Salade Indochinoise

What do you get when you take a perfectly innocent salade Lyonnaise and Thai it up with a fried egg?  A sinfully good salade Indochinoise*!  Okay, I'm done with the puns.  =P

A couple of days ago I saw this Thai fried egg salad on Food 52 and was really intrigued.  I prefer a runny yolk and no raw onions, though, so I looked to the French for inspiration.  A classic salade Lyonnaise consists of a poached egg with crisp bacon over frisée tossed with a warm vinaigrette.  To combine the two, I decided to make the eggs sunny-side up and add fish sauce, lime juice, and garlic to the hot bacon fat to make the dressing.  So yeah, this is a pretty intense salad.  You have been warned.

Salade Indochinoise

serves 2

2 slices thick cut bacon, cut into lardons

1 1/2 teaspoon Thai fish sauce

1 tablespoon fresh lime juice

1/2 teaspoon cane sugar

1 garlic clove, minced
A small squirt of sriracha

2 large eggs

2 large handfuls salad greens

Add the lardons to a pan and place on medium-low heat.

While the bacon is cooking, combine the fish sauce, lime juice, sugar, minced garlic, and sriracha in a small bowl.

Once the bacon is crisp, remove from the pan and add to the fish sauce mixture.

Crack the two eggs onto the hot pan.  Cook until the egg white are just set.  Carefully remove the sunny-side up eggs onto a plate, keeping as much bacon fat as you can in the pan.

Add the fish sauce mixture back to the hot pan.  Lower the heat and swirl the pan to warm up the dressing.

Toss the dressing and salad greens together and plate.  Slide the eggs on top and serve.

The best part is breaking into the yolk and letting that glorious molten gold spill onto the plate.  Divine!

I used a spring mix that I got in my Boston Organics delivery, but next time I'd probably use a sturdier green like escarole or romaine to hold up against the heat and pungency of the dressing.  And if you like cilantro, tossing a handful in would probably be awesome.

*I guess it would be helpful to know that Indochine is the French word for the peninsula on which Thailand sits.

Next:  Flower Pavlovas
Previously:  Sticky Toffee Pudding Ice Cream
Last Year:  Tartine's Lemon Cream Tart
Four Years Ago:  Gaufres de Leige (Belgian Waffles)
Five Years Ago:  Hua Juan (Steamed Scallion Buns)

Cold Soba Noodle Salad with Baked Tofu and Edamame

Since the Japan Night dinner was in the middle of a heat wave, we decided to make a cold soba noodle salad with baked tofu and edamame for the main entree.  For the actual event, we bought pressed tofu and marinated and baked that, but when I tested the recipe at home, I first pressed my own tofu.

To do this I first drained a package of firm tofu (you can also use extra-firm).  Then I lined the bottom of a bowl wide enough to fit the tofu in with paper towel, placed the tofu on top of the paper towel, and topped the tofu with another layer of paper towel.  On top of that I placed another bowl and put some heavy cans in it.  After 15 minutes you should see a significant amount of water at the bottom of the bowl.  I usually drain this off and replace the (completely wet at this point) paper towels and keep pressing for another 15 minutes of so.

The process of pressing the tofu removes a lot of the water in it so when you marinate it, it will soak up a lot more flavor.  I marinated the tofu in a mixture of soy sauce, sesame oil, mirin, honey, and crushed garlic.  After a 30 minute soak in the marinade, the tofu gets baked for about 40 minutes and develops a nice crispy crust while maintaining a soft, almost custard-y center.  For this recipe I cut the tofu into half-inch cubes before marinating them so they were almost like croutons, but when I make baked tofu to snack on, I'll usually keep them in bigger slabs.

Cold Soba Noodle Salad with Baked Tofu and Edamame
makes 4 servings

For the baked tofu:
16 oz. firm or extra-firm tofu
1/4 cup soy sauce
2 tablespoons mirin
1 tablespoon honey
1 tablespoon sesame oil
1 clove garlic, crushed

Press the tofu for 30 minutes (directions above).  Cut into half-inch cubes and place in a large Ziploc bag.

Mix together the soy sauce, mirin, honey, and sesame oil.  Add the crushed garlic clove and pour into the Ziploc bag, making sure that the marinade covers all sides of the tofu.  Marinate for 30 minutes, turning the bag over at least once.

Preheat the oven to 350ºF.  Cover a baking sheet with aluminum foil and spray with cooking spray or use a Silpat.

Remove the tofu from the bag, discard the garlic, and reserve the marinade for the dressing.  Spread the tofu evenly on the prepared baking sheet.  Bake for 10 minutes, then flip them over.  Continue baking and flipping every 10 minutes until the total baking time reaches 40 minutes.  Remove from oven and let cool.

For the soba noodle salad:
8 oz. soba noodles
2 tablespoons of the reserved marinade from above
1 tablespoon rice wine vinegar
1 tablespoon sesame oil
1/4 cup canola oil
Baked tofu (recipe above)
2/3 cup shelled edamame
4 Scallions, finely sliced
1 tablespoon toasted sesame seeds

Cook the soba noodles according to the directions on the package.  When done, drain and rinse with plenty of cold water so that it cools down and doesn't stick.  Transfer noodles to a large bowl.

Mix together the reserved marinade, rice wine vinegar, sesame oil, and canola oil.  Pour over the noodles and toss with the baked tofu, edamame, sliced scallions, and sesame seeds.

For the actual event, we also added julienned carrots, red bell peppers, and cucumbers to the salad.

Next:  S'mores Brownie Ice Cream Sandwiches
Previously:  Carrot Ginger Salad Dressing

Carrot Ginger Salad Dressing

A few weeks ago I was asked to help out with creating a menu for Japan Night, an event at my church where a missionary family was sharing about their vision for Japan.  We definitely wanted something that was Japanese, or at lease Asian-inspired, and would be easy enough for a small team to cook for upwards of 100 guests in a couple of hours.  After testing a few recipes at home, we ended up with the following menu:

Green Salad with Carrot Ginger Dressing

Vegetable Spring Rolls

Cold Soba Noodle Salad with Baked Tofu and Edamame

Matcha Mochi Cupcakes

The spring rolls we bought frozen and just baked them in the oven, but everything else was pretty much made from scratch!

The carrot ginger dressing is the same bright orange dressing you often get at sushi restaurants before the start of a meal.  I never really knew what was in it and had guessed some type of citrus and probably soy, but in fact the main components are carrots, ginger, and miso!  This totally boggles my mind because I normally don't really like carrots or ginger (in a non-sweet dish) but I can't get enough of this dressing.  It must be the miso.  =)

Carrot Ginger Dressing (adapted from goop)

makes a little over a pint

1 large carrot, peeled and roughly chopped
1 large shallot, peeled and roughly chopped
2 tablespoons roughly chopped fresh peeled ginger
1 tablespoon sweet white miso
2 tablespoons rice wine vinegar
1 tablespoon roasted sesame seed oil
1/4 cup canola oil
2 tablespoons water

Pulse the carrot, shallot and ginger in a blender until finely chopped.

Scrape down the sides, add the miso, vinegar and sesame seed oil and whiz together. While the blender is going, slowly drizzle in the canola oil and the water.

The dressing will keep refrigerated in an air-tight container for about a week.

I like to eat this over butter lettuce, but we used a mesclun salad at Japan Night.

Next:  Cold Soba Noodle Salad with Baked Tofu and Edamame
Previously:  Backyard Mint Ice Cream with Dark Chocolate Freckles

Panzanella

The first thing I thought of when I was trying to figure out how to use up the four foot baguette was panzanella, a salad made with stale bread cubes and tomatoes.  It's something I've been interested in making for a while but just never had enough bread to do so.  Well, problem solved.

A quick search on the internet brought me to this post called "The Best Panzanella You'll Ever Have".  Good enough for me.  More importantly, this recipe didn't use cucumbers, which I'm not a big fan of.

Panzanella (based on the recipe by Laura Wright of The First Mess)
Serves 6-8

For the croutons:
4 cups cubed bread (about ½ inch cubes)
1 1/2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
Salt and pepper to taste

For the salad:
5 cups halved cherry tomatoes (about 2 to 3 pints)
3 tablespoons red wine vinegar
¼ cup extra virgin olive oil
1 small shallot, peeled and finely diced (or ¼ cup fine diced red onion)
1 garlic clove, peeled and minced
Salt and pepper to taste
1 cup loosely packed fresh basil leaves (from 4 to 5 sprigs)
Fresh mozzarella (optional)

Preheat the oven to 400ºF.

Place the bread cubes on a large, parchment of Silpat-lined baking sheet. Drizzle bread cubes with the 1 1/2 tablespoons of olive oil. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Lightly toss bread cubes to coat in the oil and seasoning.

Place coated bread cubes in the oven and bake for 10 to 12 minutes, or until croutons are golden brown and crunchy. Remove and set aside.

In a large bowl, combine the cut tomatoes, red wine vinegar, olive oil, diced shallots, garlic, salt and pepper to taste.

Stir to combine. Allow this mixture to sit for at least 10 minutes. The longer it sits, the juicier the tomatoes will be.

Toss the croutons with the dressed tomatoes in the large bowl. Allow this mixture to sit for about 15 minutes, stirring it up here and there to distribute the dressing.

Transfer the tomatoes and croutons to your serving bowl. Roughly chop or tear the basil leaves and scatter them on top of the panzanella.  Add some fresh mozzarella if you like.

You can keep any leftovers in the fridge for a few days; I think it actually tastes better the next day!

Next:  A French Toast Face Off
Previously:  BLT with Avocado and Basil Mayonnaise

Ramen Cabbage Salad

Here's another super simple dish that always gets rave reviews when I bring it to potlucks.  The first time I had this salad was at a church potluck.  The pastor's wife had brought it, and when I asked her what it was, she called it a Chinese salad.  I was like, "Are you sure?"  Because I was pretty sure that it wasn't Chinese in origin.  But regardless of the name, it's really delicious.  You get a nice crunch from the cabbage, instant ramen pieces, and almonds, and the dressing is enhanced by adding the seasoning packet from the ramen into it.

The secret to keeping the ramen and almonds crunchy is to dry toast them in a pan and mix it in with the rest of the salad just before serving.  And you'll want to heat up the vinegar and soy sauce a bit to make sure that the sugar dissolves into it.

 
Ramen Cabbage Salad
serves 15-20

1 package instant ramen (I usually use Maruchan's chicken flavor)
1/2 cup slivered almonds
3 tablespoons sesame seeds
14 oz. bag of coleslaw mix (I like to get the kind with green and red cabbage and carrots for color)
4 scallions, chopped
3 tablespoons rice vinegar
1 tablespoon soy sauce
2 tablespoons sugar
1/4 cup canola oil
1 tablespoon sesame oil

 
Crumble the ramen into small pieces (I find it easiest to do this while the bag is still unopened).  Save the seasoning packet for the dressing.  Toast the ramen pieces, almonds, and sesame seeds on a dry pan over medium high heat until lightly browned.  Set aside and let cool.

 
Mix the coleslaw mix with the chopped scallions in a large bowl.  Set aside in the refrigerator.

 
In a small bowl, mix the vinegar, soy sauce, and sugar.  Microwave for 30 seconds and stir until the sugar is dissolved.  Pour into a small jar.  Add the oils and ramen seasoning packet.

 
Just before serving, add the toasted ramen pieces, almonds, and sesame seeds to the cabbage mix.  Shake the dressing and toss into the salad.

Next:  Mashed Potato Pizza with Roasted Garlic and Bacon
Previously: Corn Souffle