When does somebody else’s dish become your dish? After you’ve taken their recipe and made half a dozen changes in ingredients, seasoning and presentation to it, perhaps? Admittedly, this salad has a provenance: It comes from New York chef Andrew Carmellini’s “American Flavor” cookbook, a collection of recipes taken from his wildly successful and wildly eclectic American restaurant, The Dutch.
When I was looking through Carmellini’s book, the idea of a salad of bitter greens with good ham, good cheddar and a wheat beer dressing appealed to me right away, I have to say.
But when I tried the dressing, in which the beer is added right out of the bottle, I thought it was a little too thin and too sharp, so I decided to reduce the beer to a syrup, which makes for a thicker, more mellow dressing, and to reinforce the citrus notes present in a Belgian-style wheat beer by adding orange zest and cracked coriander seeds, which have become my new favorite spice.
Instead of the parsley that Carmellini calls for I decided to add a sprinkling of finely minced chives to give the salad the zip that raw onion always gives.
When I made Carmellini’s recipe, there was another problem: The salad, with big chunks of ham and cheese reminded me of that cafeteria favorite, the chef’s salad.
So I decided to make it a little more elegant. Instead of chopping up the ham and mixing it with the salad, I decided to drape whole slices on small buttered crostini, and to use Fra’ Mani Rosemary Ham, which is probably the best ham that I’ve ever tasted.
Can I call the end result my recipe? Probably not. But it does have my stamp on it.
Note: Fra’ Mani Rosemary Ham is available at Whole Foods.
Apple, Cheddar, Butter Lettuce and Radicchio Salad with White Rascal Dressing and Rosemary Ham Crostini
Ingredients
WHITE RASCAL DRESSING
1 can Avery White Rascal Beer or other Belgian-style wheat beer
¼ cup white vinegar
3 tablespoons Dijon mustard
1 tablespoon honey
Salt and pepper
¾ cup neutral oil, such as canola
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1 tablespoon toasted cracked coriander
1 teaspoon finely grated orange zest
CROSTINI
8 slices baguette
1 tablespoon sliced butter
8 thin slices Fra’ Mani Rosemary Ham
SALAD
2 heads butter lettuce, cleaned, dried and separated into individual leaves
1 head radicchio, chopped
2 tablespoons minced chives
1 tart apple
4 ounces English or Irish farmhouse cheddar
Salt and pepper
Directions
MAKE THE DRESSING
In a small pot, reduce the beer to ¼ cup. Cool. Whisk the beer, vinegar, mustard, honey, and salt and pepper together. Slowly add the neutral oil to emulsify, then the olive oil. Fold in the coriander and the orange zest. Chill until ready to use.
MAKE THE CROSTINI
Preheat broiler or toaster oven and toast baguette slices until golden brown. Set aside. Right before you assemble the salad, butter each baguette slice, then top with a slice of ham.
ASSEMBLE THE SALAD
Place the butter lettuce, radicchio and chives in a large bowl and with a mandoline with a julienne attachment, shave the apple right into the salad. With a vegetable peeler, shave the cheddar into the salad. Season the salad with salt and pepper and dress with a few tablespoons of the wheat beer dressing (you will have some leftover dressing). Place a large mound of the salad in the middle with two ham crostini on eacn side.
