table talk / By Joseph Byrd

Tossed Salad for Two

(May 31, 2007)  With the Farmers’ Market now in full glory, the North Coast community is blessed. How can we make the most of this bounty?

When we opened our restaurant, Byrd House, over two decades ago, people warned us that there were “vegetarians” who would look askance at our omnivorous menu. I did not take them seriously. We had, even in those pre-farmers’-market days, access to a variety of local produce from the Co-op and from local farmers. The Potters’ Blue Lake farm was in full swing, as were several places in the Hoopa Valley, and we got deliveries from Marilyn at Seaside Herbs. So I made certain to include an interesting salad, pasta primavera, roasted broccoli with garlic and Parmesan and steamed vegetables with a chive beurre blanc.

Claudia Holzinger of Claudia’s Organic Herbs at the Arcata Farmers’ Market. Holzinger grows lettuce, herbs and more with her partner Von Tunstall at their Orleans farm. Photo by Bob Doran.

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Not good enough, said a handful of vegetarians. They wanted more variety, more complex preparations, spinach lasagna, lentil loaf — concoctions from The Moosewood Cookbook, a collection of amateurish recipes from a “legendary” restaurant in Ithaca, N.Y. Unfortunately, making vegetarian food that offers the range of flavors available from animal fats is a lot of work. Vegetable stocks require intensive cooking and reduction, and still don’t come close to the richness of chicken or beef broth. You’d really have to make it a full-time endeavor. So while we had vegetables, we didn’t have vegetarian customers.

Too often, in the course of daily meals, vegetables are an afterthought, and indeed, simply serving steamed or sautéed vegetables can make meals dull. For our family, eating more fresh vegetables has been a long-time goal, but one that’s difficult to achieve when both people have jobs. There’s a limit on how much prep time you want to put into supper after a day’s work. So for years we settled on a single seasonal vegetable dish, far short of the recommended two cups a day. And when we had salads, we often didn’t finish them — they were monochromatic, even using various bottled dressings like Annie’s. The basic constituents were the same. Boring.

Then last summer I decided to create a process that would give us nightly salads so attractive we would want to eat them. I built the recipe from the French model, using small quantities of the best possible ingredients for the dressing, and adding a variety of “goodies” kept in a special refrigerated Salad Bag. Since then, we eat a large salad almost every evening. It’s never the same twice, since it borrows from dozens of good restaurants here and abroad.

The best salads, of course, are in France. The French seem to find a way to turn everything into a salad constituent, particularly with luncheon and pre-entree salades composes. These can vary from a plate of paper-thin mushroom slices in a tarragon vinaigrette, or a bowl of marinated haricots verts, to roasted root vegetables with spinach, garbanzos and goat cheese, and a spectacular preparation we were served one afternoon in Cognac, brioche croutons covered with warm Bleu d’Auvergne over tart greens laced with diced bacon. (The French also serve a simple salad of lightly dressed greens after the main course, called “salade vert.”)

Here is a step-by-step method for a French-style salad, built around ingredients from the Farmers’ Market and other things available locally. If everything is set up ahead, it is possible to make an irresistible salad for two in just 10 minutes. And make it different every night.

The most important single ingredient is the oil. While we keep half a dozen vegetable oils, the only olive oil as good as the best French ones is Olinda RidgeMaster Blend, available at the Co-op in bulk or in 17-oz. bottles at Wildberries for $13. If you three to four times a week, leave the bottle out of the fridge (it will last easily 6-8 weeks unrefrigerated). Do not ever cook with this oil. Beside salads, its rich flavor enhances pasta and bread (instead of butter), and it can be used for sandwiches (in place of mayonnaise). When you first open the bottle, inhale. The Garden of Eden smelled like that.

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