The Mija Chronicles

Mexican food and culture, on both sides of the border

Salads

Smoky grilled romaine and radicchio salad, with parmesan and tomato

by

I’m hanging out with my in-laws in Phoenix, and one of the things they like to do for dinner is grill steaks. I love my in-laws and appreciate how much time they put into planning our meals here. But the steak-eating gene skipped me. No me enloquece, you know? (It doesn’t drive me crazy.) What does drive me crazy is salad. It drives my sister-in-law crazy, too. She’s a vegetarian.

She and I are both here in Phoenix this week, which has been a blessing. When the parents decided to do steaks, we whipped up this salad: grilled romaine and radicchio with cherry tomatoes, parmesan slices and avocado, with a tart citrus vinaigrette. She’s a bread fiend, so we added homemade croutons, too.

When it came time to eat, I served myself a piece of steak and promptly forgot about it. Instead I kept piling more salad onto my plate. Two servings… three… I think I might’ve gone for four. Grilling the lettuce gave it this faint smoky flavor, which matched perfectly with the avocado and the sweet-tart dressing. And the croutons — crispy on the outside and softer in the middle. Dude. They were gems.

The next morning I ate the salad for breakfast, even though it had already been dressed and was a teensy bit soggy. It was so good that I took out my new computer and decided I had to tell you about it now, instead of waiting until I got back from vacation.

Grilled romaine and radicchio salad, with parmesan and tomato
Serves about 8 as a side dish

Note: You may have a few extra croutons left over. I’ve used them to make a breakfast scramble/strata type-thing, by soaking them first in egg for five minutes, and then cooking them in a little butter, sautéed onion and greens.

Also, we only used half of the radicchio mentioned in the recipe. The rest can be stored in an airtight container in the fridge and eaten as leftovers, with any leftover dressing.

Ingredients

1 boule or a chunk of fresh bread of your choice, sliced into cubes (about 2 1/2 to 3 cups’ worth)
1 head romaine, cut in half
1 small- to medium-sized head radicchio, cut in half
1 avocado, cut into thin slices
1/2 package cherry tomatoes (about 1 cup)
Thinly sliced parmesan to taste

Dressing
Taken from this Food Network recipe, with a few tweaks

1 garlic clove, minced
1 tablespoon lemon zest
1/4 cup lemon juice
1 tablespoons white wine vinegar
2/3 cup olive oil
Dollop of honey

Directions

Place the bread cubes in a bowl and drizzle with olive oil and salt. Mix together with your hands until the cubes are evenly coated. Place on a baking sheet and bake for about 15 to 20 minutes at 375F, until the tips look golden brown. (They won’t turn an even golden brown because we’re not using enough oil — which is fine, they’ll still taste great, I promise.)

While the bread cubes cook, warm the grill or grill pan. Lightly brush the romaine and radicchio with olive oil. Place the lettuce cut-side down on the grill and cook for about five minutes, until the lettuce is partially charred on one side and slightly wilted, but not completely falling apart. Remove and slice with a sharp knife.

In a serving bowl, combine lettuce, croutons, avocado tomato and parmesan. Mix together salad dressing in an airtight jar, saving the olive oil for the end and shaking vigorously. Drizzle dressing over the salad and serve.

Green bean and chayote salad with queso cotija

by

I took a trip to Xalapa, Veracruz recently, and I ate way too much. Gorgeous, grasa-laden picaditas topped with cheese and plantain? Yes please. Mole? Mmm-hmmm. How about a side of it to accompany my cream-drenched enchiladas?

When I got home and stepped on the scale (Lesley, don’t ever step on the scale again), I wanted to cry. Then I vowed to eat more vegetables.

The lettuce at my local market looked a little sad, so I went with green beans, which are available year-round in Mexico because they’re native vegetables. The word “ejote” was “ejotl” in Nahuatl. I had a vision of cold, crisp green beans, mixed with some tomato and a little chayote.

I think the universe really wanted me to eat more vegetables again, because this was the best salad I’d eaten in a long time. The chayote added just the right touch of the sweetness; the crisp green beans gave texture. Crumbled cotija cheese, salty and slightly sour, tied everything together.

I made a simple vinaigrette to accompany this dish, but I didn’t even need it. The cheese was practically the dressing.

Crayton and I didn’t finish this in one sitting. I ate the leftovers out of the bowl for the next few days. Does anyone else besides me love doing that?

Green bean, chayote and cotija cheese salad
Serves 4 generously

Note: I used guaje tomatoes here, a Mexican variety that’s slightly larger than a Roma. Feel free to use the ripest, freshest tomatoes you can find. Queso cotija should be available at most Mexican supermarkets. If you can’t find it, you can substitute another salty, mild cheese. Just make sure it doesn’t taste too aged, because that might overwhelm the other flavors in the dish.

Ingredients

2 chayotes, diced into 1/2″ pieces
8 oz/250g green beans, chopped into about 2” pieces (this equals about 2 heaping cups)
2 ripe tomatoes* (see note), chopped
Good handful cilantro, stems included, chopped
Cotija cheese to taste — I used about 1/4 cup crumbled

Vinaigrette (optional):
3 T. apple cider vinegar
1/2 teaspoon dijon mustard
dollop of agave honey, or sweetener of your choice
4 T. olive oil

Directions

Heat a saucepan of water to boil on the stove. Nearby, fill a large boil with water and ice cubes. (We’re going to blanch the green beans.) When the water in the saucepan is boiling, add your green beans and a hefty dose of salt.

While the green beans cook, place the diced chayote into a microwave-proof bowl and mix generously with salt. Cover with plastic wrap that’s been perforated a few times with a fork, or with a sheet of wax paper. Cook until crisp-tender, about 2 to 3 minutes on high.

Once green beans have boiled for perhaps three to five minutes — they should be just slightly more tender than they were when you placed them in the pot; above all they should still be green — remove them with a slotted spoon, and place them in the bowl of ice water. Let sit for at least five minutes to stop them from cooking further. This will make them nice and crisp later.

Place chayote, hopefully cooled by now, and chilled, drained green beans into a serving bowl. Add the diced tomatoes, cilantro and cheese. Mix until well combined. (Taste here and see if you need more salt.) If making the vinaigrette, combine all ingredients and add the oil last. Whisk quickly until the oil and vinegar look fully integrated.

Serve as a light lunch on its own, or to accompany something else. I used this as a side dish for pasta.

Roasted cabbage salad with garlic-chipotle vinaigrette

by

I didn’t realize it until this week, but when you buy one head of cabbage, you’re gonna be eating cabbage for awhile.

One head of purple cabbage gave me and Crayton four days worth of meals. We had cabbage curry on Sunday night, whereupon I put a wee bit too much chili powder, causing Crayton to cough and sputter, “I can’t breathe.” (He was fine in the end.)

The cabbage continued into the next day, with leftovers for lunch and roasted cabbage salad with asparagus for dinner. Then came more leftovers for lunch the next day. And roasted cabbage salad with carrots for dinner that night.

I finished the final leftovers yesterday and was kind of surprised my skin hadn’t turned purple.

So yes: roasted cabbage. It’s so good you actually can eat it several days in a row, without feeling bored or wishing that the infernal cabbage would just disappear.

Although I came up with the roasting idea myself (thought process = roasted veggies with raw cabbage… roasted veggies with roasted cabbage, whoa), other Internet food bloggers love roasted cabbage, too. “Gets rid of cabbage funk,” says The Kitchn, in its drool-worthy recipe for roasted cabbage with bacon. “If you like cabbage at all, I’m guessing you’ll love it,” wrote Kalyn of Kaylyn’s Kitchen. There’s really no excuse not to roast cabbage. Especially when you’ve got so darn much of it.

Because roasting any veg brings out its naturally sweet notes, I decided to pair this salad with a spicy dressing. Had a lot of garlic sitting around, so garlic and chipotle seemed like a natural choice. I turned to Rick Bayless’ Mexican Everyday to make sure I had my salad dressing proportions right.

The result — crunchy, toasty cabbage drizzled with a sweet, garlicky, spicy vinaigrette — was pretty darn fantastic. In fact, I might even say that the dressing made the whole dish. Crayton specifically mentioned how good it was. Guess he’d forgotten about the chili-powder incident.

Recipe is below, in case you ever find yourself with a gigantic head of cabbage and no where to turn.
…

Read More