This photo is over the top! First I think Mardi Gras, then I’m looking for the vegetable man a la Giuseppe Arcimbold. Still, I wanted to share this because parts of this salad were purchased at Green Thumb Farmstand in Southampton, NY. Yes, I actually got out of Upper Black Eddy and had a whirlwind mini-vacation-, a day and a half on the tip of Long Island. Since I grew up in Stony Brook, Long Island, much of the driving time was spent wading through memories of childhood. Gee, the act of writing this blog and bringing my 97 year old father to live with me is bringing forth frequent reminiscences, an activity that is extremely rare for me, for I prefer to day-dream of glorious future accomplishments, fame, and glory.
My expectations were high when I started the trip because of their longer growing season. Was hoping to find some heirloom tomatoes as a final goodbye to summer. My plan was to leave my cell phone off and hit as many farm stands and antique malls as possible before meeting up with my daughter Tegan. She was assisting on Lydian Junction’s theater residency at the Watermill Center for the Arts. I knew that once the phone was turned on, I would be grabbed from my quiet, solitary adventure and plummeted into the world of 20-somethings’ frantic activity. Have yet to figure out how they can make so few plans and yet all end up together at the correct time and place.
About this salad – I was a waitress at a small restaurant on Duane Street in NYC, back in 1976. I was living in my first loft in Tribeca, before it was Tribeca, in a cute triangular 1600 square feet ($250 a month with a 10-year lease – can you believe it). The downside was the 3 punk bands that also lived there. They rehearsed from 11pm to 4am every night. We won’t go into my nervous breakdown. A very picky eater since birth, this place and Ciro the chef’s cooking changed everything for me. I had worked in fancier restaurants, serving the typical scampi, stuffed lobster tails, and filet mignon. But Ciro’s salad was a melange of steamed cauliflower, broccoli, carrots, and string beans with a creamy garlic dressing. My love of vegetables was born. Soon after, I began subscribing to Organic Gardening magazine and dreaming of having a vegetable garden. A few years later would find me in Upper Black Eddy growing adorable salad greens for the New York City market.
Well, enough about me. Let’s do a little sightseeing and see some experimental theater.
By leaving Pennsylvania at 4am, I made it to the beach before the rain. The wind is picking up.
No pictures of Montauk Point or the lighthouse. The wind was preventing us from even standing up straight. Rhode Island was visible, though, between the rain drops. It was quite thrilling to be at the tip of the island on such a blustery day and I preferred the drama over any photographic documentation.
Almost in Tuscany. Below are the grape vines at Woffler Estate Vineyards in Sagaponack. I’ve been getting their verjus at Essex Street Market on the lower east side of Manhattan for a few years. Verjus is an unfermented juice pressed from the teeny, tiny grapes from the early summer thinnings of the vines. It’s excellent for salad dressings, light and much less acidic than vinegar.
- 1 head lettuce or baby salad greens
- 4 tomatoes, sliced or quartered
- 1 small red bell pepper
- ½ red onion, thinly sliced
- 24 string beans, preferably haricort verte, or not, steamed
- 6 small carrots, cut in half, steamed
- 12 small fingerling potatoes boiled
- 4 hard boiled eggs, cut in half
- Edible flowers to garnish (very optional)
- 6 tablespoons olive oil
- 3 tablespoons verjus or 2 tablespoons champagne or red wine vinegar
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- Pinch freshly ground black pepper
- Edible flowers to garnish (very optional)
- Arrange the vegetables on a platter.
- Whisk together the ingredients for the dressing.
- Serve immediately or keep refrigerated until serving.
In the morning I caught some Food TV, something I always do in hotels not having cable at home. And there, on Barefoot Contessa, was Ina at Green Thumb!
– Sheila
