Okay, I am going to say it, I AM SICK OF TUSCAN SUMMER FOOD! Sorry for the yelling but it has been summer now for almost 4 months (heat wise) and a person can only eat so many grilled veggies, caprese, tonno e fagioli, etc. etc. etc. So yesterday I made one of my hometown favorites, San Francisco's own Celery Victor. Summer quencher if I ever tasted one.
Take whole heads of celery, trim tops and a little off the bottom (but not too much as it needs to stay whole). Boil in salted water until soft but not mushy (a good hour normally). When it is done, drain and place in a high sided pan. Pour over the hot celery a good amount of strong dressing (olive oil, red wine vinegar (equal portions), salt and pepper). Turn a few times in the pan, cover and refrigerate. Turn the pieces over every few hours. Refrigerate for at least 12 hours but 24 is best.
To serve remove celery from dressing and drain off excess. Cut the celery into two lengthwise. Lay non cut side down on plate. Place slices of tomato across the celery. Then sliced hard boiled egg on top of the tomatoes, then anchovies on top again. Drizzle with a bit of the dressing and serve.
The eggs and anchovies can be left off for vegetarians.
know what you mean, had another California friend over for lunch yesterday and I made a big green salad with green apples, grated carrots, poppy seed dressing, sunflower seeds and cantalope!!! how California!
quote:Originally posted by Diva: I made a big green salad with green apples, grated carrots, poppy seed dressing, sunflower seeds and cantalope!!!
Well, California girls don't have the monopoly of salads with fruits. A summer favorite of mine is a salad of Sicilian red oranges and fennel. First I peel the orange, removing both the pouter peel and the inner peels of each segment. Its' not s hard and boring as it seems, all you need in a good knife. Cut away the outer peel, exposing the inner pulp, than cut each segment so that the inner peel is left attached to the core of the orange. Obviously it is necessary to use oranges with regular segments, that can be cut neatly. Collect all the juice that escapes ina bowl. I also squeeze the peels once I cut away all the orange pulp. Clean the fennel al usual, removing the outher "layers" and cut it thinly. Mix the orange and the fennel, than garnish with a citronnette made with the orange juice you preserved in the bowl, some extravirgin olive oil, salt and freshly ground white pepper. Variations. Some thinly cut onion is nice with this salad. Also some elery, also thinly cut, is very good. onmce I made a winter verion of it, with clementine, fennel and celery and garnished it with a citronnette made of clementine and lemon juice that was very good.
Alice Twain -- – Che peccato, signora: lei ha partorito e suo marito non c’era. – Oh, se è per quello non c’era nemmeno quando sono rimasta incinta! Leo Ortolani, Rat Man, “Il primogenito”
A friend of mine makes an excellent salad, if you can call it that, that she claims is of Sicilian origin. She takes oranges, supremed as Alice describes, sprinkles them with slivers of raw garlic (fresh, spring-time new crop is best), and drizles over a little extra-virgin olive oil. That's it. Yum. Yrs, Robert p.s. No, Diva, alas I was never your bartender in San Francisco. Never worked at the Stanford Court. I bartended at a neighborhood boite called Churchill's, Sixth and Clement, the Richmond district. Too bad: we would have had fun!
Posts: 827 | Location: Santa Monica, California | Registered: 23 March 2002
quote:Originally posted by Robert Santa Monica: A friend of mine makes an excellent salad, if you can call it that, that she claims is of Sicilian origin.
Yep. Orange salad, in all its variations, is definetly (sp?) Sicilian.
Alice Twain -- – Che peccato, signora: lei ha partorito e suo marito non c’era. – Oh, se è per quello non c’era nemmeno quando sono rimasta incinta! Leo Ortolani, Rat Man, “Il primogenito”
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