by Anne Maxfield on November 29, 2012
This is a classic bistro salad that is a particular favorite of the Accidental Locavore’s husband and her father. A poached egg is the traditional accompaniment. I usually eat mine without as I have an old abhorrence of runny egg yolks, but I’m told it adds that certain je ne sais quoi (f you need help poaching the eggs, click here). It’s quick to make and is a good winter salad.
Salad Frisée Lardons
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Serves
| 4 |
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Prep time
| 20 minutes |
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Meal type
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Salad
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Region
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French
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The Accidental Locavore salad frisee lardon recipe. A classic bistro salad recipe with frisee, bacon and a poached egg with a vinaigrette dressing.
Ingredients
- 1 head frisée, washed, dried and torn into bite-sized pieces
- 4 thick slices bacon, cut into 1/2 inch matchsticks (lardons)
- 1/4 cup red wine vinegar
- 1 small shallot, finely minced
- olive oil
- salt and pepper to taste
- 1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
- 1/2 teaspoon herbs de Provence
- 1/2 cup blue cheese, crumbled (use a good Roquefort)
- 1 egg per person (optional)
Directions
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Step 1
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| If you are poaching the eggs, start them first. Heat a small sauté pan with a tablespoon of oil over medium heat. Add the bacon and cook until the fat is rendered and the bacon is cooked but not crispy. Remove the bacon and drain on a paper towel. Reserve all the fat for the dressing. In a small bowl or 1-cup measuring cup, add the shallot, mustard, salt and pepper, herbs de Provence and red wine vinegar. Slowly whisk in the bacon fat until the dressing starts to emulsify. Taste and adjust olive oil and seasonings as desired. |
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Step 2
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| To construct the salad: Place the frisée and bacon in a large bowl. Add the dressing and toss to combine. On individual plates, put a mound of the dressed frisée. Top with the crumbled blue cheese and a poached egg if using. Serve and enjoy! |
My verdict: This is a great salad that I don’t make enough! If you see frisée in the market, give this a try. Mushrooms or walnuts, toasted and coarsely chopped are also a nice touch. The frisée on its own is also a good side salad for rich foods like duck (confit) or fois gras.
by Anne Maxfield on September 13, 2012
As much as the Accidental Locavore loves corn on the cob, there does come a time, later in the summer, when a little variety is welcome. This is a great side dish salad, adapted from Food & Wine. I served it with some grilled pork chops, but it would work with just about anything. Serves 4.
Grilled Corn Salad
The Accidental Locavore shares a recipe for a refreshing salad with grilled corn, cilantro, mint and fresh lime juice. A summer salad recipe.
Ingredients
- 4 large ears of corn, shucked
- olive oil
- salt and pepper to taste
- 1/2 small red onion, thinly sliced
- 2 1/2 tablespoons lime juice
- 1 teaspoon maple syrup
- 1 jalapeno, seeded and thinly sliced
- 3 tablespoons mint leaves, coarsely chopped
- 3 tablespoons parsley, coarsely chopped
- 3 tablespoons cilantro, coarsely chopped
Directions
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Step 1
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Heat a grill or grill pan. Brush the corn with olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Grill over moderately high heat, turning until cooked and charred in spots, about 12 minutes. Let cool.
Meanwhile, in a small bowl, combine the onion and lime juice and let stand 10 minutes. Add the syrup, jalapeno, 2 tablespoons olive oil, salt and pepper and mix well.
Working in a large bowl or on a cutting board, cut the kernels off the cobs (you want chunks here). Add the onion dressing, mint, parsley and cilantro, and toss. Serve and enjoy!
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My verdict: This was a great, fresh side dish! I made it on a grill pan and it came out fine. It would probably be even better on a charcoal grill. I did use the maple syrup, but am not sure how necessary it is. Wondering how some cheese (feta or a Mexican queso fresco) would be. I find cutting the kernels off of corn more difficult in a bowl, but if you don’t want to be cleaning corn up, it’s neater that way. For this, I started in a bowl, but ended up on a cutting board. You can save the cobs and freeze them for corn chowder later on in the fall.
by Anne Maxfield on August 2, 2012
This weekend, the Accidental Locavore finally got back in the kitchen. Time to play with some recipes and ideas I’d been kicking around; some of which, like this grilled Caesar salad, for a while. This is really easy and if you want to make it even easier, you can use your favorite bottled dressing. I decided to make my own, which was a big hit. This started out from a recipe in the NY Times, but then I skipped half the steps…
Recipe for Grilled Caesar Salad
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Serves
| 4 |
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Prep time
| 15 minutes |
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Cook time
| 1 minute |
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Total time
| 16 minutes |
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Meal type
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Salad
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Occasion
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Barbecue
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The Accidental Locavore shares a recipe for a grilled Caesar Salad. A great new twist on an old favorite, grill your Caesar Salad! Caesar salad recipe, grill recipe,
Ingredients
- 3 anchovies, finely minced
- 1 large garlic clove, peeled and run through a press (or finely minced)
- 1 egg yolk (I used a jumbo egg, if you have smaller ones, you might want 2)
- 1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
- 1/3 cup olive oil (use a good quality oil)
- 1 tablespoon lemon juice
- 2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce
- salt and pepper to taste
- 1 head romaine lettuce, quartered the long way and gently washed
- 1/3 cup grated Parmesan cheese
Directions
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Step 1
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| Light the grill. |
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Step 2
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| Mash the garlic and anchovies together to make a paste. I use a 2-cup measuring cup for this but a small bowl would work fine. Add the egg yolk and mustard and whisk well. Still whisking, slowly add the olive oil in a thin stream. The dressing should start to emulsify. Continue whisking and adding the olive oil until it has reached a fairly thick consistency (it should be like a thin mayonnaise). Beat in the lemon juice and Worcestershire sauce, taste and add salt and pepper and more oil if necessary. |
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Step 3
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| With a pastry brush, brush the romaine quarters with the dressing on all sides, making sure to get it between the leaves. Lightly grill the lettuce on all sides, about 15 seconds on the back (leaf side) and 20-25 seconds on each side, until it starts to brown. Brush with the remaining dressing, sprinkle with the Parmesan cheese, cover and grill for about 30 seconds until the cheese has started to melt (you want to cook the leafy side (the back) a little less than the sides, so that when you put the cheese on to melt you’re not burning it). Serve and enjoy! |
My verdict: this was a surprising hit! Recently, there have been lots of recipes for grilling salad, but I was a little skeptical…who needs to cook lettuce, when it’s so good cold and crispy? We made this for friends for dinner and it was so good, we went back out, bought more romaine and made it the next day for lunch. There is something so good about the warm, almost charred outsides and the cool, crispy interior. Definitely worth a try!
As I was writing this, I realized that anchovy paste would probably be a great substitute here for the minced anchovies, but you do need anchovies! The first batch of dressing I made with minced garlic, then I got wise and used the garlic press. You could sprinkle croutons over the grilled lettuce if you wanted, but trust me, no one will miss them.
by Anne Maxfield on July 26, 2012
The Accidental Locavore’s friend Jamilla was describing how she makes eggplant while we had lunch recently, across the street from the Union Square Greenmarket. If I wasn’t already on the verge of looking like a bag lady, I would have dashed back and grabbed some eggplants. But being the mature individual I am (stop snickering), I waited and got a beauty from Stokes Farm a couple of days later. If you’re worried about heating up an oven, do it early in the morning, or grill the eggplant. This will serve about 4 as a salad or dip.
Moroccan Inspired Eggplant Salad
The Accidental Locavore shares a recipe for an easy roasted eggplant salad with harissa, cilantro and garlic. Smooth and smokey, this recipe for eggplant can be used as an appetizer, salad or side dish.
Ingredients
- 2 medium eggplant, peeled and sliced lengthwise into 3/4“ slices
- 1 head garlic, unpeeled
- 1/2 cup olive oil (for brushing the eggplant and garlic)
- 1 teaspoon ground cumin
- 1 teaspoon ground corriander
- salt, to taste
- 1/2 teaspoon smoked paprika
- 1 teaspoon harissa (more to taste)
- 1/4 cup cilantro, finely chopped
- 1/4 cup flat-leafed parsley, finely chopped
- juice of 1/2 lemon
Directions
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Step 1
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| Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Cut the top 1/3 of the garlic off. Place the sliced eggplant and the garlic on a baking sheet (don’t crowd, you might need two pans). Sprinkle the garlic and both sides of the eggplant with olive oil, half the cumin and coriander, and salt. Roast for 10 minutes or until it starts to turn golden brown. Flip and cook the other side for 10 more minutes until the eggplant is golden and tender. |
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Step 2
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| When the eggplant is cool enough to handle, coarsely chop it and put it in a medium sized mixing bowl. Squeeze the roasted garlic into the bowl. Add the remaining cumin and coriander, paprika, harissa. Mix until everything is well combined. Taste, add salt and more harissa if necessary. Add the cilantro, parsley and lemon juice, taste and adjust seasonings. Serve chilled or at room temperature and enjoy! |
My verdict: this was really good even though I messed up and forgot to season the eggplant with the cumin and coriander before roasting it. I added it afterwards while it was still warm and it tasted fine. Jamilla was concerned that it wasn’t going to be the same. Then I cheated and added some garlic confit to it before mixing it up (no such thing as too much garlic, right?). If you can be patient, this was even better the next day, sweet and jam-like.
This is a classic bistro salad that is a particular favorite of the Accidental Locavore’s husband and her father. A poached egg is the traditional accompaniment. I usually eat mine without as I have an old abhorrence of runny egg yolks, but I’m told it adds that certain je ne sais quoi (f you need help poaching the eggs, click here). It’s quick to make and is a good winter salad.
Print recipe
My verdict: This is a great salad that I don’t make enough! If you see frisée in the market, give this a try. Mushrooms or walnuts, toasted and coarsely chopped are also a nice touch. The frisée on its own is also a good side salad for rich foods like duck (confit) or fois gras.
