I should really, by rights, call this salad "Twitter-created" as that is pretty much how it happened.
I was sitting here doing the menu for the coming week and had included Scotch Broth soup for the Wednesday evening. However, that didn't seem right to me - after all, what if the weather turned really hot? I wouldn't want to be sat over a soup pan for an hour or more - and everyone wouldn't really want to be tucking into bowls of steaming soup, when they were far more likely to fancy lazing around on the top shelf of the freezer.
So I began to think down the salad lines, but not your classic "lettuce, tomato, cucumber" salad. I wanted to do more of a Jamie Oliver style main course salad that included interesting ingredients that you wouldn't have, upon first thought, necessarily put together.
However, my brain just wouldn't conjure up an exciting combination. I knew that we'd got a whole shed load of chicken on the menu, so I was trying to think of an alternative main meat ingredient. Now I know that everyone loves bacon - and our butcher's bacon is just amazing, so that was a good start. I considered Impossible Quiche, but I have to be in the mood for that - and I just wasn't.
My eyes strayed to the computer screen, where Twitter was open. So I asked - of the general Twitterati - "@JennyEatwell is trying to think of a salady thing that doesn't involve lettuce, that is a main meal. ~ponders~". Almost instantly, came suggestions from @presentsqueen, @TheSourceLeeds, @CarolineTecks, @Scarlie_Maere and @rmrezendes, suggesting things like chicory, fennel, new potatoes, citrus dressing, feta cheese, baby spinach and others.
So began the compilation of my Wednesday evening's dinner. After many suggestions, exclamations of approval, expressions of doubt and alternative suggestions, we came up with a salad which involved a bed of baby spinach & watercress (so good for you), with baby plum tomatoes (so sweet), roasted Jersey new potatoes (so gorgeously earthy) and red onion (so savoury), crispy bacon (so salty), sauteed chestnut mushrooms (earthy again, but a different kind) - all topped off with crumbled creamy goat's cheese (so gorgeous) and a dressing made from wine vinegar (red, in this case) and wholegrain mustard (so tart).
You're salivating, aren't you. I know I was!
The reality proved to be every bit as tasty as the imaginary creation - in fact, it surpassed my expectations. It was one of those salads that, every forkful you took, contained different mixtures of flavour that all went so superbly well together. It was impossible to become tired of eating it. In fact, where the bacon was concerned, hubby declared himself reluctant to swallow on occasion, so as to live with that gorgeous flavour for as long as possible. The onion and the goat's cheese, the tomato and the goat's cheese, the potatoes and the bacon, the bacon and the tomato - every bit was as gorgeous as its neighbour. The spinach and watercress leaves were gently dressed with the red wine vinegar and mustard, which served as a beautiful palate cleanser as you progressed through the meal.
Two cook's notes - firstly, I prefer to use muddy Jersey Royals as they seem to have the best flavour. For the cost of having to scrub them in the sink, they are well worth the benefits you get in flavour. Secondly, the goat's cheese I used was a little square one that I got from Asda, called "Poitou-Charentes". It's one of their "extra special" range and is perfect for the job.
I'm going to ask the Twitterati to create my dinners more often, if this is what they come up with!
NEW POTATO SALAD WITH BACON & GOAT'S CHEESE (feeds 3)
Ingredients :
500g muddy Jersey Royal new potatoes, scrubbed and halved (or quartered, in my case, as they were mahoosive!)
a drizzle of olive oil
2 red onions, cut into 6 wedges each
12 baby plum tomatoes, halved
a pack of back bacon, diced
140g chestnut mushrooms, sliced finely
1 tbsp wholegrain mustard
1 tbsp red wine vinegar
3 big handfuls of watercress & spinach salad leaves
85g creamy goat's cheese
sea salt & freshly ground black pepper.
Method :
1. Pre-heat the oven to 200deg C.
2. Place the new potatoes onto a baking tray, drizzle with olive oil and season. Roast in the oven for 20 minutes, then remove the tray and add the onion pieces. Give everything a shake and return to the oven for another 20-25 minutes' roasting. When done, let them cool for a few minutes, before adding to the salad.
3. While the potatoes are roasting, dry fry the bacon until crispy. Remove from the pan and keep warm.
4. Add the mushrooms to the pan and saute them on a high heat until they are softened and lightly caramelised. Remove from the pan and keep these warm, too.
5. Make the dressing by whisking the mustard and vinegar with a little water to let it down sufficiently to drizzle.
6. Place the salad leaves into a large bowl and drizzle 2 tsp of the dressing over. Toss to coat the leaves lightly, then pile onto the plates - a handful for each plate.
7. The add the tomatoes, potatoes, onion, mushrooms and bacon, finally crumbling the goat's cheese over the top.
8. Add a last drizzle of the dressing, and serve.
Utterly, utterly divine.
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With that curious sensation in one's stomach that only a true foodie would recognise, (being excitement at using a new ingredient, nerves in case it all goes wrong, more nerves in case nobody likes it and even more nerves, well, just because), I got cracking with trying the family out on wet polenta.
I made sure that I would have time and attention span to deal with the polenta, by pairing it with a dead easy chicken dish - Parmesan chicken. This is basically nothing more than a chicken breast dunked in egg white, then into grated parmesan with freshly ground black pepper - and popped into the oven to roast. For something so simple, it really is lovely.
So! On to the polenta problem. I had heeded the accumulated wisdom of various Italian cooks and as such, opted for the "polenta with blue cheese & small amounts of green stuff" version.
The first quandary was what stock to use. Home-made chicken stock, or vegetable stock from a cube? Home-made chicken is my favourite, but I was nervous of it becoming too chickeny, when it was going to have a huge hunk of blue cheese melted through it later on. So, in view of this, I opted for the vegetable. In retrospect, I think perhaps the chicken would have been good, as it wouldn't have contained half as much salt as the stock cube did!
The recipe said to add a crushed clove of garlic to the stock and allow it to infuse for 2-3 minutes and then remove it. We must have super-duper garlic, or something, because even on 2 minutes, there was too much garlic! (I know, there will be several of you throwing your hands in the air and exclaiming "too much garlic? There's no such thing!" - but for us, there can be). So if you're garlic-sensitive, I'd skip this bit - and will do in future.
I'd also had a bit of a quandary over the blue cheese, in relation to the overall price of the thing. The chicken had cost £3, add to that the cost of the parmesan, then £2 for Gorgonzola ... the overall price seemed to be creeping into the expensive bracket. So, I opted for a £1 piece of French blue cheese of unknown origin. It was soft, and vaguely sweet, with a lovely salty tang - so I figured it would do. It did, indeed, do. Very nicely!
I was lucky with the polenta itself, as I'd had some for ages - since we started cooking Cornbread (which I love). However, having looked on the packet the best before date was some time in 2010. ~cough~ Oh well, it was too late to get any more by then - and I'd used it quite recently to put on roast potatoes, so I figured we wouldn't die.
I also had some baby spinach in the fridge that needed using up, so substituted that for the rocket that the recipe demanded. Personally, I think it was even nicer with the little crunch that the spinach gave.
A couple of things struck me when I was cooking the polenta dish, which were - firstly, my goodness but doesn't it thicken quickly! I had to use twice the amount of liquid that was stated in the recipe, before it would become anywhere close to the right consistency. Another thing, is that it is quite impossible for me to pour in a steady stream, while whisking like mad. I can pour in a whisk-like circle whilst whisking like mad if you like - but then, I've never been able to pat my head and rub my tummy at the same time, either.
Lastly, I was surprised at the difference the lemon juice made to the dish. Before adding the juice, the polenta was creamy and quite tasty. You could taste the individual flavours of the polenta, the stock, the blue cheese and the spinach. After the inclusion of the lemon juice - bingo! It all came together as a cohesive whole. Who'd have thought it!
Hubby’s initial opinion was *gasp!* and *gag!*, followed by “euk!” and “hmmmn”. Which didn’t bode well at all.
Son & heir’s initial reaction was “have you tried this stuff, Mum?”, whilst looking extremely doubtful.
Well, of course I’d tried it – after all, I’d cooked it so I was bound to have tried it one way or another! I quite liked it. It was too salty, as between the stock cube and the cheese, they had delivered quite an accumulated load. I really liked the cheese and I had no objections to the texture. I did agree with hubby though, that the garlic was way too much.
Once hubby could speak, he voiced his objections to the polenta as being mainly rooted in the over-saltiness and the garlic excess that didn’t really sit well with the blue cheese. He didn’t have any objections to the texture, which I was surprised about, and would countenance another go with maybe some polenta that was at least in date, this time.
I don’t know – some people just want the moon on a stick. *chuckle*
POLENTA WITH GORGONZOLA (serves 3-4)
Based on a recipe by Paul Merrett.
Ingredients :
570ml vegetable or chicken stock (I used around 900ml, so have some extra just in case!)
1 garlic clove, peeled and crushed (optional - see above!)
half a tsp of dried thyme
sea salt & freshly ground black pepper
150g quick-cook polenta
50g unsalted butter (note the UNsalted)
handful of fresh rocket or spinach leaves
200g Gorgonzola or other melting blue cheese, cut into cubes
1 lemon, juice only.
Method :
1. Bring the stock to the boil in a large heavy based pan over a medium heat.
2. If you're using it, add the crushed garlic to the stock and allow to infuse for 2-3 minutes before removing it and discarding. Add the thyme. Season to taste.
3. Add the polenta to the hot stock in a thin, steady stream. Whisk immediately and continue whisking as it cooks for 2-3 minutes to avoid any lumps. The texture will be of mashed potato when cooked.
4. Add the butter and stir to combine.
5. Add the cubed cheese and stir to combine until it has melted through the polenta.
6. Add the rocket or spinach and allow to wilt, then add the lemon juice and give everything a last stir.
Serve.
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