Pasta Salad
On one of our television shoots we had a caterer who started us out with a quite acceptable pasta salad but then let it continue, recycled and recycled, day after day, for a week; finally, rebellion forced a change of caterers. I’ve never much cared for the dish since, but I do admit it can be good when creatively made. I even showed a children’s version myself on the TV show Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood. It was regular long spaghetti cooked, drained, and tossed with olive oil, salt and pepper, diced green and red peppers, scallions, black olives, and walnut meats. “Spaghetti Marco Polo.” We ate it with chopsticks.
American-Style Potato Salad
The Potato Base. Halve 3 pounds of “boiling” potatoes and slice 3/16 inch thick. Boil in lightly salted water for 3 to 5 minutes, just until tender. Drain out cooking water, then cover the pan and let sit 3 to 4 minutes, to firm up. In a large mixing bowl, gently fold the slices with salt, pepper, ½ cup minced onions, and ¾ cup chicken broth; let sit for a few minutes, then very gently fold and let sit twice more.
The Finish. Fold in a finely chopped dill pickle, 3 or 4 chopped hard-boiled eggs, 3 or 4 finely diced tender celery ribs, and 4 or 5 strips of crumbled crisp bacon. Let salad cool, then fold in enough mayonnaise just to enrobe the potatoes. Correct seasoning, and garnish if you wish with hard-boiled eggs and parsley.
VARIATIONS
FRENCH POTATO SALAD. Prepare the potato base as described, and, while still warm, fold in olive oil, chopped parsley, and seasonings to taste. Let cool.
WARM POTATO SALAD WITH SAUSAGES. Prepare the French potato salad above, and serve warm with generous slices of delicious warm sausage.
PROCESSOR MAYONNAISE. Break 1 whole egg into the container of a food processor, add 2 egg yolks, and process 30 to 45 seconds, or until thick and lemon-colored. With the machine running, add 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice and/or wine vinegar, 1 teaspoon Dijon-type mustard, ½ teaspoon salt, and several grinds of white pepper. Still with the machine running, and by very small dribbles at first, start adding up to 2 cups of olive oil and/or vegetable oil. After about ½ cup has gone in, add the oil a little faster, until you have a thick mayonnaise. Taste carefully, processing in lemon or vinegar and seasonings as needed.
Storage. Refrigerate in a covered container; the sauce will keep for about a week. Note that a chilled sauce can sometimes turn or thin out when stirred up—best to transfer it by spoonfuls into a warmed mixing bowl, whisking as you add each to the bowl.
Troubleshooting. If the sauce separates or thins out, let it sit for several minutes, until the oil has risen over the clotted residue. Spoon as much of the oil as you quite easily can into a separate bowl. Dip a tablespoon of the residue into a clean bowl. By hand or with a portable mixer, whisk it vigorously with ½ tablespoon of Dijon-type mustard until creamed and thickened. Then by half teaspoons at first, whisk in additional residue, letting the sauce cream and thicken after each addition. Finally, continue with the oil, adding it by dribbles. (Note that using the same techniques you can also accomplish this in the electric blender.)
COLE SLAW AND OTHER VEGETABLE SALADS
Cole Slaw Serves 6 to 8
1½ pounds firm fresh cabbage, finely shredded (see box below)
½ cup grated carrots
⅔ cup diced tender celery stalks
1 medium cucumber, peeled, halved lengthwise, seeded, and diced
½ cup finely diced green bell pepper
¼ cup finely diced yellow onion
1 small tart apple, peeled, cored, and finely diced
¼ cup chopped fresh parsley
For Dressing the Slaw
1 Tbs Dijon-type mustard
3 Tbs cider vinegar
1 tsp salt
1 tsp sugar
¼ tsp caraway or cumin seeds
¼ tsp celery seeds
Freshly ground pepper
½ cup or so mayonnaise, optional
⅓ cup sour cream, optional
Toss the cabbage in a large mixing bowl with the other vegetables, apple, and parsley. Mix the mustard, vinegar, salt, and sugar together, pour into the bowl, and toss with the cabbage. Fold in the caraway or cumin, celery seed, and pepper. Taste and adjust seasoning. Let stand for 30 minutes, or cover and refrigerate. Before serving, drain out accumulated liquid and adjust seasoning again. Serve as is, or blend mayonnaise and sour cream together and fold into the slaw.
MACHINE-SHREDDED CABBAGE. Slice off the top and the bottom of the cabbage. Halve the head and cut out the central core. Cut the halves into wedges that will fit into your food processor, cut sides down. Using the slicing disk, process wedge by wedge to produce finely shredded cabbage.
Celery Root Rémoulade
Working quickly to prevent discoloration, peel a 1-pound head of celeriac, cut into chunks, and shred in a food processor or hand-held vegetable-julienne machine. At once, toss with ½ teaspoon of salt and 1½ tablespoons of lemon juice and let macerate 30 minutes. For the dressing, whisk ¼ cup Dijon-type mustard in a warm mixing bowl, dribbling in 3 tablespoons boiling water followed, in dribbles, by ⅓ cup olive oil or vegetable oil and 2 tablespoons wine vinegar, to make a thick, creamy sauce. Fold into the celery root, correct seasoning, and garnish with chopped parsley. You may serve at once, or cover and let steep for an hour or longer in the refrigerator, where it will improve in flavor and tenderness.
Grated Beet Salad
For 2 pounds of beets, serving 6. Peel the beets and put through the large holes of a hand grater or a processor. Sauté briefly in 2 tablespoons olive oil and a large clove of puréed garlic just to heat through, tossing to blend with salt, pepper, and 1 tablespoon wine vinegar. Stir in ¼ cup water, cover, and boil slowly for 10 minutes or until beets are tender and water has evaporated. Let cool and toss with more oil, vinegar, and seasonings to taste. Serve with salad greens, or spears of Belgian endive.
VARIATION
SLICED BEET SALAD. Using whole peeled warm beets (see box below), slice them and toss in a bowl with olive oil, puréed garlic, and salt to taste.
BEETS IN THE PRESSURE COOKER. Whole beets take hours to cook in the oven but only 20 minutes in the pressure cooker. Place 2-inch washed unpeeled beets on the rack in the cooker with 1 inch of water. Bring to full 15 pounds pressure and time for 20 minutes. Set under the cold-water faucet to release pressure immediately. Peel the beets while still warm.
Cucumber Salad
For 6 servings, or as a garnish. Peel, halve lengthwise, and scoop the seeds out of 2 large cucumbers. Cut either into thin slices or into julienne, and toss with ½ teaspoon salt, ¼ teaspoon sugar, and 1 teaspoon wine vinegar. Let steep for 15 to 20 minutes, then drain (you may wish to save the liquid for salad dressing). Serve as is, tossed with chopped parsley or fresh dill, or fold with sour cream and then garnish with dill.
NOTE: Most store-bought cucumbers are coated in wax, as a preservative. If yours are uncoated, no need to peel them, and you will have the pleasure of green-bordered cucumber slices. Coated or not, no need to seed them, although if unseeded they will exude more liquid when dressed.
Vegetables
“When you serve fine, fresh green vegetables, you want them to show off their color.”
Little white onions must hold their shape but be tender all the way through, and your mashed potatoes are to be smooth and full of that good potato flavor. Here are my suggestions as to whether you will achieve the best results by steaming them, boiling them, or cover-cooking them in a braise.
THE BLANCH/BOIL SYSTEM FOR GREEN VEGETABLES
To blanch/boil a green vegetable, like green beans, you plunge them into a large pot of rapidly boiling water, bring back to the boil as fast as possible, and boil slowly for a few minutes, until the vegetable is just tender. The large amount of water—6 to 8 quarts for 2 pounds of beans, for instance—means that it will come quickly back to the boil, thus setting the color. If you are not serving them almost at once, drain immediately and run cold water into the kettle, again to preserve
the color, and also the texture. Drain thoroughly, and the vegetables are ready to serve either hot or cold. Thus you can cook them several hours in advance. Note that salt proportions are 1½ teaspoons salt per quart of water, making 12 teaspoons (4 tablespoons or ¼ cup) for 8 quarts.
BLANCH/BOIL VEGETABLE CHART
• Vegetable: Asparagus (4 to 6 spears per serving)
• Preparation: Trim ½ inch off tough ends and peel spears from butt to just below tip.
• Cooking (In 6 to 8 quarts of salted water at a rapid boil): Lay flat and boil uncovered 4 to 5 minutes, or until asparagus bends slightly. Remove and drain on a towel.
• Finishing: Drizzle melted butter and/or fresh lemon juice over warm asparagus. Or serve with hollandaise. Or serve cold with vinaigrette.
• Vegetable: Broccoli (1½ lbs, to serve 4 or 5)
• Preparation: Cut off florets and peel stems. Peel central stalks to pale interior and cut in pieces.
• Cooking (In 6 to 8 quarts of salted water at a rapid boil): Boil uncovered 2 to 4 minutes, until tender with only a slight crunch remaining. Remove immediately. Broccoli cooks (and overcooks) so quickly I don’t recommend it be done in advance.
• Finishing: Same suggestions as for asparagus plus:
1- Sprinkle on fresh bread crumbs, sautéed in butter.
2- Toss the broccoli in a sauté pan with olive oil and puréed garlic.
3- Prepare au gratin.
• Vegetable: Brussels Sprouts (1½ lbs, to serve 4 or 5)
• Preparation: Trim root ends, remove loose or discolored leaves; pierce a cross ¼ inch deep in root ends.
• Cooking (In 6 to 8 quarts of salted water at a rapid boil): Boil uncovered 4 to 5 minutes, until just tender when pierced. Drain. Refresh in cold water if not served at once.
• Finishing:
1- Serve whole with melted butter, or cut in half and sauté in hot butter until slightly browned.
2- Prepare au gratin.
• Vegetable: Green Beans (1½ lbs, to serve 4 or 5)
• Preparation: For thin beans and haricots verts, snap off ends. For wide beans, “french” them by slicing diagonally into 1-inchstrips.
• Cooking (In 6 to 8 quarts of salted water at a rapid boil): Cook “frenched” beans 2 to 3 minutes, or whole beans 4 to 5 minutes, until just cooked through. Drain immediately; finish immediately or refresh under cold water.
• Finishing:
1- Toss in a frying pan with butter, lemon juice, seasonings, and parsley.
2- Chill and toss with vinaigrette.
• Vegetable: Spinach (3 lbs, to serve 4)
• Preparation: Rinse in cold water, lift out, and repeat to remove sand. Pull stems from leaves.
• Cooking (In 6 to 8 quarts of salted water at a rapid boil): Boil uncovered until limp, 1 to 3 minutes, depending on maturity. Drain; refresh under cold water; drain; squeeze dry and chop by hand. (If young and tender, no need to boil, simply sauté in oil or butter.)
• Finishing: Sauté briefly in butter or olive oil, with minced garlic. Or sauté, then add ½ to 1 cup stock or cream, and season with salt, pepper, and nutmeg. Cover and braise 5 to 7 minutes in butter and shallots, until tender.
• Vegetable: Swiss Chard (10 stalks, to serve 6 to 8)
• Preparation: Cut leaves from central white stalk. Cook leaves and stalks separately.
• Cooking (In 6 to 8 quarts of salted water at a rapid boil): The stalk: Cut into ¼-inch slices. Whisk 3 cups water gradually into ¼ cup flour with 1 tsp salt and 1 Tbs lemon juice. Bring to boil, add stalks, and simmer 30 minutes. Drain. The leaves: Boil, squeeze dry, and chop, as for spinach.
• Finishing: Prepare the leaves in any of the ways suggested for spinach. Or toss leaves and stalks together and bake them with cheese au gratin, as for the cauliflower, using the stalk-cooking liquid as your sauce base.
STEAMED VEGETABLES
When you are not concerned with preserving the color, steaming is an easy way to cook a number of vegetables. You will want a vegetable-steamer basket that fits into a pan with a tight-fitting cover. Pour 1 inch of water into the pan, set the steamer basket in the pan, and arrange the vegetables in the basket. Cover, bring to the boil, and start timing as soon as the steam rises.
A HANDFUL OF STEAMED VEGETABLES
• Vegetable: Artichokes (whole, 1 per person)
• Preparation: Trim stem off base. Cut ½ inch off top; snip prickly points off leaves with scissors. Rub cut parts with lemon.
• Cooking (In basket over 1 inch liquid, in covered pot): Arrange upside down in basket. Steam over water 30 to 40 minutes, until bottoms are tender when pierced.
• Finishing:
1- Serve warm with melted butter or hollandaise for dipping leaves.
2- Serve cold with mayonnaise, or vinaigrette.
• Vegetable: Cabbage Wedges (a 2-lb. cabbage serves 4)
• Preparation: Cut cabbage in half through the core; cut halves into wedges. Trim core but don’t let leaves separate.
• Cooking (In basket over 1 inch liquid, in covered pot): Arrange cabbage wedges cut sides up on steamer rack. Pour over them 2 cups chicken stock plus water to a depth of 1 inch in the pan. Season wedges, cover pot, and steam about 15 minutes, until just tender.
• Finishing: Rapidly boil down steaming liquid until syrupy. Swirl in 1 to 2 Tbs butter and chopped parsley. Drizzle over the
• Vegetable: Cauliflower (1½ lbs, to serve 4 or 5)
• Preparation: Cut out central core and break florets apart. Peel core deeply and cut into pieces. Peel stems of florets.
• Cooking (In basket over 1 inch liquid, in covered pot): Steam over water 3 to 5 minutes, until cooked through but with slight crunch.
• Finishing:
1- Top with butter, lemon, or hollandaise; or sprinkle on sautéed buttered bread crumbs and chopped parsley.
2- Toss pieces in a frying pan with olive oil, puréed garlic, and parsley.
3- Prepare gratin.
• Vegetable: Eggplant (a 1-lb. eggplant serves 4)
• Preparation: Wash eggplant. Place whole in basket.
• Cooking (In basket over 1 inch liquid, in covered pot): Steam over water 20 to 30 minutes, until soft, slightly shriveled, and easily pierced.
• Finishing: Trim off green cap and slice eggplant in halves or quarters lengthwise.
1- Drizzle flesh with garlicky vinaigrette serve warm or cool.
2- Scoop out flesh; sauté slowly in olive oil with onions and puréed garlic, until tender and slightly browned.
3- Eggplant caviar: Purée flesh in a mixer, then beat in puréed garlic, allspice, ginger, Tabasco, and, if you wish, a cup of ground walnuts, plus up to 4 Tbs olive oil added by drops.
THE BOIL/STEAM SYSTEM FOR VEGETABLES
This is an especially effective method for root vegetables such as carrots and small onions, as well as for store-bought green peas. Rather than boiling the vegetables in water to cover, then draining them, thus throwing out a lot of the flavor with the cooking liquid, you want to cover-cook them in a small amount of liquid. You then boil down that liquid to concentrate its flavor, and use it to sauce your vegetables.
BOIL/STEAM VEGETABLE CHART
• Vegetable: Green Peas (2 lbs fresh store-bought peas in the pod, making about 3 cups, to serve 6)
• Preparation: Shell peas into a saucepan. Add 1 Tbs of soft butter, and ½ tsp each salt and sugar. By handfuls, bruise the peas roughly with the butter, sugar, and salt.
• Cooking: Pour in water almost to cover peas. Bring to boil, cover, and cook at the rapid boil 10 to 15 minutes, or until tender.
• Finishing: Uncover and boil off liquid if necessary. Correct seasoning. Toss with more butter if you wish.
• Vegetable: Small White Onions (12 to 16 onions, about 1 inch diameter, to serve 4)
• Preparation: To peel, drop onions into boiling water for exactly 1 minute. Drain and refresh in cold water. Shave off ends; slip off skins. Pierce a cross
¼ inch deep in root ends, to prevent bursting.
• Cooking: For “white-braised” onions: Arrange in 1 layer in a saucepan with chicken stock or water to come halfway up. Add 1 Tbs butter, season lightly, cover, and simmer slowly 25 minutes, or until tender. For “brown-braised” onions: Before steaming, sauté peeled onions in 1 layer in butter and oil until colored. Then add liquid, salt, and 1 tsp sugar; cover and cook as above.
• Finishing:
1- Uncover, boil off excess liquid, and fold in another Tbs of butter if you wish.
2- For creamed onions: Add heavy cream to white-braised onions when they are just tender. Simmer several minutes until thickened, basting. Fold in chopped parsley if you wish.
• Vegetable: Carrots, Parsnips, Rutabagas, Turnips (1½ lbs, to serve 5 or 6)
• Preparation: Peel the vegetables and cut into ¾- inch chunks.
• Cooking: Place in saucepan; add water to come halfway up the vegetables. Season with ½ tsp salt and, if you wish, 1 or 2 Tbs butter. Cover and boil hard over high heat 8 to 10 minutes, or until tender. Uncover and rapidly boil down liquid until evaporated.
• Finishing:
1- Toss chunks with butter and chopped parsley and/or scallions, or with grated fresh ginger.
2- Purée steamed chunks in food mill or processor. Stir over moderate heat in a heavy pan to evaporate moisture. Stir in butter or heavy cream; season to taste.
3- Golden purée: Blend puréed carrots (or squash) with mashed potatoes.
• Vegetable: Winter Squash (1½ lbs squash, to serve 5 or 6)