Sunday, June 1, 2008

Baby arugula and jicama salad


Since Jon was cooking up some spicy chicken and rice, I wanted a salad with Mexican flavors to match. Since I'm still not totally comfortable following a recipe word for word, I did what I always do – my one from column A, two from column B, etc style of cooking.

I was hoping for watercress, mâche, or pea shoots when I sauntered through the Greenmarket yesterday afternoon, but it's not quite yet the season, so I ended up with some tender organic baby arugula from Migliorelli Farm in Tivoli, NY. I picked up jicama at Whole Foods, and some organic chicken chorizo at Trader Joe's, flipped through the Bayless book that we just bought with an old gift card, and threw in the cilantro left over in our produce bin, pepitas I bought in November, and some lime juice. In all, it made for a fresh and fragrant start to one of the more latin-leaning meals we've made so far together.


BABY ARUGULA AND JICAMA SALAD

1/4 lb baby arugula
1 small jicama
pepitas (for garnish)

For the dressing (adapted from Rick Bayless):

1 chicken chorizo sausage, casing removed
2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
1/3 cup olive oil
2 tbsp apple cider vinegar
salt to taste
juice from 1 small lime
1/2 cup chopped cilantro

1. Peel jicama with a knife and cut into long sticks.
2. Whisk together oil, vinegar, lime juice, cilantro, and salt in a bowl.
3. Sauté the chorizo in a small skillet over medium heat. Stir and break up clumps until it's browned and cooked through, 6-8 minutes. Add the garlic, stir for a minute, then add to vinaigrette and mix thoroughly.
4. Pour vinaigrette and chorizo over arugula and jicama. Toss to coat and garnish with salted pepitas.

4 comments:

Matty June 2, 2008 at 11:03 AM  

Jicama is dead to me. Like the un-smoked, unfiltered, left-behind cigarettes of a lung cancer victim.

Margaret Maloney June 3, 2008 at 12:23 PM  

Mexican Everyday is another book from my editor--but from before I worked with her.

Ali June 3, 2008 at 12:37 PM  

Awesome!

Are you back in town? We love the book, and are excited to have you over for dinner one night soon....

Stingdor June 4, 2008 at 11:40 AM  

Like you insubstantial land dwellers, I too follow a "one from column A, two from column B" methodology when cooking from recipe.

I however, am forced to do this by the indelible, ire-inducing bias of your recipes toward the ingredients of land dwellers. Realize this: I CANNOT PROCURE BABY ARUGULA AT THE OCEAN FLOOR. Baby kelp is a bland, rubbery substitution at best. It is like eating the vegetable equivalent of raw jellyfish, with the physical sting of the jellyfish replaced by the spiritual sting of my gustatory discontent.

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