Let’s Begin Again

~ Katherine ~ 4 Comments

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My Darlings,

It’s been too long.

And it’s so hard to jump back in when you’ve been away.  Let’s begin somewhere, anywhere and see where we wind up.  Okay?

In all this time, I’ve been thinking about what this blog means to me.  We’re coming up on a three-year anniversary and although some things have changed in my life and within this blog, most things — the core of what I’m trying to do in the kitchen and how I live my life are the same.

Simple, simple, simple.  Feeding myself and my family whole and honest foods, the fewer the ingredients the better, wasting very little.  Taking the time necessary to simmer, caramelize, bring out the primary flavors of my childhood —

garlic, olive oil, parmesan cheese, lemon, parsley, toasted slices of good bread.

I’ve had another birthday.  The more I seem to try to get lost within all this aging, the more I keep bumping into myself. Take for instance, my hands.  Always submersed in warm water, reaching in and out of a hot oven, floured at times, oiled…. I’ve taken them for granted and now they need my care.  I’m thinking a good moisturizer and nightly hand massage.

When I look at them, I see a few more light brown freckles resting on skin that looks a little more… “softened” to me than I remember.  Tender blue veins, like swollen rivers, carry my life out to the tips of my fingers.  They are my mother’s hands and they are her mother’s hands.  I notice also the vertical ridges in my ring-finger’s nail.  Those belong to my Nana.  And I know this because I used to paint her fingernails for her when I was just old enough to get more polish on her nails than her fingers.

It is comforting to know that my hands are a sort of looking-glass into the past, connecting me with the strong, working women of my family and that they are always with me in the daily rituals of chopping, stirring, kneading and washing.  They appear when I’m putting a bandage on my child’s skinned knee, jotting notes during a chef interview, hanging clothes out to dry, holding my husband’s hand on one of our walks.  They remind me that I’m not the first and I’ m not the last but in some way, will always be.

I Made Oatmeal Because I Love You

~ Katherine ~ 2 Comments

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It’s Monday and everyone in my family is back to some place else.  The husband has returned to his office, the children to their respective classrooms.  Since I work from home, having them all leave the house this morning is like a rambunctious office party come to an end.  The quiet has been restored and I am all that remains (along with a bit of a mess).

A good month has passed since I’ve spent some time with you.  I’ve been writing regularly for Madison Magazine about all the great food trends Madison foodies can look forward to in this exciting Midwest city.  Mostly I get to do what you all know I love most — talking with those who work hard to make us good things to eat and listening to their stories.  Nice work, right?

I’ve noticed that before a deadline, while I’m organizing the story in my head, I’m also laboring over a hearty dinner, like roast chicken and vegetables. But I’m not just throwing a bird in a pan, I’m researching countless recipes on how to do it well.  I’m obsessing over why some chefs butter their birds prior to oven time and why others do not.  I’m baking from scratch loaves of bread.  I’m keeping my hands busy which is some how freeing up my brain to work out the details and timeline of my assignment.

As we get closer to deadline, the feast is over.  My family goes into starvation mode.  I am working and am in “the zone”.  If you’re hungry for dinner at this stage in my assignment better get started on making your own cheese sandwich and expect no apologies nor sympathies from me.  This is when I myself am living only on cheese, granola bars and apples.  We power through.

The day before the assignment is due I begin encouraging myself to make it to the finish line with thoughts of baking chocolate chip cookies or maybe pulling out the brand new pasta machine that I got as a birthday present last year (finally!) as a grand reward.

At last, the assignment is in and mom (a.k.a. the woman who will gladly feed us again) is back in the kitchen and in business.  And so she begins from the beginning with breakfast.  Something warm and filling to bring us all back to life like this steel-cut oatmeal recipe made with whole milk and almond milk and what I like to call the love spices: cinnamon, ginger and a pinch of allspice.   Get a whiff of these lovelies snuggling up together in a simmering pot on the stove.  Feel all that warmness rising up from your sleepy core?  That’s love and it’s all for you.

From this month’s issue of Food & Wine magazine: Creamy Steel-Cut Oats with Dried Cherries and Almonds

  • 1/2 cup dried sour cherries
  • 1 cup whole milk or cream
  • 1 cup unsweetened, unflavored almond milk
  • 1 cup steel-cut oats
  • 1 tsp. ground cinnamon
  • 1 tsp. ground ginger
  • 1/4 tsp. ground allspice
  • 1/4 tsp. kosher salt, plus more for seasoning
  • 1 Tbsp. pure maple syrup, plus more for drizzling
  • 1/4 cup sliced almonds, plus more for topping

1. In a small bowl, cover the dried sour cherries with warm water and let stand until plumped and softened, about 15 minutes.  Drain the cherries and discard the soaking water.

2. Meanwhile, in a medium saucepan, combine the whole milk, almond milk, and 1 cup of water and bring to a boil.  Stir in the oats, cinnamon, ginger and allspice and the 1/4 tsp. of salt.  Cover and cook over low heat, stirring occasionally, until the oats are al dente and the porridge is creamy, 20 minutes.

3. Stir in the cherries, maple syrup and almonds and season with salt.  Serve topped with more maple syrup and almonds.

** I used dried cranberries as that’s what I had on hand, without soaking them.  I added them with the spices to the boiling milk.  I also used vanilla-flavored almond milk since that’s what was in the fridge.  This oatmeal is so good that I’ve added dried sour cherries (always available in my northern neck of the woods) to my shopping list.

This Holiday Season I’ll Schedule Time to Notice

~ Katherine ~ Leave a comment

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Every day I sit at this kitchen table in small light, nothing but a sheet of blackness in the window and I begin making the day’s list of so much to do.  I bet this morning’s list looks a lot like yours: shop, wrap, bake, address Christmas cards, pick up extra bulbs to replace the ones outside on our lawn that won’t light. Attempt to lift and move a fully decorated and lighted tree from a cracked tree stand into a new one.  This last one is giving me a quiet giggle.  It’s just so ridiculous.  How the hell are we going to do this?

Back to my list, I’ve decided to include the word: Joy somewhere on that list so that I will remember to notice the happiness that is always available inside this holiday flurry.  Like waiting patiently for the frosty glitter to settle after you’ve given the snow globe a good shake.  Finally you can see the skaters.

Yesterday, chopping down a Christmas tree — a Canaan Fir — a new type for us, with my husband and children was that moment.  We walked through a forest of trees only to come to the owner’s home on the other side.  Sitting on a weathered wooden box trailer was an old man in a scratchy grey and white beard, wearing a Carhartt – looking winter hat with ear flaps and smoking a stubby hand-rolled cigarette.

We took a much needed break from all the trekking up a ragged hill to find the perfect tree and followed my husband as he walked up to the old man to say hello.

It turns out he was the original owner of the Christmas tree farm.  His only intention when he first started out in the seventies was to grow a couple of trees and sell them at a makeshift roadside stand for $7 a piece in hopes he’d make enough money to buy a new pick-up truck.  Today, forty years later, his son owns the farm, one of the most popular just outside Madison.  My husband asked if he ever got his new pick-up, the seventy-four-year-old smiled and said, “No.”

After telling our kids to do well in school and not to date until they are in their twenties, we were back on our way through the wooded lot where we found our tree.

Top 10 Reasons Why I Need Winter

~ Katherine ~ 1 Comment

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10. To wrap myself up in a long, quilted coat, a scarf, hat, mittens, wool socks and boots right at dawn and go sit on a folded blanket on my front porch bench, sip a mug of steaming coffee while listening to the gentle chorus of winter birds.

9. To breathe in the ice crystals and feel them melt inside of me on a brisk walk in the woods.  Like sipping hot chocolate through a cold cloud of freshly whipped cream.

8. To ice skate on an outdoor rink not far beneath a sleepy sun swathed in frost peering out from behind a grey-white sky.

7.  To hear the sound of snowflakes as whispers from others, from somewhere in another fold of the universe, brush against your bright pink cheek.

6.  To know the crunch of snow beneath your sturdy boots as you walk the same path you’ve walked in autumn, summer, spring; only now it holds your footprints.

5.  Because pies smell so much sweeter baking in a kitchen with steamed-up windows.

4.  To be cradled by your favorite chair, the blanket around your shoulders softer now, the open book on your flannel lap, a quiet companion.

3.  Twilight.  Alternating deep shades of blue and purple, blending to crystal black.  Skeletons of trees in the distance.  Their branches point to stars that glitter like chips of ice.

2.  To “borrow” our children’s sleds, moms race for that one quick run together.  Our children yell with surprised excitement, “Hey!”  while chasing clumsily after us.  They take back their colorful snow-sailing ships.

1.  The Silence.

 

 

Every Girl’s Gotta Have a Theme Song & A Great Recipe for Pie Crust

~ Katherine ~ 2 Comments

 

I’ve been baking pies since the nineties, as well as sweating over making my own pie crust.  But I am here today to tell you how silly it is to fear something that is so simple to make.  I’m writing this post not just for you, but for me as well.  Because even though I finally feel like I can do it — make my own darn good pie crust, I’m telling you, that the very next time I decide to bake a pie, I’m going to sweat a little.

What is it that has so many home bakers so nervous?   I can’t tell you how often I hear, especially at this time of year, “I can’t make pie crust.”  You can.  And so can I, make really great pie crust that’s flaky and tasty.  Now let’s get on with our flaky, tasty bad selves and get over our pie crust making fears once and for all!

Let’s begin with vodka and the genius’ behind the Cooks’ Illustrated Foolproof Pie Dough that appeared in the November 2007 issue.  Now, full disclosure here…I never actually saw this issue, but I did hear about it around the foodie water cooler.

It seems that a little vodka added when mixing the pie crust will boost the crust’s flakiness, and that good pie crust can really use the extra liquid when bringing the dough together.  Unlike water, however, vodka will evaporate when baking, leaving behind a very tender and flaky crust.  Important Note!! Remember that even though the finished baked pie crust will have no trace of alcohol in it, the raw crust is very boozy.  Keep this in mind if your kids, like mine, like to take a nibble at the pie dough scraps left behind on the table.

I’ve got to credit Smitten Kitchen  http://smittenkitchen.com/ again for this one.  I found the Cooks Illustrated recipe on her site, because, much to my disappointment you cannot get recipes off the Cooks Illustrated website unless you pay for an online subscription, which, by the way, doesn’t just come along with the magazine subscription, of which I pay for and look forward to finding in my mailbox every month.  I’m just saying I think it’s a disservice to home bakers, but we do have our ways of getting the recipes we need.

Time to break this down.  This pie crust recipe has only seven ingredients, one of which is water.  Easy right?  And you probably have all of these in your kitchen right now: all-purpose flour, salt, sugar, unsalted butter, vegetable shortening, vodka (Go, check your freezer.  I’m sure it’s still there from that last party you threw.  I’ll wait….).

A food processor is great, if you have one, but an even better appliance to have that will make this pie crust the best ever and make you a culinary sorceress among friends?  A refrigerator/freezer!  We’ve all got one.  See that!

And away we go!

Foolproof Pie Dough — Cooks Illustrated, November 2007 as it appears on http://smittenkitchen.com/.

Makes enough for a one 9-inch double-crust pie

  • 2 1/2 cups (12 1/2 ounces) unbleached all-purpose flour
  • 1 teaspoon table salt
  • 2 tablespoons sugar
  • 12 tablespoons (1 1/2 sticks) cold unsalted butter, cut into 1/4 inch slices
  • 1/2 cup cold vegetable shortening (I keep mine in the freezer and use it straight from there.), cut into small bits
  • 1/4 cup vodka
  • 1/4 cup water ( I took my water from my Brita and kept it in the measuring cup in the fridge until I needed it.)

First, slice the butter and cut up the shortening into small bits, then put it all back in the fridge until you need it.  Mix the flour salt and sugar in a large bowl until combined.

Add butter and shortening and blend using a hand-held pastry blender until the mixture resembles coarse corn meal.

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Sprinkle vodka and water over mixture.  With a rubber spatula, use folding motion to mix, pressing down on dough until dough is slightly tacky and sticks together.  Divide dough into two even balls and flatten each into 4-inch disk.  Wrap each in plastic wrap and refrigerate at least 45 minutes or up to 2 days.

To freeze: Triple wrap each disk and place in the freezer.

You have just made pie crust!  All your ingredients were icy-cold and you barely touched it at all with your warm hands.  It is going to be great.

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So, let’s get rolling!  Take only one disk out of the fridge at a time.  The best method I’ve learned and the one that works well for me is rolling each disk out between two sheets of clear wrap.  If your clear wrap isn’t wide enough, you might want to overlap two sheets on the bottom as well as two sheets on the top.  Give your dough a couple of good whacks with your rolling pin then begin to roll back and forth a couple of times to get it going.  Then, and this is from Julia Child, lay your pin about 1/4 way from the bottom of the dough and roll up, stopping about an inch from the top, give your dough a 1/4 turn clockwise and repeat with one smooth motion toward the top.  Repeat, always a 1/4 turn and always clockwise until you have a pretty nice looking circle about 12 inches in diameter.

Gently peel back and remove the top piece of plastic wrap.  Begin to roll it up onto your pin while removing the bottom piece of plastic wrap.  Gently, unwind it from your pin laying it down into your pie plate.  Carefully lift up the edges of the pie crust while lightly pressing the crust down into the bottom edges of the pan.  Easy does it.

Now back into the refrigerator until you’re ready to fill it with something delicious.  Repeat for the top crust.  Don’t forget to vent.  I used a small leaf-shaped cookie cutter to let the steam out of this apple pie.

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Voilà!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Banana Bread — A Spoon and Some Bourbon

~ Katherine ~ 2 Comments

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Oh Friends, I am writing to you in a state of pure olfactory pleasure — as my kitchen still carries the scent of perfectly baked banana bread from one heck of a winner of a recipe.  Thank you!  Thank you!, Deb Perelman of the absolutely delightful website titled: Smitten Kitchen and author of The Smitten Kitchen Cookbook.

The recipe I gleaned from Perelman’s site did not disappoint.  The banana bread was moist, tender — not heavy at all, nor overly sweet and most deliciously seasoned with the spices of autumn — cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves.  Ohhhhhhh yummmmm.

Banana bread is one of those desserts? breakfast treats? quick breads?  all of the above, Darlings, that we’ve all grown up with, right?  Who has not taken a bite of banana bread, better yet, who hasn’t smelled it baking?  It’s warm, it’s comforting, it is forgiveness itself when one, let’s say, has a rough morning getting the little beasts to school.  Please interpret “beasts” as my beautiful children, of whom I adore.  I do.  I adore them.

But this morning, I’m not gonna lie.  It just wasn’t perfect.  It was pretty much ugly and awful.  The kind of send-off that deserves some kind of recovery, some rehabilitation, gentle reflection — all in the form of baking banana bread in the aftermath of the tornado that was this morning’s drama-filled preparation for an otherwise ordinary school day.  Yes, banana bread was the drink (alas, no, I could not find any bourbon in the house, so this time, this. Time. I left it out.), it was the Valium, it was the long run for some.  Baking this little something sweet was how I worked it all out.  It quite literally calmed my nerves while keeping my mind focused and my hands busy.

Ahhhh…..banana bread, which now that I think about it, begins by taking a few ugly, over-ripened bananas that seem to deserve no better than a dip in the garbage can.  And yet, even in all their brown-spottiness, these bananas when mixed with some butter, some sugar, flour and spices bloom into something of joy and peace.  Something deliciously soothing.

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So, if you’re not as of yet acquainted with Ms. Perelman, I urge you to go, now, and take a little stroll through the lively streets of her website.  This woman, out of her tiny Manhattan apartment, works on recipes from reputable sources such as Cooks Illustrated.  Perelman then gives you her version of which recipe works best as tweaked by her, our culinary curious friend.  She pretty much does all the work for us — takes away the guess-work as to whether or not the glossy recipe sitting in front of us will really work in our humble home kitchen.

Oooh, I think I’m going to change this blog’s byline to: With Love From Your Curiously Culinary Friend or Dame.  I like the word, Dame… from my humble home kitchen to yours.

Here’s the recipe that worked very well for me as of this very morning:

Jacked-Up Banana Bread as it appears on the website: http://smittenkitchen.com/

  • 3 to 4 ripe bananas, smashed
  • 1/3 cup (75 grams) melted salted butter
  • 3/4 to 1 cup (145 to 190 grams) light brown sugar (I agree with Perelman and used the lesser amount.  I also packed the sugar, but next time, for kicks I’ll weigh it out and see what the difference is.)
  • 1 egg, beaten
  • 1 teaspoon (5ml) vanilla
  • 1 tablespoon (15ml) bourbon (optional)
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • Pinch of salt
  • 1 teaspoon (3 grams) cinnamon
  • Up to 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg ( I grated a fresh one, I’m sure ground is fine.)
  • Pinch of ground cloves
  • 1 1/2 cups (190 grams) flour

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. With a wooden spoon, mix butter into the mashed bananas in a large mixing bowl.  Mix in the sugar, egg, vanilla and bourbon, then the spices.  Sprinkle the baking soda and salt over the mixture and mix in.  Add the flour last, mix.  Pour mixture into a buttered 4×8 inch loaf pan ( I used two mini loaf pans instead).  Bake for 50 minutes to one hour, or until a tester comes out clean.  Cool on a rack.  Remove from pan and slice to serve.

Note:  It took just 35 minutes in my oven to bake the two mini loaves.  After 20 minutes my home smelled divine.  Stay around as your banana bread bakes, check after 30 minutes by inserting a toothpick in the center.  If it comes out clean, it’s done.  Be careful that you don’t get a false, too moist reading by spearing a banana.  Use your nose to guide you.  When it smells like banana bread baking in your kitchen, it’s soon to be done.

Voilà!

mashed bananas mixed with melted butter
mashed bananas mixed with melted butter

 

weighing ingredients rather than measuring is a game changer
weighing ingredients rather than measuring is a game changer

“You carry all the ingredients to turn your existence into joy.  Mix them, Mix them!” — from Hafiz, To Build a Swing

 

 

 

Pesto Before The Frost

~ Katherine ~ 2 Comments

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It seems I have caught my daughter’s cold.  The writing goes very slowly when you have to stop every minute or so to tend to a leaky face.  But I’m in a good position to take it slow today.  Last week was very productive.  Thanks to my friend’s latest post over at http://yarnstead.wordpress.com/ I was motivated to clean up my own garden — ripping out tomato and cucumber plants.  I still have a couple of pots of mint to add to compost and a geranium or two.  All this autumn clean-up will get done, along with raking up the giant cottonwood’s leaves throughout the next couple of weeks.  Just in time for Halloween, outdoor fires, toasted marshmallows and some local pumpkin ale.

About a week ago, the day before the first overnight frost was expected I pulled the remainder of the basil from the garden and made pesto.  I’ve made and frozen pesto into ice cube trays lots of times before, but only recently did I learn to freeze it without the cheese.  For best flavor, you add freshly grated parmigiano-reggiano and pecorino romano cheese after thawing out a few cubes.  The amount of cheese is up to you. And don’t forget the butter.  Stir it all together before tossing with warm pasta.

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* No one in my house will eat pesto besides me.  I know, unbelievable.  So, I take out a couple of cubes at a time for one and 1/2 servings of pasta and when adding in the cheese and butter to the thawed pesto, I use the full recipe below as a guide in helping me determine the scaled-back amount.

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Marcella Hazan has done it for me again folks.  Here is her recipe for Pesto by the Food Processor Method from Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking.

For the Processor:

  • 2 cups tightly packed fresh basil leaves
  • 1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
  • 3 tablespoons pine nuts
  • 2 garlic cloves, chopped fine before putting in the processor
  • salt

** At this point the pesto can be spooned into an ice cube tray.  Cover tightly with plastic wrap and freeze for individual servings.

For Completion by Hand:

  • 1/2 cup freshly grated parmigiano-reggiano cheese
  • 2 tablespoons freshly grated romano cheese
  • 3 tablespoons butter, softened to room temperature
  • 1 1/2 pounds pasta

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Voilà!

Two Tomatoes & A Little Bit More

~ Katherine ~ 4 Comments

 

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What do I know?  That’s the nagging question that comes up as soon as I sit down to write a post.  What do I know?  There are so many gorgeous food blogs out there and I believe I subscribe to most, if not all of them.  I hope you wonder the same from time to time, because if I’m the only writer out there who questions if what I have to say — what I have to offer is of any value, then I feel pretty lonely.

I do know some things.  I enjoy reading posts on almost any topic that are written by passionate authors.  Those bloggers who are out there living their lives and enjoying themselves.  Blogs like Local Milk: http://localmilkblog.com/ encourage me to make the most of what I have:  an old kitchen table, the finish scratched and peeled, some cracked and chipped dinnerware, and some mismatched flatware.  And the author, Beth, in her most recent post admits that perhaps cooking and writing keep her moving out of darkness and into the light.

How do I feel about this last little bit?  We are all followed around by shadows, aren’t we?  Some of us know exactly where they are and how to find the sun around them. For me, cooking keeps my hands and my mind focused on the here and now.  Because life is very, very beautiful.  And nothing makes me feel more centered when I am alone in this house then when I am writing.

I also just began enjoying http://www.cookbooks365.com/.  Blueberry-Basil Syrup — can you drink a photo?  I can.

Ernest Hemingway said that everyday he’d begin his work writing the truest statement that he knew.  I know that today is October 1st and as it is noon on the first Wednesday of the month, the tornado siren is blaring — a monthly test run and I feel a little anxious.

I planted three tomato plants last spring: two plum and one new heirloom — seedlings I bought at the Saturday morning Farmers’ Market.  As I mentioned, it is October 1st, I’ve begun reading Halloween stories to the Littles at bedtime, and as of today, these are the only ripe-ish tomatoes off the jungle of vines.  But they are gorgeous!  I love the shape, feeling the smooth mounds and creases with my fingers and beholding their perky little green crowns.  Royalty in my hands!

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By the way, my favorite Halloween story is Room on the Broom, written by Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler.  “I am a bird, as green as can be.  Is there room on the broom for a bird like me?  ‘Yes!’ cried the witch…..”

One last thing to mention….I almost know how to flip an omelet over in the pan using only a flick of my wrist while holding my breath, squinting and saying a quick prayer that I don’t toss it onto the kitchen floor.  I’ve been practicing this technique for the past few mornings after returning home from walking the Littles to school.  It is on this mile walk home that I play the omelet flip over and over perfecting it in my head.  But so far, I’ve only been able to get it to fold in half on top of itself rather than have it flip completely over.  This is a failure to fully commit on my part.

One last, last thing to mention… I know that I want to make the Hot Milk Cake recipe in this month’s issue of Saveur magazine.  I am hoping this vanilla cake with a seemingly simple buttercream frosting is the very birthday cake I’ve been looking for.  At last.

 

 

A Midsummer Foodie’s Dream

~ Katherine ~ 1 Comment

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I’ve been reading, planning, scheming.  What to make — what new recipe to try during these midsummer days…..

Normally, I prefer to tell you the results, for better or worse, of what I’ve made.  But today, I thought I ‘d share with you my hopes of what I’d like to taste before the end of this ephemeral season.  And, you can expect a full report over the next few weeks with recipes included.

Let’s start out slow, with bon appétit’s Editor-in-Chief, Adam Rapoport’s recommendation for two fast and easy salsas (July 2014): Tomatillo Salsa Verde — with onion, garlic, serrano chile and cilantro all whirled in a blender; and Salsa Roja Asada — smoky flavor as a result of charring the tomatoes in a piping-hot cast iron skillet with onion and serrano chile, finished in a blender with garlic and fresh cilantro.

Then we’ll move on to Pescados Asado Three Guys (Grilled Fish Three Guys Style) — Miami’s Glenn, Jorge and Raúl’s perfectly charred salmon that’s been marinated in garlic, cilantro, lemon, lime and olive oil.

Next, and I’ll need to really plan ahead for this one: Pan Cubano (Cuban Bread).  With only five ingredients, it looks easy enough, but we’ll need to consider rising time of at least an hour (I’ll figure two hours to be safe) and about 40-45 minutes of baking time.

But I have high expectations with this one.  It’s a recipe from the late James Beard found in my Memories of a Cuban Kitchen cookbook.  Here’s the best part, after it’s baked, you cut the bread in long strips, butter on all sides, then toast.  Finally we are going to dip all this crisp deliciousness in our morning and afternoon coffee…..

Before I forget, did you know that “lobsters release a toxic by-product that renders them inedible if they die before cooking, so they must be either precooked or shipped live”?  Just learned this in the June/July 2014 issue of Saveur magazine.  I’ll be talking with our local fish guy to find out how a squeamish cook like myself can make lobster with her own two hands.  Will get back to you on this one.

Lastly, from my favorite American Frenchman, David Lebovitz, his recipe for a super simple salad dressing which I made again just last night…

From his book, The Sweet Life in Paris

  • 1/2 teaspoon red wine or sherry vinegar
  • 2 teaspoons extra virgin olive oil
  • 1/8 teaspoon Dijon mustard
  • Coarse salt

Into a jar with a tight-fitting lid, shake it up.

* I usually double, sometimes triple this recipe depending on the volume of salad greens.

Voilà!