Fresh fall produce provides bountiful salad
When it comes to seasonal cooking, most people speak glowingly of the pleasures of spring and summer produce, from tender green peas and asparagus to jewel-like fresh berries and juicy stone fruit. Who wouldn’t love cooking with so many beautiful, delicious gifts from the garden?
Compared to that, autumn can sometimes feel at first like a letdown — that is, until you remember that it is traditionally looked on as the harvest season. Consider, then, the traditional symbol of the harvest: the horn of plenty. It overflows with the bounty of fall, from pumpkins and other hardshelled squashes to apples and pears, juicy grapes, golden ears of corn and all kinds of earthy nuts.
In short, autumn is a time of great abundance, allowing cooks everywhere to celebrate by preparing robust dishes perfect for sustaining and nourishing us as shorter days and colder weather approach. And that character of the season’s cooking extends even to dishes most people associate with spring and summer, such as salads.
Take, for example, my recipe for Autumn Greens Salad With Orange Segments, Raisins and Warm Goat Cheese Croutons: a dish with lots of color, flavor and texture to brighten up even cool, overcast days. This salad features hearty, pleasantly bitter arugula, Belgian endive and radicchio leaves, combined with tangy citrus segments and plump raisins. A quickly made vinaigrette of sherry vinegar and Dijon mustard complements those ingredients and adds just the right sharp, earthy
counterpoint. For a finishing touch, I like to make croutons of garlic-rubbed bread slices topped with warm goat cheese.
This is the sort of salad that is not only great tasting and beautiful but also nutritious, as
I point out in my book Wolfgang Puck Makes It Healthy
($30, Grand Central Life & Style). Though at 40 percent of total calories, it’s a bit higher in fat than the 30 percent commonly recommended for a healthy diet, this salad would fit nicely into a meal featuring a lower-fat main dish. And you could bring the fat calories down to just under a third of the total by leaving out the croutons and serving the salad with garlic toasts.
Once you’ve tried my version, feel free to vary it. Substitute baby spinach or kale for some of the other leaves. In place of the orange, try chunks of ruby grapefruit or segments of mandarin. A creamy, spreadable blue cheese or ripe brie or Camembert could replace the goat cheese. For extra crunch, scatter in some toasted walnuts, pecans, almonds or hazelnuts.
There’s no end to the autumn salads you can make from this simple starting point. I hope you’ll use my recipe to create your own, and go on enjoying the seasonal bounty on into winter.
AUTUMN GREENS SALAD WITH ORANGE SEGMENTS, RAISINS AND WARM GOAT CHEESE CROUTONS
Serves 4
Autumn Greens Salad:
1 seedless orange 1/2 pound arugula leaves, rinsed and patted thoroughly dry 1 small head radicchio, leaves separated, rinsed and patted thoroughly dry 1 small head Belgian endive, leaves separated, rinsed and patted thoroughly dry 2 tablespoons seedless raisins, plumped in warm water to cover for 30 minutes, well drained
Warm Goat Cheese Croutons:
4 long, diagonal slices whole-wheat or regular French-style baguette, each about 1/4-inch thick 1 garlic clove, halved 1/4 pound fresh creamy goat cheese, cut into 4 equal pieces 1 1/2 teaspoons chopped fresh thyme leaves Freshly ground black pepper Dijon Sherry-Tarragon Vinaigrette: 2 tablespoons sherry vinegar 1 tablespoon Dijon mustard 1 tablespoon honey 1 teaspoon finely chopped fresh tarragon Kosher salt Freshly ground black pepper 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
Directions:
First, segment the orange: Use a small, sharp serrated knife to cut off the peel of the fruit thickly enough to remove not only the white pith but also the outer membrane of the segments underneath, exposing the fruit. Then, holding the peeled fruit over a bowl to catch the juices and segments, carefully cut down along either side of a wedge-shaped segment between the pulp and the membrane, freeing the segment from the membrane and letting it fall into the bowl below. Continue until all segments have been cut free. Squeeze the membranes over the bowl to release any remaining juice. Reserve the juice for drinking. Assemble the salad ingredients: In a large bowl, combine the arugula, radicchio and endive, tearing the leaves into bite-sized pieces if necessary. Add the orange segments and raisins. Set aside.
For the croutons, heat the oven to 450 degrees. Place the bread on a baking sheet, and toast in the oven until light golden, 3 to 4 minutes. Lightly rub the toasts on both sides with the cut sides of the garlic clove. Gently smear a portion of the goat cheese on top of each slice, sprinkling it with a little fresh thyme and pepper. Return the baking sheet to the oven, and continue baking just until the cheese has warmed, about 1 minute longer.
For the dressing, in a small bowl, whisk together the sherry vinegar, mustard, honey, tarragon, and salt and pepper to taste. Whisking continuously, slowly pour in the oil. Taste and adjust the seasonings, if necessary, with more salt and pepper.
Toss the salad mixture with enough of the dressing to coat the leaves and fruit lightly. Divide the salad among four plates. Top each plate with a warm goat cheese crouton.