Sous Chef Salad Recipes

CHEF'S SALAD

Steps:

• Tear the lettuce into bite-sized pieces and put into a large mixing bowl. Season with salt and pepper to taste and toss with 1/2 cup of the dressing. Divide the lettuce among 4 large individual serving bowls. Arrange the cheese, meats, eggs, and avocado, like the spokes of a wheel, on top of each salad. Scatter the tomatoes, cucumbers, and croutons on top. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Serve and pass the remaining dressing at the table.

THE BRUTUS SALAD

Steps:

• Place Dijon mustard, vegetable oil, seasoned rice vinegar, Worcestershire sauce, pepper, and cayenne into a bowl. Whisk thoroughly until well blended, about a minute. Transfer to an easy-to-pour container.
• Place pecans in a skillet over medium heat. Drizzle with vegetable oil. Cook and stir until pecans smell toasty and have darkened slightly, 1 or 2 minutes. Sprinkle with kosher salt and sugar. Cook and stir another minute; remove from heat. Transfer to a plate to cool.
• Place romaine pieces into a large bowl. Add apple slices, dill, tarragon, and a handful of pecans, reserving some for garnish. Grate Cheddar lightly onto salad, reserving some for garnish. Drizzle in some dressing and toss. Taste and add more salt or dressing if desired. You make not need all of the dressing.
• Garnish with a few toasted pecans and some grated Cheddar cheese.

SOUS-CHEF SALAD

Steps:

• Bring a large pot of water to boil over high heat. Add plenty of salt to taste of the sea.
• Add potatoes, and boil until the thin tip of a knife can pierce a potato as if going into soft wax, 8 to 9 minutes. Retrieve potatoes with a spider, and let cool and drain on a baker's rack set into a sheet pan nearby.
• Add green beans to still-boiling water, and boil until the color transforms from raw and dusty to saturated deep green, 4 to 5 minutes. Remove with a spider, and set out to drain and cool on the baker's rack.
• Add the eggs directly from the refrigerator into the boiling water, and boil for 8 minutes. Dump eggs and boiling water into the sink, letting the shells crackle as they land hard. Peel eggs while submerged under cold running water, which helps to stop the cooking and release the shells easily. Set peeled eggs to rest on the rack.
• While eggs boil, wash and spin-dry lettuce.
• Remove green leafy tops from radishes, and save for another use, if desired. Wash and carefully rinse radishes, taking care to remove any grit or sand.
• On a large rimmed platter, begin to assemble the salad by tearing the clean, dry lettuce and arranging it as the bed.
• Use a sharp paring knife to split the green beans in half crosswise. Scatter them artfully around the bed of lettuce.
• Split the potatoes in half and arrange artfully.
• Split artichokes, if whole, into quarters and arrange artfully.
• Repeat with cherry tomatoes, followed by radishes, split into quarters, then eggs, quartered into wedges.
• Remove tuna from the jar with a fork. Break it into chunks, and nestle it into the mound of salad. Drizzle the tuna oil over the salad.
• Finish with scattered red onion and split olives.
• Microplane the garlic into a small bowl. Add red-wine vinegar and 3 to 4 long glugs of olive oil (about 1/4 cup), and stir together briskly. Season with salt and a lot of freshly ground pepper.
• Just before dressing the salad, tear the basil leaves to release their fragrance. Scatter them around the whole salad.
• When ready to serve, drizzle dressing evenly and thoroughly over salad. When ready to eat, toss to dress, and don't worry about messing up the beauty.