Smoked Duck Coucous Salad

This salad is adapted from a couscous salad recipe I have been using for over 10 years. It's a salad I often bring to potluck gatherings, and it is always a hit. My Chef at cooking school handed out photocopies of the original recipe that looked like it came from a cookbook to all the students in her class. We made it as a side dish, and I was astonished that such a simple recipe could have such complex flavours. It is a refreshingly delicious. I cannot name the source of my ragged photocopy, but an aunt of mine requested the recipe via email and I was able to find the exact recipe online. Ginger apricot couscous salad.

The version I present here is a main course salad for summer evenings like we have been experiencing lately. The strong orange and ginger flavours led me to choose smoked Margret de canard as the meat for this salad. I would also serve this salad happily with thinly sliced duck breast if smoked duck cannot be found. For vegetarians I suggest smoked tofu cut in long thin strips. I used roasted peeled pumpkin seeds here but toasted slivered almonds would do well as a substitute.

Smoked Duck Couscous Salad
serves 4-6

500 ml / 2 cups freshly squeezed orange juice
15 ml / 1 tbsp olive oil
15 ml / 1 tbsp minced ginger
5 ml / 1 tsp orange zest
250 ml / 1 cup medium couscous
Julienne:
1 red pepper
1 large zucchini
2 large carrots
1 medium red onion
Sufficient quantity apple cider vinegar
To taste sea salt
3 green onions, thinly sliced
100 grams / 3 oz Margret de canard (Smoked duck breast), cut into thin strips
large handful raw pumpkin seeds, toasted and cooled

In a medium sauce pan bring the orange juice, olive oil, ginger and zest to a boil. Remove immediately from heat and add the couscous. Cover and let sit for 20 minutes. Meanwhile in a small sauce pan bring about 250 ml / 1 cup of water to boil. Add julienned red onion an cook for 15 seconds. Drain onions and add back to saucepan off of burner. Toss onions in a splash of apple cider vinegar to turn the onions pink. Set aside. Add the julienned vegetables including red onion to a large bowl. Add warm couscous to the bowl and toss. Add a splash of vinegar if more is needed and salt to taste. Add green onion and smoked duck slivers and chill or serve at room temperature. Add toasted pumpkin seeds just before serving. Garnish with basil.

I am very thankful that my lavender bloomed early this year as I am about to leave on vacation and I hate to miss it! This year I was able to harvest 8 large bouquets which are know hanging in the stairwell of my basement. Lavender needs a cool, dry & dark place to dry properly. In the fall I will hand out lavender bouquets to friends and family, with a stupid grin on my face, while I proclaim that the lavender came from my garden. Ah summer.

Nicoise Salad

The Nicoise is by far my favorite salad. In my early twenties I would order it to go from a French pastry shop on my way to work. It's light, yet hearty, and satisfies even those who consider salad "rabbit food". Prep the entire salad earlier in the day so that you can go out, and play before dinner instead of schlepping away in a hot kitchen. Serve it with foccacia or crusty bread, and you can proudly serve it to guests. I used fresh tuna filets which I seared, but canned tuna is what this salad usually calls for. I prefer tuna canned in olive oil if using.

In this version I used mache instead of Boston lettuce. Apparently there is debate among purist about which lettuce should be used. Since no purists were present I used what I preferred! According to Wikipedia this salad originated in Nice thus the name Nicoise. Here is a link to a Nicoise Salad recipe that is truer to the original than mine, (the recipe and commentary are in French). In France cooked vegetables are a no no in this salad. I happen to enjoy the new potatoes and green beans, and many in North America expect these 2 cooked vegetables to be present in a Nicoise.

Nicoise Salad

(serves 8 as a meal)

Vinaigrette: 

• 250 ml (1 cup) extra virgin olive oil
• 30 ml (2 tablespoons) fresh lemon juice
• 45 ml (3 tablespoons) apple cider or white wine vinegar
• 2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
• 15 ml (1 tablespoon) chopped fresh basil
• 15 ml (1 tablespoon) chopped fresh parsley
• Salt and pepper to taste

Whisk the vinaigrette ingredients until well blended, and set aside.

Salad:

• 15 small new potatoes, boiled and halved
• 250 g (1/2 lb) green beans, blanched and halved
• 4 eggs, hard boiled, halved or quartered (more eggs are needed if you are serving this salad to kids!)
• 20 cherry tomatoes, halved
• 2 small tuna steaks or 2 cans of tuna packed in olive oil (drain if using canned)
• 125 ml (1/2 cup) Nicoise olives or other black olives
• 16 anchovy fillets
• 30 ml (2 tablespoons) small capers
• 3 green onions, thinly sliced
• 2 large heads of Boston, washed and leaves left whole (or other lettuce such as mache, watercress or romaine)

Tuna steaks:

• Generously salt and pepper steaks. Heat a pan on medium high and sear tuna steaks 90 seconds on each side. Remove and let cool. Slice thinly.
• Cover a large platter with an even layer of lettuce. Lay all the ingredients, (except capers and green onions) over top the lettuce side by side or in some other visually pleasing arrangement. Sprinkle with capers and green onions. Serve vinaigrette alongside.

Fingerling Potatoes (Ratte) & Fresh Pink Garlic from Provence = Potato Salad

You cannot imagine how wonderful this fresh garlic smells. It sat in my car for a few hours yesterday and when I popped back into my car to drive home I was met with an incredible aroma. Smelling of garlic is not always desirable but the fragrance can almost be called a perfume. Pictured above is fresh Pink Garlic from Provence with the dried "fresh" version. 1 head of fresh garlic is 5$ at Chez Nino Jean-Talon Market (Montreal). I used the dried version on set and brought it home to photograph now that we have wrapped season 1 of Bitchin Kitchen. The cloves of fresh garlic require less force to retrieve from the head, but are harder to identify as the peel and the clove are the same white and both are soft. The flavor is less biting than dried garlic and more fruity.

Fingerling potatoes or Ratte as I am used to calling them were also on hand at Chez Nino's and I grabbed some with a potato salad in mind. This photo makes it hard to judge their size but they are appropriately named and are no longer, and not much wider than a finger.

This recipe is almost too basic to write, as it's the fruity fresh garlic that makes this standard a little special, but here goes anyways:

Fresh Garlic Potato Salad

Boil 2 handfuls (about 4 cups) of unpeeled Ratte potatoes until just tender. Hard boil 2 large eggs. In a large bowl whisk together several heaping tablespoons of mayonnaise, the juice of 1 lemon and 3 cloves of fresh garlic, chopped fine. Set aside. When the cooked potatoes are just cool enough to handle slice into little medallions and toss in mayo mixture. Peel and chop the eggs into large pieces and add to potatoes. Add salt and pepper and 15ml (1 tablespoon) of freshly chopped chives. Chill in fridge before serving.

The blooms are finally out in the Laurentians and here a 2 pics from my property. I love May.

Crabapple blossoms (Morin-Heights, Quebec)

Apple blossoms (Morin-Heights, Quebec)

Purple icing and a Salad

I made a purple cake for my mother's 65th birthday. The purple color came from blueberries and once again I made butter icing using fruit instead of cream or milk. The icing was a little less stable than the raspberry icing and would not do well on a very hot day.

We also had a BBQ with mergez sausages, marinated lamb shoulder, shrimp and various salads. What was supposed to be a rainy day turned out to be a perfectly sunny with a light breeze that kept the bugs away. My kids were low maintanace and my husband and I got everything ready for the small party at a non frantic pace. All in all a very nice Sunday.

Blueberry sauce for icing:
I threw about 1 cup of blueberries in a small sauce pan with 2 tablespoon of sugar and about 2 tablespoons of water, and brought it all to a simmer. Once the blueberries turned bright purple and the sugar dissolved (2 minutes) I removed the sauce pan from the stove and pressed the blueberry sauce through a fine mesh sieve. I let the sauce cool and used it in the icing recipe. It resulted in a lovely color and I am happy with the results. The sauce itself also goes very well with lemon cheesecake. I made the combination a long time ago and should dig up the recipe and share it here.

Blueberry Butter icing

• 1 cup (250 ml) butter, softened
• 6 cups ( 1.25 L) icing sugar
• 2/3 cup (150 ml) blueberry sauce
  

In a large bowl beat together butter and icing sugar. Gradually beat in the blueberry sauce. If too wet, add more icing sugar in 25 ml ( 1 tbsp plus 2 tsp) additions.

Fresh summer salad

Below is one of the salads I prepared. It consists of blanched asparagus, cherry tomatoes, bocconcini cheese, basil leaves, avocado oil, a balsamic vinegar reduction reduction, and salt and freshly ground pepper. I started using avocado oil a few weeks ago and have been using it sparingly but frequently every since (it's quiet expensive). It has an unsually high smoke point and is a rich source of nutrients.

Mother's day Lobster salad with vanilla bean vinaigrette

Here is a simple recipe that will please any seafood loving mom. I have tried lobster with vanilla bean vinagrette and the combination is suprisingly good. I believe at the time I tried it the the recipe for the viangrette was Charlie Trotter's. Sweet mango and peppery watercress add there own distinct flavors to the mix.

Lobster salad with vanilla bean vinaigrette

serves 4

2 large lobster, meat extracted and roughly sliced

3 semi-ripe mangoes, peeled and sliced

1/2 red onion , sliced

watercress (enough for 4), washed

Vanilla vinaigrette

30 ml lemon juice
pulp of 1 vanilla bean
1/3 cup olive oil
salt and pepper to taste

In small bowl, whisk together lemon juice, vanilla bean pulp and olive oil. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

Place the watercress equally on four plates, top with sliced mango, lobster meat and red onion slices and drizzle with vinaigrette.

The Healthy Kitchen: Orange and oatmeal cookies and tangy miso dressing

Like many people, this time of year, I would like to shed several pounds of winter weight before summer is upon us. To help me in this task I have taken down from the shelf an old favorite called The Healthy Kitchen: Recipes For A Better Body, Life, And Spirit by Andrew Weil, M.D. and Rosie Daley. Chef Rosie Daley is the former private chef of Oprah Winfrey. Andre Weil M.D. is the author of the best selling Eating Well for Optimum Health. Just reading this book makes me feel healthier. However Healthy Kitchen is not a diet book. Although a lot of the food styling in this not so recent publication (2002) is a little outdated, the recipes hold up very well. I recommend it because the healthier recipes this book contains are easy to execute and quiet good. The orange oatmeal cookies are great for kids and for when you have a few bananas on the dark side but do not want to make banana bread again. I am including a recipe from the book for Tangy miso dressing. Miso dressing is great on salads but also over warm dishes such as brown rice and steamed vegetables. It just makes a too healthy dinner seem more decadent:

Tangy Miso Dressing

• 1/4 cup white miso
• 2 tablespoons tahini
• 1/4 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice
• 1/4 cup purified water
• 1 tablespoon honey or brown rice syrup
• 2 teaspoons chopped fresh dill or 1 teaspoon dried
• 1/2 teaspoon turmeric

Stir the miso and the tahini together. Add the lemon juice and the water and mix well. Stir in the remaining ingredients.