The Well-Dressed Salad

On the left, oil and vinegar. On the right, an emulsion.

I usually make a simple green salad for our classes. It's easy. It's sophisticated because it's...well dressed. :-) Vinaigrette is so useful that everyone should know how to make it. Unlike salad dressings in the bottle, it contains very few ingredients. It's simple to make too. Though chefs (and restaurant reviewers) make a big deal about broken vinaigrette, this isn't some kind of kitchen disaster for most of us. In fact, most of the time when I make a salad, I sprinkle on a little bit of vinegar, salt, pepper, and oil. Give it a toss. Done!

If you want to make a real vinaigrette, it's not much harder. It does take a little bit of patience. Or a blender. Wand or immersion blenders work particularly well for this. If you are making a small amount, enough for 2 servings, you'll need to do it the old-fashioned way, by hand, with a whisk.

We all know that oil and vinegar don't mix and the trick to vinaigrette is getting those two components to stay together. You can create an unstable emulsion with careful mixing but it won't hold together for very long. Enter mustard. Classically, it's Dijon mustard. It's an emulsifier, which means it gets oil and vinegar to stay together through some chemistry you don't need to understand (if you want to understand it, here's the link to Wikipedia's page on emulsion). Just know that it works.

The basic proportions are 1 teaspoon of mustard to 1 Tablespoon vinegar to 3-4 Tablespoons of oil. If you can remember this, you can always make salad dressing.

The method is as follows:

• Dissolve the mustard in the vinegar. 
• Start adding the oil a very little bit at a time, whisking as you add. If you add the oil too quickly, you may never get an emulsion to form with a whisk. In a blender, you don't have to be quite as careful because those quickly spinning blades mix together the oil and vinegar far more efficiently. If whisking, start adding the oil drop by drop. 
• Once your emulsion forms, you can add the oil more quickly. You'll know the emulsion has formed because the you won't have two different liquids that separate but one creamy, cloudy liquid.
• Season with salt and pepper. You can also add some fresh herbs now such as chopped parsley or basil.

How much dressing do you need for your salad? This depends on taste. I do not like my lettuce swimming in dressing so I go rather light, 1 teaspoon for a small salad and 2 Tablespoon for a entree-sized salad. You can drizzle it on and toss, but I like Bobby Flay's method the best. You drizzle the dressing over the sides of a bowl and then toss the greens against the sides of the bowl to coat the leaves with the dressing. You don't need much dressing and no part of the lettuce gets soaked.

Sesame Soy Vinaigrette

My salad lunch with tomatoes and lettuce from the garden, grilled corn, and seared tuna

It's salad days, what with the heat of mid-summer bearing down on us. Here's a delicious dressing for just lettuce or a main-dish salad, like my lunch above. It's great on a variety of cooked things that you might add to your salad: seared tuna, chicken, beef, pork, or shrimp. It's a little sweet but not too sweet.

Sesame Soy Vinaigrette
(serves ½ cup, about 6 servings)

½ teaspoon sugar
1 Tablespoon soy sauce
2 Tablespoons rice vinegar
1 Tablespoon toasted sesame oil (see Note)
4 Tablespoons vegetable oil

toasted sesame seeds

Whisk together sugar, soy sauce, and rice vinegar. Whisk in sesame oil and vegetable oil. The dressing will separate as it sits so whisk it again before dressing your salad.

Sprinkle some toasted sesame seeds after dressing salad.

Note: Toasted sesame oil is used extensively in Asian food. You can find it in supermarkets or Asian markets (where it is usually cheaper). It has a unique flavor. It is used as a flavoring after cooking as the oil is delicate and loses flavor when heated too much. It is used in Mu Shu Tofu and Chinese-style Minced Meat in Lettuce Leaves, if you need some ideas on how to use more of it.

A Valentine's Day Dinner for 2, under $15

In our cooking classes we usually teach dishes that students enjoy for everyday eating. We were going to do soups for our class this week, but our smart students had a better idea: one week before Valentine's Day, they wanted a nice date night meal. We were more than happy to oblige, because we think cooking for other people is one of the best ways to show how much you love them. Though this is a very elegant meal and sure to impress, it costs under $15 for 2 people.

Our menu included chicken rolled with fontina, prosciutto, and, sage served with roasted asparagus and an incredibly easy but totally cool dessert of frozen berries with a hot white chocolate sauce. We have included all these recipes below, as well as a simple recipe for polenta. Polenta makes a nice side dish but you can make some rice cooked in chicken stock or mashed potatoes instead, if you prefer.

It's very important to have all your ingredients ready before you start assembly of the rolls. Once your hands are covered with chicken is not a good time to try to open a package of prosciutto and tease apart the slices.

Pulling off a menu like this takes a little timing. Here's the order to do the recipe steps to assure that it all comes together at the same time. The dessert takes so little time that we suggest you wait until after you and your honey have eaten the chicken to prepare it.

1. Make the lemon vinaigrette.
2. Prep the asparagus so all you have left to do is put them in the oven.
3. Preheat the oven to 425°F.
4. Assemble the stuffed chicken rolls.
5. Brown the chicken and put in the oven.
6. Cook the polenta. Cover and set aside while you finish the rest.
7. Put the asparagus in the oven.
8. Remove the chicken, slice, and dress with vinaigrette.
9. Remove asparagus from oven.
10. Plate by putting a big spoonful of polenta on the plate, lay on half of the chicken slices. Dress with additional vinaigrette. Add asparagus.

Chicken Breasts Stuffed with Fontina and Prosciutto, with Lemon Vinaigrette Sauce

Serves 2

For the vinaigrette:
1 Tablespoon white wine vinegar
1 teaspoon grated lemon zest
A pinch kosher salt
A pinch freshly ground black pepper
¼ cup olive oil

For the chicken:
2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, about 6 ounces each
2 slices prosciutto (1 ounce)
1 ounce Fontina cheese, coarsely grated
2 fresh sage leaves, finely chopped (about 1 teaspoon)
About 6 wooden toothpicks
1 Tablespoon olive oil
¼ teaspoon kosher salt
¼ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

Preheat oven to 425°.

Make the vinaigrette:
Combine the vinegar, lemon zest, salt and pepper in a small bowl.  Slowly whisk in the olive oil until emulsified.

Make the stuffed chicken breasts:
With a sharp knife, make a horizontal slit, about ¾ through each chicken breast. Open each breast like a book, then place it in a plastic bag and pound with a rolling pin or a mallet to ⅛” thickness.  Lay each chicken breast out on a flat surface, and top each breast with a slice of prosciutto, half the grated Fontina cheese and half the chopped sage. Roll each breast up and secure with a few toothpicks by threading them through the seam side of each breast.  Pour a bit of olive oil in your hand and coat each breast with it.  Sprinkle each breast with salt and pepper.

Place the chicken in a frying pan set on medium-high heat, turning as needed, until golden brown on all sides.  Place the pan in the oven and cook until cooked through, about 15 minutes.  Remove the breasts to plates, remove the toothpicks, slice cross-wise, and, drizzle each breast with 2 Tablespoons of the vinaigrette; let rest 5 minutes.  Serve remaining vinaigrette on the side.

Roasted Asparagus
Serves 2

8 oz. asparagus, rinsed
1 Tablespoon olive oil
Sprinkle of salt and pepper

Preheat oven to 425°F. You can roast the asparagus with the chicken, as they cook at the same temperature.

Hold the asparagus stalk at the thick end and a couple of inches up the stalk. Then bend the stalk away from you and the stalk will snap where the stalk is no longer fibrous. Put the asparagus on a small-rimmed baking sheet and drizzle with the olive oil. Toss the asparagus to coat well. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Roast for 5 minutes, turn with tongs, and then roast for another 5 minutes. Cooking time may vary depending on the thickness of the asparagus.

Polenta
(serves 2-3)

1 ½ cups milk or water (it will be creamier made with milk)
¼ teaspoon kosher salt
½ cup yellow cornmeal
¼ cup grated Parmesan cheese
1 ½ tablespoons butter

In a medium saucepan, bring the water and salt to a slow boil. Gradually whisk in the cornmeal so the water keeps boiling. A whisk and adding the cornmeal slowly are essential to preventing lumpy polenta.

Reduce the heat to medium-low and cook, stirring frequently, until polenta is thick, about 5 minutes.

Remove from heat and stir in Parmesan and butter until well-combined.

Frozen Berries with White Hot Chocolate Sauce
Serves 2

2 oz. white chocolate
2 Tablespoons heavy cream
¼ teaspoon vanilla
1 cup frozen berries

Combine the chocolate, heavy cream, and vanilla in a heat-proof bowl and either microwave it on medium, 1 minute at a time, or set it over a pan of simmering water until the chocolate melts. About 5 minutes before serving, remove the berries from the freezer and place them on individual serving plates. Ladle the warm chocolate sauce over the berries and serve.

Note: You can either buy frozen berries, or freeze your own by placing berries on a flat tray or plate in one layer. When the berries are fully frozen, keep them in a plastic bag in the freezer. Larger berries, such as strawberries, do not freeze well.

Homemade Vinaigrette - you'll never want store-bought salad dressing again!

Vinaigrette is an emulsion of oil and vinegar, often flavored with herbs, spices, and other ingredients, such as shallots, raspberries, and cheese.  The basic recipe is to slowly add 3 parts oil at room temperature to 1 part vinegar, using a whisk, until it emulsifies into a creamy sauce.  Salt and pepper are added to taste and the addition of a small amount of mustard can help the keep the oil and acid in an emulsified state.  The typical amount per serving is 1 ½ - 2 Tablespoons.  I like to make up about a cup of vinaigrette and keep it in the refrigerator.  Basic vinaigrette will stay in the refrigerator for a couple weeks before the emulsion breaks down.  Here are my favorite recipes. 

But wait, here’s a trick!  Dampen a paper towel and put it on your counter under the bowl you are going to use to make the vinaigrette.  It will help keep the bowl from whirling around while you pour the oil with one hand and whisk with the other.

Basic Vinaigrette: put 4 Teaspoons Dijon mustard in a small bowl with ¼ cup vinegar (I'm a fan of white balsamic).  Slowly whisk in ¾ cup extra-virgin olive oil until it emulsifies. Mix in salt and pepper to taste.

Pomegranate Balsamic Vinaigrette:  put 1 Tablespoon pomegranate molasses in a small bowl with 3 Tablespoons dark balsamic vinegar. Whisk in ¼ cup extra-virgin olive oil. Mix in salt and pepper to taste. Note: this makes a fantastic fall dinner salad with arugula, chunks of roasted sweet potatoes, chicken or turkey, pomegranate seeds, and shaved parmesan cheese.  Did you know you can freeze pomegranate seeds?  I do it every fall, so I can eat this yummy salad all year long!

Asian Sesame Vinaigrette: put ¼ cup toasted sesame oil, 2 Tablespoons soy sauce and 1 teaspoon red pepper flakes in a small bowl.  Whisk in ¾ cup canola or vegetable oil.