FOOD • WINE & DINE Eat Well & Prosper: Vinaigrettes


n the Middle Ages the greatest hazard of the wine trade was vinegar. The oxidation of alcohol, before sealing the cask tight- ly was understood, created a new


I busi-


ness. Near Orleans, the great wine depot


for


Paris, vin- egar produc- tion flour- ished. By the fourteenth


Century a guild of vinegar mak- ers was established. Vinegar has been used history.


throughout culinary


The Greeks and Romans were very fond of lettuce. They pre- served the green leaves in salt and vinegar or dressed fresh salads with oil and vinegar. The Romans enjoyed salad at the beginning and end of meals, realizing early on its tance as a digestive.


impor-


Recognizable salads also go back to the Middle Ages. ‘Take parsley, sage, garlic, scal- lion, onion, leek, borage, mint, young leeks, fennel, cress, new rosemary, purslane; wash them


With Executive Chef Ron Skaar of CLOVERDALE, CA. ~ ~ ronskaar@comcast.net


clean; pick them and pluck them small with your hands and mix well with raw oil. Lay on vinegar and salt and serve forth” could be a salad out of Charlie Trotters RAW. Yet, it was penned by the Forme of Cury in the year 1390. The diminutive form of the French word for vin- egar is vinaigrette. In 1699 Englishman John


Evely


first used the term vinai- grette in his book on sal- ads. Supposedly it was a French émigré, Chevalier d’Albingac,


catering to


London’s high society who first dressed salads in this way. French dressing is a widely used synonym for vinaigrette in British English. Malt


vinegar, which had


become the bane of English cuisine by the sixteenth centu- ry, now had some lighter com- petition. Vinaigrette is one of the five “mother sauces”. Generally it consists of 3 parts oil to 1 part of vinegar plus salt and pep- per. Herbs, shallots or garlic are usually added and mustard works as a great emulsifier. It is also healthy. The use of


olive oil provides the body with healthful monounsaturated fats which fight heart disease with antioxidant benefits. Vinegar helps regulate the body by


salad while a heavy vinaigrette will swamp the greens. Dijon mustard with its clear flavor and sharp piquancy helps stabi- lize the dressing and attain that smooth structure. Today’s vinaigrette is a


to the salad. Many vinaigrettes can be adapted has marinades. The recipe listed below works as both salad dressing and brine. I am blessed to have pome- granate trees in the yard plus a partner who squeezes the fruit on his one arm Ramcon juicer. The


vibrant and versatile kind of sauce. Flavored and herbal infused olive oils and vin- egars add interest and inno- vation


jellies,


controlling blood sugar levels, increasing mineral absorption and replacing unhealthy sub- stances like fat and sodium with healthy ones! One of my very first catering tasks was to create vinaigrette. Soon after, I was concocting this dressing for most of our events. When combined prop- erly the silky essence of the sauce should cling delicately to the greens. Too wet, and the dressing will literally soak the


jams


and honeys which come from these are strikingly colored and yummy. The reduced pome- granate molasses, used in the following Bobby Flay recipe is intense, earthy, and elegant.


APPLE SALAD WITH WALNUTS, BLUE CHEESE & POMEGRANATE VINAIGRETTE


1 cup walnut halves Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper 1 ½ tablespoons pomegranate molasses* 4 Granny Smith apples- halved cored and cut 1 tablespoon red wine vinegar into ¼ in. ice 2 teaspoons Dijon mustard 2 cups baby spinach 1 ½ teaspoons honey 2 Belgian endives, sliced crosswise ¼ in. thick ¼ cup extra-virgin olive oil 5 oz. Maytag blue cheese


Spread walnuts on pie plate and toast for 8 minutes in a 350 degree oven. Let cool then coarsely chop. In a small bowl mix the next four ingredients and gradually whisk in olive oil until combined, then season with salt and pepper. Toss the apples, spinach, endives, blue cheese, walnuts and some of the dressing. Serve salad, pass- ing remaining dressing at table. * Look for pomegranate molasses at specialty or Middle Eastern food stores. Serves 6


4 • November 2013 • UPBEAT TIMES


UPBEAT TIMES • November 2013 • 4 JOKES & Humor # 2


On their 40th wedding anniversary and during the banquet celebrat- ing it, Tom was asked to give his friends a brief account of the ben- efits of a marriage of such long duration. "Tell us Tom, just what is it you have learned from all those wonderful years with your wife?" Tom responds, "Well, I've learned that marriage is the best teacher of all. It teaches you loyalty, for- bearance, meekness, self-restraint, forgiveness --and a great many other qualities you wouldn't have needed if you'd stayed single."


Fun Facts & Trivia #1


Lincoln was the tallest President. At six feet, four inches, Lincoln towered over most of his contemporaries. The average height for a man during that time was about five feet, six inches. When seated, the President was about the same height as an average man; he had exceptionally long legs.


Before Abraham Lincoln, there had never been a U.S. President with a beard. Since his presidency, four presidents have had full beards.


Growing up, President Clinton's nickname was Bubba. He was part of a Jazz trio in high school called Three Blind Mice. Clinton's affinity for the saxophone continued throughout his adult life.


Crossbreeding was common in the 1800s when Luther Burbank successfully crossed an oxeye field daisy with a Japanese daisy to produce the Shasta daisy, which is not a daisy at all but in fact a chrysanthemum.


Ancient civilizations believed that the smell of burning Aster leaves provided protection and drove malicious serpents into hiding.


During the 1600s, Tulips were so valuable that their bulbs were worth more than gold.


It is curious that physical courage should be so common in the world and moral courage so rare. ~Mark Twain


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