Where's Waldorf? ~ The Inspired Waldorf Salad

While my San Diego BFF is texting me pictures of tacos from Los Panchos that would blow your mind, I am cooking like a happy little housewife from 1965. Go figure. I'm making a glorious version of Waldorf Salad. An American classic that certainly belongs to its own generation, but one that has never left our culinary conscience. A weird little salad, it has been waiting for its big second coming of apples, celery, and walnuts, tossed in mayo, and scooped onto a leaf of butter lettuce. I think my reference for Waldorf as a 'weird little salad' is dead on. 

Where on earth did this chunky, creamy salad come from? A genius by the name of Oscar Tschirky, no doubt, emulating the salads of European cuisine. Apparently, Tschirky, the maitre d'hotel of the Waldorf Hotel, back in the 1890's, created all kinds of interesting dishes for which he was well known. He even wrote a cookbook titled--The Cookbook, by 'Oscar of the Waldorf'. I would love to get my hands on that gem.

And what's surprising to me is just how popular this weird little salad was and for how long it was on menus, everywhere. I guess anything goes... Cole Porter put it in his famous song "You're the Top"; and John Cleese wrote an episode of Faulty Towers titled, 'Waldorf Salad', with his hilarious line: "sorry, we are all out of Waldorfs". Not knowing what a Waldorf was...

This salad had so much steam it even made it to my house, back in 1970-something. It was determined to stay and I was determined to avoid it; and remains for me still, a complete mystery how those three ingredients, and the occasional green grape, with a mess of mayo, became so desirable. 

But it's here, in Hollywood, in San Francisco, and New York. I've seen versions of the Waldorf and even have my own. But it's much better now, dressed in buttermilk, yogurt, creme fraiche, what have you; with a more balanced richness and sweetness than the original. None of that heavy, store-bought mayo. And I suppose today's versions are not so original after all, including all kinds of ingredients, but keeping its spirit in mind. 25 Degrees, in Hollywood, has its own Waldorf: a chopped salad of grapes, golden beets, pine nuts, avocados and white beans, with a creamy parmesan dressing. Believe me, it's damn good.

So, this week, I was reminded of Oscar and his Waldorf when I had a farmers market shopping bag full of purple brussell sprouts, walnuts, and little Pink Lady apples. A knob of ginger, a scratch of nutmeg, and some Mexican crema, and I was in a Waldorf state of mind. 

Make this version, or make your own, but give it a shot. And don't forget to call your grandmother.

Here he is... 

The Inspired "Waldorf " Salad 

Brussell Sprout Apple salad with Walnuts and Ginger Crema

~

12 brussell sprouts

one small apple

a palmful of walnuts

a coin of fresh ginger

2 tbs crema

2 tbs cider vinegar

1 tsp honey

1 tsp olive oil

1 tsp salt

cracked black pepper

scratch of nutmeg

purple or green brussells will do...                                                                          

wash them, dry them...

trim the tails, and separate the outer leaves, until you get to the heart of it...

thinly slice the hearts...

lovely apples ; )

slice your apple thin and matchstick the slices... careful...

slice  a coin of ginger and trim its skin away, matchstick your coin, then dice very small...

combine 2 tbs of crema, with 2 tbs cider vinegar, 1 tbs olive oil, 1 tsp honey, 1 tsp salt, a crack of black pepper, a scratch of nutmeg and the diced ginger root... 

combine the dressing... taste for seasoning...

rough chop a palmful of walnuts, and toast in a hot pan with 2 tbs of olive oil... 

add a spring of thyme, whatever you have...

fry some bread in olive oil...

toss your gorgeous handy-work with the dressing...

and love...

your lunch... XX 

heart...

A very simple warm salad of broccoli and poached egg

Broccoli. Quite possibly the first vegetable I pushed away on my dinner plate. No matter how many times my dear brother tried to convince me that 'little trees' were so good, I was not having any of it. Besides, he would eat anything, compared to me: the picky four year old sister.

My brother was right after all. I eventually fell for the green-stuff and even grew up to cook and eat broccoli, and all of its green cousins, regularly. Not to mention the irony that I grew up to be a chef and cook and eat everything regularly. The truth is, we mostly like what we are exposed to, with some exception. While I happily ate little foil packages of blue cheese with my dad, and requested mom's steak and kidney pie for dinner, I had reservations about the 'green-stuff', mayonnaise, ketchup on my burger... All of which I enjoy now. But everyday is a chance to discover something new. Even for us so-called grownups.

And often, something new is just a matter of uniting what you love. Take for instance a poached egg and broccoli. While poached eggs are falling into soups and onto dinner menus everywhere, broccoli has found many reincarnations outside of playing the role of the simple side-dish. So, why not just the two of them? With some help from a few fingerling potatoes, you can have a lovely warm salad of broccoli and poached egg with a lemon vinaigrette, for lunch or dinner. I was so hungry today, that that's exactly what happened. In fact, with each photograph my stomach growled so much so, I hardly cared about the pictures at all... I apologize, and promise not to be so hungry next time.

Anyway, it was delicious.

And a very happy new year to all of you. XO

Warm Salad of Broccoli and Poached Egg with Fingerling Potatoes Vinaigrette

this head of broccoli was just $2.00 at the farmers market...

separate the leaves from the head and quarter the head

I like to pull the quarters apart by hand for a more natural look...

cook your broccoli florets first... then cook your broccoli leaves next...

making sure the water is a salty sea of boiling water

put aside, stove top

don't waste your salty sea of hot water...

add your washed and sliced fingerlings, a clove of garlic, and cook until just done

step stool view

crack your egg into a small bowl and...

squeeze the half of a lemon into your pan of simmering water

slide the egg quickly into the simmering pan of water, 

the water should bubble up like a glass of champagne

release the egg with a spoon if it nests too long on the bottom,

remove with a slotted spoon when the whites have set and the yolk is still very soft,

drain on a cloth...

whisk your remaining lemon half and olive oil and salt and black pepper 

and dill, if you have some

on a warm plate, dress your broccoli and potatoes with the lemon vinaigrette and top with a steamy egg

done

Get your soup working... Escarole Potato Scallion Soup

If you could see the rest of this kitchen you would be chuckling with me. Outside of this styled bowl of escarole soup lies a sea of peanut butter dog bone biscuits with their crumbs;  bowls of melted and dried carob chips and spatulas; sheet pans with parchment stacked high on the stovetop; cooling racks; a warm iron; a side-board of ingredients such as oats, honey, flour, all in super sizes; and a couch lined with freshly printed logos, price lists, 'signature' cotton string, gold holiday bells and cellophane bags... What a beautiful mess, someone once phrased so well. A beautiful mess soon to be my new dog biscuit company: Fetch Me. There will be more news on that later.

But for now I have a guest for lunch: one of my dearest friends, Kimmy, in town from Maine. And how fortuitous that she should arrive at just the right time. Their is no one who's feedback I appreciate more than hers, along with her sister Karla, of course! So, I got some soup working, as we say, and cleaned the table for lunch. And that's when she arrived with a Fed Ex box the size of my door. It looks like Kim has a project of her own: creatively directing and introducing an Artist and her beautiful glass wares: Ellen Fisher. She brought them to shoot in my house because I have been blessed with extraordinary light, and my kitchen is in a constant photo-shoot of food, anyway.

The pieces were incredible. Take a look:



So while I cooked and 'shot' bowls of steaming escarole, potato, scallion soup; Kim shot Fisher's glass serving dishes. And before we knew it I was tossing an escarole frisee' salad for an incredible piece of art. I wish everyday were like this...

Now go have a creative day. And while you're at it, get a bowl of soup 'working'. 

Escarole, Potato, Scallion Soup

with Garlic Crouton and Crema

Have

a head of escarole 

one large potato

one bunch of scallions

one small clove of garlic

three cups of chicken stock

a sprig of thyme

a bay leaf

some decent bread 

crema (a Mexican creme, a loose version of creme fraiche)

Do 

Chop your scallions and dice your potato and pull the brightest leaves from the center of your escarole and mince your garlic. You are now ready to sweat the onion in a tablespoon of olive oil for two minutes, and add your chicken stock and everything else. Cook gently, for about twenty minutes (medium to lower heat). 

Slice your bread, thick, and rub with a clove of garlic, and dress with olive oil and bake in a hot 450' oven for about eight minutes, until crisp. 

Here's the rest of the story...

scallion, garlic, potato, herbs and stock brought to a pretty simmer...

don't forget your escarole hearts

simmer the soup until the potato is just done

and

make your toast

 like this picture too...

and this one...

and this one... haha

toasted

finish with a crouton and a spoonful of crema, and black pepper,

 for a happy...

ending 

Shake, rattle and drink ~ Pumpkin Pie Shake

In the midst of the Apple Pie Cocktail, a slice of apple pie whooshed in a blender with Apple Jack..., and other spirited beverages such as Bacon Vodka, Cake Batter Shakes, Snake Whisky, and something called Holiday Milk, red velvet chocolate milk, exclusively at Target, I came upon an intriguing smoothie combination that seemed plausible. Not great, just plausible enough for me to actually consider, unlike those other concoctions. To each their own I suppose.

And the ingredients were easy: a can of pumpkin, a frozen banana, some almond milk and protein powder. A quick dig in the kitchen and I had enough supplies ready to re-master the Pumpkin Spice shake I came across on Pinterest. Of course, I didn't have all of the ingredients and added a few of my own... like it matters.

So here it is. Reminiscent of pumpkin frozen yogurt blended with pumpkin pie, it's interesting, and maybe even great following a frozen turkey cranberry sandwich. Just kidding.

Pumpkin Pie Shake

• a blender
• about a quarter cup of cooked pumpkin from a can, or otherwise
• 1 frozen banana
• about a cup of unsweetened almond milk, what have you
• a palm-full of walnuts
• a splash of flax oil, keep it healthy
• a spoon full of coconut sugar, whatever
• cinnamon 

*whiz on high speed until blended

can you believe that frozen bananas smell of banana??? shocking...

weirder things have happened in blenders

not bad

get in the spirit

PS, I love you ~ a new Pasta e Fagioli

I get paid to cook people dinner. It's what I do and it's something I enjoy, but there is nothing more enjoyable than cooking for my friends. Particularly when I'm in Palm Springs with a cocktail in one hand and a bag of farmers market veggies in the other.  I'm speaking of Brad and Denis' Pam Springs abode. Yes, I said Pam Springs. Not to mention access to the pied-a-terre cupboard of holiday crackers, chips, salsa, pasta, and quality canned tomatoes and beans... a list of unmarried ingredients that become my favorite challenge.

In Pam Springs, limitations can create great meals.

Fortunately, scrap-cooking, as I call it, is one of my favorite ways to cook. Forget the hours of menu writing, shopping lists and grocery store lines, it's so much more pleasurable to just cook what is right in front of you. Isn't that how most people cook, anyway? And isn't that how most heritage dishes came to be? What was available, what was at hand became breakfast, lunch, dinner. And if it was simple, and memorable, it would be written down and repeated until someone somewhere called it by name: "let's have pasta carbonara!".

So, to be more specific, if there is celery root and pasta, well, you'll have celery root and pasta. And if a can of cannellini beans and an egg are waiting there, then they should certainly join the party. And that's how small miracles happen; one after the other-- the vegetables are ribboned and roasted while the pasta cooks; and the basil and lemon zest become pesto without garlic and parmesan. The egg is stirred and the beans are warmed and the whole lot of ingredients marry into one miraculous dish. And before your dinner guests know it, they are setting the table for a cupboard feast of something old yet new: pasta e fagioli meets carbonara, sorta...

Oh, and how it all makes perfect delicious sense in a warm dinner bowl with a Cheese Crisp cracker pangrattato; a lemony salad of frisee; and a Riedel of red...

Here we go...

introducing, Pam Springs finest... NOT brad and denis' home... yet

let's get started

always go to your farmers market and take home something in season, especially if you don't know what to make of it...

celery root, celery, carrots and green onion make for a simple vegetable roast... a little olive oil, bay leaf, salt and pepper; and whatever fresh or dried herbs on hand...

roast in a 450' oven for 15 minutes, while you cook your pasta...

chop your basil, lemon zest, celery leaves, what have you, and season with salt and pepper; don't forget a good lug of olive oil...

heat quickly in a large skillet with some white wine, stock, water, whatever..

heat the beans with the roasted veg until the skillet is nice and hot...

add the cooked pasta to the hot skillet of pesto... add 1/2 cup of pasta water...

have a large, warm pasta bowl ready, with one beaten egg...

once the pasta is combined with the steaming skillet of pesto, dump the pasta into the large pasta bowl with egg and stir quickly and evenly... adding the roasted vegetables... 

everything needs to be hot!

a crisp cheesy topping will make up for Parmigiano Reggiano... really! 

che brava! 

seconds?

oh, and a Bill Cosby chocolate pudding pie as our Palm Springs desert dessert... yes, really