Julia's Kitchen Wisdom (6 page)

Salads and Their Dressings

“The perfect vinaigrette is so easy to make that I see no reason whatsoever for bottled dressings.”

Although we always have with us those hard-core purists who profess to eat fresh produce only when it is locally “in season,” now, with modern packaging, state-of-the-art refrigeration, and rapid transport, we can have almost every kind of fresh produce all year round. We have not yet solved the tomato problem, but certainly greens abound in glorious variety, as do so many other desirable items that are ready and waiting to grace our salad days.

SALAD GREENS

Once you have brought your greens home you naturally want to keep them as fresh and perky as possible. If they are ready trimmed, washed, and packaged, they’ll keep for several days as is. I’m most enthusiastic about the hydroponic “living lettuce,” which keeps perfectly in the refrigerator for a week or more, sitting on its still-attached root in its plastic box. I don’t even wash mine; I’m just careful, when I pull off the leaves, not to disturb the root.

Slightly Wilted Greens.
If this happens to yours, you can often bring them back to a reasonable crispness by soaking for several hours in a basin of cold water.

To Wash Greens
, such as Boston or butter lettuce, curly endive, romaine, oak leaf, escarole, and radicchio, discard wilted leaves and/or tear off wilted parts of leaves. Separate leaves from root ends and, if you wish, tear leaves off from central stems, then tear leaves into serving pieces. Plunge them into a large basin of cold water, pump up and down, let settle a moment so sand will sink to the bottom, then lift the leaves out with your hands, leaving sand behind.

To Dry Greens.
Spin dry a few handfuls at a time in a salad basket.

To Keep Washed Greens.
A most effective system for several hours’ wait, and if you have room, is to lay them out hollow side down on paper towels in a deep roasting pan; cover with a damp towel and refrigerate. Otherwise, I pack the leaves loosely and refrigerate
them surrounded by dampened paper towels in a big plastic bag, where they keep for 2 days or so.

Mixed Green Salad

A pound or so of salad greens will serve 6—all one kind, such as 1 large head of Boston lettuce, or a mixture. The greens are washed and dried, and torn into whatever size you prefer—small pieces are easier to eat, but larger ones toss more attractively and are usually more appealing on the plate. Your salad dressing has been prepared. You have a large bowl at the ready, and a long-handled salad fork and spoon. The moment before serving (and not before, or the salad will wilt), turn the greens into the bowl. Toss with several spoonfuls of the dressing, reaching down into the bottom of the bowl with your spoon and fork and bringing up big clumps of leaves, and repeating rapidly, adding driblets of dressing as needed so that all the leaves are lightly enrobed but the greens are not swimming. Pick up a small piece and taste analytically, tossing in a sprinkling of salt and pepper or more lemon or vinegar if needed. Serve at once.

SALAD DRESSINGS

The perfect dressing is essential to the perfect salad, and I see no reason whatsoever for using a bottled dressing, which may have been sitting on the grocery shelf for weeks, even months—even years. With your own dressing everything is fresh—the best oil, your own choice of vinegar, fresh lemon—and a really good salad dressing is so quick and easy to make, as described here.

SALAD OILS AND VINEGARS.
The choice is entirely up to you, the main consideration being taste. You may sometimes prefer a fruity olive oil over a mild one, or you may like peanut or vegetable oil for certain dishes—just make certain it is fresh and fine. The same goes for vinegar, and be sure you know the taste of a wine vinegar before you buy it, since there is quite a variety in qualities. I personally have always bought the French vinegar from Orléans, because I am used to it, but I have tasted some excellent domestic ones. When you have been served a salad with a particularly fine dressing, ask your hosts how they did it—they’ll be complimented and you’ll be adding a new page to your kitchen recipe files.

Basic Vinaigrette Dressing

This is a bare-bones recipe for the simple all-purpose vinaigrette, which you will vary as you wish; you’ll find suggestions
at the end of this recipe. Its beauty lies solely in the quality of your ingredients. Note that you will so often see proportions of 1 part vinegar to 3 parts oil, but that can make a very acid, very vinegary vinaigrette. I use the proportions of a very dry martini, since you can always add more vinegar or lemon but you can’t take it out.

For about ⅔ cup, serving 6 to 8

½ Tbs finely minced shallot or scallion

½ Tbs Dijon-type mustard

¼ tsp salt

½ Tbs freshly squeezed lemon juice

½ Tbs wine vinegar

⅓ to ½ cup excellent olive oil, or other fine, fresh oil

Freshly ground pepper

Either shake all the ingredients together in a screw-topped jar, or mix them individually as follows. Stir the shallots or scallions together with the mustard and salt. Whisk in the lemon juice and vinegar, and when well blended start whisking in the oil by droplets to form a smooth emulsion. Beat in freshly ground pepper. Taste (dip a piece of the salad greens into the sauce) and correct seasoning with salt, pepper, and/or drops of lemon juice.

TO KEEP SALAD DRESSING.
Vinaigrette is always at its freshest and best when served promptly, but you can certainly cover it airtight and refrigerate it for several days. The shallots and fresh lemon will eventually go off, spoiling the taste of the dressing.

VARIATIONS

• GARLIC.
  Purée the
  garlic
  and add it to or substitute it for the minced shallots. Or rub the salad bowl with a peeled clove of garlic. Or rub a peeled clove of garlic over dry-toasted
  French-bread rounds
  , cut into pieces, and toss with the salad.
  

• LEMON PEEL.
  For a pronounced lemon flavor, mince the zest (colored part of peel only) of a shiny fresh lemon and stir it into the sauce.
  

• HERBS.
  Mince fresh herbs such as parsley, chives, chervil, tarragon, basil, and/or dill and whisk into the finished dressing.
  

• SWEET AND SOUR DRESSING.
  Especially for duck, goose, pork, game. Beat a tablespoon of hoisin sauce or minced chutney into the vinaigrette, including, if you wish, droplets of dark sesame oil. (See using this dressing in a
  duck salad
  .)
  

• ROQUEFORT DRESSING.
  Crumble about ⅓ cup of Roquefort cheese and stir into the ⅔ cup of vinaigrette—or use whatever proportions you wish. A particular favorite of mine, served at the Café de Sevilla in Santa Barbara, is to halve or quarter romaine hearts, set them cut side up on serving dishes, and spoon over them the Roquefort dressing.
  

Chopped Hard-Boiled Eggs—Salad Mimosa

For 6 servings. Neatly dice 2 hard-boiled eggs and toss with 2 tablespoons of minced herbs such as parsley, chives, basil, and/or tarragon. Season lightly with salt and pepper, and sprinkle over the dressed salad just before serving.

Curly Endive with Bacon and Poached Eggs

For 6 servings.
Poach 6 eggs
. Cut a 2-inch square of slab bacon into
lardons
, brown lightly in a frying pan, and drain, leaving ½ tablespoon bacon fat in the pan. Make your vinaigrette right in the frying pan, including the bacon fat as part of the dressing. Toss the curly endive with the dressing, and top each serving with the bacon
lardons
and a poached egg. Garnish with a sprinkling of chopped parsley.

Warm Duck Leg Salad

Particularly recommended when you have used the breast of a roaster duckling, and have uncooked legs to spare. Bone them, skin them, and pound meat between sheets of plastic wrap to a thickness of ¼ inch, then cut into strips ¼ inch wide. Stir-fry briefly in a little olive oil until lightly browned but still rosy inside. Toss with the sweet and sour dressing, and serve on a bed of frizzy lettuce.

MAIN COURSE SALADS

MASTER RECIPE

Salade Niçoise

Of all main-course salads, the Niçoise is my all-time favorite, with its fresh butter-lettuce foundation; its carefully cooked, beautifully green green beans; its colorful contrast of halved hard-boiled eggs, ripe red tomatoes, and black olives; all fortified by chunks of tunafish and
freshly opened anchovies
. It’s a perfect luncheon dish, to my mind, winter, summer, spring, and fall—an inspired combination that pleases everyone.

Serves 6