Vinaigrette Cole Slaw

Ingredients, Serves 6-8:

• 1 head green cabbage, julienned
• 1 head red cabbage, julienned
• 1 red pepper,  julienned
• 1 green pepper,  julienned
• 1 orange pepper,  julienned
• 1 cup julienned carrots
• 1 scallion, cut to 1" lengths and then julienned
• For the vinaigrette:
• 1 cup extra virgin olive oil (EVO)
• 1/2 cup red wine vinegar
• 6 tablespoons sugar
• 1 tablespoon minced garlic
• 1 tablespoon dijon mustard
• 1 tablespoon minced shallots
• 1 teaspoon lemon juice
• 1 teaspoon oregano
• Salt and pepper to taste

I don't normally like cole slaw, but this vinaigrette based slaw is delish and super easy to make.  You can julienne the vegetables with a mandoline if you have one or just old fashion knife and hand!

Whisk all the vinaigrette ingredients in a bowl until well integrated.  Mix all the vegetables in a large bowl.  Pour vinaigrette over vegetables and toss to mix.  Cover and chill in refrigerator until ready to serve.

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Diced Vegetable Salad

Ingredients, Serves 4:

• 1 cup diced tomatoes
• 1 cup diced yellow pepper
• 1 cup diced red pepper
• 1 cup diced English cucumber
• 1/2 cup diced red onions
• 1/2 cup thinly sliced basil
• 1/4 cup red wine vinegar
• 1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
• 1 teaspoon dry mustard
• 1 teaspoon cayenne pepper
• 1 teaspoon salt

I love fresh vegetables and so does my wife.  So I decided to do a diced veggie salad the other night.  It's super simple and you can really use whatever veggies you have to make it.  Feel free to substitute!  Also you can dice small or large, your choice!  I did a smaller dice cut.

Mix the veggies and basil together in a bowl and salt to taste.  Then mix the vinegar, EVO, mustard, pepper together and pour over the veggies.  Toss and serve!  Pretty simple, but fantastic result!

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Chinese Chicken Salad

Sous Vide Details: Cook Chicken at 142F for 1 1/2 - 2 hours

Ingredients, Serves 4:

• 2 boneless, skinless chicken breast
• 4 sprigs of thyme
• Salt and pepper to taste
• 1/2 head napa cabbage sliced cross-wise into thin slivers
• 2 romaine lettuce hearts sliced cross-wise into thin slivers
• 1 cup shredded carrots
• 1 cup shredded almonds
• 1 1/2 cups sliced scallions (green onions)
• 1 1/2 cup chopped cilantro
• 1 cup chopped mushrooms (optional)
• Chinese Rick sticks
• Vegetable oil for cooking rice sticks (~4-8 cups)
• Dressing:
• 1/2 cup white vinegar
• 1/2 cup EVO
• 1/2 cup water
• 6 tablespoons sugar
• 3 tablespoons soy sauce
• 2 teaspoons ground mustard
• 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1 tablespoon sesame seed oil

One of San Francisco (and probably California in general) signature dishes is Chinese Chicken Salad (CCS)!  In my humble opinion, it is also one of the most widely "interpreted" salad I've ever seen.  You can go pretty much all over the US and if you ask for a Caesar salad, you know what to expect.  Same with a Cob salad or a Spinach salad.  But order a Chinese (or Asian) chicken salad, and sit back in anticipation because you really don't know what is coming out!  In general, what does come out is very good, but I've seen (and tasted) pretty bad CCS!  The variety is its strength and weakness.  Here, I give you my interpretation of the famous CCS, sous vide style!

Salt and pepper the chicken breast to taste and place in food bag along with the thyme sprigs.  Heat the water bath to 142F.  Seal the chicken and place in the water bath and cook for 1-2 hours.  When the chicken is done, take out of water bath and bag, pat dry and either shred by hand into small pieces or cut into small pieces.

While the chicken is cooking, pour vegetable oil into a deep pan until there is roughly 2" of oil in the pan.  Heat the vegetable oil on medium high heat.  When the oil is hot enough to sizzle when you drop a VERY SMALL drop of water in it (be careful here!), carefully place the rice sticks (little bit at a time) into the oil.  The rice sticks will puff up immediately.  Using a metal strainer, remove the rice sticks quickly before they brown and place on paper towel.  Do this with as much rice sticks as you want for the salad.

For the salad, add the shredded chicken, cabbage, romaine, almonds, scallions, carrots, cilantro and
mushrooms into a large bowl and mix well.

For the dressing, add all the dressing ingredients into a shake-able container and shake well.  Toss the salad with a portion of the dress just to coat.  Remember, a little goes a long way!  If you're not going to use all of the salad immediately, only toss that portion you are going to use.  Keep the rest of the salad in an air tight container in the refrigerator separate from the dressing to keep fresh.

To present, place some rice sticks on the plate.   Add some salad on top of the rice sticks.  Place some chopped cilantro or thinly sliced scallions on top and present!

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Panzanella Salad

Ingredients, Serves 8:

• 3 T EVO
• 1 French Baguette bread, cut into 1-inch cubes (4 cups)
• 2 Tomatoes, cut into 1-inch cubes
• 1 English cucumber, unpeeled, thinly sliced (1/16-inch thick)
• 2 Bell peppers (Red and Yellow or Orange), seeded and cut into 1/2 inch squares
• 1/2 Red onion, cut in 1/2 and thinly sliced
• 15 Fresh Basil leaves, thinly sliced
• 2 T capers, drained
• 1 t Kosher salt
• Vinaigrette:
• 1 t Finely minced garlic
• 1/2 t Dijon mustard
• 1/2 C EVO
• 3 T Champagne vinegar
• 1/2 t Kosher salt
• 1/4 t freshly ground black pepper

In a large bowl, mix the tomatoes, cucumber, peppers, onions, basil and capers.  Set aside.  In another bowl,whisk all the vinaigrette ingredients together.  In a large bowl, mix the bread cubes and salt and EVO until bread cubes are evenly coated.  Add more EVO if necessary, but do not saturate.  Heat on medium the EVO in a large saute pan.  Add the bread cubes and salt and toss frequently until golden brown.  Be careful, they will burn fast!

Add the bread cubes and vinaigrette to the salad mixture and toss to mix.  Salt and pepper to taste.  Serve right way or let it marinate!

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