VOCADO AND TOMATO SALAD with Smoked Trout-Buttermilk Dressing
Maine's coastal area has a relatively new neighbor-Duck Trap Farms. One of their fine products is the smoked trout in this salad. The cold smoked delicacy's slight salinity is countered by the spicy heat of a poblano chile in the dressing.
Serves 4
l'/2 cups sour cream % cup white wine vinegar
'/2 cup buttermilk 2 avocados
'/2 cup heavy cream 2 tomatoes, concassee
>A bunch basil leaves, chopped 1 orange, segments only (all pith and
'/2 poblano chile, diced fine seeds removed)
1 pound smoked trout, all skin and bone 8 sprigs cilantro
discarded, flaked
1. Combine the sour cream, buttermilk, heavy cream, chopped basil, diced poblano, flaked trout, and wine vinegar and chill, covered.
2. Cut the avocados in half lengthwise and remove the peel neatly. Discard the seed. Place the four avocado halves flat side down, thinly slice each half into even sections, 6 to 9 per half, and fan slices out slightly on four cool plates.
3. Ladle enough of the trout mixture over avocado slices to almost cover them. Randomly scatter the diced tomato and the orange segments over each of the plates, both on and off the avocado. Garnish each plate with 2 sprigs of cilantro. Serve.
Grilled Goat Cheese in Grape Leaves,
Bitter Greens, and Cabernet Sauvignon Vinegar
Nothing could have prepared me for the majestic, sweeping beauty of the Californian treasures known as the Napa and Sonoma Valleys. My long-awaited pilgrimage to this viticultural heaven occurred in May of1985 and I eagerly look forward to a return soon.
The components of a salad like this are natural alliances that made immediate sense to me as I enjoyed the extremely generous hospitality of our hosts, Bruce and Barbara Neyers, of Joseph Phelps Wineries.
VINTNER'S SALAD:
Serves 4
Eight 2-ounce disks of goat cheese
4 large handfuls fresh greens, such as radicchio, Belgian endive, watercress, arugula, or chicory, cleaned, torn into small pieces, and spun dry
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
2 tablespoons finely chopped thyme leaves
16 grape leaves, fresh picked or packed in brine (if using brine-packed leaves, rinse them thoroughly before blanching) VINAIGRETTE
1 cup extra virgin olive oil Ч4 cup Cabernet Sauvignon vinegar Cracked black pepper to taste
1. Lay the goat cheese on a platter and spoon a bit of the extra virgin olive oil on each disk. Scatter the thyme leaves over the cheese.
2. Bring a pot of water to a boil and blanch the grape leaves. Strain the leaves and refresh under cold water. Dry. Trim off the stems and discard.
3. Place each disk of cheese on 2 overlapped grape leaves and fold leaves around the cheese to make neat packages. Reserve.
4. Heat up a grill.
5. Toss the greens in a bowl. Mix together the vinaigrette ingredients and reserve.
6. Grill the leaf-wrapped cheeses.
7. Add just enough vinaigrette to the greens to coat them and arrange the greens on 4 plates. When the cheese packages are warm, divide them among the plates, unfolding the grape leaves (they are not eaten in this recipe). Serve with crusty French bread, and spread the warm cheese on it.
HEARTS OF ROMAINE AND TINY GREEN BEANS
with Blue Cheese and Tuscan Vinegar
Beautiful colors and a combination of crisp and smooth textures highlight this delicate but full-flavored salad.
1. Whisk the red wine vinegar and olive oil together in a bowl.
2. Lightly toss the prepared beans in just enough vinaigrette to dress them. Arrange them in the center of 4 cool plates.
3. Toss the romaine hearts into the same bowl and dress with a bit more vinaigrette. Arrange them on either side of the beans. Crumble the blue cheese over the beans and serve, offering the pepper mill and good bread.
Serves 4
cup Tuscan red wine vinegar or other
good red wine vinegar
cup virgin olive oil
pound haricots verts, cleaned and
blanched al dente in lightly salted
boiling water, toweled dry, and kept
cold
refrigerator 2to3 ounces crumbled blue cheese (Maytag orNauvoo Bleu are good domestic choices; otherwise a Bleu de Bresse, Gorgonzola, or Stilton)
Cracked black pepper to taste
4 heads romaine, interior leaves or hearts only (reserve outer leaves for another use), washed, spun dry, and kept cold on dry toweling, covered, in the