What do you say? Chef’s salad

Chef's salad

Today has just been a bit surreal and I’m feeling a little weirded out. Today I walked past the amazing Molly Wizenberg of Orangette fame! It’s not often you happen to pop out for a walk and a baguette and bump into someone you totally admire/kinda want to be on a side street a mere two minutes from your home. It was very exciting but all I could muster was a smile and crimson cheeks. No words would come out but in a way I’m glad. I don’t think I would have been able to talk much sense. The boyfriend who was completely oblivious as to who had just pasted us thought I had experienced a small stroke due to my ever-reddening face. He proceeded to tease my blushing throughout the day. Charming.

I’m not entirely sure why I felt such a strong reaction. I think it may have been because I had just walked passed a person who’s blog posts have touched and moved me, who’s photos have inspired me and who’s humanity has humbled me. The amazing thing was she looked so down to earth and friendly. We were almost in matching outfits for Pete’s sake. We were just two girls, out with friends, taking a walk in the New Town. I guess, maybe in that moment, I felt my aspirations were more achievable. Maybe given enough time I could try to be as creative as her? Maybe given enough effort.

On a completely unrelated note I’ve wanted to share this recipe for chef’s salad for a week or two now. I had it as a starter for our anniversary meal and it was perfectly balanced, wonderfully simple and relied on awesome ingredients. It is a recipe just up my street, just like Molly!

Chef’s Salad – serves 2

1 echalion shallot – very finely cut

50ml vegetable oil

1tsp salt

300g new potatoes

100g smoked bacon lardons

100g comte – cut into 2cm by 1cm (ish) cubes

One head of little gem – cut into 2-3cm slices

50g mixed salad leaves – herby, flavourful leaves work best

2 eggs at room temperature

5 dsp extra virgin olive oil

1 dsp white wine vinegar

1 dsp dijon mustard

salt and pepper

oil for frying

Add the shallot to the vegetable oil with 1tsp of salt, stir firmly and leave to stand.

Add the potatoes to a pan of salted, boiling water and leave to cook over a moderately high heat.

Fry off the lardons over a high heat until very crispy. Set aside on kitchen towel until later.

Add the eggs to a pan of warm water and bring up to the boil, cook for 6 minutes, drain and leave to stand in cold water until later.

Slice the cooked new potatoes and add them to the pan used to cook the lardons, season well and cook until the edges are crispy then set aside.

In a jam jar, add the extra virgin olive oil, white wine vinegar, dijon mustard and seasoning to taste, shake well.

Remove the shallots from the vegetable oil and add them to a large bowl with the sliced little gem, salad leaves, lardons, comte and fried potato slices.

Add the salad dressing to this bowl and mix though.

Peel the eggs and arrange on top.

Enjoy.

Oh Molly I've fallen for you and your pistachio and honeyed apricot cake.

Pistachio and honeyed apricot cake

As an avid Orangette fan I was excited to read Molly Wizenberg’s food memoir “a homemade life”. It’s the story of her life to date and the recipes that have intersected it. It’s such a beautiful read and so touching in parts. I think I may have even had a wee tear in my eye at one stage. I would just like to state that this is not normal behaviour for me, I’m normally ‘ard as nails hailing from Glasgow and all that.

If I am being completely honest quite a few of the recipes didn’t entirely appeal to me. An example of this would be ranch dressing and caraway seed potato salad. However, this pistachio and honey apricot cake recipe plus her incredible ability to convey the nuances of people, time and place in prose more than compensates. As I’ve written before food has nostalgic and comforting dimensions and it is this that Molly captures so beautifully. Although this book is sorrowful in places overall it is a really charming read filled with warmth. Who needs prozac when you’ve got this and pistachio and honeyed apricot cake?

Pistachios

It’s a nice dessert cake. I’m not going to lie and say it is the best cake in the history of  all desserts but it does fill me with exotic imagery and was certainly good enough for me to eat 3 slices in one afternoon. If anyone would like my copy of  Molly’s book just leave a comment to say so and I can post it on. First one wins. Whoop: my first blog competition!

Pistachio and honeyed apricots cake batter

Pistachio and honeyed apricot cake

Adapted from Molly Wizenberg’s “a Homemade Life”

Oven set to 170 degrees c

Grease and flour a 9 inch round tin – I used a springform tin and it seemed to work pretty well.

100g raw pistachios very finely ground

150g plan flour

2 tsp baking powder

¼ tsp ground nutmeg

¼ tsp salt

½ cup of milk

¼ tsp vanilla extract

110g unsalted butter at room temperature

220g caster sugar

3 large eggs

5 apricots

1tbsp runny honey

Combine the milk and vanilla in one bowl.

Combine the flour, nutmeg, salt and baking powder in another bowl.

In a third bowl mix the butter and sugar together with an electric whisk until light and fluffy.

Add the eggs, one at a time, to the butter and sugar mixture whisking well after each egg.

To this mixture add a third of the flour, mix with a wooden spoon and add a third of the milk mixture then stir.

Continue this process until all the batches are in the cake batter.

Pour the cake batter into the tin.

Half the apricots and place them in the batter cut side up.

Add some honey into the centre of each apricot.

Bake for 35 minutes or so until a skewer inserted in the middle comes out clean.

Cool in the tin for 5-10 minutes and then turn out on to a cooling rack to cool completely.

Enjoy.