Tomato and Beet Salad - Recipe

Tomato and Beet Salad with Feta and Mint

This is one of those dishes that is good out of all proportion to the difficulty of making it, which is virtually nil. It is totally dependent on using great tomatoes and olive oil, and home-cooked beets (don't even think about using canned). The only thing you need is enough foresight to boil the beets and have them cool in time for dinner, which you can easily do a day or two before.

I've given a rough recipe below, but really you can just make this by eye. You want roughly the same volume of beets and tomatoes, cut into nice bite sized wedges. Toss them with a generous amount of delicious oil and flaky sea salt, top with some crumbled feta and fresh mint and you are good to go.

When you boil beets, leave the peel on and the root and a little bit of stem intact. This will reduce the amount of "bleeding" into the pot. Test them for doneness by poking with a knife or cake tester. When they are tender, let them cool completely and then slip their jackets right off. I like to make a bunch and then use them for several days. Roasted beets would be fine in this salad as well.

You could also experiment with other herbs such as thyme, oregano, tarragon or chives instead of the mint.

Tomato and Beet Salad
Vegetarian and gluten-free; vegan if you omit the feta (or substitute for it)
Makes about 6 cups

• 3 cups bite sized wedges of perfect ripe tomatoes (at room temp)
• 3 cups bite sized wedges of boiled, peeled and cooled beets (at room temp)
• 6 tablespoons best-quality, fruity extra-virgin olive oil
• sea salt
• black pepper
• 1/2 cup feta cheese, crumbled
• handful of fresh mint leaves, chiffonade

1. Toss the tomatoes and beets with the olive oil, a couple big pinches of salt, and a few grinds of black pepper. Taste and add salt and more oil as needed.
2. Put the vegetables in a wide, low serving bowl. Top with the feta and mint and serve immediately.

 

 

Potato Salad with Feta Cream Dressing - Recipe

Potato Salad with Feta Cream Dressing

We have an annual Mother's day brunch with the Sephardic side of my wife's family, which while not quite the fress of Passover or Rosh Hashanah, always includes lots of big flavors. I wanted to make a potato salad that wouldn't be cowering in the corner, afraid of being bullied by the borekas and boyikos.

Rather than a mayonnaise or vinaigrette, I opted for an assertive dressing made from feta cheese beaten with cream, flavored with garlic, smoked paprika (pimenton de la vera) and lemon juice. When you make it, aim for a consistency a little thicker than sour cream, remembering that it will tighten up as it cools.

For the potatoes, I rummaged through the bin of Yukon Golds looking for all the tiny ones, so I could just cut them in half, which looks nice. If you can't find small ones, use any waxy potato and just cut them into bite-sized dice.

Potato Salad with Feta Cream Dressing
Vegetarian and gluten-free
Serves 6 as a side dish (and doubles easily)

• 3 pounds small Yukon gold potatoes
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 2 tablespoons capers, drained and dried on paper towels
• 4 ounces feta cheese plus more for garnish
• 3/4 cup heavy cream
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1/2 teaspoon smoked paprika
• black pepper
• juice of 1/2 lemon
• 1/4 cup sour gherkins, finely diced
• 2 tablespoons minced fresh dill
• 2 tablespoons minced fresh oregano
• 1 cup roughly chopped fresh parsley leaves plus more for garnish
• 4 green onions, white parts only, thinly sliced
• chive blossoms (optional)

1. Bring a large pot of well salted water to a boil, and cook the potatoes until they are just tender but definitely not falling apart. Drain, cool, and halve (or cut into bite-sized pieces).
2. In a small frying pan over medium-high heat, fry the capers in the olive oil until crispy and brown. Remove to paper towels.
3. In a blender or small food processor, whiz the feta cheese, heavy cream, minced garlic, smoked paprika, a few good grinds of black pepper and the lemon juice. Adjust the consistency to something just a little thicker than sour cream, and the flavor to be quite intense - that is a lot of potatoes! Add salt if needed.
4. Toss the potatoes with the dressing, capers, gherkins, dill, oregano, parsley and green onions. Taste and adjust salt and seasonings as needed. Chill in refrigerator.
5. To serve, toss again, garnish with additional feta and parsley, and chive blossoms if using (broken into their individual tiny purple flowers).

Chopped Salad - Revisiting A Classic Recipe

Chopped salad, ready to be dressed and tossed

Chopped salad is just exactly what it sounds like: a salad whose ingredients have all been cut down to a fairly uniform size, around 1/2" cubes. It works well as a side dish and it shines as one of the all time great entree salads when you want a lighter meal. It is easy to eat because the diner doesn't have to take anything apart with a knife, which makes it particularly good for a dinner party.

The classic leaf for a chopped salad is romaine lettuce hearts. You can use some of the dark greens as well, but the ribs provide the structure that keeps the salad in cubes with some airspace, instead of collapsing into a mass of slimy leaves. A fantastic way to cut romaine is to make some lengthwise incisions, leaving the base intact, before cutting across the leaves at 1/2" intervals. Three of these lengthwise cuts is great for a normal salad, but for a chopped salad try five.

As with any salad, the lettuce must be scrupulously, absolutely dry. If you don't have a great salad spinner, I highly recommend this one from OXO Good Grips; it works like a champ.

If you go to a restaurant that specialized in chopped salads, you might see it made by putting all the ingredients on a single cutting board and rapidly Benihana-ing them with multiple knives. That makes a good show but isn't a very practical technique at home. I like to do each ingredient individually for maximum control. Even the chickpeas get a once over though, to create the chopped texture.

Beyond the romaine, you can chose just about any other salad ingredients that play well together. I've suggested one grouping below, but feel free to make up your own. I particularly like to include rather large amounts of fresh herbs such as mint.

If it is more convenient, you can make part of this salad several hours in advance. Bell peppers, cucumbers, olives, chickpeas and so forth can all be cubed and refrigerated until gametime. The lettuce can be washed, cut, and spun dry about an hour ahead and put back in the fridge to chill and remove the last bit of moisture in a low humidity environment. Just don't weight it down with the other ingredients, or god forbid, dress it, until the last minute.

Here's the version I happened to serve today; don't hesitate to change it to suit your mood, menu or produce bin.

Chopped Salad
Vegetarian and gluten-free; vegan if you don't use cheese
Serves 4

• 2/3 cup cooked chickpeas, roughly chopped
• 1/2 English cucumber, 1/2" cubes
• 1/2 cup pitted kalamata olives, roughly chopped
• 1/4 cup sweet onion, minced
• 1/2 cup jarred roasted red pepper, small dice
• 2 green onions, 1/4" lengths
• 1/2 cup feta cheese, crumbled
• 3 romaine lettuce hearts, cut as described above
• 1 handful mint leaves, roughly torn
• dressing of your choice; this lemon-mustard vinaigrette is a fine choice