Salad Dressing and Menu Planning

One of the hardest things about getting into the habit of cooking for yourself is having the ingredients on hand. For many people, home cooking is synonymous with constant trips to the grocery store and still never having the ingredients you need when you need them. Some of my friends and family members don’t cook because they think it means going to the grocery store daily. Some who do cook do go to the grocery store daily. When you’re living in a city where you walk a lot, like Manhattan, you get spoiled by the convenience of popping into your corner bodega or grocery store on your way home from wherever to pick up the one ingredient you are missing. On the other hand, living in a city makes the big grocery trips a total inconvenience when you don’t have a car, particularly when you are getting bulk items or heavy bags of flour and bottles of olive oil.

All of these barriers aside, a key to home cooking success is organization. Even if you aren’t the most organized person, planning out a week’s worth of meals streamlines the process and just makes it easier. It also means you will actually cook instead of panicking at having no ideas or nothing to make on Tuesday night at 6:30 and opting for take out instead.

Once you have a menu, then it’s time for a grocery list. You need more on your list than just the ingredients for your main dish. Personally, I like to have a salad with dinner every night. It is filling, textured, healthy, and quick to prepare. It makes even a light, thrown-together dinner feel like a real meal. In this post, I am going to include a couple of my favorite dressing recipes. I really, truly dislike bottled dressing. Mostly, it takes like bottled sodium to me. My friends say this makes me a dressing snob. However, I stick to my claims that homemade dressing tastes better and is significantly healthier for you. It is also incredibly easy. Some dressings you can make in advance and just toss with your salad. Others I make directly on the salad. Serving salads pre-dressed is another point of contention with my friends—I just don’t like having to toss my salad on my plate!

So the “menu” of the week I came with is:

Monday—Asian salad, Soba Noodles with tofu and broccoli
Tuesday—Salad a la Qubano, Eggplant Lasagna, and bruschetta
Wednesday—Romaine with bell pepper and craisins, Stir fry with quinoa
Thursday—Romaine with cucumbers and scallions, Spicy chickpeas with brown rice and squash soup
Friday—Tomato salad, Thai Fish, green beans, and pear bread

It’s a bit heavy on the Asian-inspired dishes, but they are tasty, healthy, and filling. Some of these are recipes I have posted about before. The others I will post about soon. In the mean time, here is what I would get at the grocery store for these meals, assuming I was buying for one or two people to eat each meal and that I already had the staples in my pantry. As you can see, if you have these things on hand, your weekly grocery shopping will mostly involve buying the fresh produce. The fish should be purchased day of so that it’s fresh (and I wouldn’t buy it over the weekend), or you can use a frozen fish. I usually get tilapia because it is affordable, relatively sustainable, and tastes good with many preparations. Even though it means an extra trip to the store, I saved the fish for Friday because, being Shabbat and the end of the week, I like to have a special meal, complete with dessert.

Also, these recipes feed more than two people, which makes them ideal for having leftovers to eat for lunch the next day.

Vegetables
1 bag romaine hearts or one large head of romaine lettuce
1 large eggplant (it should feel heavy for its size)
1 zucchini
1 winter squash (butternut or carnival are good choices)
2 handfuls of green beans
1 bunch of broccoli
3-4 fresh tomatoes (I know, it’s a fruit…)
1 head of cauliflower
2-3 kirby cucumbers
1-2 avocados
1 red, orange, or yellow bell pepper
1 bunch scallions
fresh basil

Fruit
2-4 firm pears
Fruit for snacking

Other
1 jar tomato sauce (you can also make your own)
1 baguette or crusty loaf of bread
2 packages of tofu
1 bag walnuts
1/2 dozen eggs
nutmeg
sesame seeds
1 bag craisins
Any staples you’ve run out of

And now that the business is out of the way, on to salad dressing!

I recently posted about one of my favorite dressings, an apple cider vinegar and mustard vinaigrette. I always have these ingredients on hand because it makes a plain salad brighten up with its tangy flavor. You can keep a jar of this in the refrigerator for about a month, which is convenient. I usually use salad dressing as an excuse to buy juices in glass bottles, like Snapple. They make excellent bottles for dressing. I particularly love this dressing with romaine lettuce, avocados, and chickpeas. If you mash the avocado as you toss the salad, it becomes part of the dressing making it creamy.

Another crucial piece of my recipe repertoire is a simple balsamic vinegar dressing. Unfortunately, I do this one by eye and any attempts to write down measurements have resulted in failure. Essentially, you need olive oil, garlic powder (the granulated kind), balsamic vinegar, salt and pepper. First I toss the lettuce with the barest amount of olive oil, until all of the leaves are glistening. Then sprinkle the garlic powder lightly over the surface of a bowl so that there is a thin film of garlic on top. Toss. Pour the balsamic vinegar in a circle on top of the lettuce, two concentric circles if you really like vinegar. Two shakes of salt and one of pepper. Toss and taste, adjusting seasoning as needed. For tomato salad, I skip the garlic powder so that the tomato shines through.

In My Pantry

Recently, several people have asked me how they can start cooking. Whether they feel like they should be cooking more or are starting off in their own kitchens for the first time, initiating that kind of routine is a daunting task. So with a little bit of brain storming, I’ve decided to start a mini project for this blog to help people get in their kitchens and get cooking!

To kick things off, I’ve created a new tab– “In My Pantry.” There, you can find a list of foods and ingredients I always have in my kitchen. With these staples, there is always a dish you can whip together in a moment of crisis or when you don’t feel like going to the grocery store. Seriously, in the worst case scenario–rolled oats, brown sugar, and cinnamon–what more do you need?

Next, I will be posting a week’s worth of recipes and a grocery list. One of the most difficult things about cooking is keeping your kitchen stocked with the right ingredients and making sure you use what you buy. It’s also tough to organize yourself so that you only have to go to shopping once or twice in a week (mostly to get fresh produce). In general, my grocery lists look more or less the same since I tend to make variations with the same ingredients. Having said that, each week there are things that get added on and others that get taken off, based on what I think I’ll be making.

If you have any questions or things you’re curious about, e-mail me at orangeidealblog (at) gmail.com.

Roasted Eggplant Salad

Maybe it’s already obvious to all of you, but I have a thing for eggplants. It’s not like it was a household item growing up. I’m pretty sure the texture and color (when cooked) doesn’t appeal to my dad; we’ve always been more of a broccoli-green beans-asparagus family (except for me–I can’t stand asparagus). Summer farmers’ markets have only fueled my passion for eggplants, with all of its wonderful heirloom varieties, like fairy tale and the orange turkish eggplants. I was thus very excited when, flipping through a Mollie Katzen cookbook (I think it was The Vegetable Dishes I Can’t Live Without), I found a stellar recipe for a roasted eggplant dish. The recipe I’ve enclosed below is my own interpretation of the idea, but the basic premise of the dish is roasted eggplants tossed with a tangy vinaigrette. I’m in favor of a mustard-based dressing, but it is also delicious with balsamic. The mustard vinaigrette I’ve included here is based on my great aunt Vivian’s signature salad from her restaurant Qubano in Isla Mujeres, Mexico.

My favorite part of the eggplant salad, which reveals another weakness of mine, are the leek frizzles. And of course the fresh tomatoes. Apparently I just love vegetables–I think Mollie would agree.

Roasted Eggplant Salad
Inspired by Mollie Katzen

2 medium-sized eggplants, sliced about 1/4″ thick
2 leeks, sliced in half-moons
1 pint cherry tomatoes, halved
1/4 cup olive oil + more for roasting eggplant and leeks
1.5 tablespoons Gulden’s Spicy Brown Mustard
1 tablespoon dry minced onions
1/4 cup apple cider vinegar
1 clove garlic, crushed

Set oven to 400°F. Slice eggplants and sprinkle with salt. Let sit and “sweat” for 15 minutes. Rinse salt and place eggplant slices on greased baking sheet. Drizzle oil over eggplants. Roast until soft and brown, about 30 minutes.

While eggplants are roasting, halve tomatoes.

Thoroughly wash and slice leeks. In a heated skillet, add several tablespoons olive. When hot, add leeks and fry until they start getting crispy. Remove from oil and place on paper towel to soak up excess grease.

Prepare dressing by whisking together remaining ingredients to develop a thick, tart dressing.

This salad can be served warm or cold. Plate eggplants, sprinkle a small handful of tomatoes and leeks over each, and drizzle with dressing. Alternatively, eggplants can be diced and the salad can be tossed in a bowl.

Peach Crunch

I see summer as a time for celebration. Even when it’s bloody hot out (which it has been), we can at least celebrate the deliciousness that is in-season produce. Most notably, the peach and the tomato. While other fruits and vegetables might taste a bit like their summer cousins year round (i.e. eggplants, broccoli, apples, etc.), I have a hard time buying peaches and tomatoes anywhere but the farmers’ market. Grocery store tomatoes are waxy and hard. They never have the warm red glow of a recently picked tomato. Plus, I get really excited about the heirloom varieties. Recently, I’ve been drooling over a yellow tomato with green stripes–it never makes it to the table because I just eat it raw.

But the true queen of summer is the peach. I got addicted to peaches last summer. It wasn’t pretty. In fact, the peaches themselves weren’t pretty, but still, they were perfect and heavenly. I mostly eat them fresh and plain–a quick rinse and straight into my mouth. But a couple of weeks ago I decided to do some baking. With some inspiration from the Barefoot Contessa, here’s what I came up with. I liked this recipe because the top is crunchy and not overly sweet, letting the sweetness of the peaches take over. Also, by quartering the peaches (instead of making them smaller), the dessert is about the fruit–it doesn’t just disintegrate into mush.

Peach Crunch
Serves 8; Based on Barefoot Contessa’s Back to Basics Plum Crunch

6 peaches, peeled, pitted and quartered
1/2-3/4 cup brown sugar, lightly packed
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
3 tablespoons rum
For the topping
1/2 cups all purpose flour
3/4 cup granulated sugar
3/4 cup light brown sugar, lightly packed
1/2 teaspoon Kosher salt
1 cup oatmeal
1/2 cup chopped walnuts
1/2 pound (two sticks) cold unsalted butter, diced

Preheat the oven to 375°F.

For the fruit: in a large bowl, combine peaches, brown sugar, flour, and rum. Pour the mixture into a 12 x 8 inch shallow baking dish.

For the topping, combine ingredients in an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Mix on low speed until the mixture is crumbly and the butter forms peas. Scatter over peaches.

Bake for 40-45 minutes, until the fruit bubbles and the top is brown. Delicious warm or at room temperature.

Greek-Style Grilled Fish

Now that I’m back in Cincinnati and with a kitchen of my own (i.e. not living in a New York City co-op), it’s time to hunker down and get cooking. As much as it’s been nice having others cook for me, I missed being in the kitchen (i.e. a kitchen that is not industrial and air condition-less and with a broken refrigerator and freezer). So I got home and hit the ground running. I read Mark Bittman of the New York Times, regularly, but I don’t often make the recipes in his column. I do, however, own his massive tome, How to Cook Everything Vegetarian. With over 1,000 pages of recipes, it’s a bit daunting but a really valuable resource since it does cover pretty much everything.

This recipe for Greek fish caught my eye though and as soon as I had access to a grill (i.e. one that stands on it’s own and does not rest on the roof of my building) I got started. I was excited about this recipe mostly for the tomatoes. Nothing beats a summer tomato. Especially local ones–you can absolutely taste the difference between tomatoes picked off the vine a day ago versus ones picked a week ago. Sorry California, you’re never going to win this one. In the process of getting ready for dinner, I discovered a new farmer’s market. I love the fact that their web site streams happy music.

So this fish. It basically tastes like summer–isn’t that enough of a sale? It calls for a whole trout, bass, or rockfish. Sadly, there were no whole fish at the store, nor any of the above fishes. I went for halibut, which ended up being a great choice for grilling–it’s really mild and the fattiness kept it moist. I always love lemon and herb dressing for fish and it was only made better by topping the fish with the fresh tomatoes, dressed in their own savory marinade. Even my dad, the fish hater, loved it.

Greek-Style Fish
Mark Bittman Recipe; Serves 4

2 cups cherry tomatoes, preferably Sun Gold, halved
1/4 cup olive oil, or more as needed
2 tablespoons white wine vinegar
1 tablespoon minced fresh hot chili, like jalapeño, or more to taste
1 tablespoon chopped fresh oregano, or 1 teaspoon dried
4 cloves garlic, sliced, or more to taste
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 large whole fish or 2 smaller ones (2 to 3 pounds total), like striped bass, rockfish or trout; preferably butterflied and boned, or simply gutted
1 lemon, sliced
4 to 6 sprigs fresh thyme

Heat oven to 450 degrees or prepare grill; heat should be medium-high and rack about 4 inches from fire. Combine tomatoes, 2 tablespoons olive oil, vinegar, chili, oregano, a few slices of garlic, and a sprinkle of salt and pepper in a large bowl; let sit at room temperature for 20 to 30 minutes.

Meanwhile, using a sharp knife, make three or four diagonal, parallel slashes on each side of fish, just about down to the bone. Sprinkle inside of fish with salt and pepper, then stuff with remaining garlic, a layer of lemon slices and thyme sprigs. Rub outside of fish with remaining 2 tablespoons oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper.

To roast, put fish in roasting pan and cook for about 20 minutes (cooking time will depend on fish size). If grilling, cook until firm enough to turn, 5 to 8 minutes. Turn and cook second side for 5 to 8 minutes. Whether roasting or grilling, fish is done when exterior is crisp and a thin-bladed knife passes easily through the flesh.

Taste tomato mixture and adjust seasoning, adding more oil if needed. Serve fish topped with tomatoes and their liquid.