Mark Bittman's Quick and Easy Recipes from the New York Times (7 page)

MAKES 8 SERVINGS

TIME: 30 MINUTES

THIS IS A
salad for a small crowd, though it can be made as big or as little as you like. But please, see this ingredients list as a series of suggestions rather than dogma—a chopped salad can contain any combination that appeals to you, including raw vegetables like broccoli or cauliflower or crunchy cabbages like bok choy, as well as nuts, seeds, and fruit.

1.
Roughly chop the greens and put them in a big bowl.

2.
Peel the cucumber, then cut it in half lengthwise; seed if necessary and chop into ½-inch dice. Trim the radishes and chop into ½-inch dice. Seed and core the peppers and chop into ½-inch dice. Peel and mince the onion. Chop the carrots into ½-inch dice. Chop the celery into ½-inch dice. Toss all the vegetables with the greens.

3.
Combine the oil, vinegar, shallot, and mustard and beat with a fork or wire whisk, or emulsify in a blender or with an immersion blender. Season with salt and pepper, then taste and adjust the seasoning as necessary.

4.
Just before serving, toss the salad with the dressing.

MAKES 4 SERVINGS

TIME: 10 MINUTES

EATEN RAW, BEETS
are delicious; even many self-proclaimed beet haters will like them in this salad.

To eat a beet raw, you have to peel it and shred it. The first step is easiest with a regular vegetable peeler. I do the second with the metal blade of a food processor, pulsing the machine on and off until the beets are finely cut. You could use the shredding blade, but it isn’t any easier or better. Or you could use a manual grater, but only if you’re looking for an upper-body workout.

1.
Peel the beets and the shallot. Combine them in a food processor fitted with the metal blade and pulse carefully until the beets are shredded; do not puree. (Or grate the beets by hand and mince the shallots; combine.) Scrape into a bowl.

2.
Toss with the salt, pepper, mustard, oil, and vinegar. Taste and adjust the seasoning. Toss in the herbs and serve.

MAKES 4 SERVINGS

TIME: 1 HOUR, LARGELY UNATTENDED

MANY CUCUMBERS ARE
best if they’re salted first. The process removes some of their bitterness and makes them extra-crisp—it takes some time but almost no effort. Start with one or two Kirby (pickling) cucumbers per person—or half of a medium cucumber or about a third of a long (“English”) cucumber.

For a full-meal cucumber salad with a Southeast Asian flair, try
Cucumber Salad with Scallops
.

1.
Put the cucumber slices in a colander and sprinkle with salt, just a little more than if you were planning to eat them right away. Set the colander in the sink.

2.
After 30 to 45 minutes, press the cucumbers to extract as much liquid as possible. Toss them with the mint, the lemon juice, and a healthy grinding of black pepper. Serve within a few hours.

MAKES 4 SERVINGS

TIME: 20 MINUTES

THIS IS SIMPLY
a kind of sea-based mesclun with a distinctively sesame-flavored dressing. The only challenge in making it lies in the shopping. Few supermarkets carry any seaweed at all, so you need to hit an Asian or health food market for any kind of selection. At most Japanese markets and some health food stores, you can find what amounts to a prepackaged assortment of seaweed salad greens; these are a little more expensive than buying individual seaweeds but will give you a good variety without a big investment.

1.
Rinse the seaweed once and soak it in at least ten times its volume of water.

2.
Wash and dice the cucumber; do not peel unless necessary. (You can salt it if you like; see the preceding recipe.) When the seaweed is tender, 5 minutes later, drain and gently squeeze the mixture to remove excess water. Pick through the seaweed to sort out any hard bits (there may be none) and chop or cut up (you can use scissors, which you may find easier) if the pieces are large. Combine the cucumber and seaweed mixture in a bowl.

3.
Toss with the remaining ingredients except the sesame seeds; taste and add salt or other seasonings as necessary and serve garnished with the sesame seeds if you like.

MAKES 4 SERVINGS

TIME: 10 MINUTES

SO FEW INGREDIENTS
and so much flavor—as long as the ingredients are of high quality! Omit the basil if you can’t find any, but where there are good tomatoes there is probably good basil. Add slices of mozzarella to make this more substantial.

1.
Core the tomatoes (cut a cone-shaped wedge out of the stem end) and cut them into slices about ¼ inch thick.

2.
Lay the tomatoes on a platter or 4 individual plates. Sprinkle with salt, pepper, and basil, drizzle with olive oil, and serve.

MAKES 4 SERVINGS

TIME: 10 MINUTES

A FREQUENTLY SEEN
snack in Bangkok and elsewhere in Southeast Asia.

Put the watermelon on plates and pass the remaining ingredients, allowing guests to season the watermelon to taste.

MAKES 4 SERVINGS

TIME: 30 TO 40 MINUTES

THIS SALAD FEATURES
grilled chicken; a superflavorful dressing based on soy sauce, peanut or sesame butter, and spices; and cucumber for crunch. Make extra dressing and you can serve the chicken on top of a bed of salad greens.

Boneless chicken thighs are preferable to breasts, because their flavor and texture are superior, they remain moist during grilling, and they brown perfectly.

1.
Start a grill or preheat the broiler. Cut the chicken meat into ½- to 1-inch chunks and thread it onto skewers (if you’re broiling, you can forget the skewers and simply use a roasting pan). Put the skewers on a plate and drizzle with 2 tablespoons of the soy sauce.

2.
In a blender, combine the remaining soy sauce with the peanut butter, sesame oil, garlic, hot sauce, salt and pepper to taste, sugar, and vinegar. Add ⅓ cup of warm water and process until the mixture is smooth and creamy. (You can add as much as you like; garlic, vinegar, and sesame oil also can be added to taste.) Put the dressing in the refrigerator to cool.

3.
Grill or broil the chicken, turning once or twice. Total cooking time will be 6 to 8 minutes for breasts, 10 to 12 minutes for thighs. Meanwhile, peel the cucumber (if it is waxed), slice it in half the long way, and scoop out the seeds with a spoon. Cut it into ½-inch dice and combine in a bowl with the dressing. When the chicken is done, let it rest and cool on a cutting board for a few minutes, then toss it with a tablespoon or two of the dressing and cucumber.

4.
Toss the dressing and cucumbers with the greens, top with the chicken, garnish with the cilantro, and serve.

VARIATIONS

• Add minced bell pepper (preferably red or yellow), celery, and/or zucchini to the mix.

• Garnish with fresh basil (Thai basil is especially good), mint, or minced scallion in place of or in addition to the cilantro.

MAKES 4 SERVINGS

TIME: 30 MINUTES

THIS IS A
nearly traditional salad in which the grapefruit plays a leading role, complementing mild shrimp and allowing you to make an almost ridiculously easy dressing, made up of nothing more than fish sauce (called nam pla in Thailand and nuoc mam in Vietnam), or soy, lime, a bit of sugar, and some water. Use good shrimp—Pacific or Gulf whites are the best, though the less expensive and widely available tiger shrimp are acceptable—and buy them big, because you’ll have fewer to peel.

1.
Put the shrimp in a saucepan with salted water to cover; bring to a boil, then turn off the heat and let sit for 5 minutes, or until opaque in the center. Cool in the refrigerator or under cold running water, then peel (and devein if you like). Cut the shrimp in half if they’re large.

2.
Meanwhile, make the dressing: Combine the nam pla or soy sauce with 2 tablespoons of water, the sugar, and the lime juice and blend or whisk until smooth.

3.
Arrange the lettuce on 4 plates; top each portion with a few grapefruit pieces, some shrimp, and the mint and cilantro; drizzle with the dressing, then sprinkle with a little chile and chopped peanuts if you like, or pass them at the table.

NOTE

The best way to retain the grapefruit’s juices is to peel and section it as you would an orange, not by cutting it in half and scooping out the flesh as you would to serve it at the table. Remove as much of the tough white pith as you can before cutting each section in two, which you should do just before assembling the salad.

MAKES 4 SERVINGS

TIME: 20 TO 30 MINUTES

I DEVISED THIS
recipe to harness the delicious juices shrimp exude as they’re cooking—the shrimp essence. Not wanting to completely overwhelm delicately flavored greens with the powerfully spiced shrimp, I use a mixture of arugula, lettuce, and a high proportion of mint, dressed with olive oil and lemon juice. The result is a nice, juicy, big, flavorful—and easy—salad.