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This is a definite salad of chicken and the egg – did I see the recipe on Food 52 because I spent Saturday morning at the farmer’s market, and knew that beets and turnips and brussels sprouts were still in abundance? Or did I notice the beets because I had already spied the Bagna Càuda Salad as part of the Oscar Menu ideas on the same site?
Regardless, I knew the bright raw vegetables would provide a nice contrast to the rich and heavenly dinner being planned by friends.
I have always loved beets, particularly in their ever present carnation with oranges and goat cheese, where they are usually roasted to develop a deep, earthy sweetness.
Here, where they are raw and shaved paper-thin the earthiness is more akin to carrot, which we are used to in its saw state. They combine well with other raw vegetables such as turnips, radishes, actual carrots and brussels sprout leaves. You could add other roots (ribbons of butternut squash were in the original)or take away some of the components, as long you still have 4 or so different offerings in the mix.
As for the name of this salad, ‘bagna càuda’ means hot bath, and traditional refers to a warm lemon-garlic-anchovy dip that is served with vegetables, fondue-style. Here, those same ingredients are used to make a {strong, but delightful} dressing, which adds body and bite to an otherwise virtuous salad.
Because the raw vegetables can hold the dressing for a much longer time than lettuce salads, this is also great to make ahead, for a packed/picnic lunch perhaps or just a dinner where you would rather be with your guests that back in the kitchen. One thing, make sure you have a mandoline or slicer – just a knife would take this from heavenly to torture.
For recipe, Read the rest of this entry »
I’m not going to lie. My friends spoil me. They are ridculously talented in the kitchen, and I am lucky enough to regularly be on the receiving end of those gifts.
Take last night – our dear friends Melissa & Colin had us over for dinner and to watch the Oscars. The spread was straight out of the Governor’s Ball, only difference being we licked our plates clean!
We had ricotta crostini two ways – one with pickled grapes, and one with olives and oranges. With champagne cocktails, of course. Well matched with the red carpet proceedings.
Dinner was beef roast with herbs, risotto milanese, a raw root vegetable salad, bagna cauda style, and roast brussel sprouts. Hopefully we can get Colin to do a guest post on the risotto – bone marrow and saffron, are you kidding me?? Holy hell – it was divine! The raw salad was a bright complement to the other earthy and rich offerings.
And less you thought it ended there, as the awards were concluding, we finished it off with Catie’s maple pots de crème, which she topped with a sprinkling of salt and fresh whipped cream.
So obviously dinner was a bit decadent, but who are we kidding – so it sitting around watching awards dedicated to a decadent industry. But damn, if it isn’t pretty fun!
I advise you to tuck this menu away, and then bring it out on a cold night when you want to pull out all the stops. Wolfgang would be proud.
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I am infinitely curious about what people eat and make for dinner at home. Not “magazine” weeknight dinners, or even blogs that showcase only one component or require endless time, but real dinners. To be honest, if I make dinner 3-4 nights a week, I consider that a HUGE success. I know there will be a dinner or two out, plus perhaps take-out and a ‘single gals’ dinner of popcorn or wine and cheese.
So once a week, I thought it would be fun to showcase a real weeknight dinner. Some of course will be more fun than others, but that’s life, right?
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These cauliflower spoon eggs were born from cauliflower that desperately needed to be cooked and wanting something more than my standard roast cauliflower. Not to mention there were lots of eggs in the fridge and little else by way of protein on hand. I did end up roasting the remaining veg (with a dusting of nutmeg, curry and cayenne to match the eggs) and thought the extra cauliflower perfect. Plus I always favor additional vegetables.
We ate it with a super simple salad – butter lettuce with a shallot vinaigrette – which is perhaps my favorite counterpart to rich dishes.
This easy souffle definitely wins my heart in the breakfast for dinner category.
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I wish I could say my home was always teeming with beautiful blooms, but alas that is not the case. I pick up flowers from my favorite florist entirely too rarely, occasionally make it to the flower mart, and truth be told, many days they only thing living here is eucalyptus that seems to hold on forever.
But I do notice that I simply feel better, and the house obviously looks better, when fresh flowers abound. Most often I pick up stems at the farmer’s market or grocery store and do little to style them up.
I thought it would make for a fun series to check in now and again to see what’s blooming in our home.
This week brings some gorgeous purpley-blue hyacinths (picked up at Trader Joe’s) – and are the perfect precursor to spring (which feels close, at least here is SF).
Any fun flowers in your home right now?
Any big plans tonight? Perhaps lots of yummy food, extra dessert and a cocktail or two? Never mind that it is a Tuesday, it’s Fat Tuesday – more lovingly known as Mardi Gras – and a day of decadence. It is the final night before 6+ weeks of the Lenten season, which includes fasting and self-denial, among other penitential preparations prior to Easter Sunday. At least for those good Catholics among us. For many – it is signal to wear yellow, green and purple, down the beverages and celebrate New Orleans!
We were lucky enough to begin the celebrations early, as our dear friends Catie & Jimmy had us over for Jambalaya last night. Catie is an excellent cook and happened to wing an out-of-this-world slow cooker version, but I believe she used this recipe and this one for inspiration. It was loaded with shrimp, andouille, chicken, rice and lots of spice — so good.
So its not too late – cook up some jambalaya (or red beans and rice), mix up a batch of sazeracs, throw some Louis Armstrong on the speakers and have yourself your own little New Orleans party!
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As I just downloaded Party of a Century for my flight to Dallas, I thought it would be the perfect time to talk books. I love to read, and at times can really put the books back (Kindle is equal parts good and dangerous for those of us with a book habit), and am always on the look out for new tomes.
I thought it would be fun once a month to chat books and share suggestions. I recently finished both Shantaram by Gregory David Roberts and 11/22/63 by Stephen King and really enjoyed them both, but be warned, they are both pretty long (944 pages and 849 pages, respectively). I am not a huge horror fan, so in the past I have bypassed King, but this new take on time-travel really brought me in.
As for Rules of Civility and An Object of Beauty, I didn’t read them recently, but they were two of my faves from 2011, so I feel I would be remiss to leave them of the first list.
So, what are you reading? I’d love to know!
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Valentine’s Day is such a funny thing. I have no problem with it and every problem with it. Why not show the love year ’round? And show everyone some love! I love sending little cards or trinkets to friends and family, but this year it all got away from me. I did do a little valentine-card making with my favorite 2-year old on Monday while we were babysitting and her parents were celebrating, so there is that.
As for celebrations, we usually skip the hullabaloo and have an easy dinner at home. But last night that even seemed like work, so we walked down the street for tacos and margaritas and headed home early to catch up on Downton Abbey.
And lo and behold, the Mr. had a surprise waiting – a new Jambox so I can easily have tunes while cooking in the kitchen (or anywhere!) – so thoughtful! Thankfully, I took Postmates up on their offer to deliver a box of chocolates.
Hope today is filled with more love than yesterday, and some leftover candy too!
Oh, and the flowers were left over from the weekend, but don’t they look particularly festive?!
Next time you are looking for something to make for dinner with friends, I HIGHLY recommend David Chang’s Bo Ssam. It’s perfectly caramelized slow-roasted pork, served with lettuce, rice, kimchi and two knock-your-socks-off sauces, one garlic scallion and another with a Korean chili-paste base. And the oysters are a fun touch, if you live in a place they are easy to source.
Since reading about the Bo Ssam Miracle in the New York Times a few weeks ago, I have made it twice for friends and dreamed about it many times more. It makes ideal dinner-party food – super easy but appears much more complicated, and as an added bonus pork butt is pretty inexpensive.
The only thing I add to the menu is sauteed chinese broccoli with garlic just to have a bit more veg.
As for drinks, while I love wine and cocktails (and think you may definitely want 1 or 2 during apps), I think this dinner is perfectly suited for {lots of} ice cold beer. We had a fun mix of Singha, Tsingtao, Chang, Lucky Budda, Sapporo – but really just go with your fave. With that, and lots of napkins, you are set.
Until recently, I had always bought chicken two ways:
- Whole – generally for roasting
- Unique parts – breasts, thighs, etc – but multiple of the same kind – usually for easy dinners.
And then I made fried chicken, and everything changed.
I bought a whole chicken and had the butcher cut it up – as fried chicken naturally needs to be a mix of all the parts.
It was so easy that a few days later, when I was making Smitten Kitchen’s buttermilk roast chicken, I did the same thing. Except that while walking home from the store, I realized it needed to brine overnight. So I rerouted the breasts to that night’s dinner, and left the remaining thighs, legs and wings to marinate (and threw the back in the freezer with other chicken scraps for stock).
Plan was to roast the breasts bone and skin on (more flavor) – but that also means more time (and less healthy) and dammit I was hungry and needed dinner immediately. So I reluctantly cut the breasts off the bone and removed the skin and with smidge of salt, pepper and olive oil, threw them on the grill (pan).
10 minutes later and boneless, skinless chicken breasts that were good. Really good. Good enough that I have since used this trick again this week.
Why was this the best boneless skinless chicken breast of my life? My (unscientific) reasoning is that since the whole chicken was just cut and the then the meat just removed from the skin and bones, that it stayed incredibly moist and fresh. Makes since, sense packaged meats or even those pre-cut in the butcher case are already starting to dry out and lose flavor.
And now I am starting to wonder if half the reason that fried chicken and buttermilk roasted chicken were so damn good is because of this. But that’s good right? It’s all in the ingredients anyway…
So there you have it – better chicken any time – oh, and cheaper too!! Because let’s face it, as boring as they are, occasionally we all need some bonless skinless chicken in our lives.
When I bought my first iPhone, I made a rule – only download free apps. Although they are pretty resonable, I knew that $.99 + $2.99 + boredem and I would be sacraficing good dinners for long forgotten apps.
And I am glad I made that rule, because it has saved me from needless buying. But on occasion, I “splurge” and my favorite category to do so is for location apps.
Apps like UrbanDaddy’s ‘The Next Move’, goop city cuides and Know What are real lifesavers – in new cities or in your own. How many times are we out with friends and can’t for the life of us think of a fun ‘bar-restaurant-you name in’ in the neighborhood when we need it? It as if all that useful knowledge just slips away at just the wrong time. But thankfully, now there is an app for that.
And the just announced sfgirlbybay’s Bohemian Modern San Francisco app from a local favorite blogger Victoria Smith & Know What is one more to add to my list.
At least I still won’t pay for the upgrade to Words with Friends.
What are your favorite apps? Any worth me breaking my rule?
Also – sorry for the muliple phone related posts, but as I am trying to be more ‘mobile’ here, I guess you can see where my thoughts are. 
