Years ago, I had the pleasure of working at a tiny French cafe. It wasn't the sort of cafe that's particularly charming, with black and white decor, vases of daffodils lining the kitchen counter and tiny twinkling lights strung overhead. Rather, it was a bare bones restaurant nestled into the corner of an art gallery on my college campus. Diners ordered at the counter then followed a ramp, yes a ramp, to a sunken dining room filled with cookie cutter tables and chairs. And, though there were rich, Cabernet colored walls and music, always music, piped in overhead, it wasn't idyllic in the least.
But the food was sturdy and solid and good, French cuisine with a Northwest twist. We served a French onion soup so seductive I snuck a spoonful of it with every turn through the kitchen. Back behind those swinging kitchen doors, the cheeky (in every sense of the word) chef layered petite baguettes with prosciutto and cheese, and crisped little Croque Bébés on the grill top until they were practically melting with butter. In the fall, students returning to campus clamored for a slice of bacon-studded Quiche Lorraine; in the winter, they soothed their stomachs with silky squash soup.
And always, there was the composed salad. At the cafe, the composition was made of an herb-dusted potato salad, a creamy celery root remoulade, jewel-toned roasted beets and a refreshing carrot slaw. I cared not for it.
In fact, I'd never ordered it myself and hadn't thought about it in years until recently, when I decided my salad plate was looking rather green.
Most days, I toss arugula or mesclun greens with a vinaigrette, homemade croutons, grated cheese and, maybe, baby shrimp. This loose-knit combination has been my fall-back recipe for years but lately I've been bored by my lack of creativity and starting to experiment with fresh alternatives. In the last month, Molly Wizenberg's red cabbage salad with lemon and black pepper had got me rethinking my previous opinions on raw cabbage. Jamie Oliver introduced me to the pleasures of pairing carrot and cilantro in one "treat for all" as he call his citrusy carrot salad recipe. And Mark Bittman, well, he offered 101 ideas to help me recreate the salad course of which I landed upon a fennel and apple salad dressed in a mustard vinaigrette.
After sampling these recipes individually, I recalled the salad I served at the cafe years ago, and decided to put all these pieces together on one plate (smaller versions of course - not even this veggie-lover can eat that much foliage). I'll warn you ahead of time that this cobbled together salad requires so much chopping and dicing and slicing that you'll soon feel like a sous chef whose bane of existence is to prep piece after piece of produce. But the result is a colorful plate that boasts three inviting salads in one course. It's not French by any means but it is a perfect meal for one.
Composed Salad
This is really three recipes in one, each yielding enough for a leftover snack the next day unless you're really hungry. I find it helpful to approach each salad individually, doing all the fancy knife work, measuring and tossing for one salad before tackling the next one. Then, you're just left to assemble the trio of salads and set to work with your fork. Of course, if you are feeling particularly lazy - and I sometimes am - you can make each of these recipes individually and serve them aside something lovely like an omelet for supper.
For the Red Cabbage Salad
1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
Pinch of pressed garlic (approximately 1/16 of a tablespoon, if you own a spoon that small)
Pinch of kosher salt
1/2 of a small red cabbage
1/8 cup grated or crumbled Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese
Freshly ground black pepper
Make the dressing in a small bowl by whisking together the olive oil, lemon juice, garlic and salt. Set the bowl aside while you prepare the cabbage.
Pull away any bruised leaves from the outside of the cabbage, and trim its root end to remove any dirt. Cut the cabbage half in half again and, using a mandoline or a sharp knife, slice each hunk as thin as you possibly can (aim for no larger than 1/4-inch slivers).
Add the cabbage to the dressing bowl and toss together. Add the cheese and toss lightly. Taste, and season as needed.
-From Molly Wizenberg's A Homemade Life
Fennel-Apple Salad
1/2 of a small fennel bulb
1/2 of a small crisp apple, like a gala
1 tablespoon mustard vinaigrette, like the one here
2 tablespoons parsley
Salt and pepper
Using a mandoline julienne your fennel and apple into tiny matchsticks. Place them in a bowl, then toss with the dressing. Add the parsley and season with salt and pepper to taste.
-Adapted from Mark Bittman
Carrot and Cilantro Salad
Zest and juice of 1/2 an orange
Juice of 1 lemon
1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
3 medium-sized carrots, washed and peeled
Small handful of fresh cilantro leaves
4 tablespoons golden raisins Make the dressing in a medium-sized bowl by whisking together the orange juice and zest, lemon juice and olive oil. Set aside.
Cut all the carrots into fine ribbons (I use a peeler, though you could cut the carrots into matchsticks or grate them instead and the recipe would turn out fine). Add the carrots, cilantro and raisins to the bowl. Toss well, then season to taste with salt and pepper.
-Adapted from Jamie Oliver's Jamie's Dinners
Lastly, mound equal amounts of each salad on a plate and serve.
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