 |
|||||||||||
|
Bring on the greens: Salad with roasted onion vinaigrette By Kady Guyton
In the post-Thanksgiving lull, one question rings out across kitchens everywhere: Now what do we eat? Having filled up on turkey, bread, potatoes and green beans with cream of mushroom soup, the palate starts to crave greens. Lighter flavors and crispy textures are what's needed after a week of heavy, baked and sauced foods. Enter the salad. This is one of those times when I throw all my pretensions about eating seasonally straight out the window and belly up to the produce section. One, because fresh greens are good for you and also because it's possible to incorporate a few seasonal items into a mixed green salad. I started with fresh spinach and slices of fresh fennel - which I find to be an underused vegetable. It is also contains vitamin C and is supposed to help with digestion. The sweetness of the fennel contrasts very well with the slightly bitter taste of the spinach. Also in season right now are grapefruit. I've been finding the giant softball-sized ruby grapefruits in most grocery stores along with the smaller, more reasonably sized, golden grapefruit. Either will work here, but the color contrast with the ruby slices looks nice with the spinach. According to a friend of mine, the key to eating salad is to find a dressing you really like. I think the roasted onion vinaigrette here will fit the bill. Raw onion can be quite sharp and often overwhelming. Roasted onion is a whole other story; sweet, mellow and with a surprising depth of flavor. I made this recipe with a standard yellow onion, but for even more sweet onion flavor look for a Maui or Vidalia. This is an interesting dressing because it ends up being creamy and emulsified without the use of eggs. For the acid, I used white balsamic vinegar, but the usual dark kind would work just as well. For a different flavor, cider vinegar could also be incorporated. Once everything is blended together, feel free to add herbs and spices to taste. Fresh thyme is wonderful, as is a couple tablespoons of Italian herbs. Use this a base to get crazy with vegetables. Roasted Onion Vinaigrette 1 large white or yellow onion Preheat oven to 350. Split onion in half through root end, peel outer brown skin away. Drizzle with olive oil and a little salt and pepper. Roast, cut side up, for 45 minutes to one hour. Onion should be soft and browned. In a blender, add both halves of onion, 1/2 cup of vinegar and most of the olive oil. Puree. Add remaining olive oil and taste for seasonings. Store covered in the refrigerator for up to one week. |
||||||||||
