Faux Salade Niçoise

Blurry picture...darn...

I'm sure the French probably hate anything faux French, but I threw together this salad with ingredients I had around the house. I had fresh tomato, but I didn't have capers, so I thought sun-dried would add a nice brininess. Brian called it "a nice kitchen-sink salad."

Ingredients:

2 red skinned potatoes - boiled

2 eggs, hard boiled

1 can tuna, drained

sun-dried tomatoes, chopped

red bell pepper, chopped

olives, sliced

onion, chopped

feta cheese

Dressing:

Red wine vinegar

olive oil

squirt of spicy brown mustard

Soba Noodles with Tamagoyaki

Sorry for the multiple posting!

Ingredients:

Tamagoyaki (see below).

Soba noodles

Broccoli slaw

peanuts

green onion

Adapted from Teriyaki Penne recipe on page 27 of Fresh and Simple Vegetable Dinners by Jennifer Darling.

More Tamagoyaki.

2 Fasian Salads

Fasian = Faux Asian

Here are 2 yaki toppings for an Asian-flavored salad to make it more substantial. Either can also be eaten on their own. The first, the Ramen Fritter, is probably a WT creation, although it does slightly remind me a bit of the okonomiyaki I had in Osaka (without the octopus, bbq sauce, mustard and mayo). The second, the tamagoyaki, is a bit more authentic. I bought a tamagoyaki pan at KoMart (for 6 bucks!). My first attempts to make it had not been successful, it does take time to learn how to make it properly. I did better after watching a few videos on YouTube with people making it.

Ramen Fritter
1 package ramen noodles
2 eggs, beaten
4 green onions, white and green chopped
1 clove garlic, chopped
1 TBSP soy sauce
dash coriander
vegetable oil

Cook ramen to package instructions. Drain off broth - do not rinse. Add eggs, onions, garlic, soy sauce, and coriander.

Heat oil in skillet over medium heat. Drop 1/4 of mixture as a glob onto the frying pan and flatten out. Cook until sets and turns golden brown (about 3-4 minutes). Flip and cook other side the same. Repeat until you're out of mixture.

I used this recipe to make the Tamagoyaki. I chose this one to make because most recipes I found are require dashi, which I didn't have handy.



I overcooked a couple layers, and I didn't use a sushi rolling mat, but the taste was pretty good, especially drizzled with a little extra soy sauce.

Smoked Salmon Benedict

I love Brunch. Breakfast foods are some of my favorites to eat and certainly to make. They are so calorie-laden, but I never feel too guilty about it because I know I have the whole day to burn it off. One of my favorite Brunch restaurants in Breadwinners. I love everything they have, but I have a tendency to order the same thing because it is just so good: the Smoked Salmon Benedict. It is something I didn’t think would be too difficult to make, other than the Hollandaise sauce. So, last Sunday, I gave it a shot. I used the Hollandaise sauce from the Better Homes and Gardens checkered cookbook, and I only made 1/3 of the recipe. Here is the recipe:

Hollandaise Sauce

½ cup butter
3 egg yolks, beaten
1 TBSP water
1 TBSP lemon juice
Dash salt
Dash pepper (called for white pepper,
but I just used regular)

Cut the butter into thirds and bring to room temperature In the top of a double boiler, combine egg yolks, water, lemon juice, salt and pepper. Add a piece of butter. Place over boiling water. Cook stirring rapidly with a whisk until butter melts and sauce begins to thicken.

Add the remaining butter, one piece at a time, stirring constantly until melted. Continue to cook until butter melts and sauce thickens.

Okay, so I made it perfectly, but waiting until poached eggs cooked did cause it to curdle a little. Just a little though, it was still good.

So the recipe for my version of Breadwinners Smoked Salmon Benedict is as follows:

Smoked Salmon Benedict

2 English Muffins, halved
4 eggs
4 tomato slices
8 oz package Smoked Salmon
Hollandaise Sauce

Lightly toast muffins.

Poach eggs. The way I poach eggs: Crack eggs into a shallow bowl. Fill a skillet ¾ full with water and bring to a boil. Stir boiling water with a wooden spoon to create a swirl. Gently pour eggs into the middle of swirl, careful not break any of the yolks. Boil until desired firmness of yolk – I like mine runny! Remove very carefully with a slotted spoon. Blot very carefully with a paper towel.

Arrange on each plate 2 halves of an English Muffin, place a couple slices of salmon on each half of muffin. Place tomato slice on top of salmon. Gently place one poached egg on top. Pour Hollandaise sauce over eggs.

I conquered! They turned out super good. I used Central Market’s Multi-grain English Muffins. They were really good, but very tough to cut. Brian suggested in the future I should add a little extra Hollandaise directly to the muffin to soften it up a bit – or use regular English muffins. The whole thing is fairly healthy too – well, all except the Hollandaise, but what would it be without that?