I won’t describe Friday night’s dinner as a fiasco, though I must confess I didn’t enjoy it. Admittedly, my husband would strongly object to such a description, and to be fair, nobody went to bed on an empty stomach. However, the amount of effort I put into cooking exceeded the sub-par outcome. The food didn’t quite meet my expectations, and even reviewing the pictures and leftovers the following morning, I felt a sense of disgust. Of course, it’s impossible to be a great chef every night. Perhaps underwhelming baigan bharta, oily cauliflower with onions and tomatoes, and bland naan bread were worth the price of having succeeded with garlic soup and sable cookies.
As someone who doesn’t deal with disappointment easily and tends to seek out revenge, I whipped up some fail-safe dishes on a rainy Saturday evening after a tiring day of running errands with my husband, both of us lacking the motivation to do anything other than binge-watch old episodes of The Wire.
The first dish we had was a cauliflower soup that’s impressive enough for your next dinner party but can be made in under 40 minutes from start to finish. Second was an unconventional tuna salad, taken from a New York Times Magazine article about discovering memorable dishes. It’s my husband’s favorite, and if you enjoy flavors like dill and pepperoncini, I encourage you to give it a try. Finally, we enjoyed a Caesar salad with garlic-rubbed ciabatta bread croutons. I’ve been making Caesar dressing with my mother since I was a child, when we fell in love with it during a vacation at one of those old inns with tuxedoed waiters making everything from scratch in front of you. To me, there’s absolutely no comparison between store-bought dressing with its gritty “parmesan” and homemade dressing. Over the years, I’ve found a recipe that can accommodate any food preference, from a dislike of raw eggs to a distrust of oily, hairy fish (which I’m guilty of). I promise it won’t judge you for being picky.
I am aware that it may not reflect well on me that I needed a familiar dish to regain my confidence in cooking, but at times, the disparity between my desired outcome and actual results is so great that I have no qualms seeking solace before attempting once more. Soon enough, I will resume my search for a baingan bharta recipe that matches the one we adore at Bombay Talkie and naan as alluring as Floyd Cardoz’s, but for now, I take solace in leftover dishes that we eagerly anticipate devouring.
Deb’s famous Caesar salad dressing has moved!
Creamy Cauliflower Soup
Serves: 4-6
Preparation time: 40 minutes
Source: David Lieberman
Printed recipe
1 head of cauliflower
2 tablespoons of olive oil
1 small chopped onion
2 minced garlic cloves
1 quart of low-sodium chicken or vegetable broth
1/2 cup of finely grated Parmesan cheese
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
Chop the cauliflower into coarse pieces after removing the leaves and thick core, and set aside.
In a large saucepan or soup pot, heat olive oil over medium heat and include onions and garlic. Sauté for approximately 5 minutes or until they soften, without browning.
Include the cauliflower and broth in a pot, and bring to a boil. Lower the heat to a simmer. Cover the pot and allow it to cook for around 15 minutes, until the cauliflower is soft and fully cooked. Take the pot off the heat and utilize an immersion blender to puree the soup, or alternatively work in little portions utilizing a blender, then transfer the puree back to the pot.
Stir in the Parmesan cheese until it becomes smooth. Season with salt and black pepper according to your taste. Keep the dish warm until it is ready to be served. This recipe is called Dill-Pepperoncini Tuna Salad, and it yields approximately 2 cups of salad, serving between 2 to 4 people. It takes only 15 minutes to prepare and the recipe was sourced from the New York Times Magazine on September 5, 2004.
10-12 ounces of high-quality tuna packed in olive oil, drained well
2 scallions, finely chopped and trimmed
6 pepperoncini peppers, with stems removed and sliced thinly
3 tablespoons fresh dill, chopped
1/4 cup roasted or smoked almonds, roughly chopped, or a small handful of toasted pine nuts
1/4 cup excellent olive oil (or the oil the tuna was packed in)
1 tablespoon smooth Dijon mustard
1 tablespoon whole-grain mustard
1 teaspoon balsamic vinegar
1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice, or more to taste
1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
Thoroughly combine all the ingredients using a fork in a non-reactive, medium-sized bowl. Taste and make any necessary adjustments to the lemon juice and pepper. The salad can be prepared up to three days in advance and refrigerated. I have tried two methods for making this salad; one with the reserved oil from oil-packed and the other by using drained water-packed and adding 1/4 cup of olive oil. I must admit, I prefer the latter as it results in a less greasy salad. If needed, additional olive oil can always be added, but removing the heaviness from the oil-packed option proved to be difficult.
