Italian Chopped Salad, My New Obsession

I have a tendency to go through food phases... or maybe obsessions is a better word for it.  I will crave a certain food or ingredient and it's as though I can't get enough of it.  I'll put it in everything, eat it everyday... I become insatiable!  Lately my new obsession has been Italian tuna in olive oil.

Now don't get me wrong, I've been eating Italian and Spanish tuna for a few years now and consider myself a tuna snob.  And I will say, one bite of high quality tuna and you'll never eat any other kind of tuna again!  I regularly turn up nose to plain ol'albacore in water, and god forbid I see chunk light in anything but a cat food bowl.  But lately my love for fine quality tuna has been revived.  I think it's the onset of nice weather, bringing about thoughts of tomatoes and avocados - perfect for stuffing good tuna salad inside, with a nice glass of chilled white wine.  

The last few weeks my tuna fixation has morphed into a chopped tuna salad obsession.  It's so easy on a week night, since truly I just throw in anything I have in my pantry and crisper!  Today I was at the store and all I could concentrate on was the numerous combinations of chopped salad I can make with the ingredients I was buying.  My little cart was piled high with lettuce greens, grape tomatoes, mushrooms, hearts of palm, garbanzo beans, cucumbers and on and on and of course cans and cans of tuna!

So here it is, my new favorite food obsession...

Italian Chopped Salad

Serves 2 as an entree or 4 as a side

1/2 bag of RTS Lettuces (I likes ones with arugla)

Large handful of Grape or Cherry tomatoes, halved

5 Mushrooms, sliced or quartered

1/2 cup Garbanzo beans, drained and rinsed

1/3 cup Heart of Palm, chopped

1 can Italian Tuna in olive oil, drained and lightly flaked

1/2 cup frozen Petite Peas

Homemade Croutons or 1 cup store bought

1/3 cup Nicole's No-Fail Vinaigrette, or favorite store bought

Toss together all ingredients into a big bowl.  Cover lightly and put in the fridge for 30 minutes and serve!  

Other fine additions:  cucumbers, carrots, hard boiled eggs, cannelli beans, olives, roasted red peppers... it goes on and on! 

Homemade Croutons

If you've never made homemade croutons, you're really missing out.  They're super easy and soooooo good!

1/2 lb good quality bread, cut into 1/2 in squares

1/3 cup Olive Oil

2 tsp Gourmet Seasoning Salt (I like an italian or Mediterranean blend)

1 tsp Garlic Powder

1/2 tsp Hot Pepper Flakes

Heat oven to 350 degrees.  In a large bowl or pan sprinkle dry seasonings over the bread and toss well.  Lightly drizzle 1/3 of the olive oil over the bread mixture and toss, repeat until you've used most of the olive oil and bread seems well coated, but not swimming.  Bake on a cookie sheet, or I like to use my pizza stone, for about 35 - 45 minutes or until crisp.  While their baking, give them a toss and turn now and then.

 

Nicole's No-Fail Vinaigrette

I love making my own dressings.  They're so fast and delicious and they can change depending on my ingredients and tastes!

1/2 shallot, minced

2 tsp high quality Dijon or specialty mustard

1/4 cup Champagne Vinegar (apple cider, red wine, sherry - any of these are great too)

1/3 cup good quality Olive Oil

Gourmet Seasoned Salt to taste (one with good spices that you enjoy)

Fresh Ground Pepper to taste

Sugar Substitute or Caster's Sugar to taste

Whisk together shallot, mustard, vinegar, olive oil and then taste it.  Add your pepper, salt, and sugar and keep tasting until you hit the levels of sweet and salty that you and your family enjoy.  I tend to like mine a little more acidic than sweet, but that's just me!  Then let it sit for about 10 minutes at room temperature to allow the flavors to meld.

Union Sq. Green Market: A Different Kind of Green

There is nothing I love more than walking Ollie down to the Union Square Green Market to fondle beautiful vegetables on a Saturday afternoon.  Yesterday was warm, breezy, overcast, yet a perfect day for perusing the market.  My lovely friend Rachel met us there in the early afternoon and we were off for a gastronomic adventure!

It had a been a couple weeks since I was last at the market and I could not believe how it had grown... almost quadruple in size!  It wrapped and snaked all through the park a good solid 3 blocks.  How fantastic!  My mouth began to water with the anticipation of spring ramps, asparagus, artichokes, greens, and so much more.  Much to my dismay... it was still the same selection of produce that had been there for the past several months, parsnips as large as my arm, onions, carrots, potatoes, a sad selection of apples.  And even more disappointing the Honey Crisp Apple that has renewed my interest in apples - and the only apple I would spend $4/lb for - has finally come to the end of its season.  

Rachel and I sifted through apples and pears trying to find our week's snacks, discussing the oddness of the Little Lady Apple, roughly the size of a golf ball.  Rachel was far more intrigued than I, and she bought a bag.  I was pleased that I hadn't bought any when we shared one while pushing through the crowds; they were too mealy for my taste.  Our vegetable and fruit adventure was cut short when we realized that the spring produce we were salivating for still hadn't arrived.  However we found something that excited us just as much... PLANTS.  Beautiful spring flowering plants, tomato plants, herb plants, plants that her and I hadn't seen since leaving the lush neighborhood gardens of Georgia.  Even Ollie was intrigued as he licked water off the leaves and buried his little nose in primrose and crocus blooms. 

We became obsessed!  We spent more time evaluating cherry tree branches with tiny buds from this stand and that stand than we had about anything else all day.  Rachel finally settled on some beautiful willow branches and then moved her obsession to house plants.  As we tossed around what plants would do well in a dark New York apartment with only an hour of light a day, I spotted a gem across the way.  A big, beautiful, lone tomato plant in a two gallon pot with a "$10" sign sticking out was calling my name.  I snatched up Ollie and weaved my way through the on coming people and staked my claim.  It was the last one and it was mine!  All mine!  I could just taste the fresh tomato sandwiches, gazpacho, and tomato basil salads soon to be in my future.

  

The smell of the gorgeous tomato plant had intoxicated me.  I asked the nice man who was reshuffling plants around what kind of tomato plant my new found love was.  He looked at me like I was off my rocker.  "Tomato," he replied.

"Of course, but what kind of tomato?" I asked again with a big smile.

 

"Uh, it's a patio tomato," he said and then quickly walked away.

 

A patio tomato??  Was this some sort of new type of heirloom tomato or was it just a location for me to grow it?  I imagined a tomato that would only be comfortable on a plain burger or sandwich with white bread and processed cheese.  But you know what, I didn't care.  Whatever kind of tomato, patio and now roof, it was going to be wonderful in about three or four weeks!

Rachel and I wandered through the rest of the market, me with Ollie and my new huge plant, and her with her willow branches, tiny apples and new houseplant and talked of our big dreams of having our rooftop garden for the summer.  Even though we didn't get what we went there for, we felt accomplished in our quest for lush vegetation and good food.

My top picks from the Farmer's Market

1.  Shallots - in rare form this week

2.  Herb Plants - especially the 3 for $6 deal that I kept seeing

3.  Tomato Plants - besides the Patio variety, they also had Brandywine which is the creme de la creme of heirlooms!

4.  Fresh yogurt and milk - need I say more??

5.  House plants - gorgeous and cheap, but inspect for bugs first

6.  $5 4-foot Willow Branch Bunches - sooooo pretty in a vase

7.  Savory Scones - we all agreed that it was delish... even Ollie!

Things to Pass On

1.  Little Lady Apples, for $1.50/lb - just get a whole apple

2.  Parsnips - they shouldn't be as big as my arm

3.  Fig Trees - unless you want to invest the decade it will take it to bear fruit, and not to mention the ground that it should be planted in

4.  $22 "Mixed Herb Pots" that only had 3 little sad herbs in them - make your own for $6 down the way

BTW:  My new tomato plant is very happy in it's new home on my rooftop.  Ollie and I visit it several times a day.