Cobb Salad with Blue Cheese Dressing

(the dressing is for 6 portions)
This is one of the three great American salads (the others being the Waldorf and Caesar) and one of my favourites. It takes a bit of work but it is easily the best looking salad in the world. If you were looking for a salad to impress, look no further. The standard Cobb will have crumbled Blue Cheese sprinkled all over it but I’ve incorporated it into the dressing instead. This way, anyone who doesn’t have a taste for strong cheese can apply a different salad dressing.

Ingredients

1. Blue Cheese (70g)
2. Sour Cream  
3. Mayonnaise  
4. Lemon
5. Honey
6. Chopped Parsley
7. Lettuce (half a head)
8. Ingredients of your choice

Preparation of Blue Cheese Dressing

1. Chop the Blue Cheese roughly into little cubes. The smaller you cut them, the less mashing you’ll need to do later.
2. Place the crumbled cheese into a bowl and add 4T of Sour Cream. Using a table spoon, mash the cheese into the bottom of the bowl in a circular motion until it is mostly incorporated into the Sour Cream. You’ll want to leave some small bits of cheese, so just mash enough to ensure are no clumps. 
3. Add 2T Mayonnaise, 1T water, 2t lemon juice, 1t honey, 0.5t pepper. Mix well until the dressing is homogeneous. 
4. Stir in 1T of chopped parsley. Depending on the type of blue cheese used, you may want to add a pinch or two of salt. Taste before you decide if it needs salt.
5. As long as you keep the blue cheese dressing in the fridge covered with cling film, you can make the dressing ahead of time.

Preparation of the Salad Itself

1. Slice the lettuce finely and arrange it to form a bed for the salad. You can use individual dishes as I did or just one big plate.
2. I didn’t specify what to use in the ingredients section as there is no set rule as to what the signature foods of the Cobb Salad are (other than blue cheese). In the picture what I used was (from left to right) canned kidney beans, sauteed asparagus, prawns, canned corn, lobster, diced ham hock, avocado, smoked salmon and sliced boiled eggs.
3. Other items commonly appearing in a Cobb Salad include roast chicken, tomatoes, bacon, purple onions and zucchini. 
4. The important thing is keep in mind is you need a variety of colours to get the visual rainbow effect. Plan your colour scheme ahead of time to keep similar colours separated; it will be a pain to change the positions of the ingredients later.
5. Cook whatever ingredients you need to beforehand (for instance boiling the eggs) and cool them in the fridge, as hot food will wilt the lettuce. The idea is to have everything ready and then assemble the salad all at once to ensure freshness.
6. If you are using avocado, which I highly recommend, you should make sure they are sufficiently ripe (skin almost black and the body no longer firm to the touch).      

Notes

• The trick to keeping your avocado slices from oxidizing (turning brown) is blanching. Put the whole avocado in boiling water for ten seconds and then transfer immediately into a bowl of iced water.  
• Roquefort is the ‘normal’ cheese for Blue Cheese salad dressing, but my preference is for Stilton. It is creamy, it’s smell/taste is not as aggressive as Roquefort or Gorgonzola and it is less salty. Its no wonder the Brits call it the King of Cheeses. 
• Blue Cheese normally comes in 300 gram wedges. If you do not intend to use/eat the remaining cheese anytime soon, you can freeze it, as long as you’ve wrapped it properly in cling film. You should first divide the remaining cheese into individual portions so you won’t need to defrost the cheese to cut it. The other thing blue cheese is great for is quattro formaggi pasta sauce or pizza.     

 

Warm Duck Breast Salad with a Cranberry Dressing

(serves 4-5)
I just made this duck salad on Christmas eve and it is one of my favourite appetizers for the festive season; it’s got just the right amount of red, and green. Duck breast is surprisingly easy to prepare once you know the essential steps, perhaps easier than chicken breast even. Another thing I like about this recipe is the use of cranberry. We are used to having orange or red wine as the primary flavour that goes with duck and cranberry makes for a refreshing change. It is also a great ingredient for a salad dressing.   

Ingredients

1. Duck Breasts (2, frozen)
2. Baby Spinach (150g)
3. Leek (1 cup, chopped)
4. Cranberry Sauce
5. Marmalade
6. Mustard
7. Balsamic Vinegar
8. Liquid Smoke
9. Salt
10. Brown Sugar (soft)
11. Brown Mushrooms (10)
12. Cherry Tomatoes (10)

Preparation

1. Defrost the duck breasts and brine in a solution of of 4 cups of water, 3T salt, 1T muscovado sugar for about 4 hours.
2. After rinsing the duck breasts, Rub them with 2t of liquid smoke.
3. Julienne the white portion of a stalk of leek until you have 1 cup.
4. Using a sharp knife, scour the duck skin as shown. Do not cut all the way through the fat; if you can see the meat below, it’s too deep. Also, you should space the cuts in accordance with how you intend to slice the duck later. Here I’ve made my cuts two slices apart.
5. Heat up a pan with a dash of oil and on low heat pan fry the duck breasts for 2 minutes. Only pan fry with the skin side down and move the breasts occasionally to make sure they don’t stick to the pan. The purpose here is to render as much duck fat as you can from the skin.
6. Place the breasts on a lightly oiled baking pan with the skin facing up. Place the pan in an oven preheated to 175^oC (350^oF), for 12 minutes. I prefer to use the toaster oven which takes a bit longer, 15 min. If the breasts begin to shrink, this means they are done.
7. Allow the meat to rest on the pan outside the oven.
8. Saute the leeks in the duck fat in the pan until they become limp.
9. Add 5 heaped t of cranberry sauce (ocean spray), 1 heaped t of marmalade, 1T balsamic vinegar, 2t mustard, 1 flat t of salt and 1/4 cup of water to the pan. Stir fry until the mixture comes to a boil. Then transfer it to a bowl. Pour the drippings from the pan into the bowl and mix well.
10. Cut the duck breasts into slices, making sure some cuts are coincident with the cuts in the skin. The meat should be pink or you’ve over cooked the duck.
11. Slice the mushrooms and cut each cherry tomato into 2. Arrange the baby spinach, tomatoes and mushroom slices into a bed on each plate.
12. Arrange the duck slices on the salad and drench with the cranberry and leek sauce. Sprinkle with black pepper.

 Notes

• Frozen duck breasts sometimes are already brined. Please check and if they are already brined, you can skip the relevant part. The same goes for the smoked.
• The choice of salad components was made with Christmas colours in mind. You can really make the salad with whatever you like. A white plate would really complete the festive look.
• I’ve found the safest way to score the skin properly is to use a sawing motion with a knife with small teeth, applying no downward pressure.
• You can precook the duck breasts and leave them around for a few hours, but only slice the meat and and plate the salad at the last moment.  

 

Smokey Russian Potato Salad

(serves 8-10)
The Russian Potato Salad (some people say Ukrainian) is the king is potato salads, so much so it is more of a cold appetizer than a side dish. It has great texture, being the perfect blend of starchy vegetables, crunchy vegetables and meat. It also looks great, its a kaleidoscope of colours bathed in a milky white dressing. Most importantly Russian Potato Salad tastes great. A perfect dish to make ahead of time so there is less time-pressure when you are cooking and serving your meal.    

Ingredients

1. Potatoes (6 = 3 cups)
2. Carrots (3 = 1.5 cups)
3. Frozen Peas (1.5 cups)
4. Red Onion (1/4)
5. Eggs (4)
6. Ham (200g)
7. Heinz Sandwich Spread (1/3 cup)
8. Sour Cream (1/3 cup)
9. Mayonnaise (1/3 cup)
10. Liquid Smoke
11. Dill Weed

Preparation 

1. Boil 4 eggs in a pot, starting with cold water. Simmer for 10 minutes once it is boiling and then place the eggs in cold water.
2. Peel the carrots and potatoes and cube them into 1cm blocks. Place the cubed potato and carrot in a large sauce pan and add boiling water from a kettle. Add just enough water to cover everything and bring to a boil.
3. Simmer for 8 minutes once it is boiling. Strain
   

   better to cube first, then boil

   through a colander and after a minute pour into a large salad bowl lined with some paper towels.

4. Rinse the peas in water to remove any ice and then place those into the same pan. Again add just enough water to cover everything and bring to a boil. Simmer for 3 minutes once it is boiling. As with before strain through a colander and then add to the salad bowl.
5. Julienne 1/4 of a red onion and cube 200g of ham.
6. Mix 1/3 cup Heinz Sandwich Spread, 1/3 cup sour cream, 1/3 cup mayonnaise, 1T of dill weed, 1T of liquid smoke in a bowl. Add also 0.5t each of sugar, pepper and salt.
7. Remove the paper towels from the vegetables.
8. Peel the eggs and put them through an egg slicer a few times. The whites should end up cubed while the yolk should fall apart. Add the egg bits to the bowl together with the chopped onion and ham. Mix everything up gently and then add the dressing and do a second mixing.
9. Refrigerate at least for a few hours before serving.

everything the same size

Notes

• Some people call this the Olivier Salad, after a Chef Olivier who served a similar style salad in the Moscow Hermitage Restaurant. That may well have been the original inspiration for this salad but its quite different, containing more exotic ingredients like grouse, crayfish and capers.
• One important feature of the Russian Potato Salad is all (except the onion) the pieces should be of the same size. Since you can’t change the size of the peas, that becomes your standard.
• Do not use canned peas, they are too soft and mushy and will get mashed.
• Heinz Sandwich Spread provides the taste of pickles and additional layers of flavour. It is the ‘secret ingredient’ of my recipe. If you can’t find some you can chop up some pickled gherkins with 1/3 cup of Crosse and Blackwell Salad Cream as an alternative, that’s how I used to do it. 
• Everybody has their own version so feel free to experiment. You can use roast chicken or bologna instead of ham, these are the common alternatives for meat. Swap in beetroot if raw onion is not to your liking. You can also choose to leave the egg yolk out.

 

Insalata Caprese

(serves 4)
Insalata Caprese, literally translated as salad of Capri, comes from the region of Campania in Italy. It’s a tasty salad of tomatoes and mozzarella, suitable as a starter and is also typically found as part of an Italian antipasto buffet.  This paticular version comes with a twist, it uses a reduced balsamic vinegar, sort of like a vinegar syrup, to enhance the natural sweetness of the tomatoes.  

Ingredients

1. Soft Mozzarella (300g)
2. Tomatoes (4)
3. Balsamic Vinegar (1/2 cup)
4. Extra Virgin Olive Oil (1/4 cup)
5. Honey 
6. Thyme 
7. Fennel Seeds 
8. Arugula (optional)

Preparation

1. As with all raw dishes, quality of the ingredients is extremely important. Make sure you get the right type of soft mozzarella, not the variety you use for pizza. The tomatoes should also be fresh and crisp. Don’t substitute any other kind of inferior vinegar or olive oil.
2. This dish is best served cold, so refrigerate the tomatoes and cheese until the last minute.
3. You’ll need to make the vinegar syrup ahead of time. In a small sauce pan, put a 1/2 cup of balsamic vinegar, together with 1t thyme, 1t fennel seeds, 2t honey on a slow simmer. Simmer with the occasional stir until you have reduced the vinegar to a third of its original volume, about ten minutes. You’ll need good ventilation as some vinegar will boil off.  While still hot, filter through a fine tea strainer to remove the herbs.
4. Next cut the mozzarella into tomato sized slices each 1/3 to 1/2 an inch thick.  As the cheese is soft and slightly sticky, use a sawing motion with a teethed knife that has been pre-dipped in olive oil or best results.
5. The tomatoes should be sliced likewise. Cut parallel to the tomato’s ‘equator’, i.e. don’t cut from top to bottom.
6. In a bowl, mix 1/4 cup of extra virgin olive oil with 1/2t of salt and 1/2 t of black pepper. If you have coarse steak salt, use that. 
7. Arrange your tomato and mozzarella slices on your plates (and perhaps some arugula if you fancy having accompanying greens) and spoon on about 1.5T of the seasoned olive oil per serving. You can use single stacks as shown in the photo, or arrange them alternately like fallen dominoes. Finish off with a light drizzle of the vinegar syrup.

Notes

• If you are not familiar with the ‘fresh’ kind of mozzarella, refer to my Cheese Page for more information.  
• Some reduced vinear recipes call for low non-boiling heat for hours to prevent burning the vinegar. The secret is to use a small pan (like those for frying single eggs) such that depth of liquid is still maintained even when it is reduced.     
• If you don’t have fennel seeds, you can try any kind of tuber derived spice. The thyme can also be substituted with other types of chopped herbs. 
• In more traditional settings, Insalata Caprese is served with whole basil leaves, which conveniently allow the colours of the salad to match those of the Italian flag. In more contemporary restaurants, arugula is used nowadays.

 

 

Pesto Marmalade Salad

(serves 6-8) 
I discovered the pure magic of combining marmalade with pesto one time when I was trying to use up some leftover ingredients for a salad. The result of my thriftiness was this unique salad-hater’s salad. It’s slightly sweet but best of all, it contains all your regular breakfast staples like jam, toast and eggs. If you like coleslaw but hate ‘regular’ green salads, this is the salad for you.  

Ingredients 

1. Arugula (12 oz)
2. Marmalade (1t, heaped)
3. Olive Oil (1/3 cup)
4. Balsamic Vinegar (4T)
5. Pesto (4t)
6. Pine Nuts (1/4 cup)
7. Croutons (1 cup)
8. Eggs (2)
9. Black Pepper
10. Cardamon

Preparation

1. Hard boil 2 eggs and if you are not buying ready-made croutons, dice some overnight bread and toast them into croutons in a toaster oven.
2. Spoon the marmalade and pesto into a bowl that will hold the dressing and microwave for 15 seconds to soften the marmalade.
3. Add the olive oil and vinegar, plus 1t of black pepper, a pinch of salt and a pinch of cardamon (use nutmeg if you don’t have any). This completes the dressing.
4. Put the hard boilled eggs through the egg slicer 3 times, each in a different direction. On the third time, each egg will literally fall apart, so do it over your salad bowl containing the arugula to catch the little egg bits. In anycase, have all the egg end up  in the salad bowl when you are done.
5. When its time to serve your salad, drizzle your dressing into the arugula and eggs and then toss. When the yolks have melded into the dressing, add the crutons and pine nuts and toss lightly a second time. Serve immediately to keep your arugula crisp.

Notes

• On occasion I also use baby spinach and it works well, and that results in a different look. I only used arugula in this recipe because its supposed to (actually it does) pair nicely with fruit and nuts.
• I’d recommend heavier breads like farm bread for the crutons, so they stay crunchy longer.
• I swear by coarse-cut marmalade, the tiny bits of peel add character I think.
• In smaller portions, you can also use this salad as decorative side-salad on your main dishes or hot appetizers.