Garde Manger

The Prez and I ate out a lot during her visit, but I also forced her to endure a few of my cook-a-thons...

(The Prez by hour two or so of a cook-a-thon.)

...and therefore my cooking.

At the end of the visit, we were reviewing our eating out and the Prez also gave me some constructive feedback on my cooking.

The one area, she felt, where I do best is in my salad making. She said my dressing of salads is the culinary equivalent of a “sexy negligee.” She said she and her husband can’t seem to get it together with salads. Her hub’s style is more “ratty overcoat” and hers is “naked.” But I apparently hit the sweet spot with my dressing amount and the actual construction of the salad.

What is odd is she is the third separate person to say this in my lifetime, and considering how few opportunities I’ve actually had, cumulatively, to cook for people, this is not an insignificant proportion. So maybe there is something to it.

I think what happens is that I tend to always want MORE of everything. But I REALLY hate over-dressed salad. So that tension between my natural tendency towards excess and the one time I genuinely desire restraint seems to actually work.

Also: tongs. Not salad tossers. Regular metal tongs and really TURN those suckers over and over. If there’s extra dressing in the bottom of the bowl, I use those tongs to hold the salad in place while I pour out the extra dressing into the sink.

The weekend after the Prez left, I went to the West Seattle Farmers Market with Carolyn and Will, and then we cooked a late lunch back at their house. I was put in charge of making the bread salad.

I didn’t create it, just followed Will’s direction, but after the Prez’s comments, I felt a great deal of pressure.

The Italian name for this dish, Panzanella, comes from a word meaning “little swamp.” Meaning – the desired texture and…sogginess of this dish takes it to the very edge of the thing I fear most: overdressing. Could I achieve an appropriate texture without taking it too far?

I followed my usual fearful and cautious dressing process (described in the recipe post below), but in deference to the intentions of the dish, I did add one small glug of olive oil and balsamic more than I would have normally.  Despite this wild abandon, I was pleased with how the dish ultimately turned out, and Will and Carolyn, unbidden, commented that they both enjoyed my execution.

Phew! Since baking is iffy and protein is a mystery, it’s nice to know there is one station in the kitchen where I might have some consistent success.

I made one salad I liked a lot while the Prez was here, and I am posting the recipe for Sorrel Salad below.