Salad Days

In an earlier entry, I mentioned the salad I had enjoyed during several dinners at Mia Francesca in Chicago. It was a green bean salad, with green beans, crumbled gorgonzola, and balsamic vinaigrette. I've devised my own version and served it several times at home, and it's always been a hit.

To prepare, trim the ends from young green beans, preferably French haricot verts. Blanch in simmering, salted water until bright green and firm to the bite. Remove from boiling water and plunge immediately into a bowl of ice water to set the color and stop the cooking process. Remove from water and dry between tea towels. Assemble in a single direction on a serving plate. Sprinkle with finely diced, cored & seeded plum tomato. Dress with a basic vinaigrette of balsamic vinegar whisked with a dab of Dijon mustard and salt and pepper to taste, and a fruity olive oil (traditionally, 3-to-1 proportion of oil to vinegar--however, I prefer less oil). Crumble with a good gorgonzola cheese, and serve cold.

Another Francesca salad, which I had at Francesca al Forno, also in Chicago, was an arugula salad with a sweet balsamic. I created my own modified version, with a 50-50 mix of arugula and mixed baby greens, toasted pine nuts, halved grape tomatoes, and a honey-balsamic (replace mustard in above dressing with honey). I toss all of this together in a salad bowl and top with slices of gorgonzola dolce, a pungent, creamy, sweet gorgonzola, which I came across at Holiday Market in Royal Oak.

These modifications of signature salads from the Francesca restaurants in Chicago have become personal signatures at home. They're far superior to the typical green salads I encounter in most restaurants and homes, and bring fresh, unique flavor to the dinner table.

Photo credit seedsofchange.com