Green Salad with Toasted Sesame Vinaigrette

Tonight's recipe comes from a 1967 newspaper article with the title 'The Three Faces of Tossed Salad.' Ahem.

Upon reading that headline, you, like me, might think that the article would hold three different recipes for salad-- or, at the very least, three variations on a single salad. Nope. The three faces of tossed salad are, I kid you not, 'appetiser, accompaniment to an entrée, or main course.' (Although the intro also mentions that a salad can also function as dessert, and I'm assuming the author means some kind of terrible jello-based 'salad' that I can only be grateful is not included in my box).

Anyway, this is the second (and last, to my knowledge) non-mayonnaise-based salad recipe in the box. At first I was kind of high-fiving Eleanor (mentally) for only owning two salad recipes (and one of the two has bacon in it, so I don't even know if that counts) and it was cracking me up that she lived in an era so different from our health-conscious one that she must not have even eaten much in the way of salads. Then I realised I think the only salad recipes I've ever used are... well, the two from this box. Salads are easy. I make them all the time without any guidance-- they're fun to assemble, they don't require much forethought or skill, and if you have a decent pantry, you probably already have the ingredients for a kickass homemade dressing.

As an aside, I always assumed everyone felt this way about salads, until I met Judson. When we were dating, he only 'knew how' (his words, not mine) to make one salad: a spring mix salad dumped out of a bag with Paul Newman balsamic vinaigrette on it. The first time I made salad dressing for us (because I was too poor to afford the $5 bottles at the grocery store), I thought his eyeballs were going to fall out of his head. He was so impressed that night that I've sometimes since wondered if it was half the reason he ended up proposing to me... you know, two years later. In fact, to this day in our kitchen, by Judson's request, I'm the only one allowed to make salads (he is the only one allowed to make eggs, which isn't quite a fair trade since I know how to make eggs, while he doesn't properly know how to make a salad, but I allow it since he always cleans the egg pan after himself).

This salad, though not super hearty, made a great light dinner with some roasted veggies. Judson loved it way more than I did-- I felt like it needed something to anchor it, like a piece of miso-roasted salmon or something, but it was definitely good. The sesame seeds and oil are the only ingredient in here that you might not have readily on hand, but I'd encourage you not to skip out on either one, as they are the thing that makes this salad really stand apart.

The best part of this recipe, as far as I'm concerned, is the ad in the corner of the newspaper that reads 'School Kids NEED SUGAR FOR ENERGY!' next to a giant bag of Dixie Crystals sugar. Truly the 1960s were a dark time for all of us.

The verdict:

3 spoons out of five. Judson would give it a higher rating than me, so if you trust his opinion, then this should probably have, like, 4 ½ spoons. But for me, if I'm going to take the trouble to follow a recipe for a salad, it better be mind-blowingly good, and this one just wasn't quite there (the original called for peeled tomatoes-- I mean, really?). The sesame seeds, though, were truly amazing-- roast them until they're nutty and brown, and the flavour will help set this salad apart from the kind you pour out of a bag. And it is spring after all-- maybe your make-your-own salad genes are a little rusty after a winter of pasta and chili and all things cosy, and if so, then this recipe is for you. You could make it a little easier by using premade croutons or salad from a bag, or you could easily make this vegan by swapping the honey for golden syrup, agave, or brown sugar. Even I can't ignore the fact that this meal is basically springtime incarnate. Eat it for dinner tonight, look out the window, and marvel at the fact that it's 9:30pm and still light outside. 

The recipe:

Salad with Sesame Vinaigrette

THE DIRECTIONS:

Preheat oven to 176C/350F.
Toast sesame seeds by sprinkling them in a baking dish and baking for up to 30 minutes, shaking dish occasionally to promote even cooking.
Prepare croutons by placing bread in a baking dish and drizzling olive oil over it until it is well-drenched, then sprinkling onion powder, garlic powder, oregano, and 2 tbsp salt over them.
Bake croutons for 10 minutes, or until thoroughly browned and crunchy.
While croutons and seeds are toasting, prep the greens by washing them and tearing them into bite-size pieces.
Add onion, sliced into rings, and tomatoes.
Make dressing by combining pepper, mustard, and remaining 1 tsp salt in small bowl or jar.
Add vinegar and honey.
Stir in oil, whisking constantly.
prinkle seeds and croutons onto salad, toss well, drizzle with dressing and serve.

the ingredients:

3 tbsp sesame seeds
2 c dry bread, cubed
1 tbsp onion powder
1 tbsp oregano
1 tbsp garlic powder
2 tbsp + 1 tsp salt
1 glug olive oil
2 little gem lettuces, or 1 small head of leaf lettuce
2 good-sized handfuls spinach
1 handful cherry tomatoes, halved
1 small red onion, cut in thinnest possible rings
¼ tsp pepper
½ tsp dry mustard
5 tbsp white wine vinegar
1 ½ tbsp honey
¼ c sesame oil (or to taste-- I use much less)

Tacos, or, officially, Hoparound's Hamburger Tacos

When I was in undergrad, my best friend Rachel and I used to joke about ingredients for really obvious recipes: 'Would you like a gin and tonic?' we'd ask each other. 'I have all the ingredients,' we'd add slyly, and then we'd both crack up while one of us stirred the bacon we were cooking (we ate a lot of bacon in college), and the other one poured more gin. I feel similarly about this taco recipe: if you've ever made tacos, these are the tacos you've made. It's a self-explanatory recipe that doesn't really merit an explanation, but despite the dearth of Mexican restaurants here in Edinburgh, I always kind of assumed that everyone in this city was doing like Judson and I do and making their own tacos. Then I realised that no one else here eats tex-mex as frequently as we do, and that tacos are less commonplace the farther you get from... well, the equator.

There's only one store in all of edinburgh that sells la preferida. I never realised how important it would be to me until after we moved here.

This is food for the kind of people who like to eat but don't like to cook-- the kind of thing that I ate for dinner at least two nights a week before I got married and suddenly was able to try new recipes for someone besides just myself. (Someone, I might add, who was not content to eat tex-mex for 1/3 of his dinners each week.) But seriously: it's not a hard recipe, this one, and it's cheap. You can buy all the ingredients for these tacos for less than a tenner AND eat leftovers for at least three meals (which you won't mind, because they're delicious.)

So anyway, this one goes out to the Scottish readers, who, I've realised in the last few months, are not as familiar with Mexican food as we Americans are. Because, let's be real, this is not really a recipe at all. It's just an ad with suggestions on how to make tacos on the back of a recipe for quiche. But, rules are rules, and since I now live in a country where I've had to explain sangria, margaritas, and queso dip to different people in the last month, I figured it was about time I posted a recipe about this.

Happy Cinco de Mayo to those of you who are celebrating! And to everyone else, make these and a tall glass of sangria and you'll be well on your way to celebrating soon.

Happy Tuesday!

The verdict:

5 spoons out of five. Tacos are my favourite food. Seriously. When I was eight years old, my mom sat me down and explained to me that I could have whatever food I wanted for my birthday, even if that meant tacos instead of pizza, like all my friends had. 21 birthdays later and I've never looked back, and still have never had a bad taco. These are foolproof, delicious, and they pair perfectly with warm weather and cold wine. What more could you want out of dinner?

THE RECIPE:

Easiest Tacos

the ingredients:

1 lb ground beef (or 1 lb boneless skinless chicken breasts)
3 tbsp Taco seasoning
2 c refried beans (or black beans)
1 pkg hard taco shells (or soft)

Toppings:

Shredded lettuce
Tomatoes, coarsely chopped
Taco sauce
Salsa
Tabasco sauce
Grated cheese
Sour cream
Sauteed onions and peppers
Fresh jalapeños
Pickled jalapeños
Fresh lime wedges to squeeze over your taco

THE DIRECTIONS:

Saute ground beef with taco seasoning until cooked through.
Drain beef well, but do not rinse.
Warm beans in the microwave or in a pan over low heat.
Fill taco shell with beans first (they act like glue!), then meat and whichever toppings you prefer.
Eat with great gusto.

Note: these are easily made vegetarian or vegan with the omission of the meat (I prefer mine meatless) and/or sour cream and cheese (I don't prefer mine dairy-less). If you're making them vegan, be sure to check your beans to make sure they don't have meat stock in them!

Salmon Terrine

I've been going through old family photos recently, in an effort to get things sorted and organised once and for all. So I've been looking through Eleanor's old pictures, both her loose ones and the scrapbooks she kept as teenager and a young woman. Truly, these are full of gems-- photos of her where she apologises for the 'smirk' she's wearing, photos of my grandfather Wilbur doing silly poses in stupid outfits with his friends, and weird, unexplained photos like this unexplained Polaroid of a bear dancing in a cage.

And as I go through the photos, I've been thinking, in the selfish way that I always do, about what her life was like when she was my age. By the time she was my age (almost 30, ye gods), she had been married for seven years (twice as long as I have), was living in New York City (I think), and was going places like Miami, St. Augustine, and Niagara Falls with her husband and their friends. The year would have been 1949-50, and because Eleanor didn't have children until relatively late for the era, she spent a decade married to my grandpa and existing as a couple, not a family. I love that about their story. Whatever their reasons, they spent such a long time getting to know each other, getting to exist in their own world, and experiencing cool things as a couple before they had children.

Don't get me wrong, there's nothing the matter with having children, but I love that Eleanor and Wilbur had time as a couple first. I like to imagine them cooking dinner for their friends, the way Judson and I do (they must have done, based on the number of recipes that the box holds from before my mom and her brother were born), going to cocktail parties (documented through pictures), and saving up to go on vacation anywhere they wanted (the same way we do today). I like to think of her as a 29-year-old woman, with a job and a husband and an amazing group of friends, because there is something that's equally comforting and jarring about thinking of someone you only know in the context of 'elderly' as a young person. 30 suddenly doesn't seem so old when I think about all that Eleanor accomplished after that milestone. It's so odd to think of her as a 20-something, because I've built up this image of Eleanor in my head as a confident, unflappably active person. She was someone who did things, not someone that let things happen to her, and it's hard to imagine that brash confidence translating into her 20s.

Maybe it didn't. I found a recipe in the box for something called Salmon Loaf, a terrible name I thoroughly debated keeping from you, and it's hands down the cleanest recipe card I've found in the box so far. It's clear this was a recipe that was never made, and as I started to ponder why she would have held onto the recipe for half of her life without ever having made it, I asked myself what would me do the same thing... and I could only think of one answer. Someone gave her that recipe, and Eleanor, out of politeness, was too scared to throw it away. So it lived for years in her recipe box, accumulating dust but no stains, because once upon a time, she, too, was a (slightly) less confident 20-something, anxious to please and not wanting to offend.

Here's the thing: if you changed the name of this meal to Salmon Terrine, no one would have a problem with it. And honestly, it's easy to see why not. This dinner was delicious, possibly because I left out something called 'Tempo,' which was the first ingredient and I'm pretty sure was just 1960's code for 'MSG.'* This is the perfect meal for this time of year, when the weather goes from summery to frigid in the course of a day and you want something cosy to eat that's not absolute stodge. It's filling, simple, and easy to make on a budget. Serve it with some roasted veggies and it makes the perfect springtime meal.

*Since I couldn't find Tempo, I made up my own seasoning, which is what I listed below, but feel free to get creative.

The verdict:

3 spoons out of five. It's delicious, easy, and affordable, but it's not exactly a glamorous meal. Make this when you're staying in with a friend who you don't need to impress for a cosy night in.

the recipe:

Salmon Terrine

the ingredients:

½ tsp onion powder
½ tsp garlic powder
1 tsp dried dill
½ tsp salt
1 tsp black pepper
2 eggs, beaten
1 tsp lemon juice
1 tbsp butter
Scant ¼ c milk
2 cans of salmon if you're in the UK, or, if you're Stateside, figure out what you think a 'tall can' is, and use one of those.

THE DIRECTIONS:

Preheat oven to 176C/350F.
Butter a small loaf pan and set aside.
Mix all ingredients together in order given.
Pack firmly into loaf pan.
Bake 30-35 minutes until firm and golden brown on top.
Slice and serve with a salad or roasted veggies.

Serves 2, heartily, or 3, petitely.