Grilled Caesar Salad

Before we go any further:  Yes, you grill the lettuce.  Say what?!  I first encountered this recipe at an Italian restaurant in our neighborhood a few years back.  It was a revelation—you can grill lettuce! And  instead of making it nasty and squishy, just a tiny bit of char adds so much flavor and texture as to change the whole dish!  Then I saw the idea again in a magazine last week and, that was it, I had to try it at home.  (Okay – I made my husband do the actual grilling.  But I supervised, I promise!)

The dressing comes together in a snap in the food processor (or you can do it old-school in a wooden salad bowl with a fork, but I find it is hard on my forearms!)  The only ingredient you may not have is anchovy paste.  It’s pretty cheap and lasts forever in your fridge, and it adds that “umami” flavor you can’t get anywhere else.  It’s also great in spaghetti sauce, if you’re worried you won’t make a lot of Caesar salad.  This dressing also calls for a raw egg yolk.  I would highly recommend buying the highest quality eggs you can find – check your local farmer’s market – or at least getting organic, free-range, or both.  (If you are immunosuppressed you could substitute a spoonful of store-bought mayonnaise, but it’s just not the same.)  Also, you’ll notice there are no croutons on my plate.  We almost never eat bread, but if croutons are your thing, go ahead and pile them on!

This salad was a side dish to a dinner of grilled steaks and grilled veggies.  Feel free to chop up some grilled chicken and make it a whole meal!  For a side dish, plan on one half of a head of lettuce per person.  If you are making it the main dish, serve a whole head of lettuce per person.  Curious?  Let’s go!

Grilled Caesar Salad

Ingredients:

• 2 cloves garlic, peeled
• 1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
• 1/2 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
• 1 egg yolk
• 1 teaspoon anchovy paste
• juice of one lemon
• 1/4 – 1/3 cup olive oil
• 1 head romaine lettuce
• croutons and grated parmesan cheese to serve

Directions:

1. Prepare the dressing:  In a food processor, blend together the garlic, mustard, Worcestershire sauce, egg yolk, anchovy paste,  and lemon juice.  Blend in 1/4 cup of oil.  Taste to see if you like the consistency.  If you want it more diluted, add more oil.  Refrigerate until ready to serve.
2. Prepare the lettuce:  Slice it vertically down through the core.  You have two long halves now.  Wipe with a dry paper towel.  The lettuce needs to be completely dry or else it will stick and wilt.  No washing it, no oiling it!  Place the lettuce on the grill, cut side down, for 2 minutes without moving it.  With tongs, take it off the grill and lay it grilled-side up on a plate.  Don’t cover it or it will get soggy.  Drizzle with dressing, and add croutons or grated cheese to serve.  Eat it now!

Crustless Kale Quiche

Talk about a tongue twister!  It’s worth the effort to say, and the little bit to make, because this Crustless Kale Quiche hits the spot.

I’ve only made this once … and I’ve already eaten almost half of it.  The kale adds a little bitterness and chew to what would otherwise be a run-of-the-mill spinach pie.  Nutmeg, currants, and pepitas add an almost sweet, Middle Eastern flavor profile.  The three eggs are just enough to combine the ingredients without becoming heavy or custardy like a regular spinach quiche.  Don’t get me wrong – a traditional spinach and swiss cheese quiche is wonderful, but this one is lighter, with an unexpected combination of flavors that will have you craving it again.

I ate this hot, and I ate it cold, cut right out of the fridge.  I ate this with a big slab of goat cheese on top and I ate it plain.  I’m going to eat more of it with dinner tonight and see if I can’t discover some new way to enjoy it.  If you want your greens, with a little extra zing, try this instead of a salad tonight!

Crustless Kale Quiche

Ingredients:

• 1 pound bag of frozen chopped spinach
• 1 large bunch of kale
• 3/4 cup pepitas (or try pine nuts or sunflower seeds)
• 1 tablespoon coconut oil (or butter) plus more for greasing the pie plate
• 1 teaspoon chopped garlic (about 2 cloves)
• 1/2 cup currants or raisins (next time I’m trying golden raisins!)
• 1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 3 eggs
• Goat cheese, to serve, if desired

Directions:

1. Wash the kale and remove from the stem, tearing it into smaller-than-bite-sized pieces.  Saute on medium heat in a large pot with a lid.  Don’t add any extra water or oil – just the damp kale by itself.  Stir occasionally until it gets soft, about 15 minutes.  When it appears soft and has reduced in volume, pour in the bag of frozen spinach.  Stir to combine and replace the lid.  Cook on medium-low for another five minutes until the spinach is thawed.  Remove from the heat and let cool.
2. Preheat the oven to 350*F.  While the spinach and kale are cooling, heat the coconut oil over medium and add the pepitas.  Stir frequently for 5 minutes, then add the garlic and currants.  Stir for another 3 minutes.
3. Squeeze out as much water from the kale mixture as possible, then dump it into a large bowl.  Pour over the pepita mixture and combine.  Add nutmeg and salt.
4. Beat 3 eggs well and mix into kale mixture.  Grease a pie plate, then fill with the kale mixture.  Smooth it down so you have a flat top.  Bake for 35 minutes or until not wet in the middle.  Serve warm or cold, with goat cheese or without.

Pickled Red Beet Eggs

I remember as a kid being very sad one Easter Sunday.  It was because, when I peeled one of the eggs I worked so hard to paint and dye and sticker-ize and bedazzle—all that work—the inside looked just like a plain, un-dyed egg!  (I hope my Mom told me that beauty is only skin deep.)  But later on in the day, I was delighted when my Mom took the big container of Pickled Red Beet Eggs out of the refrigerator! When you cut into one of these purple beauties – surprise! – the color went all the way through to the yolk!

This recipe is a great way to use up those hardboiled eggs.  I’ve found my kids like dyeing them way more than they like eating them, so I am usually guaranteed half a dozen eggs to use in this dish.  This is an old Pennsylvania Dutch recipe that came from my Mom and her mother, in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania.  You can adjust the ratio of vinegar to sugar, but I like how these are sweet-tart and firm.  Some people add very thinly sliced onions to the beet brine, and others add whole cloves.  I like them with just these 4 ingredients.

You’ll want to let these soak for at least 2 days.  I wouldn’t let them sit more than a week, but I really doubt they’ll last that long!  Make sure the eggs and beets are in a deep and narrow container so everything is submerged – if you go shallow and wide, your eggs won’t color evenly and you’ll have to rotate them at least 2 times a day.  So raid the kids’ Easter baskets and start pickling!

Pickled Red Beet Eggs

Ingredients:

• 6 eggs
• 2 cans sliced beets (not pickled beets)
• 1/3 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup vinegar (you can use white or apple cider)

Directions:

1. In a sauce pan, place eggs in one layer.  Fill pan, covering the eggs with an inch of water.  Cook on high until a boil is just reached, then immediately remove from heat and cover with a lid.  Set a timer for 13 minutes.  When the time is up, drain the eggs and fill the pan with ice and water.  Let cool.
2. Peel the cooled eggs and put them in a deep container with a lid.  Dump the two cans of beets and their juice into the container, followed by the sugar and vinegar.  Swirl around to dissolve.  Store in the refrigerator for at least 2 days, making sure the eggs are submerged (or turning them if they are not.)  Cut eggs in half and serve with beets.

Spaghetti Carbonara

I love poached eggs.  They are nature's Sauce Bombs!  So I decided to see if I could replace the whipped egg sauce of Spaghetti Carbonara with a more-cooked, healthier helping of poached eggs.  Did I succeed?  In a word, YES!  Check out the recipe I posted at GCH:  Spaghetti Carbonara.

Egg and Olive Salad, and Mayonnaise From-Scratch

This was my favorite lunch when I was a kid: an egg and olive salad sandwich on wheat bread, maybe with a leaf or two of lettuce, and some fruit.  So when my friends and I gathered for an impromptu second-baby shower for a friend, I offered to bring tea sandwiches.  Cucumber, of course, and a chicken salad with chutney, and these egg and olive salad sandwiches.  None of my friends had had this combination before and were surprised that I hadn't invented it.  I don't know if it's an East Coast thing and my California-born friends had never come across it before, but I realized that I have to share this tasty secret!

 This recipe is pretty bare bones, and that's how I like it.  Like any other salad, people like to add different things; please feel free to doctor this as you see fit.   If you are watching your carbs or are cutting out refined and processed foods, skip the bread and serve on lettuce leaves - either in little bundles in butter lettuce leaves, or down the middle of a romaine leaf.

Also included is my recipe for homemade mayonnaise.  You certainly don't have to take this extra step for egg and olive salad (or tuna salad or potato salad or whatever) - but it's tasty and fresh, so why not? This recipe is a great starting place for aioli or creamy salad dressings.  And of course, as with any from-scratch recipe, you know what's in it, so you can avoid allergens, preservatives, stabilizers, et cetera.  If you have a blender, why not give it a try?  (Insert obligatory warning about raw eggs and people who are pregnant or have a compromised immune system.  But you already knew this, right?)

Egg and Olive Salad

Ingredients:

• 4 hard-boiled eggs
• 1/4 cup green olives (preferably with pimentos)
• 2 tablespoons mayonnaise
• 1 teaspoon yellow mustard
• salt and pepper (optional)

Directions:

1. In a mixing bowl, use two knives to roughly chop the eggs.  Don't mash it, but don't leave the chunks of egg too big.  Mix in the mayo and mustard.  Check for consistency - you may want a little more mayo, it's up to you.
2. Chop the olives and mix into the egg salad.  Taste - you'll probably want to add some pepper, but  it might already be salty enough from the olives.  Serve on bread or lettuce leaves.

Homemade Mayonnaise

Ingredients:

• 1 egg (as fresh as possible - splurge for farmer's market eggs if you can)
• 1/2 teaspoon Dijon mustard, or dry mustard powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar or lemon juice
• 1 cup very light olive oil, or half olive oil and half grape seed oil

Directions:

1. In a blender, combine egg, mustard, salt and vinegar.  Blend until light yellow and frothy.
2. Take off the little cap in the top of the blender lid, and through the whole, with the blender running, add a drop of oil at a time.  Seriously, it's going to seem like it this is going to take forever, but if you add too much at one time, the mayonnaise will "break" and won't get creamy; it'll get clumpy and gross.  So go SLOOOW.  After a minute of adding a few drops at a time, you can add the rest in a very very thin stream, stopping every few seconds.  Soon you'll have smooth, thick mayo, ready for whatever you have planned for it.  

This keeps in the fridge for about a week.  I like using it to make Curried Chicken Salad!