Romaine, Gorgonzola, Toasted Pecans, BACON, Apple and a light and slightly sweet Vinaigrette
I went to my friend Gemma’s house for dinner one night – to catch up and have girl chit chat as her hubby was across the pond visiting his Mom. Gemma is a formally trained chef so it’s always great to be invited to her house. She served up the most delicious salad – I scarfed my portion and was so excited to learn of a new salad ! I think awesome salads are HUGELY under rated ! A nice protein and a fantastic salad and wha-la, an amazing dinner!
The salad Gemma served had Arugula and Blue Cheese which are somewhat strong flavors, and then it had the crunch and brightness of a crisp apple – and the lightest and yet slightly tangy vinaigrette – it came together so wonderfully I knew this salad was going into regular rotation! (oooh, did I mention BACON?)
It just so happened that I was asked to contribute a salad to a dinner party just a few nights later. It took me about 3 seconds to decide I was going to re-make the salad Gemma had made me – and off I went to text for the directions – fully expecting she would list off how to make the salad off the top of her head.
Instead, I get a picture of Ina Garten’s Cape Cod Salad. Hmmmm Ok ! Happy to have the recipe any which way. Obviously full credit to Ina Garten for this inspiration!
The original recipe calls for Arugula and the couple, that I’m making the salad for, don’t care for Arugula. So I swap out the Arugula for Romaine – easy peasy swaporama. Then, the recipe calls for toasted walnuts – and I still have a big ol’ bag of pecans from Xmas (stored in the freezer to stay fresh!) so I toast some of those up and substitute for the walnuts. The recipe called for blue cheese – and I’d sent the hubby to the grocery and he found some Gorgonzola on sale… By now most of you know that I’m not a rule follower, and quite often go off on my own – using recipes as guides. This is an important point that I hope many of you can internalize and use to your benefit when cooking or baking (careful when altering baking recipes though !)
I don’t know where I heard it or where I read it – but it was some fancy french trained chef who said something to the effect of – you don’t need to learn recipes – you need to learn techniques. If you learn the technique you can make all the recipes. At first after reading I thought, boulderdash. That is just crapola from a fantastically trained and experienced french chef. But then I thought about it more – and I think he may have been right. (??)
Salad – you need a green – choose your fav – romaine or arugula. Add a strong cheese – gorgonzola or blue. What about a toasted nut you’d find on a cheese board – pecans or walnuts? A tangy and crisp fruit – a pear or an apple. Something tart – maybe a dried cranberry or cherry ? (or are pomegranates in season?) A light vinaigrette with a smidge of sweetness (apple cider vinegar to match the fruit), a dash of maple syrup and orange ? That’s just genius. See – it’s the method / technique. You are now free to make up salads however your pantry / veg drawer / tastes prefer!
Rif on Ina Garten’s Cape Cod Salad
Ingredients
Salad Fixings
- 1 head Romaine Or consider swapping for Arugula
- 6 oz Bacon Thick Cut
- 1/3 Cup Pecans Toasted – Or consider Walnuts!
- 6 oz Gorgonzola Cheese Or consider Blue Cheese
- 1/4 Cup Dried Cranberries Or consider pomegranate seeds, or dried cherries etc.
- 1/2 Granny Smith Apple Or consider a pear
Vinaigrette
- 1.5 TBL Apple Cider Vinegar
- 1 Tsp Orange Zest
- 1 TBL Orange Juice Fresh from the Orange !
- 1 Tsp Dijon Mustard
- 1 TBL Maple Syrup
- 1/3 Cup Olive Oil
- 1/8 Tsp Ground Pepper
- 1/8 Tsp Salt
Instructions
- Prepare the salad – by starting with cooking the bacon. You can do it in the oven or in a skillet however you prefer. Either chop the bacon ahead of time, or after it's cooked – whichever is easiest for you. The key is to NOT eat all the bacon and have enough remain for the salad ! I typically place my cooked bacon on a plate with paper towels to soak up some of the grease – and let it cool on the plate. (Another TIP : I typically keep my bacon in the freezer – in a 1 or 2 lb block from Costco – in a freezer zip bag. When I need some crumbled bacon for a recipe I use the biggest, sharpest knife I have and whack (carefully!) a hunk of the bacon off the end of the strips. Thereby having little pieces of bacon already cut – and then I toss the frozen block into the pan to cook. You seperate the individual small pieces off the block as it warms / cooks. Recipes that call for 3-4 strips of bacon are readily accommodated when you keep bacon this way.)
- Toast your Pecans – I put my pecans into the oven – using my countertop oven for about 5 minutes at 350. You can also toast the nuts in a hot pan – NO OIL – watching very carefully. You want the nuts to warm and toast and release some of their oils and smell yummy.
- Wash and tear or chop the lettuce and place into a big bowl. I prefer to chop lettuce as it's quicker, but generally I'll only do that when I'm fairly confident the entire salad will be eaten when served. If I am making a double, or expect left-overs, I prefer to tear the lettuce. I believe lettuce torn browns slower. If you google – some say it makes no difference – so do what you like.
- Toss your gorgonzola over the lettuce. If you bought a wedge, use a knife or better yet, your hands, to crumble pieces of the cheese into the salad bowl. If you bought pre-crumbled – toss it in !
- Add the bacon to the lettuce.
- Add the cranberries to the lettuce (if using).
- Add the pecans to the lettuce.
- Peel and chop the apple and add to the lettuce. I would hold off on peeling and chopping the apple until right before serving or as late as you can – so it doesn't turn brown.
- Place all Vinaigrette ingredients in a jar or container and shake. I used manderine oranges, as that is what I had on hand. Use whatever type of oranges you have on hand, or whichever kind you prefer!
- When ready to serve, toss the salad with the vinaigrette and say wha la !
