So Many Dishes

A picture is worth a thousand words, especially when it comes to food. As a reformed Pinterest junkie, I can attest to the power of a picture. I have probably thousands of recipes pinned to my various boards: one for salads, one for soups, a seafood board, one simply titled Food, Glorious Food, and a number of others. Many of those recipes are pinned solely because of the gorgeous photo that appeared in my feed. There’s a reason it’s called food porn 🙂

Saturday night’s salad was inspired by a picture, but one with a backstory. I’m going to indulge in the family trait that my brother calls making a short story long to explain.

Ken and I love baseball, and especially the Philadelphia Phillies. When we lived in Pennsylvania, we went to Philadelphia for games. I saw my first major league game at Connie Mack Stadium. We’ve followed the team through thick and thin. Fast forward to this past spring, and Alice decided to get the MLB streaming package so that Luke, who lives and breathes baseball these days, could watch his teams. We share streaming services with Alice (another long story for another time), so we’ve been indulging in lots of Phillies viewing this summer.

We were watching a game last week, and there was a feature on subs from a local vendor, Liberty Kitchen, and the announcers were raving about the kale Caesar cutlet subs that the restaurant had provided. They certainly looked appetizing, even though I’m not exactly a kale fan. Just for fun, I pulled up the website and started looking at their other menu items. All the photos were making my mouth water. As I read the descriptions to Ken, he stopped me when I read about the chopped antipasto salad, and said, “we should do that.”

My version has to say “inspired by,” since there are definite differences. My intention had been to go to the deli at Publix and ask for a chunk of salami, so that I could dice it. But I happened to pick up a package of applewood smoked salami at Trader Joe’s that sounded interesting, and that was a delicious choice. Instead of sharp provolone, I added Asiago, and substituted Kalamata olives for the Castelnuovo variety that Liberty Kitchen includes. I used roasted red peppers, as called for, but for once I used jarred peppers rather than roasting my own.

The biggest change I made was to substitute broccolini for broccoli rabe. I think I’ve only eaten broccoli rabe once, even though it’s a Philly thing. Ken doesn’t think he’s ever had it, and I know I’ve never cooked it. I might have given it a try, but I found broccolini on the same trip to Trader Joe’s, and it just seemed natural to substitute it, especially as it’s one of my favorite foods.

In case you aren’t familiar with these vegetables, both broccolini and broccoli rabe are cruciferous vegetables, but different. Broccoli rabe is said to be reminiscent of mustard or turnip greens. It has lots of leaves and small florets. Broccolini is a cross between broccoli and Chinese broccoli. It has long stalks and small florets.

I have a delicious garlicky broccolini recipe that is my go-to recipe when I cook it, and that’s what I made to include in the salad, and am posting here. The recipe comes from The Side Dish Bible from America’s Test Kitchen. I know it changed the flavor profile of the salad, but we loved it.

For dressing, Liberty Kitchen includes their house dressing, which in the picture looks like a creamy Italian dressing. We chose to go with what could definitely be our house dressing, what we call New Orleans vinaigrette. It’s a pretty simple vinaigrette that I make from a recipe in The New Orleans Cookbook by Rima and Richard Collin. We bought the cookbook in 1981, when we were in the Big Easy for Ken’s professional society meetings, and fell in love with the cuisine (and also had our stay extended because of the air traffic controllers strike. More stories!)

That’s a super-long lead up to an easy to assemble salad. The salami, cheese, bell pepper strips, broccolini, and olives went over a bed of baby lettuce, and we drizzled it with vinaigrette. Yum!

Garlicky Broccolini

• 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 1/8 teaspoon (or more) red pepper flakes
• 1/3 cup water
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 pound broccolini, trimmed

Combine oil, garlic, and red pepper flakes in a bowl. Bring water and salt to boil in a skillet. Add broccolini, cover, reduce heat to medium low, add cook until bright green and tender, about 5 minutes.

Uncover and cook until liquid evaporates, about 1 minute. Clear center of skillet, add garlic mixture, and cook, masking mixture into skillet, until fragrant, about 1 minute more. Stir garlic mixture into broccolini. Serves 4. As a side, a sprinkling of Parmesan is tasty.

Happy eating!