Tall Greek Tomato Salad

A fun and elegant way to serve a traditional Greek salad, piled high in a sculptural form with tomatoes, cucumber, feta, red onion, fresh oregano, and assorted olives in a lemon olive-oil dressing. I served this with lamb burgers with feta (another fabulous recipe from Jacques Pépin!). To serve, I held on to the tower and using a serrated knife and cut down the middle, turned 90-degrees and cut again.

Recipe

LEMON OLIVE OIL DRESSING
5 T. olive oil
2 T. fresh lemon juice
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. freshly ground pepper

Combine all ingredients in a bowl and whisk.

TOMATO SALAD
4 tomatoes with stems attached
1 cucumber, unpeeled, cut into 1/4" thick rounds
8 slices red onion, 1/8" thick
Fleur de sel (I used regular salt)
4 oz. feta, cut into 1/4" slices, about same diameter as tomato (cut off square edges to try and make it roundish)
Mixture of about 24 olives (black oil-cured, kalamata, etc.)
2 T. fresh oregano (garnish)

Cut around the stem of the tomato so you can use it as a cap at the top; alternatively, you can cut out the stem and use a sprig of fresh oregano to stick out of the top. Cut a narrow slice from the base of the tomato so it will sit flat. Cut each tomato horizontally into 5 equal slices.

Place the bottom slice from each tomato in the center of four salad plates. Cover each slice with some of the cucumber slices and a slice of onion with a sprinkling of salt and a small spoonful of dressing. Put the second tomato slice on top and cover with feta slices and spoon a little of the dressing over the cheese. Add the third slice of tomato and top with cucumber slices, onion, and a little of the dressing. Add the fourth tomato slice and top with feta and a little dressing. Finally, add the last tomato slice.

Sprinkle the olives and some feta crumbles and any leftover cucumber on the bottom of the plate around the cucumber "tower" and a bit of salt and fresh oregano leaves. Drizzle dressing over the tomato tower, and around the plate and serve.

– Jacques Pépin, "More Fast Food My Way"

Mushroom & Walnut Salad with Sour Cream Dressing

Fresh, light and perfect for lunch or a dinner first course. Button mushrooms, walnut pieces, scallions, lemon juice, sour cream, salt and pepper are combined and chilled in the fridge, covered, for an hour (or up to 5-6 hours). The perfect do-ahead meal. When ready to serve, spoon the mixture onto a few leaves of Boston lettuce and sprinkle with chopped fresh parsley, chives, or tarragon. Nice with a buttery chardonnay!

Based on Jacque Pépin's recipe in "Fast Food My Way."

Recipe

4 c. sliced mushrooms
3/4 c. walnut pieces
2/3 c. sour cream
1/2 c. minced scallions
2 T. fresh lemon juice
1/2 to 1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. fresh ground pepper
Boston Lettuce Leaves (about 2 to 3 leaves per person)
2-3 T. fresh chopped herbs (chives, parsley, or tarragon)

In a large bowl combine the mushrooms, walnut pieces, sour cream, scallions, lemon juice, salt and pepper. Mix well, cover and put in the fridge until ready to serve (1 to 5 hours ahead). When ready to serve, arrange lettuce leaves in four plates or bowls, spoon the mushroom salad onto the leaves, sprinkle with fresh herbs, and serve.

– Jacques Pépin, "Fast Food My Way"

Mini Savory Cheesecakes on Arugula

A perfect light lunch or dinner first course for four, these blue cheese mini cheesecakes are rich, elegant and tasty. Depending on the saltiness of your cheese you may want to omit the salt in the recipe. The little gems are set on a bed of lightly dressed arugula (1 T. olive oil, 1 tsp. red wine or balsamic vinegar, dash of ground pepper). I served these as a first course to my pecan crusted razor clams with a nice glass of Penner-Ash 2012 Shea Pinot Noir.

Yet another Jacques Pépin recipe from "More Fast Food My Way," you can watch his video located here. 

Recipe

2 tsp. unsalted butter
1 slice bread, cut in cubes and put in food processor
8 oz. whipped cream cheese
2 large eggs
1/4 c. sour cream (I didn't have any so I used plain yogurt)
dash of salt and 1/2 tsp. freshly ground pepper
2 T. minced fresh parsley
1/4 c. crumbled blue cheese
3 cups arugula

Coat four 3/4 c. ramekins generously with the butter and bread crumbs. Mix the cream cheese in a medium bowl and add the eggs, sour cream, salt and pepper, most of the blue cheese (saving 4 chunks for later), and 1 T. of the parsley. Mix well with a whisk and pour into the souffle molds. Push one little chunk of blue cheese into the middle of the mold, and top with the remaining tablespoon of parsley. Put on a baking sheet and bake at 350-degrees for 20 minutes. Cool for 10 minutes before unmolding. Unmold in your hand and turn it over so it's right side up, and place on a bed of arugula.

– Jacques Pépin, "More Fast Food My Way"

Greens with Quick Cream Dressing

To accompany the main course of Stuffed Scallops on Mushroom Rice I made Jacques Pépin's Mother's recipe, Greens with Quick Cream Dressing. Just before you serve the greens (6 to 8 cups of torn Boston lettuce is nice with this), put 1/4 c. heavy cream, 1/4 tsp. each of salt and pepper into a bowl and whisk vigorously for about 15 seconds, or until a little bit frothy. If it seems too thick, add a tablespoon or two of water. Stir in 1-1/2 tsp. red wine vinegar. Add the greens, toss briefly and serve immediately. Amazingly, this is low cal – 1 T. of heavy cream is 60 calories, while 1 T. of olive oil contains 120 calories – and it tastes wonderful!

Watch Jacques prepare this dish, and the others mentioned, on Amazon Prime, "Under the Sea" episode.

Asparagus Custard

With gorgeous, fat asparagus available at the farmers market, this Asparagus Custard was perfect for the first course (another recipe from Jacques Pepin's "Fast Food My Way") for my Stuffed Scallops on Mushroom Rice. It's worth watching his technique for peeling asparagus (click here to watch Jacques demonstrate the right way to peel asparagus in his Ragout of Asparagus recipe). The custard is an easy, quick recipe.  Serve on a bed of fresh arugula with a nice chardonnay – and that's it!

On Amazon Prime, this dish is featured in Jacques Pépin's' "Go Fish" episode.

Recipe

1 pound asparagus (about 13 fat spears), tough ends removed and bottom half of stalks peeled with a vegetable peeler
1 garlic clove, peeled and crushed
3 large eggs
1/2 cup heavy cream
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature

Bring 2 cups of water to a boil, add asparagus, bring back to a boil and cook, covered, for 2-3 minutes. Drain. Cut off the top 3" and save for garnish (about 3 per serving). Put the rest in a food processor with the garlic and puree until smooth. Add the eggs, cream, salt (but save a little for the asparagus tip garnish) and pepper and process for 10-15 seconds.

Generously butter four custard cups or molds that hold 1/2 cup. Pour in the asparagus mixture and put them in a straight sided skillet that you used to cook the asparagus in, add enough  hot tap water to come halfway up the sides of your mold. Bake for 25-30 minutes at 350-degrees. A knife inserted in the center should come out clean. Remove molds from the skillet and let rest for 10 minutes before unmolding.

Split the asparagus tips lengthwise. For each serving I split one tip in half and put on top of the custard, and take one tip and split in quarters lengthwise and place around the plate. Then put the tips in a skillet with a pinch of salt and some butter. Heat gently until hot.

Unmold the custards onto four plates and arrange the asparagus tips on top.

– Jacques Pépin, "Fast Food My Way"

Ratatouille

A wonderful vegan dish using freshly picked vegetables and simmered for 30 minutes. It's delicious hot or cold. Using a mixture of eggplant, zucchini, peppers, onion, garlic and canned fire roasted tomatoes makes this easy to prepare. This recipe by Jacques Pépin ("More Fast Food My Way") is the real deal! His recipe calls for adding 3/4 lbs. of penne pasta, but I leave it out. For a more robust dish (and not vegetarian), add sauteed/browned Linguica sausage at the beginning with the onions.

2019 UPDATE: Lately, I’ve added 1 T. dried basil with the rest of the ingredients, and at the end of cooking time adding 1 T. balsamic vinegar and 1/4 cup chopped fresh dill, then cooking an additional 5 minutes. Also adding a cooked gluten free pasta stirred in (such as Trader Joe’s corn pasta fusilli). Delicious!

To watch Jacques prepare his Ratatouille with Penne click here (starts at the 1:58 mark).

Recipe

1/4 c. olive oil
1 eggplant, cut into 1-inch pieces
2 zucchini, cut into 3/4-inch cubes
1 green pepper, seeded and cut into 1-inch pieces
2 c. onions, chopped (3/4-inch pieces)
2 T. garlic, coarsely chopped
1 can (14.5 oz.) diced tomatoes in sauce (I use fire roasted)
2 tsp. salt

GARNISH:
1/2 c. olives (kalamata and black oil cured, pitted)
2 T. fresh basil or parsley leaves, coarsely chopped
1/4 c. grated Parmesan (optional)

Heat a large pot (or Dutch oven) to medium-high with the olive oil. Add the the onion and green pepper and cook for 3 or 4 minutes. Add the rest of the ingredients, mix well, reduce heat to low, cover, and cook gently for 30 minutes. If the mixture has too much liquid, reduce it by boiling, uncovered, for another 3-4 minutes. Cool to room temperature.

To serve, drizzle a little olive oil and sprinkle with the olives, parmesan and fresh basil or parsley.

– Jacques Pépin, "More Fast Food My Way"