“I
know what all of you are thinking. Friggin’ easy, right? Fore-play,
right? Well, it is easy, and this four-play will certainly prime your
appetite for the other fore-play. Let’s start out with our four-play:
sweet, citric, crunchy, and crumbly. The sweetness is derived from figs
and sun-dried tomatoes, both originating from the Mediterranean
(birthplace of sensuality) and the Garden of Eden (we all know what the
fig leaf was used for). Lemon is next giving the salad and our taste
buds subtle surprise (remember a little surprise goes a long way).
Next is texture; the crispness of the frisee and spinach (both must be
fresh and chilled) along with the tender pine nuts imparts the crunchy,
and the cheese and smoked fish imparts the crumbly. When the two
textures, combined with sweetness and citric come together in your
mouth….oh, behave!”
Fig ‘n Frisee Four-Play Salad
Serves Two: Use large salad bowls
1 bunch of baby spinach leaves (1/2 bag)
1/2 head of frisee
1/4 cup of smoked peppered fish (bluefish or mackerel), coarsely flaked. If peppered can’t be found, plain smoked is fine.
1/4 cup Papillon Roquefort cheese (or your favorite blue cheese), coarsely crumbled
5 figs, quartered
8 very fine julienned lemon peels
4 sun-dried tomatoes, finely julienned
2 tbsp pine nuts
8 – 12 pitted olives, green and black
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
2 tbsp balsamic vinegar
salt and coarsely ground pepper to taste
Salad Preperation
Coarsely
tear the spinach leaves along with the frisee and soak in a salad
spinner with iced water(a half dozen ice cubes should do the trick).
Set aside. Next, crumble the smoked peppered fish (skin removed) by
hand keeping the pieces small bite size. Set aside. Ditto the
Roguefort cheese, keeping the pieces even smaller. Roguefort has a
strong pungent taste, so you don’t want to overwhelm your taste buds
with pieces too large). Set aside.
Quarter the figs (slice
length-wise once, turn keeping the fig together, and slice again);
juliennethe lemon peels into very slender slivers, about 1 to 1 1/2
inch long. Ditto the sun-dried tomatoes, thicker slivers, about the
same length as the lemon peel. Slice half the green and black olives
width-wise, making nickel-size rings. Set everything aside.
Combine the olive oil, balsamic vinegar, salt and pepper, mix and set aside.
Drain
the spinach and frisee making sure all ice has melted. Spin to remove
all water. Spin again for the last drops. At this point, I like to
put the spinach and frisee and the Roguefort cheese, separate of
course, in the refrigerator for about 20 minutes to get it thoroughly
chilled and make sure the cheese stays crumbly.
While you’re
waiting, pour your guest and yourself a wonderful white wine, full
bodied, and have an enchanting discussion on Mediterranean culture (skip
Aristotle and gently go to olive trees and sensuality and, uh, you know
what I mean!). Pour yourselves another glass of wine (next try Brigitte Bardot, “And God Created Woman”, or “Zorba the Greek”, Anthony Quinn, quote, “God is very understanding, but there is one thing he will never forgive! When a woman calls a man to her bed and he will not go! This I know, because a very wise old Turk once told me.”).
Plating the Dish
Remove
the spinach and frisee and Roguefort cheese from the refrigerator. Use
two large plates or large shallow soup bowls and arrange the greens so
as not to overflow the sides. Sprinkle over the greens two tablespoons
of the oil/vinegar mixture. Next, sprinkle on top the smoked fish and
Roguefort cheese, the whole green and black olives, evenly arrange the
figs on top, add the sun-dried tomatoes and pine nuts.
Garnish
with julienned lemon peels and sliced green and black olives on top.
It should look quite mesmerizing with all the different colors and
shapes popping through. Sprinkle with two more tablespoons of
oil/vinegar mixture on each plate. A little fresh cracked pepper on
top and Voila! Enjoy!
