CityMama™

Green Goddess Dressing [I love it so much I could marry it.]

Do people even know what Green Goddess is anymore?  I wonder.  I want to start a Green Goddess revival, beginning with my own kids who LOVE it.  It's 2 good 2 B 4gotten, people.

Green Goddess has to be my favorite salad dressing of all time.  Growing up it was a dressing we had often, and as a result, my siblings and I share a deep and abiding love of this dressing. It has a little something for everyone: the earthiness of anchovies, the bite of fresh garlic, the grassy tarragon, and the zing from green onions. It's sharp and assertive and I think that's why it marries so well with tender, sweet leafy greens.

It's excellent on butter lettuce--it's like the two were meant for each other--but it's also a great medium for a chunky chicken salad which is accompanied by sliced tomatoes and avocado. Or a shrimp or crab salad. Or as a dip for crudité.

I use the Joy of Cooking's recipe as my jumping off point.  Instead of tarragon vinegar, though, I use lots of fresh tarragon.

GREEN GODDESS DRESSING

Use only Best Foods/Hellman's mayo (or light mayo) for this.  (Note: Don't use the new olive oil-flavored mayonnaise "dressing."  I tried it and it ruined my Green Goddess dressing. Pleh. Trust me on this.)

Makes enough for several salads.  Keeps for about a week.

Dump the following into your blender (or use a stick blender) and whiz until green and creamy. It should contain darker green flecks from the herbs.

• 1 cup of Best Foods/Hellman's mayo
• 1/2 cup Greek yogurt or sour cream
• 2 smashed garlic cloves
• 3 anchovy fillets (the kind packed in olive oil)
• a handful of chopped green onions (or chives)
• a handful of chopped flat-leaf parsley
• 1/2 bunch of chopped fresh tarragon, leaves only
• 2 tbsps of white wine or champagne vinegar
• a pinch of lemon zest
• sea salt and fresh ground pepper to taste

Let sit in fridge at least an hour before serving.

Potato-Mac Salad [or an ode to my love of Best Foods mayo]

photo: ohioandoakley.com

Hawaii is equally famous for it's macaroni and potato salads (okay, maybe just "island famous") so it only makes sense that two great tastes would taste great together, right?  For those that are skeptical (and I know you are reading), I say, you just have to try it once and you will be a believer. 

By now you probably already know that Hawaii consumes more Spam per capita than any of the other 49 United States, but I would venture to say that Hawaiians also consume more Best Foods mayonnaise.  When making mac or potato salads, there is just no substitute. There just isn't so don't try to argue with any islander. You won't convince her otherwise. Best Foods FTMFW!

This salad was a huge hit at our Memorial Day barbecue where it was made by my sister.  I love tuna in my macaroni potato salad so I include it here (in a recipe adapted from the excellent cookbook, The Island Plate), but you can omit it if you are a purist. Don't balk at the amount of mayo used. You want the salad to be very white and creamy.

POTATO-MAC SALAD

If you don't want to make chili pepper water, you can subsitute Tabasco sauce.  Potato-Mac salad is a plate lunch staple in Hawaii where it is usually served alongside--you guessed it, MORE STARCH--two scoops of rice.

• 1/2 lb macaroni
• 2 white (waxy) potatoes, peeled and cut into 1/2 inch cubes
• salt and black pepper to taste
• 1.5 cups Best Foods mayo
• Chili pepper water* (recipe follows)
• 1 6-ounce can of tuna, drained and flaked
• 3 hard-boiled eggs, chopped
• 1/2 carrot, peeled and grated
• 1/2 cup minced celery
• 1/2 cup minced onion
• chopped black or green olives (optional)
• chopped parsley or paprika for garnish (optional)

Cook macaroni in salted water according to package directions. Drain, but do not rinse. Set aside.

Cook potatoes in gently boiling, salted water until just tender, about 7 minutes.  Check at the 5 minute mark to make sure they aren't too soft. Drain.

Place macaroni and potatoes in a large bowl. Sprinkle with chili pepper water, salt, and pepper to taste, and let sit for 10 minutes, then toss with 1 cup of mayonnaise and refrigerate until very cold, at least 1 hour. Add remaining ingredients and refrigerate. Just before serving taste for salt and pepper and toss with remaining half cup of mayonnaise so salad looks creamy and fresh. Garnish as you wish.

Chili Pepper Water

Recipe adapted from The Island Plate.

• Water (or some use gin or vodka or a combination of gin or vodka and water)
• generous pinch of coarse sea salt, Hawaiian preferred
• 2-3 small, hot, red chili peppers, stemmed and sliced in half. Since Hawaiian (nioi) peppers are virtually impossible to find outside of Hawaii use small Thai chilis instead.(Available at any Thai or Vietnamese grocer.)
• 2-3 cloves of fresh garlic, peeled and smashed

Fill an old, cleaned glass 8 oz. bottle (i.e. ketchup bottle) 3/4 full of water then pour water into a pot along with Hawaiian salt. Heat water until just boiling; turn off heat and throw in chilis and garlic. Allow to cool and pour into ketchup bottle. Keeps for 3 months in the fridge and gets hotter as it ages.

Meal planning Monday for 4/20/09 (Audience participation edition)

Hey, everyone! It's 4/20!  On the menu this week: Nacho cheese Doritos, Burrito Supremes, and DONUTS!

(Sorry, that was a joke for the stoners.)

Actually, I am not sure what's on the menu this week because it's SO FRICKIN' HOT, that I can't even think about cooking. I've been alternating cold fizzy waters and Arnold Palmers because it's, like, 95 degrees here. I'm thinking maybe a week's worth of dinner salads.  I love taco salad and chopped veggie salads, and lately I've really been digging Vietnamese Chicken Salad (shown), but I'd love to hear from you.  Maybe you can help me fill out my week and in the mean time come up with a collection of cool salads for hot nights that we can all keep in our culinary arsenal.

So tell me: what are your favorite big salads? And can you share your recipe?  We'd all appreciate it!

Stay cool out there!

Somen Salad: A summery taste of Hawaii

This beautiful salad started life as a grouping of composed ingredients in a green heart-shaped bowl. It's then tossed with chilled Japanese somen noodles and a shoyu-sesame dressing.  You can google for your favorite recipe (read them through and you'll get the basic idea), but the basic ingredients remain the same: somen noodles, shredded omelet, pork (char siu and/or Spam), kamaboko (pink and white fishcake). We added daikon sprouts, carrots, and shredded surimi because our market was out of kamaboko.

It's the quintessentially Hawaiian salad—a blend of Asian influences that reflect the beauty of the islands—and I post it in honor of our trip.  We leave this afternoon and I can already smell the sweet, soft fragrance of ginger and plumeria flowers carried on warm trade winds.

Aloha!

Vietnamese Chicken Salad with Mint and Lime

This refreshing salad is from Nigella Lawson.  It's a perfect use of that pre-shredded cabbage that comes in a bag if you don't have the time nor inclination to shred it yourself. You can easily substitute lettuce if you don't like raw cabbage. It calls for a whole bunch of chopped mint, but don't be alarmed--it's essential to the taste, and it's lovely in the salad and not at all over-powering.  I added some broccoli slaw for extra crunch.  I used red jalapeno peppers because they are milder and I didn't want to overwhelm it with spiciness for the kids, but I made a separate little dish of fish sauce with chopped up thai chilis to spoon over my serving. DY-NO-MITE!

This is an example of me trying to sneak spicier foods into my kids' meals.  Both J. and I love spicy food, the hotter the better. I am getting frustrated with not being able to order my favorite spicy dishes as restaurants or having to tone down meals at home because the kids won't eat it. I want them to understand the beauty that is pasta tossed with just garlic, chilis and olive oil or a Korean Yuk Gae Jang (beef and chili pepper soup with an angry red broth) that almost makes you cry it hurts so good.

Bunny is coming around and will now eat kimchis, curries, and salsa.  Wallie is still in wimp mode but will at least try things with a glass of water at the ready.  They're going to have to get with the program if they want to remain in this family. (Of course, I kid.)

The best tuna salad

A touch hyperbolic? Perhaps. But I really think I make the best tuna salad and what's funny about that is: everyone loves their own tuna salad the best, don't they?

In my opinion, tuna salad should never contain pickle relish (pickles a-ok, just not sugary relish) or mustard, and it should be creamy not just-barely-bound-together with mayo. And speaking of mayo, it's Best Foods (or Hellmann's) all the way. It's the only mayo that will do. It should also be made with albacore tuna packed in oil whenever possible (oh, don't be afraid, you drain it off), but water-packed will do in a pinch.

THE BEST TUNA SALAD

• 1 can of albacore tuna (or boneless skinless salmon), drained thoroughly
• 1/2 a fresh lemon
• 1/4 of a sweet onion, very finely minced
• 1/2 a dill pickle, very finely minced
• 1/2 stalk of celery, very finely minced
• Best Foods mayonnaise
• fresh ground pepper
• a little chopped, fresh dill

Place tuna in a bowl, flake it, then moisten with juice of half a lemon and give it a quick mix. This gives the tuna a nice, fresh taste.  Add in onion, pickle, and celery, mix well.  Add in enough mayonnaise to bind all the ingredients, then add a little more to taste so that it's creamy without getting sogged down. I use at least 1 tablespoon to bind, then add another tablespoon at a time until I get the consistency I like. Add in pepper and a sprinkling of fresh dill to taste, mix and serve.  I love it on sandwiches, but I also love it on a Triscuit cracker topped with a dash of habanero hot sauce.

Herbed Fresh Mozzarella (or from "boring" to "something")

You take some of this (drained, quartered if the balls are large):

Add some of this (fresh basil, oregano, parsley; chopped):

And a drizzle of this (your best, most-fanciest olive oil):

Two of these:

Crushed (please give up the pizza flakes in favor of crushed whole dried chilies, I wouldn't steer you wrong on this one, promise):

Toss with a little salt (it needs it) and serve:

The herbed mozzarella is delicious on its own as an appetizer or antipasto, or you can add it to cherry tomato salads or pasta salads or sandwiches.

Hiya Yakko Tofu (Cold Tofu "Salad")

Last week during our 3-day heatwave, when the temperature inside the house seemed like it was 80º even at night, I made this cooling dish. It's one of my favorite things to order at Japanese restaurants and I particularly love it when the tofu cubes are served atop a bed of ice.

I was thinking about tofu this morning, and why kids love it so much. (Not all kids, true, but I know a lot of kids that gobble it up like mine do.) At first glance it seems so...unappealing...and the texture can be a little weird depending on whether you are eating silky soft tofu or meatier firm tofu. Maybe it's the blandness that holds the kid-appeal, or the fact that when marinated or dipped it can take on any flavor. In any case, it's one of those things, that when I make it, I think, "Why don't we eat more tofu?"

Hiya Yakko Tofu is nice because you don't have to cook anything and yet, it boasts assertive flavors. This, along with some rice-cookered rice was dinner the other night.

HIYA YAKKO TOFU

Fresh ingredients are key here. You want the assertiveness of the ginger and the spiciness of the green onions to complement the cool tofu. Depending on the saltiness of the soy sauce and or the flavor of the tofu, you might find you need to add a little sprinkling of sea salt to coax the flavors along.

• 1 brick of very cold tofu, cubed (I used firm this time, but I prefer it with soft-to-medium-firm tofu. Firm tofu retains its shape better when tossed.)
• about 1 tbsp light soy or tamari sauce (or to taste)
• a thumb-sized piece of ginger, finely grated
• 2 green onions, thinly sliced
• a sprinkling of dried bonito flakes (available at any Japanese market)
• optional: a sprinkling of nori furikake (not traditional, but I used this because it contains bonito and I didn't have any on hand. In its simplest form, it's a mixture of shredded nori, sesame seeds, and bonito, but it can contain all kinds of yummy things.)

Place tofu cubes in a bowl. Drizzle with soy sauce. Garnish with other ingredients. When serving try to get a little taste of all the flavors.

Celery Root (Celeriac) Remoulade

Perhaps one of the easiest salads ever.

Looking for an usual salad? This might be it. Recipes I've read mention how tough celery root can be to cut or grate, but I haven't had a problem with the celery roots I purchase from my local farmer's market. They are no tougher to grate than a sweet potato and certainly much easier to deal with than a butternut squash. Maybe freshness is key. (Edited to add: Celery root tastes just like celery—maybe a little milder— but with the texture of a grated crisp apple or Asian pear.)

In any case, I've been enjoying this simple, tangy, crunchy refreshing salad all spring.

CELERY ROOT (CELERIAC) REMOULADE

• 1 celery root, cleaned, peeled and grated with a box grater or food processor
• the juice of one lemon
• two glops of mayonnaise (or enough to make it creamy)
• sea salt and freshly ground pepper
• chopped fresh parsley to garnish

Combine all ingredients in a mixing bowl (reserving some parsley for garnish). Mix well, season to taste. Garnish with remaining parsley and serve.

Bunny and Wallie's favorite, three-helping, sprouterriffic salad

We walked around the farmer's market this morning, some of us (not me) sporting wicked beef n bourbon hangovers. Nothing that a little fresh-brewed French press coffee, a warm ham and cheese croissant, and a little cold, fresh pomegranate juice can't fix.

When all was said and done, we came home with: a sack of apples; a sack or oranges; a half-half-flat of strawberries; a head of butter lettuce; a bag of mixed sprouts; a bag of sprouted peanuts; 4 pounds of assorted potatoes; a bunch of broccoli; some garlic, onions and shallots; 2 bunches of green garlic (making its first market appearance); a celeriac; cilantro; carrots; cabbage (for corned beef and cabbage); salmon; whole grain bread; a 1/2 gallon of apple-cherry cider, and eggs. All organic (or wild), all local.

Tonight I made a big salad for dinner, and this is one salad where Bunny and Wallie eat everything in it and ask for more. And more. And more. Bunny had 5 servings and I am not even kidding.

If you have little salad lovers in your house, you might try this protein-rich salad. The dressing is really tasty. If you don't try it anyway. Cuz you never know.