Magic Viniagrette

 

This is an all purpose vinaigrette that I’ve used in many diverse dishes with such positive results that I called it “Magic Vinaigrette”. 

Besides normal use on vegetables and salads it can be a gentle addition to a piece of plainly cooked seafood. It’s excellent as a marinade. And…..it’s magic! 

Here’s the magic potion: 

-  It uses 50/50 olive oil and canola oil, which dilutes the olive oil to a more subtle flavor.

-  Then it uses a 50/50 mix of white wine vinegar and sherry vinegar. High quality sherry vinegar is divine, but can be quite strong on its own. So again, subtlety is added by blending with the ww vinegar.

-  The proportions are 4 parts oils to 1 part vinegars. It gets finished with an optional squeeze of lemon juice and S&P. 

The ingredient selections are critical: 

-  A robust, high quality extra virgin olive oil is needed

-  Use high quality Sherry vinegar from Spain. Mass-produced sherry vinegars from the grocery store are not really a good substitute, as they tend to have just the slightest flavor of sherry and are often harsh. 

-  Rather an ordinary white wine vinegar, I use rice wine vinegar from China. Pearl River Bridge products (including their great soy sauces) are beginning to show up in large US supermarkets over the past year or two. 

The two vinegars themselves and the 50/50 split of the oils and vinegars are the magic. 

Magic Vinaigrette

 

 

	Small	Regular	Large
Extra Virgin Olive oil	1/4 C	1/2 C	1 C
Canola oil	1/4 C	1/2 C	1 C
Spanish Sherry vinegar	1 T	2 T	1/4 C
Rice Wine vinegar	1 T	2 T	1/4 C
Lemon, juiced (optional)	1/2	1	2

 

• Salt and Pepper to taste
• Combine in a jar and shake well
• Keeps 4 weeks or longer

Broccoli Salad for Your Labor Day Picnic

As many of you know, I’ve been dealing with cancer for the past few years. Blogging fell low on my list. Many people have kindly asked that I share my advice, menus and recipes again. If you’re one of them - thank you. It’s meant a lot to me that you found this useful.  

Sending my love, Tom

If you’re cooking this weekend this is a nice version of broccoli salad, because of its use of Asian flavors instead of the regular suburban mayo, ranch, bacon, etc. 

Broccoli Salad

Dressing

 

½ cup raisins

½ red onion, finely sliced

¼ cup apple cider vinegar

4 tsp sugar

1 tsp Kosher salt

Ground black pepper

• Combine and let rest for 10 min

 

3 Tbs olive oil

1 Tbs sesame oil

• Add to mixture and stir

 

Salad

 

1½ pounds broccoli, chopped into  ½” pieces

1 apple, cut into ½” cubes

2 scallions, sliced

½ cup toasted almonds

1 cup red or green grapes, cut in half

• Toss with dressing

 

 

Notes: 

• Include the broccoli stalks: cut into small, thin, bites sized pieces, excluding the toughest woody parts
• If desired, blanch broccoli for less than 1 minute and cool in an ice bath
• To toast almonds: roast at 300 degrees for 8 to 10 minutes

Adapted from New York Times Cooking subscribe here. 

Summertime.....and the Lunches Are Easy

If your household is like ours summer lunches are pretty easy. Kids often make their own simple sandwiches, fruit is out in bowls all day (really), the kids grabs some crackers, cheese, a yogurt or something reasonable as a snack. Even if there are a few batches of mac and cheese, or a couple hot dogs warmed in a microwave, its a far cry from school lunches. Especially with summer camps, vacations and the myriad of special programs almost every kid does.

For most of the year we perform a juggling act to get a decent lunch out to our kids on school days - balanced by the dreaded phrase (to us) - "Yes, you can buy today". Watch any episode of Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution and you might not say that again.

Somehow my kids finagled a 'tradition' of getting a "Lunchable" once a year, on the last day of school. It's the only time they get something like that for lunch. Sadly I read the label on Amy's lunchable and might have to eliminate the practice:

Wheat flour

Niacin

Reduced Iron

Thiamine Mononitrate

Riboflavin

Folic Acid

Whole Wheat Flour

Water

Soybean Oil

Glycerine

Sugar

Yeast

Vital Wheat Glutin

Mono- and Diglycerides

Salt

Soy Lecithin

Guar Gum

Carboxymethylcellulose

Datem

Caclium Proponate

Sodium Stearoyl 

Lactylate

Xantham Gum

Enzyme

Natural and Artificial Flavor

Sorbic Acid

Water

Tomato Paste

Sugar

Modified Food Starch

Garlic Powder

Salt

Onion Powder

Spice

Citric Acid

Dried Basil

Sea Salt

Potassium Sorbate

Xantham gum

Natural Flavor

Pasteurized Part Skim Milk

Water

Whey Protein Concentrate

Milk Protein Concentrate

Milkfat

Sodium Citrate

Salt

Sorbic Acid

Enzymes

Cheese Culture

Cellulose Powder

Pasteurized Part Skim Milk

Water

Whey Protein Concentrate

Milk Protein Concentrate

Milkfat

Sodium Citrate

Salt

Sorbic Acid

Apocarotenal

Enzymes

Cheese Culture

Cellulose Powder

Milk

The apparent duplication of the last 10 or so items on the list is not a typo. 270 calories, 90 calories from fat. But the cardboard tab that had the nutrition information is 100% recyclable. The container, of course, is not.

It's easy to mock such a product, so here are some more useful and thoughtful articles about home cooking you might enjoy. They might even provide some inspiration now for the school lunch season coming up in August/September.

• From Be A Better Cook,  Healthier School Lunches
• David Guas, a chef from Virginia packs healthy lunches for his kids, as described in his article Last Days For Lunchables. By 'Last Days' he isn't referring to the end of school - rather the end of Lunchables. 
• Nutritionist Kirsten Kirpatrick breaks down food labeling in Do You Know What's in Your Food?
• On a slightly different tack is Mark Hyman's How Eating Dinner at Home Can Save Your Life