Chard salad with Walnut Raspberry Dressing
Thanks for all the great comments. I am feeling better, although I’ll admit that this cold is just hanging on and tormenting me. But enough of that because despite the silly cold I’m as busy as ever and I’ve got something special to share with you today. I know it’s just a salad but I personally think that the colors and flavors of this salad are just phenomenal. I dubbed it the french apron salad because it has the same color combination as the apron I bought in Paris. The very same apron that I photographed and used as the graphic header up above…yup, that’s the one. Now you see what I mean.
Here in Wisconsin we’ve had several weeks of tender chard. I know that may sound strange but chard usually has pretty thick and sturdy leaves but the last two batches that my CSA delivered have had beautifully soft, tender greens with stems that match. It seemed wrong to even contemplate cooking this chard so I decided to make a salad. I used a fabulously fresh walnut oil and a raspberry vinegar to create a dressing, I topped it with toasted walnuts, red onions, and carrots. I also used the chard stems but they required a bit of special handling. Chard stems seem to have teeny tiny deep channels that hold onto sand and soil like crazy. I washed then in a sink full of fresh cold water but that didn’t get rid of all the grit and there is nothing worse than a gritty salad. So I filled a quart mason jar 3/4 full with cold water and I dropped the stems in, screwed on the lid and shook it up for at least a minute. When I dumped them out and rinsed them off I gave one the grit test and it passed. The stems add a significant amount of color and a ton of flavor so I’m glad I found a way to use them.
We often get mixed baby greens in our CSA box and they have so little texture and flavor that I really dislike them. But this salad has big textures, big flavors and yet there is a subtlety, a tenderness that is really inviting. I plan on making this pretty salad again.
Chard Salad
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1 bunch of tender chard, stems and leaves
1 small red onion
2 carrots, sliced thin
2 tablespoons raspberry vinegar
¼ cup fresh walnut oil
Squirt of honey
Salt and pepper
1/3 cup toasted walnuts
Separate the chard leaves from the stems. Wash and spin dry the leaves and chop them into 1” ribbons and place them in a large salad bowl. Trim the stems into 2 inch pieces and place them in a quart jar filled ¾ of the way with fresh cold water. Screw on the lid and shake for a minute or so. Drain into a colander and rinse with fresh cold water. Test a stem for grit by eating it. If there is any grit left repeat the shaking routine. If no grit is detected then slice the stems into thin match sticks and add to the salad bowl.
Slice the carrots into think rounds and the onion into thin slices and add to the salad bowl. Combine the dressing ingredients and mix well. Taste and adjust accordingly. Add the walnuts to the salad bowl, add the dressing and toss and serve. It is good as is but I was tempted to add goat cheese…that might be even better.
Another cheesy dessert and a better biscuit
Over the past two weeks I’ve discovered that although I can lose some pounds on South Beach Diet, phase one, I cannot think well on SBDP1…basically it became really difficult to write, to think, and to be happy. Thank god that’s over and I’ve got those bad eating habits that I accrued over the past few months off my back. SBDP2 is much more user and brain friendly.
This is a fabulous dessert that I whipped up yesterday. It’s just a simple baking powder biscuit with a delightfully light, rich, flavorful melange of whipped cream, ricotta, and neufchatel cheese sandwiched between the layers of the biscuit. Circled with some blueberries I found in the freezer (again!) and sprinkled with just a touch of powdered sugar it was simply divine.
As I said, the filling for this luscious treat was whipped cream, ricotta, and neufchatel. I mix a container of lowfat ricotta, a 8 ounce package of neufchatel together in the foodprocessor. I add 1/4 of equal sweetener (sugar would be better but not on SBD) and the insides of a vanilla bean. Whirl that all together and transfer it to a container and refrigerate for at least two hours. Then whip a pint of heavy cream. Once it’s almost fully whipped add 2 teaspoons vanilla and 1/4 cup of equal sweetener. Whip it to mix it all together until it’s light and fliffy whip cream. Gently fold the cheese mixture into it and refrigerate for another two hours before serving. I usually serve 1/3 of a cup of this in a pretty glass cup with or without berries.
I make an awesome biscuit and I’ve just recently improved my technique to the point that I have to share it with you. I know, it’s just a biscuit and you can buy those in cans at the store, but if you try mine you’ll never, ever whump a biscuit again. A typical biscuit recipe cautions you right and left not to overwork the dough. Yet, they tell you to roll it out with a rolling pin and then cut the biscuits out. If you want round biscuits, the classic biscuit shape, you use a circle cookie cutter and then your left with the dough that was in between the circles…so you have to bunch that up and roll it again…etc.
Whew, I’m telling you, that freaked me out every time I did it. It was a waste of time and it always worked the dough more than I felt was right. Instead, try rolling the dough once into a cyclinder the circumference of which will be the size of your biscuit, and then slicing it (with a serrated knife) into sections the size of the biscuit you want. You’ll not only work the dough less but it’s so much faster…really it knocks at least 7 minutes off my biscuit making time and I can make biscuits in my sleep. Plus these biscuits are sooo much more tender and flakier than any I’ve ever made. Try the cylinder technique and let me know what you think.
Vanessa’s Better Biscuit
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2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
6 tablespoons of butter, very cold, diced
1 cup of milk (more or less)
Put the flour, salt, and baking powder into the workbowl of your food processor fitted with the blade. Pulse this to mix it and then add the diced butter. Pulse until it is coarsely combined. Add the milk through the opening in the top as you pulse it to mix it together. Add it very slowly and only add enough to bring the dough together. It’ll be different every time you make them.
Turn the dough out onto the counter (here comes my new technique) and roll it into a cylinder with a circumference that is the size of the biscuit you want to make. Cut the cylinder into equally sized pieces…again depending on the size of biscuit you want. Place them on a cookie sheet lined with silpat or parchment and bake at 400º for 8 - 15 minutes depending on the size you chose to cut them into.
Reinterpreted Moussaka
The other day at the grocery store I picked up two eggplants. I had no idea what I was going to make with them, I just saw that their aubergine skin was tight and they were very plump…in other words, they were in great shape and that is a rare thing around here (except of course in August when eggplant is in season and local). Some vegetables travel well and others don’t and I’m of the opinion that eggplants often don’t. Besides I was looking for anything SBF (south beach friendly).
Somehow between Monday when I bought them and yesterday I came up with the idea to make Moussaka; I have no idea where that idea came from other than I probably read the word bechemel somewhere and started drooling and fantasizing about bechemel, which then brought me to Moussaka, which usually has a bechemel sauce as one of it’s layers.
But of course bechemel isn’t SBF, is it? No. So I improvised and created a substitute with low fat ricotta and 2 egg yolks, plus salt and pepper. It actually worked pretty well if you don’t think of it as a bechemel…oh well. The final dish may not have much in common with a real moussaka but it was damn tasty, very satisfying, and SBF. The fenugreek, cinnamon, and nutmeg gave it an intriguing flavor.
SBF Moussaka
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2 eggplants
1 pound lean ground meat
1 onion, diced
1 tub of low fat ricotta
2 egg yolks
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground fenugreek
1/4 teaspoon grated nutmeg
salt/pepper
1/2 quart tomato puree
1/2 cup low fat mozzarella
olive oil
Preheat the oven to 375°.
Peel the eggplants, cut into 1/2 inch slices, salt, and set it to drain in a colander or on a rack. Do this first so it can drain while you do the other components.
Brown the meat over a medium flame, breaking it into bite-sized pieces and seasoning it with salt. When it’s cooked drain it in a colander. Sauté the onion until soft, then add the meat back to the pan. Add the cinnamon, nutmeg, and fenugreek and let this simmer on low for about 5 minutes. Stir and set aside.
In a small bowl combine the ricotta, the egg yolks, and salt and pepper. Set aside. Grate the mozzarella and set it aside.
Blot the eggplants dry with paper towels. Heat a heavy skillet up on a medium flam and add a thin shimmer of olive oil. Once the oil is almost smoking hot, add the eggplant and brown on both sides. Set aside and continue until all of it is browned.
Now for the fun part, layering the components. In a deep baking dish put the eggplant down as the first layer, then the meat, the ricotta, the pureed tomatoes, then the cheese. Pop it into the oven and let it bake until it’s bubbly and brown on top.
Makes 6 servings and warms up great in the microwave.
