Winter Salad by David Lebovitz, author of My Paris Kitchen
Dear Readers,
Although I admit to flaws, you must agree, I am no complainer. In fact, I am often obnoxious in my upbeat-ingness. Let’s just throw it out there…January was the pits. That towel I’ve never thrown in almost got hurled. While I realized there would be bumps in my 5 1/2 month winter sojourn, I didn’t expect a crater.
Mississippi Roast – the food sensation of social media . This chuck roast can do everything alone but shred itself.
I left Aspen in mid-November before the snow flurries and will return in May. While leaving Colorado was a tug, I was anxious to escape Mother Nature’s winter largesse. Since I would be on-the-road for two seasons, from the holidays through tax time, my car groaned with its load albeit my thinking I’d only packed the bare necessities. (Ahem!)
Love is in the air. Greater Sandhill Cranes mate for life. This guy is trying to attract attention, with no success. California Delta, 2/2016
What gets packed must be unpacked. By the time I arrived in January to my rental house in Cambria, I’d suffered enough pack duty. Finally, after enjoying the holidays and 1,500 driving miles later, I was landing at my 4-month destination. Readers, here’s when we pause to beat me up. The thing is, I never previewed the rental. I only saw pictures. From the get-go I realized this house and I were probably not simpatico.
In addition, El Niño came calling. Its January deluges were not kind to many wacky Cambria homes including mine. You don’t want details. As January ended, we all agreed I should move to another house. Pack. Load. Unpack. Get settled.
NEW Temporary Home Sweet Home in Cambria, California.
I am now happily settled in a quirky beach cottage located two blocks from the Pacific. It suits me. So, join me to CELEBRATE?: 1) My new house; 2) Our CooktheBookFridays’ premier; 3) Mouthwatering food with recipes included; and, 4) My California Delta field trip.
Read on and thank you for joining me,
Mary
During this week’s trip to the California Delta I saw thousands of birds and waterfowl. This gorgeous male Green-winged_Teal has paired up with his Lady.
COOK THE BOOK FRIDAYS (bi-monthly)
Many of you remember when FRENCH FRIDAYS WITH DORIE, an international on-line cooking group, ended last summer. After five years and having completed cooking through Dorie Greenspan’s Around My French Table, we “Doristas”, closed our cookbooks but not our friendships as we moved on. In fact, we’ve kept in touch via our Facebook alumni page and various personal reunions while we searched for a new project to bring us back together.
We try to stay in touch. Last Fall seven of our French Fridays gang had dinner at the Bocuse Restaurant at the Culinary Institute in Hyde Park.
Finally, Katie Baillargeon, who blogs at ProfWhoCooks, said, “Let’s do it.”
Many of us had already been salivating over David Lebovitz’s widely popular “MY PARIS KITCHEN”. Although Lebovitz now lives in Paris, he started his food life at Alice Water’s Chez Panisse. In fact last winter. shortly after its publication, Susan and John Lester of Create Amazing Meals and I cooked his delicious cover.
Last winter my French Fridays comrades,John and Susan Lester, joined me in cooking-the-cover of Lebovitz’s newly published “My Paris Kitchen.”
As I recall, this pan was very heavy.
Katie wrote to David, receiving his appreciative approval. Since Betsy Pollack-Benjamin and I were administrators of the FFWD site and Candy Johnson masterminded the reunion network, Katie asked us to be her back-up crew.
David’s Roquefort salad dressing is calorie friendly without loss of flavor. His secret is Greek yogurt. This will be my go-to recipe for salads and dips.
David’s recipes are user-friendly which is exemplified with his WINTER SALAD (Salade D’Hiver). It’s dressed with a calorie-friendly Roquefort dressing of equal amounts of Greek yogurt and crumbled Roquefort cheese. He suggests using Belgian endive. I had Romaine on hand. Any head of ‘sturdy winter salad greens such as frisée, radicchio, watercress, or escarole’ will also work, he says.
Into the cooker we go. The seared chuck roast is first topped with butter and peppers.
To serve with Lebovitz’s simple oh-so-French salad I made MISSISSIPPI ROAST, the wildly popular 8-hour slow cooker recipe boasting over one million pins on Pinterest. I’m obviously late to the party but hiding a chuck roast beneath a stick of butter, packages of ranch dressing mix and “au jus” gravy mix topped with a handful of pepperoncini didn’t seem, uh, healthy. Recently The New York Times’ Sam Sifton, who also was running late, played around and made this a more palatable dish. I served this absolutely scrumptious meat/gravy combo with freshly harvested roasted fingerlings from my Talley Farms produce haul.
Pour the gravy mixture over the meat, butter and peppers. Put the lid on the slow cooker. Don’t even blink at the slow cooker for 7 or 8 hours.
BIRDING & ECOLOGY on the CALIFORNIA DELTA
Every night at dusk thousands of Greater Sandhill Cranes fly over Central California’s Mt. Diablo and into the Delta’s wetlands to roost. It’s quite spectacular to watch.
After settling into my new cottage, I threw clothes together and headed towards Sacramento to join 24 others on a Birding & Ecology 4-day boating trip on the California Delta. I almost bagged this trip. I was just so tired. Giving up would have been a huge mistake. At the evening’s reception I met a retired micro-biologist from UC/Davis. After an hour or so of dinner conversation, she said, shaking her head, “You don’t know anything about northern California, do you.” (Not a question, just a fact.)
A pair of Northern Pintails.
I was the only out-of-stater in this knowledgeable group and a willing listener. Besides seeing thousands of migratory birds and waterfowl that inhabit the California Delta’s 738,000 acres and broadening my knowledge of water issues, I now enjoy a working relationship with northern California. This was just the right trip with remarkably nice people to rid me of my January grumps.
Mississippi Roast, Photo by Melina Hammer for The New York Times.
MISSISSIPPI ROAST Adapted from Sam Sifton, The New York Times
Serves 4
http://cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/1017937-mississippi-roast
INGREDIENTS
1 boneless chuck roast or top or bottom round roast, 31/2 to 4 pounds
2 teaspoons kosher salt, plus more to taste
1 ½ teaspoons freshly ground black pepper, plus more to taste
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
3 tablespoons neutral oil, like canola
6 tablespoons unsalted butter
8 to 12 pepperoncini (Pepperoncinis make a point! Use less (6) if you’re not into strong flavors but don’t leave them out.)
2-3 tablespoons mayonnaise (I use Hellmann’s® Real Mayonnaise)
2 teaspoons apple cider vinegar
1 teaspoon dried dill
1/2 teaspoon sweet paprika
2 tablespoon of buttermilk
Chopped parsley, for garnish
DIRECTIONS
1.Place roast on a cutting board. Rub the salt and pepper ALL over it. Sprinkle the flour over the seasoned meat and massage it into the flesh.
2. Heat the oil in a large sauté pan set over high heat until it is shimmering and about to smoke. Place the roast in the pan and brown on all sides, 4 to 5 minutes a side, to create a crust.
3. Remove roast from pan and place it in the bowl of a slow cooker. Add the butter and the pepperoncini to the meat. Put the lid on the slow cooker, and set the machine to low.
4. As the roast heats, make the gravy mixture. Combine the mayonnaise, vinegar, dill and paprika in a small bowl and whisk to emulsify. Add the
buttermilk and whisk again. Remove the lid from the slow cooker and pour the dressing over the meat, butter and peppers.
5. Replace the top and allow to continue cooking, undisturbed, for 6 to 8 hours, or it is shreddable. (TIP: When it was cooked sufficiently, I carefully lifted the entire roast to a cutting board and discarded whatever pieces of fat I spotted. Using 2 forks, I shredded the meat.
6. Give the gravy a whisk or two before returning the shredded meat to the slow cooker. Then, mix the meat with the gravy surrounding it.
7. Garnish with parsley.
8. Serve with egg noodles, roast potatoes, pile on sandwich rolls or toast. Or, grab a fork and eat it from the slow cooker!
WINTER SALAD (Salade D’Hiver) by David Lebovitz, My Paris Kitchen
Slice and cut, as you prefer, any sturdy lettuce greens including frisée, radicchio, watercress, escarole, Romaine or Belgian Endive. Mix equal amounts of Greek yogurt (Tip: I use full fat) and crumbled Roquefort, blue or Gorgonzola cheese. Season and flavor with lemon juice, chopped chives, salt and pepper to taste. Mix the lettuce and dressing thoroughly before seasoning again with pepper and garnishing with chives.
David presents many variations to his winter salad on this link:
http://www.davidlebovitz.com/2013/12/winter-salad-with-pecans-pears-and-gorgonzola/
NOTE TO READERS: During the past two weeks with the assistance of GoDaddy, I had Sitelock and SLL Certification installed/added to my site. Having worked with more than 8 different male techs (it’s the best social life I’ve enjoyed in years), I was assured that ‘my site is as safe as Fort Knox.’ Quite honestly, that wasn’t all that reassuring..
Oh, no! I’m so sorry you had to deal with so much. Glad you found a lovely beach house and things are looking up. Good news—I got into your site tonight with NO warnings! Whew. I think all your new boyfriends did something right 🙂 Hope to join in with the FFwD group now and again–miss you all!!! xoxo
Hi Mary, I honestly can’t wait to make the above beef recipe..as soon as I get a slow cooker for Sedona. It looks yummy, perfect winter comfort food.
Enjoy your CA winter.
Sedona??? I’m in Sedona. Let me know!!! It would be fun to meet. Any friend of Mary’s is a friend of mine!
SO happy to have another reason to cook with you each month! Your salad looks great. I followed the recipe, but everyone’s variations are inspiring me for next time. I saw the Sam Sifton writeup on the Mississippi Roast last week. I’m even later to the party as that’s the first I’d heard of it. I bookmarked the recipe, but now that you’ve taste-tested it, I’ll move it up in the “to try” list. Your new house is adorable. I hope you enjoy a happy rest of winter/spring there.
Gary and I lived in northern CA in the 70s. That’s where our first son was born! Its such a beautiful and intriguing part of the world. One of these days I would love to go back for a visit. Mary, your adventures are so interesting! They probably don’t feel that way as they are unfolding for you, though:) I will have to try Mississippi Roast. Being from TN I can’t believe I’ve never heard of this. When we were in Wisconsin last summer we saw plenty of Sandhill Cranes and there beautiful and hopeful mating dance. The fields of Sandhills ALWAYS caused us to stop along the road. I’m so very happy to be cooking with you again!!!
Lucky you, Mary! Your winter “digs” looks super. Enjoy them to the fullest. See you back in Colorado in June — we return from AZ then, ourselves. BTW, I am a member of the USFS volunteer patrol here, too — same uniform! Lots of hikes in the desert not the mountains, however.
So sorry to hear you had so much trouble with your place, better go back to the on from last year -we loved that one! Your new one looks cute! The roast looks divine and using the slow cooker is right up my working ass alley! Loved the bird pics too!
See you soon! ((Hugs))
I’m so glad you’ve found a great place to land for the rest of the winter. And I’m glad you’ve had some great adventures so far. That roast sounds fantastic and a good accompaniment for the salad. I loved the salad – it was a great way to kick off the new group!
Jealous of your “winter” house, it’s dull and grey here. Happy to be cooking and baking alongside you again – it will make Fridays even better! (PS: I’ve been blogging for 7 years and have no idea what Sitelock and SLL Certification means!)
If anyone can turn lemons into lemonade, it is most certainly you! I hope you have settled in and can try to relax. I’m sorry we missed each other when you were in Las Vegas. Maybe on the return trip? I just printed Sam Sifton’s recipe yesterday and will be making the roast for dinner tomorrow. The salad will be the perfect addition, thank you!
Wow Mary! I thought of you often when I saw how El Nino was hitting the California coast line. So sorry you had to endure so much! But as always you made lemonade from lemons! Your little cottage is so sweet and I’m sure you are finally enjoying your time there.
It is so good to finally be blogging along with our Doristas again! It’s been too long.
That roast looks wonderfully delicious…I will have to give it a try. Crock pot meals are particularly appealing right now.
Enjoy your time in Cambria! Happy Friday!
That chuck roast dish looks good and I’m far more likely to make that version than the Pinterest one you describe. Mary, I’m so sorry to hear why January was rough. Glad you found a new place that is working–nothing’s worse than being unhappy in your space. I’m hoping to pop up and visit you in March so I’ll contact you about that separately. 😉 I also have to add that I’m a Northern California girl (a mountain one at that) and chuckled a bit at your experience, but what fun! Thank you for being generally awesome and especially for helping with CtBF!!!
Both recipes look delicious! I will make them. BTW, I do recommend David Lebovitz’s book Paris the Sweet Life, which has more than recipes for dessert. Tempting stuff!
Oh Mary, Sorry to hear about the horrid beginnings of your winter refuge in Northern California; but that cottage two blocks away from the Pacific sounds and looks divine! I am enjoying your holiday homework and adventures. Your salad looks great (will try with romaine and green grapes sans the blue vinny next time) and drag out my slow cooker some time in the future (distant or near is the question). I must say that I pride myself that I have a wicked sense of humor (and laughter!); otherwise it will be a tough life! See you again in two weeks! But course I do sneak a peek every now and then!
Hi Mary,
It was SO nice to meet you! Great fun to hang around with you and I learned lots from you! You are far too modest about your knowledge of things! Thanks for the shout-out. Hope I didn’t insult you with my comment, but there’s so much to see in California and Northern Cali is really different from So Cal.
Love your blog. I look forward to reading it regularly. Your photos are really professional quality! I’m excited to try some of your recipes. I want to attempt the Mississippi roast but since I don’t have a slow cooker, think that my dutch oven in the oven will work as well?
Anita
P.S. Hope this goes directly to Mary rather than being posted.
It does seem that you have had some trials! So very sorry. I feel your pain. Honest.
I must have seen that roast at the same time as you – had never heard of it before. So – was it really great? or? I thought the salad was yummy, though I switched a few things (by mistake, and by design), but yummy indeed.
I hope things settle down for you! And that you truly enjoy the remainder of your winter respite! XOXOX
(BTW, one of my nieces works for Go-Daddy, I’m glad they got you all fixed up!)
Mary – I am glad to be back to a regularly scheduled date with your writing. While I always enjoy hearing what you’re up to, I find I need some rigor around my schedule or it all falls to crap.
Sorry to hear you had a rough beginning to your trip; glad your recovered. I just can’t imagine how rough it must have been to make you need to relocate for the season.
XO
It really is exciting to have the FFWD gang come back together for this new project! I don’t think I realized how much I missed it until the prospect of the new project came up. I have experienced rental problems due to too much rain before, so I can imaging how trying that situation was. My experience ended with me moving out too. I have recently bookmarked the NYTimes Mississippi Roast recipe; I’m glad to know it’s a winner! It might have to move up in my queue.
I love your upbeat-ingness! I also love that you’re uprooting and changing homes for the season. I wish I could move away from the Aussie heat but I think New Zealand might be my coolest option 🙂
I am excited that the group is back together! I have missed so much and I am going to buy the book today and join. I’ve missed everyone! The salad looks amazing and that roast… what can I say?! I can see my husband drooling already!
Finally getting to respond to this post…GREAT recipes. Excited that the “Roast” recipe was adapted to REAL ingredients. The original recipe could be what happened to the dinosaurs.
Also like the idea of a more healthful Roquefort dressing…also trying to find ways to improve my microbiome.
Finally, I LOVE your new cottage. I hope it is as cozy cute inside as outside…but no matter it seems inspiring. It is clearly a nature writer’s cottage. Send a picture of the kitchen too.
Hugs from Rocks