You certainly won’t have much time to cook during your encounter with that special guest, so it has to be something you can easily prepare on the fly and with flair.
The key is preparing ahead of time. Check this out:
For the salad you’ll need:
(1) Medium bunch of arugula (about an inch diameter of the bottom stalks). Look for crisp leaves with no discoloration. Dirt is OK…discoloration is bad news: Arugula should be a deep green…not brown.
(1½ cup) Mixed greens. Avoid anything that looks less than fresh. Dirt is OK…discoloration is bad news
(1) Small chunk of Parmegiano Reggiano (Never accept any other Parmesan cheese as a substitute) If it’s less than $6.99/pound, it’s not the real thing.
(1) Medium red onion
(2) Tablespoons olive oil (not the cheap stuff—see below)
(3) Blood oranges (If you can’t find blood oranges, use navel oranges instead, but choose the best-looking ones)
(2) Garlic cloves (avoid ones that have ANY discoloration)
For the dressing you’ll need:
(3) Tablespoons lemon juice
(2) Tablespoons olive oil (not the cheap stuff—see below)
(1) teaspoon honey
Sea Salt and Crushed/Ground Black Pepper
A word about olive oil:
When you are making homemade salad dressing, your choice of olive oil will be key. There are a lot of opinions out there about what olive oil is good and what is bad, but what we can all agree on is that it is an expensive choice, no matter how you choose.
Some of the readers of this blog (two of my good friends that happen to be obsessed with Italy in particular) are probably better sources for a discussion about the nuances of olive oil producing regions and the effect they produce. Having tried a number of the common commercially-available bottles, I I think any Kitchen Ruler should have a bottle of Colavita Extra Virgin Olive Oil. It looks like this:
If you happen to live in New York, the same spice shop I recommended in an earlier post (one on 9th avenue between 40th and 41st street) has the cheapest price for a medium-sized bottle that should last you a month or two. I think it was somewhere around $16
As I wrote earlier, the more prepared you are, the better it is. So here’s the easy pre-recipe.
Step 1:
Wash the mixed greens in a colander (even though these are usually pre-washed). Wash away any dirt and watch for any discoloring: throw those greens right out. Dry the clean greens by wrapping them loosely in paper towels. After drying them, throw them in a large mixing bowl.
Step 2:
Chop off the stalks off the arugula. Put the leaves in a colander and wash EXTREMELY THOROUGHLY. Dry the clean arugula afterward by wrapping it loosely in paper towels. After drying them, set aside on a cutting board.
While incredibly tasty, this leafy vegetable is generally quite dirty when bought. A helpful hint: try to place all the arugula leaves uniformly throughout the colander so that the bottoms of all leaves are standing on the bottom of the colander. Then rinse the entire colander under running cold water (do NOT use hot or even lukewarm water) for about a minute or two. By the time you’re done washing, you should no specks of dirt on the leaves.
Step 3:
Chop the arugula on your cutting board. The idea here is to chop each leaf into thirds. Once you’re done, throw the cuttings into your large bowl with mixed greens.
You should now have something that looks like this:
Step 4:
Cut your red onion into thin slivers. Crush 2 garlic cloves and chop very finely.
Easy onion-cutting tip so you don’t cry before your date and look overly-sensitive when you greet your date at the door:
Use your sharpest knife. Chop off both tips of the onion. Run your knife along the outer edge of the onion to take off two layers. Now chop the whole thing in half, lengthwise. Pick out each half-core from the middle of each onion half with your fingers and throw it out: this is the bit of the onion that makes you cry like a baby.
Place each one on its flat side and cut thin slices all the way down. Break each slice with your hands to get thin half-moon slivers.
Step 5a:--If you're going to eat within 45 minutes
On medium-high, heat (2) Tablespoons of olive oil in a medium pan. When you see the oil surface shimmering, throw in your chopped garlic. After about 30 seconds, throw in your red onions. Mix thoroughly immediately and let cook until the edges of the red onion look burnt (about 5 minutes on medium heat). Turn off the heat and let cool for a minute or two. Pour the entire mixture over the mixed greens and arugula in your large bowl. Stir the entire contents immediately. Put in fridge until it’s show time.
Step 5b: If you're going to eat after 45 minutes
Follow step 5a 15 minutes before you're planning to eat.
Step 6:
You're going to eat in less than 10 minutes. Peel your orange and chop it into bite-size triangle pieces. Make sure to chop off any inner orange skin (the stuff that has that white fuzzy stuff on it). Throw this on top of your salad.
Step 7:
It’s time to make your dressing. Try to make it look easy. It actually is.
All you have to do is mix (2) Tablespoons of olive oil, (3) Tablespoons of lemon juice, (1) teaspoon of honey with salt and pepper to taste. I like to use a whisk for this step.
Pour this mixture over your premade salad.
Step 8:
Shave slices of Parmegiano Reggiano using your four-sided grater. Try to make them as thin and as uniform as possible. Generously throw these on top of the salad.
Helpful tip: If your slices are coming out too thick, feel free to break them up using your fingers. But there’s a technique to slicing thin slices off a chunk of Parmegiano Reggiano... practice makes perfect.
You should now be ready to serve. By the time you’re ready to do so, it should look something like this:
ENJOY!
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