Nicholas’ Choice

The Husband works late every Wednesday and Nicholas and I are left to our own devices for dinner. I asked him what he wanted to do tonight …

“Do you want to make a nice big salad? Pasta? Dinner from the Chicken and Rice Man? Go out?”

“I want to make a big salad!”

God I love this kid. I mean, seriously, give up Kraft Macaroni and Cheese for a salad? Give up dinner from the Chicken and Rice Man for salad? Give up going out to eat for salad? Clearly, we’ve done good!

I had the ingredients for Nigella’s Ultimate Greek Salad on hand, and with the weather being so hot and humid today, nothing sounded better than tucking into an ice-cold salad.

He eagerly grabbed the stepstool and pulled it over to the counter, waiting to be asked to help. I chopped, and he dropped. We make a great team. Until we did the onion part. Poor baby, I forgot about the tearing of the eyes. He quickly reached for his red sunglasses and decided those helped. In just a few minutes, we had thrown together a HUGE, delicious salad and retired to the living room. I negotiated for equal tv time and he let me watch Access Hollywood to catch up on the latest Brad & Angelina baby news, as long as we watched back-to-back-to-back episodes of Tom & Jerry. It’s a deal I could live with.

He devoured two plates of the salad, thinking nothing of chomping down on fennel (fennel!), and even dared to try tomatoes, which he usually avoids, (liked them) and purple onions (didn’t). Washing it down with three yogurt drinks followed by two fruit roll-ups, he was satisfied.

The recipe comes from Nigella’s cookbook, Forever Summer, appropriately enough. The verbiage below is all hers, and anyone who is a fan of Nigella will instantly recognize her unique way with words.

OK folks, all for tonight. Along with this week’s nod for New (to Me) Blogger on the Block Thursday and Rediscovering My Library, we’ll also chat about pantry preparation. Until tomorrow…

A year ago today… cheesecake and creme brulee.

The Ultimate Greek Salad
Recipe courtesy of Nigella Lawson
Whenever I make this, it’s met, at first, with slightly patronising amusement – and then with the most colossal greed. The trick is twofold: first, substitute sliced fennel for the more traditional cucumber (which has the added benefit of not making the salad go soggy on standing); second, let the onion steep, sprinkled with dried oregano, in the oil and vinegar long enough for it to lose all of its acrid, rib-sticking aftertaste. This version is mild, abundant, gloriously summery. If you don’t like fennel, just leave it out, although don’t be tempted to reinstate the cucumber.

Serves 6-8
Preparation time: 20 minutes, plus steeping

Ingredients
1 tablespoon dried oregano
1 red onion, finely sliced
Black pepper
1 tablespoon red wine vinegar
200ml extra virgin olive oil
5 tomatoes
1 teaspoon caster sugar (regular works fine)
Pinch of salt
1 very large head of romaine lettuce
1 bulb fennel
125g pitted black olives
400g Feta cheese
Juice of ½ lemon

Sprinkle the oregano over the red onion and grind over some pepper. Pour in the vinegar and oil and toss well, cover and leave to steep for a good 2 hours; longer’s fine. You’ll notice, once it’s had its time, that the blooded crimson of the onion is now a luminescent puce. It’s something to do with the acid in the vinegar: don’t ask. You don’t need to be fully conversant with the technicalities to take advantage of them.

But to return to the case in hand: cut the tomatoes into quarters, then cut each quarter into quarters (always lengthwise) again, so that you have a collection of fine segments. Sprinkle the sugar and a pinch of salt over them and set aside. Tear the lettuce into big pieces and put in a large bowl. Slice the fennel and add that, then the olives and Feta, crumbled into chunks, and toss well. Add the tomatoes, the onion in its marinade, and the lemon juice. Toss gently but thoroughly, so everything is well combined. This is addictive: you will find yourself making it all through summer – and beyond.

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