Even though I haven’t written in a while, I still cook. It’s been almost oppressively hot so Sunday dinners have been influenced by South Asian cuisines. If you’re looking for a nice, light summer starch, try rice vermicelli. All you need is hot water and three to five minutes. The noodles are great with a touch of rice wine vinegar. This picture is from a meal on July 7th. The rice noodles are in the white bowl. They would have photographed much better in a colored ceramic or wooden container.☹
But I digress, yesterday the main course was a deconstructed Boulder Cobb Salad. It ended up being a little bit Cobb and a little bit Nicoise. I wanted a low effort summer entree and I ended up using all four burners on my gas top.
There’s bacon in the front left, chicken poaching in the back left, french lentils in the front right and a boiling water bath for both the green beans and the baby potatoes in the back right. Do any of you have suggestions on how I can keep three quarts of water boiling when adding vegetables? Parboiled veggies are much easier at sea level. I wonder if my burner puts out enough Btu’s. Moving back to sea level would do the trick, however, is it possible to keep water boiling after veggies are added when you’re at 5500 ft?
And, horrors of horrors, one of the knobs on a pan lid broke. The cookware is 44 years old. Yes that is two score and four years and I still remember writing a check once a month for 18 months to pay for the cookware set. I was disappointed but Bill and Gorilla glue came to the rescue. The lid is better than new!
The deconstructed salad was served with all of the toppings on the side. There’s a platter of bacon, chicken, veggies with hard boiled eggs and a bowl of blue cheese crumbles. The lettuce was dressed with a light vinaigrette, (olive oil and champagne vinegar). My guests brought some lovely wines. There was a bottle of white before dinner and a delightful rose with dinner.
I also served a French green lentil salad. French green lentils are a bit firmer than brown or orange lentils so they hold up well when combined with other items.. The green beans were tossed with diced carrots, celery, onion, cubed English cucumber and feta cheese. The salad dressing was honey Dijon with herbs and a dash of Worcestershire.
Dessert was macerated, balsamic blueberries served over angel food cake with Ben and Jerry’s vanilla ice cream. There are plenty of leftovers, so I’ll be eating variations on the salad for the rest of the week.