Get Cooking: 150 Simple Recipes to Get You Started in the Kitchen (10 page)

4.
While the squash is roasting, melt the butter in a soup pot or a Dutch oven over medium heat. When the butter foams, swirl to coat the pan, and then add the onion and salt.

Cook, stirring occasionally, for about 5 minutes, or until the onion begins to soften.

5.
Add the apple slices, along with the sage and thyme, and continue to cook, stirring occasionally, for about 10 minutes, or until the apples are very tender.

6.
Add the roasted squash and the water to the onion-apple mixture. Turn up the heat and bring the soup to a boil, then turn the heat all the way down to the lowest possible setting. Cover, and simmer gently for 10 minutes.

7.
Remove the pot from the heat, uncover, and let it sit until the soup cools down to a comfortable puréeing temperature. Use a blender or immersion blender (see Chapter 1: Soups) to purée the soup until it is smooth.

8.
Time for the taste test: If the soup tastes good, you’re there. If it seems too sweet, add some or all of the lemon juice. If it’s tarter than you like, add brown sugar to taste.

9.
If necessary, reheat the soup gently over medium-low heat, being careful not to let it cook or boil. Serve hot.

TOASTING SQUASH SEEDS

The next time you cook a butternut or acorn squash (or carve a pumpkin), save the seeds for toasting. They make a tasty little snack and a crunchy garnish for soups and salads. Preheat the oven or a toaster oven to 300°F. Put the seeds in a colander and rinse them under cold water, discarding any bits of stringy squash. Drain the seeds, dry them with paper towels or a clean tea towel, and then spread them on a foil-lined baking tray or toaster oven tray. Sprinkle on a little olive oil and salt, and toss to coat well. (You can also add a bit of seasoning, like chili powder or cumin.) Roast the seeds for 10 to 15 minutes, stirring them once during that time, until they’re golden brown and just starting to pop open. Let the toasted seeds cool; you can store them in an airtight container at room temperature for a week or more. Or just snack on them right away.

A Salad a Day

A salad should be a thing of beauty, not duty. Salads can be colorful, filled with flavor, easy and inexpensive to make, and, generally speaking, a brilliant vegetable delivery system.

I’m about to teach you how to make a stellar tossed green salad—beautifully and often. In addition, I’ve included in this chapter some popular standards (pasta salad, potato salad, cole slaw, three-bean) that you can enjoy for picnics (outdoors on a Saturday in the spring, or at your desk on a winter Wednesday) or as easy dinners, supplemented with soup and bread. Many of these keep well and can be made in advance and eaten over a period of days as meals or snacks.

Think of these recipes as templates to which you can add other ingredients to fit your taste and appetite. Salads are a great place to experiment with becoming a more improvisational cook, because you really can’t go wrong. Also, most, if not all, of these recipes welcome the addition of cooked meat or strips of omelet or tofu, so they can be elevated easily to main-dish status.

TOSSED GREEN SALAD BASICS

I want to say, right out of the gate, that there is no excuse (and no need)—ever—for bringing a package of plain salad greens to the table along with a bottle of dressing. If you think this is a real way to serve green salad, a wonderful upgrade awaits you in these pages.

Homemade dressing can be so much better than the bottled kind that it’s almost a different category of food altogether. And there is no comparison between a plate of limp greens with an indiscriminate puddle of dressing simply dumped on and a carefully tossed, perfectly and evenly coated plateful of crisp leaf-heaven.

ABOUT SALAD DRESSINGS IN GENERAL

For some reason, many people are blocked when it comes to making salad dressing. Hence the wild success of the bottled stuff, which is always ridiculously overpriced and, in my opinion, never great. Once you whip them up (and as you’ll see, that’s not hard to do), homemade dressings can be kept in jars in the refrigerator, so they’re just as convenient as store-bought ones. They keep for months and take up very little space. So start saving little jars—like the ones mustard comes in—to use for mixing and storing salad dressing.

In this chapter, in addition to the Five Most Wanted dressings, many of the recipes list the dressing ingredients separately—so if you like, you can make one of those dressings on its own and keep it on hand to use with your own combinations of salad ingredients. Also try these dressings as sauces on warm cooked vegetables, on cold leftover cooked vegetables, or on plain cooked chicken or fish.

The ratio of dressing to salad in these recipes is on the generous side. Add most, but not all, of the dressing to begin with. Then toss and taste. You might want to stop right there,
or add more, or pass extra dressing at the table so people can add as much as they like.

About mayonnaise
If you want to use reduced-fat mayo, look for a good brand, one that is not full of sugar. I prefer full-fat regular mayo made with no added sugar. I tend to lighten it by mixing it with low-fat or nonfat yogurt in a ratio of about 3 or 4 parts yogurt to 1 part mayo. This scheme works very nicely, and is fresher tasting and better for you than “lite” mayo.

About buttermilk
Buttermilk is another secret ingredient that adds a subtle creaminess to various dressings (like Bleu Cheese, Creamy Balsamic, and more). It’s very much like a liquid yogurt—a cultured low-fat product that contributes both heft and tang without adding much fat.

About yogurt
As I mentioned above, I like to use yogurt in conjunction with mayonnaise. This brings out the best traits of both and keeps things light. I use plain nonfat yogurt, spooning out just the thick part and leaving behind any liquid (whey) that has separated out. You can also whisk the whey back in, and then the yogurt will be a little thinner. Either approach is fine.

HOW TO SHOP FOR GREEN SALAD INGREDIENTS

Buy only the freshest greens available. Avoid yellow wilted leaves or anything that appears wet or slimy (or that looks like it’s even thinking of becoming wet or slimy). Small young leaves tend to be tender; old overgrown leaves are usually tough.

Lettuce, salad mix, and spinach
Packaged salad mix often comes in 5-ounce bags and is also frequently available loose, in bulk. You can substitute baby spinach for some of it.

When you get it home, use it as soon as possible, but if you need to store it, keep it very dry and wait until just before making the salad to wash it. Tired-looking-but-still-okay leaves can usually be perked up by soaking them in cold water for 5 minutes and then drying them in a salad spinner.

Wash salad greens in cold running water in the basket of your salad spinner, a colander, or in a sinkful of cold water. Dry them as thoroughly as possible in a salad spinner. The drier the leaves, the better their relationship with the dressing will be. If the greens are really water-soaked when you get them home (owing to overactive misters in the produce aisle), spin them dry before storing them.

Remove and discard any damaged leaves, and store the good leaves in any of the following ways:

• In plastic bags with almost all the air squeezed out of them (the greens need to be very dry for this).
  
• Directly in the salad spinner in the refrigerator, if you have room (the greens can be a little wet).
  
• In a food storage container with a tightly fitting lid, with a folded paper towel in the bottom of the container (the paper
  towel helps absorb excess moisture and the covered container helps keep excess air out).
  

Bunches of herbs can be stored like bouquets in glasses partially filled with water (at room temperature if it’s only for a day or so, in the refrigerator if storing for longer).

If lettuce leaves need to be made smaller, try to accomplish this, as noted food authority Harold McGee says, “with the least possible physical pressure.” Cutting swiftly with a very sharp knife just before assembling the salad is a good idea, as is simply tearing greens gently with your hands.

Okay, enough about the technicalities of leaf life span. Let’s get to the fun part. What do you put in a green salad, and what’s the best way to assemble it all?

THE GREENS

Of course you can use any kind of lettuce. Beyond that, try baby spinach, arugula, watercress (stems and leaves), chicories (including radicchio, which has a slightly bitter flavor and white-veined dark red leaves, and Belgian endive, those tight little pale-green elongated heads). A good place to start if you’re less familiar with any of these is a prepared salad mix (also known as “mesclun” or “field greens”).

ADD-INS

You can add any vegetables you think you might enjoy raw. Just cut them small and thin, and toss them into the mix. These might include:

• Carrots (chopped, sliced, or grated)
  
• Cabbage (finely sliced or grated)
  
• Bell peppers (go for the brightly colored ones)
  
• Red onion
  
• Scallions
  
• Celery
  
• Cucumber
  
• Cauliflower
  
• Mushrooms (very fresh, clean domestic ones only)
  
• Radishes
  
• Beets (peeled and grated)
  
• Sugar snap peas
  
• Thin “French” green beans
  (haricots verts)
  

You can also include vegetables and other ingredients that are better cooked (and cooled down or chilled) before adding. Cut these small, too.

• Broccoli
  
• Squash
  
• Potatoes
  
• Beets (peel after cooking)
  
• Thicker green beans
  
• Cooked beans (canned or homemade)
  
• Leftover cooked grains
  

Small amounts of torn, minced, or snipped (with scissors) fresh herbs are a lovely touch and add deeper flavor to salads.

• Flat-leaf parsley
  
• Basil
  
• Cilantro
  
• Thyme
  
• Mint
  
• Savory
  
• Dill
  
• Chives
  

Fruit can be wonderful in a green salad. Add fresh fruit to a salad just before serving—or even at the table, so all stays fresh and unbroken, and sogginess is avoided. Try:

• Apple or pear slices
  
• Citrus sections
  
• Chopped fresh cranberries (super-tart)
  
• Pomegranate seeds
  
• Berries (whole smaller ones; sliced larger ones)
  
• Watermelon (really, give it a shot), in 1-inch chunks
  
• Dried fruit, in small pieces
  

ADD-ONS

Some ingredients should be cut at the very last minute and added as a garnish. These include: