Niçoise Salad - Julia Child Inspired

I was intrigued by this recipe when I saw Alton Brown feature
Tuna on his show Good Eats.
I perused the internet until I stumbled upon this
Julia Child Inspired Niçoise Salad.
I also watched a few recipe videos on YouTube.

I came to the conclusion that tweaking the recipe is acceptable.

However using the finest quality ingredients would only enhance this recipe.

Purists would use

- Boston-lettuce leaves. I am using Romaine Hearts

- French Green Beans. I am using American Green Beans.
- Kalamata Olives. You can use Black Olives
- Italian Tuna Packed in Olive Oil. I am using 1 Can of Alaskan Pink Salmon. You could also substitute Vacuum Packed Tuna or Chunk Light Tuna packed in soybean oil.

- Shallots. You can used finely minced Garlic if you prefer

INGREDIENTS

2 Romaine Lettuce Hearts, washed and dried

1 large handful of Green Beans, trimmed and blanched

1-1/2 tablespoons minced Shallots

1/2 to 2/3 cup Basic Vinaigrette Click HERE  for recipe
Salt and freshly ground pepper
2 or 3 ripe Ripe Tomatoes, cut into wedges (or 10 to 12 cherry tomatoes, halved)
2 or 3 Red Bliss Potatoes, peeled, sliced, and cooked

Two 3-ounce cans Chunk-Light Tuna, preferably oil-packed
or 1 14 oz can of Salmon

4 hard-boiled eggs, peeled and halved

1 freshly opened can of flat Anchovy Fillets (to be rolled later)

1/3 cup small Kalamata olives
2 to 3 tablespoons Capers
3 tablespoons minced fresh Parsley

DIRECTIONS
1. Drain Fish. Set Aside.
2. Remove Anchovies from can, reserving the oil. Roll each fish and set aside.

3. Arrange the lettuce leaves on a large platter.

4. While the Potatoes and Beans are still slightly warm, toss them shallots, spoonfuls of vinaigrette, and salt and pepper.

5. Baste the tomatoes with a spoonful of vinaigrette.

6. Place the potatoes in the center of the platter and arrange a mound of beans at either end, with tomatoes and small mounds of tuna at strategic intervals.

7. Drizzle Olive Oil from Anchovies over Fish.

8. Place halves of hard-boiled eggs around the edge of the platter, sunny side up, and curl an anchovy on top of each.

9. Spoon more vinaigrette over everything

10. Scatter on olives, capers, and parsley, and serve.

Boil , Cut, Toss

Boil, Shock, Toss

Build

While the presentation of this on a platter or large serving dish is impressive, I would prefer to make individual salads in the future. It was rather messy picking through everything.

Also, I doubled the dressing.

This salad was DELICIOUS! Surprizingly everyone enjoyed it, even the pickiest of eaters in the house. I was shocked because normally the picky eater does not like olives and I was anxious that they would not like the anchovies and capers. I think they enjoyed all the different levels of flavors. Eating this salad was like going on a treasure hunt.

Egg Rolls

I could barely plate these and photograph them. The family devoured them!

Special thanks to Nadya and Lisa for the inspiration & basic blueprint for this recipe.





INGREDIENTS

Oil for frying
1 lb ground turkey (or loose boca burger for my vegetarian followers)
(I also had a small pkg of salad shrimp I set aside for this recipe... this is optional. It was a job cleaning them. There were so many of them & they were so small!)
1 pkg egg roll wraps
1 pkg cole slaw mix
2 eggs

Seasoning
White Pepper
Ground Ginger
Garlic Powder
Rice Vinegar
Soy Sauce


DIRECTIONS

1. Beat the eggs, & set them aside.
*Cholesterol conscious ones can use only the egg whites for this recipe.
I used the entire egg.

2. Brown ground turkey. Season with 1 pressed garlic clove.
Add garlic powder, ground ginger and soy sauce to taste. Set aside.

3. Place water in a stock pan.
4. Add Seasonings to taste.
I used 1 tbsp each of Rice Vinegar and Soy Sauce.
1/2 tsp ground ginger
1/2 tsp white pepper
1/2 tsp garlic powder
Bring to a boil.

5. Add Cole Slaw Mix. Cook for about five minutes. Remove from water with a slotted spoon. Set Aside

6. Lay egg roll wraps flat.
It should be in a diamond shape with one of the corners facing you.
Place about 1 tbsp of ground meat in the center of the egg roll wrap.
Using a fork, add a double portion the cooked slaw mixture.
You may top with additional meat. It is up to you.
Using the fork, wet the edges of the wrap with the egg mixture.

Next, take the corner closest to you & fold it over the mixture. Fold in the sides
and roll until you have a sort of envelope. My first few egg rolls were not very neat. You will improve with practice. You may need to seal the exterior corner of the egg roll wrap.

Deep fry the egg rolls for 3 to 5 minutes at approximately 365 degrees. Drain.
Paper towels will soak up excess oil.

Enjoy!

UPDATE...
I've made these several times tweaking along the way.
Tips I've learned.
- Lay down the cabbage before the ground meat. The wraps have less tendancy to break.
- Buying a head of cabbage is less expensive than the cole slaw mix. If you are willing to cut it by hand, go for it.
- Instead of using the Rice Vinegar, I cooked the cabbage in chicken broth. It was much more flavorful.
- Fresh chopped Ginger instead of Powdered Ginger tastes even better.
Salad Shrimp

Shrimp + ColeSlaw + More Shrimp (egg on the border)














*UPDATE...I made these a 2nd time.
I cooked them for 3 minutes on one side and one minute on the other.
The top photo reflects the 2nd attempt.

Make photo slide shows at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Tasty Tender Meatballs

I have not made these in a long time. My husband was my official "Taste Tester".
He told me I was "Holding out on him." I guess I should make them more often.


INGREDIENTS

Sauce

16 oz of canned Tomato Sauce
1 tbsp Chili Powder
1 tsp Onion Powder
1/2 tsp ground Black Pepper
1 freshly pressed Garlic Clove
3 tbsp Apricot Preserves
juice from half a Lemon or 1 oz of bottled Lemon Juice


Meatballs

2 lbs Ground Turkey (or meat of your choice...for my vegan friends, you may substitute crumbled Boca Burger)
1 cup of Brown Rice Bread Crumbs (gluten free!)
2 tbsp Onion Flakes
1 freshly pressed Garlic Clove
1 tbsp Onion Powder
1 tsp ground Black Pepper
*optional a dash of Cayenne Pepper, and a dash of White Pepper
2 tbsp soy sauce
2 eggs
1/2 cup ketchup

DIRECTIONS

Sauce
1. In a heavy bottomed sauce pan, add tomato sauce, chili powder, onion powder, pepper, garlic, apricot preserves and lemon juice.
2. Set to medium heat and stir periodically for 15 to 20 minutes. Set aside to top meatballs.

Meatballs
1. Add bread crumbs, onion flakes, garlic, onion powder, pepper to ground meat.
2. Mix well.
3. Add soy sauce, eggs, and ketchup to ground meat. Mix Well.

*Tip Run hands under cold water to prevent the meat from sticking to palms before forming the meat balls.

4. Using a medium stainless steel scoop will ensure that the meatballs are relatively uniform in size. Form the balls. Add them to a lightly oiled baking dish.
5. Cook the meatballs for 20 minutes to render any fat. I preferred to transfer the cooked meatballs to another dish before adding the warm sauce.
6. Pour Sauce over Meatballs. Cook for an additional 10 to 20 minutes.
You could move these to a chafing dish.

We were able to get about 25 meatballs from this recipe. If you plan to serve these as appetizers, you could use a smaller stainless steel scoop.

These meatballs make perfect appetizers. They are delicious on hoagie rolls with provolone and topped with Parmesan cheese. Of course they go great with pasta. On the night I prepared these, we simply ate them with rice.

Enjoy!

Sauce



















MeatBalls