Salad Nicoise

Here's one salad that I love doing. Needs extra time for preparation but good enough for lunch or dinner. Got this from Barefoot Contessa's show, but tweaked it a bit.



Salad Nicoise

Ingredients
1 Block Tuna fillet - sashimi grade (about 1 inch thick)
Arugula leaves or baby romaines (I use this)
2 Eggs
1 cup olives (dark or green, I used green)
1/4 kilo (or less) french beans
1/4 kilo baby potatoes
2-3 vine or salad tomatoes (I used the seedless variety) - diced into big chunks
1/4 cup capers (optional)
2 tbsp white wine
Salt and pepper

For the vinaigrette
3 tbsp champagne vinegar
3 tbsp dijon mustard
4 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
salt and pepper

Boil baby potatoes, eggs and beans together. After 1 minute, take out the beans and put in a bowl with cold water to "shock" it and stop the cooking process. After a couple of minutes, take out the eggs - make sure it's cooked (hard-boiled). Leave the potatoes until cooked. Strain and bring back the pan to the stove top and heat a bit to remove excess water. Let the potatoes cool, then pierce with fork. Add the white wine and let the potatoes soak for a bit. Remove the beans from the cold water and set aside. Now the eggs... cut them with an egg cutter (or just slice them yourself).

Mix together the ingredients of the vinaigrette and adjust depending on your taste preference. Pour a little over the potatoes, mix, and set aside.

In a salad bowl (also nice if it's a little "flat") put first the leaves. Then arrange the other veggies and what have you's: beans, tomatoes, olives, capers (if you prefer), potatoes, and eggs. Leave a small space in the middle for the tuna.

Season the tuna with salt and pepper and sear it in a very hot pan. After one minute, turn it over. After 1 minute, take it out of the pan. This leaves you with a cooked outside and sashimi-like rawness inside. If you do not prefer your tuna to be too raw, cook an additional minute on each side. Slice the tuna and add it into the salad bowl. Drizzle with some vinaigrette and leave some for serving.

I had this for dinner, along with toasted whole-wheat baguette (baked with butter, garlic, olive oil, and topped with basil ribbons).

Enjoy!

Reliving the La Regalade Experience

My friend and I had dinner at La Regalade a couple of weeks back, and though it was a little expensive (at least that's what I think), food was really good. I couldn't get over the Beef Bourguignon that we had, so I tried to make one for dinner.

I checked out a couple of recipes (especially that of Ina Garten's) but decided to mix the two ways of cooking it - both by Cook Like A Chef (I watched it on Asian Food Channel) and by Barefoot Contessa (watched in Lifestyle Network). I really wanted to relive the dinenr we had (French Onion Soup, Beef Bourguignon with Potato Gratin - must eat!), but I was too lazy to make the soup and gratin. I just settled for baked baby potatoes to serve on the side.




Beef Bourguignon

Ingredients
1/2 kilo beef fillets, cut 1 inch thick
3 pcs Canadian bacon, chopped
1 large white onion, chopped
3-4 cloves garlic, chopped
2 carrots, diced (or if you prefer, cut diagonally, 1 inch thick)
1 Tbsp olive oil
1 1/2 cups Burgundy wine
2 cups beef stock
2 sprigs fresh thyme
1 Tbsp tomato paste
4 Tbsp unsalted butter, divided
3 Tbsp flour
1/4 kilo mushrooms (I used shiitake), cut 1/4 inch thick
1/4 kilo pearl onions (I didn't have this)
Salt and pepper to taste


Heat your pan , add the oil. When hot, saute the onions and potatoes first. When a little tender, add the garlic. Be careful not to brown them too much. Add the wine and thyme and cook for 10 minutes. Turn off the heat and let it cool a bit. Add the beef and marinade for at least one hour - the longer the better.

Pre-heat oven to 250 degrees F. In a skillet, cook the bacon until slightly brown. Set aside. After marinating, take out the beef from the pan and dry them with kitchen towel or kitchen napkin. In the same skillet, sear the beef on all sides then set aside.

Bring back the pan (with the wine marinade) on the stove and heat. Add the beef stock, beef, bacon, and tomato paste. Stir a bit, cover, and put into the oven for around 1 hour.

When nearing 1 hour, mix together the butter and flour and stir into the stew. Add the pearl onion.

Saute the mushrooms in 2 tablespoons of butter for 10 minutes until lightly browned and then add to the stew. Bring the stew to a boil on top of the stove, then lower the heat and simmer for 15 minutes. Season to taste.

Serve with baby potatoes (baked or just boiled - drizzle with olive oil). Enjoy!!!

Friday Dinner: Pork Chops, Veggies, and Rice Salad

Here's what we had last Friday. I just got the Brown rice salad recipe from Barefoot Contessa's show the other day to to go with the really simple pork chops and french beans I wanted to have for dinner.



Really Simple Pork Chops

Ingredients
1 Kilo of pork chops
About 1/3 cup dijon mustard
Salt
Pepper

Rub the chops with the mustard. Add salt and pepper to season them. Heat your grill (preferably cast iron!) and cook for 5-7 minutes on each side.

Brown Rice Salad

Ingredients
1 cup uncooked brown rice (preferably organic rice)
1/4 cup Champagne rice wine vinegar
1 Tbsp olive oil
2 tsp sugar
3 big tomatoes, diced
1 cup chopped basil
Salt
Pepper


Cook the rice. Whisk together the vinegar, olive oil, sugar, and salt and pepper to taste. Pour over the rice. Add the tomatoes and basil. Mix well.


French Beans

Ingredients
1/4 k French beans
1 Tbsp olive oil
3 cloves garlic, chopped

Heat pan, then add the oil. saute the garlic but don't let it brown. Add the beans. Cook until tender.