Salmon Nicoise Salad

Last Year's Post:  Muffuletta Sandwiches
Two Years Ago:    Chicken with Fresh Cherry Salsa

Nicoise refers to something from Nice, France.  In this case, it refers to a famous main-dish salad typically made with tuna, green beans, potatoes and eggs.  Salmon is a relatively common substitute and I wanted to use it here for two reasons:  fresh wild salmon is in season right now, and salmon has lower mercury levels than tuna.  Plus, salmon is really good for you along with the green beans, potatoes and olives.  Fresh salmon is preferable to frozen, and wild-caught is better than farmed.  Buy the best quality fish you can find - it really does make a difference.

This is a fabulous and pretty main dish salad suitable for company, and it's easy to make because you can do all the cooking in advance - all that happens at the last minute is assembly.  That makes it perfect for a summer meal.

There are four ingredients that you might consider a little fancy-schmancy, but they're worth it.  The first is haricot verts, or small French green beans.  You'll often find them pre-packaged as "French green beans" at the grocery store.  If you can't find them, use regular green beans.

The second is tiny multi-colored potatoes, which can be found pre-packaged in most stores these days.  They're really cute but if you can't find them use the tiniest potatoes you can find.

Frisee is a light green lacy lettuce that's very pretty (on the right in the picture below).  You can find it in some grocery stores or natural foods stores.  I found the red variety in a plastic container with three other types of lettuce in my local store and thought the combination of the two would be pretty, but you could always just use a bag of spring mix lettuce instead.

And finally, Nicoise olives are slightly smaller than their more common Greek cousin, kalamatas, but you can use kalamatas in a pinch - the taste is fairly similar.

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Salmon Nicoise

Serves 4

Note:  to make ahead, make the vinaigrette and refrigerate.  Cook the salmon, eggs, beans, and potatoes and refrigerate covered separately.

For the vinaigrette:

½ medium shallot, diced

1 teaspoon Dijon mustard

1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice

1 tablespoon red wine vinegar

4 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

Salt and pepper to taste

1-2 mashed anchovy fillets or anchovy paste, optional

12 ounces skin-on salmon fillet, preferably fresh and wild caught

Olive oil, for brushing

Salt and pepper

4 eggs, room temperature

6 ounces haricot verts (thin French green beans), trimmed

12 ounces tiny multi-colored potatoes

6 cups frisee or other lettuce

1/3 nicoise olives, pitted

2 tablespoons capers, rinsed and drained

For the vinaigrette, combine all ingredients in a small jar with a tight-fitting lid and shake vigorously.  Alternately, add all ingredients except olive oil to a small bowl, then whisk olive oil in slowly.  Taste vinaigrette and adjust seasonings.

Season the salmon by brushing with olive oil and sprinkling with salt and pepper.  Grill on an outdoor grill or indoor grill pan over medium-high heat for 4 minutes on the first side and approximately 3 minutes on the second side, until the internal temperature reaches 140d.  Remove from heat and let rest.  Remove the skin.

Bring a medium saucepan of water to a boil, then gently submerge the eggs.  Boil for 9 minutes, then remove and immediately place in an ice bath.  Add the green beans to the boiling water and cook for 2 minutes, then remove with a slotted spoon and place in the ice bath with the eggs.  When cold, remove the eggs and beans from the ice bath and pat dry.  Finally, add the potatoes to the boiling water and cook for 15-20 minutes until fork-tender.  Remove, drain, and let cool.

When ready to serve, divide the lettuce between four plates.  Break the salmon into large flakes and place in a pile on each plate.  Cut the potatoes in half (or thirds, if larger) and place next to the salmon.  Divide the haricot verts and olive between plates.  Shell the eggs and slice or cut in half, and place on each plate.  Scatter the capers on top of each salad, drizzle with vinaigrette, and serve with any remaining vinaigrette passed separately.

French Chicken Salad

Last Year's Post:  In Praise of Asparagus

Look For Beautiful Ingredients
Someone once said we eat with our eyes first, which is kind of an annoying phrase but true.  Never under-estimate the wow factor of a few beautiful ingredients like the french haricot verts (arh-ee-koh vair) and artisan lettuces I found at the store this week.  Haricot verts are simply a smaller and thinner version of regular green beans with really cool pointy ends.  Don't cut off the ends -they're part of the appeal.  The beans are very tender compared to larger green beans and don't take long to cook - you want them to be crisp-tender.

I've never seen such deep red lettuce before.  There was enough lettuce in this container for at least four huge salads and it was really fresh.  It all got a quick cold rinse and spin in the salad spinner, then off to the refrigerator wrapped in paper towels and sealed in a plastic bag to stay fresh.  If your lettuce is slightly wilted, this treatment will even refresh it back to crisp again.

I always keep my eye out for beautiful and unusual ingredients (especially produce) whenever I'm at the farmer's market or stores like Whole Foods, Trader Joe's or the local high-end grocery store.  I file any discovered treasures away in memory until I come across a recipe that would showcase them.  For example, I found the most fabulous teeny-tiny deep red carrots at the farmer's market last year that I plan to showcase in something when I find them again this summer.  (The Lawyer always asks me how I can remember stuff like that.  He, who can quote winners and scores from NCAA tournaments from 10 years ago.  Men.)

I like to save money on groceries as much as anyone, so when I plan meals for the week I buy as much as possible at the local discounter and then head to the higher-end store for a few special ingredients such as these.  You're still saving money compared to going to a restaurant, and eating a lot healthier too.  Speaking of healthier, warm weather is coming and so are shorts and swim suits.  Great time for salads, don't you think?

This type of salad is called a composed salad because it's, well, composed as opposed to tossed all together.  If you have great ingredients, taking the time to arrange them will make your salad look more beautiful.  Group ingredients side by side to make the most of contrasting colors.  Leaving ingredients whole (such as the haricot verts) also makes the salad more spectacular - the diners can cut everything up and toss it all together if they want (after they stop admiring it, of course).  I debated about leaving the walnuts whole also, but they're kind of difficult to chop up with a table knife and fork so I compromised by leaving them in large pieces instead.  Flying walnuts would undoubtedly be amusing but also messy.

Another tip about making pretty salads - wait until the meat is fully cooled (and preferably refrigerated for a few hours) before slicing for the most perfect slices.

Enough about making food pretty, it has to taste great too.  As with many other foods, one of the most attractive aspects of this salad is its interplay of textures and flavors - juicy chicken, crunchy walnuts, creamy cheese and crisp fresh beans all brought together with a tart lemon-Dijon dressing.  If you don't have the time or inclination to search out fancy ingredients the salad will certainly still taste just as good with regular green beans and a bag of salad greens. You can also use another kind of cheese if you prefer - I used Monterey Jack but Colby, goat cheese, Fontina or feta will also work well.

What makes this salad french?  The lemon-mustard dressing, fresh thyme, walnuts, green beans and chicken are all traditional french ingredients plus the emphasis on visual appeal is very french.  It tastes completely delicious and it's very healthy, plus you can prepare the walnuts, chicken, vinaigrette and beans in advance so all you have to do when you're ready to eat is arrange everything on the plate and drizzle with the vinaigrette.  Yum.  Salad never looked so classy.

printable recipe

French Chicken Salad
Serves 4

For the salad dressing:

1 tablespoon Dijon mustard

2 tablespoons red wine vinegar

¼ cup olive oil

1 tablespoon minced shallots

1 tablespoon minced fresh thyme, plus more for garnish

For the salad:

2 large boneless skinless chicken breasts

¼ cup soy sauce

¼ cup olive oil

Freshly ground pepper

16 oz haricot verts (French green beans)

1 1/3 cups Monterey Jack (or Fontina, Colby, or feta) cheese, cut into small cubes

1 cup walnuts, toasted and coarsely chopped

Red leaf lettuce

  

Make Ahead:

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees and line a baking pan with foil.  Place the chicken breasts in the pan, and brush both sides with soy sauce and olive oil.  Sprinkle both sides with pepper.  Roast to an internal temperature of 160 degrees (165 degrees after resting a few minutes), about 20 minutes.  Cool completely in the pan, then place the chicken breasts and pan drippings in a sealable plastic bag.  Shake the bag to coat the chicken breasts with drippings, then place in the refrigerator for an hour or two.

Combine the mustard and vinegar in a medium bowl.  Gradually whisk in oil.  Add shallots and thyme, then set aside.

Cook beans in large pot of boiling salted water until crisp-tender, about 4 minutes for haricot verts or 5 minutes for regular green beans.  Drain and immediately place in a bowl of ice water to stop the cooking process.  Drain again and pat dry.  (Can be prepared 1 day ahead.  Cover chicken and beans separately and refrigerate.)

Remove the chicken from the refrigerator and thinly slice crosswise.  Add a small amount of dressing to the beans and toss to coat.  Place the leaf lettuce on plates, then top with groupings of cheese cubes, beans, chicken slices and walnuts.  Drizzle the salad with additional dressing and top with the reserved thyme.

Lemon Chicken and Fennel Pot Pies

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Pot pies are wonderful winter comfort food that got a bad rap back in the 1970s with the advent of those frozen pot-pies-in-a-box with little peas and carrots.  OK, time for a confession - I ate a ton of those frozen pot pies in my college days (along with Hamburger Helper minus the hamburger) because they were the cheapest food I could find. ($.79 each)  Bleh. 

Homemade pot pies are an entirely different thing.  This is one of my absolute favorite pot pie recipes and it only takes about 60 minutes to prepare before baking.  The good news is that they freeze beautifully so you can make some on a weekend and have them ready any night of the week.  Have you noticed that upscale comfort foods like pot pies are all the rage at restaurants these days?  You'll be very trendy. I served pot pies at a dinner party once and dressed them up with a cloth napkin underneath (kind of the like picture below, come to think of it) and some fresh herbs tucked in to the napkin folds.  Looked kind of fancy if I do say so myself. 

No little peas and carrots in this recipe - it has moist chunks of chicken, savory fennel, tender green beans, prosciutto, and a lemony sauce. The reason why the chicken stays so moist is because it's gently simmered in chicken broth rather than using a dry cooking method. The fennel is also cooked in chicken broth and imparts a subtle flavor that goes amazingly well with the chicken and lemon. This recipe is lighter in calories than a typical pot pie but sacrifices nothing in terms of taste or...comfortivity.

Of course you could make this recipe as one large pot pie in a quiche pan or pie pan but then you lose the benefits of being able to freeze some for later.  Plus it's not nearly as cute to serve.  :-)  Individual ramekins are readily available in kitchen stores and stores like Bed, Bath and Beyond, Crate and Barrel, or even Target.  They're not expensive and they're available in different sizes.  For this recipe I used 1-1/4 cup ramekins which make a nice-sized dinner with a salad.  If you have big eaters in your house (aka teenaged boys) you might want to get the next size larger which is typically a 2 cup ramekin.

I also chose to use a refrigerated pie crust.  I've made pie crusts from scratch and really can't tell the difference.  If you have deeply held beliefs regarding homemade pie crusts don't let me stop you!  I even hesitated to bring the subject up at all.



* * click here for a printable recipe version * *

Lemon Chicken and Fennel Pot Pies
Makes 6 individual pot pies or one large pot pie

Your favorite recipe to make 2 pie crusts - or - two refrigerated pie crusts
2 fennel bulbs
5 cups low sodium chicken broth
6 boneless skinless chicken breast halves (1 ¾ - 2 lbs), cut into 1” cubes
½ cup green beans, cut into 1” pieces
5 tablespoons unsalted butter
5 tablespoons all purpose flour
3 cups 2% milk
4 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
2 teaspoons crushed fennel seeds
½ teaspoon salt, plus more if needed
Black pepper
¼ lb thinly sliced prosciutto, cut into thin 2” long strips
1 egg white, lightly beaten

6 (1-1/4 cup) ramekins or 1 deep dish pie pan



Prepare pie crust recipe (if using) and refrigerate dough.

To prepare filling: blanch green beans in boiling water for 2-3 minutes, then remove and immediate submerge in ice water to stop the cooking process. Drain and set aside.

Cut leaves and stalks from fennel. Cut the bulbs in half lengthwise and remove the triangular core with a small sharp knife. Cut each half lengthwise again to make four fennel quarters per bulb. Slice thinly crosswise.

Bring broth to a boil in a large saucepan. Add the fennel and cook uncovered for 7 minutes. Add chicken and simmer until tender, about 10 minutes more. Remove and strain the chicken and fennel. Discard the broth.

Melt butter in a large, heavy saucepan over medium-high heat. Add flour and cook, stirring, for 2 minutes. Gradually whisk in milk and continue to whisk until mixture thickens and coats the back of a spoon, 4 to 5 minutes.

Add chicken, fennel, green beans, lemon juice, fennel seeds, ½ teaspoon salt, pepper and prosciutto. Taste and adjust seasonings if needed. Let cool slightly before filling ramekins so the filling won’t start to melt the dough when it’s placed on top.

Roll out the dough (if using) or pie crusts to roughly rectangular shapes and use the bottom of a small plate to make circular indentations approximately 1-2” larger than the diameter of your ramekins. Cut the circles out using a small knife and place on top of the filled ramekins. (Alternately roll out one large pie crust as usual if using a deep dish pie pan.) Fold the extra dough up and in to form a decorative edge. Cut a 1 ½” slit in the top of each to serve as a vent.

At this point the pot pies can be covered and refrigerated for up to a day, or wrapped and frozen. If frozen, thaw overnight before baking.

Arrange a rack in the center of the oven and preheat to 375d. Brush each crust lightly with egg white and bake until pastry is golden brown, 25 to 30 minutes. Serve immediately.

Cuban Paella

Are you planning a get-together in the next few weeks?  Paella is a great choice for entertaining because it's impressive, it's delicious, it makes a lot, and it's easy - you just keep sticking stuff in the pan until it's all done.  The Lawyer and I served paella for a New Year's Eve party last year, and our friends Ron and Susie served it when they had us over for dinner a few weeks ago.  (Ron and Susie recently drove from Minnesota to California by way of Florida. Go figure.)

There are as many variations of paella as there are towns and regions in Spain, Central and South America but they all have a few ingredients in common.  Paella (pronounced pie-ay-uh) starts with arborio rice and a number of spices including saffron.  Most paellas also contain some type(s) of shellfish with shrimp being the most common, but I've seen paella recipes that also contain mussels, clams and even lobster tails.  Paellas often include chorizo, a spicy Spanish sausage (more about chorizo further on), and some paellas contain chicken.  This is a Cuban Paella version that contains shrimp, chicken and chorizo.  The spice paste also includes lime juice and a splash of rum. 

Basically paella is a great one pot meal and you can change the ingredients to suit your taste. For example, I'm not fond of mussels (they taste like ball bearings coated in rubber bands) so you won't see them here.

Lets talk about a couple of the classic paella ingredients.  First, the rice - it's important to use arborio rice for paella rather than a different rice variety.  Why?  Because arborio rice has a high starch content which gives creaminess to the sauce and it also retains a firm center when cooked which gives it a nice chewy texture.  Arborio also is the classic rice of choice for risottos in addition to paellas.

Now lets talk about chorizo.  Chorizo is a spicy sausage common to Mexican and Spanish cuisines.  But there's a hitch - there are two distinctly different varieties of chorizo.  Spanish chorizo is a hard (cured) sausage that is long and thin, similar to pepperoni.  It comes with a paper casing that needs to be removed before slicing. It's moderately spicy but can also be purchased in the "caliente" version (hot) if you can find it.  Spanish chorizo can be found in the deli department of upscale grocers or in gourmet stores.

Mexican Chorizo is a soft uncooked sausage that typically comes in a tube or "chub" as it's known in the food industry (did you know I used to work for Pillsbury?).  It's raw and must be cooked before eating.  You crumble it as it cooks, very similar to Italian sausage. Mexican chorizo can be found in the meat department of most grocers.  You don't use Mexican chorizo for paella but it'll be featured in a future blog post for chorizo quiche with roasted pepper sauce.

OK, now lets talk about spices.  Paella isn't paella without the distinctive taste of saffron.  Yes, saffron is expensive but you only use a tiny bit.  This recipe also includes your choice of Spanish or Hungarian paprika.  Spanish paprika has a smoky flavor which I love while Hungarian is more mild (unless you buy the hot version).  If you want to use hot Hungarian paprika I would suggest using it half and half with regular paprika the first time you make it to make sure the paella doesn't get to spicy for your taste. 

Speaking of spices, do you date yours?  I don't mean as in taking them to the movies, I mean sticking a little label on them showing the month and year you bought them.  If you don't, how do you know how fresh they are?  General rule of thumb is that the shelf life of ground spices and herbs is 6 months, and whole spices can be kept for 12 months.  I always check the spices I need for a recipe to see if I've exceeded the shelf life.  If it's only a month or two over I generally sniff the spice to see if it still has a strong aroma.  If not, or if it's longer than a month or two over the limit, toss the bottle and buy new.  And it doesn't work to use twice as much of an older spice, trust me.  Two times nothing still equals nothing.  That's why I always buy the smallest jar available of any spice, even if I use it frequently.

I highly recommend buying spices from Penzeys (www.penzeys.com) because they have the greatest variety and best prices.  You want paprika?  Great, they have four different kinds.  And don't even start on chili powders.  They have stores around the country (including 2 miles from my house, luckily) and they also do mail order if you don't happen to live near one.

You have a choice of artichokes or green beans in the recipe.  I made it this time with fresh green beans and really liked the fact that they stayed crisp and provided a textural contrast to the other ingredients.

Note that the chicken should marinate up to 16 hours for maximum flavor but you can skip that step if you only start reading the recipe an hour before you want to eat.


* * click here for a printable recipe version * *


Cuban Paella
Serves 8

Cuban Spice Paste:
¼ cup Spanish or Hungarian paprika
2 teaspoons minced garlic
¼ cup fresh squeezed lime juice
2 tablespoons rum (optional)
1 ½ teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon fresh ground pepper
½ teaspoon ground oregano
½ teaspoon ground cumin
2 tablespoons olive oil

2.5 lbs chicken thighs, trimmed and cut into approximate 1.5” chunks
1 tablespoon olive oil
2 cups chopped onions
2 tablespoons chopped garlic
4 ounces Spanish chorizo, wrapping removed and thinly sliced
2 cups Arborio rice
3 cups low-sodium chicken broth
1 cup canned diced tomatoes
¼ teaspoon saffron
2 tablespoons capers, drained
½ cup fire-roasted red bell peppers, cut into strips
16 large shrimp, peeled and deveined but tails left on
2 cups frozen artichoke hearts or two cups green beans, fresh or frozen, cut into 2” pieces


In a medium bowl or ziptop bag, combine paprika, garlic, lime juice, optional rum, salt, pepper, oregano, cumin and olive oil to make a paste. Toss in the chicken thigh chunks and coat well. Refrigerate, turning occasionally, for up to 16 hours or proceed with the recipe if in a hurry.

Preheat the oven to 350d. Heat oil in a large, deep skillet over medium-high heat. Add half the chicken, leaving excess marinade in the bowl to add later. Brown on each side for 3-5 minutes per side, then remove. Cook the other half of the chicken in the same way and remove from the pan.

Reduce the heat to medium and add the chorizo. Saute, stirring occasionally, for 2-3 minutes and remove from the pan. Add the onions and garlic to the pan and cook, scraping up any browned bits from the bottom of the pan, until soft (about 5 minutes). Add the rice and cook, stirring, until well coated with the onion mixture. Pour in the stock, tomatoes, saffron, and any remaining marinade. Bring to a boil, then reduce to a simmer, cover and cook for 15 minutes. Stir in the capers, cover and transfer to the oven. Bake for 20 minutes. Remove from the oven and scatter the surface of the rice with the fire-roasted pepper, chorizo, shrimp, and artichokes or green beans.

Gently pat the ingredients into the top layer of rice, cover and bake for 10 additional minutes or until the rice is tender, the liquid is absorbed and the shrimp are opaque and pink. Stir together before serving.

Salmon with Balsamic Sauce

We recently returned from a weekend in NYC that was very fun.  Each day The Lawyer went to the U. S. Open Tennis Tournament with a buddy and I did the museum thing.  One observation:  Central Park is wider than it appears on a map.  If you optimistically decide to walk from your hotel on the east side through the park to a museum on the west side, then walk around the museum for a few hours and walk back, you will be in need of an adult beverage by the time you stagger into your hotel.  That is, unless you're flattened by a crazed bicyclist in the park who ignores all traffic signs, electronic and otherwise.  Of course we ate way too much of the stuff you're not supposed to eat much of at all. We found a fabulous french bistro/bakery three blocks from our hotel and ate breakfast there twice, plus dinner at Bobby Flay's Mesa Grill one night and our favorite Italian restaurant, Vice Versa, another night.  And of course bagels. Yikes.

Whenever I've been "overfed" for a prolonged period, I start to crave healthy, high fiber foods.  I guess that's good news!  This recipe is a great example.  Salmon is a sustainable fish that is very good for you.  Two of the vegetables are minimally cooked and the other is raw.  You could always substitute different vegetables if you don't happen to care for one or the other, but I thought the radishes were an interesting touch.  I could hardly wait to make this meal when we got back from New York. 


**click here for a printable recipe version**

Salmon with Balsamic Sauce

Serves 4

Sauce:

¾ cup balsamic vinegar

2 tablespoons maple syrup

1 tablespoon Dijon mustard

1 clove of garlic, minced

Salmon:

Four 6-ounce salmon fillets, skinned

1 tablespoon olive oil

Salt and pepper

Vegetables:

1 tablespoon margarine or butter

2 shallots, finely chopped

Salt and pepper

1 clove of garlic, minced

1 fennel bulb, fronds removed, cored and thinly sliced

6 ounces thin green beans

Four radishes, sliced

Hot cooked couscous or rice

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees. 

In a small saucepan, combine the sauce ingredients and bring to a boil over medium heat.  Reduce to a simmer and cook until thick, about 12 minutes.  Set aside to cool for 5 minutes.

Line a small baking sheet with foil or parchment.  Place the salmon on the sheet and brush with olive oil.  Sprinkle with salt and pepper.  Roast until the salmon is almost cooked through, 8 – 10 minutes.  Set aside to cool for 10 minutes.

Heat a large pan of water to boiling and par-boil the beans for a minute or two to set the color.  Immediately drain the beans and place them in a bowl of ice water to stop cooking.  Drain again and pat dry with a paper towel.  In a medium skillet, heat the margarine over medium-high heat and sauté the sliced fennel for a minute or two, then add the beans and garlic and sauté for an additional two minutes.

To serve:  place couscous or rice on each plate.  Top with the vegetable mixture, the uncooked radishes, and a salmon fillet.  Drizzle the salmon with balsamic sauce.