Chopped Salad

Some of my fondest memories growing up was going out to dinner with my grandmother here in Los Angeles. We always went to fancy restaurants so it was fun to get dressed up and see all famous people, ladies in expensive clothes, and enjoy the delicious meals. One of my favorite meals I've ever had while out with grandma was at La Scala, a restaurant famous for their chopped salad. I'm not sure what is so good about it but it is incomparable. I've tried to recreate it, even after finding their recipe for the dressing online but nothing compares. However, this past week my roommate and I had a big craving for a chopped salad so I decided to create my own version tonight using the nicoise dressing I learned to make in my Julia Child cooking class. I served it with some garlic cheese bread and an iced tea and it was a perfectly light but filling meal. You can add or omit pretty much anything you'd like, just as long as you chop the lettuce finely. This is great as a side salad but filling enough that it's also a perfectly fine main course. Oh, by the way, between the two of us, I used almost 2 heads of romaine lettuce and there is nothing left :)

What you'll need (will feed 4-6 people):
2 heads romaine lettuce
1 can garbanzo beans
10-15 slices good salami
1/4 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
1/2 red onion, chopped
Salad dressing

1. Rinse and dry your lettuce. Cut off the top about 1/2 inch to get rid of the wilted top, and the bottom ends leaving the majority of the white part of the lettuce (this salad needs crunch!). Slice horizontally 4 times, then chop vertically all the way down to the bottom, so you get nice shreds of lettuce. Place in a large bowl to mix.
2. Add the garbanzo beams, mozzarella, and onions. Slice your salami 4 times across, then 4 times down to get bite size pieces.
3. Toss everything together with the dressing and serve immediately.

enjoy :)

Vegan Chocolate Sea Salt Tart

This weekend, my mom and I went to Mass for the memorial of my aunt who passed away one year ago. It was a very emotional morning and we were feeling pretty blue. What fixes that right away? You guessed it... SHOPPING! After a lovely brunch with my Grandma, Aunt's best friends, and my family in LA, my mom and I headed to the Grove for some retail therapy. We walked into Anthropologie and because it was Earth Day, they had some really cute little tables set up with flower planting, coffee stations, and, our favorite, a vegan cookbook signing. We have a large cabinet full of cookbooks and a few minutes before we went in the store my mom even said to me that she needed to clean the cabinet out because she has so many. Well after talking to the author for a few minutes and turning to the last recipe in the book, we had no choice but to buy the book and run home and check out the chocolate sea sat tart from Pure Vegan by Joseph Shuldiner. I have to warn you, this is EXTREMELY rich and almost more of a truffle than a tart. But my lord it is AMAZING! Now, you may think that the salt will throw you off but really nothing is better than sugar with a salt chaser, right? You'll need jut the TINIEST slice of this to give in to your chocolate craving or else you might pass out (in a good way, of course). This probably won't be a big hit with the kids, but you can try adding a dollop of whipped cream on top to cater to their liking. Either way, it is rich, decadent, and scrumptious! 

What you'll need:

For the crust:

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1/2 cup powdered sugar
2 tbs. cocoa powder
1/4 tsp. kosher salt
1/2 cup cold vegan shortening, diced (I used vegan butter)
3 tbs. ice water

For the filling:
1 1/4 pounds good quality dark chocolate, coarsely chopped
1 tbs. instant coffee
2 1/2 cups unsweetened plain soymilk
1 tsp. salt
Fleur de sel for garnish

1. Preheat your oven to 350*. In a large food processor, pulse together the flour, sugar, cocoa powder, and salt. Add the vegan butter and pulse until the shortening is in small pieces. Quickly add the water while you pulse it.
2. As soon as it comes together take it out and transfer to a 9-inch tart pan. Press the dough all over the pan, especially up the sides, creating a 1/4 inch thick crust. Pierce the crust about 15 times with a fork (this will let the steam escape the shell and eliminate any air bubbles). Cover the shell with saran wrap and refrigerate for 15 minutes.
3. After the shell has chilled, remove the saran wrap and line the tart shell with parchment paper. Take a bag of beans and distribute around to paper to weigh the shell down. Bake for 20 minutes, remove the weights and paper, and bake for another 5 minute. Set aside to cool.
4. While the shell is cooling, chop the dark chocolate, add to a heatproof glass bowl, and heat the soy milk in a large sauce pan until it starts to steam. Once steamed, add the salt and instant coffee, stirring until it dissolves.
5. Pour the milk mixture over the chopped chocolate and let sit for ONE WHOLE MINUTE. After a minute, stir until the chocolate is fully melted and smooth (this may take up to 5 minutes. Don't give up, keep stirring!).

6. Pour the chocolate into the tart crust and let cool in the refridgerator for about 30-45 minutes. Once the chocolate has set, garnish with some fleur de sel. Remove from the tart pan and serve!

enjoy :)

the inspiration

Cinnamon Chipotle Sweet Potato Fries

I love french fries. Honestly, I could probably live off of them. Beer battered, crisscut, sweet potato, they're just all delicious! But, sadly it has come to be found that this would not be the healthiest way to live (sad face). Usually we have some sort of a potato Sunday nights when we cook dinner at my moms but the fries in the bag have such a processed taste that I can't stand. So with that said, I started scouring Pinterest for a recipe for sweet potato fries. It's so much healthier to bake them than fry them, anyways. I tried to make some a few weeks ago but totally burned them. I came across a few that looked pretty good so I fiddled with them and came up with this recipe that was so good, there were none left! I would have eaten them all myself but I suppose that would have been rude. 

What you'll need:

3 sweet potatoes, peeled

2 tbs. olive oil

1 tsp. kosher salt

1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon

1/2 tsp. chili powder

1 tsp. chipotle sauce (Tabasco makes some)

1/2 tsp. pepper

1 tsp. brown sugar (optional but DEFINITELY suggested)

1. Preheat your oven to 400*. Peel and cut your potatoes into strips that are about 1/4 inch thick (you know, the size of fries!). 

 

2. Toss the potatoes in the olive oil, salt, cinnamon, chili powder, chipotle sauce, and pepper. 

 3. Lay the fries on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper (non-stick spray is just NOT enough here, guys). Bake for 15 minutes, flip, then bake for another 20 minutes more. (if they're still a little mushy, bake for another 5-10 minutes)

4. While they're still hot, toss with the brown sugar and serve immediately!

enjoy :)