Salad of Pineapple and Winter Greens with Warm Roasted Chile-Coconut Dressing - Serves 4
Recipe By: Lynne Rosetta Kasper
Published in: The Splendid Table
Ingredients
Roasted Chile-Coconut Dressing/Sauce:
1/2 cup expeller-pressed canola oil
4 generous teaspoons coarse ground Aleppo chile (I use Penzey's) -- or other flavorful medium-hot to hot ground chile
4 large garlic cloves -- chopped fine
1 1/3 cup coconut milk (canned is fine)
2 tablespoon Asian fish sauce
4 tablespoon sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
Juice of 1 to 1-1/2 large limes (optional)
Salad:
3 large handfuls mixed greens
8 leaf of Napa cabbage -- cut crosswise into thin slivers
4 Whole scallions -- thin sliced
1 1/2 cup bite-sized pieces pineapple -- fresh, or canned in pineapple juice and drained
1/2 cup salted broken cashews -- or peanuts
1 1/2 to 2 cups diced firm tofu -- cooked and diced tempeh, chicken, or seafood
1/2 light-packed cup fresh mint -- coriander or basil leaves, torn
Salt and fresh ground black pepper
Instructions
1. Make the dressing by combining in a 12-inch straight sided sauté pan the oil, chile and garlic. Heat slowly over medium so flavors will open up but nothing will burn (about 2 minutes). Stir with a wood spatula until the garlic begins to sizzle (don't let it brown).
2. Quickly add the coconut milk and boil, stirring, for 30 seconds, or until it's a deep red-gold. Stir in the fish sauce (start with the smallest amount), sugar and salt and boil 30 seconds, or until thickened with glossy bubbles and the sauce is the color of caramel.
3. Immediately scrape all the sauce into a bowl to stop the cooking. (Sauce could be refrigerated for several days). Rinse and dry the pan and keep it handy for reheating the sauce.
4. Make the salad by blending the greens and cabbage together and dividing between 4 dinner plates. Divide the remaining ingredients between each serving, scattering them over the greens. Season the salads with salt and pepper.
5. Warm the dressing in the pan until it comes to a bubble and drizzle it over each serving. Then squeeze generous amounts of fresh lime over the salads and serve.
Recipe Notes
Serves 4 with possibly leftover sauce.
Inspiration for my dressing recipe came from Thai food writer and restaurateur Su-Mei Yu's new cookbook, The Elements of Life (Wiley, 2009). I think you'll agree that it is a keeper.
Cook to Cook: In Thailand this would be made with fiery-hot small dried and crumbled Thai chilies. I favor the sweet, fruity, warmth and light tingle of Aleppo chile, but you could use anything you'd like. One caveat is that there must be some punch from the dried, ground chile in the finished sauce. Start with a small amount if you are doubtful and taste and add as the sauce cooks. In order of heat, from mild to hot, here are a few choices you'll find in specialty stores and online: Ancho, Mulato, Cacabel, Guajillo, Cayenne, Thai.
Exported from A Cook's Books -- Recipe management for Macintosh
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"My idea of pure heaven is to spend a day in the kitchen, peeling, chopping, and stirring while the words of a good book fill the air around me." Ruth Reichl
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