Salade Nicoise: How-To: Another Cooking for One recipe

The salade nicoise has got to be the best salad ever. It involves only a handful of ingredients (two of which I've featured recently as make-ahead basics, here  and here).

When my daughter and I were in Paris, I ordered salade nicoise. What I got was not at all what I was accustomed to from our American version.

For one thing, there was rice in it. Yes, you read that right, rice. For another thing, the tuna tasted and looked odd, and overcooked. Lastly, there was some heavy dressing with a bit of cream in it. I won't judge the entire country on how this one brasserie made their Nicoise. Instead, I guess I'll just have to venture back over to France to find the perfect version.

In the meantime, I decided to try my hand at home making this lovely salad. Usually, there are boiled eggs included, but when I was almost finished making (and photographing) the salad, I realized I had forgotten to make them. To my surprise, I didn't miss the eggs at all.  I actually think I preferred it without the eggs, but you can go ahead and add them back in if you want to.

The key to my success was the freshness of the tuna steak. Of course, if you can't locate a tuna steak, you can use a can of best-quality (that's a Gran-Franism, the best quality thing) solid olive oil packed tuna fish. Drain some of the oil out, so that the flavor of the dressing will shine through.

I really enjoyed making this, especially since it was so simple and tasted so darned good.

Salade Nicoise

serves 1

Ingredients:

• A large handful of Salad Greens (I didn't measure, just grabbed as much as I thought I'd eat)
• 1 serving of cooked Green Beans (recipe here)
• 1 serving of Boiled Potatoes (recipe here)
• 1/4 pound Tuna Steak
• 4 Tbsps Olive Oil
• 2 Tbsps Red Wine Vinegar
• 1 tsp Mustard
• Salt and Pepper to taste

Method:

• Place the salad greens, green beans and potatoes on a plate. Set aside.
• Heat a heavy-bottomed non-reactive pan over high heat.
• Salt and pepper the tuna steak.
• Once the pan is good and hot, add a small amount of olive oil.
• Add the tuna steak to the super hot pan.
• Cook on first side for five minutes.
• Turn over the tuna steak and cook for another 3 minutes.
• Remove the tuna from the pan and let rest for a few minutes.
• Mix the olive oil, mustard, vinegar, salt and pepper for the dressing.
• Slice the tuna and place on top of the salad.
• Sprinkle the dressing over the top of the salad and enjoy!

Cooking for One: Potatoes Two Ways

The mighty potato.

It is starchy.

It is filling.

It can be sweet.

It can be saucy.

But it is always delicious.

I've been working on ways to create multiple sauces or preparations starting from a basic ingredient. The idea is to create the basic ingredient once, in bulk and then add different sauces, etc. throughout the week so that you don't get bored with the same leftovers over and over.

This is part of my exploration into Cooking for One (see

here

for my first installation). Once I have enough of these recipes worked out, I'll post a succinct compendium (that there is a $20 word), but for now, I'll link them all through the individual posts. Of course, they'll all be tagged Cooking for One, so if one needs to find them quickly, this key phrase can be put in my handy search box on the right hand side of this site.

But I digress.

Potatoes seem like a great base for many things. I've got two variations here: a light potato salad (light because there's not too much mayonnaise involved) and a pan fried potato with bacon. Both are great, and are based on a large pot of boiled potatoes. Stored in an airtight container, once they've been fully drained and cooled, the potatoes I made kept for a week.

All you need to do is boil up the potatoes and then create sauce variations when you are ready to serve them. Easy as pie.

Boiled Potatoes

serves plenty, portion out to one-person servings as you see fit

Ingredients:

• 1 to 2 lbs Yellow New Potatoes
• Salt to taste

Method:

• Fill a large non-reactive pan (I had to use it sometime...) with water, leaving enough room for the potatoes to fit comfortably, while being covered by the water.
• Chop each potato into 6 to 8 even pieces.
• Boil potatoes for about 15 to 20 minutes, or until you can put a fork through them, and the skin has turned translucent.
• Drain potatoes, let cool and portion

Potato Salad

Ingredients:

• 1 portion Boiled Potatoes (see above for recipe)
• 1/4 cup Red Wine Vinegar
• 1/4 cup Mayonnaise
• 2 Tbsps Mustard (I used Sweet/Hot)
• 1 Spring fresh Tarragon (you can use 1/4 tsp dried instead)
• Salt and Black Pepper to taste

Method:

• Mix the vinegar, mayonnaise and mustard together. It should be thin enough to pour once it's all mixed up.
• In a small bowl, pour the dressing over the potatoes.
• Using a fork, coat the potatoes with the dressing, pressing down with the fork to roughly break up the potatoes.
• Finish with a sprinkling of tarragon, salt and black pepper.

Bacon Fried Potatoes

Ingredients:

• 3/4 pound bacon, cooked and broken up into small pieces
• 1 portion Boiled Potatoes (see above)
• Olive Oil for cooking

Method:

• Turn the oven on to broil.
• Heat a large non-reactive pan over high heat.
• When it's hot, coat the bottom of the pan with olive oil. If you have bacon grease on hand, you can use a little of that here, too.
• Add bacon pieces, cooking for 3 minutes.
• Put potatoes in with the bacon, stirring to coat them with oil.
• Cook for 10 minutes.
• Move the pan to the broiler.
• Cook for 5 minutes, then stir the potatoes, getting all the crunchy bits from the bottom of the pant scraped up.
• Put the pan back in the broiler for another 5 minutes.
• Remove and serve!

It's Been a Good Year

Tomorrow's my birthday.

It's time for me to take stock of my previous year, decipher what my one-year-older self might discover, and see where this coming year might take me. I'm also posting my favorite recipe for a great fritatta, Happy Birthday to Me!

I've had a great time this past year writing and re-discovering photography-for-photography's sake, just like in college. Working as a photo art director day-in and day-out, I figured I was getting my fill of photography, and felt incredibly lucky that I landed (and have held onto for the past 11 years) a wonderful job in a very small field, that utilized my BFA in photography.

What I hadn't realized, was that my own photography, which had been shelved for the past 20 years, was an outlet that I missed. It's one thing to tell the photography and stylist how you'd like a shot to look (and I work in the fashion industry for my day job). It's an entirely different thing to be in complete control of a shot: content, lighting, styling, angles, everything. This is my place, where I don't have to negotiate with anyone, don't need to explain why I want something a certain way. It's a haven for me, that also allows me to write to my heart's content.

With my blog, I've loved meeting new people and reconnecting with friends. I have also been given many impromptu lessons by my photo-industry friends, who I can't thank enough. The support, love and guidance that all my friends have shown me this past year has made me realize how many great people I have in my life. And, how many people are willing to eat my thousands of dishes the day after a shoot.

My daughter has grown, she turns thirteen the day after my birthday, into a lovely young lady. There are times when I just can't figure out what demon took over her, but for the most part, she's still entertaining to be around, and has taken up chess and singing. Oh, and, she's almost as tall as me. Yes, at only 5'1",  it's not such a big feat, but she's getting there faster than I did, which means that my hope that she'll make it to 5'6" or taller might come true. (In case you were wondering, I chose 5'6" because in general, pants are made for that height, so she'd never have to have her pants shortened, like I do :).

For the coming year, here are my to-do's. I'm not calling them resolutions or goals or anything like that. Too serious. Just a list of things I'd be thrilled to do.

Writing and Shooting:  I'm going to keep writing and shooting, with an eye towards cultivating some paid work. A book would be ideal, but let's not get ahead of ourselves. There will be, I hope, many new opportunities to meet more people and get more input on my work.

Friends I love: I want to spend more time with my friends, too, somehow integrating them into the few hours I have left after the full-time job, the food projects and time with my daughter. It will somehow happen, even if friends will need to participate in my shoots when they join us for dinner.

Dance!  There will be more dancing. Not for everyone, that's just a goal for me, but I'd be happy if others want to come along. I think I'll get into some kind of performance again (a few years ago it was samba, including a jaunt down Mission St. as part of the Carnaval Parade). At the very least, a combination of weekly classes and Wii Zumba should do the trick.

So, I hope that you will join me periodically in pursuing my to-do list.

And, make this fritatta while you're at it.

Fritatta A la Gran Fran

serves 4 as a main course, 8 as a side-dish and 1 or 2 as many, many meals.

Ingredients:

• 2 Russet potatoes peeled and sliced thin
• 5 Eggs
• 1/4 cup Olive Oil
• Salt to taste

You will need a broiler-proof non-reactive deep skillet.

Method:

• Heat pan over medium-high heat. Add the olive oil, and swirl it around to coat the sides and bottom of the pan.
• Place potatoes in pan, one at a time to create one layer. Do not crowd them. This will make a nice base for the Fritatta.
• Cook the potatoes over medium heat until they are browned, about 10 minutes. Flip the potatoes over and cook another 5 to 8minutes, watching carefully to make sure they don't burn.
• Crack 5 eggs into a bowl and mix them as if you’re making scrambled eggs. Be sure to break up all the yolks and get them all mixed together well. Add salt to taste, but not too much.
• When the potatoes are cooked on both sides, sprinkle them gently with salt. Pour the beaten eggs over the potatoes. Move the pan around to distribute the eggs evenly. After a minute or two, slide a spatula around the sides of the pan and tilt the pan so the raw eggs run into the space that the spatula created.
• Keep the pan on the flame for 3 minutes or so, shaking the pan gently, until the eggs begin to set to about an inch around the circumference of the fritata.
• Set the broiler for 3 minutes. Place pan under the broiler and watch carefully as top of eggs get bubbly, firm, and golden, until the top is well browned.
• Remove from oven. Place a serving plate on top of the pan, using oven mitts, grab the pan and plate and flip the Fritatta out onto the plate.

Enjoy hot, warm, cold, or at room temperature. Wonderful with a ripe tomato salad sprinkled with finely minced scallions, a dusting of kosher salt, and a good dollop of olive oil (this is Gran Fran's addendum to the above recipe).

It's Cold Here: Mashed Potato Time

Okay, I know, we're in San Francisco, and all of you real-season dwellers are guffawing at my being cold in 45 degree and sunny weather. To be fair, I grew up in NY and know what real weather feels like. But, there is something out here that makes me cold from the inside. I wonder if it's just that I'm so used to the temperature hovering around 65 degrees most of the year, that this shift in temperature seems more sudden than the transition from Summer to Fall to Winter in NY.

So a very simple mashed potato was in order as dinner the other night. There is nothing as satisfying or warms you up as well as mashed potatoes.

I made two versions, one with dairy  (for my daughter) and one without (for me). The dairy-free ones are not quite the same, but hey, I have to eat within certain guidelines, so have found a decent work around.

All that's left is for me to find a cashmere jumpsuit to make it through the winter.

Mashed Potatoes

• 6 Russet potatoes, skinned and diced
• 3/4 cup of milk (cow or almond)
• 3 tbsps of butter (or olive oil)
• Salt to taste

Method:

• Boil the potatoes in enough salted water to cover them. They're ready when you can easily put a fork through them.
• Drain the water and return the pan to the stove. Put a high flame under the pan for one to two minutes, to dry out the potatoes.
• Add most of the milk and all of the butter (or oil). Mash with a potato masher.
• Keep adding the milk until the potatoes reach the consistency you'd like.
• Add salt.

Enjoy.