Sunday, October 18, 2009

Mexican Street Salad


Browsing for recipes is one of my favorite pasttimes. My cookbook shelves are filled to overflowing and I love paging through them, contemplating the possibilities. On the bottom shelf is a basket piled high with magazine clippings and handwritten pages, an invitation to delicious exploration.

But lately the recipes come directly to me. Via Twitter. I "follow" a couple dozen content-heavy contacts - @finecooking, @nytimesfood, @ruhlman, @bittman, @beardfoundation, @MarthaStewart, @bflay, @seriouseats and the list goes on. From their tweets, I've learned about food, restaurants, cooking events, and at least several days a week I've learned what's for dinner at my house.

A fun person to follow on Twitter is Jamie Oliver (@jamie_oliver), the UK chef who champions cooking at home. Jamie's website features a recipe of the day, and it comes across daily on Twitter. Here are some sample Tweets from Jamie:


"rite u loverly lot recipe of the day is delicious blackbery and apple pie ... perfect for this time of year jxx
" (Sep 25, 2009) [I bookmarked it]

"simple chicken salad recipe of the day http://bit.ly/gW1oS enjoy jxxx" (Oct 7, 2009) [I made it; will post soon]"perfect for this time of year, grilled and marinated rabbit ... jxxx" (Oct 13, 2009) [um, I'll probably skip this one]

One of Jamie's recent projects
is "Jamie's American Roadtrip," a television show that's currently airing in the UK, and an accompanying cookbook, "Jamie's America." Some of Jamie's tweets are about the show:
"thanks for all the loverly mesages about the show last nite glad u all liked it the navajo were amazing jxx"(Oct 7, 2009)
" http://twitpic.com/ka3mj - me and the navaho queen from this tuesdays programe hope your all well jamie oxx" (Oct 4, 2009)
Here's one that really caught my attention:
"u can see loads of recipes from the new book http://bit.ly/1tuUpo just clik on the book cover jxxx" (Sept 1, 2009)
I clicked on the link and found some wonderful recipes from his American roadtrip. The Mexican Street Salad caught my attention immediately. I had cabbage on order from my farm box, so I made sure I had the other ingredients on hand.


n.o.e.'s notes:

- Essentially the salad is made up of lots of sliced fresh vegetables and hot chiles with a zippy dressing of lime juice, olive oil and salt.

- Jamie says that it's easiest to use a food processor or mandolin to slice the vegetables. I found an "as seen on TV" mandolin set at Marshalls, which I inaugurated with this recipe. The mandolin made quick work of the shredding with minimal cleanup. Given how sharp the blade is, however, I plan to use the hand guard every time I use it.

- Although the recipe suggests using or substituting other vegetables, I followed it as written: white cabbage, red cabbage, radishes, carrots, onions, hot peppers (I used our homegrown serranos). I'd love to try other veggies too: celery, fennel, green beans, sweet peppers, broccoli.

the verdict:

Although it has similar ingredients to a coleslaw, it has none of coleslaw's creamy subtlety. This salad is lively! It really emphasizes the taste of the fresh vegetables. I made half recipe and ended up with a ton of salad. It lasted well for several days and each time it was as delicious as the first. We never got tired of it, and the next week I made another batch!

12 comments:

TeaLady said...

Beautiful Salad.

He does have some interesting recipes. Just add them to the pile. Friend has his firt 4 cbs but doubt she cooks from them. Wouldn't she be surprised at all the deliciousness she could pull from them.

Thanks for sharing.

Anonymous said...

It is a very gorgeous salad. I heart Jamie Oliver, not only because he is cute and cuddly, but for his recipes. Although I've only made one (rice pudding with the quickest strawberry jam), all of his recipes sound delicious. I only wish I had his garden. :P

Unknown said...

What a lovely salad! Thanks for sharing some of your Twitter contacts - I wasn't following all of the ones you listed, but you can bet I will be now!

Amanda said...

I am so annoyed with myself! Somehow I lost my subscription to your site. I have resubscribed :) This salad looks wonderful!

Mary Ann said...

Looks so good! And luckily for me, this time I know it is soo good.
I am definitely going to make this for my mom when she comes to visit later this week.
Thank you so much for sharing this recipe with me. I absolutely love it!

NKP said...

That does look so fresh and tasty!
I love the chilies in there.
I have the cut-resistant gloves and highly recommend them.

Eliana said...

This looks absolutely delicious Nancy.

peggy said...

that sounds so delicious and your photos are just outstounding!!!

mike said...

deja vu! Yesterday I was just going through my piles of printout from the web of recipes and trying to organize them in a binder along with "we'll need to find a home for the new baking books you just bought" - AND realizing that I could not throw together the Fudge Cherry Torte brownie in under an hour like I thought! I should have just made the salad... that looks so healthy, simple and... makeable in under an hour!

Jhonny walker said...

It looks like a salad day! This one is plain beauiful. Love this combination. I was thinkingof making my red salad--but now I think this will be it!

Anonymous said...

I keep thinking I should sign up for Twitter and now I feel like I have a great starter list of contacts to follow, so thank you!

Jamie Oliver sounds really charming. I have some friends from the UK who just love him and have all his cookbooks. I made his risotto on their recommendation and it was delicious.

Leslie said...

What a fabulous salad! I think I'd like this 10 times better than cole slaw. I never thought to follow chefs (I know, duh!) but it sounds like a great way to get inspiration.