Fight Back Fridays

Salade Nicoise Americaine

/ Ren

While the term SAD very appropriately describes the unhealthy Standard American Diet of nutrient-depleted, heavily-processed foods (so-called), there is abundant goodness to be had for little extra effort or expense.

Here’s a primal, seasonal all-American version of the venerable French Salade Niçoise..

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Salade Niçoise Américaine

Prepare hard-cooked pastured eggs. Cool and set aside.

Take a thin slice off the North and South poles of a large, ripe heirloom tomato.  Scoop out a little of the flesh from the center and place the tomato in a heavy skillet.  Chop the remaining flesh, tops and bottoms and set aside.

Lightly drizzle the tomato with virgin olive oil, season with sea salt and freshly-cracked pepper and roast in a 400 degree oven for 5 minutes to intensify the flavor.  Set aside.

Meanwhile, combine US Pacific pole-caught albacore tuna in a bowl with plenty of raw olive oil, organic pitted black olives, sliced scallions, diced roasted red peppers and flat-leaf parsley.  Season to taste with sea salt and pepper.

Prepare a salad of mixed field greens and herbs and toss with a little white balsamic vinegar and olive oil.

To assemble, place tomato in center of dinner plate and mound over with tuna mixture.  Arrange salad around the perimeter and garnish with quartered eggs and a variety of made-at-home sprouts.

This post is part of Food Renegade’s Fight Back Fridays

Frijoles Rojas, Chayote, Crema Fresca

/ Ren

(This is part 2 of a 2-part post- part 1 is here)

Dinner-on-the-cheap..  red beans, fried bacon, onions and tomatoes simmered in a homemade chili base, with shaved raw chayote squash, crèma fresca and fresh tortillas..

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Frijoles Rojas, Chayote, Crèma Fresca

click to enlarge; take a look at the pool of thick, mahogany-colored juices on the left side

Fry diced, uncured bacon in a heavy skillet until well browned.  Pour off all but about 1 tablespoon of the fat.

Add chopped onions and cook until browned.

Add tomatoes and cook until the water is released but not yet evaporated.

Add 1 tablespoon homemade chili base (more or less, depending on how spicy you like it) and stir to combine.

Add red beans (dried and cooked or from a BPA-free can) and some of the bean cooking liquid and a teaspoon of epazote, reduce heat and simmer 20 minutes.  Adjust seasoning with sea salt and cracked pepper if needed.

Garnish with a little salad of shaved raw chayote squash (crispy & tastes rather like a cucumber with no bitterness), chopped cilantro and fresh lime juice and dress with crèma fresca dusted with smoked chili powder.  Serve with Spanish rice or fresh tortillas.

This post is part of Food Renegade’s Fight Back Fridays

Giveaway: Dishes from the Wild Horse Desert

/ Ren

We have a winner!

Congratulations, emilyolivemama! Please send your shipping info to “ren AT ediblearia DOT com” and UPS should be ringing your doorbell in a couple of days.

Thank you all for participating, and be sure to check back soon for details on the next giveaway!

ps  I’d love to hear any ideas you might have for the next giveaway.  Thanks, everyone!

Dishes from the Wild Horse Desert, Norteño Cooking of South Texas is one of my favorite everyday cookbooks, but it really is so much more than that.

Melissa Guerra grew up in the fierce beauty of the Wild Horse Desert of Texas (the rugged desert area from the Nueces River south to the Rio Grande), where her family has lived (and cooked) since 1791.  Working to preserve 8 generations of food traditions and techniques, Guerra offers the original versions of Texican standards such as Chile con Carne, Enchiladas and Chiles Rellenos, along with unique dishes such as Pumpkin Seed Brittle, Pineapple Wine and Point Isabel Stuffed Crab and  another 100+ authentic recipes.

Dishes from the Wild Horse Desert

Full of stories, family anecdotes and evocative sepia-tone photography, this book will have you cleaning cactus and grinding cornmeal in no time.  You may even find yourself preparing Lomito de Venado con Jalapeño one day.

So, here’s the deal.  I’m going to giveaway a copy of Dishes from the Wild Horse Desert to one of you, but first you have to go on a little scavenger hunt.  Nothing too involved, just enough to let me know that your interest is sincere.  Cool?

To participate, just go spend a little time looking around at melissaguerra.com, then come back here and tell me (using the comment section below) something, anything about what you found there.  Dig around a little- there’s more there than appears at 1st glance.

I’ll choose one eligible entry at random, and ship the book to the winner at  any U.S. (only, sorry) address.

If you have a blog, you can earn a second chance by mentioning this article and linking back to it at  http://ediblearia.com/2009/07/02/dishes-from-the-wild-horse-desert

This post is part of Food Renegade’s Fight Back Fridays


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