Green Salads and Salad Dressings
Browsing in the Garden
Just picked
leaf of lettuce, not cold
and crisp, but throbbing warm
with bitter earth juice,
a wrinkled green and purple
landscape gleaming in sunlight.
In darkness this velvet
flesh meets my teeth
and tongue and cheek,
ever so intimately:
soft persistent crunches
render lettuce speechless.
Our juices mingle,
flow as one the unseen
pathways appearing as mountains
or someone just about to wash a plate.
HERE WE HAVE, IF I MAY BE SO BOLD to say, one of the great joys of life—salad—offering us what is fully ripe and freshly flavorful, the pick of the fields brought to the table in its prime.
Especially in the heat of summer here at Tassajara, salads are an essential element in most of our lunches and dinners. This section focuses more on salads utilizing garden greens, while the chapter which follows has a wide variety of vegetable salads. Before you get to the recipes, you’ll see that I include some of my thinking about what makes a salad a salad: fresh, bright, invigorating; something about the structure or aesthetics of salad making. Some relishes and dressings round out the section.
I confess that one of the best recipes for salad is not included. The best way to make a salad may be to walk through gardens a few steps from home, forget the recipes, follow your nose, and nosh.
Wherever they come in a meal, salads are meant to be refreshing—in appearance, taste, feeling. The green of lettuce says: alive, growing, fresh, vigorous. Not hot, heavy, solid, dense (all delicious in their place!), but a crisp, moist, leafy counterpoint or introduction. Or perhaps it is the tartness of vinegar or citrus that cleanses the taste buds and raises a bright chorus of “Yes!”
First we will look at the basic structure or sensibility of salad making. Following that will be specific recipes.
OUTLINE FOR MAKING SALADS
Salads begin with a main, or background, ingredient (which may disappear more and more into the background with the addition of numerous other foreground ingredients). This is already a curious point: Is the basic ingredient so lacking that it needs “bullet points” of flavor so that we may overlook it? Is bread just there to carry butter and jam to your mouth?
My suggestion is to honor the background ingredient as worthy in its own right, and then possibly to complement that (background) ingredient with foreground elements. A few clouds in the azure blue sky show how blue it is; the sound of a bird deepens the mountain stillness.
So let’s look at some common background ingredients.
Greens: lettuces, spinach, arugula, cabbage, Chinese cabbage
Vegetables: carrots, cucumbers, tomatoes, green beans, asparagus, beets . . .
Potatoes
Beans: kidney, lentil, garbanzo, white . . .
Grains: rice, bulgur . . .
Pasta
The salad gets its name from this background, or main, ingredient: for instance, “potato salad,” or “green bean and tomato salad.”
Here are some foreground ingredients, which you’ll see that I have categorized.
Onions: yellow or red onion (raw or cooked), Red Onion Pickle, shallots, green onions, chives. (Garlic is more commonly an ingredient in the dressing or vinaigrette.)
Raw vegetables (for flavor, texture, color): radishes, bell peppers, carrots, celery, fennel bulb . . .
Cooked (usually lightly) vegetables: carrot, broccoli, cauliflower, green beans . . .
Preserved or pickled items: olives, capers, dill or sweet pickles, artichoke hearts, sun-dried tomatoes . . .
Fruits: apples, oranges, pears, persimmon, peach, nectarine . . .
Dried fruits: raisins, apricots, dates, cranberries . . .
Nuts and seeds: walnuts, almonds, hazelnut, sunflower, pumpkin, pine nuts, sesame seeds . . .
Cheeses: Any cheese (grated or sliced) such as Parmesan, cheddar, Monterey Jack, smoked or fresh mozzarella . . .
Again, these foreground ingredients accent or brighten and “accessorize” the main ingredient: a spinach salad may come with red onion, feta cheese, and kalamata olives; or apple, almond, and shallot could grace its greenness. One considers color, shape, taste, zest. So how each ingredient is cut matters: Are the apples in thin slices or large cubes, or even chopped finely to disappear into the dressing? Are the onions raw, cooked, or pickled? How will it look? How does it taste? What are the textures? Is the chewing a chore or a joy? Does something need cooking? Or chopping? (Cut surfaces release flavor. . . .)
Appearance matters with all food, but with salads especially we aim to provide a dish where the colors sparkle and we sense the freshness of spring and early summer. So consider also how to arrange the ingredients: All tossed together? An arranged platter? Ingredients in rows or swirls, circles, or layers? Dressing tossed with all the ingredients or delicately spooned over the arranged platter? Something in the middle—a guacamole, say—surrounded by the salad or placed to one side? One basic principle here is that the foreground ingredients tend to disappear to the bottom of the bowl when the salad is tossed, so the simple expedient is to save half or more of these accent ingredients to dot or garnish the surface of the salad, after it has been tossed with the dressing.
Here are some garnishings. Most any of the foreground ingredients work, but especially the following:
Grated cheese
Roasted nuts or seeds
Fresh herbs (or flowers)—particularly parsley, green onion, basil, cilantro, mint (and did you have some little green or flower tucked away in your window box), chervil, nasturtium, calendula, chive blossoms
This brings us to the dressing. Feel out what the dressing might be—open your imagination, dream flavors:
Just salt, oil, and vinegar?
Something creamy?
Honey and lemon?
What are the ingredients in the salad?
What about the rest of the meal?
Mild-mannered or spicy?
Given these choices, now you can jump right in and make yourself a salad—or take a further look at some of the suggestions and specific recipe combinations that follow.
Lettuce Salads
These can be made with just one kind of lettuce—such as romaine, butter lettuce, red leaf—or with a combination of lettuces. Often available in supermarkets is a “spring mix,” a combination of baby lettuces combined with other greens (or red-greens): cresses, radicchio, mizuno, mustard greens—add your own spinach, arugula, or nasturtium leaves.
Choose a simple dressing from the salad dressings later in this chapter. To maintain the freshness of the greens, toss with the dressing just before serving. For the same reason, mix in the other ingredients at the last moment as well, when assembling the salad (again, reserving half or more of them to garnish the top of the dressed salad).
Salads are tossed so that the dressing which has seeped to the bottom of the bowl is brought to the top and mixed with all the ingredients. Toss thoroughly (and be somewhat cautious with the amount of dressing used, adding more as needed) so that all the dressing is used and there is not a puddle of dressing left in the bottom of the bowl.
Here are some suggested combinations of foreground ingredients to use with a lettuce salad:
Tomato wedges and avocado chunks (possibly with chopped olives and croutons)
Shredded red cabbage and orange or apple slices
Tomato wedges and cheddar cheese shavings
Raisins and toasted sunflower or pumpkin seeds
Strips or chunks of (peeled) broccoli core, sliced sun-dried tomato
Sliced oranges and raisins
Sliced radishes, roasted sunflower seeds, and parsley
Carrot, apple slices, and roasted almonds
Cucumber and grated cooked beets
Cantaloupe strips and sliced radishes
Leftover vegetables, cut into salad pieces
Sliced orange, celery, and walnuts
Keep it simple and distinctive. Consider using the green of leaf and stem; the brightness of flower or fruit; the earthiness of nut, seed, or cheese. One example, for instance, would be greens with orange slices and roasted sesame seeds or greens with a few raisins and toasted sunflower seeds. Even simpler still: greens, oil (the earth), vinegar (the sky).
Summer Salad Platter
Green peppers
Cucumbers
Tomato
Avocado
Summer squashes
Salt
Pepper
Vinegar or lemon juice
Sugar or honey
Olives, chopped (optional)
Sun-dried tomatoes, sliced (optional)
See what comes your way from the grocery or the farmers market, from the garden or friends. Pick what you want to use and cut into slices, wedges, sections, strips—making a variety of shapes.
These vegetables can be delicious with just salt and pepper (put the salt on the tomatoes at the very end or it will draw a puddle of liquid out of the tomatoes). Or mix equal parts of either vinegar and sugar, or lemon juice and honey, to make a simple, bright complement—or toss them separately with a dressing, and then arrange on a serving platter. Some chopped olives or sun-dried tomato slices will add color and flavor.
VARIATION
Omit the olives or sun-dried tomatoes in the recipe above and turn it into a “Thai” salad platter by adding a section of fresh ginger (finely diced, minced, or preserved), roasted peanuts, and a few spinach or lettuce leaves. Garnish with lime wedges. Each person starts with a leaf and makes their own bite of salad using the other ingredients. Add a touch of chili in the dressing, on the vegetables, or on the side.
Garden Salad
This is called “garden salad” because I go out to my garden and pick some greens for salad. Often I get my lettuce starts from Green Gulch, Zen Center’s farm near Muir Beach. Here they have many wonderful varieties of lettuce from seeds that have been prized and shepherded: Marvel of Four Seasons, Black-Seeded Simpson, Kagraner Somer, Lolla Rosa, Cool Mint Romaine, Red Leaf Romaine, and Red and Green Oak Leaf.
Since I have been growing lettuces in my yard, I find it difficult to buy lettuce. The store-bought heads do not seem to have the hardiness and vigor of the leaves that I harvest by hand. After I have picked an assortment of lettuce leaves, I poke around for what else to add: spearmint, thyme, arugula, parsley, lime thyme, perhaps some baby chard or mustard greens, some calendula blossoms or nasturtium flowers (or leaves).
Nowadays markets frequently have available a mix of fresh greens (often referred to as mesclun). Some are better than others, so you may need to experiment to find out which particular mix you enjoy most.
SERVES 4 PEOPLE
¾ pound lettuce of your choice
1 to 2 ounces or more miscellaneous garden herbs or flowers, if available (see the list for Summer Salad Platter or look in your own garden)
1 shallot, diced, or 1 small bunch chives, chopped
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
Salt
Pepper
1 or 2 tablespoons sesame or sunflower seeds, roasted (optional)
2 or 3 tablespoons Asiago or Parmesan cheese, freshly grated (optional)
Pick your lettuces and herbs. Wash by immersing in water, then spin dry in a lettuce spinner. Leave the smaller leaves whole, and tear the larger ones into mouth-sized pieces. For this salad I tend not to mince or chop the herbs, but to leave them in whole-leaf form removed from their stems. (Also if edible flower petals are available, save some for garnish.)
Toss the greens with the shallot and olive oil. (If you want the shallot to have a milder flavor, sauté it briefly in the oil.) If everything is not quite moistened enough with the oil, add a touch more. Then toss with the vinegar and a sprinkling of salt and pepper. Garnish with the fresh herbs and flower petals, as available.
Another option would be to garnish the salad with the roasted seeds and/or the grated cheese. I find the bit of earthiness that they add is grounding and satisfying.
VARIATIONS
Five-Element Salad with Spicy Garlic Vinaigrette
I am not a fan of salads that have innumerable ingredients (lettuce, grated carrot, tomato, mushroom, bell pepper, shredded red cabbage, and so on) as if more made better. Nor do I appreciate salads that are drowned in gloppy dressings so the colors are indistinct anyway. I want the ingredients to fit together with some balance. And the dressing to be of a modest amount that enhances the ingredients rather than overwhelming them.
“Five-element” is my name for a salad I learned about while working at Greens Restaurant. The five elements are lettuce, a fruit, a nut, a cheese, and a wild-card flavor kicker, such as olive, caper, radish, sun-dried tomato, or, in this case, red onion pickle. The dressing should be flavorful and interesting, but usually clear enough to see the colors of the salad. The variations are endless.
At home I am more likely to prepare a Garden Salad, but occasionally I am more inspired, especially if company is coming. I follow the Chinese principle of having an odd number of ingredients: one, three, five, seven. See how that works for you.
SERVES 4 TO 6 PEOPLE
½ cup Red Onion Pickle
Spicy Garlic Vinaigrette or another dressings of your choice
⅓ cup almonds
1 head romaine lettuce, moderate sized (about ¾ pound)
1 apple, a good eating variety such as Fuji, Gala, or Golden Delicious
Juice of 1 orange, preferably navel
½ cup Asiago or Parmesan cheese, grated freshly, if possible
1 tablespoon fresh tarragon, minced, or 2 tablespoons flat-leaf parsley, minced
Get the Red Onion Pickles started and make up the Spicy Garlic Vinaigrette or another dressing of your choosing. Roast the almonds in a 350° oven for 8 minutes (or in a dry skillet on top of the stove) until they are crunchy and aromatic. Slice or chop them. Set aside.
Remove the bruised, discolored, or wilted outer leaves from the head of lettuce. Cut the larger romaine leaves in half lengthwise and then crosswise into 1-inch sections. Cut the smaller leaves crosswise into 1-inch sections. Wash and spin dry. Quarter the apple, remove the cores, and cut into slices. Combine with the orange juice.
All the ingredients may be readied well ahead of time and assembled shortly before serving. The point to notice is that if you toss all the ingredients together, the smaller ones will end up on the bottom of the bowl. Here’s how to assemble the salad: Start by combining the apple slices (orange juice and all) with the lettuce and tossing with the vinaigrette. Make sure some apple slices are at the surface. Distribute the Red Onion Pickle over the surface of the salad, then the almonds, the grated cheese, and finally the minced herbs.
Mixed Green Salad with Grapefruit, Avocado, and Lime-Cumin Vinaigrette
Inspired by a North African recipe, this very pretty and refreshing salad is a marvelous complement to rich dishes. Everything may be prepared hours in advance, with only the slicing of the avocados and tossing of the salad left for the end.
SERVES 4 PEOPLE
5 large handfuls mixed greens (romaine, spinach, oak leaf, butter, or red lettuces)
2 ruby grapefruit
1 to 2 avocados
Lime-Cumin Vinaigrette or another dressing of your choice
Make up the Lime-Cumin Vinaigrette or other dressing of your choosing. Wash the greens, dry them well, then tear into bite-sized pieces. Cut the peel off of the grapefruits and cut them into supremes. Shortly before serving, slice the avocados.
Toss the avocado slices and grapefruit supremes with the dressing, then pour off the excess. Then toss the mixed greens with enough dressing to moisten the leaves but not to leave them dripping. Finally, garnish the dressed greens with the dressed grapefruit and avocado. Spreading the salad out on a platter rather than a bowl will give you more of an opportunity to “paint” with the avocado and grapefruit pieces.
Baby Greens with Nectarines, Goat Cheese, and Fire-Roasted Walnuts
An exciting blend of flavors as well as beautiful colors make this a pleasing salad.
SERVES 4 PEOPLE
Tofu Bob’s Herb Dressing or Basic Tassajara Salad Dressing
5-ounce mix of baby greens or your choice of lettuce
3 ounces goat cheese
2 nectarines
2 teaspoons sugar
2 teaspoons lemon juice
½ cup walnuts
1 teaspoon sugar
3 to 4 pinches salt
Prepare the salad dressing. Set aside.
Wash and spin dry the lettuce mix. Roast the red pepper following the directions. Crumble the goat cheese and set aside on a plate.
Wash and slice the nectarines and combine with the 2 teaspoons of sugar and the lemon juice. Roast the walnuts in a skillet over moderate heat, stirring occasionally so they don’t burn, until they are toasted and nutty. Add the teaspoon of sugar and a few pinches of salt, and raise the heat. Stir until the sugar melts and coats the nuts lightly. Remove from the pan.
Use a modest amount of dressing to coat the lettuce—you will probably have some left over (it will keep in the refrigerator for a month or more). Toss the dressed lettuces with half of the red peppers, goat cheese, nectarines, and walnuts. Distribute the other half of those ingredients over the surface for decoration before serving up.
Endive Salad with Grilled Figs and Fire-Roasted Walnuts
I make this salad with leftover grilled figs, which have been cooked until they are limp, juicy, succulent, and sweet. Don’t light the grill just for this, because you could roast the figs in the oven just as easily.
SERVES 4 PEOPLE
12 fresh, ripe black mission figs, grilled or baked
½ cup walnuts
1 tablespoon white sugar
⅛ teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons lime juice
1 tablespoon honey
1 or 2 Belgian endives (about 6 ounces)
Preheat oven to 375°. Grill the figs whole (over charcoal), until they are limp and succulent or bake them for 12 to 15 minutes to sweeten and soften them. Cut the stems off of the figs and slice them in half or quarters lengthwise.
Roast the walnuts in a skillet for 6 to 7 minutes until they’re toasty and aromatic. Sprinkle on the white sugar and salt. Cook over moderate heat, stirring, until the sugar melts and coats the walnuts. Remove and set aside. Whisk together the lime and honey.
To arrange the salad, cut off the base of the endive and separate into individual leaves. Place a slice of fig on each leaf and walnuts on the fig. Drizzle the lime-honey over the top. A second method is to slice the endive crosswise into ½-inch pieces and toss with the figs and the dressing. Garnish with the walnuts.
Careful Observation of the Obvious
Some years ago I called up a seed company to place an order. I wanted to get some red clover to use for a ground cover—the stalks of deep-red blossoms are quite splendid. I also wanted some garden netting to cover the seeds to keep the birds off. I ordered some other seeds as well to make up a minimum order and waited.
In a week or so a small box showed up. It didn’t appear to be large enough to contain the pound of clover seed or the netting. I wondered how that little box could possibly contain the six by twelve feet of netting I had ordered, let alone all the seed. Another five or six weeks went by while I waited for my “real” order to come. The box sat on my kitchen counter until finally one day when I had nothing better to do, I decided to open it.
Inspecting each item, I discovered that everything I had ordered was in the box. The netting was wadded up like a down sleeping bag into a compact bundle, and the pound of clover seed was just a fistful. Each seed packet also had a short message: “The Best Teacher of Gardening—Careful Observation of the Obvious.” I had not even gotten out of the house into the garden yet, but the significance of the message was obvious. “Not only gardening,” I thought, “but cooking too, and . . . opening packages.”
The obvious is what is easiest to overlook: Cookies on the bottom rack of the oven burn sooner than the ones on the top. We think we know that salt is salty and sugar is sweet, but more than one cook has mistaken one white substance for the other. Food heated over time gets cooked, but only careful observation determines the moment it is at its peak of flavor and texture. Vine-ripened tomatoes eaten in the summer sun awaken warm surges of joy and vitality never encountered with tomatoes from the supermarket. What’s important, anyway? Careful observation can determine which differences make a difference.
At the New England Culinary Institute a young woman asked me for some Zen secrets for dealing with stress. I explained that what I had noticed was that I would get more frantic, more speedy, and more stressed in an effort to catch up with all the things still to be done, and the things I must be forgetting. I wouldn’t even take the time to check on what I might be forgetting because then I would be even further behind.
Eventually, though, I noticed what was obvious about this situation. I could only do one thing at a given time. Getting hasty or volatile didn’t help me to get that one thing done. Also, worrying about what I still needed to do was a distraction from doing that one thing. I began making a checklist of what needed to be done, prioritizing it, and then doing the next thing, one after another. “That helped me,” I said.
“That isn’t Zen,” she said. “We do that all the time.”
“Fine,” I agreed, “just keep it up. There is nothing more Zen than careful observation of the obvious. If you keep practicing that, you’ll figure it out, whether it’s how to cope with stress or what to do with a potato.”
Winter Green Salad with Walnuts and Roasted Red Pepper Sauce
This is an attractive, colorful dish that I often make over the holiday season since it features greens and reds. The roasted red pepper sauce is pooled around the winter greens, which have been lightly cooked to soften and sweeten them.
SERVES 4 TO 6 PEOPLE
1 head frisse or ½ head curly endive or chicory
2 cloves of garlic, minced
¼ cup walnuts, roasted
3 to 4 tablespoons olive oil
1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
Salt
Pepper, freshly ground
⅓ cup dried cranberries (optional)
Prepare the Roasted Red Pepper Sauce.
Cut the greens first and then wash them. If using frisse, cut the larger leaves into 2 or 3 pieces. If using curly endive or chicory, discard any bruised outer leaves, cut the head lengthwise into quarters, then crosswise into 2-inch sections. Place the greens in a large metal bowl and toss with the garlic.
Chop the roasted walnuts coarsely.
Heat the olive oil in a large skillet until it just begins to smoke, then pour it over the frisse while tossing with tongs. Place clumps of greens back into the hot skillet to cook lightly, so they just soften but do not lose their shape entirely. Season with the balsamic vinegar, salt, and pepper. If you are using the dried cranberries, plump them for a couple of minutes in very hot water, then drain.
To assemble the salad, place portions of the greens on individual plates and surround the greens with Roasted Red Pepper Sauce. Garnish with the walnuts and the cranberries, if using them.
Spinach Salad with Feta Cheese, Red Onions, and Olives
A tangy, dramatic-looking variation on a Greek salad, this dish is nice with a potato soup or the yellow pea soup. Bold flavors.
SERVES 4 TO 6 PEOPLE
1 bunch fresh spinach leaves or 1 pound baby spinach
2 to 3 ounces feta cheese
¼ cup (or more) Red Onion Pickle
6 kalamata olives or 12 or more niçoise olives
Lemon Vinaigrette or another dressing of your choice
1 tablespoon fresh mint, minced
Cut the stems off the spinach and immerse the leaves in at least two changes of cold water to remove all traces of sand and fine soil. (This will not be necessary if using fresh baby spinach.) Dry the spinach well in a salad spinner, then (if large) cut into pieces and place it in a salad bowl.
Reserve some of the feta for garnish and crumble the rest of it on top of the spinach.
Finely dice or slice the red onion (if using it) and reserve some of it or the onion pickle for garnish, and scatter the rest over the cheese.
Remove the pits from the olives by pressing them under the flat of a knife blade, then pulling out the loosened pits. Chop coarsely. (Or use pitted kalamatas.)
Make up the Lemon Vinaigrette or another dressing of your choosing. Pour the vinaigrette over the salad, and toss well. Sprinkle on the reserved feta and onion, then the olives along with the mint on top of the salad.
Wilted Spinach Salads
These wilted spinach salads are fast-to-make and delicious-to-eat (well, especially if the spinach is already cleaned). The light wilting of the spinach with the hot olive oil sweetens its flavor—and slightly softens the texture.
SERVES 4 TO 6 PEOPLE
1 pound spinach
½ onion, diced
¼ cup olive oil
1 cup tomato sauce, canned tomato chunks, or fresh tomato wedges, or ½ cup tomato salsa
Salt
Pepper
Balsamic vinegar (optional)
½ cup grated Parmesan or Asiago cheese
Clean the spinach, tear or cut it into bite-size pieces, and put into a metal bowl. Sauté the onion in the olive oil to soften. Pour the hot olive oil and onion over the spinach and toss with tongs. Taste the spinach, and if it is not cooked enough, press clumps of it back into the hot pan.
If you wish to make the salad warm, preheat the tomato sauce (or tomato pieces) before tossing with the spinach. Check the seasoning for salt and pepper (and possibly some vinegar), then serve garnished with the grated cheese.
VARIATIONS
Spinach Salad with Apples and Almonds
I learned about wilted spinach salads from working at Greens, where we had a fine one with feta cheese, croutons, and kalamata olives on the menu daily. Here’s one of my simplified versions. Tossing the spinach with the hot oil softens and sweetens its flavor—which I find deliciously appetizing.
SERVES 4 TO 6 PEOPLE
1 bunch spinach
½ cup almonds, roasted
1 good eating apple, such as Gala, Fuji, or Golden Delicious
1 to 2 cloves of garlic, minced (optional)
¼ cup olive oil
Cut off the base of the spinach, then cut the tough stems off the leaves. Wash the leaves thoroughly, then spin dry. Cut the biggest leaves into halves or thirds. Slice the roasted almonds with a sharp knife, or chop briefly in a Cuisinart on pulse, so the almonds do not turn completely to powder.
Make up the Lime-Cumin Vinaigrette (omitting the olive oil).
Cut the apple into quarters and cut away the core. Slice the quarters into thin lengthwise pieces, and toss with the dressing.
Put the spinach in a stainless steel, wooden, or ceramic bowl. (Add garlic if using.) Heat the olive oil in a small pan until it’s nearly smoking. Pour over the spinach with one hand while using tongs to toss the spinach with the other. If the spinach is not sufficiently wilted—to your taste—press clumps of it into the hot pan using the tongs.
Toss the spinach with the apples and the dressing. Check the seasoning. Serve on a platter or individual plates and garnish with the almonds.
Arugula Salad with Avocado and Cashew Nuts
Arugula delights me with its meaty tenderness and its pungent flavor of mustard or radish. Here it is offset with the creamy avocado and crunchy cashews.
SERVES 4 PEOPLE
1 bunch arugula
½ cup cashew nut pieces
4 tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoons balsamic or fig vinegar
Salt
Pepper
1 avocado
Prepare the arugula: cut crosswise into 2-inch lengths and sort out and discard the stems. Wash and spin dry the leaves. Set aside. Roast the cashew nuts in a dry skillet until lightly browned.
Toss the arugula with the olive oil, then with the vinegar and 2 to 3 pinches of salt. Grate on some pepper. Slice the avocado into decorative slices and toss half of them in with the greens. Place the remaining half on top and sprinkle on the cashews. Delicious!
VARIATIONS
SALAD DRESSINGS
Salad dressings are one of those mysterious and alchemical mixtures which can be heavenly and tantalizing, or abysmal. And there are so many prepared commercial dressings, which are passable, but not really bright and alive. Not only a matter of taste, salad dressings say something about lifestyle. In dressing preparation, many rituals are ascribed to: rubbing the bowl with garlic; tossing with oil, then with vinegar; or everything in the blender and “zap!” The simpler the dressing—and many of these recipes are quite simple—the more it depends on the quality of the ingredients: a flavorful balsamic or sherry wine vinegar; or perhaps a delicate rice wine vinegar; a fragrant, fruity olive oil; fresh garlic rather than powdered.
One’s salad dressing matures with one’s experience. The dressing can develop, change, or remain the single constant in a life of change. Complex, crafted, laid back, or thrown together—if you want to know about people, check out their salad dressing and how they make it. And you can start by checking out this basic dressing and how it’s prepared—and you’ll see that once you get started, variations will unfold easily and effortlessly.
Making a large batch—double or more—of salad dressing is a great convenience, and also the flavors have a chance to develop. When the basic dressing is fairly simple, additional ingredients can be added for variation each time it is used.
When assembling any dressing, season tentatively to begin with, then make sure it’s stirred or shaken up and taste test it by dipping in a piece of lettuce or vegetable. More oil, vinegar, or any of the other ingredients can easily be added. See what you like and which flavors you prefer.
The simplest way to change the flavor of the dressing (to blend with or accent the ingredients or the rest of the meal) is to use another kind of vinegar, choosing among balsamic, apple cider, red wine, champagne, pear, blueberry, pomegranate; or use another kind of oil, some walnut or hazelnut oil in place of the olive is a fragrant delight. You can also vary the proportion of oil to vinegar, somewhere between 3 parts oil to 1 part vinegar and 2 parts oil to 1 part vinegar.
You’ll see that this section begins with some general salad dressing instructions, followed by some specific recipes.
Basic Tassajara Dressing
Here’s a dressing that is about as basic as you can get. Omit the garlic and you have oil, vinegar, salt, and pepper.
1 clove of garlic, small
½ teaspoon salt
3 to 4 tablespoons vinegar (balsamic, sherry, or rice wine vinegar)
¾ cup olive oil, good and fruity (if it smells like castor oil, it’s rancid)
Pepper, freshly grated
Crush the garlic in a press or mash it with a mortar and pestle. Let the garlic, salt, and vinegar sit together in a bowl for at least 15 minutes to get acquainted. Slowly whisk in the olive oil. Make sure it is well mixed. Dress the salad so that it is moistened, but not dripping. Have the pepper mill handy for those who like it.
VARIATIONS
Herb and Spice Dressing
Here are some further suggestions or reminders about what might go into your salad dressing once you’ve gotten started with your basic recipe. Add the herbs or spices in addition to, or in place of, the garlic and mustard. If adding ingredients one at a time and tasting is fun for you (as it is for me) then you will have a fabulous time trying out various options. Not all at once now.
Basic Tassajara Dressing, see above
Sugar or honey
Dried herbs of your choice: thyme, marjoram, oregano, tarragon, basil, dill weed
Fresh herbs of your choice (in the dressing or for garnish): parsley, mint, basil, cilantro
Seasonings of your choice: fresh minced green chilies, minced olives, minced or grated onion, and so forth
Spices of your choice: anise, curry, chili (in place of black pepper), coriander, cumin, or smaller amounts of cinnamon, cardamom, cloves
The sugar is not necessarily meant to be tasted, but a touch will bring out the sweetness of the lettuce or other salad ingredients.
Again, consider using herbs and spices to complement the rest of the meal as well as the salad.
Tofu Bob’s Herb Dressing
There’s no tofu in this dressing, nor did Bob like tofu, and now we are not even sure there ever was a Bob, but the card in our recipe file is dirty, greasy, and stained with use. Folks must like it.
MAKES ABOUT 1½ CUPS OF DRESSING
¾ cup cashews, roasted
½ cup olive oil
3 tablespoons cider vinegar
½ cup water
1 small clove of garlic, minced
½ teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon dried dill
1 teaspoon dried chervil
1 teaspoon dried parsley
½ teaspoon dried oregano
¼ teaspoon dried rosemary
¼ teaspoon black pepper
Combine ingredients and blend until smooth. Some cashew chunks are okay. If you blend the cashews first, they will be more smooth. Check seasoning by dipping in a lettuce leaf and tasting, and “consider adding more salt and vinegar,” a helpful cook noted at the bottom of the recipe card. And what else?
The dressing is quite marvelous with a basic lettuce salad with tomato, cucumber, avocado, and green pepper slices.
Foundation Dressing
Here’s another example of a sturdy flavorful foundation dressing. My first cooking teacher Jim Vaughn used to say: “If it lacks body, add salt. If it lacks bite, add mustard. If it lacks flavor, add garlic.” One of the cooks at Tassajara says: “It’s not right if I can taste or feel any one particular ingredient.” Excellent for a variety of salads, you can also create many variations building on this foundation.
⅔ cup oil
⅓ cup lemon juice, freshly squeezed
½ teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon black pepper, freshly ground
½ teaspoon dry mustard
½ teaspoon dry powdered ginger
1 to 2 large cloves of garlic, minced
Combine the ingredients, shake or stir thoroughly, taste-test with a piece of lettuce.
VARIATIONS
Easy Asian Dressing
For all its simplicity this dressing is nevertheless still quite tasty. Use it on a delicate salad, or to lighten the feeling of a meal which seems heavy.
6 tablespoons olive or light sesame oil
2 tablespoons rice wine vinegar
4 teaspoons soy sauce
Combine thoroughly. Taste and adjust ingredients, if necessary.
To See Virtue, You Have to Have a Calm Mind
When I began working as a cook in 1966, I developed a cook’s temperament within a few hours. As the dishwasher, I had been calm and serene, and when the cooks threw an occasional tantrum, I was amused and a bit embarrassed. I had trouble believing that cooks could actually scream as venomously as they did when it was obviously so ineffective in getting results. “That’s stupid and ridiculous,” I would gently remark to myself, while perhaps lifting an eyebrow. Soon enough I ate my words.
Sometimes the people who work with you are too polite to actually confront you about your behavior, but you know for sure that others have noticed when they start having meetings to discuss “What are we going to do about Ed?” Two people were needed to replace me as dishwasher/baker, but that didn’t help me to relax in my new position. “Get these eggs out while they are hot!” I would bellow. After all, shouldn’t everything be perfect? And shouldn’t everyone be doing his or her utmost and more to make it that way? At the urging of my fellow workers I agreed to make efforts to calm down.
In December of that year, Tassajara was bought by Zen Center. Because I was already a Zen student and had more than two months of experience cooking, I was offered the position of head cook for the new center. I made it up as I went along, and everybody knew that the kitchen procedures were not very well worked out. But I took refuge in just doing what I was doing. “When you wash the rice, wash the rice; when you stir the soup, stir the soup . . .”
I realized pretty early on what every cook realizes. The food more or less takes care of itself; the people are what’s hard. They don’t do what you want. They don’t behave the way you would like them to behave. They don’t treat you the way you want to be treated. They point out your faults . . . over and over again. They won’t put up with you and the repertoire of coping behaviors you’ve worked out. They don’t applaud your every move. (For goodness sake, they aren’t Mom and Dad. They want you to be their mom and dad.) They don’t read your mind. Good grief, you have to talk with them.
The women with whom I worked were especially likely to object to my style of management:
“Why are you talking to me like that?”
“Like what?”
“Like you were angry with me about something. What have I done?”
“Look, I’m under a lot of pressure, OK? Can we just concentrate on getting the work done and not analyze every word?”
People sometimes came late to work, took long breaks, and often when I watched them working, they didn’t seem to be very present in their activity. I couldn’t tell what they were doing, but the rice would take a long time to get washed. Finally, one day I complained to Suzuki Roshi. I told him all the problems I had with people not behaving the way I thought they ought to behave (if they were really practicing Zen): arriving late, taking long bathroom breaks, gossiping, being absentminded or inattentive. Then I asked him for advice on how to get everyone to work with more concentration and vigor.
He seemed to listen quite carefully, as though he understood my difficulty and was entirely sympathetic. (Yes, you just can’t get good help anymore, can you?) When I finally ran out of complaints he looked at me briefly and then responded, “If you want to see virtue,” he said, “You have to have a calm mind.”
“That isn’t what I asked you,” I thought to myself, but I kept quiet. I gave it some time to turn me around. Was I going to spend my time finding fault or seeing virtue? It had never occurred to me that I could spend my time seeing virtue, but my teacher’s mentioning it made it seem obvious.
Later in our conversation he said, “When you are cooking, you’re not just working on food. You’re working on yourself. You’re working on other people.” Well, of course, I thought, that makes sense.
Without really having any idea how to actually do it, I began trying “to see virtue.” Whenever I found fault with someone, I would remind myself to look again, more carefully and more calmly. I began to recognize people’s basic good intentions, to sense people’s effort, the effort it took even to stand on the spot and be exposed for all the world to see. I would catch glimpses of our shared vulnerability.
It got to be quite laughable at times. Once I asked someone to get eighteen cups of black beans from the storeroom. About twenty minutes later I realized he hadn’t come back. “How difficult can it be to get eighteen cups of beans?” I righteously raged to myself as I headed for the storeroom. Yet before arriving, I cautioned myself to look for virtue. What was going on? Sure enough, there he was, sorting through the beans, pretty much one by one, making sure that each was not a stone.
I felt a surge of impatience, then I thought, “Well, he is being thorough! He is being conscientious!” I don’t remember what I said, but my response was at least somewhat softened from what it would have been. Something more articulate than “You idiot!” emerged from my lips, and then I explained that he could cover a white plate with beans and easily scan through to check for small stones. Perhaps the sorting would go a bit more quickly that way.
Ironically, seeing virtue cultivates virtue. If we want to bring out the best in others, it helps to see the best in them. After a while we might even acknowledge the best in ourselves. A lot of struggles were still ahead of me, but over the years I have continued to cultivate my capacity to see virtue. While it’s an ongoing challenge, by seeing virtue we can transform ourselves and the world.
VARIATIONS
Garlic Vinaigrette
The garlic, while offering its lively vigor on the palate, also gives body and helps to pull together the flavors of any salad it graces—a bowl of happiness.
2 tablespoons vinegar
¼ teaspoon salt
2 to 3 cloves of garlic, pressed or finely minced
⅝ cup olive oil
Mix the vinegar together with the salt and garlic, then gradually whisk in the olive oil.
Spicy Garlic Vinaigrette
This could be called a curry vinaigrette, since the same spices are often used in Indian cuisine.
1 teaspoon fennel seed
1 teaspoon coriander seed
½ teaspoon cardamom seed
¼ cup olive oil
3 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
1 clove of garlic, average size, minced
½ teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon black pepper
Combine the fennel, coriander, and cardamom seeds and grind in a coffee mill or spice grinder. Whisk together with the olive oil, vinegar, garlic, salt, and pepper.
Lemon Vinaigrette
2½-inch-wide strips of lemon peel
1 to 2 tablespoons lemon juice
Pepper, freshly grated
1 clove of garlic, pressed or finely minced
6 tablespoons fruity olive oil
To make the vinaigrette, slice the strips of lemon peel into very fine slivers and combine with the lemon juice, pepper, and garlic in a small bowl.
Whisk in the olive oil. Taste with a leaf of lettuce or spinach (or other salad ingredient) and adjust for tartness if necessary. If you are using this vinaigrette with the Spinach Salad, do not add salt, as the feta cheese and olives are salty. Otherwise whisk in some salt to taste (testing with one of your salad ingredients).
Garlic-Lemon Vinaigrette
⅔ cup olive oil
⅓ cup lemon juice or wine vinegar
2 cloves of garlic, minced
¼ teaspoon salt
Pepper or one green chili, minced
Combine all the ingredients. Whisk and taste. Like it?
Lime-Cumin Vinaigrette
Fresh lime juice is an underutilized flavor enhancer, while the cumin and coriander seed provide spice and mild pungent qualities.
½ teaspoon cumin seed
½ teaspoon coriander seed
Juice of 1 lime (about ¼ cup)
¼ teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon honey
¼ cup olive oil
To make the dressing, start by grinding the cumin and coriander in an electric grinder. Combine with the lime juice, salt, and honey.
If you are using this vinaigrette with the Spinach Salad with Apples and Almonds, omit the olive oil. Otherwise whisk in the olive oil and check the seasoning.
Spicy Lime-Cumin Vinaigrette
This vinaigrette adds the spiciness of mustard, chili, and garlic to the Lime-Cumin Vinaigrette above. Additionally the green onion and cilantro at the end are fresh and lively on the palate.
Grated peel of 4 limes
3 tablespoons lime juice
1 teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon each cumin and coriander seeds, ground in spice mill
½ teaspoon paprika
½ teaspoon dry mustard
1 pinch of chili powder
1 clove of garlic, finely minced or pounded to a paste
⅓ to ½ cup olive oil
1 to 2 tablespoons coarsely chopped cilantro
2 scallions, minced, both green and white parts
Combine the lime peel, juice, salt, spices, and garlic, and stir to dissolve the salt. Add olive oil to taste (dip in a lettuce leaf and try it), minced scallions, and chopped cilantro. Whisk lightly to combine.
Lime-Cilantro Vinaigrette
Juice and grated peel of 2 limes
2 teaspoons sherry vinegar or balsamic vinegar
2 to 4 tablespoons chopped cilantro
½ teaspoon salt
¼ cup olive oil
¼ to ½ cup sour cream
Whisk together the lime juice, peel, vinegar, cilantro, and salt. Whisk in the olive oil and then the sour cream. Adjust taste for tartness and salt.
Root, Shoot, Flower, and Fruit
Flavors call out to me. I don’t mean out of the blue, but I love to taste things. It’s a way of knowing, a way of meeting, also a way of dissolving this too, too solid world. When I taste I go somewhere else, a world without crowds and stress, just you and me, and all the time in the world. I focus when I put something in my mouth. Something inside me melts. I am transported and completely still.
On one hand I simply enjoy, allowing my awareness to resonate with the various sensations. On the other hand, because I work with food, and talk about food and how to work with food, I also want to be able to articulate my experience. For this purpose I use not only the more classical categorization of sweet, sour, bitter, salty, and pungent (or peppery), but also my own set—the earthy of root, the herbaceous of stem and leaf, the fruity or vibrant of flower and fruit.
Earth flavors can be deep, woody, smoky, or woodsy. Mushrooms remind me of mulch and meadow, of sojourns in the forest. Grains have a sweet earthiness, ranging in my experience from the intensely hearty and earthbound buckwheat to the more sunny corn and millet (and their colors correspond).
Bran and germ, like specks of dirt, flavor the more neutral quality of white flour or white rice.
Once I decided to taste plain lentils before all the other vegetables and seasonings were added for soup. Immediately I thought of dirt and fell in love with the earthy flavor, marveling that a growing thing could make dirt so palatable. Yes, beans are in this category.
Potatoes, yams, sweet potatoes, carrots, beets—they are all root vegetables. Washed and scrubbed, and especially when baked, here is mellow ground, often sweet, occasionally bitter. I feel supported, rooted, nourished: deep red-purple earth, orange-brown ground.
The meat of land animals is largely in this category of earth: meaty, smoky, robust, dense, and chewy. Dairy products, especially cheeses, have earthy characteristics. In France some cheeses are described as “excremental—” or maybe that’s just American-French!
As well as sweet earth, there is also bitter earth: unsweetened cocoa, coffee, tea, nuts. Walnuts, almonds, sesame seeds, sunflower seeds—rich, oily, bitter earth.
Leaf, stem, stalk—lettuces, spinach, chard, kale—these flavors are herbaceous, grassy and green, along with green beans, green peppers, mustard greens, peas. As a group these are not as sweet as the grains and root vegetables. Here more is tart and bitter, pungent and acrid. Asparagus and celery epitomize stalks. Here also are broccoli, cauliflower, and the summer squashes. Tomatoes, although a fruit, seem “viney” and herbaceous rather than flowery or fruity. Eggplant, certainly, and cucumber, too.
These are flavors that move and leap in air and sunlight, flavors that engage the tongue. The effect in the body is also cleansing and invigorating. The body juices flow—motion that is called life-force blooming, or well-being. Earth by itself, meat and potatoes, will tend to become heavy, slow, at times too damp or too dry, while the flavors of leaf and stem help to regulate and harmonize the flow, draining the damp, moistening the dry, moving what is solid.
Onions and garlic represent a particular or distinctive branch of this category. Raw, and sometimes boiled or steamed, they can have a strong, stimulating pungency. When sautéed or baked they become quite earthy, mellow, grounding—a vital ingredient in so many dishes because they provide a bass note, a stabilizing element, a sweetness which moderates and enhances the vigorous flavor of vegetable. Try, for instance, adding sautéed onion to plain stewed tomatoes (tasting before and after the addition), and notice how the singular note of “tomato” becomes a chord rounder, fuller, more resonant.
Flower and fruit: here is a flash of color, the accent of lemon or orange. Apples and pears, peaches, and plums: the flavors in this category play jazz. There is sweetness and also tartness and color. The flavors dance: That layer of raspberry in the chocolate cake, the twist of lemon peel in the espresso.
All those berries in the summertime—the intensely colored stain-the-counter, dye-the-hands flash of strawberry, blueberry, blackberry. You know that sunlight has brought these to fruition, along with generous amounts of water and some earth. Melons are also in this category, although some which are not so sweet, especially cucumber, have more of the flavors of stem and leaf.
Particular seasonings are also commonly used to add this “high note” or vibrant quality to otherwise pedestrian dishes: vanilla in chocolate chip cookies (all those earthy flavors are suddenly a lot brighter), cinnamon in apple or pumpkin pie, a fresh basil pesto with pasta or pizza.
I distinguish the same trio of flavor qualities in herbs. Rosemary and sage clearly have woody, resinous characteristics which are most often too overwhelming for leafy greens and other stalky vegetables yet quite suitable for seasoning more earthy ingredients such as grains, beans, and potatoes or Thanksgiving stuffing. Parsley, marjoram, thyme, and oregano are in the midrange of herbs—herbaceous, pungent, bitter—they will “darken” a dish as well as “brighten” it. Parsley for example has a lemony side, but still won’t enliven the way fresh lemon does.
Especially important in my cuisine are the fresh herbs that have flowery, bright, fruity flavors: basil, tarragon, mint, and cilantro. Adding any one of these makes prosaic ingredients or dishes start to “sing” in the mouth. The taste buds wake up and take note. For this purpose I also use lemon peel or juice, occasionally orange peel, vinegars, or any of an assortment of peppers: fresh green chilies, dried red chili powders, fresh ginger.
Spices fit into these flavor categories as well. For my taste, onion seeds and fenugreek, two spices used in Indian cooking, are the earthiest. Cumin seeds, coriander seeds, and nutmeg are in my middle category, while allspice, cloves, cinnamon, fennel seeds, anise seeds, cardamom, and mace qualify for my vibrant, brightening classification. Often just a hint of one of these will liven up the flavors of a dish without being recognizable as “cinnamon” or “cloves” unless someone is particularly sensitive. All too often these spices are over utilized, and there is nothing but the flavor of nutmeg in, say, a spanakopita.
Often when planning a menu or wondering what might enhance a particular dish, I turn to this flavor categorization. Could this lettuce salad use something earthy like roasted sesame seeds or grated Parmesan cheese or shall I brighten it with a vinaigrette utilizing anise seeds or cardamom? If the menu is not complete, what is missing—something substantial and chewy (and earthy) like a wild rice and brown rice pilaf? Something bright, juicy and refreshing? Green leaf or stalk? Within dishes, as well as among them, for me some balance or range is most pleasing.
Naturally, science is finally getting around to studying these things. A friend of mine just told me about the results of a recent study, and guess what! Food that is attractive and pleasing is more nourishing than food that isn’t. I’ve believed that all along. Science, though, isn’t sure; it was, after all, a rather small sampling.
Mayonnaise Dressings
Mayonnaise already has the oil and vinegar mixed in—they’ve been beaten into egg yolks. These dressings have a pleasing, creamy quality, and give salads a medium weight. Though good with lettuce, they are especially suited to potato and other vegetable salads. Start with mayonnaise and season it thusly:
Yogurt Dressing
½ cup yogurt
2 tablespoons orange juice
2 tablespoons olive oil
½ teaspoon dried tarragon
Lemon juice (optional)
Salt
Pepper
Mix ingredients thoroughly and season to taste. Use some lemon juice if you’d like more tartness.
Peanut Butter Dressing
½ cup peanut butter
½ cup water
¼ cup finely chopped green onion
1 clove of garlic, minced
1 tablespoon vinegar
1 teaspoon dry mustard or 2 teaspoons prepared mustard
¼ teaspoon thyme
Salt
Mix the water slowly into the peanut butter to soften it, then season with the other ingredients. Add more garlic or mustard to make it more pungent; add more vinegar to bring up the tartness. Add water or oil.
Avocado Dressing
Serve on cabbage salads or with fruit or vegetable platters. This dressing will keep its clear green color for several days in the refrigerator.
1 good-sized ripe avocado, peeled and pitted
1 small onion (or ½ of larger one), peeled
½ cup sour cream or yogurt
2 tablespoons lemon juice
Black or red pepper
1 squirt of Tabasco
½ teaspoon salt
Put avocado in blender or food processor and mix till smooth. Cut the onion into chunks. Add to avocado and blend until smooth. (If you don’t have a blender or food processor, you can finely mince the onion and mash the avocado with a fork.) Remove to bowl, and add remaining ingredients. Check or revise the seasoning.
VARIATION
To spice up your avocado dressing, add minced garlic and/or some minced green chilies.
Tahini Dressing
Such a simple way to enjoy the earthy buttery flavor of sesame tahini.
½ cup tahini (sesame butter)
¼ cup lemon juice
½ cup water
Soy sauce
Mix ingredients together and adjust seasoning to taste.
Tahini-Tamari Dressing
Good as a dressing, this also makes a tasty dip for raw vegetables.
½ cup tahini (sesame butter)
½ cup orange juice, water, or oil
3 cloves of garlic, pressed
Soy sauce, to taste
Blend ingredients together until smooth. Adjust seasoning. Thin with additional water, orange juice, or oil to the desired consistency.
Thick Tahini Dressing
The buttery earthy flavor of tahini lends to its use in salad dressings and sauces, so aside from the Chinese Cabbage Salad with Orange with which this is recommended, it can also be utilized in place of the Satay Peanut Sauce, or as a sauce with steamed vegetables, such as broccoli.
½ tablespoon lemon or lime juice
1 tablespoon soy sauce
1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
1 pinch of salt
1½ tablespoons water
Pepper
1 clove of garlic, pressed
1½ tablespoons dark sesame oil
¼ cup sesame butter or tahini
Mix together the first 7 ingredients and set aside.
Blend together the sesame butter and oil, then slowly whisk in the other ingredients. The dressing should be thick; once it is on the cabbage, it will thin out, as the salt draws water out of the cabbage. (If you are not using this dressing with the Chinese Cabbage Salad with Orange, you may want to thin it out with more water or oil.)
