Puerto Vallarta, Mexico – It’s that time of year again – the less time spent in front of a hot stove, the better. There’s nothing like a great salad. I made this for a couple of friends and they asked for the recipe. That’s a clue!
The salad itself is a spinach salad. However, it’s the poppy seed dressing that makes it special. Thank you Silver Palate Cookbook. In the comments preceding their dressing recipe, they suggested a salad of spinach, crispy crumbled bacon, sliced hard boiled eggs, and thinly sliced red onion plus homemade croutons. And while the croutons are really delicious, and surprisingly easy to make – truthfully, I never bothered, at least not when making this salad.
For me, it’s always a mad dash to get everything on the table for my hungry guests. I like to cook and enjoy the process of cooking. What this means is I am not a fast cook. Actually, I don’t think I’m a fast anything. Which reminds me of a story. Once upon a time, I had a true love and he had a 10 year old son. One day he told his dad, “Andrea has two speeds – slow and stop.”
Actually, I did eventually get around to trying out these croutons. But they weren’t for a salad. They wound up in Mrs. Schreiner’s Split Pea Soup – a superb Epicurious recipe – but I digress. Anyway, those croutons totally rocked. The soup was really good without them. It was even better with them.
So, whether it’s for soup or a salad, here are the Silver Palate‘s instructions on how to make homemade croutons: Using good quality bread, cut it into ½ inch cubes. Melt butter in a large pan (optionally adding garlic) and sauté over medium heat, tossing the cubes until golden brown. Remove from pan and place on paper towel before serving.
Now, about your salad ingredients, here goes.
Spinach – be sure to wash it. With fresh bunches of spinach, which tend to be sandy, fill your sink or a big pot with water and swish them well. Wash them three times to get rid of all the dirt… unless you want to give new meaning to “crunchy salad.”
With packaged spinach, even if the bag says it’s washed and ready to eat, wash it anyway. There’s still nasty stuff on packaged salad greens and it should be washed off. To be on the safe side in Mexico, I always use a microbicide such as Microdyn – 8 drops in a liter (a scant quart – 3.7 cups) of water for 10 minutes. Why not? I’m washing the veggies anyway. I add a few ice cubes to the soak to keep the greens cold. Dry the spinach with a salad spinner or a clean towel. You don’t want soggy salad!
Here’s a neat kitchen trick. You can do this with spinach and other veggies and herbs – especially asparagus, parsley, and cilantro. Trim an inch or more off the stems and stick them in a glass of water, like a vase of flowers, and store in the fridge. Anyway, one day my spinach was getting limp, so I trimmed the stems off, covered everything in a bowl of water and let it rest in the fridge overnight. The next day it had perked right up! I’ve done this with arugula, too. However, if the greens are starting to get mushy and black, they’re too far gone.
Speaking of kitchen tricks, one of my favorite tools is the Microplane grater. It’s terrific for lemon zest, hard Italian cheese, and I use it to grate the onion in this recipe. I got mine at TJ Maxx in the States. They are available online at eltrentino.com.
Bacon – cook some bacon until crisp and crumble on top of the salad. I usually figure 2 or 3 slices per person and a little extra for snitching some before it makes it into the salad. If you are going to add mushrooms, save the bacon fat to sauté them.
Sautéed Mushrooms – Adding sautéed mushrooms might be “gilding the lily,” but somehow, it doesn’t seem like a spinach salad unless there are mushrooms. I’ve made this salad both ways, with and without, and let me say, I am definitely a mushroom lover. However, if you’re not, you’re in luck, because actually, I like this salad a little better without mushrooms. It’s also easier. Anyway, whatever blows your skirt up…
Actually, some people put raw mushrooms in salad. But not me. I like ’em cooked.
If you do want to add sautéed mushrooms, just wipe them with a damp cloth or sponge – never soak them. Slice or quarter them a uniform size. I adapted Joy of Cooking’s instructions, except I use the remaining bacon fat and add additional olive oil, ghee, or butter, about 3 tablespoons of fat total per pound of mushrooms.
On medium-high heat, when the fat is hot, add the mushroom, shake the pan UNCOVERED until the mushrooms are coated, and toss in one whole peeled clove of garlic. Actually, I always double the amount of garlic any recipe calls for. Anyway, the mushrooms will look dry. Continue shaking 3 or 4 minutes. When finished, remove the garlic. DO NOT COVER the pan or the mushrooms will get watery. Wait until the end to add salt.
Thinly sliced red onion. If the raw onion is too hot and sharp for your taste, soak the slices in water for a few minutes, then pat dry with a paper towel. This will transform a strong onion into a sweet one. Amazing!
Hard boiled eggs – if you’re making a meal of this salad, figure at least one egg, maybe two per person, for enough protein. Did you know that the protein in egg white is complete? This means that it contains all the essential amino in a ratio that is so efficient, so perfect, egg white is used as the benchmark to compare protein in other foods? Mother Nature – you go, girl!
The easiest, most energy efficient way to hard cook eggs is to place them in a pan, cover with water, put a lid on, bring to a boil. Then turn the heat off and let rest for 10 minutes, covered. Overcooking eggs makes the whites tough and rubbery (fried eggs, too).
To peel the eggs, cool them in cold water. In Puerto Vallarta, that means ICE WATER. Start tapping and cracking the shell at both ends. There’s a little air pocket. If the egg is still difficult to peel, put it in a jar filled at least half way with water, cover tightly, and shake vigorously. The shells should come off easily.
One last comment about why organic is important with sources of animal protein, and this includes eggs and dairy products. As you go further up the food chain, pesticides and so forth get more concentrated.
If you want, add some crumbled nuts – whatever you like or have in the house. Like, last night I was too lazy to make a hardboiled egg. Well, actually I was too hungry to wait. Anyway, I chopped up a tablespoon or two of pecans. It was delicious.
Last but not least is the dressing. If you make it ahead of time, so much the better. But wait a minute. Poppy seeds? Can you get semillas de amapola in Puerto Vallarta? Good question. Truthfully, I have a bunch in my freezer. But that’s only because I muled them down to Vallarta from Whole Foods in the States. And I said to myself, how can I write about a recipe that calls for an ingredient if you cannot get it here? It was time to put my sneakers on and go on a poppy seeds mission.
I fairly well traipsed all over Puerto Vallarta. Well, it was something to do and it got me out of the house. I struck out at Walmart, Toyo, Supermercado Ley, Semillas y Cereales in town on Avenida Mexico, even Casa Gourmet (on Constitucion) and Baca Fruteria (on Cardenas, corner of Camichin at the Emiliano Zapata mercado) who sell loads of spices.
Eventually I found a few stores that sell poppy seeds. Badia is the brand to look for. I’ve seen them at Mercado Ollin near the corner of Pino Suarez and Cardenas in the Romantic Zone of Puerto Vallarta; also at La Comer on Francisco Villa near Costco. However, sometimes they only sell a monster jar of 353 grams. That’s like a whole pound!
Next, I went online to research an acceptable substitute for poppy seeds. I saw this on the internet, so it must be true:
Poppy Seeds
They boost good cholesterol and bring down bad cholesterol. The seeds provide relief in constipation while the paste brings down diarrhea. They are said to hold relief for earache and respiratory problems. Poppy seeds also aid in the production of red blood cells and in regulating blood pressure.
So here’s the story at the time of this writing. Shopping online, I had varying degrees luck finding poppy seeds – semillas de amapola. I looked on Amazon Mexico at amazon.com.mx, regular Amazon at amazon.com, and eBay.com. I also checked Mercado Libre at mercadolibre.com.mx, which you may know is like a Latin American eBay with world headquarters in Argentina.
From one day to the next, available inventory changes on all these sites. You just have to check it out. Sometimes international shipping is free. Incidentally, everything on Mercado Libre is in Spanish, so you might need to use Google translator. Just google “English to Spanish” and it pops right up. It’s worth the effort. It’s also good for improving your Spanish!
“BUT WAIT!” I said to myself, before I send everybody on a wild goose chase looking for poppy seeds, is there a reasonable substitute? I wondered if black sesame seeds would do the trick. Sesame seeds are often used in Mexican cuisine and they are readily available in Puerto Vallarta. The black sesames are unhulled and are more flavorful than the beige ones. So I asked my favorite guinea pig, Trish, if she’d be willing to test drive my poppy-seed-dressing-without-the-poppy-seeds.
And guess what? That was a hit, too!
How to Make Silver Palate Poppy Seed Dressing
1. In the bowl of a food processor (or blender) combine 1 egg, ¼ cup sugar, 1 tablespoon Dijon mustard, 2/3 cup red wine vinegar, ½ teaspoon salt, 3 tablespoons grated fresh yellow or white onion, plus any juice from the grating. Process 1 minute.
2. With the machine running, in a slow, steady stream pour in 2 cups corn oil. Turn off. Taste and adjust seasoning if necessary.
3. Pour into a bowl and stir in 3 tablespoons poppy seeds. If unavailable, substitute black sesame seeds. Cover and refrigerate.
Poppy seeds or sesame seeds. Either way, you can’t miss.
Note: If you’re squirrelly about raw egg, you can reduce the risk of salmonella by immersing it in boiling water for 90 seconds. Salmonella tends to be on the outside of the egg shell. According to a story in Forbes August 22, 2015, about 1 in 20,000 eggs in the US is thought to be contaminated with salmonella. The US Department of Agriculture states that pasteurized eggs are safe to eat raw. USDA advises that foods made with raw egg, such as homemade mayonnaise, should be refrigerated and eaten within 4 days. That said, 2 cups of corn oil will make a boatload of salad dressing. I usually make half a recipe.
Note 2: If you’re halving the recipe, ¼ cup = 4 tablespoons. 1 tablespoon = 3 teaspoons. If you don’t have a set of measuring spoons, just use your regular teaspoons and tablespoons. They should be pretty accurate.
If you’re a “Raw Egg, No Way!” person, here’s an easy, delicious salad from Ina Garten. Trish and I test drove it last week. It’s a keeper.
Ina Garten’s Endive and Avocado Salad
The dressing: In a small bowl, whisk together 1½ tablespoons Dijon mustard, ¼ cup (4 tablespoons) fresh lemon juice, ¾ teaspoon salt, ½ teaspoon black pepper. Slowly dribble about 4 or 5 tablespoons olive oil into the mixture, whisking steadily. This makes enough lemon vinaigrette dressing for 4 avocados and 4 heads of endive.
Sometimes I throw one mashed anchovy in with the mustard. Don’t freak out about the anchovy! If you didn’t know it was there, you probably wouldn’t taste it. You probably won’t taste it anyway. What do you think makes Caesar salad so good?
The veggies: Be sure to wash the endive well. I don’t mean to be gross, but even salad greens are at some risk of salmonella because of possible feces in the fields. In Mexico, I soak salad greens in Microdyne. In the US a doctor friend uses hydrogen peroxide, which kills salmonella, e-coli and other pathogens.
Trim about ½ inch off the stem end of each head of endive. Slice crosswise into one-inch chunks. Peel the avocados and cut into chunks or wedges. Toss the endive and avocado with the vinaigrette. The lemon juice will keep the avocado green. Season to taste. Serve at room temperature.
Buen provecho!
Copyright © 2020 by Andrea Jupina. All rights reserved.
Andrea Jupina lives in Puerto Vallarta full time. Previously she wrote the “Accidentally Delicious” column for the Vallarta Tribune. Great thanks to Patsy Meyer for her inspired idea for the name “Pan Cooking.” Send questions or comments to andreajupina(at)gmail.com.