The Big Winter Salad
happy new year! ✨
Allô! 👋
Happy New Year('s Eve)!
Much like the days were this month, this newsletter will be extra short* — aside from a recap of my newsletter favourites, there'll just be brief talk of snow, of sun, and of salads.
Now, I don't know about you, but as soon as citrus season begins I start eating clementines by the bucketload. Sure, as winter settles in, I'll munch on quite a few oranges and enjoy an ever-growing amount of fresh pomegranate, but... there's something about clementines. Maybe it's because they're sold so abundantly in those comically large wooden crates**. Or, maybe it's because eating a freshly peeled clementine segment feels rather like absorbing a much-needed ray of sunshine. Whatever the reason, as with everything else I've eaten this month that might at any other time seem questionable-if-not-unreasonable to ingest (either by its very nature or in its sheer quantity), I've been gleefully consuming them without reservation or restraint — and for that I feel fantastic.
All this to say: I hope this December has treated you well. The days have come and gone, we've lived through them and they through us, and now we're moving on to the other side: of the last day, of the last month, of the last year. How about we make the most of what's to come?
Here's wishing you a jolly January and a cheerful New Year!
👋simone
*at least, that was the plan...
**supposedly a Christmas marketing ploy that ended up blossoming year-round
december highlight:
the big winter salad
🍽️
It's occurring to me now that I consider any salad which includes crisp green leaves, a creamy dressing, and croutons on top to be a "Caesar", and any salad with shredded or chopped raw crunchy vegetables (that you might otherwise be tempted to cook) a "slaw". Clearly, I'm no purist.
I don't know what it is about winter weather that makes me want all the crisp and crunchy salads (perhaps the crispness of the air and the crunchiness of the snow underfoot?), all I know is that I've made many good ones lately and simply have to share.
So please do feel free to use the recipes below as a launching pad to build something satisfyingly tasty with what you have on hand (and what you like) — the possibilities truly seem endless in both their composition and the delight they may provide!
•••
A HERBY, ZESTY, GARLICKY, CREAMY SALAD DRESSING
makes about ½ cup of dressing
INGREDIENTS
• 1 lovely pink shallot (or half a small red onion)
• part of a lemon – for its juice, but I often like to use some zest too – or other acidity/sourness booster like apple cider or red wine vinegar
• salt – a generous pinch if flaky, a small one if fine (denser salt is saltier salt)
• 1 minced garlic clove or ½ tsp garlic powder
• ½ tsp honey, 1 tsp sugar or a small quantity of another sweetener (optional, you may want to taste first without to see if the acid or alliums need mellowing out)
• ½ tsp Dijon mustard (optional)
• 2 or 3 Tbsp mayonnaise and/or plain or Greek yogurt, start with 2 Tbsp and adjust if necessary
• 1 Tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
• fresh or frozen tender herbs like chives, parsley, coriander or dill (chopped chives freeze especially well and are perfect for tossing into dressings)
• up to ¼ cup freshly-grated Parmesan (optional, but makes cæasarish salads extra cæsary)
• freshly-cracked black pepper
METHOD
1. Slice the shallot or onion into thin rings. Add to a small bowl or mug.
2. Add vinegar or squeeze in a bit of lemon juice, enough to moisten all of the shallot rings, about 1 tablespoons' worth. It’s hard to say how much lemon you’ll need for this amount, but it’s likely less than half a lemon.
3. Season with salt and stir.
4. Mince in a clove of garlic or add in the garlic powder. If you want to mellow the raw garlic a bit, you can add a very small amount of honey or white sugar (although if you’re a bit of a garlic monster, you have my permission to double the garlic powder or omit the honey).
5. Leave the vinegar/lemon juice and salt to mellow out the alliums for a few minutes, then add the mustard. You can put a full teaspoon if you’re a big Dijon fan, or omit it entirely if it makes your nose pucker.
6. Dollop in the mayonnaise and/or yogurt and pour in the olive oil. Give everything a stir.
7. Use enough herbs to get about 2 teaspoons’ worth of each once finely chopped. Chop or simply cut with kitchen scissors and add to the recipient.
8. If you’re fine with eating Parmesan – it is unfortunately not always suitable for vegetarians – I recommend grating some in if you're looking for that quintessential Caesar flavour.
9. Season with a bit more salt and black pepper (heavy on the pepper).
10. Taste and adjust to your liking, either adding more of the ingredients above (perhaps some zest from your lemon or other citrus, if using) or giving it your own special twist with something entirely different.
tip: the best way to taste a salad dressing is to do it the same way you’d eat it — with salad. So take a leaf of lettuce and dip it into your dressing to see whether or not it floats your boat.
A WINTER "CAESAR" AND/OR "SLAW"
with about ½ cup of dressing, you can a make a big salad that'll feed two hungry people as a meal, or four as a side
If I'm in a Caesar-ish mood, I try to assemble the following:
• a crisp leafy green iceberg and cos lettuce are just as acceptable to me as curly and dinosaur kale
• a creamy dressing usually a twist on the one above
• a crunchy crouton often pan-toasted sourdough bread, torn or cut into large cubes
• something filling typically a soft-boiled egg, but I find chickpeas, butter beans or potatoes boiled in salted water, then finished in a pan of garlicky butter to be tasty alternatives
• a dash of something salty and savoury Parmesan, anchovies, Worcestershire sauce are classic ways to give this kind of salad some depth but, more often than not, I simply prefer topping the salad with thin rings of quick-pickled shallots, a pinch of smoked paprika, and a final sprinkling of flaky salt
If I'm in a slaw-like mood, I like to reach for the following:
• something grated typically a carrot or two, but golden and candy-striped beets deserve a place in our slaws as well
• some kind of shredded cabbage thinly sliced with a knife or mandolin, I can't claim a salad to be slaw-like unless there's some cabbage in there: green, red, savoy, conic, Chinese, Brussels sprouts too!
• finely sliced or chopped brassica I love broccoli and/or cauliflower in a creamy salad; chopped and sliced in different small shapes for extra variety
• a sprinkling of seeds don't ask me why, but adding sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds, poppy seeds, or even sesame seeds to a slaw always feels right (speaking of sesame seeds: if your slaw isn't of the creamy variety, I love using rice vinegar and sesame oil in my dressing)
• an occasional cheeky fruit whether it's an apple or a pear finely sliced into batons, or a small handful of dried raisins or cranberries tossed in, sometimes a little sweetness is nice
So take a look around the kitchen, open all the doors and drawers, and see what you can make. Quite often, I end up not being able to decide between the two salads and I make a Caesar-slaw combination that makes me very happy indeed.
2021 rewind:
newsletter favourites
✨
In case you missed 'em, here are the newest and most seasonally-appropriate recipes from the site:
It didn't feel quite right sending you a somewhat basic salad guide then simply scampering off, so what better way to round off this end-of-year newsletter than to regroup my favourite "recipes" of the last twelve months? I hope you've had a chance to try some (and enjoy them as much as I do) but, if they're new to you, I hope they give you something to look forward to.
january:
the caramelised onion, leek and potato galette with cheese & chive crust
the hearty mushroom bourgui-non stew
february:
the colourful cauliflower citrus salad
april:
the spanish omelette with gochujang + woody herbs
the seriously savoury & saucy pantry pasta
(march was the month we built our kitchen, so there wasn't much newslettering going on then)
may:
the mini rhubarb & strawberry galettes
the crispy tofu + cauliflower curry
june:
the sweet chili & halloumi burger
the sourdough cardamom braids & cinnamon knots
august:
the slow-roasted tomato galette
(july was a month spent more outdoors than in, hence the lack of newsletter)
september:
the garlicky broccoli with hazelnuts
october:
the caramelised pear & crystallised ginger scones
the leek & butternut squash risotto
november:
the roasted squash, chili, garlic & ginger soup
last year's december:
If you're sitting there thinking "Gee, that sure is a lot of favourites...", well, you'd be right. Because I never have favourites. I like way too many things to ever pick just one! And this holds true for my newsletter recipes too. So here they all are, catalogued for your pleasure of eating and ease of finding (and mine, too, to be honest).
And just like that, the last newsletter of 2021 is done.
That's all from me this month :)
See you in 2022!
💛
This was a Substack edit of an archived newsletter. To read the newsletter in its original format, click here.