Salad for Scott

Who's Scott? He's my new roommate! He started at Dance Alloy Theater about the same time I did last summer and unlike myself, he's actually a dancer.

Pretty soon Ian my old friend and other current roommate will be moving out and little Leigh (my sister) and her boyfriend Jaehee (who I just love) will be moving in with me too! Don't forget Nona is still here, so it's going to be a full house. Don't get me wrong, I love my space and lord knows I've got enough crap to fill it with, but it's so much nicer to always have someone to cook for.

You live with me, you're going to get fed. That's just how it works.

Tonight I got to make my favorite kind of dinner, the kind where you make something delicious out of what you find in an "empty" kitchen. You poke around your pantry items, see what can goods you have laying around, check the refrigerator see what ends of fresh herbs might still be green, anything you can make a meal out of.

Scott just went to Trader Joes so we had some mixed greens and I had one last package of tempeh in my stash so salads we shall have!

Salad for Scott (mixed greens with tempeh, oranges and caramelized onions)

Greens - mixed or red leaf lettuce, spinach would work, anything, just don't use iceberg
Olive Oil - 2-3 tablespoons
Onion - one sliced thick
Shallot - one large chopped
Tempeh - one package sliced into 1/4 inch strips
Braggs
Orange - peeled and de-pithed and cut into bite sized chunks
Cranberries - dried
Chickpeas - drained and rinsed
Walnuts - toasted or not if you're in a hurry
Sprouts - alfalfa
Salt - from the sea
Pepper - fresh ground, is there any other way?
Balsamic Vinaigrette - I make my own maple Dijon version, but if I gave you the recipe I'd have to kill you

The first things you want to start cooking are the onions and shallots. Heat some olive oil in a chef's pan and toss them in. Just let them keep cooking while you make everything else. The shallots should get pretty brown and a little crispy, though not burnt. Add salt and pepper to taste. You can cook your tempeh while you do this in another pan, or after the onions are getting close, move them to the side of your pan and start your tempeh. Cook the tempeh like I did in the last recipe (Tuesday Night Tempeh), brown it and then squirt some Braggs on it and crack some pepper over top.

Dinner's almost ready! Just put your greens and other salad fixings in two big bowls, that's one for me and one for you, and put your tempeh, caramelized onions and fried shallots over top. I put a few alfalfa sprouts on the very top for garnish and because they were about to over stay their welcome in my refrigerator. Add your dressing and you're good to go.

Serve with a toasted tortilla. Just throw the tortilla in the pan when you're done cooking. Keep the flame on medium and flip frequently so it puffs up a little and gets golden brown.

So the thing to remember about all my recipes is that they are a first draft. This is the first time I've ever tried to write about what I cook and I'm just jotting things down as I'm making them. As delicious as they might be, there is always room for improvement. I've made a million different versions of this salad and I'll probably make a million more. Add pears and blue cheese or avocados and cottage cheese instead of oranges and caramelized onions. It's just about balancing flavors, textures and colors. Use what ever you have in your kitchen. I rarely buy for a recipe, I just have staple items always on hand and then I buy what looks beautiful and worry about what to make later.

What's for supper this week?
Chickpea, kale, and tomato stew with orange and ginger over giant garlic sourdough croutons (I just got a bunch of rustic loaves from Breadworks!) with a mixed green salad and my not so secret salad dressing. Doors open at 6pm and food is served till it's gone.

Hope to see you there!

If you haven't made it out to the Brillobox for a Sunday Supper yet, you can read all about it in today's Post-Gazette, thanks Bob!