Sunday Night: Another Salad

On Saturday I had gone to the farmer's market. I didn't buy a lot - I only had a little bit of cash. But I bought a few things, including one $4 tomato. It was a large tomato, and it was an heirloom tomato. And after trying to grow my own heirloom tomatoes last summer - which produce just a few, small, flavorless, but pretty tomatoes - I vowed to never complain about the price of heirloom tomatoes again. They are well worth it.

This tomato was also very ripe, so I knew I needed to use it this weekend. I had originally thought it was big enough tomato to make a huge caprese salad for me and Marshall. However, the next day I hadn't done that, and we were heading over to my cousin's house. I had offered to bring a salad. This could have worked out well if it had been just me, Marshall, she, and her husband (and their two very small kids), but in addition to all those people, my dad, both my aunts, my uncle, and another cousin were coming. There was no way that tomato was going to make caprese for all of us. SO I made a caprese-inspired green salad instead.

Caprese-inspired Green Salad

1 very large and ripe heirloom tomato (mine was red) - sliced into thin, small pieces
1/2 or 3/4 bag salad greens, maybe 4 ounces (I used herbal salad mix)
1 small bunch arugala (I cut these into smaller pieces - this gives it a kick like basil)
several spoonfuls green & black olives (pitted!)
1 cup grated mozzarella*
3/4 cup the best olive oil you can buy
1/4 cup aged balsamic vinegar
salt and pepper

*I had wanted to use buffalo mozzarella or another fresh mozzarella in brine, and slice them really really thin, but I was in a rush at the store and all I could find was the usual "dry" mozzarella, so I bought it an grated instead. It worked just fine, and grating it (large grater) actually distributed the cheese better throughout the salad.

Once everything is cut up, you just mix it together in a large bowl - large enough that there is room for further mixing once the dressing (oil and vinegar) is added.

Marshall says: I didn't hear him say anything, but my uncle loved it! He said he could really taste the oil and vinegar and that is was nicer than anything you could get at a restaurant.
Serves: 8
Total Time: 15-20 minutes (grating the cheese took about 5 minutes)
Leftovers: I grated the whole block of cheese, so my cousin lucked out with a tupperware full of cheese for use later this week. The salad was all gone.

Friday Day: Instant Lunch

Simple Salad

Sometimes on Fridays at work we host teachers and students for professional development. On those Fridays we buy Mexican food. I used to eat it every time; it tastes good, but I always feel bad after eating it. However, on those days I also have to be at work at 7am, so it is hard to get motivated to make a lunch, even the night before. Fifteen minutes of sleep is just as precious as night as it is in the morning. But this Friday I just couldn't bring myself to eat it again. So I made an instant lunch.

Pre-mixed salad from a few days ago*
Spinach
Arugala
Raisins
Walnuts

Instant dressing
The highest quality olive oil you can buy
Aged balsamic vinegar
Salt
Pepper

*The arugala was a little wilted, but the spinach held up quite well. That was good lesson to learn about which greens can be mixed ahead and which need to be eaten right away.

This dressing is so simple but so delicious. The key is in the olive oil. It has got to be so delicious that it practically tastes like fruit juice or wine.

I paired this off with some Wheat Thins and Spicy Hummus.

Wednesday Night: Chocolate Ganache with Olive Oil and Sea Salt

Chocolate Ganache with Olive Oil and Sea Salt

I organized a progressive dinner with my neighbors last night. First of all, I haven't been that excited for a social event for a long time. Ever since I got the idea and invited my neighbors I have been giddy with excitement. This is because for a long time I felt alone in Mira Mesa (well, alone of friends, not love). Then I met Krissy, my down the street neighbor. After about six months we had become very close, and then her husband returned from deployment. I was excited to get to know him. And in the mean time I met Zach and Janice, my across the street neighbors. They are super cool chemists that we just started getting to know a few weeks ago (they moved in a few months ago). (Just FYI: Sometimes I can make stories really long.)

I jokingly proposed a progressive dinner to Krissy to get to know Mark, since we were back and forth on the location. Then as an even further joke I said we should invite Zach and Janice, too. Well, there's truth in every joke, and after a few text messages the whole dinner had come together. Zach and Janice were such good sports that they even agreed to participate before they knew what a progressive dinner was! (In case you are wondering, it's when you have each course at a different location.)

My house was last, and it was for dessert. I really wanted to use this amazing olive my sister gave me for the holidays. It is like fruit juice or wine, it is so aromatic and light. And I recalled a dessert I'd had one time in Spain: Chocolate cake drizzled with olive oil. I did some online searching, and found a great recipe at "Chow," one of my favorite gourmet webzines for cool people. I actually followed this recipe pretty precisely, but of course I had a few little twists to make.

Chocolate Ganache with Olive Oil and Sea Salt
9 ounces chocolate (I used Valrhona Le Perles, these are literally little "pearls" of chocolate, and I chose them because they would melt easily and quickly.)
1 cup heavy cream

Heat (but don't boil) the cream, then pour into a medium mixing bowl. Add the chocolate (if you have large pieces, cut them up first). I accidentally boiled the cream, so I used poured it through a strainer so no "skin" would get into the ganache. Otherwise it didn't seem to make a difference.

I cooled mine for only about 2 hours (Chow calls for 4). It was still soft, but I just put little dollops in small glass dishes and poured the olive oil on top, then sprinkled it with ginger salt. I served mine with "Almondinas", miniature biscotti with almonds and raisins. I also served it on a small plate with a french-style macaroon. The Almondina and Macaroons both came from Trader Joes. We also served it with thimble-fuls of port from Orfila, a San Diego winery that makes excellent port.

Marshall Says: He had several servings. That spoke for itself. Some of the neighbors seemed hesitant to eat olive oil on chocolate, but they all agreed it was a good match in the end. The ladies of course had several servings each, including me.
Serves: 30 micro servings
Time: 15-20 minutes - fast!
Leftovers: We ate about 2/3 of the ganache. I plan to turn the rest into chocolate bon bons!