Spring Salad of Arugula, Strawberries, Baked Goat Cheese & Candied Spiced Pistachios

Spring really is salad season.  I eat salads all year long.  But suddenly in the spring, when the local growers begin to bring heads of freshly harvested lettuce and bags of just cut baby greens and arugula, I begin to really relish salads.  Even the baby lettuces have substance and flavor.  They become far more than just a background for other foods; they are something I enjoy eating just for their own merit (and I often do—munching away on them as I’m cleaning them and putting them away).  So even though my last post was a salad…and I haven’t been posting as much recently because of the busyness of settling into my new home…I’m going to share another salad today.   This one features young arugula paired with the bountiful and flavorful strawberries that are filling the markets right now.

Arugula and strawberries are a fairly common salad combination.  The peppery bite of the arugula goes very well with the sweet and tangy strawberries.  And since they are abundant and at their flavor peak at right around the same time, making a salad of them is a no-brainer.  If you look around on line you will discover that many people add a salty and tangy cheese to the combination…like Feta, a blue or goat cheese…and usually a nut of some kind for added crunch.  I have not veered away from this combination at all.  Instead I have altered the manner in which I add the cheese and nuts.

For the cheese, I used goat cheese.  And instead of simply crumbling it over the salad, I form it into a round, coat it with breadcrumbs and bake it.  The cheese contributes a varied temperature element this way…and also textural variation if you serve it with toasts or crusty bread.  If you don’t want to take the time to form and bake rounds, you can of course just crumble the goat cheese over the salad.  But if you have never had a salad with baked goat cheese before, you really do need to give it a try. 

The nuts that usually appear in this salad are almonds or pecans.  Both are delicious, but I opted for pistachios.  I think their color is particularly.  And to echo the pepper and spice of the arugula…and emphasize the sweetness of the strawberries…I gave them a caramel and spice coating. They are so tasty this way that you’ll probably want to make extra just to have on hand for a snack.

When I worked at The American Restaurant many years ago, we used to put these pistachios (with just pepper for the spice—I’m also adding fennel and coriander) 

on a spinach and blue cheese salad.  It was on a banquet menu so every cook in the kitchen got to make them at one time or another.  I think every cook probably used a slightly different method when making them.  The process is admittedly a bit tricky.  I am giving two methods—one that uses the oven and another that is accomplished entirely on the stove top.  If you toast the nuts in the oven and add them to the hot caramel (my preferred method), you must work out the timing so the nuts are still hot when you combine them with the caramel.  If you don’t, you will have a hopelessly stuck mass of nuts and caramel.  If you choose to toast the nuts in a sauté pan and add the sugar after the nuts get hot (allowing it to caramelize around the nuts) you must be very careful not to scorch the nuts.  Either way, you will need a non-stick sauté pan, an oiled heat-proof spatula and an oiled baking sheet—and you will have to work quickly and be vigilant about tossing and stirring—even continuing to stir a bit after the nuts are out of the pan if you want to have perfectly separated nuts.  If you don’t mind having clumps/clusters, then you can just turn them out of the pan and leave them alone while they cool. 

My final addition to the salad is finely sliced spring onions.  I always keep masses of spring onions in my kitchen this time of year.  I use them as a base for pilafs, pastas and vegetables ragouts…and in salads.  When I cook with them I use some of the green.  For this salad I only use the white and pale green portion.  If you don’t have any spring onions, you may replace them with finely shaved shallot or red onion.  Just make sure that you soak the sliced or shaved onion (or shallot) in a bowl of ice water for five minutes or so.  This will soften the heat/bite of the onion and crisp them up at the same time. 

I hope that everyone is enjoying salads as much as I am this year.  But if not, you can still use the baked goat cheese and spiced pistachio recipes.  Both would make outstanding additions to an appetizer spread for your next summer party.   But I hope you do like salads...and I hope you will try this one.  I would love to promise that my next post will not be a salad post...but you never know.  Salad season isn't quite over yet.

Salad of Arugula, Strawberries, Baked Goat Cheese & Candied Spiced Pistachios

6 oz. soft, Montrachet-style goat cheese

Olive oil

A few sprigs of thyme or winter savory, if you like

Freshly ground black pepper

1/4 to 1/3 c. fine, dry toasted breadcrumbs

3 to 4 oz. arugula, or arugula mixed with baby lettuces

1/4 to 1/3 c. very finely sliced (on a long bias) white and pale green of spring onion, soaked in ice water for 5 minutes and blotted dry

8 to 10 oz. strawberries—preferable on the smallish side (about a half ounce each), rinsed, dried, hulled & quartered

1 recipe Candied Spiced Pistachios

White Balsamic Vinaigrette

Cut the log of goat cheese into four slices.  It is likely the slices will be a bit misshapen, so use your hands to form the slices into 4 neat, 1/2- to 3/4-inch thick disks.  If time permits (or you are thinking ahead) place 1/4 c. Extra Virgin Olive Oil in a shallow pan.  Add a few herb sprigs and a few grindings of black pepper.  Place the goat cheese rounds in the seasoned oil and turn to coat.  Let marinate for an hour or so (or overnight in the fridge), turning once or twice.  If you don’t want to marinate the goat cheese, simple drizzle the rounds with just enough olive oil to coat.  Place the breadcrumbs on a small plate or in a small dish.  Coat the goat cheese with the breadcrumbs.  Place the goat cheese rounds on a lightly oiled baking sheet or dish.  When ready to serve the salad, bake the cheese in a preheated 400° oven for about 6 minutes, until the cheese is softened and lightly bubbling at the edges.

While the cheese is baking, place the lettuces, spring onions and strawberries in a large bowl.  Season the greens with salt & pepper.  Drizzle with a few spoonfuls of the vinaigrette.  Use a sparing hand, you can always add more.  Toss until everything is lightly coated.  Add more vinaigrette if necessary.  Add the pistachios and toss to distribute.  Divide the salad among four plates.  When the cheese is ready, use a small spatula to transfer it to the plates.  Nestle the soft rounds alongside the piles of greens and strawberries.  Serve immediately with crusty bread or toasts.

Serves 4

If you don't have any goat cheese on hand, the salad makes a nice side for a Quesadilla, too

Candied Spiced Pistachios

1/2 c. pistachios

2 T. sugar

1/4 t. each black peppercorns, coriander seed, & fennel seed, coarsely crushed in a mortar & pestle

Kosher salt

Spread the pistachios on a small, lightly oiled baking sheet (or in a pie tin) and toast in a 350° oven until hot through—about 5 minutes.  The goal isn’t so much to fully toast the nuts as to get the process started—they will continue to toast in the caramelized sugar.  The goal is to get them hot.  If they are not hot when they are added to the caramel, the mixture will seize into a tight blob.  The goal is separated pistachios, coated with a light crust of spiced caramelized sugar.

Two or three minutes before the nuts come out of the oven, scatter the sugar in a small non-stick sauté pan (one that will just hold the pistachios in a single layer) and set over high heat.  Shake the pan occasionally to keep the sugar distributed.  It will begin to melt and turn to caramel almost simultaneously.  When the sugar has turned to liquid caramel, 

sprinkle the spices over the caramel and then scatter in the hot nuts.  Using a lightly oiled heat proof spatula to strategically stir and turn the nuts, helping them to become coated in a thin film of caramel.  

Reduce the heat if the caramel starts to smoke.  The nuts will want to stick together, but just continue to stir, turn, and separate them with the spatula until the nuts are mostly evenly coated.  Transfer back to the oiled sheet and use the oiled spatula to spread them out, separating them as much as possible.  

Some will persist in sticking, but they should break up fairly easily once the caramel has cooled.  Let cool and then finish breaking them up.  Store in an airtight container at room temperature.

Alternatively:  Combine the sugar and the spices and set aside.  Place the pistachios in a non-stick sauté pan over medium-high heat.  Toast the nuts stirring frequently, until they are fragrant.   Begin to sprinkle the sugar mixture over the nuts as you simultaneously shake the pan back and forth.  The sugar will immediately begin to caramelize and coat the nuts.  Continue to sprinkle the sugar and shake the pan until the nuts are nicely glazed with the spiced caramel.  Immediately spread the nuts on a greased cookie sheet to cool.

White Balsamic Vinaigrette

2 T. White Balsamic Vinegar

1/2 t. (slightly mounded) Dijon mustard

1/8 t. Kosher salt

1/4 c. Extra Virgin Olive Oil

Place the vinegar, mustard and salt in a small bowl.  Whisk until smooth.  Add the olive oil in a thin stream while whisking constantly.  Taste and correct the seasoning.  The vinaigrette should be tangy and slightly sweet.  Store any leftovers in the fridge.  Re-whisk before using.

Printable Version

A Simple Salad...inspired by a trip to a favorite restaurant

At the end of my last cooking class someone asked me to name my favorite restaurants in the Kansas City area.  It was a straightforward question, but one that is not really very easy for me to answer.  I just don't eat out that often—I really do love to cook at home.  But, after some thought,  I was able to come up with a couple of names.  I had a nagging feeling as I answered the question that I was forgetting a place.  Since I'm always tired at the end of a class, I just let it go, thinking it was probably not a significant omission.  As I drove home that night I remembered the one I left off the list:  Michael Smith's casual, tapas-style, Mediterranean restaurant Extra Virgin.   It was kind of strange that I had forgotten this one because I had a date with friends to have dinner there the very next night.  Furthermore, it is probably my favorite restaurant in Kansas City.  Certainly it is always one of the places I think of when someone says: "Let's go out for a bite."

I should admit up front that I am biased about Michael's restaurants (he has another...his fine dining and name's sake restaurant: Michael Smith—also excellent, but out of my price range most of the time).  Michael Smith and his then wife Debbie Gold were the executive chefs at The American Restaurant for most of the six years that I worked there.  These were formative years in my career and it would be impossible for me to measure their influence on my cooking.  The multitude of things I learned while in their kitchen pervade the way I cook and the way I think about food.  So when I go to eat at Extra Virgin, I know I will be served food that I can understand and appreciate in its style, flavors and origins.  Beyond that, I know that the dishes we are served will be well-executed and delicious. 

On the night my friends and I gathered there, we were not disappointed.   We had six different plates...all very good.  (I can't always say this...every restaurant has its misses...but we enjoyed a fine array of dishes on this particular evening...no misses in the bunch.)  The salad we had was particularly fine.  I have always tended towards simplicity in my cooking, so it should come as no surprise that it was the stream-lined and deceptively simple...the things others might pass up as ordinary...that really impressed me.  When there are only two or three ingredients in a dish, they all have to be individually beautiful and then they have to be handled properly...and this is no mean feat.  The simple salad we shared—a fluff of perky arugula and frisée lettuce, a few thinly shaved white mushrooms and an amazing, lightly crisp, fried(!) poached egg—really hit the mark.  

There were so many things to like about this salad...but I'll limit myself to talking about the egg.  I love a good poached egg...in a soup or stew, on a salad, grain pilaf, serving of pasta, or pile of vegetables...or on a piece of buttered toast.  The liquid gold center of a properly poached egg is nature's perfect sauce.   So it was with our salad...the warm yolk mingled with the almost imperceptible vinaigrette and gave just the right, rich touch to the light elements of the salad. 

But I eat poached eggs on a salad all the time (one of my very first blog posts was on how to poach an egg)....what made this poached egg extra special was the lovely crunch of the light, fried breading that enveloped it.  Food like this is the reason I go out to eat.  It is unlikely that I would ever go to the trouble to bread and fry a poached egg at home.  But in a restaurant setting, doing something like this is not only special, it's a smart and interesting way to reheat eggs that have been poached prior to the start of service.  Typically, eggs that have been poached ahead are held in cool water.  They are then simply reheated in hot water to order.  Since the egg has to be reheated anyway, breading it and frying it to accomplish the reheat adds an unexpected and delicious touch to the final dish.  The simplicity of the salad allowed this unusual poached egg to shine.   Too many ingredients would have detracted.  I came away inspired to create a salad with similar flavors and textures at home. 

The trick of course is to recreate the fine, light, just discernible crunch of the breading...without breading and frying the egg.  Finishing the salad with a judicious shower of homemade, olive oil-dressed, toasted breadcrumbs did the trick.  And although it doesn't have the Wow! factor of the Extra Virgin's version, it is beautiful...and delicious....and totally doable in a home kitchen.    

To make toasted breadcrumbs you will need some slightly stale ("day old") bread.  Something like a baguette or ciabatta will do nicely.  Cut off the crusts and tear/cut the interior into large chunks.  Place in the food processor and process until the desired fineness is achieved.  I like mine to be a bit uneven...ranging in size from larger pea-sized pieces to some bits that are as fine as kosher salt.  Spread the crumbs out on a rimmed sheet (or in a pie tin for a small quantity) 

Bread crumbs...tossed with olive oil...and ready for the oven.

and toast in a 350° oven until golden.  The length of time they take will depend on how stale the bread is.  Very stale bread will toast quickly while fresher bread will take longer.  Take a peek at five minutes and then stir every 5 minutes until done.  I go back and forth on whether to toss the crumbs with olive oil before or after toasting.  It doesn't seem to matter too much which way you choose, just drizzle the oil over and toss until the crumbs are well-dressed.  Taste and season with salt, if necessary.

Freshly toasted breadcrumbs are delicious and make a wonderful garnish for vegetable sautés, pastas and salads.  Whatever you do, please don't garnish your delicious salad with nasty, store-bought, seasoned breadcrumbs.  It would be better to leave them off altogether.  If you don't want to make toasted breadcrumbs, serve your salad with a crisp slice of toasted artisanal bread, drizzled with olive oil, instead. 

I should mention that if you don't have access to frisée...or you don't like it...you may use all arugula—or any fluffy mix of soft and tender baby lettuces that you prefer.  I love frisée and I just happened to see some small heads at Whole Foods a few days after I sampled this salad at Extra Virgin.  But the fact that they had it was pretty unusual.  I don't think the turnover of frisée is very high...consequently they don't stock it on a regular basis.  If you can get it, it is very nice in this salad.

Frisée & arugula

I don't really have a recipe, per se, to share for this salad.  It's so simple there isn't really a need for one.  What follows is an outline of what I did at home.   

For each person, place a handful of arugula (about an ounce) and a fluff of frisée (maybe half an ounce) in a bowl.  Using a mandoline slicer, thinly shave one large white mushroom into the bowl.  

Using a microplane zester, grate a fine shower of a nice, salty Pecorino Romano over the greens and mushrooms.  

Next, give the contents of the bowl a generous grinding of pepper.  Set the bowl aside while you poach your egg.  When the egg is almost done, dress the greens very lightly with some good olive oil, a squeeze of lemon and some salt.  Mound the greens on a plate, creating a slight divot in the center to hold the egg.  Lift the egg out of the poaching liquid, gently blot with paper towels and place on the salad.  Season the egg with salt and pepper.  Scatter some warm, toasted breadcrumbs over all.  Eat right away.

Clementine & Pomegranate Salad with Avocado

As we enter our annual season of indulging in overly rich—and too often sweet—foods, today I thought I would share a recipe that is neither of these things....yet at the same time is eminently "of the season". It is a recipe for a simple and refreshing salad filled with Clementine pinwheels and pomegranate seeds.


Clementines (and their relatives in the Mandarin Orange and Tangerine families) come into season during the fall and continue through the winter months. Even though I eat them all winter long, I associate them particularly with Christmas. Apparently there is good reason for my association: according to Wikipedia they are at their seasonal peak during the month of December.

It is only in recent years that they have become widely available, but now, when they are in season, grocery stores of every size boast large, prominent displays of small crates that are filled with these juicy, sweet and seedless little fruits. So small, you can eat two or three in one sitting, they look beautiful mounded into a big bowl. They make a simple and lovely table centerpiece. And for a holiday dessert, you could do worse than offering those Clementines alongside a few soft, sweet Medjool dates and a saucer of freshly roasted almonds.

In my mind, pomegranates too, are a Christmas fruit. Also available throughout the fall and winter, their bright red color makes them particularly appropriate for the holiday. They can be eaten as a snack...or sprinkled over your breakfast yogurt.

But where they really shine is in a salad—whether the salad is fruit, lettuce or grain-based.

For years I only occasionally enjoyed pomegranate seeds because extracting them from their leathery skin and crumbly white interior membrane seemed like such a tedious activity. In the past couple of years I have noticed that the cleaned seeds (also called arils) are available in the cold prepared foods section of many grocery stores. This of course makes them much easier to eat, but for some reason I have never purchased them this way. Then, I came across a description in Yotam Ottolenghi's book Plenty of how to quickly and efficiently extract pomegranate seeds from their tight little case. This method is so fast and easy, I can't believe it isn't more widely known.

To remove the seeds from a pomegranate, first cut the pomegranate in half horizontally (through the "equator").

Hold one half over a bowl with the cut side against your palm. Using the handle of a wooden spoon, begin to knock on the pomegranate skin.


Continue tapping with increasing force (although not so hard the seeds are bruised) until the seeds have all naturally fallen out and into the bowl (they should fall through your fingers). Once the seeds have ceased to fall, turn the half over and flex the skin inside out to pick out any seeds that remain embedded in the membrane...there shouldn't be too many. Repeat with the second half. Finally, pick through the seeds in the bowl to remove any bits of white skin and membrane that may have fallen in.

I would only add a couple of things to this brilliant method.  First, wear an apron.  There may be some splattering of the juices and pomegranate juice will stain.  Secondly, the first time you utilize this method, be patient.  When you begin, you will think nothing is happening.  But as you continue to rap—rotating the pomegranate half in your hand so that you are rapping all over the skin's surface—the seeds will begin to fall one by one.  Then, they will begin to rain out in abundance. 

You will be astonished at the speed of this method—it should only take two or three minutes. There is no longer any excuse not to enjoy pomegranate seeds. And a great place to start would be in this salad.

If you like to entertain, this salad would make a perfect first course for a holiday dinner party. With the exception of the avocado, all the pieces of this salad can be prepared ahead...so you can focus on your guests and the other elements of your meal. And best of all its bright, festive and refreshing presence will be a welcome sight for guests who have already had more than their fill for the season of heavy and rich holiday foods.

 Clementine & Pomegranate Salad with Avocado

1 1/2 T. white (or golden) Balsamic vinegar

1 1/2 T. freshly squeezed lemon juice

1 t. Dijon Mustard

1 t. Clementine zest

salt & pepper

1/4 c. extra virgin olive oil

1 to 1 1/4 lbs. Clementines (or other seedless variety of Mandarin Orange or Tangerine)

2 large ripe, but not too soft, avocados (preferably Haas)
8 small handfuls of mixed baby lettuces (about 5 to 6 oz.)
3/4 to 1 c. Pomegranate seeds from one medium pomegranate

Make the vinaigrette: Place the vinegar, lemon juice, mustard, zest and 1/4 t. salt in a small bowl. Whisk until smooth. While whisking, add the olive oil in a thin stream. You should obtain a lightly thickened emulsified vinaigrette. Taste and correct the balance and seasoning. The vinaigrette should be sharp (to balance the sweetness of the fruits).

Prepare the Clementines: Cut the stem and blossom ends from the fruit. Place each fruit cut side down on the cutting board and following the contour of the fruit with your knife, remove the peel and cottony pith—working from top to bottom, and rotating the fruit as you go. When the Clementines are all peeled, slice them cross-wise into 1/4-inch pinwheels. Set aside.

When you are ready to make the salad, halve the avocados and remove the pit and peel. If you like, cut each half in half lengthwise (to obtain a quarter).  Slice the avocado halves (or quarters) cross-wise into 1/4-inch slices. Drizzle with a bit of the vinaigrette and season with salt & pepper.

Place the greens in a large bowl and season with salt & pepper. Drizzle in a small amount of vinaigrette. Toss the greens with the vinaigrette, adding more vinaigrette if necessary, until all of the leaves are coated with a light film of dressing.

Place half of the greens on a large platter. Nestle half of the avocado slices and Clementine pinwheels into the greens, being careful not to flatten the greens. Scatter half of the pomegranate seeds over all. Arrange the rest of the greens on top, and tuck the remaining avocado slices and Clementine pinwheels into the salad, again scattering the pomegranate seeds over all. Drizzle with some of the remaining vinaigrette, if you like. (Alternatively, build the salad on individual salad plates.)

Serves 6 to 8

Notes:

• The amounts of Clementine, avocado, salad greens and pomegranate are only a guideline.   The idea is to make a salad that is abundant with fruit.
• The vinaigrette for this salad is, as noted in the recipe, quite sharp.  If your pomegranate and Clementine are on the acidic side, consider softening the vinaigrette with a little extra oil or the addition of a teaspoon or so of honey. 

Printable Recipe

Turkey Leftovers...

I have been teaching people how to prepare the Thanksgiving feast for as long as I have been teaching cooking classes.  But during all of that time I think I have only had the privilege of preparing the entire spread for my own family a couple of times.  This turned out to be one of those years.  I of course love it when I have the opportunity to enjoy someone else's cooking, but there are a lot of things I miss when I don't get to prepare the meal.  I think the thing I miss the most is having left over roast turkey.  Since there were just seven of us at my table this year, and I roasted a fifteen pound bird,

 I had lots of leftovers....and I have been enjoying every bite.  We are still working on them, but I thought I would take a moment to share what I have made so far. 

I think everyone starts out their first round of "leftovers" with a reheated plate of everything they had at the main event.  It's a way of truly savoring the meal—knowing that such a spread really only happens once a year...and you have to make it last.  Next up is the roast turkey sandwich.  My perfect leftover turkey sandwich includes lettuce, slivers of cheese (something like a sharp Cheddar is good—but I wouldn't turn my nose up at a bit of Brie), leftover cranberry sauce and plenty of mayonnaise and Dijon mustard.  My bread of choice is a nice artisanal loaf of Rosemary Olive Oil bread from a local bakery.  It is substantial enough to stand up to all of the filling, but not so much so that it overpowers the sandwich.  Since it is also the bread I like to use to make dressing, I have it on hand any way. 

Another favorite—albeit old-fashioned (maybe I should say "retro"...it sounds much more cool)—is Turkey Tetrazzini.  A simple baked casserole of spaghetti, turkey, cheese and mushrooms, bound in a rich velouté and topped with breadcrumbs,

there are literally hundreds of versions of this recipe floating around.  Mine is a variation of one that ran in Gourmet magazine several years ago.  Besides the classic ingredients this recipe includes some sherry and scallions.  When I make it, I make my velouté with turkey stock and, if there is any left, some turkey gravy—which truly makes this dish a once a year treat.

This year I also had a lot of leftover sweet potatoes.  I knew from the start that there were only going to be a couple of us at the table who would eat sweet potatoes, but since it isn't Thanksgiving to me without the sweet potatoes—and I was in charge of the meal—I made them.  They were delicious.  They were also the perfect "glue" for some lunchtime quesadillas.  Besides a thin layer of the sweet potatoes, I added some caramelized red onion,

a scattering of chopped turkey and some Monterey Jack cheese. 

With a spoonful of cranberry sauce on the side, they were quite a treat.  The purée that I made this year was a combination of sweet potatoes and carrots, but any simple sweet potato purée would work—just make sure you don't pile it on too thickly (or your quesadillas will ooze). 

For dinner this evening—to go with the last of the sliced turkey breast (there are still lots of chunks and shredded pieces that will be great in soups, casseroles, quick pastas...)—I made a big salad that was loaded with some of my favorite Thanksgiving ingredients.  To baby lettuces, I added diced roasted sweet potatoes, blanched green beans, dried cranberries and toasted walnuts.  I dressed it with a simple sherry vinaigrette (1 small shallot, 1 T. sherry vinegar, 3 T. olive oil) and piled it on top of the turkey that had been warmed up in a bit of leftover turkey stock.  It was a very good salad.  Even if I don't have any turkey on hand to serve it with, we will be having this salad again. 

There are so many ways to use up roast turkey that I know I will run out of turkey long before I run out of ways that I want to eat it.  Earlier this month I posted a soup and a casserole that would both be excellent places for some of those leftovers.  Other simple ideas include quiche, frittatas, quick pastas and grain pilafs.  It isn't necessary to reinvent the wheel or do something wildly unusual.  As a chef I am sometimes a bit dismayed as I look at the same old things on my family's holiday table year after year.  But the same things show up every year for a reason:  they are the favorite foods that everyone grew up with...they are well-loved.  And as a friend said to me this morning (as we were comparing turkey leftover notes over the pews), it is the same with Thanksgiving leftovers.  They are all about combining turkey in a variety of different ways with your other favorite holiday foods.  

Turkey Tetrazzini

3 1/2 to 4 T. butter, divided

1/2 c. coarse breadcrumbs
6 oz. mushrooms, sliced
2 green onion (including most of green), trimmed and thinly sliced
1 to 2 T. dry sherry
8 oz. (1 1/2 to 2 cups) shredded roast turkey
2 T. all-purpose flour
1/2 cup whole milk
1 c. turkey stock (or use chicken stock)
1/2 c. leftover turkey gravy (or use 1/4 c. milk plus 1/4 c. stock and increase butter and flour in the roux by 2 t. each)
8 oz. spaghetti
2 oz. grated Gruyère (1/2 cup)
1/2 oz. grated Parmesan (about 3 T.)

Preheat the oven to 350°. Generously butter a 1 1/2 quart gratin or casserole and set aside.

Toss the bread crumbs with 1/2 T. of melted butter and set aside.

Sauté the mushrooms in 1 1/2 T. of butter in a non-stick sauté pan set over medium-high heat. When the mushrooms are browned, tender and any liquid that they have given off has evaporated reduce the heat and add the green onions. Cook briefly to wilt. Add another 1/2 T. of butter if the pan seems dry. Add the sherry and reduce to a glaze. Transfer the mushrooms to a large bowl and season with salt and pepper.

Add the turkey to the bowl with the mushrooms.

Prepare the velouté: In a small saucepan, bring the milk and stock to a simmer; keep hot. In another small saucepan, melt 1 1/2 T. of the butter over medium heat. When the foam subsides, whisk in the flour. Cook stirring constantly for a few minutes—the roux will be bubbly and straw yellow. Remove from the heat and pour in half of the hot milk/stock, whisking constantly until smooth—it will thicken immediately. Add the remaining milk/stock mixture. Return to the heat and stir constantly until the sauce returns to a simmer. Add the gravy and bring to a simmer. Taste and season as desired with salt and pepper. Keep hot while you cook the pasta.

Cook the pasta in a large pot of rapidly boiling water seasoned generously with salt. Stir and cook until the pasta is al dente (since it will continue to cook as it bakes with the sauce, it can be left quite firm). Drain the pasta.

Add the pasta and velouté to the bowl with the turkey and mushrooms and fold in. Add the cheese and quickly fold in—the cheese does not have to melt. Turn the mixture into the prepared pan. Scatter the buttered breadcrumbs over the top and place on a baking sheet.

Bake until hot through (it should be bubbling around the edges) and lightly browned—about 25 minutes. If necessary, place under the broiler (about 4 inches from the heat) until the top is golden. Serves 4.

Notes:
• This recipe doubles easily to feed a larger group. Use a 13- by 9-inch (3 quart) baking dish.
• If you prefer a looser, saucier version, reduce the quantity of spaghetti to 6 oz.

Impromptu Meals for the Dog Days of Summer...Corn, Zucchini, Tomatoes and Green Beans



This is the time of year when my refrigerator is bursting with fresh, local produce. For these few weeks of mid-summer when the market is at its peak (and it's just too hot to cook too much) it is rare that I pull out a recipe to cook dinner. Summer ingredients cook so rapidly, and tend to go together so well, that meals practically make themselves. With the addition of an egg or a little cheese, I can quickly and easily have a satisfying meal on the table that doesn't involve a trip to the store to pick up some meat or some fish. As hot as we have been (according to the meteorologists we have been under a "heat dome") I'm not in the mood for a lot of animal protein anyway. Today I thought I would share three of the light summer meals that we enjoyed last week in the hopes that they will provide a bit of inspiration for your evening meals during these dog days of summer. If you shop at the farmers' market, you will probably have all of these ingredients on hand already.

We started out the week with salad. If you have ever taken one of my salad classes—summer or winter—you probably know that to me a salad doesn't necessarily mean lettuce. It can of course include lettuce, but I'm much more interested in salads that are loaded with lots of interesting and substantial ingredients—vegetables, fruits, nuts, olives, cheeses, etc. A salad should be about contrasts in textures and tastes. What makes it a "salad" is not the lettuce, but that everything in it is held together by the unifying presence of a flavorful and complimentary vinaigrette or dressing.

This time of year, the fact that I don't need lettuce to make a salad is usually a good thing...local lettuces are pretty much non-existent. But last week I spotted a display of baskets of beautiful tiny shoots of leaf lettuce. I couldn't resist them.

Even though they looked like the delicate lettuces of Spring, in reality they were substantial and full of flavor.  They made a refreshing, almost daily appearance on our table over the course of the week. You can of course purchase lettuce from the grocery store at any time during the year. I'm just not in the habit of buying any produce from the grocery store during the summer, because I usually have more vegetables than I can use just from my weekly trip to the farmers' market.

These beautiful little lettuces made their first appearance in a salad that featured corn and green beans. I roasted the corn and tossed it with some blanched green beans, a few Kalamata olives and a classic vinaigrette of red wine vinegar (1 T.), Dijon mustard (~1 t.), diced shallot (1 small) and olive oil (3 T.). All of this was placed on top of a bed of the lettuces dressed with the same vinaigrette. The presence of the green beans and olives made me think of Salade Niçoise (something that has been on my mind lately anyway) so I finished the plate with vine ripe tomato wedges and some hard cooked eggs. It was delicious!

The corn is abundant and sweet right now. I look forward to corn season every year....and we eat a lot of corn during July and August... so much that I'm surprised that I don't start to look "corn fed". Most of the corn that we eat gets roasted before going into a salad like the one I just described or into a side dish. Last year I wrote a post on how to roast corn and included a recipe for one of my favorite roasted corn and tomato salads (as well as a few variations). By itself, a roasted corn and tomato salad makes a light and refreshing lunch. But, as noted in last year's post, with the addition of a wedge of cheese and some bread or a simple quesadilla, it makes a nice summer dinner.

Not all of the corn we eat this time of year is roasted. Corn is also very good when it is sautéed. We enjoyed the combination of the corn and green beans so much in the salad that a few days later I thought I would use the same combination in a summer sauté. Instead of using olives and vinaigrette to add interest and zip I used a base of caramelized summer onions. (Summer onions are sweet and juicy and add an amazing amount of flavor.) While I was gathering my ingredients I ran into the zucchini in the produce drawer and remembered how nice it was in a very similar sauté that I posted last summer...so I decided to add some zucchini to the mix. I served the sauté that I posted last year with some basil butter-baked salmon and roasted cherry tomatoes. The sauté I made last week was accompanied by sliced heirloom tomatoes and the aforementioned cheese quesadillas.

To prepare the sauté: Dice the onions and cook them in a generous amount of olive oil until they are softened and beginning to caramelized. While the onions cook, cut the corn off of the cob (don't forget to scrape the cobs with the back of your knife after the kernels have been cut away—this time of year the corn "scrapings" are abundant), dice up some zucchini, put a pot of water on to boil and trim and cut some green beans into short little half-inch lengths. When the onions are tender and golden, add the zucchini and cook until it is almost tender and beginning to take on some golden color. Add the corn (reserving the scrapings to add toward the end) along with a generous pinch of salt. At the same time, drop the green beans into the boiling salted water. When the corn is tender, add the scrapings and cook a minute or two more. Remove the pan from the heat. When the green beans are cooked the way you like, drain them and add to the pan of sautéed vegetables. Toss everything together, adding more olive oil if the vegetables seem dry. Taste and correct the seasoning with salt and freshly ground pepper (I think sweet corn loves lots of pepper).

The beautiful salad greens from the market made another appearance later in the week alongside a fresh tomato and zucchini pizza. I mentioned earlier that I didn't like plain lettuce salads, but this isn't strictly true. I really do enjoy a small fluff of dressed greens when it is served as an accompaniment to something else. Dressed with the remainder of the mustardy vinaigrette that went into the corn and green bean salad, they were just right with a few slices of pizza.


If it seems odd that I would fire up the oven to make pizza during the hottest stretch of the year so far, I should explain that my oven doesn't seem to heat up the house too much. In this, I realize that I am fortunate. If turning your oven on at a temperature of 500° will heat up your house too much, then this last meal is probably one you will want to wait to make until the weather cools off a bit. There will still be abundant tomatoes and zucchini into September (when it will be much cooler).

I love homemade pizza...almost as much as I love pasta. It is easy to improvise pizza toppings as long as you keep in mind a couple of basic rules. I think I have mentioned these "rules" in every post I have written about pizza, but it doesn't hurt to repeat them: Always remember to use a light hand with the toppings (so you can see the occasional patch of crust—or tomato sauce if you are using tomato sauce—through the toppings).

And only put things on your pizza that are already cooked or that will cook in the 10 to 15 minutes that the pizza will be in the oven without throwing off abundant quantities of moisture. If you remember these two things, you can make pizza with just about anything in your produce bin....even something as surprising as kale and potatoes.

To make a fresh tomato pizza, prepare the tomatoes as described for the rustic tomato tart that I posted a week ago:  Spread the sliced tomatoes on paper towels and sprinkle with salt. After 10 to 20 minutes, blot up the water that has beaded on the surface of the tomatoes. For a 12- to 13-inch pizza you will need about a half pound of tomatoes...maybe slightly less. While the tomatoes sit, slice some zucchini (about half a pound) on a long diagonal in 1/3-inch thick slices. Spread on a baking sheet, brush both sides with olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Broil until tender and golden, turning once. If you have a grill, you can grill the zucchini instead of broiling it. Let cool.

To build the pizza, smash a small clove of garlic to a purée with a pinch of salt and add to a tablespoon of olive oil. Roll out the crust, place in a pizza pan dusted with flour, cornmeal or semolina and spread with the olive oil and garlic mixture. Scatter a pinch of hot pepper flakes over the oil. Next add a layer of coarsely grated Fontina (or another good melting cheese like low-moisture Mozzarella, Monterey Jack, or Provolone)—2 to 3 oz. is about right. Top with a layer of the zucchini and then the blotted tomatoes. Scatter another couple of ounces of Fontina mixed with a few tablespoons of Parmesan or Pecorino over all.

Bake on a preheated pizza stone in a preheated 500° oven until the bottom of the crust is browned and the cheese is bubbling and golden—about 12 to 15 minutes. When I bake a pizza, I always slide it off of the pizza pan, directly onto the pizza stone, as soon as the crust is set (after five minutes or so in the oven). This will insure a crisp, well-baked crust. Serve immediately.

Obviously this pizza, like the salad and the sauté, can be varied in accordance with whatever you happen to have in your produce drawer. In about a month, the market will be full of eggplant and ripe bell peppers (in addition to the summer squash and tomatoes). Both of these things would be wonderful on a pizza.  Or in a quick vegetable sauté...    Or in a roasted vegetable salad....