Don’t be impatient—toast the bread slowly on both sides so it dries out and becomes more crusty, which will allow it to absorb some of the dressing without becoming soggy right away. When the bread is well toasted, remove from the grill and cut it into medium- sized chunks. You should have 5 cups.
3. Meanwhile, place the figs in a small bowl with the oil and salt and pepper to taste and toss well. Place the figs on the grill, cut side down, over the medium-hot fire and cook, turning once or twice, until browned, 2 to 3 minutes.
4. In a large bowl, combine the toasted bread and grilled figs with the onion, basil, parsley, and roasted red peppers. Stir the dressing well, pour just enough into the bowl to moisten the ingredients, and toss well. Season to taste with salt and pepper, allow to sit about 10 minutes so the bread absorbs some of the dressing, toss again, and serve.
This would make a nice dinner in combination with Grilled Rack of Lamb with Quick Mint-Apricot Sauce and Blue Cheese-Stuffed Tomatoes
(page 139).
roasted bell peppers
TO ROAST BELL PEPPERS, put them on the grill over a hot fire, rolling around occasionally, until the skin is completely dark and well blistered. Remove from the grill, pop into brown paper bag, tie the bag shut, and set aside to cool. Remove the peppers from the bag and peel off the skins. Tear the peppers in half, remove the ribs and seeds, and run the peppers gently under cold water to remove any remaining charred pieces of skin.
To store for up to 2 weeks, put into a small container, add olive oil to cover, cover, and refrigerate.
Grilled Pita Bread Salad with Cucumbers and Feta Cheese
SERVES 4
Here’s a Persian addition to the grilled bread salad family. Easy, healthy, and good-tasting, it features the same cucumber-tomato-mint-parsley combo that has made tabbouleh such a popular salad all over the world. The grilled pita adds a nice crunchy texture. In fact, I like to grill up a double batch of the pita rounds, then pass some around for people to dip into the salad or just eat as additional bread with the meal.
ẵ cup extra virgin olive oil
ẳ cup red wine vinegar
Salt and freshly cracked black pepper to taste 4 pita bread rounds
2 medium tomatoes, cored and cut into eights
2 cucumbers, peeled, seeded, and cut into bite-sized chunks 1 small red onion, peeled, halved, and thinly sliced
ẵ cup crumbled feta cheese
ẵ cup Kalamata or other brine-cured black olives, pitted
ẳ cup roughly chopped fresh mint
ẳ cup roughly chopped fresh parsley
1. In a small bowl, whisk together the olive oil, vinegar, and salt and pepper to taste and set aside.
2. Place the pita bread on the grill over a medium-hot fire and toast for 2 to 3 minutes per side or until golden brown. Remove from the grill and, as soon as the pita is cool enough to handle, cut the rounds into eighths.
3. When you are ready to serve, combine the grilled bread with all the remaining ingredi- ents in a large bowl and toss well. Stir the dressing well, add enough just to moisten the ingredients, and serve. This salad will keep, covered and refrigerated, for 3 days, although the pita will not remain crisp.
This is good for dinner with Lamb Shish Kebobs over Fettuccine (page 100) and a bowl of Ginger-Date Chutney (page 328) to pass around.
olive variables
OLIVES COME IN A bewildering variety, from small, smooth-skinned, and light green to large, wrinkled, and deep purple-black. This diversity results largely from two factors controlled by the producers—the point at which the fruits are picked, and the manner in which they are cured.
THE FIRST OF THESE variables is quite simple: green olives are picked when not yet ripened, and black when almost or fully ripe.
WHETHER PICKED GREEN, RIPENING, or dead-ripe, however, all olives have one over- whelming characteristic in common when they come off the tree: a bitterness so intense that anyone foolish enough to bite into one will involuntarily spit it out. This extreme bitterness is caused by a chemical called oleuropein, which makes untreated olives not only inedible but, according to some experts, actually poisonous.
TO RID OLIVES OF oleuropein, they must be cured. This process, which also softens, pre- serves, and develops flavors in the fruit, can be done in several ways. The major differ- ences are whether or not lye is used in the process and whether the curing is done wet or dry.
ON THE SLEDGEHAMMER END of the subtlety scale, olives may simply be treated in a strong lye solution and then thoroughly rinsed. This does remove the bitterness from the fruit, but it is a rough remedy and tends to break down the flesh, removing some of its flavor as well.
FORTUNATELY, MOST OLIVES ARE treated somewhat less harshly, and are brine-cured.
Brine-cured olives may be given a short bath in lye and then placed in a strong salt solution to ferment or, moving even farther toward the gentle end of the curing con- tinuum, they may skip the lye treatment and simply be slowly fermented in brine.
THE THIRD CHOICE IS to “dry-cure” olives. In this treatment, the fruits are immersed briefly in lye, then packed in salt and dried.
NOT SURPRISINGLY, THE CURING method strongly affects the flavor and appearance of the olive. In general, lye-cured olives are less complex in appearance as well as taste, with very evenly colored skins and a mild flavor with few highlights. Brine- or dry- cured olives have more layers of flavor as well as more residual bitterness. Go for the brine- or dry-cured whenever possible.
Grilled Shrimp and Cucumber Salad
SERVES 4
On those not-too-infrequent occasions when I feel as if I’ve been overindulging in rich food and potent alcohol, I routinely take myself to my neighborhood Japanese restaurant for an antidote. Japanese cuisine has a light freshness that makes you feel cleansed and healthful when you eat it, but at the same time it has a lot of flavors going on, so it’s not boring. This easy salad of veggies and shrimp, with its collection of Japanese flavors, is just the thing for those occasions when you want something tasty but not overbearing.
Try it for lunch the day after a big party.
16 medium shrimp (about 1 pound), peeled and deveined 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
Salt and freshly cracked black pepper to taste
For the Dressing
ẵ cup rice wine vinegar (or substitute ẳ cup each white vinegar and water) 2 tablespoons sesame oil
2 tablespoons soy sauce
2 tablespoons fresh lime juice (about 1 lime) 2 tablespoons minced ginger
1 tablespoon minced garlic
1 small fresh chile pepper of your choice, minced 2 tablespoons roughly chopped fresh cilantro 2 tablespoons sugar
2 cucumbers, peeled, halved crosswise, and cut into thin strips 1 red bell pepper, halved, seeded, and diced large
1 carrot, peeled, halved crosswise, and cut into thin strips 4 scallions (white and green parts), roughly chopped
1. Thread the shrimp onto skewers, rub lightly with the oil, and sprinkle with salt and pepper to taste. Place the skewers on the grill over a medium-hot fire and cook for 3 to 4 minutes per side. To check for doneness: Cut into one of the shrimp and peek inside; it should be opaque all the way through. Remove from the grill, remove from the skewers, and chop into bite-sized pieces.
2. Make the dressing: In a medium bowl, combine all the ingredients and whisk together well. Add the cucumbers, bell pepper, carrot, scallions, and grilled shrimp and toss gently. Adjust the seasoning and serve.
This makes a nice dinner with Eggplant and Tomato Hobo Pack with Lemon and Garlic (page 215) and Spaghetti with
Grilled Prosciutto and Figs (page 98).
Grilled Shrimp and Black Bean Salad with Papaya-Chile Dressing
SERVES 4
To me, this is a good example of a dish that uses lots of strong ingredients but ends up being full-flavored rather than what we think of as spicy. It tastes best when just made, so what I sometimes do is prep all the separate ingredients in the morning (make the dressing, chop the tomatoes, peel and dice the avocados—you get the drill) and put them in paper cups (no washing up involved) in the refrigerator. Then when folks are ready to eat, I bring out the paper cups, toss the contents together in a bowl, grill up some shrimp, and still have time to refill everybody’s drink before we sit down to eat.
This kind of studied casualness makes it easier to enjoy yourself when dinner guests are in the house. This Latin/West Indies-inspired dish is a good starter for a large dinner, or an outstanding lunch by itself.
For the Dressing
1 ripe papaya, peeled and seeds removed
ẵ cup fresh lime juice (about 4 limes)
ẵ cup olive oil
1 tablespoon minced garlic
2 tablespoons minced fresh chile pepper of your choice
2 tablespoons cumin seeds, toasted if you want, or 1 tablespoon ground cumin Salt and freshly cracked black pepper to taste
1 cup dried black beans, soaked in water to cover overnight, or at least 5 hours, or 1 15-ounce can black beans, drained and rinsed
16 medium shrimp (about 1 pound), peeled, deveined, and tails removed 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
Salt and freshly cracked black pepper to taste 2 avocados, peeled, pitted, and diced medium
2 tomatoes about the size of baseballs, cored and diced medium 1 red onion, peeled and diced small
ẵ cup roughly chopped fresh cilantro
1. Make the dressing: In a food processor or blender, combine all of the ingredients and puree until smooth. Cover and refrigerate.
2. If using dried beans, drain them, rinse them well, and place them in a medium saucepan with enough water to cover by about 1 inch. Bring to a boil over high heat, reduce the heat to medium, and simmer, adding small amounts of water as needed, for 3 hours, or until just soft to the bite but not mushy. If using canned beans, just drain and rinse them well.
3. Brush the shrimp lightly with the oil, sprinkle with salt and pepper to taste, and thread onto skewers. Grill the shrimp over a medium-hot fire for 3 to 4 minutes per side. To check for doneness: Cut into one of the shrimp and check to see that it is opaque all the way through. Remove from the grill and, as soon as the shrimp are cool enough to handle, remove them from the skewers and cut each one into 3 pieces.
4. In a medium bowl, combine the shrimp, black beans, avocados, tomatoes, onion, and cilantro. Stir the dressing well, pour in just enough to lightly coat all the ingredients, toss well, and serve. (This salad will keep, covered and refrigerated, for 3 days.)
Serve this in front of any tropical-influenced entree, such as Grilled Vietnamese-Style Beef Skewers (page 124).
Grilled Scallop-Stuffed Avocados with Papaya Vinaigrette
SERVES 4
Scallops, papayas, and avocados provide a unique combination of richness, mellowness, and individuality. Each of the ingredients has its own very distinct flavor, but they all share a kind of background mellowness that makes them fit together really well. Here we combine this trio by filling halved avocados with grilled scallops and topping them with a papaya dressing. These are then served on a bed of sliced cabbage; the juice from the scallop mixture should overflow the avocado a bit so it mixes with the dressed cab- bage.
1 pound (10 to 16) large sea scallops, cleaned 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
Salt and freshly cracked black pepper to taste 2 medium tomatoes, cored and diced small 1 small red onion, peeled and diced small
For the Vinaigrette
ẵ papaya, peeled, seeded, and cut into small chunks 1/
3 cup fresh lime juice (about 2 large limes) 1/
3 cup olive oil
ẳ cup roughly chopped fresh cilantro Salt and freshly cracked black pepper to taste
2 avocados, halved and pitted (skin left on)
ẵ head green cabbage, thinly sliced
1. Blanch the scallops in boiling water for 1 minute. Drain, place in a medium bowl with the oil and salt and pepper to taste, and toss to coat.