5-4 lb chicken.

Salt Cure (optional)

If you have 12-24 hours before you need to cook the bird, I recommend a simple salt-and-pepper cure to improve the chicken’s flavor. I only started curing chickens about a year ago, and it certainly is not a requirement, although it definitely has a positive impact on the outcome. To cure the chicken, combine 2 tablespoons of coarsely flaked sea salt (Maldon is my favorite) with about ½ tablespoon of freshly ground black pepper. Remove the chicken from its packaging, and remove the neck and any other extras from inside its body cavity. (Note on the odd bits: I throw the neck in the pan to generate more tasty chicken juice, but you could also use it to make a quick stock. You can reduce this further and combine with pan drippings later to make really fantastic gravy, see recipe below.) Place the chicken in a small roasting pan. A Pyrex pie pan, an All-Clad sauté pan, or a cast iron skillet will all do nicely. Fold the wing tips under the body. Using your fingers, detach the skin from the chicken breasts and thighs. Trim any large pieces of fat away from the neck and cavity areas. Rub the chicken inside the cavity and under the skin with the salt and pepper mixture. Cover loosely with waxed paper and refrigerate until you’re ready to roast. DO NOT salt-cure unless you have at least 12 hours before cooking, or the salt will not have time to adequately disperse through the chicken and you will have a salty bird.

Preparation

When you’re ready to cook the bird, preheat the oven to 500°. Slice 4-5 cloves of garlic and quarter 1 organic lemon, and place inside the cavity. I used to truss chickens (to the delight of more perverse acquaintances, I often trussed them in their own skin, making a slit in the lower breast skin on one side and slipping the opposite drumstick into the hole) but I find that you can roast in less time with more even results by leaving the legs be. You’ll also be rewarded with more crispy skin. Next, and it is helpful to have an assistant at this juncture, pour 2-3 tablespoons of olive oil into your hands and rub it all over the chicken. Shake about 1½ teaspoons of paprika over the top of the chicken for an even dusting, followed by 1-2 tablespoons dried thyme. If you did not cure the chicken, season well with salt and pepper.

You’ll notice this recipe does not call for stuffing the bird with bread-based stuffing; as a matter of fact, I’m fairly opposed to this practice as it means longer cooking times and drier birds. I love stuffing just as much as the next person, I just prefer to bake it in its own dish, as opposed to up a chicken’s butt.

Before you pop the chicken into the oven, press down on one of the back legs and note the texture of its motion as it returns to its original position. Make a mental note of this, as this is what “raw” feels like. As you become more practiced, you may be able to use this as a method for determining when your chicken is done.

Roasting

Place the chicken in the oven with the rack set so the bird is right in the middle. Roast for about 15 minutes, then reduce the oven temperature to 350°. Roast for another hour or so. For your first few chickens, I recommend checking for doneness by piercing the spot where the thigh joins the body. Clear juice indicates that the bird is done, whereas pinkish or bloody juice means back to the oven. Keep up with the “pressing the back leg down” test to see how the motion and feeling changes as the chicken approaches done-ness. Resist the urge to open the oven door where possible, however, as you’ll lose heat very quickly.

Once the chicken is done, remove from the oven and cover with a tent of aluminum foil. Allow it to rest for at least 15 minutes.

Carving

To carve, place the chicken on a cutting board. If you have one with a gutter around the edges for catching juice, use that one, otherwise be prepared to waste tasty juice and paper towels. Using a sharp kitchen knife, slice away the skin between the leg and the breast until you can tell where the connecting joint is. There’s a “sweet spot” where you can easily slice through the joint, separating the leg from the body. Angle the knife toward the body and rotate the leg a bit to get the best access. Once you’ve removed both legs, slice diagonally between the drumstick and the thigh to separate. Place on a a warmed platter, and keep covered with aluminum foil. Next, slice away the wings with a small piece of breast meat. Again, there’s a sweet spot, be patient and poke away with the knife until you find it. Next, slice from the top of the breast along the bones of the rib cage to remove the breast in one whole large piece. Slice across the breast into 1/2 inch slices. Repeat with the other breast. This is as far as the civilized usually go, but the truly enlightened know that the best bits of all are hidden on the back — flip the carcass over and feel around for the juicy “oysters.” These are best removed and consumed kitchen-side.

Now pour the carving-juice back into the pan, and use it and a whisk to loosen tasty drippings from the bottom of the pan. If there is a lot of fat, tilt the pan so that the juices accumulate in one corner. The fat will rise to the top, where you can skim it off with a spoon. Pour the pan juices over the carved chicken, and serve immediately.

Fancy Gravy

In a small sauce-pan, combine the chicken neck, a stalk of celery sliced into pieces, a small sliced onion, a sliced carrot, a few sprigs of flat-leaf parsley, 3-4 cups of water, and a few peppercorns. Bring to a boil, and reduce heat to medium. Simmer for 45 minutes, then strain out the solids. Continue to simmer until volume is reduced by half.

When the chicken is done, pour carving juices back into the pan and place over medium heat. Add 1/2 cup white wine and whisk the sticky drippings up from the bottom of the pan. Add 1-2 tablespoons flour and whisk for a few minutes more. Add wine or stock gradually until you achieve desired volume (about 1 cup usually), whisking continually. Gravy is done when it thickens, after 3-4 minutes. Taste and correct seasonings.

I have invented health food store Hamburger Helper. You can make it in about 1/2 an hour using only one large pan. My health food store has packages of natural lean hamburger for about $7/lb, and the other ingredients are readily available. I don’t know that this is actually all that much better for you than real Hamburger Helper, but at least there are fewer preservatives and the tomatoes are real. Also, I guarantee it is superior in tastiness.

1 tbsp olive oil
1 lb lean organic ground beef
salt and pepper
1 onion, diced
2 cloves of garlic, pressed
splash of white or red wine
1 can Muir Glen whole peeled tomatoes
the same can full of water
1 tbsp thyme
2 bay leaves
2 boxes Annie’s Shells and Cheese
1 tbsp butter
1/2 cup grated parmeggiano-reggiano (optional)

Heat olive oil over medium-high heat in a large heavy-bottomed sauté pan with a lid. Add ground beef and brown, breaking up large pieces with a wooden spoon. Add salt and pepper to taste. Transfer to a bowl, and add diced onions to pan. Sauté until softened, splashing the pan with wine if the bottom gets to dry or crusty. Add garlic and sauté for one minute. Add the meat back in, and add the tomatoes, crushing them with your hand (poke a hole in them with your thumb first to avoid the dreaded tomato squirt). Add thyme, bay leaves, water and pasta from both boxes of Annie’s and cover. Go away and do something else for 15-20 minutes. When you come back, check the pasta for done-ness. Assuming it’s cooked to your desired al dentation, add the Annie’s cheese packages and stir. If it’s too wet, turn the heat to high and stir like heck for a few minutes. If it’s too dry, add more water and cook a few minutes more. Add butter and stir. Correct seasonings. Enjoy. For even more enjoyment, pour into a 9×12 casserole, top with grated cheese, and bake at 375 for about 20 minutes.

Makes about 8 normal person servings or 4 really hungry person servings.

A side dish for a very fancy dinner party, or a main course with a salad and a bottle of white wine. From the wonderful Silver Palate Good Times Cookbook.

6 tablespoons (3/4 stick) unsalted butter
4 cloves garlic, minced
4 ounces thinly sliced prosciutto, cut into thin strips
Florets of 1 large head cauliflower, cut into 1/4-inch lengthwise slices
2 tablespoons unbleached all-purpose flour
1 1/2 cups heavy or whipping cream
Pinch cayenne pepper
Salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
1 1/2 cups grated Swiss cheese
1/2 cup chopped fresh parsley

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
2. Melt the butter in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the garlic and sauté 2 minutes. Stir in the prosciutto and sauté 2 minutes more.
3. Add the cauliflower and cook just until it begins to lose its crispness,3 to 4 minutes.
4. Stir in the flour and then the cream. Blend well. Season with the cayenne and salt and pepper to taste. Heat to boiling and immediately remove from heat.
5. Pour the cauliflower into a shallow au gratin dish. Top with the cheese and parsley. Bake until the top is lightly browned and bubbling, about 30 minutes. Serve immediately.

Serves 6-8 as a side dish.

I love cozy wine-flavored winter stews: this is a classic based on a recipe from Julia Child. In From Julia Child’s Kitchen this recipe appears side by side with the recipe for Coq au Vin, as the techniques and ingredients are so similar — a quick sauté followed by a slow simmer in a wine-y liquid.

This is a simple recipe. The most time consuming part is peeling the pearl onions, one of the all-time most irritating kitchen chores, on a par with washing lettuce or peeling butternut squash. You can cut this time in half by blanching the onions in boiling water for about 45 seconds and allowing them to cool for a few minutes before peeling. Make sure this is finished before you start the chicken.

Because the wine makes up such a high percentage of the cooking liquid, it’s best to choose something you’d be more than happy to drink on its own. My choice would be a nicely balanced French chardonnay or pinot gris. Serve this over rice, wild rice, basmati rice, or egg noodles. Serves 6 as a hearty supper or 10-12 as a light meal.

2 1/2 lbs chicken parts, patted dry
4 tbsp butter
salt & pepper
3 tbsp flour
2 tbsp dried tarragon
1 tbsp dried thyme
30-40 peeled yellow or white pearl onions
2 cups decent quality white wine
up to 1 quart chicken broth
3/4 lb button mushrooms, sliced
1 cup heavy cream
1 bunch fresh tarragon

Melt butter over medium heat in a large heavy-bottomed pan with a cover (the Le Crueset dutch oven, pictured, is ideal.) Sauté chicken for 10-15 minutes until the exterior firms up, turning frequently so it doesn’t brown. The skin should be pale golden in color. Add salt, pepper, dried tarragon, thyme, and onions, and cover. Cook for about 10 more minutes. Sprinkle with flour and stir. Remove from heat and add wine, scraping up any bits stuck to the bottom with a wooden spoon. Add chicken broth to cover, replace over medium-high heat and simmer gently for 35-40 minutes, until chicken pieces are cooked through. Add mushrooms and simmer a few minutes more. Turn heat to low. Stir in cream and fresh tarragon, and serve immediately.

NOTE FOR DISAPPOINTED FRICASSEURS: The fact that your fricasee failed to thicken is MY FAULT. This shit’s supposed to have flour in it. You’re at least as good a cook as me, and a better copy editor.

Friday Dinner
Cheese Fondue
Green Salad
Bread
Saucisson Sec
Cornichons
***
Clear Crisol Torrontes 2005
***
James Cupcakes

Saturday Breakfast
Stollen
Scrambled Eggs
Pancetta
Coffee
Juice
Fruit Salad

Saturday Dinner
Bacon-wrapped Dates
Shrimp Cocktails
Baby Yukon Gold Potatoes with Sour Cream and Caviar
***
Pomegranate Martinis
***
Salmon w/ Mustard and Brown Sugar
Sauteed Spinach w/ Garlic and Raisins
Risotto
***
Twin Fin Pinot Noir
***
Stilton
Marcel & Henri Duck Mousse with Truffles
***
Gilbert’s “G” Tawny Port
***
Chocolate Cake
Whipped Cream
***
Bugey Cerdon Sparkling Rosé

Sunday Brunch
Dutch Baby Apple Pancake
Sausage
Coffee
Juice
***
Mimosas

Sunday Supper
Chicken Chili
Guacamole
Cheddar Cheese
Scallions
Jalapenos
Tortilla Chips
***
Beers
***
Cookies

Perfect for late summer outdoor eating when tomatoes are heavy and ripe and the air has cooled.

Saute

1 Red Bell Pepper, diced
1 Yellow Bell Pepper, diced
1 Clove Garlic, smashed

in

1 1/2 tbsp. Olive Oil

for about 4 minutes. Add

2 Ears of Corn, cut off cob
1 Clove Garlic, sliced
1/3 cup Red Scallions, chopped
2 large Brandywine Tomatoes, diced
2 Chipotle Peppers in Adobo, finely chopped
1 tbsp Rosemary, chopped

Saute 6-10 minutes over high heat until it gets soupy and the juices mingle. Lower the heat, and add

1 cup Heavy Cream

Add

1 lb Fusilli

Boiled in

Salted Water

Garnish with

Parmesan Cheese, grated