A CHANGE OF PLANS

This blog was supposed to be about cooking, and so far it has been.  But From The Rooftop doesn't actually comprise a mission statement, does it?  So today I was going to talk about salads, and I still may, but it's raining and the city looks beautiful from here.  I wanted to take a photo, and of course, find that the battery in my camera has died -- no big surprise.  Well, I'm just going to write about this day instead.

Feeling strange because I heard from Anja about my web site, and what having a web site will be.  Me, a writer?  Do I even want a web site?  Do I want to hire a photographer for a "head shot?"  If this blog was meant for my family and there will be a link to the Rooftop from the web site, who is my family now?  Shall I assume that the public may read this, and now I have an obligation to write about salad?

Today, being the off-Wednesday banjo/guitar lesson-wise, was house-cleaning day.  Several months ago, we inadvertently fired our cleaning service (yes, you can accidently fire people) and have undertaken the chore ourselves.  Made a little chart, which quickly became useless.  But this morning we divided the jobs, powered up with a green smoothie ( frozen banana, a cup of homemade yogurt, a mango, handful of spinach, milk, a scoop of protein powder and a good spoonful of frozen orange juice) and launched the festivities.  I'm the official duster, and cleaning the bookshelves has caused me to question the whole concept of bookshelves.  The books have to be stored somewhere, but as decorative items, they're pretty labor intensive.  The fact is, though, that in the dusting, I keep finding a book to set aside to re-read, or even read for the first time, and pretty soon there are little stacks on the dining room table, the piano.  I know that if I re-shelf them, I won't remember what I'd selected next off-Wednesday.  In fact, I do re-shelf them, but leave certain titles slightly sticking out.  No one will notice.  Probably not even I.

Speaking of books, the March NY Book Review book arrived:  Pitch Dark, by Renata Adler.  Looks great.  A blurb from Anne Tyler!  I look at the "head shot" of Renata Adler -- I like to see what my writer looks like.  Well.  jeans, a camp shirt, hand held just so, and an arresting long braid over her shoulder.  I would love to look like her.  Serious, penetrating intelligence.

I am, however, stealing moments to read Larry's book on Machu Picchu, by Mark Adams, as it seems I will be going there next fall.  It's very entertaining, but seriously, Peru?  Also Miami and Chicago?  Doesn't anyone remember that I don't like to fly?

Okay, salads:
Q.  Who wants to bring the salad for the party?
I never, never want this assignment, so always try to get in for the dessert or appetizer option.  I'm so tired of salads.  Chop up some lettuce, toss in some random bits of vegetable, pour on the dressing?  Yum.
But then, a miracle.
Kale is everywhere now, even raw in salads.  Really?  Okay, I'll give it a shot.  OMG.  You're supposed to massage your kale, but I just chop it fine and move on.  I'm talking about the curly variety, either red or black, here.  Stems removed, of course.  What makes this work is the salad dressing I found in a Williams-Sonoma catalog.  (If you don't get this document, you might want to sign up -- it has some pretty cool recipes, as you're about to find out.)

So, the W-S Creamy Lemon Dressing.
1/2 cup mayo
2 TBS water
1 1/2 TBS fresh lemon juice
2 garlic cloves, minced (you be the judge here)
1 tsp anchovy paste (and you'll remember not to use sardine instead)
1/2 tsp Dijon mustard
1/4 tsp lemon zest
ground pepper to taste

Whisk all ingredients together.   This is supposed to serve 4, and if there aren't 4 of you, make this much anyway because it's really good on Romaine lettuce also.

Toss the kale with the dressing and start adding.  I love chopped filberts, a good spoonful of Brewers Yeast,  Parmesan, orange segments . . . this is really good!

And if you can eat raw kale, why not raw bok choy?  Sure.  I like to use the babies, sliced thin, and use the following dressing, which comes from a fabulous little cookbook Allison gave me called Little Flower from the cafe of that name.

Here's their Carrot Ginger Dressing.
1 shallot peeled and roughly chopped
2 cloves garlic, peeled, chopped
3 TBS fresh ginger, peeled (about a 3 inch knob) chopped
1/2 cup grated carrot
1/2 tsp ground mustard
2 tsp soy sauce
1/2 cup seasoned rice wine vinegar
1 tsp toasted sesame oil
3/4 cup oil (the recipe calls for canola, but I prefer grapeseed oil)
1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
salt to taste

The recipe would have you puree the ingredients with an immersion blender.  Fine, but instead I toss the shallot, ginger and garlic into the blender.  Add the rest of the ingredients and whir until smooth.  I can't believe anyone would have an immersion blender if they don't have the stand up variety, and honestly, I'm not clever enough to use the immersion system without at least twice allowing the spinning blade to poke out of the liquid -- uh huh.  All over my good shirt.  But use whichever you prefer.  Orange segments and filberts are great here, too.

That's it.  If you have other ideas, call me, mail me.  You can be my next guest contributor.