Wednesday, April 22, 2009

Grapes across America


In the last six months, just about every salad we've made includes grapes. We keep a steady supply of seedless grapes on hand, and these gems have earned a place of prominence in our salads.  We slice them down the middle and the interior exposure collects and intensifies flavors from the olive oil, balsamic vinegar, the spices, and sea salt.    

There are several varieties of seedless grapes grown in North America, and interestingly, grapes can be crimson, black, dark blue (seriously?), green, yellow, and pink in color.  The USA is the eighth largest grape producer in the world, and because of the grape's natural hardiness, they are grown in numerous areas across North America. Although we've yet to add the dark-blue varietal to our salads, it's good to know that there's an exciting flavor (and color) frontier in the grape world that we haven't experienced yet.

Sunday, April 19, 2009

Zest


Here's an idea.  Suppose you're in a groove, making the same basic salad but you're looking for something a little different.  You're thinking that you've got a good thing going, but you want to make a few adjustments to get that salad up on its feet.  Well, one way to goose up a salad is to add some lemon zest.  

Zest is the oil-rich outer rind of the lemon but only the portion with color, not the white pith. It is scraped off with a paring knife or a zester, and it imparts a very intense lemon/citrus flavor to the your salad.  Interestingly, it works with many salad combinations, and you can use it as sparingly or as liberally as you want to provide that extra bit of flavor.  You can buy dried zest, but zesting a lemon is really fun, it gives you a good excuse to buy a zester, and you have a bunch of bald lemons to use for other purposes. 

Tuesday, April 14, 2009

Sea salt again


The other day, we were sitting around Mike and Liz's table talking about horses, the economy, wine, and of course food, when the conversation turned serious. As the salad bowl was passed from hand to hand, our friend Don stated in a resolute voice, "Hey, I live alone, I could put anything I want in my salad!" He explained further that his salads don't by definition include greens.  Sometimes, he continued, he simply cuts up some carrots, beets, and avocado, and tosses it with sea salt.  That's one of his favorites.

The word "salad" is derived from the old French "salade," which we can trace to the Vulgar Latin "salata,"  which is translated as "to salt." Yes indeed, Don is absolutely right.  The idea of food "having been salted" was the idea behind the salad. Salt is the root of many of our favorite foods, including salsa and sausage, in which their Latin references to salt can easily be seen. Salsa is derived from "salsus," which translates to "salted," and Sausage is derived from "salsicius," which means "to prepare by salting."

Certainly our notion of a salad is broad enough to encompass anything we can think of, but always, it should include a dash of salt.

Saturday, April 11, 2009

Ode to the sea



The ingredients that we use for any given salad can vary widely. We can be just as happy eating a salad in which the main ingredient is cucumber, or pineapple, or mandarin oranges. We've added pears, apple slices, or peppers to these salads, and they've all turned out well. The reaon for this is that these salads have one thing in common:  Sea Salt and Herbs.

There's something about a good sea salt and herb combination that brings out the very best in every other ingredient in a salad. We've been using the Sea Salt and Herb bundles from O & Co., especially the Sea Salt Mix for Pasta and Salads, which includes dried sea salt, marjoram, tomato flakes, chives, and onions.  We often supplement the herb list with our own oregano, basil, and always an ample serving of fresh ground pepper.

We'll talk more about O & Co. in later posts on this blog, but regardless of where you get your sea salt, it is an essential ingredient in any salad.