Category: Diet

Salad Nicoise


I love the idea of layered salads. Anything goes and people can pick and choose what they want. It’s almost like a “create your own salad bar” on a platter. It makes for a great Shalosh Seudos dish because you can use up whatever you have left from your meal. If you only used half the container of cherry tomatoes, throw them in. Leftover egg salad? Put a nice scoop in place of the hard boiled eggs. Potato salad can take the place of potatoes. And just about any vegetable makes the cut. Grilled veggies work well too. Plating the salad this way gives it a fresh and clean appearance, even if you are using the leftovers from your meal.

One of my favorite veggies in a classic Nicoise salad is the baby red potatoes. But I can’t deny that those carb-filled delights pack on the pounds. Instead, I use sweet potatoes, their lower-GI cousin, for added color and sweetness.

In terms of tuna, a lot of people like to use oil-packed in this salad because it is less dry. I prefer packed in water because it is obviously much lower in fat. You can also grill up some tuna steaks before shabbos, bring them to room temperature, and serve a la’ classic.

In terms of veggies, I have seen so many variations used in this salad, just about anything goes. Here are some suggestions (I’m starring all the must-have ingredients, everything else is optional):

*greens (Bibb, Boston, Butter or Romaine lettuce, mesclun, spinach)
*green beans
*olives (black [nicoise preferred] or green)
*hard-boiled eggs
*tuna (canned or fresh, or for a twist, use salmon)
*potatoes (red skinned or sweet)
*onions (red onion, shallots, chives, or scallions)
*tomatoes (any type)
anchovies (classic to salad nicoise, although I leave them out)
capers
cucumbers
avocado
peppers
mushrooms
radishes
kohlrabi
hearts of palm
shredded carrots
beans (white beans, edamame)
pasta (shells, macaroni, rotini)
feta cheese
shredded cheese
parsley

If you leave the classic ingredients intact, you can still call it a salad nicoise, albeit nontraditional. You can also opt for a layered salad with no rules whatsoever. Just imagine your typical salad bar and layer it onto a big serving platter.

So instead of just serving up leftovers this week, try and re-purpose what you’ve got in a fresh way. It is guaranteed to appeal to everyone at the table! Serve with different types of crackers for a complete meal.

My Salad Nicoise

Romaine lettuce and spinach
french green beans (haricot vert), blanched {how to blanch green beans}
hard boiled eggs, cut into quarters {how to make perfect hard boiled eggs}
sweet potatoes, cubed and baked at 400 degrees until fork-tender (toss with a little olive oil and salt before baking)
grape tomatoes
black olives, sliced
avocado, cubed
red onion, thinly sliced into rings
canned tuna, drained and flaked

Dressing:

1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
1/4 cup olive oil
1 heaping tbsp dijon mustard
1 tsp lemon juice
1 tsp sugar or honey
1 clove of garlic, crushed
salt and pepper, to taste

Set the lettuce around the base of the platter. Layer the vegetables in sections around the platter, placing the tuna at the center. Garnish with onion. Whisk dressing until emulsified. Pour over salad, or serve separately.

NOTE: If you plan on serving this for shalosh seudos, you’ll have to prepare some of the main ingredients before Shabbos. Cook up the potatoes, eggs and blanch the green beans. Place everything into small ziploc bags. You can also drain and flake the tuna ahead of time, as well as drain the olives. When it’s time to make the salad, you’ll have most of the ingredients ready, and you don’t have much left to prepare.


Another version of salad nicoise.

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Spice-Crusted Chicken

There is no one on this earth that cannot make this recipe. It’s that easy. Well maybe not no one – you’ve got to have an oven, chicken, and a few basic spices. If you’ve got that, and you’ve never cooked anything other than eggs in your life, you can do this.

This has to be my #1 go-to recipe for a quick weekday dinner. It’s got tons of flavor with minimal effort, and it pleases even the most discriminating palette. I like to make this recipe when I’m cooking dinner for our local Bikur Cholim because I’m pretty sure anyone who will eat chicken will eat it.

What makes this chicken so good? Well for one, it’s baked in it’s skin, keeping the chicken nice and moist. Baking it on a high temperature (400 degrees), with the help of some olive oil, makes the skin super crispy, and all those spices get toasted to perfection.

Here’s the best part. If you’re on one of those low-carb or no-sugar diets like atkins or south beach, you can make yourself a super flavorful dinner without store-bought BBQ sauce that is so full of carbs. If you are watching your fat intake as well, don’t eat the skin, but feel free to scrape off the yummy spices and spread it on your chicken. If dieting is not on your agenda, go ahead and sop up all the drippings from the bottom of the pan, they are seriously delicious!

Quick & Easy Chicken

1 package chicken, quartered
garlic powder
onion powder
paprika
salt
black pepper
extra virgin olive oil

Method:

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Clean chickens (do not remove the skin) and pat dry. Sprinkle generously with spices (but go light on the pepper). Drizzle with olive oil. Bake, uncovered, for one hour.

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Busy in Brooklyn Lightens Up

At least for this week! :) After all that cheesecake, lasagna and blintzes, I think we all need to lighten up our menu’s just a bit. My husband decided to join the diet bandwagon as well, and I wanted to make him feel good about it. I figured for his first day of dieting, I would treat him to a special dinner. But not just any dinner. A dinner that would show him that you can have your fast food and eat it too!

This was my plan – make his favorite fast food, have it look delicious, taste even better, and keep it lighter than the deep-fried version!

The Steak Santiago sandwich from Subsational is among my husband’s favorites. It includes rib steak with lettuce, tomato, onion and their spicy mayo. To lighten this up, I made an open-face sandwich on a half of a whole wheat baguette with lean sandwich steak, lettuce, tomatoes, pickles and sauteed onions. I whipped up some easy garlic mayo with a lowfat canola variety.

Next, onto the fries. Of course fried anything was out of the question. And I had to give the potatoes the boot as well. Instead, I roasted some butternut squash fries with some chili powder and smoked paprika. They came out delicious.

Finally, just for fun I had to throw in a few chicken nuggets. I dipped a few pieces of chicken breasts into light olive oil and flavored corn flake crumbs and baked until crispy (about 15 minutes at 400 degrees – 8 minutes on one side, 5 on the other).

Needless to say, my husband was more than satisfied with this lightened up version of his favorite fast food. Of course I won’t be doing this regularly, but it’s good to know that our favorite comfort foods can still be eaten, albeit on special occasions, and a little on the lighter side!

Marinated Sandwich Steak

Sandwich steaks are quite lean. Marinating them helps to tenderize the meat by holding the moisture in the thin slices.

1 pkg sandwich steak
2 cloves garlic
2 tablespoons lime juice
1 teaspoon chili powder
1 teaspoon ground cumin
¼ cup soy sauce
1 tablespoon canola oil
salt and pepper, to taste

Method:

Mix ingredients for marinade and pour into ziploc bag. Add sandwich steak and refrigerate for a few hours (or less if you don’t have the time). Saute on high heat for about 2 minutes on each side.

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Turkey & Pastrami Wrapped Asparagus

I love the spring. It’s not only because of the beautiful weather and the blossoming trees. I also love the seasonal fruits and vegetables of spring including asparagus, spinach, rhubarb and strawberries, among others. Eating fruits and vegetables that are in season allows you to get the most nutritional value, flavor and freshness out of them at the most affordable price. With Shavuous just around the corner, I like to plan my menu around the freshest produce available on the market. These wrapped asparagus make the perfect appetizer or side dish at your fleishig meal.

Wrapped asparagus is a traditional antipasto which commonly uses non-kosher ingredients. I decided to try wrapping them with turkey and pastrami instead, and the results were pretty and delicious. In searching for ideas, I came across these lovely chive-tied ones, and they turned out to be the perfect finishing touch. The chives not only up-the-ante on the dish, they also help to keep the cold cuts tightly wrapped around the asparagus.

Although the turkey and pastrami add flavor to the asparagus, they are very simply seasoned. To add more flavor, drizzle with some classic aioli, or use my honey mustard dressing below.

Look out for more seasonal recipes to serve at your Yom Tov meal, coming next week!

Turkey & Pastrami Wrapped Asparagus
adapted from a recipe by Ellie Krieger

2 bunches of asparagus
1/4 lb. smoked turkey
1/4 lb. smoked pastrami
chives
extra virgin olive oil
kosher salt & freshly ground pepper, to taste

Method:

Preheat your oven to 400 degrees. Break the woody end off each asparagus spear (if you hold one end of the asparagus in each hand and bend it, it will naturally break at the spot where it starts to become woody). Rinse the asparagus (if you’d like) and drain very well. Drizzle with olive oil, using a brush or your hands to coat well. Cut each piece of turkey and pastrami lengthwise into 3-4 strips. Wrap one strip of turkey or pastrami around each asparagus spear, below the tips. Gently tie a chive around the center of the cold cuts to hold them in place. Take care not to tear the chives, and make a knot (by tying twice) to ensure that they don’t open. Snip the ends of the chives with kitchen shears. Place on a cookie sheet and sprinkle with kosher salt and freshly ground pepper. Bake for 10-12 minutes (depending on thickness and how tender you like it), turning once.

To serve, plate asparagus alternating between the turkey and pastrami. Drizzle with dressing.

Honey Mustard Dressing

1/2 cup mayonaise
1/4 cup honey
1/4 cup dijon mustard

Mix well to combine.

NOTE: It is best to use thicker asparagus for this recipe, as they hold the cold cuts better. Try to find ones that have an even shape so they cook evenly (not ones that get very thick at the bottom). To use thinner spears, just wrap 2-3 spears at a time with the cold cuts, instead of just one.

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Mushroom Quinoa

Quinoa is my new favorite superfood. It is a protein-rich seed with a fluffy, slightly crunchy texture and somewhat of a nutty flavor. Although some consider it to be a grain, it is actually a relative to spinach and swiss chard, which is why some people eat it on Pesach. It is similar to couscous, with a chewier texture and more health benefits.

I first tasted mushroom quinoa at the newly opened Fresh Cafe in North Miami Beach back in March. The cafe was opened by the owners of The Fresh Diet with an emphasis on healthy, wholesome foods. They offer a classic breakfast menu, whole wheat pizza with various toppings, paninis, wraps, salads (with blue cheese crumbles and goat cheese) and smoothies. Although their menu includes some less-than-healthy options such as a buttered NY bagel, they encourage healthy eating (their menu notes: “heavy white pizza available upon request”). The winning items on the menu include a list of gourmet sandwiches including a Balsamic Glazed Roasted Vegetable Sandwich with Fresh Basil and Feta, Tarragon-Infused Salmon with Cheddar on a Spinach Tortilla, Balsamic-Reduction-Glazed Mushrooms, Shallots and Swiss Cheese on Seven Grain Bread, among others. I ordered a nicoise salad, which they served with sweet potatoes as a healthy alternative to the classic red potatoes. My husband had grilled salmon with a side of quinoa and roasted vegetables. Both were healthy-sized portions, flavorful and filling.

After tasting the quinoa there, I started making it more often at home. It has become a staple around here, served hot alongside a chicken dinner, or cold, as a salad at Shabbos lunch. My husband, and kids absolutely love it (as long as I call it “couscous” my kids are good!). This is, by far, our favorite recipe.

NOTE: I use Trader Joe’s low sodium vegetable broth in this recipe. It is fat free, low calorie, gluten free and organic. The stock is made using a variety of organic vegetables as well as carrot and onion juice concentrate and tomato paste which gives it a reddish tinge. The broth adds a delicious tomato-y flavor to the quinoa. If you cannot get Trader Joe’s broth, you can use Imagine, and add a tsp of tomato paste to the vegetables while they are sauteeing.

Mushroom Quinoa

2 cups quinoa, rinsed until water runs clear and drained well
3 cups vegetable or chicken broth
1 container mushrooms, cleaned and diced into quarters
2 shallots, thinly sliced
1 handful of shredded carrots
1 tsp salt
olive oil for sauteeing

Method:

Saute shallots in oil for 2-3 minutes. Add mushrooms and carrots. continuing to sautee for a few minutes, until carrots have softened. Add rinsed quinoa and mix until toasted and fragrant. In a separate pot, boil broth with 1 tsp of salt. Add broth to quinoa. Simmer, covered, on a low flame, for 15 minutes. Fluff with a fork before serving.

The Fresh Cafe
2214 NE 123rd Street
North Miami, FL 33181
Phone: 305-591-8848
Kosher Miami, cholov and pas Yisrael

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