December invites us to fatten up maybe even requires us it seems. Stick to the ribs food such as thick and creamy soups like chowder and hearty stews with ingredients like bacon bits or a French Cassoulet are often encountered in the cold season. Fresh vegetable offerings from our local farms are spare and unvaried. It’s holiday time and company parties are kicking in, alcohol consumption will be splendid. The current short daylight invites for nice conversation in front of the fireplace with red wine and cheese. Perhaps a cheese fondue with friends will be served at a get-together. Surely cookies and desserts are more abundant over the next weeks. Let’s face it winter fattens us up with a holiday season kick-start!
Urging greens
With all that excess I have the urge to enliven the month of
December feasting with the occasional salad. Currently there are a few fresh
vegetable ingredients and I gravitate towards radicchio, endive, Brussels
sprouts, carrots or other vegetables that are locally grown or that have been
cellared by farmers. Following are a few examples:
Chopped apple & toasted nuts with shredded carrots and a
healthy dose of freshly chopped parsley. Dress it with apple vinegar and olive
oil with 1 tablespoon of maple syrup. A few grindings of black pepper and a
sprinkle of sea salt will do the trick.
(roast free range chicken basted with rosemary)
I enjoy roasted chicken with rosemary, which lends a pine-like flavor that suits radicchio with some chopped dried figs strewn in. Deglaze the skillet with balsamic vinegar and a few tablespoons of water and pour it over the radicchio in a salad bowl to be tossed. The chicken should be chopped into inch-sized chunks. If you want the salad to be more substantial add some roasted squash from a prepared food store.
A powerhouse of a salad is chopped endive, slices of ripe
pears with a blue cheese such as Roquefort and red wine vinegar. It is reminiscent of the aforementioned red
wine and cheese plate but without being too indulgent.
(no endive but radichio with ripe Bartlett pear and Roquefort cheese)
Frisée au lardons or salad Lyonnais is the most classic way of
preparing a salad in the French manner. Translated as “curly endive salad” it
is served with bits of bacon and topped with a poached egg - sign me up mademoiselle s’il vous plait! The dressing is made with mustard and
acidic vinegar such as red wine vinegar and sea salt and pepper, sans oil.
(thinly shaved Brussels sprouts dressed with lemon and olive oil and shreds of Manchego cheese)
One of my favorites lately is thinly, shaved Brussels sprouts with lemon and a good extra virgin olive oil and shavings of a sharp cheese like feta or Manchego with cracked pepper and a sprinkle of sea salt.
Lastly on my wish list to celebrate the season is lobster
salad with greens such as curly winter spinach with citrus fruit such as pink
Grapefruit. Delicious.
Winter salad dressing
The dressing for winter salads becomes less important as the
salad ingredients becomes more decadent -- who really needs more oil in that
frisée
salad with pork batons!
Chef’s Tip: grains such as brown or black rice are a good way to bulk up the salads to serve as entrées.
