Roasted Shallot and Spinach Salad with Cranberry Vinaigrette

I love good salads. I don’t eat as many as I should, but I love them still. I can enjoy a simple salad of mixed greens or an elaborate Caesar just the same. It has been my experience that the salads prepared in kitchens for the employee or “family” meal are better than the ones on the menus of most restaurants. It becomes a contest between the line cooks to see who can come up with the most interesting food that ultimately is inhaled by other cooks, dishwashers and servers. I once saw a line cook save the fat off of the seared foie gras appetizer for two days so that he could toss his beef tips in it on the third. Not coincidently, everyone raved about the family meal that night.
This salad was one that I worked on after eating at a restaurant in Chapel Hill, NC. It was a good restaurant and I knew the chef fairly well, so he treated me to a meal and let me come back into the kitchen as service died down. My salad that evening was composed of micro-greens and “cured” raspberries. I’m not sure how the raspberries were cured, but the salad was nice and refreshing before the main course (it was also the size of a kiwi). While we were in the kitchen, I saw one of the cooks in the pantry (where the salads are produced) open a small, one-portion container of manufactured raspberry vinaigrette. I was surprised to say the least, especially when I read the ingredients. Let’s just say that raspberry “flavor” was used along with emulsifiers that I can’t spell or pronounce. Well, I took it as a challenge to come up with a vinaigrette that was equal to or better than the one out of the box and tinkered around until I came up with what follows. This vinaigrette has evolved through a few trial-and-errors into one of my “back pocket” recipes (ones that I’m known for). The testing ground was family meal, where suggestions were made by everyone from other cooks to a dishwasher who suggested grilled shrimp as a nice touch. I think he wanted some grilled shrimp that night. You have to watch out for the dishwashers and servers, they can be tricky sometimes.

What you need to get together:

For the vinaigrette
Cranberry juice 10 oz.
Sugar 1 TBSP
Olive oil 8 oz.
Shallots 8 each, peeled and left whole
Red wine vinegar 2 oz.

For the salad
Baby spinach 2 cups of washed leaves per person
Belgian Endive 1 head
Dried cranberries 1 TBSP per person
Farmer’s cheese as needed for garnish

How to put it all together:

THE DRESSING
1. In a sauce pan, bring the cranberry juice and sugar to a boil and reduce the mixture, over medium-high heat, to 2 oz. This process will take a little under 10 minutes.
2. Remove the reduced juice for the pan and wash the pan very well. Return the pan to the heat and add the olive oil and shallots (remember to leave them whole).
3. Begin to “roast” the shallots over medium-high heat until the outer layers begin to get some color. At this point, reduce the heat to medium and continue to cook the shallots in the oil until they are well caramelized and cooked through (about 10 minutes).
4. Turn off the heat and remove the shallots. Let the oil cool in the pan or in another container. When the shallot-infused oil is at room temperature, whisk in the vinegar and reduced cranberry juice until the vinaigrette is completely emulsified (a blender or hand mixer makes this step much easier).
5. Season the vinaigrette with salt and pepper to taste and store in an air-tight container in the refrigerator.

THE SALAD
1. Wash both the spinach leaves and Belgian endive leaves to remove any excess dirt and dry well.
2. Julienne the endive leaves (these can be held in ice water before service, but not for more than an hour or so).
3. “Plump” the dried cranberries in hot water for 5 minutes or use them dry (or you can plump them in the vinaigrette by adding them to it once it is done).
4. Toss all of the salad components together and season with a touch of salt and pepper. Add the vinaigrette and toss until the spinach has a LIGHT coating. Do not over-dress the greens.
5. Portion out the salad equally onto chilled plates and add 2 whole shallots to each plate along with a generous garnish of the farmer’s cheese.

A few final thoughts about the recipe:

This has become one of my all-time favorites. The vinaigrette is balanced with the shallot infusion and tart cranberry, the spinach and endive both compliment one another and the shallots become sweet and rich at the same time. The method for “roasting” the shallots is not traditional here (it should be done in the oven), but unless you are making salad for the 23rd Battalion, dong it on the stove top is much easier.
Originally, I put goat cheese in this salad and have even used feta a time or two, but the simplicity of a fresh farmer’s cheese is just what this recipe calls for. If you can get your hands on some, a nice Mexican queso fresco is great as well. Also, try heating the shallots before service. The contrast of tender spinach, crisp endive and warm, buttery shallots is awesome.

Roasted Shallot and Spinach Salad with Cranberry Vinaigrette
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Fresh Berry Cake
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World's Best Bread Pudding
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Fresh Berry “Cake”

In the movie Casino, there is a scene where Robert De Niro is eating a blueberry muffin and notices that his only has a few berries while his business partner’s muffin is falling apart because it has so many berries in it. De Niro then orders the chef to put an equal amount of berries in each muffin from that point on. There are actually ways to guarantee that there are equal berries in every muffin, but the point was that no one likes to get a blueberry muffin with only a few blueberries in it!
You won’t find any berry shortage in this recipe. This is one of my favorite treats during the summer. It is a dessert that surrounds the freshest, sweetest berries (any variety or a mixture of berries) you can find with a delicate, moist cake. I had a friend tell me that this is essentially berries held together with as little cake as possible. I liked that description. I think De Niro would like it as well.

What you need to get together:

For the cake
Butter: 1 ½ sticks, room temperature
Sugar: ¾ cup
Vanilla: 1 teaspoon
Walnuts: ¼ cup, chopped fine
Baking Powder: ¼ teaspoon
Flour, AP: 1 1/3 cup
Salt: ½ teaspoon
Cinnamon: 1 teaspoon
Eggs: 3 each
Berries: 2 ½ cups

For the sauce
Raspberries: 2 cups
Sugar: 1 cup
Water: 1 cup
Orange juice: ¼ cup
Chamomile
Tea bag: 1 each

How to put it all together:

THE CAKE
1. In an electric mixer, cream together the butter and sugar.
2. Add the vanilla and walnuts and beat for 30 seconds.
3. Sift together the flour, cinnamon, baking powder, and salt.
4. Add the sifted ingredients and eggs to the creamed butter mixture alternately (a little flour, then one egg and so on).
5. With a rubber spatula, scrape down the sides of the bowl and mix the batter for another 15 seconds.
6. Gently fold in the berries.
7. Add the batter to a buttered cake pan (10 inches by 2 inches) and bake in a pre-heated 350 degree oven for 45 minutes or until the top is golden brown and a cake tester comes out clean.
8. Let the cake rest for 5 minutes before serving with whipped cream and raspberry sauce.

FOR THE SAUCE
1. Add berries, sugar and water to a small sauce pan over medium-high heat.
2. Once the liquid starts to boil, add in the orange juice and begin mashing the berries with either a wooden spoon or a heat-proof spatula.
3. Continue to simmer and stir over medium-high heat for about 5 minutes or until the liquid is reduced by over half.
4. Once the sauce has reached “warm honey” consistency, turn off the heat and add the tea bag.
5. Remove the tea bag after 3 minutes and then strain the sauce through a fine-mesh strainer (try to push the pulp through the strainer; really scrape the pulp until it is dry).
6. Serve the sauce warm or cold over desserts.

A few final thoughts about this recipe:

I think that you will really enjoy this dessert. It reminds me of late summer. If you see fit, add more berries to the batter. If you want more cake, cut the berries to 2 cups. I use a combination of blackberries, blueberries, and raspberries in mine. I have found that strawberries add a lot more moisture to the cake and it almost comes out like a pudding when I add them. Also, be careful when folding in the raspberries. They have a tendency to break apart and can turn the batter pink. I burry the raspberries into the batter once I have it in the baking pan (I use silicone baking pans).
The addition of flavored tea bags is one I came up with while trying to make my raspberry sauce different. You can use any flavor that you like (lemon spice, orange clove or any other that you would normally drink), just try to taste it in your mind before you add it to the raspberry sauce. If you like, you can omit the tea bag all together.

The World’s Best Bread Pudding

I know that is a bold name, but I would take the Pepsi Challenge with this pudding against any other. The concept is simple: take some old bread, moisten it, sweeten it, and bake it. You don’t add any fruit, or fold in chocolate or perfume it with spices. We’re talking bread, sugar, milk and vanilla. Basically, it ends up being a sweet panade (which is usually bread moistened with milk or water and mixed into a sausage or forcemeat. Remember how your mother would put bread crumbs or bread cubes in her meatloaf to help hold it together? That was a panade.).
I like the simplicity of this recipe. I once had a chef that I respected tell me it was garbage because he liked raisins in his bread pudding. He was an old Austrian chef who I only knew through reputation and quickly grew to dislike. I say that our relationship deteriorated because of the bread pudding, he insists it’s because I had no business being the Executive Chef of the country club at the time. I’m not sure who to believe, but I’m not putting any damn raisins in a bread pudding ever again.

What you need to get together:

FOR THE PUDDING
Bread: 1 pound (if you are using a French baguette, they are usually about a pound a
piece. A little over a pound or a little under won’t hurt much.)
Whole Milk: 6 1/4 cups
Sugar: 2 1/4 cups
Vanilla: To taste (I add 1 Tablespoon of good extract)
Butter: ½ stick, melted (I use unsalted butter)
Egg: 1 each

FOR THE SAUCE
Butter: 1 stick
Powder Sugar: ½ cup
Heavy Cream: ¼ cup
Whiskey: To taste (I use 1 oz.)

How to put it all together:

THE PUDDING
1. Break or cut the bread (including the crust) into crouton-size pieces.
2. In a nonreactive (not aluminum) bowl, whisk together the milk, sugar, vanilla, egg and melted butter.
3. Add the bread pieces and mix the bread and milk mixture together.
4. Cover the soaked bread and store in the refrigerator over night (preferably for 2 days), agitating the mix every once in a while to ensure that all of the bread is soaked thoroughly.
5. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.
6. Spray a baking dish with non-stick vegetable oil spray and pour the batter into the pan.
7. Place a piece of parchment paper over the pudding mix and then cover the paper with aluminum foil. Pierce the foil in about 8 different areas to vent the pudding as it cooks.
8. Place on the center rack of your oven and bake at 350 degrees for 1 hour and 15 minutes.
9. After the 50 minutes, uncover the pudding (it should be milky on top and be almost set in the center). Evenly sprinkle 1 Tablespoon of white sugar over the entire surface of the pudding and return the baking dish to the oven.
10. Raise the temperature in the oven to 400 degrees and cook for an additional 15 minutes or until the top of the pudding is golden and crusty.
11. Let the baked pudding rest for about 10 minutes then serve with generous amounts of the whiskey sauce and freshly whipped cream.

THE SAUCE
1. Over a double boiler, melt the butter thoroughly, but not so much that it separates.
2. Add the powder sugar slowly with a whisk while the butter is still over the double
boiler.
3. Once all of the sugar is added, continue to heat the butter/sugar mixture over the
double boiler for about 2 minutes (this will help to completely dissolve the sugar into the butter).
4. Remove the butter/sugar mixture from the heat and add in the cream and whiskey.
5. Keep the sauce warm for service. A good trick is to store the sauce in a thermos to
keep it warm. Keeping it over heat may cause it to break. If you don’t have a thermos, cover it and place it back in the double boiler off of the heat. The residual heat from the water should keep the sauce warm for a while.

A few final thoughts about this recipe:

OK, reserve judgment until after you’ve tried this beauty. Did anyone notice that there is only 1 egg in the recipe. That is why letting it soak for as long as possible is important. Don’t skip that step or try to rush it because it will come back to bite you. Also, I love this pudding both warm or cold. Try it both ways and see if you feel the same.
The sauce can be chilled and reheated over a double boiler for later use. This sauce is pretty forgiving. If it begins to get too firm, give it a little heat; if it begins to break, turn down the heat and give it a good whisk. You won’t find many sauces that are more understanding of your culinary shortcomings.
Again, this is a simple bread pudding. It is appropriate in all seasons and finishes off a flavorful meal nicely. It isn’t looking to be the show-stopper, it just wants to bring the meal to a nice, slow end. Respect that. Appreciate that.