Turkey Nicoise Salad and Curried Orzo

School lunches that present themselves in the morning with little effort from me, thanks to dinner the night before, are still a hot topic here. About a week ago, fortune smiled upon me (thanks Chris Nielsen!) as a text with an amazing salad recipe arrived. Even better, a delicious sample followed the text. It so happened that the day fortune smiled was the same day I had already thrown together a simple curried orzo dish. The use of curry was my very modest attempt to honor The Hundred-Foot Journey, a great movie with French & Indian food at its warm heart. (Loved) That evening, my homage was complete as Turkey Salad Nicoise sat along side of Curried Orzo. Now, if I can only find a way to get to Saint-Antoin-Noble-Ans ...

Please note: both recipes are extremely flexible and you can add or subtract based on whatever appeals and/or is in your fridge. Also, almonds do not have a starring role in either recipe and may be removed if needed for the school lunch.

Turkey Salad Nicoise

Boston Globe Sheryl Julian and Julie Riven

2 lb. rotisserie cooked turkey breast (from grocer deli section)

1 lb. green beans, cleaned, trimmed, and halved

1/4 small red onion thinly sliced (if adverse to raw onion, use 1 tablespoon chopped fresh chives)

3 stalks celery

1/2 cup pitted black olives, halved

3 tablespoons capers

1/4 cup fresh flat leaf parsley, chopped

1/4 cup olive oil

1 tablespoon Dijon mustard

1/4 cup white wine vinegar

1/2 cup sliced almonds, toasted

3 eggs, hard boiled

Kosher salt, pepper

1. Add 1 tablespoon of salt to a large pot of water and bring to a boil. Place green beans in water, wait for it to return to a boil and allow beans to boil gently for 3 minutes. Beans should be tender, but with a bit of a snap remaining.

2. While beans are cooking, remove cooked turkey from the bone and cut into 1 ½ inch strips. Place in large salad bowl.

2. When beans are done, drain in a colander and run very cold water over them to prevent them from cooking any further. Place on clean kitchen towel to dry.

3. Peel the back of each celery stick to remove tough strings. Cut each stalk length-wise and then chop on diagonal. Place chopped celery in a large salad bowl with turkey.

4. Add cooled green beans, capers, olives, and parsley to the turkey and celery already in the salad bowl.

5. Sprinkle the salad with half the olive oil and toss gently. Add the remaining olive oil along with a pinch of salt and several grinds of pepper.  Toss again.

6. In a small bowl whisk together (fork will be fine if you're not in possession of a small whisk) the vinegar and mustard until combined. Sprinkle the salad with the vinegar mixture and toss again. Add the toasted almonds, toss once more and, if needed, add a pinch more of salt and pepper.

7. Peel the hardboiled eggs and dry off with paper towel.  Cut each eggs into quarter length-wise.

8. Arrange salad on plates and add egg quarters.

Curried Orzo

1 cup orzo

1 onion, chopped
1 tablespoon olive oil, plus a bit more to dress pasta

1 tablespoon butter, a bit more to dress pasta is optional as well

½ teaspoon kosher salt

¼ cup sliced almonds, toasted

2 cups broccoli florets, bite sized

2 teaspoon curry powder

1. Place butter and olive oil in sauté pan over medium heat. Add chopped onion, sprinkle with salt and sauté until tender and golden. Add the curry powder and sauté for about another few  minutes. Place on low heat as you await the broccoli.

2. Cook orzo as directed on box, but subtract a minute. Use a big-enough pot and plenty of salted water since you will be adding broccoli to the pot as the orzo cooks. When there is only 2 minutes left of cooking time for the orzo, add the bite-sized broccoli to the boiling water, allowing the broccoli to cook with the orzo. When the cooking time for the orzo is complete, turn off the heat. Use a slotted spoon to remove the broccoli from the orzo and place the broccoli with the curried onion mixture. You will carry some orzo over in the process, but that's ok. Drain orzo in colander. Then turn the heat back up to medium under the sauté plan

3. Once the orzo is drained, tip it into the broccoli and onion mixture. Pour in some extra olive oil and/or tablespoon of butter. Stir in the toasted almonds as well. Add an extra pinch of salt and pepper if needed.

Incredible, Edible Lentils

With all due respect to eggs, which I love dearly, lentils have it all going on!

However, I admit that I didn't always feel this way. When lentils first came across my radar, I thought of them dismissively as a hippie-dippie pantry staple. Not any more. Now, all has changed; I love lentils! Surprisingly, so do all who sit at my table. Lentils are incredible: delicious, healthy, inexpensive, flexible. In fact, this dish is a starting pointing from which you can head in many directions, depending on which dressing/herbs/veggies you use.

One ingredient I adhere to, however, is the French du Pay lentil. This tiny bean holds its shape as it cooks quickly to a tender toothsomeness. Red and yellow lentils tend to fall apart, and though that's an asset in other recipes, it doesn't work well here. This dish is wonderful at room temp next to fish or chicken–or on its own with well-buttered bread. 

Credit for this recipe–as well as my love of lentils–goes to Yotam Ottolenghi's Plenty and Deborah Madison's The New Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone. 

Summary:
The ingredient list makes this recipe look kind of daunting, but it's not. Everything comes together in three basic steps:

1. Cook lentils in water with aromatics (carrot, celery, etc.)

2. Dress cooked lentils

3. Sauté diced veggies and combine with lentils

Ingredients

for cooking the lentils

1 cup small dark, French lentils

½ tablespoon red wine vinegar

1 small, peeled carrot cut into large chunks

1 stalk celery cut into large chunks

1 bay leaf

½ teaspoon kosher salt

for dressing the lentils

2 ½ tablespoons red wine vinegar

2 tablespoons olive oil

Pinch of Kosher salt and pepper

for sautéing the veggies

2 tablespoons olive oil

12-15 cherry or grape tomatoes, cut in half

½ teaspoon brown sugar

1 peeled carrot, diced

1 stalk celery, diced

1 tablespoon chopped fresh parsley or chive

pinch of salt

for greek yogurt topping

½ cup plain greek yogurt (Non-fat yogurt may be healthier, but the 2% version is beyond better)

juice from ½ lime

Stir together the plain greek yogurt and lime juice. 

Preparation

1. Rinse lentils and place in medium sauce pan, adding in all the other lentil-cooking ingredients. Cover the lentils with water. You want about an inch of water above the lentils. Bring lentils & Co. to a boil and then reduce heat to a healthy simmer. Simmer for about 25 minutes. Lentils should be tender, so if the water cooks off before you reach tenderness, just add a little more water and continue to simmer. Once lentils are tender, drain any excess water and remove the carrots, celery, and bay leaf. Stir in 2 ½ tablespoons red wine vinegar, 2 tablespoons olive oil, and salt & pepper. Set aside.

2. In a small sauté pan, add olive oil. Using medium heat, add tomatoes, brown sugar, diced carrot, diced celery, and a pinch of salt. Sauté 3-4 minutes. Tomatoes will start to collapse and celery and carrot will soften slightly.

3. Remove from heat and add the veggies to the lentils. Stir to combine. Season with more salt and pepper if needed.

4. Serve lentils with a generous spoonful of plain greek yogurt

The Eggplant vs. Aubergine Dilemma

An eggplant is an aubergine, but there's no denying that aubergine is the more elegant word. Aubergine allows this funny-shaped food the je ne sais quoi that it truly deserves. As a child, I disliked eggplant since I associated it with thick breading and heaps of oil, but now I love it as grilling and roasting come to mind. In all honesty though, I always say the word eggplant because if I didn't, no one would know what I was talking about. However, as a small act of defiance, I think aubergine in my head. Just a little crazy I know.

Anyway, this recipe also comes from the much-loved cookbook Plenty, with a few minor tweaks. We've been eating this salad a lot, with good toasted bread. This salad heaped on chewy, buttered Tuscan Panne is is a amazing summer-y mouthful. I don't think you need fish/chicken/meat to accompany it, but it certainly won't hurt if you do.



2 or 3 eggplants (depending on size)
olive oil
kosher salt and pepper
1 yellow bell pepper, diced small
15 grape tomatoes, quartered
1 tablespoon red wine vinegar
3 1/2 tablespoon capers, plus 1 teaspoon of the brine
1 ball fresh buffalo mozzarella
several leaves of fresh basil

First, place the diced yellow pepper and quartered tomatoes together in medium-sized bowl. Add capers, red wine vinegar, and a pinch of salt & pepper. Stir and allow to sit together at room temperature for 30 minutes so flavors can meld.

As for the eggplant, you can grill or oven-roast it. Either way, cut the eggplants into 3/4 inch circles. Take a baking sheet lined with foil & coated with PAM and place the eggplant slices on it. Pour about 1/4 cup olive oil into a small bowl and brush each eggplant slice with oil. Then sprinkle the slices with kosher salt. When complete, flip the slices over to oil & salt the other sides.

If using oven, place sheet in pre-heated 375 degree oven for about 25 minutes or until soft and golden. If using grill, place sheet on grill brought to similar 375-400 degree temperature and grill until soft and golden. Remove from heat and allow to eggplant to cool. Be patient and allow at least some cooling to occur or your mozzarella cheese will melt.

To serve, place the eggplant slices on a platter. Cut the mozzarella into bite-sized pieces and toss over eggplant. Spoon the yellow pepper mixture over both. Take the basil leaves and stack leaves neatly, one on top of the other. Roll length-wise into a little log and slice through the basil log horizontally so you have nice ribbons of basil. Toss the basil over the salad, finish with a bit of kosher salt and a few grinds of pepper.

Don't forget the toasted & buttered panne.

London Calling: Tomato Couscous Salad

In all of London, the place I most want to visit is not Buckingham Palace or Westminster or Piccadilly. My first stop will be Ottolenghi.


Ottolenghi is an amazing food empire and its owner, Yotem, also writes a column for a London newspaper. Yotem has a way with vegetables and grains that reveals a love of the entire Mediterranean as well as his Middle Eastern roots. I have fallen hard for so many of his ideas, including this Tomato Couscous salad, which appears in his cookbook, Plenty. (He calls it Tomato Party) I modified it a bit because we have a few who don't care for mint in savory dishes. Served warm or at room temperature, it pairs happily with anything off the grill. In fact, this was fantastic eaten with grilled Asian chicken in the company of five wonderful friends as we toasted our promotion to a "certain age" in the lovely town of Fairfield. London will just have to wait.

PS This salad stands on its own, especially if you toss in feta, goat cheese, or mozzarella - and add a lavishly buttered bread.

Ingredients
3/4 cup plain couscous
salt
olive oil
2/3 cup boiling water
3 - 4 medium tomatoes quartered then cut each quarter in half (use a mix of red and yellow if possible)
3/4 teaspoon brown sugar
black pepper
1 teaspoon balsamic vinegar
2 cups grape tomatoes
fresh basil - chopped, about 2 tablespoons
fresh chive - chopped, about 1 tablespoon

Preparation
Heat oven to 325 degrees. Put couscous in bowl and pour boiling water over. Stir and add a good tablespoon of olive oil and pinch of salt. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap (you can use a small sauce pan with a well-fitted lid if easier), set aside for 12 minutes, and then fluff the grains with a fork.

Take your cut sections of the larger tomatoes and place gently in a large bowl. Add balsamic vinegar, 1 tablespoon olive oil, brown sugar, pinch of salt and a few grinds of pepper. Combine gently with your hands to make sure each section is covered. Use a slotted spoon to place tomatoes sections on a foiled-covered baking sheet. Leave left-over balsamic & juices in the mixing bowl for later use. Roast the tomatoes sections in the oven for 10 minutes.

Once 10 minutes are up, turn oven to 400 degrees and remove the baking sheet. On the empty side of the sheet, place 1 cup of halved grape tomatoes. Season with a bit of salt, pepper, and drizzle with olive oil. Return baking sheet to oven and roast for 12 minutes. Remove from oven and allow to cool slightly.

Add the couscous, roasted tomatoes (and any juices from cooking), and the remaining 1 cup of halved, uncooked grape tomatoes to the mixing bowl with the balsamic-y liquid. Gently combine all the tomatoes and couscous, adding more olive oil and salt & pepper as needed. Another splash of balsamic is not out of the question either. If you plan to serve right away, add your chopped basil and chives. If serving later in the day, wait an hour or so before your meal to add your fresh herbs.

A Vinaigrette Vignette

Is vinaigrette intimidating? Mais non! I think it’s just the French name, for nothing is easier than whisking together a few ingredients with great gusto. Taste. Adjust - if needed. Done. The whole process takes a few minutes at best and the result can be perfectly tailored to what you like in a salad dressing. Plus, you bypass the gaggle of age-old salad dressing bottles, clanking unnecessarily as you open the door of the fridge. 

In our house we prefer a sweeter vinaigrette, but as I mentioned, you can tailor this to your own preference. You can re-adjust the ratio of 1:1:3 as you see fit. Or, add a bit of mustard, balsamic vinegar, lemon juice. Experiment freely!

Only one hard and fast rule: if you use maple syrup, use REAL maple syrup -  no Log Cabin or Aunt Jemina. However, you can substitute other real sweetners, such as sugar, honey or brown sugar.

1 tablespoon red wine vinegar

1 tablespoon real maple syrup 

3 tablespoons olive oil

ground pepper

pinch salt

Whisk together vigorously. Pour over salad & toss. Also good over roasted veggies - pour over while still warm. Serve hot or at room temp.