How I got obsessed with a salad, and other November stories
Welcome to standard time, friends. Thanks, I hate it too. I tweeted this week that the first Monday of standard time is the worst day of the year every year, and I stand by that completely -- it's always suddenly so dark at 5:30 in the afternoon, the world seems depressing, and there are months and months before we come in to the light days again. But for the past few years I've been trying to take lessons from those people who actually like this time of year, and figure out how to make my life cozy and happy during the dark days. Things I recommend: really good pajamas (I like this set from Target so much I have two sets of them and I will probably buy one in another color by the end of this week); cozy slippers (I got these from J. Crew last year for Christmas and they make me happy whenever I put them on; a great robe (I splurged on an Ugg robe a few years ago and I love it so much); baking (my solution to every problem to be honest, but I think you all knew that already); making anything that needs a long slow braise (I recommend short ribs, pork chile verde, or a classic beef stew); or just making anything that keeps you in your warm and cozy kitchen for a while (I've been wanting to make Hannah Giorgis's lasagna for a long time, and that time might be coming up soon). What are your cold weather strategies? And yes yes I know, I live in California, which means I have all the more sympathy for those of you who live in places where it gets icy!
Before I forget, I have a few last events this year, so if you're in either Portland Oregon or the Bay Area, I hope I see you soon. Tomorrow I'll be at the Portland Book Festival, first on a panel with Casey McQuiston about Romance and Royalty (at 10:15 am) then interviewing Rainbow Rowell at 5 pm. Then next Wednesday at 6 pm I'll be on a panel at the San Francisco Public Library chatting about NaNoWriMo with Carolina de Robertis and Rachael Herron. And finally, on Sunday November 17, I'll be at East Bay Booksellers in Oakland, interviewing Jami Attenberg about her incredible new book, All This Can Be Yours.
Okay so while I was in Boston for the Boston Book Festival (which was a delight, thank so so much to everyone who came!) I went out to dinner with my friend Kate at a newish restaurant called Fox & The Knife. We were both intrigued by their menu item that was called the Broccoli Alla Grilla "Caesar" with Caesar in quotes like that, so we asked about it, and our server said it was basically their take on a Caesar salad, with a combination of cooked and raw broccoli. Kate loves an interesting salad as much as I do, so we immediately ordered it to share, and it was so good we haven't stopped talking about it yet. And since I don't live in Boston and can't go back and order that salad constantly, I was on a mission to recreate it as soon as I got home from book tour. I googled and found this recipe for it, which looks like the real deal (though the amount of both dressing and croutons seem like restaurant size amounts and not the right amounts you'd use for that amount of broccoli, but both of those things keep for a while, so that doesn't really matter). I've made the salad three times this week and it's made me happy every single time. There are a few other things in it that are harder for a home cook -- it calls for the broccoli to be grilled, so instead I roasted it on high heat, the Caesar dressing was more complicated than I was in the mood to do, so I riffed off of the Smitten Kitchen Caesar dressing recipe instead, the croutons were a little more complicated than I was in the mood to do, so I simplified them -- but they were all easy things. The second time I made this I made some farro as I was doing everything else and tossed the farro into the salad to give it more heft and make it a whole meal, and that was great; the third time I shredded some brussels sprouts and added them to the raw broccoli to see if that worked, and it did. Basically I love this salad completely and will be making it a ton in the coming months, and if you like broccoli, I bet you'll like it too. Also this seems like a lot for a salad, but once you have the dressing and the croutons made, it's pretty easy to throw together (which is why it's good to have extra of both the dressing and croutons). At some point I'm going to try it the more complicated way, but my version of it is below.
Broccoli Caesar salad
Ingredients
For the Caesar dressing:
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 anchovy, smashed into a paste
1-2 dashes fish sauce (optional)
1-2 tablespoons lemon juice
2 tablespoons mayonnaise
1 teaspoon dijon mustard
1/4 cup olive oil
kosher salt and pepper to taste
For the croutons:
4 tablespoons olive oil
4 tablespoons butter
2 cloves garlic, sliced
1/2 teaspoon smoked paprika
4 ounces sourdough or French or Italian bread, cubed (I used sweet batard)
zest of a lemon
salt
For the salad:
1-2 heads broccoli, stalks included (depending on how big the broccoli heads are)
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1 tablespoon olive oil
Shaved parmesan
lemon zest
Instructions
For the dressing:
Combine the garlic, anchovy, and fish sauce with the lemon juice, and add salt. Whisk in the mayonnaise and dijon mustard, then whisk in the olive oil. Taste, and add salt and pepper. Set aside (you may need to whisk it again to combine right before adding to the salad).
For the croutons:
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. In a large skillet over medium high heat, heat the oil and butter until melted. Add the garlic and paprika and a pinch of salt. Put the cubed bread in the skillet and toss until coated with the mixture. Add the lemon zest and toss. Toast in the pan until they're starting to brown, and then transfer to the oven (the recipe says to transfer to the baking sheet here, but I just slid my skillet straight into the oven, you can do it either way, depending on how many croutons you're making). Bake until golden brown, about 10 minutes.
For the broccoli:
Preheat your oven to 475 degrees. (I've done this at anywhere between 450 and 500, all of these temps work fine, just keep an eye on it if you go hotter). Cut the tops of the broccoli off of the stems (reserve the stems). Slice the broccoli into steaks of about half an inch or so thick, and toss with olive oil and salt right on your roasting pan (don't worry if some little broccoli trees fall off, add them to the roasting pan anyway). Roast for 5-8 minutes, turning once if you have time (if you don't, don't worry about it), until the broccoli is cooked through but still bright green. Let cool slightly and roughly chop.
As the broccoli is cooking, peel or cut off the rough outside layer to the broccoli stalks, then cut each stalk in half and slice into thin half moons. Add to a bowl with the lemon juice, olive oil, and salt and toss.
To finish the salad:
Toss the cooked broccoli with the raw broccoli. Drizzle with the Caesar dressing, and top with the croutons, shaved Parmesan, and lemon zest. Enjoy!
Have a great weekend, everyone!
Jasmine
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