all-but-unlovable

January 11 2010 by Kristin at The Kitchen Sink in Uncategorized » 20 comments

After the craze of the holiday season, that first travel-and-holiday-free weekend of January—the one where you’re in your hometown, sleeping in your own bed, planning to spend much of your time in your own home—feels like a tiny treasure, one that should be handled delicately, purposefully. My view is that this first weekend home shouldn’t clutter up with post-holiday tasks. Sure, take down the tree and stash away the ornaments, as we did. Pick up the weeks’ worth of dry-cleaning and take stock of your raided pantry; we did that too. But be sure to make time to build a fire (or in our case, flip a switch to “ignite” the faux logs), to soak in a bubbly tub, and, if you spent much of the final weeks of 2009 on the road, as I did, to get to know your kitchen again.

It’s missed you.

Remember that, while you were away, your counters lay wiped clean and bare. That your wooden spoons stood in their crock, idle but ready. That your Dutch oven grew cold after days on end without a flame beneath it. That your freshly-laundered kitchen towels hung on the oven’s handle, still and unused, not even fluttering as someone walked by. That your baking sheets lined up like shoulders in the cupboard, that the flour canister’s lid remained sealed, that the little dish holding your kosher salt went undepleted. It’s been downright neglected, that kitchen of yours.

The first January weekend home is when all this changes. With any luck, you’ll have gotten the awkward, less-than-successful reacquaintance stage out of the way during the week that preceded the weekend. The flops and the slip-ups are largely out of the way. You’ve found again the spot where your hip hits the countertop best as you stir the bubbling contents of a pot sitting on the stove. You’ve pulled down a couple cookbooks from the shelf that have you particularly inspired. You’ve been to the grocery store and you know exactly how many eggs your refridgerator holds and on which shelf the heavy cream resides. Having thus reacquainted yourself throughout the week, you will have cleared the way for a Friday night meal to emerge from your kitchen that will render you speechless, happy and full. And home.

This Friday, we did just that—uncorked a bottle of wine and cooked in, eating at the coffee table, seated cross-legged on the floor as an old episode (or three) of Deadwood played on the television. We made pork medallions with a jammy onion topping, which sat atop a creamy bed of polenta, enriched with a spoonful of mascarpone. This was all just as lovely as it sounds, but it was the salad that came first that stole the show (that and the foul-mouthed Al Swearengen, who is crass and offensive, but also completely captivating).

The salad was Jaime Oliver’s Fifteen Christmas Salad and we made it on the ringing (and spot-on) endorsement from my friend Brynn. It’s got color and bite (bitter radicchio ribbons tangled with peppery baby arugula leaves) sweetness (clementines) and tartness (lemon dressing) and saltiness (bits of prosciutto) and richness (pulled buffalo mozzarella). The salad is one of those rare things that can make you glad that it’s January, a generally all-but-unlovable month.

Save for that first weekend home, of course.

Also: The gentler schedule of the last week or so has given me time to put together a Winter Recipe Index, which I hope you’ll turn to for inspiration in the coming months. Please check it out. And I’m also participating in Project 365, posting a photo each day to my Flickr photostream. You can follow along there, if you’d like.

Fifteen Christmas Salad
Adapted Slightly from Jamie Oliver

Serves 4-6

3 1/2 tablespoons lemon juice (about one tablespoon)
1/4 cup of extra virgin olive oil, or more (to taste)
sea salt or kosher salt
freshly-cracked black pepper

2 handfuls of baby arugula

1 head radicchio, sliced into thin ribbons
4 medium-sized balls of buffalo mozzarella, torn into pieces
4 clementines, peeled and sliced into thin slices
4 slices prosciutto, sliced into thin ribbons

1 small bunch of mint, minced
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Put the lemon juice and oil into a jam jar and season. Tighten the lid and shake. Try out your dressing on a salad leaf and adjust the seasoning to taste.
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Add the arugula and radicchio to a large bowl; add dressing and toss to coat. Add the torn mozzarella, sliced clementines and sliced prosciutto.
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Spinkle with salt and pepper and minced mint.

20 comments so far. »
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Half Assed Kitchen says on January 11 2010 at 8:14 pm:

What a delightful looking salad!
Lisa says on January 11 2010 at 8:32 pm:

Beautiful colors and flavor combinations! Perfect when that winter salad craving appears! Happy 2010!
Becky says on January 11 2010 at 9:42 pm:

YUM!

All that talk about your kitchen made me wonder if you’d ever share some pics of what your kitchen looks like? I’m always fascinated how other Chicagoans make use of their usually small kitchen space. Or maybe you were blessed with a large kitchen!
Whitney says on January 11 2010 at 10:10 pm:

What a perfect salad after the decadence of the holidays!

I’m loving your 365 pictures as well!
Patricia Scarpin says on January 12 2010 at 5:37 am:

No one can resist such a beautiful, fresh and colorful salad – yum!
Melissa says on January 12 2010 at 6:59 am:

How absolutely lovely. Happy New Year to you and yours!
Megsie says on January 12 2010 at 7:02 am:

What a wonderful love letter to being home, and to your kitchen. This salad looks so beautiful!
kate says on January 12 2010 at 7:52 am:

I loved Deadwood, and you are spot-on about Al. Completely hideous, yet strangely appealing. Just about any series on HBO, to me, was worth the time and energy to watch. ‘The Wire’ still sits in my memory as the best show, ever.

Your pork dish sounds so delicious. And I love those cozy and sublime nights spent locked to one’s home.
Eliana says on January 12 2010 at 9:42 am:

This salad (and the rest of the menu) sounds unbeliveable. A great way to get back into a routine
Brynn says on January 12 2010 at 11:21 am:

See? I told you – it’s really amazing. Something about the sweet, bright, fresh clementines and mint mixed with the rich, creamy, salty prosciutto and mozzarella. Yummmm….
carolyn says on January 12 2010 at 2:10 pm:

I have been craving a fresh green salad with citrus and this looks like the one! The color in these photos is beautiful!
Vanessa says on January 12 2010 at 5:39 pm:

Oh this salad looks incredible! I have also started a 365 project and I am in love. It is great to document the year. Good luck.
Elizabeth says on January 13 2010 at 2:32 am:

This looks just lovely! The colors are incredible and the flavors together sound intriguing. And I agree, there’s nothing quite like a weekend at home.
Liesl says on January 13 2010 at 11:44 am:

What a beautiful and tasty looking salad!
oneshotbeyond says on January 13 2010 at 1:51 pm:

My kind of salad for sure. Beautiful pics too.
arcadia says on January 14 2010 at 10:21 am:

what a lovely salad. and your pictures are beautiful!
Barbara says on January 14 2010 at 10:56 am:

Heavenly salad…colors and flavors are spectacular. Leave it to Jamie!
molly says on January 14 2010 at 11:31 am:

oh, my, i remember running across this in Oliver’s book years ago, and forgetting it promptly. i’ve been devouring salads daily right now, citrus-packed and peppery and nibbed with strong cheese and toasted nuts. this is clearly angling for my dinner table. thanks for the reminder! Molly
Sook says on January 14 2010 at 3:16 pm:

First time here and oh that salad looks so amazing! I love citrus in anything, especially in salad. Yum.
Emily says on January 18 2010 at 8:41 pm:

Made this for dinner tonight. Soooo delicious. I’m trying my hardest not to devour the leftovers so that I can enjoy this salad tomorrow night, too. So delicious. Did I mention that?