Petite Gem & Tango Lettuce, Orange Supreme, Beecher’s Cheese, Bacon/Sherry Vinaigrette, Contadina, Pink Lady Apple, Black Lava Salt.
Eric
Warmed Bacon Vinaigrette Salad
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Category Archives: Salad
Micro Salad with 18 Year Balsamic and Extra Virgin Olive Oil Mist
Eric
I don’t know what to call this post….Who cares, the food was pretty good.
I’m not feeling the whole funny post name thing today….. My head is in other places right now but I wanted to post these pictures of dinner last night. My sister had a bunch of lechugas so I put them to work along with a bit of kale. I think it turned out to be a great dinner but could use a few refining touches.
The dish above is a salad using lettuce from RiVog Farms (my sister’s urban garden). It’s dressed in a sherry vinaigrette (PX) and includes blackberries, Sahale Snacks Tuscan Almonds, Golden Glen Creamery Sweet Basil Cheese, sel de mer, and black pepper
Spicy Dill Cucumbers from Woodring Northwest Specialties. I really like their products and I’m going to be doing a large amount of canning later this year so I need to perfect my brine! The pickle is served with a hot pepper from their can and heavily reduced balsamic vinegar. They look great on the new plates ($1.50)! 
Pickled watermelon rind with poached egg and mangalitsa jowl bacon bits. Amazing.
Braised kale in a triple meat (Veal Bones, Pork Belly, Flank Steak) stock with carrots. Cooking kale? Do this to it every time.
Blackberry Terrine with Almond Chantilly Cream. Kind of a scary looking picture…..I like it.
Well, that’s it. NEXT!
Eric
Black Salad with Balsamic Reduction Vinaigrette
Crazy looking right? I needed a break from being so symmetrical with my plating so I just went a little overboard with the balsamic. Every once in a while it’s good to just say, “F it, let’s see what this will look like”. Acid trip salad…..
Eric
Salad Time!
Wait a second. Is that a nicely plated salad by Mr. Self-Conscious Salad Plater? You bet your ass it is. I even have a secret vinaigrette on the thing and it makes the entire thing dazzle and shine.
Avocados, purple lettuce (I have the name written down with a “buy again” written next to it), micro greens, grape tomato, pickled mango, secret vinaigrette!
Eric
Fennel Salad with a Tarragon Vinaigrette. Again? Yes, again. Finally plated it how I wanted it to look
Third time’s a charm or something like that. I went from high and tight to flat to high and tight with the plating on this one. This is the one that sticks for me. I quick pickled the shallots, used the same tarragon infused white wine vinegar, added some avocado for flavor and color, more radish, finished with Himalayan pink salt. Everything else is the same.
Weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!
Eric
1 of 3 Bob and Bonnie Dinner 3/30
The Salad Plating Saga Continues…..
I’m taking a class next quarter that involves making salads. I want to get a leg up on the competition. Actually, I just want to make the best damn looking salads anyone has ever seen but I’m not there yet. This class will help me a lot but Mindy is helping me with all this by planting a bunch of vegetables that will part of my private reserve. You’ll see them on here soon, I’m making sure I can highlight her work the best and not just put random things on a plate.
The salad above is pretty simple. Orange heirloom tomato, cucumber, radish, arugula, shaved almonds, easy. It is dressed with a tarragon vinaigrette that I can’t seem to give up. I’m hooked on tarragon for the moment.
Eric
Fennel Salad with Tarragon Vinaigrette
I’ve been drawing things again. I have been trying to make an effort to better plate salads. I like them to look light instead of a wild attack of lettuce coming for your first born…..what? Hold on real quick, I’m starving right now……yikes, I need to go grocery shopping…….out of eggs?!?!?!?…..finish the post!!
Back on track…
The tarragon vinaigrette was made by using the tarragon I infused into white wine vinegar then I emulsified it into some extra virgin olive oil. I took the shallots and soaked them in the vinaigrette to take some of the edge off then tossed the rest of the salad consisting of fennel, arugula, orange tomato concasse, then toasted some almonds for garnish along with the fennel greens. Murrary River salt and black pepper.
Weeeee, a salad!
Eric
“Yeah, I’ll have the 8 piece fried chicken with champagne”
Awesome, have a seat this is going to take a little while.
“What, why?”
Well, I’m going to brine the chicken in a salt, brown sugar, and pepper solution for a few hours.
“Brine?”
It’s awesome, trust me.
“Alright, but I don’t have all day…”
Believe me, it will be worth it. I’m gonna brine that chicken then I’ll pour you a glass of champagne.
“So what kind of champagne are you going to serve?”
Huh, I guess it’s technically not champagne……those French people are a little weird. Anyway, it’s a rose sparkling wine to be “correct”. It’s good, that’s all you need to worry about. Champagne, sparkling wine, fermented grapes with carbonation….who cares, just drink it.
“Oh alright, I guess I’ll try it, I was expecting champagne”
I can say a couple words in French if it makes you feel better.
“That’s rude”.
Sorry, I don’t really understand the whole wine thing. However, this sparkling wine is a 92 point on some magazine…..Does that do anything for you?
“I love 90+ point wines so this will do”.
*cough* F’ing snob *cough*
“What was that?”
Oh nothing, so do you want this now or with dinner?
“Dinner is fine”.
Cool, hey let me whip up a quick salad for you while you wait. It’s a spring salad with goat cheese, diced strawberries, candied meyer lemon, and elderflower vinaigrette. It’s no 90 point wine but I’m sure you’ll enjoy it.
“This is really good! I can do without the wine comments though”
Sorry, I just get a little bent out of shape sometimes. You like spicy food? I was going to fry off the chicken wings early so you can have a little preview before the chicken comes, is that cool with you?
“Yeah, I love spicy!”
Alright, it’s a spicy wing with recao hot sauce, my own by the way, a little tabasco, lime, and cilantro. Let me know what you think.
“Geez, you went a little crazy with the sauce on the plate but it’s great”.
Yeah, I don’t know what I was thinking…….Oh, fancy wings!!!! I’ll just keep it simple next time. I’m going to season the chicken real quick, I’ll be back.
Chicken is removed from the brine and run under water and left to dry. The it is seasoned with I’ll never tell you spices. Then lightly dusted with flour and put in the refrigerator for 30 minutes. It’s removed, then I ran it through some spiced flour, into eggs, then into seasoned Panko, then back to eggs, flour, eggs, flour, and finally Panko (this gives it a nice layer of crunch). The chicken is then placed back in the refrigerator for 30 minutes. Canola oil is placed in a large skillet, then pieces of chicken are placed in large skillet, cooked on one side then the entire pan goes into the oven at 400F until the meat is done. This is a better way to go than deep frying, the flavor develops more and you end up with a crispy crunchy piece of fried chicken.
I’m gonna serve up some waffle fries with this. I have something special I want you to try.
“Ok, uh sure”.
Alright, here you go fried chicken, champagne, with a tomato powder, urfa biber infused honey, enjoy.
“Urfa what?”
Don’t worry about it, just try it.
“Ok”
What do you think?
“I’ve never had anything like this, it’s great”.
Awesome, thanks! Here’s the tab by the way, just pay whenever you’re ready.
“YOU WANT HOW MUCH!?!??!?!?”
Hey man, that sparkling wine is expensive and this food didn’t cook itself.
Eric
Fried Pork Chop, Yellow Rice, Avocado Puree, Pepper Medley, a night in Puerto Rico….
Had a couple friends stop by the house on Saturday. It was supposed to be mojito/game night but we never got around to the whole game thing. It’s a guarantee now that if you come over I will cook, I can’t help it. I need to terrorize my kitchen and work it to its limits and make sure that everyone who comes into my house is left satisfied.
The people who came over have seen my cooking over the last year and one person in particular has seen some crazy stuff I have done. The 24 tapas in one evening, the pumpkin event, and now this. He visits restaurants everywhere and is originally from the east coast so he knows his stuff. He told me, “I would pay $40 for this dish and be totally happy”. It’s not just lip service either. There are two people that have always given me their real opinion on my food, this guy and my next door neighbor Bob so when I was told that I could start charging money for things I got excited.
Don’t worry though, I’m still free
The pork chop is brined in a sugar and salt mixture. Seasoned with my perfected mix then fried and finished in the oven. The pepper medley consists of a roasted red bell pepper, white pepper, and tomato it is sauteed in salt, pepper, and clarified butter. The avocado puree is an emulsified sauce that looks a thousand times better than anything I’ve done before with avocado…..pretty damn amazing (Oh Eric, you’re so full of yourself…..if I’m not going to be then who is?) The yellow rice is my typical mix…there are 3-4 different versions I do to highlight the featured protein……finish with a little garlic infused extra virgin olive oil
Good night, good friends, good food
Eric
Bonus time bonus time bonus time:
Citrus vinaigrette salad. Pretty good. Citrus, shallots, minced lardons, champagne vinaigrette
Double bonus time!!!!
Baguette (that I made) turned into crostini then topped with Iberico ham, muscat grape, goat cheese, and cilantro then torched!
Salad with Duck Fat Croutons
Working on salad plating so don’t pay too much attention to all the green stuff. What I want you to pay attention to is duck fat. I’m 100% sure that sauteeing anything in duck fat is the way to go. I’m going to start taking long baths in duck fat…..Confit of Eric….I like where this is going.
The salad has a tomato, tango lettuce, croutons, pickled mustard seeds with a little of the pickling juice worked into an oil and balsamic vinaigrette then of course topped with:
Cube some bread, saute in duck fat, season with salt and pepper. High five yourself.
Eric
Black Olive Poached Black Cod with Braised Plantains and Asparagus
Oh hi, don’t mind this it’s just a work in progress. I have been experimenting with dehydrating things in my oven. I tried black olives after seeing Michel Bras do them…..he is a f’ing genius. My ratio of black olives to olive oil was off because I just wanted to test how it would work in my oven. I’m ready to cook a whole bunch of them now! Ding, 22 hours later, it’s done!
The braised plantains are an experiment. I wanted to see how they would react to braising. The flavor was fine but I didn’t have the desired texture in a bite. The liquid I used to braise it in was a coconut milk and caramelized brown sugar mix then it was seasoned with a few tricks up my sleeves (I am getting a kick out of not posting recipes). Next time I’m going to mash them, mold, then braise. It’s going to be my foundation to plate up. Basically, everything is side by side on the plate….next time it will go up. Plantain bottom, fish, asparagus on top. I need a flat black plate too.
The black cod is the show piece and doesn’t require anything more than just a little salt and pepper to season. Cooked skin side down and basted with the oil to cook the top then flipped over and finished. Plate is sauced with reserved black olive oil with seasonings infused.
Eric
A black salad with muscatel grapes, ivernia cheese, and vinaigrette. Again, it needs a flat black plate.
Tango Lettuce with Radish, Ivernia Cheese, Grapefruit, and Meyer Lemon/Tarragon Vinaigrette
Simple salad for course #2. Picture is a little fuzzy…..oh well. A few days ago I mixed some fresh tarragon with white wine vinegar after reading the suggestion in James Peterson’s Sauces book. That book is genius.
I suck at plating salads. It’s my Kryptonite….. Good thing I start Garde Mangier soon! Anyway, this salad is great because I was able to balance bitter, sweet, and sour….good times.
Eric
…..really tired right now. Less talky more cooking.
Red Cactus Pear Salad with Honey Dijon Dressing
(Looks like an alien trying to escape from lettuce…..awesome)
I’m always trying to work with different products in order to find the best way to highlight them (plain and simple: I’m not waiting for anyone to show me these things, I’m having a great time discovering). Using red cactus pear in a salad isn’t the best way to use such a cool product but it’s a decent first try. I think I’m going to make a spread out of it or I might even roast it with the skin on….we’ll see what happens!
Ingredients:
- Red Cactus Pear
- Butterhead lettuce
- Bean sprouts
- Roma Tomato
- Dressing…….dijon mustard, pickled mustard seeds, grape seed oil, honey, pink peppercorn, Himalayan pink salt…… this dressing is f’ing fantastic…….maybe I should start a sauce and spread company………hahaha, no.
Eric
Salad with a side of knife skills
Starting today I have two weeks off from school and a week off from work!!! I need to make sure I don’t slip with my knife skills so I’m doing a little practice at home. The cuts aren’t perfect but they’re definitely much better than they were a few weeks ago. Chef Terrance told me I’m getting better so that’s a great sign! Anyway, here’s a little salad that you can make.
Ingredients:
- Romaine Lettuce, cut into 3×4 inch by 1.5 inch pieces
- Cucumber, seeds removed, 1/4 inch dice
- Roma Tomatoes, quartered, seeds and guts removed, then 1/2 inch dice
- Pork tenderloin, 1/4 inch dice (click for recipe)
- 2 Hard Boiled eggs, cooked for 8 minutes then shocked in cold water, peeled and sliced into 1/4 inch medallions
- Red onion, 1/8 inch dice
- Parsley, minced
Dressing
- Red Wine Vinegar
- Extra Virgin Olive Oil
- Egg Yolk
- Dijon Mustard
- Salt
- Pepper
- Lemon Juice
Procedure
- Dress lettuce with dressing then place on plate
- Dress other items separately then place on lettuce……do not dress eggs
- Add parsley, salt, and pepper if you want
- SALAD TIME!
- Enjoy
Eric
