What do you eat when you’re feeling too busy to cook? If you’re like me, you’ll fall into one of these camps: Take-out (pizza, burritos); “Cooking” (quesadilla, grilled cheese, pasta). Not a lot of vegetable matter. A lot of food that is not really that satisfying but feels fine for one meal. But not, I repeat not, fine for more than one meal. Because — and this is the true sign that I am turning into an adult — I like eating vegetables. And I do not want or like to eat several meals lacking vegetables in a row.

But sometimes, cooking is hard. The pasta is staring at you saying, boil me. Just boil me, and add some olive oil and salt and a little bit of whatever you have in the fridge, and I will be delicious. Or, if you are me, and live where I live, then Chipotle is literally across the street, and I swear that they are pumping the scent of carnitas out their exhaust fumes.

This, then, is when I turn to kale salad. As evidenced by my recent lack of posts (and my apologies about that!), I am having a very busy day/week/month. Full discretion: I am actually eating a quesadilla right now, as I type. One made with corn tortillas (good local ones) and grated cheese, and that’s it. Not even any hot sauce. It’s a busy time.

Too often, I forget about kale salad. It’s a little counterintuitive, eating such a hearty green that I am so used to cooking absolutely raw. But it’s become my favorite way to eat kale, and one of — if not my absolute — favorite ways to eat salad. It’s so filling and so satisfying — the snap and crunch of the kale between your teeth actually make you feel like you are growing stronger as you eat it, not unlike Popeye and his spinach. And the zing and the cheesiness of the dressing makes the whole thing feel utterly decadent, even though it’s one billion times healthier than a slice of pizza.

All you have to do is buy a head of kale (which should run you about $3) and a few ingredients for dressing, ones that you might well already be stocking. You want Tuscan kale (some types: black, lacinto) — the good, thick, pebbled stuff that is closed in relatively tightly on itself. It’s the most common kind, I think, but I’ve seen other, frillier ones that won’t work.

Then all you do is chop of the stems (you don’t even have to de-rib), slice into ribbons, and toss with a couple magical ingredients (garlic, lemon, cheese, oil, salt), and voila, served with toast, you have a light supper. If you’re feeling up to a modicum more work, hard-boil an egg and slice it into quarters, add half an avocado, a tomato, some red onion.

If you’re feeling even lazier/more stressed, simply toss the cleaned, sliced kale with some store-bought Caesar dressing (I like Brianna’s), and you’ll be ready to eat even faster.

The original recipe calls for bread crumbs (preferably freshly made), but if I had to make bread crumbs, or even bother toasting bread crumbs, I would probably never manage to make this salad. The whole beauty here, for me at least, is how delicious such an extremely simple recipe can be. And so, I’ve made the recipe even simpler, the way I make this salad when I make it at home, on a tired night. (For the original, bread crumb including recipe, try one of the links below.)

Going on a little mini-roadtrip/vacay this afternoon to the Pizza Farm in Stockholm, WI. Photos and more later this week!

Raw Kale Salad

Adapted from Melissa Clark, via 101 Cookbooks

Serves 2 as a side

Ingredients

-       ½ bunch Tuscan kale (black, lacinto, etc.), rinsed and dried

-       1 garlic clove, minced

-       ¼ tsp. kosher salt

-       ¼ cup finely grated pecorino cheese (or Parmesan)

-       3 Tbsp. extra-virgin olive oil

-       juice of one lemon

-       1/8 tsp. red pepper flakes

-       fresh ground black pepper, to taste

1. Cut bottom stems off of kale. Cut kale leaves into horizontal ribbons, about ½ inch wide. Place in a large salad bowl.
2. Combine garlic, salt, cheese, oil, lemon juice, and red pepper flakes in a small bowl. Whisk to combine. Pour dressing over salad and toss to combine.
3. Let salad sit for about five minutes (this is to let the flavors meld slightly, but it can also survive for longer – the kale is pretty hearty). Serve, grinding black pepper over if desired.

Well, it is back to winter in Minneapolis. After a glorious week of temperatures in the fifties, of rivers of melting snow, of sneakers and runs outside, the ground is entirely covered in snow again, I’m wearing my boots again, I’m going to have to shovel my car out again.

Enter warm lentils with mustard vinaigrette. This is a dish that spans the seasons. I made this in that beautiful winter/spring period I mentioned before, but it would be just as good on a snowy winter day, a rainy spring day, a blazing summer day, or a blustery fall day. It’s quick and it’s all on the stovetop, and it can be served piping hot, warmish, or room temperature (or even eaten straight, cold, from the fridge, if we’re telling the truth here). And it’s totally, mind-bogglingly delicious.

This dish is really a cinch, and it’s also a match made in heaven. Give me some lentils and mustard, and I will just close my eyes and pretend that I’m at a picnic in the French countryside.

Oh, and I should mention: The recipe comes from Ina Garten’s How Easy Is That?, which I got as a review copy. It’s not the kind of book I would immediately think of to buy — I tend to stay away from Food Network personalities these days — but Ina is different. She’s the real deal, with an approachable Hamptons style and lots of elegant, easy dishes that are surprisingly affordable (or at least affordably adaptable). She calls for somewhat pricey Le Puy lentils for this dish, for example, but I found it totally excellent with the cheapo green lentils from the chain supermarket by my house. So while this might not be where I’d immediately gravitate in the bookstore, I was surprised by how many recipes in this book I really want to cook. And this recipe, at least, has definitely made it into my regular rotation, and that’s saying a lot.

So far, the only real bone I have to pick with Ina is the absolutely extreme amount of salt in every recipe; but maybe that’s more the bone I have to pick with the general American palate. All I can say is, if you check out the book, add salt with caution. (I’ve made it to taste here.)

Warm Lentil Salad with Mustard Vinaigrette

Serves 3

Adapted from Ina Garten’s How Easy is That?

Ingredients

For lentils:

-       2 Tbsp. olive oil

-       1 leek (the white and light green parts only, sliced)

-       2 carrots, scrubbed and sliced in half lengthwise and then sliced horizontally

-       1 tsp. (or more) minced garlic

-       1 cup green lentils (Ina says Le Puy, but you don’t have to get that fancy)

-       1 whole onion, peeled

-       6 whole cloves, stuck into the onion

-       1 turnip, cut in half

-       1 tsp. unsalted butter

For vinaigrette:

-       ¼ c. olive oil

-       4 tsp. Dijon mustard

-       2 Tbsp. red wine vinegar

-       1 tsp. freshly ground black pepper

-       kosher salt, to taste

1. Heat 2 Tbsp. of olive oil in a pan. Add the leek and carrots; cook for about 5 minutes, until leek is beginning to soften and become fragrant. Add garlic; cook for one more minute, just to soften garlic.
2. Meanwhile, put the lentils, 4 cups of water, the onion (stuck with cloves), and the turnip in a large pot. Bring to a boil. Lower the heat, add the leeks/carrots, and simmer uncovered until the lentils absorb all the water (about 15-20 minutes). The lentils should be tender at this point, but test them to make sure; if they’re not tender, add more water little by little and let it absorb until they do get tender.
3. Remove from heat; remove the onion and turnip. Add the butter and stir in.
4. While the lentils, etc. have been cooking, make the vinaigrette: whisk together all vinaigrette ingredients. Add to lentils when they’re off the heat and stir to combine. Let lentils cool for a few minutes (this will help the flavors meld). Adjust salt and pepper to taste.

Last night, I changed my comforter from the thin summer weight to the loftier winter down. And while I was struggling to get the comforter into its cover (why, why is it always such a struggle?), I was thinking that I couldn’t believe that only two months ago I was suffering in the Minnesota summer heat. And now I’m wondering at what point I can rightly call my landlord to inquire about when the heat is going to be turned on.

But despite the onset of serious fall (it’s going to be winter soon, here in the midwest tundra), I had to sneak one more vaguely summery recipe in here. There’s a master plan, I swear! And it’s not even that specifically summery; even here in Minnesota, I still saw green cabbage at the farmer’s market a week ago, and we never had farm-fresh grapes or tarragon anyway (sadly). But something about this dish — its light, refreshing crunch, perhaps — makes me think of summer.

Or or maybe it’s the fact that I ate this for lunch for days on end in the cruelly hot month of August, replenishing the cabbage and the grapes and the dressing (I didn’t have anymore chicken or tarragon) as I saw fit, so that in the end, who knows how large a portion I actually made. And then, as delicious as it was, when I eventually tired of it (days and days later), I turned the leftovers into a brilliant, absolutely fall-appropriate stir-fry type dish that will be coming up here in a few days. I told you I had a master plan.

This recipe, if you can call it that, is pretty loose. The proportions of, well, everything are up to you. All the ingredients are up to you. You can do this with lettuce instead or parsley instead or so on and so forth. Although, for the master plan to work, you really do need to use cabbage. You’ll see.

Chicken Salad with Grapes and Tarragon

Makes about 4 servings

Ingredients

-       2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts

-       1 head green cabbage, shredded

-       1 bunch red grapes, rinsed, grapes cut in half

-       a couple sprigs of tarragon, leaves removed from stems

-       olive oil or canola oil

-       rice vinegar

-       salt and freshly ground black pepper

1. Poach chicken breasts. Once chicken breasts are cool, pull apart the meat into shreds.
2. Combine all ingredients in a large bowl. You want a couple glugs of the oil – canola for less flavor, olive for more distinct flavor. Then add rice vinegar by tablespoons, mixing each time, until you get the flavor you want. Then add salt and pepper to taste.

So I’m going in a more summery direction: Modified bún (Vietnamese noodle salad)!

Here’s what makes it a great summer dish:

• Mint, basil and cilantro (cooling)
• Cucumber (further cooling)
• Lime (refreshing)
• Cold noodles you need only to soak in hot water, cutting down stove time

I came across the recipe on The Kitchn earlier this month and fell in love the first time I made it. The herbs complement one another delightfully, and the dish is filling but never heavy.

The only bummer was how many stupid plastic bags of green things I had to buy. But then, lucky me, that very week my professor gave me a beautiful basil plant! It’s a pretty bodacious specimen, and it’s even survived its transfer to a bigger pot. Look at it go:

Those leaves aren't yellow; they're aglow with nutritious sunlight!

I’m thinking it’s going to do better than my little tarragon plant, which is still alive but has had a long year. Winter on a windowsill did not do it good. But I’m taking my horticultural responsibilities pretty seriously and am determined to keep these alive, even if it means buying a grow-lamp and running up the electricity bill.

Enough about me; here’s the recipe, as I’ve adapted it from The Kitchn (my changes in italics):

Vietnamese-Style Salad (2 servings [my boyfriend and I are hungry, hungry hippos; other people might like less food])

The Stuff
4 oz. rice sticks (I use about 2/3 of the 6.75-oz. bag by Dynasty) + trace of sesame oil
1 cup bean sprouts
1 cucumber, cut into match sticks
1 carrot, cut into match sticks
(how big is a carrot? how big is a cucumber? just try to get even amounts of the two)
lettuce (I forgot to use lettuce the second time I made this and have since omitted it; I like it better without!)

Sauce
2 T lime juice
2 T fish sauce (without this the recipe could be vegan, but after trying it with just soy sauce per The Kitchn, I agree with all the comments that, oh no no no, this dish needs fish sauce)
2 T sugar + 2 T water
1 t grated ginger (maybe this is totally inauthentic, but it tastes awesome)
2 t Sriracha (recipe calls for just garlic, but this provides garlic and chili, which makes it just the right kind of spicy for me)

Garnish
1 heaping T of packed basil leaves (I snipped 15 from my plant, please forgive!)
1 heaping T of packed mint leaves (in the stupid, overpriced plastic box from the store)
1 heaping T of packed cilantro (trying to preserve the rest of my store-bought bunch upright in a glass of water with a bag over the top, will let you know how it goes)
1/4 C peanuts, crushed

Step 1: Boil enough water (I did this in my small tea kettle) to cover the rice sticks. Let sit in a covered pot for 10 minutes.
Step 2: Chop the carrot and cucumber. Rinse and drain the bean sprouts.
Step 3: Chop the garnishes.
At my chopping pace, 10 minutes has passed, so onto
Step 4: Drain the noodles and put a few drops of sesame oil on them while they cool. You can stick them in the fridge for later, too. (Unlike “pasta,” rice sticks don’t seem to clump, so you could do this well ahead of time if you wanted to, I think.)
Step 5: In a small bowl, mix the sugar and water to make a simple syrup (I microwave for 15 seconds to get the dissolving on).
Step 6: Add lime juice and fish sauce to simple syrup. Stir.
Step 7: Add grated ginger, and stir in the Sriracha.
Step 8: Divide noodles between two plates or big bowls. Spread carrots, cucumber and bean sprouts over each. Pour the sauce over everything. Add the garnishes.

NB: This dish usually takes a protein. The original recipe suggested frying tofu, which I’ve done, and I can imagine this would be really great with shrimp–but for now I’m going really simple/cheap style, and letting the herbs star in this show.

HERB INSPIRATION #2: Make this dish, eat under my new ceiling fan (thanks, landlord!). And keep my basil plant alive.

Effective!

The hijiki adds some fishy, oceanic umami flavors. It also contains a lot of iron and dietary fiber, making this salad super healthy overall. You can buy hijiki at Whole Foods or (much more cheaply) at a Japanese grocery store, if you’re lucky enough to have one of those around. Soak it according to package directions- the kind I get instructs me to soak in cold water for thirty minutes. If you don’t have any hijiki, chopped olives would probably sub in well.

Kale and Edamame Salad

One bunch kale
1 cup frozen shelled edamame
1/4 cup dried hijiki, soaked (by which I mean, soak first and then measure, as it expands considerably)

Dressing:

2 tsp sesame oil
2 Tbs soy sauce
2 tsp mirin
1/2 tsp rice wine vinegar

Remove the thick stems from the kale and boil it for about twenty minutes. Meanwhile, boil the edamame for about three or four minutes and drain. Mix the dressing ingredients together. When the kale is cooked, drain it and toss it with the soaked hijiki, edamame and dressing. Add salt, pepper and crushed red pepper flakes and eat at room temperature.

This is one of those recipes — if you can call it a recipe — that came about serendipitously in my life. It was an atrociously hot day here in Minneapolis, and I was home and hungry, but not too hungry. The contents of my fridge were bleak, but specialized, including three heads of endive and a bunch of radishes I had bought in a moment of spontaneity at the grocery store earlier in the week. They would do, I decided. I wanted a blue cheese dressing, but didn’t have blue cheese, nor did I have the wherewithal to get myself to the store and back. And so, to the internets. And so, enter anchovy.

Anchovies get a rough rap. And even I, who am an advocate for the powers of anchovies to melt seamlessly into a sauce, was a little nervous about this. But I had prepared for this day, there was a tin of anchovies in my cupboard, and so the inevitable finally happened. I chopped up some anchovies and ate them — without cooking them down, without being to ignore their essential anchovy-ness — as part of salad dressing. And it was what I might go so far as to call revelatory.

This dressing was absolutely fantastic — rich and savory, a little briney, good and garlicy. And it was a perfect complement to the crispy bitter and peppery flavors of the endive and radish. Altogether, a perfect light lunch, not worth any trepidation or hesitation, only worth making as soon as possible.

Anchovy Dressing

Adapted from the New York Times

Serves 2 (in my opinion…the NYT says 4)

Ingredients

- 1 clove garlic, peeled and chopped

- 4 anchovy fillets, finely chopped

- 1 tablespoon red wine vinegar (maybe a little more)

- 1 teaspoon Dijon mustard

- 1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil or walnut oil

- Salt to taste.

1. In a small bowl, whisk together the garlic, anchovies, vinegar and mustard. Gradually whisk in the olive oil until well blended.
2. For endive and radish salad, you need three heads of endive and one bunch of radishes. I cut the endive in slices horizontally; as for the radishes, cut the bottoms and the tops off and then slice vertically. Toss all together. (The cut veggies will keep in the fridge for at least a day.)

Disclaimer: If you’ve come across this blog after thinking that hitting the big, green “salad” button on the right of Food Junta’s page would lead you to something light and healthy for dinner tonight, you’re wrong.

Sure, a salad should be healthy. Most of they time, they’ve got leafy greens and some fresh veggies. This one’s a bit different. For starters, you’ve got to use iceberg lettuce. You know, the one that your mom stopped serving you years ago when nutritionalists and the newspaper told her to switch to spinach or at least romaine. It’s got zilch for nutritional value, and rabbits aren’t even supposed to eat it. No lie– it gives them crazy intestinal cramps. Don’t believe me? See below.

Schneetag the Rabbit

But the quarter head of iceberg lettuce per serving isn’t what makes me call this an un-salad. Eating this variety of lettuce is basically like consuming air and water; it doesn’t hurt. You could eat it with a leafy green that’s a little more vitamin-rich, but then you’d lose the essential crunch.

So what’s so unhealthy, then? It’s the load of bacon and guacamole that you’re going to put on top of it. But at least the avocados are full of “good fat,” right? (I can’t wait for the day that someone reveals that bacon’s got that “good fat,” too.) But albeit unhealthy, this salad’s simple and delicious. And even a carb-lover like me can fill up on just this for dinner.

The key to doing this salad justice is the guacamole. I’m proud to say that I’ve got it mastered, and I think those who’ve come to guacamole burger night at my place would agree. The key to the key? It’s got to be chunky. No one likes that pureed soupy mess that’s served in Tex-Mex restaurants or that jarred junk that they sell in the tortilla chip section of the supermarket. I’m talking full, hearty, fresh guacamole. And don’t wait until your avocados are too ripe– they’ve got to have some substance. When you’re doing the first mash of your peeled and pitted avocados, feel free to leave some chunks in there. Big ones. Then you can add your diced tomatoes and onions (I prefer red or purple for the color factor), salt, pepper, garlic powder and lime juice to taste. If I’ve got it, I’ll toss in a dollop of sour cream or yogurt to smooth it out, but it’s not necessary. Once you’ve got everything in there, you can give another mash or two.

And then, there’s the bacon. Bacon’s got an unfair advantage. It can make just about any recipe delicious.

Now, even though the Germans have mastered the preparation and production of just about every pork product, they haven’t quite mastered breakfast bacon– at least not the companies that sell in our local supermarket. So, while we make do with the Dutch-produced, Tulip brand bacon on bacon-n-grits mornings, we opt for something even more delicious for this salad: lardon. That’s right. Little cubes of pork fat that brown up nicely in the pan and don’t require you to grease up your fingers by tearing bacon strips to pieces. But really, either will work here. And although I can’t imagine doing it myself, vegetarians and those who just don’t do pork can leave out this addition altogether.

The recipe called to puree about one cup of the guac with 1/3 cup lime juice, 1/4 cup water and 1/2 cup vegetable oil. I found that’s far too much lime juice and a bit too much oil as well. I also use olive oil, because I like it. (And it’s the “good fat,” again, right?) As with any recipe, you should adjust it to fir your taste.

Guacamole Salad
Adapted from a Food and Wine magazine I read somewhere some years ago

Crumbled bacon or cubes of lardon– as much or as little as you’d like, as crispy or as soft as you’d like
Iceberg lettuce, cut into wedges

Dressing:

2 large avocados
diced tomatoes (~1 medium or several of the cherry variety)
diced onions (~1 medium red)
juice of 1 lime
salt, pepper, garlic powder to taste
dollop of sour cream or pain yogurt (optional)
1/8-1/4 cup water
1/4-1/2 cup olive oil

Mash avocados.

Add tomatoes and onions; mix.

Add salt, pepper, garlic powder, and lime juice to taste.

Stream in water and olive oil while mixing with a blender, food processor or your energy-efficient hand and whisk combination.

Blend to desired consistency.

Pour dressing over a wedge of iceberg lettuce. Top with bacon and additional tomatoes, if you’ve got ‘em left over.

I satisfied my most recent of these cravings with this tasty and wholesome salad that I more or less made up. I love roasted sweet potatoes and cannot get enough of this amazing salad that I wrote about last year, but I thought it was time for a change.

So I took baby spinach, roast sweet potatoes, and a bunch of other stuff I thought would taste good and mixed it together. Result? It tasted good.

Obviously, eating out frequently isn’t the soundest financial decision, but what frustrates me most about doing it is how hard it is to eat even moderately healthfully when you’re not cooking for yourself. I’m not saying there aren’t healthy options out there, just that it’s shocking to me how hard it is to get vegetables (not french fries) at the sort of $10 a head restaurants I tend to go to when I’m hungry and lazy. On top of which, a lot of the options that do exist tend to be too consciously Health Food and are therefore bad.

I think there’s a real market out there for a mid-price eat-in/take-out/delivery place that does slightly upscale, health-conscious versions of what we in the South call Meat and Three. A quarter roast chicken or a small piece of fish is neither expensive nor difficult to prepare, and you could just pair these and a another couple of protein options (including a vegetarian one) with a choice of 10 or so rotating sides. I’ll call it Blue Plate Special, and it will make a fortune. Interested investors can contact me at anytime at foodjunta@gmail.com.

In the meantime, I’ll just keep getting fat.

Spinach Salad with Roasted Sweet Potatoes

Here’s what I put in this one, but obviously you should improvise like crazy:

Baby spinach
Dried cranberries
Sliced almonds
Feta cheese
Roasted sweet potatoes

To prepare the salad, I cut the sweet potatoes into small-ish cubes. (I washed the skin well, but left it on. It’s good for you!) I tossed them in a very generous amount of olive oil and salt, and then threw them in a 375 degree oven for about 45 minutes, but cooking time will vary depending on the size of your cubes. Just check them regularly after about half an hour.

I assembled all the other ingredients in a bowl, and here’s where I think I got clever. Instead of mixing a separate dressing, I thought to myself, why couldn’t I just use the oil from the sweet potatoes? I was inspired by the spinach salad with warm bacon dressing that I made last summer, where the bacon fat is used as the oil for the dressing. So when the sweet potatoes were done, I just dumped the whole lot onto the rest of the salad, and tossed well. Everything got nicely coated in tasty oil, and the heat wilted the spinach just the tiniest bit. Then I squeezed a lemon over the salad, tossed it again, added salt and pepper to taste, and felt very pleased with myself.

Today is one of those days when grad school is amazing. Today is a day when classes are canceled, and the sun is shining. Today is a day that follows a Nietzsche take-home exam and a story being due and a weekend of being quite sick meanwhile. And so today is a day in which I slept til almost noon, and will run around the lake, and will go to yoga, and will read the rest of an incredible book of short stories by Miranda July. In short, today is a day in which I will recover and recoup and take it easy.

And so, though I have many slightly more elaborate recipes up my sleeve, today is a day in which I give you this easy blue cheese dressing. Because blue cheese dressing is spectacularly delicious and, as it turns out, spectacularly easy to make yourself — and by making it yourself (and using nonfat or lowfat yogurt), spectacularly more healthy than that store-bought version. Plus, as with everything you take the time (in this case, about two minutes) to make yourself, you can control all the variables. In my case, that means lots and lots of cheese, in noticeable chunks. In your case, that may mean something else entirely, the proportions here are just a guideline, and you can mash or not mash to your heart’s delight.

Easy Blue Cheese Dressing

From Mark Bittman’s How to Cook Everything

Makes about 1 cup

Ingredients

- 1/2 cup crumbled blue cheese (buy the crumble-prone rather than creamy kind — Roquefort, Stilton, Maytag blue, or Gorgonzola)

- 1/2 cup sour cream or plain yogurt (works fine with low-fat or non-fat, to be a little healthier)

- freshly squeezed lemon juice, as needed

- salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste

1. Combine cheese and sour cream/yogurt in a small bowl. Mash with fork to your desired lumpiness.

2. Add enough lemon juice to achieve the consistency you want. Add salt and pepper, to taste.

I actually think this is better after a day in the fridge, to let the blue cheese flavor really permeate, but it will do just fine served right away. Will keep in the fridge for about a week (MBittz says “a few days”). I served it over a simple salad of frisee and radishes, alongside a broiled steak, but as you know, the options are endless.

This post was not supposed to be this salad. I had big plans on showing you something else, something more complicated that required trial-and-error testing and tasting and ingredient-buying and fuss, in the hopes that I would inspire you to do something similar. But it was one of those weeks that had me crawling into bed and collapsing into a deep sleep after each exhausting day, and frankly, that sleep felt good.

So instead – this salad. This is a clean-out-your pantry meal, meaning that it’s highly adaptable, and great for when it’s raining too hard outside to make an extra trip to the grocery store. But if you can make that store-trip when the sun is shining, I do highly recommend the combination of ingredients I have listed below.

A word about the chicken. I grew up in a vegetarian household where the food was so good I never missed the meat loaf or pork chops or any of those other things kids are supposed to grow up with. I now eat all kinds of meat, but find myself extremely picky about how good it is before I do. This has led me to have some strong and annoying opinions on the topic of how to cook it. For me, there are only two ways for chicken to taste good: roast it or poach it.

The original recipe for this salad called for roasted chicken, but with the weather getting increasingly warmer, I am less and less inclined to turn on the oven for long periods of time. Plus, I wanted to keep its preparation as simple as the rest of the salad is to make. So I poached and shredded the chicken, and then tossed it in a good amount of lemon juice and cracked pepper. It worked wonderfully well, but please feel free to employ your preferred chicken-cooking method here, whether it’s roasting, poaching, or just throwing it into a saucepan. I promise to only judge you a little bit.

Italian Chicken Salad

Loosely adapted from Gourmet, April 2006

Makes 4 main-course servings

Ingredients

For Salad:

- About 1 lb of boneless chicken thighs*

- Juice from 2 -3 lemons

- Freshly cracked black pepper

- 2-3 hearts of romaine, roughly chopped into small pieces

- Mozzarella cheese (fresh is preferably but a block of good quality regular mozzarella works well too)

- Roasted red peppers (either rinsed and drained from a jar or of your own making) cut lengthwise

- Assorted marinated brine-cured olives (5 oz or less)

- Stale bread (hero rolls work well here), olive oil and salt for croutons

* See above paragraphs. Pieces of warm roast chicken or shredded chicken from a good rotisserie also work well.

For dressing:

- 1/4 cup red-wine vinegar

- 2 teaspoons Dijon mustard

- 2 tablespoons finely chopped shallot

- 1 teaspoon sugar

- 1/4 teaspoon salt

- 1/8 teaspoon black pepper

- 1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil

1. Place chicken thighs in a 4 to 6-quart heavy pot, and sprinkle the thighs with 1 tablespoon of salt. Cover the chicken with enough cold water so that the waterline is two inches above the chicken. Turn the heat onto high and cover. When the water is boiling, turn the heat down and let the chicken simmer in the water for about 10 minutes, until it’s cooked through. (If you are using bone-in meat, it will take longer for the chicken to cook through.)

2. While the chicken poaches, rinse, dry and chop the romaine leaves and put into a large bowl. Cut the roasted peppers lengthwise and add to the bowl as well.

3. Whisk together all vinaigrette ingredients except oil in a small bowl or jam jar until combined. Add oil in a slow, steady stream, whisking to combine.

4. Using tongs or a slotted spoon, place chicken onto the cutting board, and gently shred apart using two forks. Transfer the chicken to a small bowl, and squeeze generous amounts of fresh lemon juice over it. Crack some freshly ground pepper and a sprinkling of salt over the chicken as well. Toss to combine the chicken with the lemon juice, salt and pepper. Add this chicken to the salad bowl.

5. Cube the stale bread. In a saucepan, pour two tablespoons of olive oil on medium-high heat. Add bread cubes and toss so they are evenly coated in oil. Sprinkle croutons with salt, and toast until golden brown.

6. Add the marinated olives, chunks of mozzarella cheese and the vinaigrette to the salad bowl and toss to combine.

7. Plate the salad and place some warm croutons on top, as well as an additional squeeze of lemon juice. Collapse on your couch and eat.