Kale Salad with Buttermilk and Preserved Lemon Dressing

This one is for my sister. She e-mailed me a couple of weeks ago raving about a salad that she ate at a restaurant near where she lives in Maryland. She described it as raw kale with a dressing made of buttermilk and preserved lemon and topped with salty granola and sunflower seeds, and asked if I could tell her how to make it. Of course, whoo hoo, my favorite thing to do!

Ingredient detective. Actually, this was all from my imagination since I didn’t actually taste the salad. Therefore, my opinion goes only so far. Everything can be adjusted for taste (saltier, less salty, sweeter, etc.).

The chief challenge for my sister is preserved lemons. This is not a problem for me, since I love this essential ingredient in Moroccan food (and recently in Dorie Greenspan’s use of preserved lemon in her twist on classic French cuisine). I preserve lemon for the pantry regularly (it’s so easy). So knowing that my sister is perennially on a tight budget and shouldn’t be spending $8-12 on a jar of the stuff, I am assuming she can hold out for this salad for a few weeks and make her own (recipe below). A preserved lemon “ah ha” moment for me came a couple of weeks ago while I was making chicken stew à la Dorie, for which she suggested discarding the pulp from preserved lemons to focus on the fermented peel. Discard what? Me? Now this becomes a “waste-not-want-not” proposition. Of course there are good uses for lemon pulp and the unctuous juices. Until that moment, I thought those were equally the point of preserved lemons.

The same philosophy applies to savory, or salty, granola: make your own  (it’s easy and you’ll like it better).

I made a few trials of the dressing. One with preserved lemon pulp and buttermilk alone (too thin), one with preserved lemon pulp and crushed garlic and buttermilk (better flavor, too thin) and another with the addition of a little mayonnaise, which turned out to be the winner since it counterbalances the thickness of kale leaves. For those grossed out by mayonnaise, an emulsion of the core ingredients with olive oil works fine though is less creamy. Your taste.

In terms of technique, one thing I do with kale, and any other tough-leafed green, is to take a small amount of dressing (or just oil and salt) and massage it into the leaves. Let them sit for a bit before adding the rest of the dressing to moisten the salad.  

I know, this is a long-winded explanation of a simple salad.  But thanks to my sister, it’s my new fave: kale, scrubbed with a little buttermilk dressing, doused with a little more and served sprinkled with savory granola made of oats and sunflower seeds. Love it. Go for it sis. I’ll bring you a jar of preserved lemons the next time we get together. Love, K.

Buttermilk and Preserved Lemon Salad Dressing

½ c buttermilk

2 tbsp (or more to taste) liquid and pulp from preserved lemons

Optional: ½ tsp finely diced rind of preserved lemon

1 clove garlic, crushed

1 tbsp mayonnaise (or more if you want it thicker; alternatively use olive oil)

Mix all ingredients and set aside for 10 minutes for the flavors to become acquainted.

Salty Granola

1 c rolled oats, preferably organic

½ c sunflower seeds

1 tbsp white sesame seeds (not hulled)

2 tbsp vegetable oil

1 tbsp + 1 tsp honey

1 tsp salt

Heat the oven to 350 degrees. Mix all ingredients together and spread on a baking sheet. Bake, turning once or twice, until browned, about 15-20 minutes.  Watch it once it starts to brown since it will go quickly from that point on.

Preserved Lemons (for one 8-12-ounce jar)

4 lemons, preferably organic and unwaxed

1½ – 2 tbsp salt (smaller amount for an 8-ounce jar, greater for the 12-ounce jar)

If you’re using waxed lemons, wash them in warm water, scrubbing the surfaces and let them dry for several hours or overnight. (You don’t want the residual water to infuse the preserved lemons since it could create mold.)  You are going to need 1-2 lemons for the jar and the rest for juice.

Slice the lemons for the jar pole to pole in quarters or sixths depending on the size of your lemons and jar. Place them in the jar, add the salt, and fill the jar with freshly squeezed lemon juice. Cap the jar tightly and turn it upside down and then right side up to distribute the salt.

Cure the lemons for 3-4 weeks at room temperature, turning the jar upside down and then right side up every day that you can remember. The liquid will turn syrupy and the lemons will be soft and pungent. Store tightly covered in the refrigerator. Preserved lemons keep for many months, even a year.

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Moroccan Feast: Baked Fish with Chermoula, Peppers and Potatoes

Chermoula is the magic sauce of Morocco. With its combination of herbs and spices, it offers robust flavor and an alluring complexity to dishes featuring chicken or fish or, on the vegetable side, potatoes, peppers and eggplants. Like Indian mint-cilantro chutney, Italian basil pesto and gremolata, and Argentine chimichurri, among numerous international examples, it’s a mash-up of herbs and other ingredients.

The chermoula that I made for this feast uses only cilantro, but I’ve made it with a combination of cilantro and parsley. It also contains smoked paprika, cayenne pepper, toasted cumin seed, garlic, and ginger, all ground to a paste and thinned with lemon juice, champagne vinegar and olive oil.  A jar of this will keep for a long time in the refrigerator but it’s so good that it’s typically used up quickly.

The other significant ingredient in Moroccan food is preserved lemon, which is made by marinating lemon quarters in salt and lemon juice for a couple of weeks. Drat, I recently discarded what was left of my last batch and hadn’t started a new one. However, I remembered that Mark Bittman of the New York Times had devised a quick pickle that could substitute, so I tried it, with great success. He combined diced lemon peel and flesh with salt and sugar and let them marinate for several hours. The result wasn’t as pungent as the real thing, but the crunchy lemon peel added the same twang.

As for the meal, I’ve wanted to make this since March when I read Gail Monaghan’s Wall Street Journal column during a business trip. While the Wall Street Journal is not normally considered a bastion of culinary advice, Monaghan is a good cook and a good writer and her column is consistently informative. She recounts many visits to Morocco, and in the highlights of one, a baked fish made by her host’s splendid cook. 

It’s a bit of a project, but not complicated or difficult. It took me a half hour in the morning and a little over an hour in the evening, including baking time.  In the morning (or the day before), make the chermoula and slather it all over the fish, letting the fish marinate for at least 4 hours or overnight. (Note that if you marinate the fish for more than four hours, you should pull it out of the refrigerator an hour before cooking to bring it close to room temperature.)  Also, make the lemon pickle if you don’t have preserved lemons on hand.

A few weeks ago, I made a homey potato dish layered with zucchini and peppers and remarked that I sometimes bake fish on top. This dish uses a similar method, but rather than cook everything together, sliced potatoes are baked in 450 degrees until crisp before the rest of the ingredients are added. Topped with the fish and then sautéed peppers, onions and garlic seasoned with preserved lemons, salted capers and olives, the dish is baked until the fish is cooked. 

I had a whole sea bass weighing 1½ pounds, but you could use a much larger fish if you’re feeding a crowd. You could also use fish steaks or filets.  In my case, I gauged the pan and the amount of potatoes on the dimensions of the fish, so this made a lot more vegetables than necessary. No worry since the leftovers are delicious. They make a satisfying meal crisped in a pan and topped with a poached egg and a drizzle of chermoula. 

In fact, this could easily be a vegetarian dish if you leave out the fish. Ha.

Baked Fish with Chermoula, Peppers and Potatoes adapted from Gail Monaghan, WSJ

1 fish (1-2 lb whole gutted and cleaned sea bass, branzino, red snapper, or steaks or filets of the same)

1/2 c chermoula (see below)

1½ – 2 lb potatoes, peeled and sliced 3/8 inch thick (Yukon gold and/or white)

1 medium-large sweet onion, halved vertically and sliced into ¼-inch half-moons

1 green pepper, cored and sliced into ¼ inch strips

1 red or orange pepper, cored and sliced into ¼ inch strips

6 tbsp olive oil, divided

2 small dried hot red peppers or 1 tsp red pepper flakes

6-8 ripe plum tomatoes or 1½ c canned whole tomatoes, chopped, juice drained

½ c pitted green olives, cut in 2-3 pieces

¼ c salted capers, rinsed

1 preserved lemon, chopped or 3 tbsp quick lemon pickle (see below)

Cilantro leaves

At least four hours (up to a day) before you want to serve the dish, place the fish in a glass pan large enough to hold it in one layer. Coat the fish thoroughly with chermoula, including the inside if using a whole fish. Cover and refrigerate, turning it once during the marinating process. Remove the fish from the refrigerator and let it return to room temperature, about an hour before you’re going to prepare it if it has been marinating for longer than four hours.

Heat the oven to 450 degrees. Toss the sliced potatoes in 3 tbsp of the olive oil and place them in a heavy roasting pan large enough to hold the fish in one layer. (I used an enameled cast iron roasting pan.)  Cook the potatoes, turning once, until crisp and lightly browned, about 25 minutes.

Meanwhile, in a large sauté pan, heat the remaining 3 tbsp of olive oil and add the onions and fresh peppers. Saute over medium-high heat to wilt them, about 10 minutes. Add the hot peppers and tomatoes and cook them until soft and well combined with the onion-pepper mixture. Add the olives, capers, and preserved lemon or lemon pickle, stirring and cooking for about 2-3 minutes. Remove from the heat.

Place the fish, with the chermoula that clings to it, on top of the crisped tomatoes. Top with the pepper-onion-tomato mixture and pour on any chermoula remaining in the marinating pan.

Bake until the fish is tender, about 25 minutes for a 1½-2 lb fish, and longer for a larger fish. Let the dish cool for 10 minutes or so before serving. It is best served warm rather than hot.

Disassemble the dish, and relayer it onto a serving platter, sprinkling the top with fresh cilantro. If serving a whole fish that has not been boned, slice it carefully along the spine, head to tail to release the filet on one side of the fish. The backbone should be taken out in one piece, but if stubborn, turn the fish over and over and slit the other side of the bone.

Serves 4.

Chermoula adapted from Gail Monaghan, WSJ

This makes chermoula that has the consistency of salad dressing. If you want it to be more paste-like, omit the water.

2 c packed cilantro leaves, rinsed and dried if sandy

5 cloves garlic, coarsely chopped

1 ¼-inc piece fresh ginger, peeled and coarsely chopped

2 tbsp smoked paprika

1 tbsp sweet paprika

½ – ¾ tsp cayenne pepper

2 tbsp whole cumin seed, dry toasted in a pan over low heat and cooled

1/3 c white wine or Champagne vinegar

1/3 c fresh lemon juice

1/3 c olive oil

1/3 c water

Salt to taste

Process all ingredients except the salt in a food processor until smooth. Adjust for salt. Makes about 1½ c. This can be stored in the refrigerator for several weeks.

Quick Lemon Pickle, adapted from Mark Bittman, NYT

1 organic lemon, preferably unwaxed

1 tbsp sugar

1 tsp salt

If the lemon is waxed, plunge it into boiling water for 20 seconds. Remove and scrub the skin to diminish the wax. Make sure it’s thoroughly dry before proceeding. Chop the lemon, peel and flesh, into 3/8 – ½-inch pieces and combine with the sugar and salt. Let sit at room temperature to cure for 3-4 hours before using. It improves as it sits and is even better the next day.

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Asian-inspired Plum Sauce

I’m really happy with my first pass at a plum sauce: slightly sweet and sour, with a tang from the ginger and mustard seeds, heat from the jalapeno, and a rich spice flavor from star anise. I made a small trial batch so I canned only one 8-oz jar and had one 4-oz jar for sampling. It was great with vegetarian egg rolls, since it had a good mouth feel in contrast to the crunch of the egg roll wrapper. I can easily imagine it with crispy potatoes, vegetable fritters or with meat, for those who aren’t vegetarian.

Now I’ll be on the lookout for more red plums, with red skin and red flesh, though I admit that I used up a couple of stray pluots in this batch.  Since I had a hard time getting the skin off the plums that I used in my jam to become soft enough, this time I pureed the fruit before cooking it. The origin of the recipe is the Ball Complete Book of Home Preserving but I adapted it pretty considerably. Note that when I double the recipe I’ll be careful not to increase the cinnamon or star anise, since it will pervade whatever amount of sauce is in the pot.

Asian-inspired Plum Sauce

2 c pitted plums, pureed in a food processor

1/3 c brown sugar

¼ c white sugar

¼ c cider vinegar

3 tbsp finely chopped red onion

1 small red jalapeno or other hot pepper, finely chopped

1 clove garlic, minced

1 tbsp grated fresh ginger

2 tsp yellow mustard seeds

¼ tsp ground coriander

1 star anise

1 small stick cinnamon

1 tsp salt

Place all ingredients in a saucepan and bring to a boil.  Lower the heat and simmer until thick, about an hour or so. Ladle into hot jars prepared for water bath canning and process for ten minutes after the water returns to a boil. Remove the lid, turn off the heat and let sit for 5 minutes before removing to cool undisturbed.

Makes about 12 oz

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Sorrel Sauce

While I have a small patch of sorrel coming up in my garden, the leaves are not yet large enough to harvest, so I fell for a bunch in the farmers’ market. Although I sometimes mix it with spinach, it’s precious enough at this time of year to stand on its own. The sorrel turns a khaki color so it can be unappetizing on its own, and probably why it’s often combined with brighter greens. With abundant spinach from our CSA farm, I served a poached white fish on spinach topped with a simple sorrel cream sauce and, for the vegetarians among us, substituted roasted potatoes for the fish.

Sorrel Sauce

1 shallot, minced

1tsp butter

1 bunch sorrel, cleaned and stems removed (about 2 cups)

¼ c heavy cream

Juice of ½ lemon

Salt and pepper

Saute the shallot slowly in the butter until translucent, add the sorrel and stir to wilt it. Add cream and cook to reduce to a nice sauce. Squeeze in a little lemon juice and season with salt and pepper to taste.

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Wilted Dandelion Greens with Wasabi Cream and Duck Bacon

This is a story about how one thing leads to another and produces an unexpected result. I made two amazing culinary discoveries recently. The first was a wasabi cream sauce that was served over grilled salmon, which I had been planning on trying at home. That was realistic since I’ve been harboring an unopened can of wasabi powder in my pantry for longer than I want to admit. (Wasabi is a pale green Japanese horseradish usually served with sushi and sashimi.)

The second discovery was duck bacon. In response to the ingredients in this month’s Paper Chef challenge (wasabi, duck, tomatoes, and cream – yikes), I was cruising the grocery aisle looking for duck… maybe a breast of duck or a leg confit. Actually, neither appealed to me, not only because of the high price but also, my family doesn’t much like duck. Duck in our local store is fortuitously located next to the better varieties of bacon. So there it was: duck bacon. D’Artagnan uncured smoked duck bacon.  Lean meat with a little stripe of fat. A healthier alternative to the usual pork bacon. Having no idea what I would do with it for Paper Chef, it still seemed better than the other two duck options.

I had wanted bacon anyway because I had an armload of dandelion greens from the farmers’ market and I craved a salad of wilted greens. Normally, I buy bacon in small quantities from the butcher’s counter since a package would seem like a lifetime’s supply and wouldn’t keep that long. Planning on serving the bacon-wilted greens with salmon and a stab at wasabi cream sauce, the light went on in the kitchen: why not lightly wilt the greens with the vinegary bacon dressing and add a thin coat of wasabi cream? Better than ranch!

The wilted salad of dandelion greens and halved grape tomatoes tossed with wasabi cream and duck bacon was so delicious that I made it again the next day with the freshest kale from the farmers’ market.  It would also be good with curly endive or spinach. Traditionally, wilted green salad includes onion sautéed in the bacon fat. It adds another dimension so I included it in the recipe as an option.

Wilted Greens with Wasabi Cream and Duck Bacon

Salad ingredients

Handful of washed greens, torn into pieces (dandelion, kale, curly endive, or spinach)

Cherry or grape tomatoes, halved

Warm bacon dressing (for 2 servings)

2 slices duck bacon

Minced onions or shallots (optional)

1-3 tsp white wine or cider vinegar (depending on the fat yield)

Pinch of brown sugar (or white granulated sugar)

Wasabi cream (need about 1 tbsp for a salad for two; this allows leftovers)

¼ c light sour cream

2-3 tsp wasabi powder, made into a paste by adding 1 ½ tsp water

1 tsp white wine vinegar

½ tsp brown sugar

Assemble the greens in a serving bowl since you will want to serve this immediately after dressing it. Mix the tomatoes in a small bowl with a little wasabi cream and set aside. (If the tomatoes are sad, you can spruce them with a little olive oil and salt before adding the cream.)

Make the warm dressing. Render the fat from the bacon over low heat. Remove the bacon to drain and add a little vinegar and sugar to the pan. (If adding onions, soften them in the fat before adding the vinegar.) Pour the warm mixture over the greens and toss to coat.

Toss with a little wasabi cream and garnish with the reserved tomatoes and the bacon, cut into pieces (this is lower in fat than pork bacon so it doesn’t crumble). Serve immediately.

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Celery and Celery Root Salads

Celery root, also known as celeriac and knob celery, is a lumpy sphere with gnarly tendrils. While reminiscent of the grotesques in a Hieronymous Bosch painting, it cleans up into a delicious vegetable that can be eaten raw or cooked. (The way I photographed this one, quite by accident, makes it particularly anthropomorphic if you squint your eyes. A mutant from a sci-fi flick?) This was the last of several celery roots that I received from or CSA farm and it kept remarkably well.

At this time of year, when the snow is still piled high, fresh salads help cleanse the palate and get us ready for spring.  I’ve been experimenting with salads made from root vegetables, which are prevalent throughout Europe. One of my favorites is the French classic “céleri-rave rémoulade,” celery root in a mustard sauce. Julienned into matchsticks, the root, which is non-starchy and somewhat tough, is softened in lemon juice and salt, then tossed with an emulsified dressing of mustard, olive oil and white wine vinegar.

For the dressing, I use the ingredients from Julia Child’s recipe in from the first volume of Mastering the Art of French Cooking, but I make it in the food processor the same way that I make mayonnaise, also learned from a technique of hers, developed later. When my husband first saw the dressing, he immediately identified it as mayonnaise but it contains no eggs. It’s just an emulsion and pretty stiff. There is another rémoulade, a mayonnaise sauce with pickles, capers and other ingredients, like tartar sauce. That may be why some recipes actually use mayonnaise. I make a full batch (which produces enough volume to make the food processor work) as it keeps well and is versatile.

First I made a classic version of celery rémoulade, and on a later day, I made a three-celery salad. A friend of mine took a dish that he called “salad of three celeries” to a picnic a few years ago, and it’s been on my mind to make it myself. It includes celery root, the stalks and leaves of Pascal celery, the kind found in grocery stores, and celery seed. Crisp but sturdy, it’s a great antidote to the winter weather and a refreshing tonic that looks forward to the coming of spring

Celery Root Rémoulade

1 celery root, peeled and cut into julienne matchsticks

1-2 tsp salt

1-2 tsp fresh lemon juice

Sprinkle the prepared celery root with salt and lemon juice (amount varies per the size of the root) and set aside to soften for about 30 minutes. Rinse, drain and dry. Toss with the dressing and let it cure for several hours or overnight.

Dressing

¼ cup Dijon-style prepared mustard

3 tbsp boiling water

1/3-1/2 cup olive oil (a light variety that won’t overpower the lemon)

2 tbsp white wine vinegar

Place the mustard and hot water in the bowl of a food processor and process until combined. With the motor running, gradually add the olive oil in drops and then the vinegar, also in drops. The mixture should be thick, like mayonnaise.

Salad of Three Celeries

Combine celery root rémoulade with thinly sliced celery from the stalks. Add slivered leaves (use the inner leaves from a stalk of Pascal celery) and toss. Sprinkle with celery seed and serve the salad fairly soon after assembling it. The proportions of the ingredients can vary significantly, to taste.

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