Spiced Black Lentil Salad with Oil-Packed Tuna, Radishes, and (Purple) Potatoes

The idea of a nicoise salad has never appealed to me. Primarily because of the oil-packed tuna element. I can tolerate tuna on toasted sourdough, but beyond that, the concept of canned fish makes me squirm. The other parts of a classic nicoise, I like, though I wouldn’t normally pair them together for a casual lunch dish: steamed potatoes, runny eggs, blanced green beans, and some form of grain. Each a lovely idea, but not all together. 

However, since I had made Alison’s Spiced Lentils the day before, and I’d prefer not to make them twice, I chose to save them for this salad. Call it Lentil Maximization. (To learn more about these lentils, and for the final installation of Annie’s Lentil Storytime, click here.

I had lots of green beans, potatoes, and eggs on hand this day, so I made two servings of the salad, one for me and one for Jordan. We were both working from home. It took me approximately 20 minutes to make the meal, which was just enough time between two meetings to whip something up. (If I hadn’t already prepped the lentils, it would have taken much longer.) 

To maximize the pot of boiling water on my stove, I chose to boil the potatoes, blanch the green beans, and cook the eggs all at the same time. I just took them out at different intervals. Any chance I get to do less dishes, I’ll take it. Especially at lunchtime. I’m much more willing to take on dinner dishes than I am lunch dishes. It’s a principle of mine. 

I was most worried about the tuna tasting too fishy, but was pleasantly surprised by the Trader Joe’s brand of oil-packed tuna. Though I still can’t say I enjoyed the tuna (because it’s tuna), I can say that I wasn’t fished out when eating it, which is a win. 

Jordan enjoyed the salad. I’d say I mostly did too -- I’m a sucker for vegetables tossed in lemon juice, salt and pepper. I personally won’t make this particular salad again, but I wholeheartedly recommend making it if you’re a fan of nicoise salads. If nicoise is what you seek, then a fresh, lemony, herbal and light nicoise is what you’ll find here. 

154 recipes cooked, 71 to go.

Salted Citrus with Fennel, Radishes, and Olive by Alison Roman

I’ve mentioned before that at the beginning of this project, I hated olives. So when I first perused Alison’s two cookbooks to evaluate all that would lie ahead of me, I made no less than an “ew, gross” face when I flipped the page to this recipe. 

But eight months and one much expanded palette later, I couldn’t wait to make this. And the last summer-weather days of October seemed the perfect opportunity to do so. This recipe is simple: thinly sliced tangerines, covered in salt, honey, and lemon juice. Layered with thinly sliced fennel and radishes, also mixed with lemon juice and salt. Sprinkled with crushed olives of the Frescatrano variety. 

Crunchy, juicy, briny, acidic, salty, and sweet. A salad that encompasses all six of those traits can only be described as excellent. 

144 recipes cooked, 81 to go.

Crispy-Skinned Salmon with Spicy Radishes and Green Romesco by Alison Roman

There are two noteworthy X-factors in this recipe that make it stand out from other salmon. And since cooking this recipe a few weeks ago, I can’t seem to get these X-factors out of my head. Jordan is having the same issue. I know this because he’s asked me no less than three times if I can make it again. And when recently asked about his favorite meal from the project, he mentioned this salmon, and his reasons were these two X-factors: 

• Green Romesco

  • What is romesco? A quick trip down Wikipedia Lane tells me: “Romesco is a tomato-based sauce that originated from Valls, Tarragona, Catalonia. The fishermen in this area made this sauce to be eaten with fish. It is typically made from any mixture of roasted tomatoes and garlic, toasted almonds, pine nuts, and/or hazelnuts, olive or sunflower oil, and nyora peppers.”

  • What is Alison’s Green Romesco? Rather than roasted tomatoes, this sauce, made in a food processor, consists of parsley, olive oil, toasted almonds, garlic, jalapeno, red wine vinegar, and smoked paprika. It still maintains the nuttiness and pepperiness of a regular romesco, but boasts more herbal and spicy notes. Leftovers of this romesco make wonderful sandwich additions and salad dressing. 

• Crispy Skin

  • Just a tablespoon of vegetable oil, some salt, and pepper is all it takes to make an irresistibly crispy filet of salmon. I seared each piece of fish, skin side down, for roughly 6 minutes before flipping it over to briefly warm through on the other side. 

  • Warning: Someone please call the Splatter Patrol! Who knew only a tablespoon of oil could make such a mess! I had oily splatters across my entire kitchen floor, I kid you not. If you have one of those splatter guards, now would be the time to use it. If you, like me, don’t own a splatter guard because you don’t like the idea of cleaning one, then prepare thyself. 

  • If you thought you didn’t like to eat the skin on salmon, think again. Crispy skin rules!

The final element to this dish consists of spicy, marinated radishes with vinegar, shallot, and red pepper flakes. They added a nice, bright crunch to everything, and while I enjoyed them, I still would have loved the dish equally as much without them. 

Given that this crispy-skinned salmon is the fourth and final salmon recipe from Alison Roman on this blog, I find it necessary to provide you with a power ranking. You may be wondering what sort of criteria were considered to determine the power rankings. Well, reader, mostly my taste buds. Which salmon did I enjoy eating the most. They are all on the more low maintenance side of cooking – fish doesn’t take long as a general matter. So it comes down to which did I enjoy most. And for me, the answer is pretty clear… 

ALISON ROMAN SALMON POWER RANKINGS

1. Crispy-Skinned Salmon with Spicy Radishes and Green Romesco

2. Slow Salmon with Citrus and Herbs

3. Buttered Salmon with Red Onion and Dill

4. Salmon with Soy and Citrusy Charred Scallions

126 recipes cooked, 99 to go.

Spring Peas with Anchovy, Lemon, and All the Radishes by Alison Roman

I was looking for something bright and fresh to pair with Alison’s Clam Pasta. Seeing that it’s already well into summer, and the timeliness of a “spring” recipe grows less with every passing day, I decided to give this recipe a try. As I suspected, pea tendrils were out of the question (I never saw Whole Foods carry them, and I looked all Spring!). But I was able to use some leftover watercress as a substitute. 

The dressing for this salad is simple. At first glance, it made far less than I thought needed, but it seemed to be just enough once mixed with the vegetables. It includes chopped anchovies, scallions, finely chopped lemon, lemon juice, and salt and pepper. Olive oil gets drizzled over everything just before serving. 

Once the snap peas are halved lengthwise and the radishes finely sliced, they can get familiar with the dressing, sans olive oil, to begin softening and soaking up the flavor. Just before serving, I tossed the fresh tarragon and watercress with the other vegetables and added a tinch more lemon juice with the olive oil to bring it all together. 

I don’t think I’ll ever crave this salad, but I will think of it in the Spring and Summer months when I’m cooking a heavier entree. All of the dinner guests enjoyed it but didn’t ask for seconds. That seems to be the general response to Alison’s salads (other than her “knife-and-fork” ones, which are real crowd-pleasers.) 

104 recipes cooked, 121 to go.

Perfect Steak with Buttered Radish Toast by Alison Roman

What does a “perfect steak” mean to you? I’m not sure the word “perfect” is ubiquitous when it comes to describing food.  I think it’s more subjective. A perfect steak could be a lot of things to a lot of people. The more I think about it, the more I think that a steak is only truly perfect when it’s both excellently cooked and associated with a good memory. A steak, to me, is a celebratory food. Something I eat at a dinner party, a graduation, a wedding, an anniversary. Steaks are usually bound up in important events. The most perfect steak I’ve ever had was on my honeymoon. 

This particular “perfect steak” is a bone-in ribeye, seared in a sizzling hot cast iron, and topped with foaming butter, Gordon Ramsay style. I made this steak on a casual Friday for just Jordan and I.

And there were a few mishaps…

1. Alison politely warns that it may be prudent to temporarily disable one’s smoke alarm prior to making this recipe. Admittedly, I’m not sure how to disable my smoke alarm, so it stayed on. But oddly the alarm never went off, even though there was a LOT of smoke. This produced lots of coughing and some general concern about the effectiveness of our smoke alarm.

2. I followed Alison’s directions (6-8 minutes on each side on high heat), but I still got a solid burnt crust on one side of the meat. Thankfully we could easily cut the burnt bits off, but it was disappointing. I was so alarmed by the burnt crust, that I removed the steak from the pan to rest, and subsequently… 

3. Forgot the butter. The best part! I sat on the couch for about 5 minutes, letting the meat rest, when I suddenly sprang up and ran to the kitchen whilst shouting, “BUTTER!!!” Jordan was both concerned and confused. The pan was still super hot, so I was able to melt the butter and spoon it over the meat. What a close call! The meat went back on the cutting board to rest for yet another 10 minutes. 

Was this steak perfect to me? No. Could it be perfect to you? Absolutely. 

A note about Buttered Radish Toast. It was really nice! Something I would never have thought to combine - bread, radishes, butter, anchovies, capers, parsley. What a fun, funky side to a buttery piece of meat! That’s really all I have to say about it - such fun! 

Do you have a perfect steak? I’d love to know all about it. 

33 recipes cooked, 192 to go.